Hacking USB Loader GX

[baco81]

did you try playing it until the usual crash spot in case of cheatcode use? do you have gameconfig.txt to allow patches?

To be honest, I have never really played that game but to help one of my children and we didn't get too far. You gotta tell me what the crash spot is and I will try to get there. And yes, I have the gameconfig file to allow patches to that game.

Did you notice any visual change with/without the patch?

It was just a quick test. I tried to boot a few games, see if they did and checked the debug.txt file afterwards. I would like to take some screenshots to compare but I don't really know what games o screens would be best suitable to check. Should I look at edges or something like that? backgrounds? 2D, 3D, game settings menu?

I have a launch PAL Wii from 2006, on a 4k TV, using component cable, 480p wide screen option.

I have a PAL Wii as well. I don't know the year but gotta be one of the first batch as I could install bootmii as boot2. 1080p TV, official component cable, 480p wide screen option for Wii games (to play emulators I change it to 4:3 as I get a sharper image that way)

 

[IveMalfunctioned]

thanks my guy lol

 

[Cyan]

p.s. is there anyway to manually select which games are removed from showing up on the menu when it's LOCKED vs UNLOCKED?

yes, you set yourself the "level" of protection of the game in the individual game settings, instead of letting the loader flll that value.

but I don't know why it's still not working even after a fresh install. If it's not working at all, it's another bug and has nothing to do with your previous report stating that it requires an update (because, you just forced an update and it didn't work, right?).

Be sure to set the proper settings for parental lock level, and check the game's parental control number from the game's option (or the game's info, from wiitdb).

And yes, I have the gameconfig file to allow patches to that game.

I don't that kirby, so I'm not sure where the spot is. I think it's located after world 1?
try with 1271 and without the gameconfig first, and maybe set a cheatcode to trigger the problem? so you'll know where it is.
try 1271 without cheats, to be sure the game still work and doesn't have another patch detected.
then try with same settings with the 480p patched version, still without gameconfig and without cheats, to see if it still works.

that's lot of tests, and it's mainly for curiosity, so do it only if you want


I didn't try to take screenshot yet, I can do it with Wiird debugger.
but I don't know where to look either, objects edges, 3D, textures, fonts, width, height definition?

 

[ThaCrip]

yes, you set yourself the "level" of protection of the game in the individual game settings, instead of letting the loader flll that value.

but I don't know why it's still not working even after a fresh install. If it's not working at all, it's another bug and has nothing to do with your previous report stating that it requires an update (because, you just forced an update and it didn't work, right?).

Be sure to set the proper settings for parental lock level, and check the game's parental control number from the game's option (or the game's info, from wiitdb).

ill have to see if I can find the individual 'level' of protection stuff you mention as if I can get that to work, at least I should then have a reliable way to get parental controls working as the wiitdb is currently not working AT ALL . NOTE: ill probably check this in the next day or so and come back here if I have any more questions or if I can't find that stuff etc.

and yeah, the parental controls do not seem to be working AT ALL now as I completely removed the "\apps\usbloader_gx\" folder, installed it from a clean state (so everything is reset back to defaults as expected), updated the covers for the game, then basically ran the wiitdb update, then played around with adjusting parental control settings from Everyone to Teen to Mature etc and nothing seemed to do anything as it still showed the FULL amount of games I have on the hard drive instead of filtering things based on parental control setting like it should be doing.

even the forced update stuff I can't seem to get working like I did previously. that's why at this point I need to find a way to manually select which games the USB Loader GX shows on the menu after adjusting parental controls when locking the system, which the filter should apply, and when unlocking it, it should show ALL games like expected. but right now it shows ALL games regardless of parental control setting after the wiitdb update whether system is LOCKED or UNLOCKED, which is not working like it should.

NOTE: I was on v1268 and things were like how they were for months, then I recently added a couple of games, and updated the covers for the couple of games and then ran the Wiitdb update and then things got out of whack and nothing seemed to filter at all at this point. but after removing the USB Loader GX files completely from the Wii, I installed the newest version which is 1271 and have the issue I explained above where the filter does not work at all.

with all of that said...

