Hacking USB Loader GX

[Cyan]

the partition manager need a partition table to manage the partition.
the wiiU deletes the partition table completely.

Ustealth doesn't hide partition, it edits the partition table signature to make the console think it's "without a table so already in wiiU format" and prevent the "format your hdd" message.
but the table and partitions are still there, usable by homebrew. the wiiu will not use the drive at all.

You just need 2 HDD.
You just can't make partition on a wiiu hdd. no need to try or think it's possible and a way will be found soon.
2 solutions exists, but both are not for usage (more for Proof of concept).
- one is beta, and make the console read FAT32 as if it was formatted as WiiU. it's beta and miss few functions, incomplete work. you can't install games to that "fake" wiiu hdd with wup installer. that's your best choice if you really really want one hdd shared with both wiiu and vwii homebrew.
- the second one is a firmware modification of the drive, not sure you want to edit your drive's internal data every time you want to use it on wiiu or vwii.

You will buy a new hdd anyway, just reserve it for wiiu games.

Edit:
oh, there's a solution to put wii and gamecube games on a wiiu hdd, by injecting ISO into a WiiU Wii virtual console channel installed on WiiU menu. (internal or wiiu hdd)
but you can't launch them from usbloaders, no cheats, no options.

 

[Zonta85]

the partition manager need a partition table to manage the partition.
the wiiU deletes the partition table completely.

Ustealth doesn't hide partition, it edits the partition table signature to make the console think it's "without a table so already in wiiU format" and prevent the "format your hdd" message.
but the table and partitions are still there, usable by homebrew. the wiiu will not use the drive at all.

You just need 2 HDD.
You just can't make partition on a wiiu hdd. no need to try or think it's possible and a way will be found soon.
2 solutions exists, but both are not for usage (more for Proof of concept).
- one is beta, and make the console read FAT32 as if it was formatted as WiiU. it's beta and miss few functions, incomplete work. you can't install games to that "fake" wiiu hdd with wup installer. that's your best choice if you really really want one hdd shared with both wiiu and vwii homebrew.
- the second one is a firmware modification of the drive, not sure you want to edit your drive's internal data every time you want to use it on wiiu or vwii.

You will buy a new hdd anyway, just reserve it for wiiu games.

Edit:
oh, there's a solution to put wii and gamecube games on a wiiu hdd, by injecting ISO into a WiiU Wii virtual console channel installed on WiiU menu. (internal or wiiu hdd)
but you can't launch them from usbloaders, no cheats, no options.

Thank You, awesome explanation as always. If i can't install games with wup installer i think that the first solution isn't good for me, maybe in the future if this feature Will be added.
The second one seems too risky and tricky.
I know about the third solution but i Will lose the compatibility with my real Wii.

I think as you said that the best solution is to have two different drives, thank you.

Last question (for real this time XD), Can You confirm me that injecting Nintendont's DOL in a VC game to play GC games with the gamepad Will take off USB compatibility and the games MUST be placed on the SD?
And why?

 

[Cyan]

my explanation wasn't that great. I didn't order the answers and explained all of it.
But it's good if you understood.

Yes, WiiVC inject only works with SD.
That's because the game can be installed on a WiiU HDD, and the WiiU needs its own USB driver to access it. if we replace the USB driver to read FAT32 then you'll lose WiiU HDD access.
it might seems acceptable, but replacing the driver is not easy to do for developers.

So here is my main question:
Is there a way to reorder categories? For instance by editing a file on the SD card?
Or more simply would it be possible to just list them ordered by their names (alphabeticaly)?

currently, there's no easy way to do that.
you would need to also edit the game's setting files to edit the "number" of the linked categories.
It would be the same issue if we reorder them physically (exchange the number they are linked to).

what you suggest is the best compromise : reorder only the display.
it could be done. I'll have to look how easy it is to do that.
no promise when Ill do it.

Anyway, everything else is working perfectly except for a couple of Wads installed in virtual Nand, which from what I've read is due to cIOS technical restriction:

• WiiWares : Anima Ark of Sinners, Castlevania & Contra "Rebirth"
• VC-NES : LifeForce (USA)
• VC-N64 : Paper Mario, Bomberman Hero as well as Zelda Majora's Mask block at the spinning "N" begining screen.

Some games don't work on emuNAND with cIOS, you need emuNAND with Neek instead.
https://gbatemp.net/posts/6592730

Hey, you are not far away from me, I'm from 06 (near Nice)

 

[Eric83]

what you suggest is the best compromise : reorder only the display.
it could be done. I'll have to look how easy it is to do that.
no promise when Ill do it.

Well I'm REALLY glad to know that having an ordered display would not be impossible!
I'll be patient and it would be very much appreciated.

Oh surprising! I'm from Hyères, indeed not so far
Eric

 

[TheRiceKing]

I am not a programmer but I'll be happy to help however I can. Let me know if there's anything I can help with. Thank you

 

[Cyan]

there's not much to do, except report bugs.
but I already have plenty of them to fix already, and not enough dedicated time to fix them.
Or be there to test and report on new released version if newly added feature work as expected, or if old things broke, etc.


thank you for wanting to help.
Generally, When someone want to be helpful to thank me, I ask people to just help other users in return and answer their questions to setup and use the loader.
some users are already helping others, but it's always nice to have new helpers.

 

[TheRiceKing]

there's not much to do, except report bugs.
but I already have plenty of them to fix already, and not enough dedicated time to fix them.
Or be there to test and report on new released version if newly added feature work as expected, or if old things broke, etc.


thank you for wanting to help.
Generally, When someone want to be helpful to thank me, I ask people to just help other users in return and answer their questions to setup and use the loader.
some users are already helping others, but it's always nice to have new helpers.

