Configurable USB Loader

USB Loaders allow you to rip your own discs to an external USB hard drive and then run them from there. This will minimise load times, generally improve performance and means you can switch which Wii game you want to play without leaving your couch.

We highly recommend Configurable USB Loader as it has the most features and the best customisability of the many USB Loaders available.

You will need Configurable USB Loader v62a5 or later.

Configurable USB Loader

• Official Web Site - http://code.google.com/p/cfg-loader/

Installation procedure

1. Unzip the Configurable USB Loader .zip file and copy the contents of SDUSB-Loader_cfg##/inSDRoot to sd:/.

• You may be asked if you want to merge the directories. Answer yes.
• After this step, you should have a folder called sd:/usb-loader which contains some files and subdirectories and another folder called sd:/apps/USBLoader that contains boot.dol and some other files.
• On a Mac, you might need to copy the contents of the directories separately. You want to merge the apps folder in the .zip with the one on your SD card, not replace it.

2. If you downloaded a .dol file as well, rename the file to boot.dol and replace sd:/apps/USBLoader/boot.dol with the renamed file.

3. Edit meta.xml to use your chosen IOS using the instructions in the next section

4. Start the Homebrew Channel and run Configurable USB Loader.

• If you get an IOS249 is a stub message, then redo the meta.xml steps, perhaps choosing a different method.

5. You may be asked to select a different partition. If so, follow the following steps:

1. Push A to go to the partition selection menu.

2. Select the partition you want to use and push A to select it.

3. Push 1 twice to go to the global options menu.

4. Push 2 to save your selection (you won't need to do these steps next time, now).

source: http://gwht.wikidot.com/usb-loader

 

FAT/NTFS support FAQ

source: by oggzee, usptactical, gannon and Dr.Clipper Configurable USB Loader FAQ

The FAT and NTFS support has raised a lot of repeated questions, so here's a FAQ about that:

Q: Can it play .iso files directly?

A: NTFS: Yes.
FAT: Yes but only .iso files which are smaller than 4GB such as forwarder .iso files or .iso files compacted with WiiScrubber. To solve the 4GB problem, convert the .iso to .wbfs format using the wbfs_file utility.

Q: Isn't FAT limited to 4GB file size but a game iso is larger than 4GB?

A: Yes, that's why the .wbfs files are scrubbed to save space and if it is still larger than 4GB it is split to 4GB chunks. Split files are named gameid.wbfs, gameid.wbf1, gameid.wbf2,... similar to how the .rar archive can be split to multiple files (.rar, .r01, .r02,...)

Q: What about the file size, games on WBFS partition are scrubbed / compressed, will it take more space on a FAT/NTFS partition?

A: No, it will take the same space because the files are not in .iso format but instead .wbfs format, which uses the same scrubbing / compression method as on a WBFS partition, actually the file format is the same as the format of the WBFS partition. And to be even more accurate, the .wbfs files will take even less space, because the wbfs block size will be smaller too. (The size depends also on the selection which partitions are copied - all or only game)

Q: I have copied the .iso/.wbfs files to my usb drive but the loader doesn't see them?

A: The files have to be copied to the \wbfs folder on the FAT/NTFS partition. These filename layouts are supported:

D:\wbfs\GAMEID.wbfs
D:\wbfs\Title [GAMEID].wbfs
D:\wbfs\Title [GAMEID]\GAMEID.wbfs
D:\wbfs\GAMEID_Title\GAMEID.wbfs

Same for .iso:

D:\wbfs\GAMEID.iso
D:\wbfs\Title [GAMEID].iso
D:\wbfs\Title [GAMEID]\GAMEID.iso
D:\wbfs\GAMEID_Title\GAMEID.iso

Q: Can I extract all the games from a WBFS partition to .wbfs files?

A: Yes, use this command:

wbfs_file.exe W: extract_wbfs_all D:\wbfs

Where W: is your WBFS partition and D:\wbfs is the FAT partition on USB (or on local hard-disk)

Q: How to convert all the .iso files to .wbfs files in one step?

A: Open up CMD where your iso files are and run:

for %i in (*.iso) do wbfs_file.exe "%i"

If you write that in a .bat batch file then you have to use %%i instead of %, like this:

for %%i in (*.iso) do wbfs_file.exe "%%i"

Q: How long does it take to convert one game to .wbfs?

A: Depends on hard drive speed and (scrubbed) game size. It should take the same time as copying a file. That means a couple of seconds for a game like WiiPlay which uses only about 100MB and a couple of minutes for games that take up 4GB...

Q: Are there any GUI wbfs managers that support .iso/.wbfs files on a FAT/NTFS partition?

A: Yes: by pccfatman: Wii Game Manager - A GUI for wbfs_file.exe
by fig2k4: Wii Backup Manager

Q: Does running games from a FAT formatted SD / SDHC card work?

A: Yes, but only from SD cards, SDHC compatibility is still an issue. (SDHC might work with some cards and cios 249 rev19+)

Q: What is the recommended cluster size when formatting FAT?

A: It's not important - any size should work fine. But 32kb is a good choice as that size is aligned to wii disc sector size.

Q: Is it possible to install a game from a dvd disc to a FAT partition in .wbfs format?

A: Yes. Just press button + to install the game as usual.

Q: Is there any advantage using FAT/NTFS rather than a WBFS partition?

A: Depends on personal preference. These are some of the poins: advantages:

• no need to repartition in case the disk is already used for other stuff
• the game files can be copied using normal file managers
• the partition space can be shared for other purposes
• better choice of file-system recovery / de-fragmentation tools

disadvantages:

• limited choice of loaders: only CFG, GX and WiiFlow support FAT/NTFS at the moment.

similarities:

• loading speed and compression should be the same compared to WBFS

notes:

• install game on NTFS is disabled by default but can be enabled with option: ntfs_write=1