FCEUX is a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Famicom, Famicom Disk System (FDS), and Dendy emulator. It supports NTSC (USA/JPN), PAL (European), and NTSC-PAL Hybrid modes. FceuGX Version: - Dol Forwarder for fceuGX for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/fceugx): Download-Genplus Version: - Dol Forwarder for Genplus for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/genplus): Download - Download a wad with injected Forwarder.

Part 2 of this guide is now available! Click here to read it.

You can do so much with an old Nintendo Wii! I’ve already covered why the Wii is the best system out of which to build a retro game console. And I’ve put it to the test by building one myself. Now I’m going to talk about a key application that is incredibly useful when it comes to Wii hacking. In this article we’re going over how to install WiiFlow.

What is WiiFlow?

WiiFlow is a program for running games off a USB drive or SD card on a Nintendo Wii. You can install WiiFlow as a homebrew application after some simple Wii hacking. It’s great for running both Wii and GameCube games, as well as games from any retro emulator on the Wii. You could even use it to launch Wii channels or homebrew apps. WiiFlow has a very useful and customizable interface that lets you select your game by cover and sort them however you want.
Also, thanks to a tool called Priiloader, a Wii can be set to boot directly into WiiFlow. As a result, WiiFlow can be your standard interface without the need for the Wii home menu! This is ideal for setting up a Wii as a retro game console and/or for running emulators. You can have all your games in one place as soon as you turn your console on.

What You’ll Need to install WiiFlow

Hardware:

• SD Card
• USB Hard Drive (optional)
  • If you’re not using one, make sure your SD card has enough space to store all your games and emulators.
• Hacked Wii with Homebrew Channel and Priiloader
  • This is easy to do if you haven’t yet. Follow this guide here (use the Letterbomb method).

Stuff to Download:

Don’t worry if some or all of this stuff confuses you. All will be explained!

• WiiFlow
• Tools:

Other things to download that will not be covered in this section (but perhaps in future sections):

• WiiFlow Masterpiece Pack by Abz
  
• Emulators
  • Here’s what I recommend:
    • FCEUGX (NES)
      Snes9xGX (SNES)
      Not64/Mupen64 (N64)
      Nintendont (GameCube – not exactly an emulator, but definitely include it if you want to play GameCube games)
• Optional WiiFlow stuff:
  • Themes (make sure it’s compatible with at least WiiFlow version 4)
  • My Wii Virtual Console sounds for WiiFlow
    

Other Stuff:

Games! This guide assumes the user already has a collection of legally-attained game ROMs and ISOs for the games to play. A future part of this guide will cover what to do with these games. However, this article will only focus on how to install WiiFlow itself.

SD Card/HDD setup

This is where you will be storing all your games and the emulators that run them, as well as WiiFlow.
All this can be done on either an SD Card or HDD. You could use both, just make sure not to duplicate the same things on both drives. And for emulators, be sure to install games on the same drive as each emulator. For this article I’m going to recommend installing homebrew apps such as WiiFlow on the SD card, and games and emulators on your USB drive. If you don’t have a USB drive, you can just do everything on your SD card as long as there’s enough space.

Both drives must be formatted to FAT32. This can be done with the nifty little tool you downloaded called GUI Format. Obviously, don’t reformat your SD card if you already did so to hack your Wii – it’s already good to go.
Installing games will not be covered in this article, but a USB HDD will be useful for when you do so after you install WiiFlow.

WiiFlow Setup: Part 1

Fceugx Forwarder Channel

How does everything work?

WiiFlow is installed as a homebrew application, meaning it will be accessible through the Homebrew Channel. Another program that comes along with it is the WiiFlow channel installer, which will allow you to access it from the Wii home menu if desired. This isn’t necessary, but it is convenient.

Wiiflow’s filesystem

The files for WiiFlow are stored in 2 places on your SD card – the apps folder (where all homebrew applications are stored), and then the wiiflow folder, which includes a lot of data like configuration settings and plugins.

What are plugins?

Oh yeah, plugins! This feature of WiiFlow enables it to work directly with emulators. You can access your retro emulated games directly through the interface just like with Wii and GameCube games, instead of having to open the emulator first.
The downside is that the plugins require a lot of configuration. But that’s why this guide is here – to make this process as simple as possible! This will be covered in the “games” section, which is not part of this guide, but will be in future parts!

Let’s Install WiiFlow!

