Hacking USB Loader GX

[sideskroll]

Could somebody please confirm if neek2o is working on WiiU and if so, how do I set it up?
Thanks.

 

[superkrups20056]

Thanks for the reply Cyan, I will try changing the titledb game path and see what I come up with. Is the neek preview 2 build the same as the 1246mod5 build that's posted on your blog? If one is newer, where would I find that one? Im currently running the neek preview 2 build you posted earlier in the forum.

EDIT: I got wiitdb to download the file! I just had to manually create the apps/usbloader_gx/titles folder that didn't exist because I performed a new install. You were right! Thanks for the help! And all the names for the wiiware that weren't showing up are now showing! It 100% works on NEEK preview 2!

 

[Farowe]

Could somebody please confirm if neek2o is working on WiiU and if so, how do I set it up?
Thanks.

I have a working neek2o setup for wii u, however you need a private neek2o beta in other to be able use it. You could check previous posts in other to see where to obtain this beta.

 

[sonictopfan]

Cyan, a couple of questions, will you implement a return feature for NEEK or do we need to install the N2O channel? And are there any plans to implement the use of cheat codes in N2O mode?

 

[Farowe]

USBloader gx is no longer loading banners from games on emunand which weren´t previously cached on the bnr_cache folder on vWii (perhaps emunand has a different file structure)

 

[ilikegoldengrahams]

I'm having a bit of trouble with my PAL N64 wads on emuNAND. Can't seem to get past the classic controller screen. Could this be an IOS issue? Using 249 globally.

 

[Shiranui-san]

I'm having a bit of trouble with my PAL N64 wads on emuNAND. Can't seem to get past the classic controller screen. Could this be an IOS issue? Using 249 globally.

Most N64 have issues with cIOS. However, saying "I have cIOS 249" is the same as saying "I have a car", almost everybody have a car but that doesn't mean everybody have the same one.
Which cIOS (Waninkoko, D2X) and which base (37, 38, 56...) did you install on slot 249? That's the important information, not the slot you installed the cIOS on.
By the way, you can try USB Loader GX + emuNAND (beta version on previous page) to load your Wiiware and Virtual Console titles.

 

[Cyan]

N64 games are rarely compatible with latest cIOS.
You need a specific cIOS version and base to use the "cIOS NAND redirection" feature.

But if you noticed, the current discussion is about neek2o addition to the loader.
This option is used to launch games using the "neek NAND redirection" and had almost 100% compatibility with all games.

So, you have two choices :
1. wait for neek2o support to be released officially (you need a Wii, the vWii version is not released)
2. you will have to install and setup your EmuNAND and cIOS differently.

Cyan, a couple of questions

will you implement a return feature for NEEK or do we need to install the N2O channel?
When you are in "neek interface", the loader has no possibility to interact here. when you exit a game in neek environment, you exit to neek. The console is not aware that it's in an emulated environment and you can't do anything here. The game exit to system menu... (not to loader).
If I add a "exit to loader" option, it will try to load the loader installed inside neek !
If you manage to run USBLoaderGX when you are in neek mode, the channels installed on neek are considered "real NAND" because they are the one installed on the currently loaded system menu.

To exit neek mode, there is only one method : reboot the console.
The "nk2o" channel is doing it : reboot
that's all it does. so if you want to return to real NAND when you exit a game, you need to tell "neek" (and not USBLoaderGX) that you want to exit the game by loading another neek channel instead of the neek system menu.
By default, it's set to reload a channel with TitleID NK2O, but if there's a big demand I will add an option to select the channel ID installed inside the emuNAND path used by need to return to instead of neek's system menu.

And are there any plans to implement the use of cheat codes in N2O mode?
Yes.

USBloader gx is no longer loading banners from games on emunand which weren´t previously cached on the bnr_cache folder on vWii (perhaps emunand has a different file structure)

"EmuNAND" doesn't mean anything.
EmuNAND is the folder where your NAND dump is located. It's only files and folders, a copy of the content that your NAND has.
There's nothing different based on the "method" you use to redirect the NAND to that folder.

cIOS method : it's probably what you call "emuNAND", but neek is also an emuNAND. The Wii is run on realNAND and cIOS is responsible of redirecting NAND access to folder.
neek method : the entire Wii is rebooted in a "redirected NAND", no cIOS is responsable of this, the entire ARM and PPC is doing the redirection.