I wonder if it's worth checking to see if my other Wii works fine after a clean install of USBLoaderGX v1271 and a update of the wiitdb file? ; because currently, everything is filtering fine on that one the last I checked months ago as I have not used it recently.

also, is there any possibility something could have changed in the wiitdb file that could prevent it from working properly with USB Loader GX?


p.s. and as usual, thanks for your help and quick responses

 

[Cyan]

verify that the loader properly use the xml file.
press 1 (or 2) on wiimote over a game to open the Game info window.
if it's using wiitdb, it'll have game information like number of players, controller type, game description, and parental level (PEGI or the other one, based on the game's region).

check also if the PEGI/other level value matches the control level in the game's settings : pick an adult game, option, game's option, control level. it shouldn't be 0 (everyone).

to me the parental control level is very confusing on Wii (even the official one). the numbers are working backward to my logic....
kid game is marked as "everyone", but if you set the loader or console to see games for everyone I expect the console/loader to show ALL games (for everyone!) even adult ones, not the "games marked for everyone" (level 0 only? or level 0 and above?)
I don't understand if it's supposed to display games equal or lower, or equal or higher.


Anyway, you can set your own level manually in each game settings, and lock the loader after choosing a level number in the main settings.

another solution can be to use categories, and lock only the categories menu from the parental control menu.
for example, you could hide all games except racing, or display all but FPS, etc.
for that, you need wiitdb again, and use "import all categories" in the features menu, or set your own categories to each games individually (long work if you have lot of games), and then pick the one you want to filter.
Advanced filtering guide

 

[Extrems]

I didn't try to take screenshot yet, I can do it with Wiird debugger.

You won't see anything, the issue is at the DAC stage.

 

[ThaCrip]

verify that the loader properly use the xml file.
press 1 (or 2) on wiimote over a game to open the Game info window.
if it's using wiitdb, it'll have game information like number of players, controller type, game description, and parental level (PEGI or the other one, based on the game's region).

check also if the PEGI/other level value matches the control level in the game's settings : pick an adult game, option, game's option, control level. it shouldn't be 0 (everyone).

with the USB Loader GX v1271 UNLOCKED, I highlighted a game pressed the 2 button on Wii remote and the screen that comes up with the bigger icon picture of the game is there but in the screen that's supposed to show more info it just shows a blank white screen and seems to do this on a handful of others I checked (I did not check them all but I am assuming they all do this).

that even remained the same AFTER I ran another update of the wiitdb file a moment ago today. because not long ago I think I was checking that stuff and there was some info there like you said but after the clean install, and updates etc, nothing is there anymore.

even with your 'games option' it IS "0 (everyone". basically the .xml does not seem to be doing anything.

Anyway, you can set your own level manually in each game settings, and lock the loader after choosing a level number in the main settings.

I took a guess where this was at, and I found this stuff. but on games that are say TEEN or MATURE etc they all report as... "Parental Control = 0 (Everyone)" for each individual game.

I accessed that "Parental Control = 0 (Everyone)" from... main menu, select a game with hand(pointer) and press A, then Settings, then 'Game Load', then scroll down and then I see that "Parental Control = 0 (Everyone)" thing which I have to manually change to it's proper rating for the parental controls to work properly.

but anyways, playing around with it a bit, it appears this works so far as to do a quick test with the USB Loader GX in a UNLOCKED state, which shows ALL of the games on the hard drive like expected, then I found one MATURE, TEEN, EVERYONE (10+) rated game, and then manually adjusted the 'Parental Control = 0 (Everyone)' under each games 'Game Load' section to it's proper rating (i.e. the 'Everyone 10+' is 'Parental Control = 1 (Child 7+)' etc), and then tested the main parental control setting under USB Loader GX's settings by changing the main parental control (i.e. Settings > Parental Control > controllevel etc) and then locking it and it filters things how I would expect it to as the total game count, along with the games I changed, disappear from the menu (as in NOT shown). so given that basic test, when I only allow the '0 (Everyone)' option it removes the three games I tested, which is expected, since you got one EVERYONE 10+, one TEEN, and one MATURE. but then I shift the main parental control to 'Controllevel 1 (Child 7+)' and then LOCK the system it removes the TEEN and MATURE game like expected. then I shift the main parental lock to 'controllevel = 2 (Teen 12+)' and at this point it will only filter out games rated Mature or Adult Only, which works as expected.