Alright, the part of the guide where you start doing stuff with all those files you’ve downloaded!
1) Create a “wiiflow” folder in the apps folder on your SD card. Extract “wfl_as_wiflow.zip” to SD Card apps/wiiflow folder .
You should end up with this result:

2) Extract WiiFlow Channel Installer to SD Card apps folder
Your result should look like this:

3) Eject your SD card and insert it into the Wii. Run WiiFlow from the Homebrew Channel.
This is your first-time setup that should get you other remaining files you need on the SD card. You’ll be able to change the look, theme, and layout of the interface later; but for now let’s focus on setting everything else up.

4) Exit back to the Homebrew channel and then run the WiiFlow Channel Installer. Select “Install Channels” and then “Quit Installer.” Then, exit the Homebrew Channel back to the System Menu, and you should see a newly installed WiiFlow channel. The program also installed the Hidden WiiFlow Channel, which allows programs to return directly to WiiFlow after exiting.

Ta-da! Next up, Part 2…

You now have WiiFlow installed and running on your Wii! This concludes part 1 of this guide. Adding games and configuring WiiFlow is covered in the next one. Click here to read the Wiiflow Guide: Part 2!
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I’ll be sure to help you out!

Further reading:The Ellis Workshop’s Wii Hacking Guide

A while ago I posted an idea for a GeeXboX channel in the 'Custom Channels' thread. The idea was to have a little app that automatically loads the GeeXboX elf from the SD. This little app could be injected into a channel. I development such a little app (with the help of svpe and by using some of his functions, thanks svpe!).
Then I went on and developed Forwarders for other apps.
There is also a generic Elf/Dol Forwarder which can be configured to load a desired elf/dol from a config file, soon a Media/Emu/Tools Forwarder (combining the different Wii apps) and Forwarders for specific apps such as the mentioned GeeXboX and MPlayerWii, so they can be injected into a wad and installed.
Benefits:
- GeeXboX Channel (and of course others) possible through forwarding GeeXbox's boot.elf
- No injection of a dol needed when an app/emu is updated through Homebrew Browser
- Less Wii memory storage is used when using Forwarders, because the app's boot.dol stays on sd. Example: MPlayerWii's boot.dol is approx. 5MB, where the MPlayerWii Forwarder is under 1MB!
Releases:
Elf/Dol Forwarder Channel v0.2.1 for general use:

Media Forwarder Channel v2:

Emulator Forwarder Channel:

Fceu Gx Forwarder Wad

Fceugx Forwarder

Tools Forwarder Channel:

GeeXboX Channel Version:

MPlayerWii Versions:

Emulator Versions:

Homebrew Browser Version:
- Dol Forwarder for the awesome Homebrew Browser for injencting into your own wad (loads boot.dol from /apps/homebrew_bowser): Download
- Download with included wad without sound (Banner by Blue-K, packed by djdynamite123): Download
- Download with included wad with sound (Banner by Blue-K, packed and sound by djdynamite123): Download
Preview:
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Gecko OS Version:
- Dol Forwarder for Gecko OS with included wad (loads boot.dol from /apps/geckoos_cf): Download
Preview:
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WAD Manager Version:
- Dol Forwarder for the WAD Manager with included wad (loads boot.dol from /apps/WADManager): Download (Mirror)
Preview (Banner by Blue-K):
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SoftChip Version:
- Dol Forwarder for SoftChip for injecting into wads (loads loader.dol from /SoftChip): Download
- Download a wad with injected Forwarder (thanks WiiShizzza): Download (Mirror)
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Pong2 Version (fixed):
- Dol Forwarder for Pong2 for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/pong2): Download
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Quake Version:
- Dol Forwarder for Quake for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/quake): Download
- Download a wad with injected Forwarder (thanks kevenz): Download
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DMP Version:
- Dol Forwarder for DMP for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/dmp): Download
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FTPii Version:
- Dol Forwarder for FTPii for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/FTPii): Download
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Linux Kernel Version:
- Elf Forwarder for the Linux Kernel with included wad (loads boot.elf from /apps/linux-kernel): Download
Preview (Banner by Iron Mask):
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BootDisc/Autoboot Version:
- Dol Forwarder for BootDisc purposes for injecting into wads (loads autoboot.dol from /BootDisc): Download
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Gamecube Backup Launcher Version:
- Dol Forwarder for Gamecube Backup Launcher for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/GC_Backup_Launcher): Download
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USB Loader Version:
- Dol Forwarder for waninkoko's USB Loader for injecting into wads (loads boot.dol from /apps/USBLoader): Download
Sources: