Hacking USB Loader GX

[TecXero]

Cyan, maybe it simply compiled wrong. Once in a great while (like once every couple of years) I'll get a bad compiled program. Generally, just trying to compile it again works. I've noticed it with toolchains that are anything less than perfect.

 

[Cyan]

yes, it's probably just a wrong compile.
I'll re-do it (or someone with that issue should rebuild it to see if it fix it)

 

[roo1234]

I dont know for others, but it seems the latest nintendont release fixed the freeze for good. Never happened to me again.

 

[Cyan]

so it was an issue with nintendont? (as it froze INSIDE nintendont and not in the loader, that would make sense, but it never triggered with r1255)
I'll check the sources to see what Fix fixed

edit:
only the widescreen patch function (shouldn't be related)
and the memory card creation function (could be the issue?)

did it froze only on new game, or also on games with an already existing memcard?
if it happened whether the card was present or not, then it's maybe just coincidence, you didn't trigger the bug in your last launches, that's all.


I'll probably release r1258 this weekend so there will be a recompile to test with nintendont issue.
I have the changes for few weeks now but didn't commit yet, because I wanted to fix network issue first, but it will wait.

 

[Shiranui-san]

did it froze only on new game, or also on games with an already existing memcard?

For me, GX v1256-57 + Nintendont v371 was freezing with games I was playing at that time, so virtual memory card file was present on my hdd. I then reverted back to GX v1255 and never froze again. After a few days, I updated GX from 1255 to 1256-57 again and everything was working fine this time. Last change I made was updating Nintendont to v372, everything keeps working fine.

 

[Cyan]

maybe just a wrong combination
at least, now users can update to current official release (1256) to prevent having the update prompt after each boot.

 

[Clutz450]

Now that we have neek2o support in USB Loader GX (and I finally got it working for myself ) I was wondering what's the best settings I should be using. (I know "best" is subjective depending on the user but you know what I mean.) Let me explain my setup and you tell me if I should do anything different.

My Wii is modded with the help of ModMii. I originally used the Softmod Any Wii Guide by Mauifrog but then used the syscheck feature in ModMii to update the few files it told me to. I also used ModMii to create a neek2o emunand as well and then used ShowMiiWads to install all my WiiWare and VC games to it.

I am using version r1255 of USB Loader GX (I've been reading about issues with the newer versions so I plan to stay here for now).

In my global settings I have EmuNand Channel and Saves set to Full. Most of my Wiiware and VC games worked fine this way so I only chose the Neek option on a game by game basis. Is it good to do it this way or now that we have neek2o support should I change the global settings to use neek for all my WiiWare and VC games?

I also noticed that when I exited a WiiWare or VC game using neek it restarted my Wii. If I remember correctly this is intentional. So to get me back into USB Loader GX after I exit a game I changed the settings in PriiLoader to autoboot the USB Loader GX Forwarder on a Wii startup. I believe this is the ideal way and everything seems pretty seemless right now. Please correct me if there is something better.

I think that's basically it. I can provide more info on my setup or a syscheck if that helps at all but I didn't feel it was necessary. Thanks.

 

[Cyan]

1256 issue was only reported by some users, with an old version of nintendont.
so choose : 1255 + old nintendont, or 1256+latest nintendont.
Sorry, I said I would release 1258 this weekend, but didn't do anything. I should really stop to give predictions!

"EmuNAND save" is affecting Wii disc based games, and it's used to save on emuNAND instead of the console. if that's what you want, that's fine to use "full" here, but note that not all games will work (Zelda, metroid, etc.)

it's good to enable neek only on incompatible games.
I think it's easier, even more if you like to exit back to the loader (using "return to" option, which work only with emuNAND full, not with emuNAND neek)

like you noticed, reloading to the loader when exiting neek require Priiloader, because exiting neek is done only with a reboot.

So, your setup is all correct, except maybe the "EmuNAND Save" which I wouldn't set to Full.
I would keep it to OFF and save wii games and use Mii and wiimote and network settings from the NAND instead of the one from EmuNAND.

Network might not even work if you enable EmuNAND mode. so keeping EmuNAND save OFF is maybe better?
some users prefer saving Wii games to SD or USB.
You can set a different path for both EmuNAND Save and EmuNAND Channel if you want
for example, neek2o would be on USB:/nands/nand1/, and Wii savegame could be on SD:/nand/
it will prevent corrupting one NAND and losing data with both content. (talking about risk, but it's always better to think of possibility before it happens)

If you use "EmuNAND Save" to FULL, then be sure that you have a full NAND dump.
partial is fine without a full dump, only the savegame files are stored on that path, but if you use FULL, then you need a full dump because it reads all files from that path (sysconf, wiimote, mii, etc.)