In both cases, the folder used by the emuNAND (cIOS and neek) are unaffected. The banner animation is stored in a .app file located in a folder, there's no way cIOS or neek method would alter and edit these files.

If there's an issue loading the banner animation, it's probably an issue from the loader itself.
for a year I had a report of some banners appearing black, but I couldn't find why nor reproduce it myself.

Is the neek preview 2 build the same as the 1246mod5 build that's posted on your blog? If one is newer, where would I find that one?

mod04 was the preview 1
mod05 is the preview 2
I will release a new preview if I think there are things to be tested, else I'll release next revision officially.

Could somebody please confirm if neek2o is working on WiiU and if so, how do I set it up?
Thanks.

Exactly the same way.
- you need a NAND dump (a vWii NAND dump!)
- You need the /sneek/ files created by using a "uneek" or "uneek+di" option from crediar's sneek builder. (Attention: Sneek and Sneek+di are NOT supported by neek2o)
- to generate the kernel.bin file (using sneek builder) which will be located in /sneek/ folder, you need : vWII IOS .app file instead of Wii IOS80 0000000e.app
- to make a neek2o kernel.bin, you need the neek2o r96+ elf files instead of the r96 ---> this is what is not released. neek2o vWii is not stable, and is not public and not "free to get a beta just by asking".

If you find a beta, be aware that it's not fully tested, you might as best lose your HDD or SD card, at worst brick your vWii.

Instruction :
1. follow the vwii neek guide to create a neek compatible with vWii (look in vwii hacking section)
2. replace the kernel.bin and di.bin by the one generated for neek2o

 

[Acidflare]

will you implement a return feature for NEEK or do we need to install the N2O channel?
When you are in "neek interface", the loader has no possibility to interact here. when you exit a game in neek environment, you exit to neek. The console is not aware that it's in an emulated environment and you can't do anything here. The game exit to system menu... (not to loader).
If I add a "exit to loader" option, it will try to load the loader installed inside neek !
If you manage to run USBLoaderGX when you are in neek mode, the channels installed on neek are considered "real NAND" because they are the one installed on the currently loaded system menu.

To exit neek mode, there is only one method : reboot the console.
The "nk2o" channel is doing it : reboot
that's all it does. so if you want to return to real NAND when you exit a game, you need to tell "neek" (and not USBLoaderGX) that you want to exit the game by loading another neek channel instead of the neek system menu.
By default, it's set to reload a channel with TitleID NK2O, but if there's a big demand I will add an option to select the channel ID installed inside the emuNAND path used by need to return to instead of neek's system menu.

Cyan there is a way to do this, If you use the DI menu in Uneek2o you can set autoboot to UNEO having it boot the forwarder making it return to the loader on system menu load. the DI menu has Priiloader options built-in. however the system menu won't load after this point it will always load the UNEO channel, there is another method that can be used, If Postloader and PriibooterGUI is installed you can set USB Loader GX as an autoboot homebrew when postloader runs and set the DI menu to autoboot PriiBooterGUI. PriibooterGUI has the option to cancel the autoboot and load the system menu .app hope any of this information helps anyone wishing to have a full neek experience

 

[sonictopfan]

Cyan thank you for the replies, man, how about making an option to reboot the console instead upon exiting NEEK? Just a suggestion, I'm trying to find a way to cause less confusion for the user so excuse me if I'm being picky!

 

[superkrups20056]

Cyan thank you for the replies, man, how about making an option to reboot the console instead upon exiting NEEK? Just a suggestion, I'm trying to find a way to cause less confusion for the user so excuse me if I'm being picky!

Wiiflow had a way for the "return to" function to work while exiting NEEK...it involved installing a custom redirect channel on the emuNAND or something I think...

 

[sonictopfan]

superkrups20056 That's what Cyan told me to do before, which is my secondary option unless we get an easier and more convenient way to return from NEEK, I'm thinking if possible add an option for each channel indivisually so when you press the home menu and select "Wii Menu" instead of trying to go to the menu and failing it'll reboot the console, kinda like Dios Mios did!

