Hacking USB Loader GX

[ngs428]

Ok, thanks for the replies. I will use "remove update". I just wanted to get it right before I spent some time copying my discs.

I started doing a few, but I am sure what setting I had it on... Smash bros was one. I will have to test it.

Edit: Smash bros failed... I got some sort of green error screen that said to eject the disc and power off the Wii. I had to unplug it and wait a bit then it booted back up. Looks like I will need to recopy that one. Yikes!

Are there other games that need more than the game partition? Mario Galaxy 2 or Mario party 9 are 2 i need to check?

 

[cashonly]

See quote above. For the time being until this is fixed you may have to use an older version of USB loader gx v1255 to use the latest nintendont.

can i use an older version of nintendont?

 

[ngs428]

can i use an older version of nintendont?

I have nintendont 3.370 and usbloader gx 3.0 r1256 and all works well.

 

[Cyan]

Hello, I'm back from holidays.
I've read the last two pages, they are mostly issues. But I expected them as I updated the internal update version and a lot more users got the latest revision.

I find strange that nintendont doesn't work with r1256, but I'll have a look at it.
Thanks Suloku for the idea and patch for real disc booting. I'll check it too and probably add it officially.

about these 2 games : the adventures of tintin and Driver (both of them from ubisoft)
want to know if they work with the new USBLOADERGX updates

Yes it now works, but require specific setup. It doesn't work like other games (not a simple "select and launch").
You will need to use the new Neek2o feature added to USBLoaderGX to boot the problematic games. It's not a direct boot, as I still haven't worked on the disc booting with neek2o, so you will have to do this for the moment:
- Dump your NAND to USB (in a subfolder it's best, something like usb:/nands/myNAND/)
- use modmii to "prepare neek2o" files with the "di" option enabled, and copy to usb:/sneek/ folder (kernel.bin and di.bin)
- in USBLoaderGX, instead of launching the game from the interface, go to settings>features>Boot neek. it will load the "fake System menu" you just dumped as if it was your real Wii.
- Press 1 to display game list and select your game (driver, etc.) which will be mounted as fake inserted DVD disc.
All games with anti-piracy will work as they will think they are launched from a real Wii's system menu Disc channel.
When you exit the game, you will be back to the fake system menu, you need to shutdown the console or reboot to be back to your real Wii menu and launch USBLoaderGX from here. don't try to launch Homebrew channel or a homebrew when you are in sneek's fake system menu mode.

Ok, thanks for the replies. I will use "remove update". I just wanted to get it right before I spent some time copying my discs.
I started doing a few, but I am sure what setting I had it on... Smash bros was one. I will have to test it.
Edit: Smash bros failed... I got some sort of green error screen that said to eject the disc and power off the Wii. I had to unplug it and wait a bit then it booted back up. Looks like I will need to recopy that one. Yikes!
Are there other games that need more than the game partition? Mario Galaxy 2 or Mario party 9 are 2 i need to check?

Only Smash bros has multiple partitions table and multiple partitions per tables.
All other games are fine with "game partition only", but "remove update" is as good for every other games too.
I thought I had "remove update" as default setting. I'll change this if it's not the case.

I don't know why smash bros didn't dump correctly. Some users reported issue with that game. Maybe because it's a DVD9 (two layers).
see if your other DVD9 are dumped correctly (Metroid Trilogy, etc.)
You can use CleanRIP to dump your disc to ISO then use WiiBackupManager to convert to wbfs.

 

[ngs428]

Hello, I'm back from holidays.
I've read the last two pages, they are mostly issues. But I expected them as I updated the internal update version and a lot more users got the latest revision.

I find strange that nintendont doesn't work with r1256, but I'll have a look at it.
Thanks Suloku for the idea and patch for real disc booting. I'll check it too and probably add it officially.

Yes it now works, but require specific setup. It doesn't work like other games (not a simple "select and launch").
You will need to use the new Neek2o feature added to USBLoaderGX to boot the problematic games. It's not a direct boot, as I still haven't worked on the disc booting with neek2o, so you will have to do this for the moment:
- Dump your NAND to USB (in a subfolder it's best, something like usb:/nands/myNAND/)
- use modmii to "prepare neek2o" files with the "di" option enabled, and copy to usb:/sneek/ folder (kernel.bin and di.bin)
- in USBLoaderGX, instead of launching the game from the interface, go to settings>features>Boot neek. it will load the "fake System menu" you just dumped as if it was your real Wii.
- Press 1 to display game list and select your game (driver, etc.) which will be mounted as fake inserted DVD disc.
All games with anti-piracy will work as they will think they are launched from a real Wii's system menu Disc channel.
When you exit the game, you will be back to the fake system menu, you need to shutdown the console or reboot to be back to your real Wii menu and launch USBLoaderGX from here. don't try to launch Homebrew channel or a homebrew when you are in sneek's fake system menu mode.


Only Smash bros has multiple partitions table and multiple partitions per tables.
All other games are fine with "game partition only", but "remove update" is as good for every other games too.
I thought I had "remove update" as default setting. I'll change this if it's not the case.

I don't know why smash bros didn't dump correctly. Some users reported issue with that game. Maybe because it's a DVD9 (two layers).
see if your other DVD9 are dumped correctly (Metroid Trilogy, etc.)
You can use CleanRIP to dump your disc to ISO then use WiiBackupManager to convert to wbfs.

First, welcome back!

Remove update could have been the default. Not sure. I will rerip smash bros tonight..

Edit: riped with remove updates on and all is working well.

 

[sideskroll]

Hello

Hi. How was your vacation?

 

[Cyan]

Very good. I Went to see my family and nephew.
It's my last free week, Monday I go to work again ;__;

I'll try to fix the nintendont and network issue quickly.
For the network/download issue, I will need someone with the issue (as I don't have it, it's hard to debug alone) who can come to IRC and can use FTP to download test builds.
with timezone it's not easy, but maybe this weekend it could be possible?