 

[Clutz450]

Thanks for the tips. Now I have a problem (unrelated to my last post). I'm setting up a Wii for a friend of mine and I have his Wii set up identical to mine except I made the changes you recommended above. Now I am trying to download all the covers, discs, custom banners, etc. but it's not working. Like I press button 1, it says I am missing over 2,000 images and I press ok to start downloading. It only downloads a few images before it looks like it freezes and then the bar quickly moves from about 1% to 100% and tells me I am still missing over 2,000 images minus the ones it actually downloaded. So I press button 1 to try again but when I press ok to download it doesn't even try to download anything and tells me that it couldn't find any of the images on the server. I have to restart USB Loader GX in order to get it to start downloading again but it still only downloads a few and says nothing else could be found.

I haven't done a whole lot of testing with this yet to see if this happens on an older version but I thought I would mention it in case it's a problem you know about. When I get a chance I will try out a few other things and let you know what I find out.

 

[Cyan]

the download freeze is a known issue, and is present since I added SSL support in r1253.
I think I broke something, but I still don't know what.
That's what I meant few post above when I said I wanted to release the next version with the network fix.

but your issue seems different, you are saying that it freeze after some downloads, but always tell you the same missing number?
please, use version 1252 to download covers, it should fix your issue.

sorry I didn't have time (and will) to check that issue properly yet.
Sometime I wish I wasn't alone working on the loader and fixes could be done automatically by other devs haha

anyway, thank you for reporting issues
that's always good to know what's working or not.

Someone else reported issue with "Game's Title missing on EmuNAND", and found that it's only since r1247.
That's the revision I added a check for channel's tickets without content (officially deleted channels still retain their tickets), but I guess I messed up (again).
I'll fix that too, or probably revert the changes.

 

[Magnus87]

sorry I didn't have time (and will) to check that issue properly yet.
Sometime I wish I wasn't alone working on the loader and fixes could be done automatically by other devs haha

No problem Cyan!. You did too much for ULGX, Its the best loader for v/Wii

 

[Clutz450]

@Cyan So I made a few videos to show you exactly what I am seeing on my end when trying to download the artwork files. I also think I found another bug related to this. It seems that if I try to update USB Loader GX after my download of the artwork fails that the update doesn't work either. Please forgive the quality of the video or for them being broken up into 4 videos. I took them using my cell phone and it's the best I could do with them. The links are as follows and are located in the spoiler (I didn't realize that it would post the actual video in the thread. lol):

Spoiler

Part 1 -
Part 2 -
Part 3 -
Part 4 -

I hope you find these helpful and not a waste of your time. Please let me know if there is anything else you'd like me to test. I'd be more than happy to help you out any way I can.

 

[szczuru]

Hi Cyan, is there any chance to add batch wad install for emuNAND?

 

[Cyan]

hello szczuru

it's possible to add, yes.
easy to add "install all wads from that folder", but it will require more work to select only some of the files from a folder to install (in case you only want some, for any reasons).
I'm sorry, I don't know when I'll do it. I'll try to do it if it's not hard, but if I encounter difficulties I will postpone it for later.

I haven't touched the loader for a month. I wish I could be more helpful to everyone, but I'm also trying the recent WiiU hacks, or just watching TV series the evening.
I usually work on the loader by period, a month I'll work on it exclusively, then nothing for days until I get back to it

@Clutz450:
Thank you for taking the time to do all these videos.
I'm still watching them.
I will probably revert the revision before SSL was added and commit as a new stable revision.
Users will not be able to update nintendont, but I think a LOOT more users care more about covers than nintendont (all kids, and casual players don't care about updating nintendont, they probably don't even know what Gamecube is). (my brother and my nephew don't)

I will then try to re-add SSL quitely.
But I'll ask you for help and debug before I commit if it's ok with you.

 

[szczuru]

If you'll add "install all wads from that folder" it will be enough

 

[roo1234]

If you'll add "install all wads from that folder" it will be enough

I second that. Only needs to keep wads to be installed in a folder and voila

 

[Clutz450]

hello szczuru

it's possible to add, yes.
easy to add "install all wads from that folder", but it will require more work to select only some of the files from a folder to install (in case you only want some, for any reasons).
I'm sorry, I don't know when I'll do it. I'll try to do it if it's not hard, but if I encounter difficulties I will postpone it for later.

I kinda like the idea of install all WADs from a folder too but honestly it's not really necessary if people know how to use ShowMiiWads (a PC program for installing WAD files). Or if you are creating a fresh NAND with ModMii (Link) you have the ability to put all your WADs in a folder (I forget exactly which one but I think ModMii tells you) and have it install all your WADs to your new NAND automatically. I've used both processes and they are both pretty easy. Although ModMii is much better for those less experience because it guides you through every step and tells you exactly what you need to do. One think I did notice that is that neek2o freezes on the system menu if you have too many channels installed. It doesn't effect USB Loader GX from playing the game in neek2o mode though. Only starting the emunands system menu.

@Clutz450:
Thank you for taking the time to do all these videos.
I'm still watching them.
I will probably revert the revision before SSL was added and commit as a new stable revision.
Users will not be able to update nintendont, but I think a LOOT more users care more about covers than nintendont (all kids, and casual players don't care about updating nintendont, they probably don't even know what Gamecube is). (my brother and my nephew don't)

I will then try to re-add SSL quitely.
But I'll ask you for help and debug before I commit if it's ok with you.

