[TUTORIAL] WiiFlow and plugins

Post by **Ayatus** » Sat 7 Jul 2012 18:31

2026 update: this topic dates from 2012 and the tools have changed since. The up-to-date method is in our tutorial WiiFlow Lite: installing and setting up WiiFlow on Wii in 2026 (plugins, covers, emulators).

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For some time the WiiFlow developers have added some nice features.
We will see here one of them: plugins.

The plugins

These are actually homebrews slightly modified to allow WiiFlow to interact with them.
They are mostly emulators except MPlayer CE which is a multimedia player.
Their operation is identical to their homebrew counterparts.

SD/USB Preparation

Download with WiiFlow Mod Installer

Download the latest version of WiiFlow Mod Installer and launch it.
In the Download Options, check Download the plugin pack and optionally Download ScummVM if you want to use this emulator.
Select your WiiFlow version in the General.
Launch the download!

Here's what the content of the folder should look like SD:

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Installation of Roms

You probably know it, roms have a multitude of possible extensions. You can, by opening the configuration file of a plugin, see the extensions it accepts.

To install them, you must place them in the folder /roms of the matching plugin. Needless to say, the file must have an extension the emulator recognises.

Manual Cover Installation

The main strength of WiiFlow is certainly the beauty of its coverflow. In emulator mode, it doesn't escape this rule by offering different emuflows for each emulator.

The covers must be installed manually, you will find cover packs on GBAtemp.net.

Here are the criteria to follow:

They must be placed in /wiiflow/boxcovers/plugin folder (for complete jackets) or /wiiflow/covers/plugin folder (for front cover only jackets).
note: these paths are modifiable in each plugin's configuration files.
Their dimensions must not exceed 1090px in height and 1090px in width.
Their format can be png or jpg.
Their name must be the same as the rom, including extension (Seiken Densetsu 3.zip.png).

Configuration files

Each plugin has an.ini file allowing easy configuration of certain options.

We will take the example of genplus-gx.ini.

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454741
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.gen|.md|.smd|.sms|.gg|.sg|.zip|.iso|.bin
romDir=genplus/roms
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=GenPlusGX
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

magic: this number made of 8 hexadecimal digits identifies each plugin; the value is not assigned at random, here 53454741 gives SEGA in ASCII.
coverColor: allows you to define the RGB color of the cases.
coverFolder: gives the location of the covers; this path is relative to the location of the WiiFlow covers folder.
Ici coverFolder=genplusgx corresponds to wiiflow/boxcovers/genplusgx for complete jackets and wiiflow/covers/genplusgx for their front cover.
fileTypes: lists the extensions filtered by WiiFlow; check the documentation of each emulator to find out which ones it recognises.
romDir: location of the roms folder.
dolFile: the emulator's dol file.
bannerSound: the music that will be played when selecting a game.
displayname: the name displayed on the plugin selection page.
consoleCoverID: will allow downloading covers on GameTDB, not functional at the moment.

Thanks to @mamule for his help.

Post by **Ayatus** » Fri 25 Jan 2013 18:32

Tutorial finally online, a few tweaks remain.

Post by **ovaler** » Fri 25 Jan 2013 19:00

TOP NOTCH @AYATUS

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 20:22

Great tutorial! So far everything's working! Covers showing up etc... However I have a question, how do I separate emulators like genplusx? On my wiiflow I did put my images.png for megadrive, master system and game gear but no matter where I go I end up in my sega roms folder all mixed together.... How do I make it so that when I press master system I only get my master system roms, and the same for megadrive? See what I mean? Thanks in advance

Post by **Ayatus** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 20:34

hulkmaniak wrote:How do I make it so that when I press master system I only get my master system roms, and the same for megadrive? See what I mean? Thanks in advance

No, I don't quite see what you mean, you'll need to give a bit more context about your problem.
Where are you pressing, in WiiFlow, in the emulator?

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 20:46

Good evening ayatus thanks for your quick reply so actually on my wiiflow there's a place (on my wii) where I choose my emulator either master system or megadrive or game gear... But no matter whether I pick megadrive or master system or game gear I end up in the folder with my sega roms, how do I make it so that when I go into megadrive I only see my megadrive games or when I go into the master system emulator I only see my master system games.. Basically how do I make genplusx serve me 4 times over (mega drive, Master system, game gear and sg1000) but with different folders??

Post by **Ayatus** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 21:20

Ok, at this point we're no longer talking about WiiFlow.

There are 2 ways, the simplest being to put the roms of your different consoles into separate folders as Genesis Plus GX allows.

That is:

genplus/roms/cd for Mega CD
genplus/roms/md for Mega Drive
genplus/roms/ms for Master System
genplus/roms/gg for Game Gear
genplus/roms/sg for SG-1000

Don't forget to reload the cache in WiiFlow.

