Hacking USB loader gx SD card support?

Super1710 · Jun 28, 2017

Is there any sort of modified USB loader gx with support for loading Wii games from an SD card? GameCube games load fine on the SD card but Wii games don't. I did switch to cfg loader but I prefer USB loader's UI and design in general. I don't mind wether it's for the original Wii or vWii, I could use it for both though.

Cyan · Jun 28, 2017

there's no existing mod.
it's not a simple change to do, as there are few place where USB is hardcoded. but it can be done if someone has time to look into it.

Funkymon · Jun 28, 2017

Would it be easier to change the hardcoding to just SD?

Cyan · Jun 28, 2017

why do that? SD is less compatible (some games don't work at all), smaller, more expansive, slower, etc.
I really don't get the interest in using SD for Wii games, when USB is the best choice.

it's not "easier" to change the source to replace the hardcoded USB to hardcoded SD.
it's as much work to "search where it's hardcoded", adding SD card choice is the easiest part.
it's not only an option in the loader to "list games from SD", this is very easy too. the tricky part is rewriting the WBFS library. like I said, it's possible and someone need free time to read and understand WBFS and other file system libraries.
even if it's on FAT32, it's actually using WBFS partition (a .wbfs game file IS a wbfs partition dump, containing only one game)

there are part where there is a switch to select whether WBFS code in the cIOS is mounting SD or USB.
something like : wbfs_mount(source, path, etc.)

the "source" argument has been replaced with "USB" instead of "source" variable.
you will have to locate all these mounting and accessing command and put the variable back.
if you find where all these commands are located, you could of course replace "USB" by "SD", but you'll again be stuck with a limited program while you could make both of them compatible at the same time.

Funkymon · Jun 28, 2017

Cyan said:
I really don't get the interest in using SD for Wii games, when USB is the best choice.

Because getting two hard drives working in both Wii and Wii U mode is a pain, especially if it's just a few Wii games.

Super1710 · Jun 28, 2017

Cyan said:
why do that? SD is less compatible (some games don't work at all), smaller, more expansive, slower, etc.
I really don't get the interest in using SD for Wii games, when USB is the best choice.

It was just for convenient to use my SD card, but I think I'll just buy a large USB

Cyan · Jun 28, 2017

Funkymon said:
Because getting two hard drives working in both Wii and Wii U mode is a pain, especially if it's just a few Wii games.

I know, but you can always connect/disconnect the one you need, when you use it.
there's different method to still keep two or three hdd at the same time and have all your setup working correctly.

lot of people asked me about such setup in PM, and I always answer in PM, many times.
one day, I (or someone else) should really make a public thread which will benefit more than one person at a time.
it's not hard, and works with wiiu+wii+gamecube+vWii emuNAND.
I'm not sure why people think it's hard and they need SD card for wii games when two working setup is possible. it's like it's taboo to have a good setup or make a tutorial for other people to follow.

all is question of correct plug order and cIOS version. when you understand what you installed and why, you know how to plug the drives to make everything working at the same time.

all you have to know is :
cIOS is mounting USB incrementally, while IOS 58 is doing it decrementally.

Funkymon · Jun 28, 2017

Cyan said:
one day, I (or someone else) should really make a public thread which will benefit more than one person at a time.

You really should make a post. I'm only considering SD because of how difficult it is to track down complete instructions for a working 2 hard drive setup.

Cyan · Jun 28, 2017

I should search in my PMs, but by memory it should be :

EDIT: https://gbatemp.net/posts/7216091 <-- look here for the proper guide, not my memory.
below guide is the original post I wrote here.

2 hdd setup :

USB 0 : WiiU drive
USB 1 : vWii drive, stealth'd
cIOS : d2x v10-alt
USBLoader : use 58 inside the loader

when using WiiU, it sees only WiiU drive
when using vWii, inside the loader with 58, it lists USB1 first (vWii) and lists all wii and gamecube games, then mounts WiiU drive but doesn't register it.
when using vWii with d2x, it mounts USB0 WiiU drive first (but doesn't register it in USB Loaders), then mounts vWii drive and loads the game from USB1.
when using vWii with IOS58 (nintendont), it mounts vWii drive first, and stops trying at first successfully found partition, so it never loads WiiU drive.
When using vWii with neek, ... I don't know, it should work too. I never tested it with wiiu drive connected, nor with vWii in port1.

pro : it works with a 2HDD setup
cons : you need v10-alt, which can be problematic with some HDDs. v10-alt doesn't work with emuNAND channels.

3 HDD setup :

USB0 : vWii drive, stealth'd, Wii games
USB 1 : HUB
HUB0 : WiiU drive
HUB1 : vWii drive, strealth'd, gamecube games
d2x : v10 (non alt)
USBLoader : use 58 inside the loader

when using WiiU, it sees only the WiiU drive (the only non stealth drive)
when using vWii, inside the loader with 58, it lists USB1/HUB1 first (vWii) then skip WiiU and then list USB0 Wii games. you see all wii and gamecube games
when using d2x, it mounts USB0 first, the HDD with Wii games, finds the game and use that drive. It doesn't work with HUB so doesn't try to mount USB1
when using vWii with IOS58 (nintendont), it mounts HUB1 first (remember, reversed order !), finds gamecube games and use it. it doesn't see USB1/HUB0 (which is mounted after HUB1) nor USB0

Pro : it's using v10, not the alt version. it means better compatibility, and there's a mod which works with EmuNAND + stealth hdd.
cons : 3HDD and hub setup

remember, I just wrote it quickly by memory. It may have errors, but should be logic enough to work.
I never tested it, I don't have a WiiU HDD. like said, it's based on (c)IOS logic mounting order.

september796 · Sep 27, 2017

still a pain... that's why I still use wiiflow

pasc · Aug 21, 2019

Not sure if I didn't see it here, or if it hasn't been found:

Alright, I figured out how to load Wii games off of the SD(HC) card instead of USB. Here's how for any future readers with the same problem:

USB Loader GX does not support loading Wii games from SD at all. Had to switch to Configurable USB Loader which works just as well (using Mod r65).

Launching Wii games though kept giving me an ID Mismatch / SetWBFS error and I followed this guide to fix it.

Now I can play Wii games off my large SD card because I am to cheap to buy an external HDD
https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/3nbbc1/load_backups_off_sd_card_with_usb_loader_gx/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/cfg-usb-loader-wii-u-forwarder.487914/

Hacking USB loader gx SD card support?

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