I'm glad you liked the videos. I always found making a video to show exactly what was going on much better than trying to explain in words. I'm just not a video guy and don't have any screen capture programs so my cell phone is the best I can do.

As for the update of Nintendont, I personally don't use that because I use the MasterMod version of Nintendont (Link). Mainly I use it so I can get a loading screen when my GameCube games start up instead of text. Seems more natural to me. Unless you know of a better way with the official one. But yeah, for people who want to update Nintendont it is so easy to do it inside Nintendont itself that I don't think it would really be missed in USB Loader GX.

Also, I'd be more than happy to run some tests for you. Just let me know.

 

[Codemastershock]

1256 issue was only reported by some users, with an old version of nintendont.
so choose : 1255 + old nintendont, or 1256+latest nintendont.
Sorry, I said I would release 1258 this weekend, but didn't do anything. I should really stop to give predictions!

"EmuNAND save" is affecting Wii disc based games, and it's used to save on emuNAND instead of the console. if that's what you want, that's fine to use "full" here, but note that not all games will work (Zelda, metroid, etc.)

it's good to enable neek only on incompatible games.
I think it's easier, even more if you like to exit back to the loader (using "return to" option, which work only with emuNAND full, not with emuNAND neek)

like you noticed, reloading to the loader when exiting neek require Priiloader, because exiting neek is done only with a reboot.

So, your setup is all correct, except maybe the "EmuNAND Save" which I wouldn't set to Full.
I would keep it to OFF and save wii games and use Mii and wiimote and network settings from the NAND instead of the one from EmuNAND.

Network might not even work if you enable EmuNAND mode. so keeping EmuNAND save OFF is maybe better?
some users prefer saving Wii games to SD or USB.
You can set a different path for both EmuNAND Save and EmuNAND Channel if you want
for example, neek2o would be on USB:/nands/nand1/, and Wii savegame could be on SD:/nand/
it will prevent corrupting one NAND and losing data with both content. (talking about risk, but it's always better to think of possibility before it happens)

If you use "EmuNAND Save" to FULL, then be sure that you have a full NAND dump.
partial is fine without a full dump, only the savegame files are stored on that path, but if you use FULL, then you need a full dump because it reads all files from that path (sysconf, wiimote, mii, etc.)

I had this problem with saves on disc and emuNAND and I don't like to use the crappy real NAND. I rolled back to r1247 and to make the latest Nintendont work, I activated the option "Create Settings File" on the Loader Settings and on Nintendont, I actiated "Autoboot".
I finally got neek to work, but I use it only for some problematic Virtual Console games and Skyward Sword. I prefer to use the d2x emuNAND because it works better with DLCs with me. Neek works fine here, but it never connects to the Shop service for some reason, emuNAND connects flawlessly.

Other problem is that booting Mario Kart Wii disc directly from USB Lader GX patches to the wiimmfi server, this doesn't happen in neek.

 

[sonictopfan]

I have a slightly related issue, well not really but I don't know any better place to ask, I thought maybe you guys could help me out.

Well my family and I moved to a new house about two months ago and we just recently got the internet back, I learned yesterday that I have to re-config every console/phone/computer to the new internet despite not changing the username or password "maybe it's related to the new phone line? I dunno" anyway, I managed to do so with almost all my consoles, phone, laptop, WiiU, PS3, 3DS, everything but the Wii "and DS, but that's another story" now when I set up the connection with the one we have, searched for the server, set the password correctly, done everything normally as it should, but when it asks to test it it's always a failure, if I select the Shopping Channel it doesn't work and asks me to configure my connection settings, when I select Youtube Channel it gives me a message at start up "can't find connection" if I try to update Nintendont I get "Update error -24" and if I try to update USB-Loader GX it keeps searching for connection with no results, what am I doing wrong? Help me

 

[TecXero]

I have a slightly related issue, well not really but I don't know any better place to ask, I thought maybe you guys could help me out.

Well my family and I moved to a new house about two months ago and we just recently got the internet back, I learned yesterday that I have to re-config every console/phone/computer to the new internet despite not changing the username or password "maybe it's related to the new phone line? I dunno" anyway, I managed to do so with almost all my consoles, phone, laptop, WiiU, PS3, 3DS, everything but the Wii "and DS, but that's another story" now when I set up the connection with the one we have, searched for the server, set the password correctly, done everything normally as it should, but when it asks to test it it's always a failure, if I select the Shopping Channel it doesn't work and asks me to configure my connection settings, when I select Youtube Channel it gives me a message at start up "can't find connection" if I try to update Nintendont I get "Update error -24" and if I try to update USB-Loader GX it keeps searching for connection with no results, what am I doing wrong? Help me

What are the settings on the router? The Wii only supports 802.11b and 802.11g. It has troubles with some things like Bluetooth Coexistence Preemptive mode. Also, you should disable Frame Burst if you're using a lot of wireless clients at once. The connection settings need to pass the connection test before other applications can use them.