The second way, which can be combined with the first or not, is to create an .ini file per console, that's an advanced usage I haven't covered in this tutorial.

Edit: it's not 4 but 5 times

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 21:51

I'll try

how do I reload the cache? Thanks

Post by **Ayatus** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 22:03

By pressing the house-shaped icon, you'll reach a page that lets you, among other things, reload the cache.

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 22:58

Thanks, otherwise I read in several topics found online that by changing the hexadecimal in genplusx's ini you could also do that, but where exactly do I need to change it in genplusx.ini?

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454741

Like, this code, I add 10 each time, 51 for SMS, 61 for megadrive, 71 for game gear, but is that all? Do I change it in genplusx.ini or do I need to create 5?

Post by **Ayatus** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 23:04

That's the second way, which is only useful when used together with the source menu.

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Fri 1 Feb 2013 23:38

Well nothing's changing

the games are still all mixed up....

Post by **Ayatus** » Sat 2 Feb 2013 00:06

Hence my request for context.

So it's about the cover display in WiiFlow when using the source menu (the page with big emulator icons).

So you need to create several .ini files, one per console, but also modify the source menu's config file.

Which theme are you using, where did you download the theme and the source menu?

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Sat 2 Feb 2013 00:50

I downloaded it with the pack you made... well actually I haven't explained myself well from the start lol that's what I meant to say... but how do I create several ini files?

for example here's the one for genplusx:

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454741
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.gen|.md|.smd|.sms|.gg|.sg|.zip|.iso|.bin
romDir=genplus/roms
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=GenPlusGX
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

which is in my sd/wiiflow/plugin....

I use this plugin for master system... the magic number is this one: 53454741

actually I read in your posts that you add +10 for another sega emulator for example: 53454751 for the megadrive... But when I do that once on the wii for the master system it works but for the megadrive it asks me to choose a partition etc... so it doesn't work..

I imagine I need to create a genplusgx.ini for each of my sega consoles, ok but where I get lost is how do I name them? like genplusgx2.ini, genplusgx3.ini??

and also when you say to "recreate" ini files where do I need to put them??

thanks in advance boss you're a huge help

An old retrogamer enthusiast

Post by **Ayatus** » Sat 2 Feb 2013 01:05

It's actually pretty simple, the +10 rule isn't current anymore and there's no particular naming convention for the .ini files.

Here's what I suggest:

For megadrive => genplus-gx_md.ini

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454741
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.gen|.md|.smd|.zip|.bin|.mdx
romDir=genplus/roms/md
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=Megadrive
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

For master system => genplus-gx_ms.ini

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454742
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.sms|.zip
romDir=genplus/roms/ms
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=Master System
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

For game gear => genplus-gx_gg.ini

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454743
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.gg|.zip
romDir=genplus/roms/gg
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=Game Gear
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

For sg-1000 => genplus-gx_sg.ini

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454744
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.sg|.zip
romDir=genplus/roms/sg
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=SG-1000
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

For mega cd => genplus-gx_cd.ini

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=53454745
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=genplusgx
fileTypes=.iso|.bin|.cue
romDir=genplus/roms/cd
dolFile=genplusgx-mod7.dol
bannerSound=sega.ogg
displayname=Mega-CD
consoleCoverID=sega
arguments={device}:/{path}/|{name}|{loader}

You'll need to adapt the source menu accordingly.

Post by **hulkmaniak** » Sat 2 Feb 2013 02:34

a HUGE THANKS!!! it works like a charm!! I feel like pushing my luck and bugging you again with two little questions to reach perfection with my maniac emulator/roms collection

-1: I use wiiflow with starnight as the theme and when I go into the sega master system or megadrive emulator I always get the games layout in mode 1 (the one that looks like a wall with all the game covers in the background...) but personally I prefer mode 7 for example... (where you scroll through the game boxes one by one) how do I make it so this display is always the one selected? I did try settings and save in "adjust coverflow" but nothing works, as soon as I exit the emulator and go back in it reverts to a box layout that doesn't suit me.. How do I save my choice (if that's possible)

-2: with fba neo how do I get the game recognized? in the ini file it tells me that the recognized files are .zip yet I have for example a rom: "fatal fury.zip" in the roms folder. is that how it should be stored? or should I extract it? if I extract it the problem is I end up with 7 or 8 neogeo files, should I extract the .zip into a folder that has the game's name??

Thanks again for your patience and kindness!!

it's been 10 days I've been struggling and thanks to you it took me 5 min!!!

Post by **Ayatus** » Sat 2 Feb 2013 02:54

WiiFlow doesn't remember the previously used coverflow. If you want emuflow 7 to be the default, you need to modify starnight.ini to swap it with emuflow 1.