 

[superkrups20056]

superkrups20056 That's what Cyan told me to do before, which is my secondary option unless we get an easier and more convenient way to return from NEEK, I'm thinking if possible add an option for each channel indivisually so when you press the home menu and select "Wii Menu" instead of trying to go to the menu and failing it'll reboot the console, kinda like Dios Mios did!

This is a GREAT idea!!!

 

[Cyan]

Cyan there is a way to do this, If you use the DI menu in Uneek2o you can set autoboot to UNEO having it boot the forwarder making it return to the loader on system menu load. the DI menu has Priiloader options built-in. however the system menu won't load after this point it will always load the UNEO channel, there is another method that can be used, If Postloader and PriibooterGUI is installed you can set USB Loader GX as an autoboot homebrew when postloader runs and set the DI menu to autoboot PriiBooterGUI. PriibooterGUI has the option to cancel the autoboot and load the system menu .app hope any of this information helps anyone wishing to have a full neek experience

When you exit a game which is run from a neek environment, it will exit to neek environment ! (NEEK environment is permanent until hard reboot!)
If you set neek to autoboot UNEO, it will boot UNEO located in the emulated NAND, NOT the one on the real NAND.
As long as you don't reboot the console, you are still in an emulated state.
booting USBLoaderGX when you are inside neek is working VERY differently and is not developed to auto-detect its running environment. The loader is configured to run on real NAND and interact with other NAND, not to be run from neek.

If you really want to launch it when you are in neek, there are differences:
It will mess and could conflict/erase your existing settings/cache/etc.
All the channels installed on neek's emuNAND folders are considered "real NAND".
for the Wii, IT IS THE ONLY NAND available, and it's loaded as if it was the real one. if you want to list channels installed on your USB emuNAND folder when you are in neek mode, you need to select "Channel on real NAND", not the channels on EmuNAND. (remember, and understand, that the Wii don't know it is not running the NAND from the internal chipset and it consider the external one as its internal chipset. ALL the USB is the internal chipset)
when you are in neek, there is no cIOS and you can't boot Wii games (even if you install cIOS), or homebrew (nintendont etc.)
When you are in neek, all access to SD/USB is disabled (covers, settings etc.) might not work correctly.
a lot of features might break due to the way the NAND is usually accessed (ressources, banner animation, etc.)


There's no purpose on returning to USBLoaderGX inside neek, unless you want to launch another channel located on your Emulated NAND folder without exiting neek, but then why bother using USBLoaderGX ? you are already in neek no need to relaunch it. don't use "return to" option and stay on the neek system menu where you can launch your installed channels.
The only interest in reloading to the loader inside neek would be if you have your system menu full. the loader can list more games.
But why not just reboot to nk2o and let the console reboot and re-load priiloader from realNAND which boots UNEO to return to USBLoaderGX interface on realNAND?

Cyan thank you for the replies, man, how about making an option to reboot the console instead upon exiting NEEK? Just a suggestion, I'm trying to find a way to cause less confusion for the user so excuse me if I'm being picky!

to "make an option" when you are in neek, it's the job of neek's developer.
USBLoaderGX has no access to neek.
It's not USBLoaderGX which tells the channel to exit to NK2o, it's neek which is patching the launched channel to replace the "System menu TitleID" located in the game's main.dol by a new "Channel to boot titleID".
When you exit the game, it doesn't "exit", it only "launch the TitleID found in the game's main.dol".
If the game is not patched, the game find "System menu titleID" and launches the System menu.
If the game is patched, the ID is replaced, the game find "new TitleID to launch" and launches that new titleID.

You can only patch TitleID, you can't tell a game to make new action. if you want to make new action (like "reboot the console"), you need to make a new homebrew to do that, compile it, inject it into a channel and patch the channel's TitleID to return to it.
If you want a game to "auto reboot" ..... IT'S THE RETURN TO NK2O CHANNEL PURPOSE !!!!!!!!! SET RETURN TO NK2O CHANNEL AND WHEN EXITING THE GAME THE CONSOLE WILL REBOOT !

it's already working like that, I really don't understand what you want more.