so in other words... this manual way seems to work reliably so far ; but the .xml file seems not to work AT ALL as it shows a blank screen where it should show some info etc. if you want a screenshot I can probably take one for you?

or is there anything else I should test in relation to that .xml file etc? ; because that does not seem to work at all as months ago it was working after I did a few things like explained in my previous posts but none of that seems to do anything now as even after the clean install the other day, I updated the .xml file, and the filters did not do anything at all when locking the system like they should have and even updating it again today, it claimed update of the .xml was successful, and NOTHING is filtered at all as it's like the .xml file is not even there and even pressing the 2 button on remote when highlighting a game, it shows the game cover there but in the square screen next to it, shows just a white screen with no text or anything else.

 

[Cyan]

I'll have to try myself, maybe the gameinfo and wiitdb is not working at all on 1271?
I didn't touch anything related to that feature so I didn't expect it to be broken, but maybe it is.

Or maybe there's something in that xml which broke the parsing engine?
maybe the xml is malformed, or a character is not protected (like "&" or " in a game title should be converted to html code to prevent xml issues).
could you check the size of your xml file? it's in sd:/apps/usbloader_gx/wiitdb.xml

One possible cause, if you updated from an old version of the loader:
I tried to put it in a subfolder on previous loader version, and changed the default path, but users reported issues so I reverted back that path. so maybe the path is wrong now? it could be in "usbloader_gx/titles/" subfolder if you have nothing in usbloader_gx folder.
maybe it's downloaded in main folder, but the loader is still looking in "titles" subfolder ? check your custom path menu, there's one where you can choose the path for that file.
if that's the case, it's my fault. I tried to organize file better but probably messed up and forgot few hardcoded path in the sources so it broke some features. I reverted the changes but maybe you ended keeping the changed default path with the bug.

edit ; ah you said, you deleted all the folder and reinstalled 1271 and it still isn't working so it's probably not that bug, unless you still have the old settings loaded from sd:/option/ instead of main app folder ?
SD:/options/ was the folder used on USBGX v1.x, if that folder is still present it'll use it in priority instead of sd:/apps/usbloader_gx/


Thank you for the detailed steps you did and explain everything work as expected
that's too bad that wiitdb.xml is not filling the game level automatically, it would prevent you doing it manually if you have hundreds (if not more) of games.


edit:
is your signature still good?
cIOS v10 beta52, base 57, slot 249 (and... base 56, slot 250) | USBLoaderGX r1271 (on Slot 250)
you better use the slot where you have base57 for better game compatibility, so set it back to 249. but it's up to you, as long as you know which base you are currently using for which game.
apprently only one game requires base56 : spyro with the NFC portal figurine.

 

[blackb0x]

@leseratte Your version seems to work perfectly for me, although I don't have a lot of Wii backups to test with

@Extrems said that GameCube games at 480p will also require a patch. So am I to assume that my patched Nintendont won't launch games with an improved image because it needs a similar patch applied to the games?

If Nintendont does require a similar patch for GC games then It'd be awesome if you'd look into it.

 

[Xaranar]

Hi everyone, so I'm having the most frustrating issue with USB Loader GX and I can't for the life of me figure it out. Gametdb titles and synopses refuse to show up. I've updated wiitdb.xml, "use gametdb titles" is set to on, "force disc titles" is off, my paths all point to the correct directories, and still nothing. I can press 2 on a title and a little window pops up with its 3D cover art, but no game synopsis either. It just out right refuses to work and I don't know why. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks

 

[tswntk]

Hi everyone, so I'm having the most frustrating issue with USB Loader GX and I can't for the life of me figure it out. Gametdb titles and synopses refuse to show up. I've updated wiitdb.xml, "use gametdb titles" is set to on, "force disc titles" is off, my paths all point to the correct directories, and still nothing. I can press 2 on a title and a little window pops up with its 3D cover art, but no game synopsis either. It just out right refuses to work and I don't know why. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks

which version of USB Loader GX are you using? Did you try latest/older versions and do they work the same?
I have been using ULGX all the way from r1180 up to r1268 without any problem.