For FBA NEO, you just need to place your .zip archive in the corresponding roms folder. It might support other extensions, you'll need to check retroarch's docs.

Post by **HarryPoster** » Wed 24 Jul 2013 19:09

Good evening.
Congrats on this tutorial.
I followed the discussion thread about genplus gx, that is creating "genplus-gx_md.ini" "genplus-gx_ms.ini" "genplus-gx_gg.ini" "genplus-gx_sg.ini" "genplus-gx_cd.ini".
I also ripped my roms into the right folders "md ms gg sg and cd."
But I'm stuck on "You'll need to adapt the source menu accordingly", is that about genplus-gx.ini, if so what do I
need to modify.
Thanks for your help.
I need to understand this so I can modify mplayer-ce afterward.

Post by **Ayatus** » Wed 24 Jul 2013 19:42

The source menu is another WiiFlow feature that you can do without.

Post by **HarryPoster** » Wed 24 Jul 2013 21:03

Good evening my dear Ayatus and thanks for your reply.
Looking into it a bit more I think I understand that the source menu is the page that lets me choose between wii, gamecube, the various plugins and mplayer-ce.
How do I remove from the menu the plugins I don't need and add the ones that could be useful to me???
How do I get wiflow to remember the plugins I've selected??? (e.g.: when I launch genplus-gx I select the Megadrive and Mega-cd plugins, back on the games page wiflow shows them but when I go back to the source menu and relaunch genplus-gx my games have disappeared.)

Post by **HarryPoster** » Thu 25 Jul 2013 18:56

Good evening.
I found the famous menu_source.ini which I edited to my needs.
Conclusion: this wiiflow is HUGE.
Thanks for your help.

Post by **HarryPoster** » Mon 5 Aug 2013 13:41

Hello.
Back with two small questions about the mplayerce plugin.
I created a folder named "Disney" at the root of my hard drive, in this folder I placed two videos "The Lion King" and "The Jungle Book", I also created an audio file that I called "intro-disney.ogg", in mplayerce.ini I changed the path to "Disney" and bannersound to "intro-disney.ogg".
When I'm on the source menu and launch mplayerce I do see my two videos and when I select a movie I get the intro-disney.
Here are my questions:
How do I change the plugin so that I get "intro-disney.ogg" when launching mplayerce and the music "The Lion King.ogg" when I select the Lion King?
Is that possible?
Thanks for your answers and suggestions.

Post by **Ayatus** » Mon 5 Aug 2013 18:02

It's possible, if and only if you create one ini per video.
To tell them apart, play with the displayname.

Post by **HarryPoster** » Wed 7 Aug 2013 11:12

Hello.
I slightly modified my Disney folder, I created a subfolder "The Lion King" in which I put my movie "The Lion King.avi, the audio file "The Lion King.ogg" and an ini file that I created "The Lion King.ini".
So for the movie the address is usb:/Disney/The Lion King/The Lion King.avi

Here's what I put in the "The Lion King.ini" file:
displayname=The Lion King
bannersound=The Lion King.ogg

The content of my "mplayerce.ini" file:
[PLUGIN]
arguments={device}:/{path}/{name}
bannersound=(I removed mplayerce.ogg)
consolecoverid=
covercolor=ffffff
coverfolder=mplayerce
displayname=MPlayerCE
dolfile=mplayerce-svn-r673.dol
filetypes=.avi|.mp4|.mkv
magic=4D504345
romdir=Disney

Of course it doesn't work because I don't really see what I need to put in the "The Lion King.ini" file and how to modify "mplayerce.ini" so it launches "intro-disney.ogg" (intro-disney.ogg which I put in the Disney folder)
A big thanks for your suggestions.

Post by **Ayatus** » Wed 7 Aug 2013 11:39

You're getting mixed up there.
There's no .ini file to place in the folder containing the video.
The .ini has to be placed in the plugins folder.
Here's an example for your video.

roi_lion.ini (avoid spaces in file names):

Code: Select all

[PLUGIN]
magic=4C494F4E
coverColor=000000
coverFolder=mplayerce
fileTypes=.avi|.mp4|.mkv
romDir=Disney/Le_roi_lion
dolFile=mplayerce-svn-r673.dol
bannerSound=Le_roi_lion.ogg
displayname=Le Roi Lion
consoleCoverID=
arguments={device}:/{path}/{name}

You'll notice that the "The Lion King" folder and the "The Lion King.ogg" file are renamed without spaces, and by the way the bannerSound .ogg files must be placed in the plugins folder.

[TUTORIAL] WiiFlow and plugins

[TUTORIAL] WiiFlow and plugins

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