ShowMiiWads - Frequently Asked Questions

Question:

How do I add folders?

Answer:

Either use the menu ('File -> Open') or drag one or multiple folders and or wad files onto the application.
You can choose to add all subfolders that contain wad files through 'Options -> Add Subfolders'

Question:

What exactly do the columns mean?

Answer:

Filename - The name of the wad file
Type - The type of the channel, can be either a System Title (IOS, Menu, ...) or a Channel (System Channel, 'Normal' Channel, ...)
Channel Title - The title displayed when holding the Wiimote cursor over a channel icon, stored in 7 different languages in each wad
Title ID - The unique ID with which the channel will be installed, for IOS wads it's the IOS nr.
Blocks - The approx. Blocks the wad will use on NAND
Version - The version of the wad file
Filesize - The approx. size the wad will use on NAND
IOS Flag - The IOS that is required by the channel to run - If you don't have this, chances are good your channel won't work
Region Flag - The region of the wad file
Content - The amount of content files inside the wad
Path - The path where the wad will be installed to on NAND - This is the Title ID in bytes

Question:

Some wads in my folder won't be displayed?

Answer:

If a wad file is corrupted or damaged, so that it can't be read properly,
it just won't be displayed.
This doesn't mean that every wad file which is not displayed is corrupt.
It could be an error with the application or something.

Question:

No Channel Title is displayed at all?

Answer:

It might be that you don't have the (common-)key.bin in the application directory. Use 'Tools -> Create Common-Key' to create it and refresh. Also consider that System Wads and Hidden Channel don't have Channel Titles.

Question:

Why is the size a range for some wads?

Answer:

The Wii uses shared contents, meaning that some wads use exactly the same content files.
Having that files multiple times on NAND would be a waste of space, thus these contents are stored in /shared1/.
Now, the smaller size suggests you already got all shared contents required by the wad file in your /shared1/ folder (so only non-shared contents will be installed,
while the bigger size suggests that you got none of them (so all contents will be installed).

Question:

What's the Common-Key and where can I get it?

Answer:

The Common-Key is needed to decrypt the Title Key of a wad file, which is used to decrypt the content.
You can simply create it using 'Tools -> Create Common-Key.bin'.
The Common-Key itself is NOT stored in the application. It's built using your input and some bytes that are stored encrypted.

Question:

How can I see what a Banner or Icon of a wad looks like?

Answer:

Right-click the wad and 'Preview' to see the Banner and Icon images.

Question:

How can I see the installed titles of my NAND Backup?

Answer:

First, set the Path to your NAND Backup ('Options -> Change NAND Backup Path'), it will be saved in the config, so you only need to do this once.
Then just click 'View -> ShowMiiNand'.

Question:

How can I install titles to my NAND Backup?

Answer:

In ShowMiiWads: Right-click a wad an choose 'Extract -> To NAND'.
In ShowMiiNand: Either use the menu or the installation queue by dragging wads or folders onto the ShowMiiNand window.
'Install' and 'Discard' will appear at the bottom of the window.

Question:

How can I delete titles from my NAND Backup?

Answer:

Just right-click any installed title and use 'Delete'.

Question:

How can I pack a wad from a title on my NAND Backup?

Answer:

Right-click the title and use 'Pack To Wad'. Of course, all required shared contents must be in the /shared1/ folder.

Question:

What's the difference between 'Pack Wad' and 'Pack Wad (without Trailer)'?

Answer:

Most custom channels distributed on the internet have a footer inserted in the wad file.
This is the so called 'trailer'. Mostly the 00.app is stored in it's decrypted form there.
It's just a waste of space, so you can use the 'Pack Wad (without Trailer)' function to save some discspace.

Question:

What's the 'Unpack U8 Archive' function for?

Answer:

The Wii uses so called 'U8 Archives' (Not an official name).
The common U8 Archives we have to deal with are the '00000000.app', 'banner.bin' and 'icon.bin' and 'opening.bnr' (discs).
Visit the WiiBrew Article for further information: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/U8_archive

Question:

What's the 'Convert Tpl To Png' function good for?

Answer:

If you have a Tpl somewhere and want to know what it looks like, just convert it to a Png.

Question:

I changed a wads region, but only get a blackscreen when running it

Answer:

Region changing of wads won't always work - Better get a wad of your region.

Question:

I think I discovered a bug, what now?

Answer:

Please be sure that it's not a corrupted wad file.
If it really seems to be a bug with ShowMiiWads, report it here: http://code.google.com/p/showmiiwads/issues/list