Introduction: How to Add Custom Songs to Guitar Hero 3 (Wii) Part 2

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This is Part 2 of the below project. If you have already done Part 1, go to the next step. Otherwise, you can start Part 1 by going here.

In this instructable, we will use a handy program called The Ghost to inject custom songs into Guitar Hero 3 (or Areosmith) on Wii. These games may then be burned to a CD or put on a flash drive to be played on a soft or hard modded Wii. The instructions for modding your Wii and running/copying Wii ISO files can be found here (soft-modding Wii) and here (making/running backups). This instructable works for Windows XP. Also, read the disclaimer.


NOTE: A.C.E. has been kind enough to make an instructable on this topic already. This instructable is meant to address problems one might face and updates to the software. Also I did not write The Ghost, see The Ghost's official page here.

DISCLAIMER: AS WITH ALL WII HOMEBREW, BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR WII. I AM NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WII. ALSO, COPYING WII GAMES IS ILLEGAL. NUFF SAID. PERIOD.

Step 1: Run Wii ISO Tool

Okay, at this point, we can start modifying the actual Guitar Hero 3.iso file. Take your Guitar Hero 3.iso or Guitar Hero Aerosmith.iso and drop it in The Ghost's folder called "discs." Then, open up TheGHOSTWiiIsoTool.exe. In the window that comes up. We need to add the correct files to the blank fields. Look at the pictures below. Drag the .iso to the field ISO:, and drag the actual folder called "temp" to the field Working Folder: and select Wii GH3 or Wii GH Aerosmith depending on which version .iso you are using.

Next, go to the drop-down menu Presets: and select Compact ISO, and hit set. Then, scroll down into the area below where it says 1. Audio Blanking. Scroll down until you see 4. File Editing. Change RemoveUnusedFiles, RemoveUnusedLanguages, and RemoveUnusedPartition to Yes by clicking on No, and then the arrow to the right. Once that's done, you can change other settings If you know what you're doing. If not, I highly recommend leaving everything else alone (including the disc ID) so that we can be sure the ISO tool will work. The less variables are added to the process, the less can go wrong. After that, go to the bottom of the screen and hit Prep ISO. This will take a LONG time. Not three hours, but 20 - 30 minutes on a 0.9 GHz processor with 2 GB of RAM. It should work much faster with a better processor and more RAM.

NOTE: The ISO tool may (and probably will) stop responding and look frozen during the process. JUST BE PATIENT. Only kill it after it hasn't done anything for an hour. Even then, it may just be slow.

Step 2: Getting Started With the Ghost

First off, if the ISO tool really did lock up, try running it again. If that doesn't work, try one more time. Seriously, it may take a few tries. Once you get it to work, rename the .iso file in "discs" to something like guitar_hero_3_prepped.iso so you know what it is. This is not strictly necessary, just good for organization. Also, copy this file to your desktop or My Documents for safekeeping, in case you have a problem with The Ghost itself.

If all went well, you now have a Guitar Hero iso stripped of its useless data. Now open up TheGHOST.exe, and choose "Create a New Project." Save it somewhere (it doesn't have to be in The Ghost's folders) and give it a name you'll remember like Guitar_Hero_Custom so that you can identify it. Say no when it asks if you want to keep all added files; it's just a waste of space. The Ghost will then create a .tgp file where you saved the project and is ready to begin.

Step 3: Setting the Plugins

I don't really know what to call this step, it's just setting some settings. Again, look at the pictures for details. Most of the settings are already set, but it's good to check just in case. Project: should be greyed out, it refers to where the project .tgp file is saved. Next is the Working Folder: it's the same as before, just The Ghost's temp folder. The Game Location is your .iso file, just like before. Pick your game version, and set the language. Go to the three drop-downs, they should be Wii Scrubber, FFMpeg Plugin, and XBADPCM Plugin, respectively. Hit next when you're done. It'll show a black box with Extracting Core Files... when its done, proceed.

Step 4: Beginning to Replace Songs

As interesting as this screen looks, we need to pass it by. If you really want, you can change the background music and tier names here. Otherwise, just hit next. You should see a screen with a list of the songs currently in the .iso file. If you have already replaced any songs, they will show up here. We need to select the songs that will be replaced by the custom ones, so check the check mars next to as many songs as you have frets on fire songs for. If I have three folders for three frets on fire songs, check off three songs here. It doesn't matter which, just pick ones that you don't like. I find it helpful to pick ones all in the same tier for organization's sake. When finished, hit next.

Step 5: Replacing Songs

Now we can actually replace the songs we selected. Open up My Documents, The Ghost's Songs folder, or wherever you frets on fire song folders are located. Drag any individual song's folder to the "Smart Mode" icon. It'll say Importing Folder... It might take a while, but shouldn't freeze. The title and artist will change, and the little .wav file icons should turn blue. Don't worry if they don't! It's pretty unlikely that there should be a problem with this, unless your fof song folder was messed up. Press "Next." The next screen shows the difficulties mapped. All you need to do is see if you have one item in the middle box or many. If you have one, simply verify that there is one "X" in the bottom box, then hit "Smart Map," and all the "X"s should fill themselves in. If you have lots of things in the middle box, drag the corresponding difficulties to the difficulties below. If you're confused, just hit "Smart Map" and press "View..."

Step 6: Aligning Notes

The window that pops up will be used to align the notes to the audio. Press "Play" on the right side and turn your volume up. What we're going to change is the box left of "Play" called "Offset:". After you pressed play, the song should have started and notes should run along the bottom of the screen. The idea here is to make sure the notes hit the bar at the bottom-left of the window in time with the music. All you need to do is raise and lower the offset so that the notes hit the vertical white line in time with each beat of the music. Hit "OK" when you think you have it right.

NOTE: Some songs may be perfect to begin with and not need any tweaking.

Step 7: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

After you hit "OK" on the notes viewer, you should see the same screen as at the beginning of Step 5, only the Title and Artist at the top should have changed. Now all you need to do is repeat Steps 5 and 6 for the other frets on fire song folders. It should go something like this:

     + Drag fof folder to "Smart Mode"
     + Wait a bit
     + Press "Next"
     + Wait a bit
     + Drag any difficulties down to the bottom window
     + Hit "Smart Map"
     + Press "View..."
     + Hit "Play"
     + Align notes by changing offset
     + Press "OK"
     + Repeat. If you have three fof songs, you only need to do this process once more. If four songs,
        twice more.

Step 8: Create Audio, Notes, and Song Packs

Once you complete the previous Step's process for the last time, a new screen should appear as in the picture. This is the final step! Simply hit "Start" and the meter will fill up, and the area below will fill up with text. When it's done, a window will pop-up that says "Complete." Hit "OK" and then back on the original screen, press "Exit." Say yes when it asks if you want to save the project.

Step 9: Finish Up

For the last step, all we need to do is rename the .iso file you started out with. Navigate to the folder containing the original .iso file we ran the ISO tool on, and rename the .iso to something like guitar_hero_custom_final.iso. This is for organization, and you can now take the .iso and burn it to a disc or copy it to a flash drive with WFBS Manager.

Enjoy jammin' to a little Zeppelin or some Aerosmith!
Maybe even grab some of those Legend of Zelda tunes...