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Loading Custom Themes

There's two ways to load themes using aroma

No system file is modified by these plugins.

Loading with StyleMiiU-Plugin

What you need

  • StyleMiiU-Plugin.
  • A patched Men.pack, Men2.pack and/or cafe_barista_men.bfsar file.
    • If you do not have a patched menu file, follow Patching.

Installation & Usage

  • Copy the file stylemiiu.wps into SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins.
  • Create a themes folder in your wiiu folder on your SD card.
  • Inside the themes folder create a folder with the name of your theme.
  • Copy your patched Men.pack, Men2.pack and/or cafe_barista_men.bfsar files to the folder with the name of your theme.

A step to step guide on how to use it:

  1. Open the WUPS menu (L + ↓ + SELECT) and enter the StyleMiiU menu. Make sure StyleMiiU is enabled, otherwise it won't do anything.

  2. Enter the Available Themes option and you should see the folders that are in SD:/wiiu/themes/, showing up empty if no theme is present. Once there, set whatever theme you want to Current Theme. If no theme it's set, the Wii U's default home menu will be loaded.

  3. Once you exit the WUPS menu, the Home Menu should restart and once it gets restarted, your Home Menu will now have the theme you chose applied to it.

Extra Info

  • This plugin can detect Men.pack, Men2.pack and cafe_barista_men.bfsar automatically to make the theme have any folder structure you desire, like SD:/wiiu/themes/[ThemeName]/Men.pack , Men2.pack , cafe_barista_men.bfsar. SDCafiine's file structure is still compatible with this plugin.

  • Themes will only load from the SD:/wiiu/themes directory, if you used SDCafiine to load themes, it is recommended that you move all your themes from SDCafiine into the themes directory to avoid problems of both plugins trying to patch the Wii U Menu.

  • Additional files like AllMessage.szs do still need to be on their corresponding folder structure, for example: SD:/wiiu/themes/[ThemeName]/content/[TheLanguageToPatch]/Message/AllMessage.szs.

  • Shuffle themes: This option tries to mimic the 3DS' option of shuffling themes, you can use it by simply activating the option and then in Available Themes, select the themes you want to shuffle through. The themes will change every time you restart the console. If you disable this option, then the last theme you selected will become the default theme for it to fallback on.

  • If you happen to have installed an older version of this plugin, delete the previous theme_manager.wps and rename SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins/config/theme_manager.json to style-mii-u.json.

Loading with SDCafiine

What you need

  • SDCafiine Plugin.
  • A patched Men.pack, Men2.pack and/or cafe_barista_men.bfsar file.
    • If you do not have a patched menu file, follow Patching

Installation

  1. Download and extract the .zip file and copy the sdcafiine.wps file to SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins.

  2. For SDCafiine to load the files, you will need create the following folders:

    • Create an sdcafiine folder in your wiiu folder on your SD card.
    • Inside the sdcafiine folder create a folder with your Wii U Menu's title ID. This will vary on your consoles region:
      • USA: 0005001010040100
      • EUR: 0005001010040200
      • JPN: 0005001010040000
    • Inside your title ID folder, create a folder with the name of your theme.
    • Create a content folder inside your theme's name folder.
    • Create a Common folder inside your content folder.
    • Create a Package folder inside your Common folder.
    • Place your patched Men.pack and Men2.pack files inside of the Package folder.
    • Create a Sound folder inside your Common folder.
    • Create a Men folder inside your Sound folder.
    • Place your patched cafe_barista_men.bfsar file inside of the Men folder.

  3. Your final paths should be

    • SD:/wiiu/sdcafiine/[TITLEID]/[ThemeName]/content/Common/Package/Men.pack, Men2.pack

    and

    • SD:/wiiu/sdcafiine/[TITLEID]/[ThemeName]/content/Common/Sound/Men/cafe_barista_men.bfsar

Usage

  • Insert your SD card into your Wii U and boot into CFW.
  • Select your theme with the A button.

Credits to wiki.hacks.guide for the information in this section.

Success

You have successfully installed a Custom Theme on your Wii U.

If you want to use custom fonts, follow Fonts.

If you want to use a Splash Screen follow Splash Screen

Troubleshooting: Stuck on black screen/splash or bootlooping

Something is wrong with the theme you applied (Men.pack, Men2.pack).

  • Check if the file was patched correctly.
  • If your console is EUR, check if the theme is compatible.
European Consoles

European consoles have more language packs built onto the menu meaning the file size on themes needs to be smaller to work properly. This is more likely but not guaranteed to happen with unoptimized or themes with texture pattern animations.

Otherwise, you can:

For SDCaffiine
  • On the SDCafiine screen, press B to launch without a modpack.
  • Delete your theme from sd:/wiiu/sdcafiine/[TITLEID]/[ThemeName].
  • Delete the plugin SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins/sdcafiine.wps.
For StyleMiiU
  • Delete your theme: sd:/wiiu/themes/[ThemeName].
  • Delete the plugin config file: SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins/config/style-mii-u.json.
  • Delete the plugin: SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins/stylemiiu.wps.
Troubleshooting: Theme not loading

The files were not loaded correctly or no modifications were made to the Menu.

Check that you have installed the plugin
  • SDCafiine: SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins/sdcafiine.wps.
  • StyleMiiU: SD:/wiiu/environments/aroma/plugins/stylemiiu.wps.
Check that you patched the file correctly
  • The theme folder must contain the patched .pack files.
Check that you are using the correct path
  • SDCafiine: sd:/wiiu/sdcafiine/[TITLEID]/[ThemeName]/content/Common/Package/Men.pack, Men2.pack.
  • StyleMiiU: sd:/wiiu/themes/[ThemeName]/Men.pack, Men2.pack.
Check that your theme is selected

  • SDCafiine: Select the Modpack with your theme

  • StyleMiiU:

    • Open the WUPS menu (L + ↓ + SELECT) and enter the StyleMiiU menu. (Make sure StyleMiiU is enabled)
    • Enter the Available Themes option, you should see the folders that are in SD:/wiiu/themes/.
    • Set whatever theme you want to Current Theme.
    • Exit the WUPS menu.