You got it brother. Video games help me so much with depression and anxiety. Helping others get their Wii to work with USBLoader will be as rewarding.

 

[Cyan]

@Zonta85

Could you give me your latest italian .lang file please?
I'll integrate it to the next revision.

Also, if you could translate these, that will help being up to date with latest revision:

Block Loader Layout Button (this one is used in the parental control menu)
Video scale value (this one is used in nintendont's video setting)
Manual (40~120) (this one is used in nintendont's video setting)

@schooluser:
I'll try to make a version of the loader which will log all information about your drive and partition.
Maybe I'll release the current changes I did so far for 1267, to not delay the release with added debug info. we will then work together (if you still have your GPT drive with more than one partition) to find the issue.

 

[Zonta85]

@Zonta85

Could you give me your latest italian .lang file please?
I'll integrate it to the next revision.

Also, if you could translate these, that will help being up to date with latest revision:

Block Loader Layout Button (this one is used in the parental control menu)
Video scale value (this one is used in nintendont's video setting)
Manual (40~120) (this one is used in nintendont's video setting)

Done!

Block Loader Layout Button = Blocco pulsante layout del loader
Video scale value = Valore scaling video
Manual (40~120) = Manuale (40~120)

Are you going to implement cISO and you need a translation for the popup too?

 

[Cyan]

thank you for the fast reply

I don't know yet if I'll add cIso right away.
I need to convert a game to test it first. I might release 1267 with just the changes I did so far. I think it's better to release more often with small fixes than wait month with many changes at once.

I have this week of holidays, but I have other things to do. I'll try to work on the loader a little everyday.

 

[Zonta85]

thank you for the fast reply

I don't know yet if I'll add cIso right away.
I need to convert a game to test it first. I might release 1267 with just the changes I did so far. I think it's better to release more often with small fixes than wait month with many changes at once.

I have this week of holidays, but I have other things to do. I'll try to work on the loader a little everyday.

Thank you for all the work that you do.
then, When and if you will add cISO compatibility let me know if you need some new translations lines.

 

[TheRiceKing]

thank you for the fast reply

I don't know yet if I'll add cIso right away.
I need to convert a game to test it first. I might release 1267 with just the changes I did so far. I think it's better to release more often with small fixes than wait month with many changes at once.

I have this week of holidays, but I have other things to do. I'll try to work on the loader a little everyday.

I think frequent updates will work better for you as a programmer. Personally when I do something more often in small increments I get better faster because it becomes easier to retain the information in my memory. Looking forward to your next release. Thanks for your work.

 

[OvOvO]

Hi! I'm a noob lol and my english needs some polish

I have a question.

im about to add xenoblade chronicles to my usb drive.. ive come across a WBFS file larger than 4GB. , 6.3GB to be exact. now how do i split that file into 2 parts ?

i did split an ISO of skyward sword into 2 parts but the wii back up manager did all the work while transfering/converting from ISO to WBFS.

whats the procedure if the file is already in WBFS ? that is my question i guess

 

[GreyWolf]

WBM can still split it.

 

[OvOvO]

i know that. my question is how do i do that if the file is already in WBFS..i dont see an option to split WBFS into 2 parts. i guess its not the same when the file is an ISO thats when WMB does split the file into 2 by itself when converting to WBFS.

also how do I safely remove games from my usb drive ? do i just plug it into my computer and delete the game from usb, or is there some other procedure ?

 

[Cyan]

there's no option, it's automatic.
and yes, it's the same than if it's an .iso format.

First, do not put the WBFS file on your USB yourself ! put it on your computer.
it will NOT split the existing file.

File tab : select the big wbfs file (on your computer ! not on your Wii HDD)
drive 1 tab : select the partition of your Wii HDD.
file tab -> select the game, menu -> transfer ... drive 1
done.

it will be split automatically.


to delete the game, either delete it from your file explorer on your computer, or use WiiBackupManager again:
drive1 tab : select the partition where you have wii games
select the game you want to delete
menu -> delete

 

[OvOvO]

so while WBM is transfering the WBFS file onto my usb it will be split automatically ? or are you saying to process the game/file (WBFS) through WBM into the root of my c drive in the wbfs folder i made ? its a bit confusing to me srry

and also i've seen people on youtube converting an ISO which is over 4GB into WBFS and all of a sudden its 300MB. how does that work ?

 

[Cyan]

yes, it will split the file automatically while transferring the file to your USB.

I never told you to put anything to root of your c drive. never mentionned any of that.
I said the step you need to follow.
if you need a tutorial to setup properly and use WiiBackupManager, look here :
https://gbatemp.net/posts/7592791



A Wii game is always filling the full disc size (4.7GB), even if the game useful data is only 400MB (like Mario bros.)
Converting iso to wbfs removes all the randomly filled free space of the iso to keep only the game's useful data.

sometime the useful data is really filling all the disc, and the game is bigger than 4GB, so you need to split it to put on a FAT32 partition.

 

[OvOvO]

no ISO file i've converted got smaller thats why i ask. skyward sword for example was the same size but thats probably cuz its a big game.

by accident i just dragged the two WBFS files of skyward sword onto my usb and it works perfectly i didnt use WBM to transfer. is this something you can do to all games or ? why do i even have to transfer the games then with WBM ?

thanks in advance

 

[Cyan]

as long as you placed the wbfs files at the correct place on your USB, that's fine.
some users put them at random place, random folders, with random filename and wonder why it doesn't work.

WiibackupManager prevent you from doing something wrong, and automatically generate the proper "GameID" for the folder's name.
it also split and shrink the iso to wbfs file format to put it on FAT32. if you already have the correct format, you can do it manually.

wbfs/title [GameID]/GameID.wbfs