^Probably means that your XML isn't functioning properly....... What is "meta" for? Lemme think...... Sometimes Riivo didn't read my SD card so try it again. Otherwise..... lemme see exactly what's in the riivolution folder. wait, I have an idea. Do you have a folder called config the the riivo folder?

Yup, you can remove it all and it won't install a channel unless you want it. . And I was tryin' to say that the channel was optional, but i failed there, I guess.
And HERE.

I linked to it a while back, you must have missed it. It's at the top of the page in the link.

EDIT: crap, i forgot, yeah it goes in the root.

^I hate typing on the DSi, especially when I don't have my stylus. X_X
And also, yeah he'll go flying if you use it off the edge of the stage.

Private stays, it needs to be there for your snapshots etc. Riivo's boot.elf should be in the link I gave you, it's in the same folder as the rest of the stuff.
And also, I feel your pain, man.

st al and rp stay in the private section, they almost never change location. DS_STORE files are only used in compression if I recall correctly, they don't have any purpose so no you don't need them. You only need Riivo's boot.elf. Not sure about gameconfig, but I doubt you would need it as Riivo doesn't use the File patch code. And it's fine, it took me forever to learn these things by myself, so asking questions is no problem.

^I meant that everything was correct 'cept for the common5 thing. And your welcome.

^Correct for the most part. Remember that Sc_Selchar freezes with Riivo, so you need to use common5. I put that in Brawlmods/Textures/System.

^Yeah. You can edit them to your liking as well.

I'm not entirely sure, as I've never tried it myself, but check this out: http://rvlution.net/wiki/RiiFS
It'll probably confuse you though. :/

Those are alternate XML's. While they follow the format of the file patch code, they lack support for some files. Plus Bionic's XML is more versatile. You never need an internet XML unless you want to use one.

^You don't need an internet XML, the only one I ever used was the smashmods one. The one I linked you is the standard Brawl one though, yeah.

^Yeah, that'll do. And Here ya go.
And the internet XML's are only for when you want to try something out, like if you wanted to play Brawl- without donwloaded the whole thing you could just "Stream" it to your wii. You could also set one up that connects to your computer, and when you update your files they're updated in-game as well.

Just download BionicSonic's XML. I can upload it if necessary.  And no, custom stages aren't available unless you install the channel.
And I'm not sure about filesize limits, I've never bothered to check. Just know that you'll need to put Sc_Selchar/map.pac into a common5.pac or else Riivolution won't load it.

Yeah, just follow the placing guide, as some things are still slightly different.
You take the .xml and put in a folder in the root of your SD called riivolution. Just put it in there, doesn't matter what you name it. Keep it an .xml though.

Time to test!
I'll update this post with feeback.

Alright, here it is.

First of all, i'd like to say that the animations are fantastic. They're quite smooth, especially the side tilt, that's my personal favorite. But the walk slow animation's kinda awkward, his right foot takes a larger stride than the left.Now on to the moveset.
AAA Combo: Looks great, but maybe decrease the damage a bit, 22 is a tad much.
Side tilt: Nothing wrong here.
Side Smash: Lacking in range, but the damage makes up for it.
Up Tilt: Just fine.
Up Smash: Maybe decrease the damage a tad.
Neutral B: CHIDORIIIII! Anyway, Loving it, great animation.
Side B: Good, but you might wanna consider giving it a bit more range.
Aerials are fine.
Once again, I really love the animations, keep up the good work.

Overall, it's really good for a beta. keep it up.