 

[TecXero]

I'll be free Friday night if you want help. Though, I guess that would be Saturday morning for you.

 

[Cyan]

yeah, I'm GMT+1 (with +1 summer saving time).
I guess the easiest is to come to IRC when you are available and see if I'm here. I'm often idle, call my name and I get alerts so I see someone is here and I'll come (unless I'm sleeping).

 

[TecXero]

yeah, I'm GMT+1 (with +1 summer saving time).
I guess the easiest is to come to IRC when you are available and see if I'm here. I'm often idle, call my name and I get alerts so I see someone is here and I'll come (unless I'm sleeping).

Okay, I'll go grab the IRC information and add it to my Purple2 client just so I have it.

 

[Troopage]

Thanks, guys. Hopefully I can make it this weekend too.

 

[ltsheppard]

You will need to use the new Neek2o feature added to USBLoaderGX to boot the problematic games.

Actually, I'm not so sure about that anymore.

The reason why newer Virtual Console titles won't work in a "normal", i.e. not Neek, EmuNand setup seems to be the type 2 romc compression that is used.

I have found that out accidentally while making a widescreen hack for Super Smash Bros. 64 PAL version: If the romc is decompressed and then the uncompressed rom is repacked in the archive (of course named romc and with a few bytes more in the header) then the VC emulator won't notice that it's been fooled. And it works in d2xcios (that is the "normal" EmuNand is it not?) now, without booting it in Neek.

I don't know if this also works for other problematic games, but I imagine it would.

PS: Sadly, I cannot upload any files due to copyright infringement, but if anyone wants to try it out themselves, let me know and I'll help out.

Edit: Only works with recent versions of USB Loader GX, it seems (r147 doesn't work, r153 and younger do).

PPS: The initial loading time of the rom (after Classic Controller Screen) may well be ~ 20 seconds. It does not however influence in-game loading times.

PPPS: I might have been too rash. It seems that the game freezes when loading a save. I'll have to look into that.

 

[Cyan]

Thanks for this information about VC games. I didn't know the format was affecting the compatibility. often, using an old cIOS version or base fix it (but not for all of them).
I don't know if it would apply with Wii disc based games like tintin or driver.
tintin seems to detect the usb device used by loaders, neek2o has a patch to prevent that detection. I don't know if it had been tested to add it to d2x too. but I remember a test with modifying the requested IOS in a burned disc to use cIOS instead, and it worked fine when launched from the disc channel, so the AP is really when launched from the loader and not the IOS itself.

 

[ltsheppard]

I just stumbled across this effect and wanted to share it. Maybe for those that can't or don't want to use Neek.

What's the problem with those Wii games? Not saving in EmuNand? I have no idea about those, since their file structure would be totally different, I guess.

 

[Cyan]

The games with AP freeze after some time.
for example, you can play the first level, then it freezes/crashes. I don't have any of these games to test myself, but users had to use neek to play them.
It neek2o had a auto-boot for wii games like it has for channels that would be great. unfortunately, to autoboot a disc with current version of neek, the loader need to generate lot of files instead of just passing gameID as argument.
OverJoy said he will try to make wii game disc booting as easy than channels, but not ETA for the next/final version. If the final version never happen, I'll see if I can generate the required files, but for the moment it's manual boot only.

 

[ltsheppard]

That's a shame. I have no experience with modifying cIOS whatsoever. I hope you (or OverJoy) can somehow fix it.

Edit: After a little scare I just had I updated my initial post.

Also, Cyan, is there a way for me to hand in an updated German translation of USB Loader GX? I have added a few missing strings and improved upon the original.

 

[Shiranui-san]

I find strange that nintendont doesn't work with r1256, but I'll have a look at it.

Welcome back.
Didn't you love when bugs suddenly dissappear? I tried the combination USB Loader GX v1256-1257 + Nintendont v3.371 again and now is working fine. Maybe it was just an odd hdd read delay?

 

[cashonly]

^nope, here still does not work !

USB Loader GX v1256 + Nintendont v3.371

 

[Cyan]

Welcome back.
Didn't you love when bugs suddenly dissappear? I tried the combination USB Loader GX v1256-1257 + Nintendont v3.371 again and now is working fine. Maybe it was just an odd hdd read delay?

Well, no I don't like when it's unexplained ahah

here is a signature from a user (on a different forum) that I like :

bug fixed. no idea how. hate it when that happens. trying to break it again now. will. not. be. defeated.

yeah, same thinking

Also, Cyan, is there a way for me to hand in an updated German translation of USB Loader GX? I have added a few missing strings and improved upon the original.

Thank you for helping
You can post your lang file here, or even better in the translation thread (I don't know if a lot of users look there, but it's the official place)
http://gbatemp.net/threads/language-files-for-usb-loader-gx.155252/

Before committing a new revision, I'm checking that thread and merge new lang I find.
The translators are almost all gone, so it's always good to see someone new taking the job (even if it's a one time update).

 

[ltsheppard]

^nope, here still does not work !

USB Loader GX v1256 + Nintendont v3.371

I have no problem whatsoever with that setup. Use r1256-1257.

Thank you for helping
You can post your lang file here, or even better in the translation thread (I don't know if a lot of users look there, but it's the official place)
http://gbatemp.net/threads/language-files-for-usb-loader-gx.155252/

Before committing a new revision, I'm checking that thread and merge new lang I find.
The translators are almost all gone, so it's always good to see someone new taking the job (even if it's a one time update).

I'll post it here and in the other thread. I can't promise that I'll always be updating it, but if I personally update to a newer version and see there's something missing/mistakes, I'll be fixing it and upload.