There's no better and more easier than what's already exist and already exit neek automatically !
What is not good in the current option?
It's already doing it...


Less confusion for the user would be "block all access to neek, remove all options that could be useful, prevent user to do things which are possible and treat every user as if they were kids that don't understand what they are doing". Then I would remove the "return to" option and always force it. so the user can't "return to neek" because it would always force a return to NK2O channel which always reboots the console.

I'm not forcing anything.
I'm allowing options that users can choose. If NEEK is too hard to understand, don't use it. (and it's the same advice for any homebrew/program/application/features/etc.)

 

[Polygon-Man]

Cyan, do you recommend running USB Loader GX from a SD card? Or only the resources (configs, themes, wiitdb.xml, audio, etc.)?

Will a SDHC 16GB class 4 work? Or is it limited to older non SDHC cards?

 

[Cyan]

I like having all my homebrew and ressources on SD.
But you can have them on USB too.

The forwarder will try SD card first to locate usbloader_gx/boot.dol, it's faster to find and reload the loader than trying USB and partitions.
but there shouldn't be any differences, as long as you don't use the dual port setting. (if you enable "ports: Both" then place everything on SD card, even the EmuNAND. only your /wbfs/ on USB )

Edit:
A thing to note:
The loader will try to load the config (GXGlobal.cfg) from SD card first, then USB partitions, etc.
It could be used to store different profile (parents/kids, Wii/nintendont, etc.).

If you use/insert SD card, then you have settings loaded from SD card. (path, themes, etc.)
If you remove the SD card, it will load settings from USB. (different theme for example)

This way you can have the loader and ressources on USB, but a different config on SD and USB.

USB:/apps/usbloader_gx/boot.dol
USB:/apps/usbloader_gx/theme/Kids/
USB:/apps/usbloader_gx/theme/parents/
USB:/apps/usbloader_gx/GXGlobal.cfg
SD:/apps/usbloader_gx/GXGlobal.cfg

When you insert the SD Card, it loads the GXGlobal.cfg located on SD card and use/unlock all "parents" paths and games and settings.
if you remove the SD card, kids get their profiles with pre-configured and locked access loaded from USB's GXGlobal.cfg

it's just a possible use of the way the loader is doing device loading priority.

 

[Polygon-Man]

Very cool. Thanks for explaining that.

Is there a loader that looks for USB first?

Will you release a sneek preview without the need for an SD card?

 

[Cyan]

I don't know if the SD card is needed for neek.
I'll test it, and if it's not needed I'll remove the check.
I have less free time now that my holidays ended, so I'll work on it on weekend only.

I will not release a version of the loader which check USB first. it's part of how the loader is working.
if you place the boot.dol on USB, it will only load it from USB. SD check is skipped if there's no SD inserted. and it's fast to skip SD if the file is not found, so there's really no issue having SD or not.
About the config file loading order, just keep everything in a single place and don't worry about device order. you can put everything on USB1:/apps/usbloader_gx/ and SD will be skipped.

 

[Shiranui-san]

IT'S THE RETURN TO NK2O CHANNEL PURPOSE !!!!!!!!! SET RETURN TO NK2O CHANNEL AND WHEN EXITING THE GAME THE CONSOLE WILL REBOOT !

I like this idea and seems to be the best solution to exit from neek2o to realNAND. And we don't even have to reboot manually pressing the Power button. In my opinion, better moving to realNAND after exiting a channel and load neek2o again to play another channel than having issues with GX under neek2o.

 

[Cyan]

yes, I think it's the best solution.
Users with priiloader (or bootmii mod UNEO) can even reboot directly into USBLoaderGX after exiting neek, so it returns to the loader after exiting the game, all transparently for the user.

the only requirement is to install a "rebooter" on emuNAND.
modmii has an option to install the "nk2o" channel when creating a clean new emuNAND. But I don't like it (there are text output displayed on screen "channel loaded, neek detected, rebooting!" and don't like the banner animation either.
the nswitch source on trinux is better, no output at all.
compile the dol and inject in a channel.
when launched from realNAND it launch neek, when run from neek it reboots.
It even mount USB first, so you don't need an SD to boot neek2o.