Backing Up a copy of Melee for use through USB/SD

[TechMage299]

We all know that GC discs tend to be the most fragile things in the world, dang Metroid Prime disc. And Melee discs are becoming a real struggle to find, repair, and another word in context. So this guide will go over how you can backup your current Melee disc into .iso readable format from either USB/SD for your Wii(maybe Wii U's, not sure here, I'll check over it later.)
Disclaimer: For the SD and USB formats, many different options will work, the original(in this guide) did NOT work for ME.
It might have been the brand of USB or SD but the one did find to work(listed under *Mini FAQ*) was not listed anywhere else.
Disclaimer #2: I am not responsible for any damage done to anything during this process, but that is highly unlikely.
Note: This is technically legal, think of it as a digital backup.

Here's a guide to installing bootmii (or priiloader) so your Wii becomes unbrickable!! Yay!

Requirements:

1. Melee [1.02] iso
   1. You can get these in one of two ways:
   • Download a copy online (Note: If you own a physical copy of the game, it is legal)
   • Use CleanRip to make backups of existing games you have. The way it works is simple: You put the game you want to backup in the drive, follow on screen instructions, and it makes a digital copy(.iso, etc.) onto a selected external storage(>1.35GB depending on game, most GC's are about <2GB, but Brawl is >7GB)
2. A Modded Wii
3. A USB Drive (2GB or larger is fine, Melee .iso is ~1.3GB)
4. Windows Computer
5. 2GB SD, anything bigger will not work.
6. Dios Mios Booter, or any other launcher.(I suggest Dios Mios for mainly GC's)
7. Dios Mios (Lite is for loading games off SD)
   1. Note: The google code page renders weird or not at all on Chrome. Works in firefox.
   2. Note: I used Dios Mios version 2.8, but 2.10 should also work.
8. EaseUS Partition Master
9. DM-Tool
10. Dolphin Emulator
    • Optional: It makes testing for .iso's and junk so much easier.
11. WAD Manager and a bundle pack of WAD's in case Dios Mios wouldn't load for you.
12. Pimp My Wii
13. Some music for your entertainment.
14. A Brain.

Setting up your USB(You don't kneed to use EaseUS, instead you can just use the format option on your PC):

Insert your USB in your computer. Open EaseUS Partition Manager, and choose Partition Manager.
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Click on your USB drive, and then click Format on the left.
!!!!!!!! Triple check it's not your main drive !!!!!!!!!!
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After you click format, a dialogue will pop up. Name the USB whatever, make it Fat32, and make it 32kb clusters.
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Click OK, then click Apply in the top left, and click yes.
You should now have a clean USB drive. We need to make a folder on it, so let's do that.
Navigate to your USB drive location, in my case H:\, and make a folder on the root called 'games'.
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​

Putting the .iso in the USB:

Open DMToolBox.exe in the DM folder. In the top field, select the .ISO you downloaded. In the bottom folder, select your games folder on your USB. So for me it's H:\games.
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Note The format option works with either Raw or Optimized. If one doesn't work, try the other. Make sure it is 32k for align.
Click Install, and DMToolBox will do it's magic! It may take a few minutes.
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Congrats, your USB now has Melee properly placed on it. Make sure to eject it before disconnecting, and we're almost good to go.
​

Setting Up your SD Card:

First off, here's a list of brands of USB's and SD's that have been known to work with Homebrew and junk.
Here's how you want your SD card set up:​

Folder Locations:

dios_mios_booter: SD Root\apps\dios_mios_booter
WAD Manager: SD Root\apps\WAD Manager
wads: SD Root\wads
Clean Rip: SD Root\apps\Clean Rip
pimp_my_wii: SD Root\apps\pimp_my_wii​

Configuring the Wii:

Disclaimer: This next part can be a heavy duty trial and error for some, I know it was for me.
Note: If you are afraid you will brick your Wii, you can follow my guide to installing BootMii, which gives you an additional boot menu and recovery option, making your Wii unbrickable.​

1. Put your SD in your Wii, and your USB in the port closest to the edge of your Wii.
2. Load up the HBC.
3. Open up Pimp My Wii.(MAKE SURE YOUR WII IS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET)
4. Click on 'Perform the test and fix problems'.
5. Press A through all the text until network initialization, where you will press A once more.
6. It will give out your IP and press A again.
7. Some text about the trucha Wii's will pop up, just press 'A=No'
8. It will give you a diagnostic and keep Pressing A.
9. Press A to go to online installation and Install the necessities (they will say 'fail' but that's okay)
10. After the failed installations, you will be at the Main Menu.
11. Go to *wad*.
12. Press A to go through titles.
13. Press A to load your selected ios (should be 249) and Press A.
14. Your source will be 'Wii SD Slot' and Press A.
15. Go to your wad folder.
16. Install these in the following order:
    1. RVL-mios-v10.wad
    2. DIOSMIOS_2.10.wad (make sure it is NOT the Lite version, that's for SD loaders)
    3. RVL-BC-v6.wad (I didn't install this one to get it working, so I would hold this off until you get issues)
17. Now you can load up Dios Mios booter and select your Melee iso(GALE01) and the splash screen will open up with the GameCube logo. It will black out and load your game.
18. Voila!

