Bye, Bye, WBFS partitions, no longer needed.

Stomp_442 · 11-01-2009, 06:41 PM

It seems that the Configurable USB Loader v46 does not require the WBFS format for the USB device that the backuped games are stored on. I'm sure that everybody has been waiting for something like this, I know I have. I just wonder if it's going to work any better. Sorry USB Loader GX users, this is only currently available on Configurable USB Loader, but remember who had it first.

A bit from the changelog:

Quote:

Changes since 46b:

* Support for direct launching of games from fat
(Useful for game channel launching, using loadstructor or similar tool)
To specify direct loading from fat, the parameter has to be in form: #GAMEID-X
Where X is 0-3 for wbfs and 4-9 for fat partitions (4 means first fat partition)
* Automatically switch to ios222 in case ios249 is used for starting games from fat
* Only allow IOS 222 and 223 in game options if fat partition is selected
* Improved drawing speed in some coverflow gui modes
* Cleanups

Changes since 45:

cfg v46b (beta)

* Added option: partition = [WBFS1], ..., WBFS4, FAT1, ..., FAT9, ask
* Saving global settings will also save current selected partition
* Increased fat cache size in IOS module
* Load FAT module in IOS early in case config has:
ios=222-mload (or ios=223-mload) and partition=FAT*
So that IOS does not need to be reloaded another time before
starting the game from a FAT partition
* Added indication in global options if [FAT] module is loaded in IOS
* Cleanups

cfg v46a2 (alpha2)

* Faster loading of game list from a fat partition - should be instant now.
The only thing that has a slight delay is showing the hdd free space
in console mode game list (if it is enabled)
* Create game info file after installing on a FAT partition named:
usb:/wbfs/GAMEID_TITLE.txt This makes it easier to tell the titles
of installed games when using a filesystem explorer
* Rephrased the warning message when no WBFS partition found
* Allow to select partition if no wbfs partition is found and disable_format is on.
* Minor cleanups in partition selection

cfg v46a (alpha)

* Loading games from a FAT32 partitions. The game file has to
be located and named like this: usb:/wbfs/GAMEID.wbfs

Source and Download - [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register]

Thanks go to oggzee and usptactical

Favs · 11-01-2009, 08:53 PM

WBFS is win due to the compression of ISOs and direct FAT launching is a nice addition but not enough to make me care as my soon to be WODE will be better.

davepm · 11-01-2009, 11:12 PM

could be useful for a quick test of an iso, as i have all my downloads on an external drive. Also means you can use a USB pen drive without the hassle of reformatting.

But as Favs says, without the ISO compression you get with WBFS, its going to be limited in its usefullness, although im sure someone might come up with a solution!

I use CFG usb loader anyway, so might have to have a play.

madcapslaugh · 11-02-2009, 03:37 AM

FAT32 can only handle files up to 4 GB, how will you put your wii iso files onto the drive if its fat32? will we have to scrubb all our wii iso files?

sheykh · 11-02-2009, 04:10 AM

well, its also nice, to have a fat, cuz when you do a rip with your wii, you'll get a 1:1 rip, instead of a scrubbed game.

personally, i'll stick with what i have, i like the compression, ugh, and to transfer ALL my games off of my drive, just to reformat. :shiver:

EDIT: also, i wonder which would be faster. WBFS or FAT when playing? or would it not really be a noticeable difference?

ice79 · 11-02-2009, 05:18 PM

I love the setup of usb loader V46, and the error 002 fix, but i still have problems with downloading cover arts???
I have installed cios249 222 and 223 to run the usb loader. I allready have rev 14 installed. So at last I tried to make them manually, by creating a folder at the sd root sd:/images/covers and placing a cover with right game code and rename it to .png but still no luck.
Please help, I have spend to many late nights allready...

The sleepy one

Stomp_442 · 11-02-2009, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ice79

I love the setup of usb loader V46, and the error 002 fix, but i still have problems with downloading cover arts???
I have installed cios249 222 and 223 to run the usb loader. I allready have rev 14 installed. So at last I tried to make them manually, by creating a folder at the sd root sd:/images/covers and placing a cover with right game code and rename it to .png but still no luck.
Please help, I have spend to many late nights allready...

The sleepy one

Why not just download covers thru the loader, it will automatically download covers for you.

ice79 · 11-03-2009, 12:07 AM

That was the great idea with this version, but when I select the downlad cover, by pressing + right, on the game option or in the global options, the line just dissapear one by one and it seems to do something, it just ends up with the same option select again and the cover still reading "no image". ???????
I will try to chance the confic.txt to ios222 instead of 223. More ideas is very wellcome.

ice79 · 11-03-2009, 12:26 AM

YEEEEESSSS, That did it. I chanced the (config.txt, last line) to ios222-mload instead ios223-mload, apperently numbers are everything in this digital world.
Long live the Internet:-)

oggzee · 11-03-2009, 08:32 AM

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

Q: Can it play .iso files directly?
A: No. Only .wbfs files can be used. To convert from .iso to .wbfs use the wbfs_file utility.

Q: Isn't FAT limited to 4GB file size?
A: Yes, that's why the files are splitted to 2GB chunks.
The files are named gameid.wbfs, gameid.wbf1, gameid.wbf2,...
Similar to how the a .rar archive can be split to multiple files (.rar, .r01, .r02,...)

Q: If FAT size is limited to 4GB, why is the .wbfs file splitted to 2GB chunks instead of 4GB?
A: Because of the limitations in the FAT Library that is used (libfat).

Q: What about the file size, games on WBFS partition are scrubbed / compressed, will it take more space on a FAT 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 .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 partition, like this: D:\wbfs\GAMEID.wbfs

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

Q: How long does it take to convert one game to .wbfs?
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: Is there any advantage using FAT rather then the old way?
A: no.

Copied to first post as well:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register]