Okay, thanks so much guys for responding too!   The paths to the hacks that I am attempting add are as follows: "private/wii/app/RSBE/pf/fighter/mario/FitMario.pac" (<-- also includes the other files for the new mario skeleton, texture, etc.), "private/wii/app/RSBE/pf/menu/strap/StrapEn.pac".
The XML file for Riivolution is below:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<wiidisc version="1">
   <id game="RSB"/>
<options>
   <section name="Files">
      <option name="File Code Replacements">
         <choice name="Enabled">
            <patch id="filecode"/>
         </choice>
      </option>
   </section>
</options>
 <patch id="filecode">
   <folder external="/private/wii/app/RSBE/pfmenu2" disc="/menu2"/>
   <folder external="/private/wii/app/RSBE/pf" disc="/"/>
 </patch>
</wiidisc>

Hopefully that can get us closer to a solution?  

EDIT: Got it working with Riivolution v1.04! Love you guys

I am somewhat new to the Wii home brew scene, but I have set up my SD card (which I bought for the sole purpose of using Wii home brew) correctly so that it can load SSBB files. Riivolution ALWAYS freezes at the strap loader screen and Gecko OS just doesn't load the mods at all, even though I have the file patch code in use. I have tried looking all over the internet and have scoured tutorials, but it appears that I may not be able to enjoy the SSBB modding scene because I can't get anything to work. Any help would be appreciated, thanks, sad_soldier.