GameCube Games Folder Structure for USB Loader GX and Nintendont

Most “my GameCube games do not show up” problems are not broken downloads or broken loaders. They are folder problems. Nintendont — the application USB Loader GX hands GameCube games to — looks in exactly one place, with exactly one file name, and USB Loader GX uses the same layout to build its GameCube library. Get the structure right and games appear with correct names and covers; get one character wrong and a perfectly good backup stays invisible. This guide gives the exact layout, the two-disc rule, and what each GameCube file type means.

If Nintendont itself is not installed yet, do that first with our Nintendont setup guide, and make sure the loader is current from the Download page. This page is purely about how the game files themselves must be arranged.

The Exact Structure

On the SD card or USB drive that holds your GameCube games, the layout at the root of the first partition (which must be FAT32, or exFAT) is:

• /games/ — one folder at the device root, spelled exactly games, lower case.
• /games/Game Name [GAMEID]/ — one subfolder per game. The name part is for you; the six-character Game ID in square brackets is what GX and GameTDB use to identify the game for its correct title and cover art. Example: /games/The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker [GZLE01]/
• /games/Game Name [GAMEID]/game.iso — the game image itself, renamed to exactly game.iso, whatever it was called originally.
• /games/Game Name [GAMEID]/disc2.iso — only for the second disc of a two-disc game, placed in the same folder as game.iso.

Step by Step: Adding a Game Correctly

1. Start from your own backup. Rip or use a backup of a game you own. A clean, full GameCube ISO is 1.35 GB for a single disc; a much smaller file is either a compressed/scrubbed format (see below) or an incomplete dump.
2. Find the Game ID. The six-character ID (for example GM4E01 for the US release of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!) is stored inside the image and listed on GameTDB. GX can also read it from the image itself, but including it in the folder name makes identification — and therefore covers and correct titles — far more reliable.
3. Create the folder. Inside /games/, create one folder per game using the pattern Name [ID]. Keep the brackets and the ID exactly as shown; do not add disc numbers or region notes inside the brackets.
4. Rename and copy the image. Rename the image to game.iso and place it inside that folder. For a two-disc game, rename the second disc to disc2.iso and place it in the same folder — never in a second game folder of its own.
5. Refresh GX. In USB Loader GX, make sure the GameCube source is enabled in the filter menu, then let the loader rescan. The game should now appear; download its cover with the method in our covers and GameTDB guide.
6. Launch once and let Nintendont create its files. The first launch creates the emulated memory card file alongside the game. After that first successful run, leave those generated files alone — deleting them deletes your saves.

File Types You Will Meet: .iso, .gcm and .ciso

.iso is the standard GameCube disc image and the format this structure assumes. If your backup is a full ISO, game.iso is all you need. .gcm is an older GameCube image extension from early dumping tools; the data is essentially the same kind of image, and for this layout the practical approach is to treat a genuine full-size .gcm as an ISO — place it in the game folder renamed to game.iso. .ciso is a compressed ISO: compression removes the padding data from the image to save space. Nintendont can read compressed images, but a compressed image must still follow the same folder and naming rules, and some homebrew tools are fussier about compressed images than about plain ISOs. When in doubt — and especially when a game misbehaves — a plain, full ISO is the baseline to test with before blaming the loader.

How This Differs from the /wbfs/ Folder

Wii games and GameCube games live in completely separate structures, and mixing them up is the second most common layout mistake. Wii backups belong in a /wbfs/ folder, usually managed by Wii Backup Manager, stored as .wbfs files (or split .wbfs/.wbf1 pairs on FAT32) inside their own Name [ID] subfolders. GameCube games belong in /games/ as game.iso. A GameCube ISO dropped into /wbfs/ will not be listed as a GameCube game, and a Wii game placed in /games/ will not be listed as a Wii game. The two loaders-within-the-loader genuinely do not look in each other’s folders. Keep both trees on the same drive if you like — just keep them separate.

Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

Game missing from the GX list? Work down this list before re-downloading anything: the GameCube source filter is enabled; the folder is at the root and spelled games; the image inside is named exactly game.iso; the device’s first partition is FAT32 or exFAT; the image is a complete backup (a truncated copy from an interrupted transfer is a classic cause); and GX has been restarted or rescanned since the files were added. Nine times out of ten, one of those six checks is the whole fix. If games list correctly but fail to start, the problem has moved from layout to Nintendont itself — return to the Nintendont setup guide and test the same game by launching Nintendont directly from the Homebrew Channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the folder name have to include the Game ID in brackets?

Strictly, Nintendont mainly needs game.iso inside a subfolder of /games/. But the [ID] in the folder name is what USB Loader GX and GameTDB use to identify the exact game and region, which drives correct titles and cover art. Always include it — it costs nothing and prevents misidentified games.

Where does the second disc of a two-disc game go?

In the same folder as the first disc, renamed to disc2.iso. Do not create a separate folder for disc two and do not name it game2.iso. Nintendont handles the disc swap using that exact file name.

Can GameCube and Wii games share one drive?

Yes. Keep Wii games under /wbfs/ and GameCube games under /games/ on the same FAT32 (or exFAT, for the GameCube side) partition. The loaders read their own folders and ignore the other one.

Related Guides

• Nintendont in USB Loader GX — Full Setup
• Covers and GameTDB in USB Loader GX
• Loading Wii Games from SD Card
• Install USB Loader GX on Wii

New to the loader itself? Start with the USB Loader GX Setup Guide hub and get the current files from the Download page.