Mini FAQ: Any question not listed in this FAQ, feel free to reply.
Q: I get a black screen and it stays like that.
A: There are many possible problems for this situation.

1) Install the original MIOS(RVL-mios-v10) and reinstall DIOS MIOS(DIOSMIOS_2.10 and then RVL-BC-v6) and it should work.
2) Your hard drive might not suitable for the job (I only got one of many of my USB to work.)
3) Try changing either formats when using DM Toolbox or changing your Hard Drive's Formatting.​

Q: My game has the longest loading times (not lagging) and sometime won't even load the stage!
A: Try changing from FAT32 to FAT(16) while still keeping 32kb clusters.

Q: I get "Fatal error: apploader size zero"!
A: I'm not too big on this one, you could try Googling this yourself, but the solution I found was that the USB wasn't compatible. Or you accidentally hit "Boot from Disc Drive" in the Main Menu.

Q: My game loads up but then crashes a couple minutes in and the music is still playing normally!!!!
A: This is another USB formatting issue, Trial and Error.

Q: What about the WAD Manager and all the other junk here that we didn't use?!?!?!?!!??!?!!??!?!?!?!??!
A: They're there for the 'just in case' scenario.

Q: My Wii turns off when I load Dios Mios Booter!!!
A: I had this issue too, I'm most certain there was something wrong with installation. Also this is the only problem that required going all the way back to installing WAD's and the sorts.

Q: I can't install EaseUS Partition Master for personal reasons, aka Family Computer.
A: Most Computers have the ability to format Storage Devices, in which case follow this Mini Guide:
Formatting USB's/SD's:

1: Click start, and then Computer
2: Right click your preferred storage device.
3: Click Format
4: Choose the FAT, kb clusters, and uncheck 'Quick Format'(this is important!!)
5: Wait until it's finished and set up your USB/SD.​

Extra Note: Remember that not all USB's work the same, like I stated before, I only got 1 out of 3 USB's working.
Most of the problems reside within the USB's and not the Wii or anything wrong with installation.

Credits: Most of the Guide is compiled from other sources on the webz.
Reddit user flusteredbygirls
Youtuber SonicNinja600

If anyone finds this guide to be wrong or not working at all in anyway, please speak up, I got 'Melee through USB' using another method myself.

One more thing, since you have a special MIOS installed, physical GC discs won't load until you reinstall the original MIOS(RVL-mios-v10) through the unused WAD Manager, under ios 249.

 

[Doq]

Ok, so I have a newer Wii. Would any of this work at all?

 

[TechMage299]

Ok, so I have a newer Wii. Would any of this work at all?

To MY own knowledge, I don't think so.

But I guess as long as there's a USB port, GC Controller, GC MemCard, and SD slot, it should work. Just be safe, you should have bootmii installed if you are going to test something out.

 

[Doq]

Nevermind. I figured it out using Nintendont and a PS2 controller.

e~ Y'know what? I'm gonna write up a guide for ^ this.

 

[aijaya]

i cannot thank you enough my friend ('x this is amazing and i thank you from the bottom of my heart. thank you so much!!!!!1 x'D

 

[Quillion]

I suggest you link to this thread and add a disclaimer that not all drives/ SD Cards will work. It will save some people the frustration.

 

[TechMage299]

I suggest you link to this thread and add a disclaimer that not all drives/ SD Cards will work. It will save some people the frustration.

Thanks, I was thinking of adding something similar but I wasn't able to find it again.

 

[Wooggle]

I followed your guide, and I was able to get the game to load up, but it took significantly longer to load the matches and the music was buggy.

Instead of taking around 3-5 seconds to load the match after selecting the stage, it took about 10 MINUTES to load the match, so it was basicaly unplayable. I was wondering if you knew why this was happening and how I could fix it.

Thanks!

As a side note, I had the same problem when loading the game from an SD card using Dios Mios lite


EDIT: I figured it out, I was doing a quick format instead of a full format before, and now it works!

 

[TechMage299]

I followed your guide, and I was able to get the game to load up, but it took significantly longer to load the matches and the music was buggy.

Instead of taking around 3-5 seconds to load the match after selecting the stage, it took about 10 MINUTES to load the match, so it was basicaly unplayable. I was wondering if you knew why this was happening and how I could fix it.

Thanks!

As a side note, I had the same problem when loading the game from an SD card using Dios Mios lite


EDIT: I figured it out, I was doing a quick format instead of a full format before, and now it works!

Yeah, try to not use quick format for anything, it never works.