 

[ThaCrip]

could you check the size of your xml file? it's in sd:/apps/usbloader_gx/wiitdb.xml

sd:/apps/usbloader_gx/wiitdb.xml = "29.0 MB (29,014,445 bytes)" ; which is from roughly a day or so ago.

NOTE: when I updated it using the Wii and a wireless internet connection like usual, everything appeared to work fine as I had no errors when updating the .xml etc as you could see it downloads the compressed .zip file and then after download completed it automatically extracts the .zip file to get the .xml file like usual.

edit ; ah you said, you deleted all the folder and reinstalled 1271 and it still isn't working so it's probably not that bug, unless you still have the old settings loaded from sd:/option/ instead of main app folder ?
SD:/options/ was the folder used on USBGX v1.x, if that folder is still present it'll use it in priority instead of sd:/apps/usbloader_gx/

There is no 'sd:/option/' folder on the SD card.

p.s. v1268 was the first USB Loader GX I used pretty much. but thanks for the info about were it stores some config files if someone happens to have a older one on the system a while back. but I guess that's even more reason to keep things more up to date and install them clean so things are not on old configuration stuff etc.

Thank you for the detailed steps you did and explain everything work as expected

Yeah, and come to think of it, as a small bonus with the manual way of using parental controls over the .xml (unless of course a manual game 'parental control' adjustment will overrule the .xml?) is... say you got a parent who only wants their kid to be playing games in the 'Everyone 10+' or 'Everyone' group, so you adjust the parental lock settings accordingly and all is good, but lets say a parent wants to allow one TEEN rated game but disallow all others in the TEEN and MATURE etc groups, I can now simply adjust the one actual TEEN rated game to appear to the Wii's parental controls as either 'Everyone 10+' or 'Everyone' and it will show up in the games list once locked to the 'Everyone 10+' group. I suspect ill eventually end up using something like that for a nephew down the road.

that's too bad that wiitdb.xml is not filling the game level automatically, it would prevent you doing it manually if you have hundreds (if not more) of games.

Yeah, it's just easier that way (with .xml) to automatically make the parental controls work as that's why I would prefer to get the .xml method working instead of the manual way I am currently using. but until that's fixed, I should now have a reliable way (with the manual method of parental control enforcement) to get the parental controls working with v1271 even though it does take a fair amount of time manually adjusting the games to their proper rating, or at least a rating high enough to get the parental controls to trigger/filter correctly (like since I am only allowing 'Everyone 10+' and younger to show up when USBLoaderGX is LOCKED I could basically set any or all of the TEEN or MATURE games to register as anything higher than 'Everyone 10+' and the filtering would work although if I allowed only TEEN and lower to show up in the future that would end up showing MATURE to which I would not want which is why I just setup all of the TEEN and MATURE games to their proper parental control setting so the parental lock filter will work properly should I changed the level from 'Everyone 10+' to 'Teen' in the future).

but I saved some time by only adjusting the games that were TEEN or MATURE since those are the only ones I need not to show up in the USBLoaderGX menu when it's locked as all of my other games, which are 'Everyone' or 'Everyone 10+', I just left on their default parental settings which register by default to 'Everyone' as the only time this would have to be adjusted is if I needed to filter out the 'Everyone 10+' and higher rated games from the menu so it only shows strictly 'Everyone' games and everything in the 'Everyone 10+' (or TEEN or MATURE etc) would be blocked once the USBLoaderGX is LOCKED.

but basically it's cool, as once you know how the basic parental filters stuff works it's pretty easy to reason out this stuff to get games to show or not show when USBLoaderGX is in a unlocked and locked state.

edit:
is your signature still good?
cIOS v10 beta52, base 57, slot 249 (and... base 56, slot 250) | USBLoaderGX r1271 (on Slot 250)
you better use the slot where you have base57 for better game compatibility, so set it back to 249. but it's up to you, as long as you know which base you are currently using for which game.
apprently only one game requires base56 : spyro with the NFC portal figurine.

I am pretty sure that's still accurate on my primary Wii (as I have not messed with anything in months now) but the one I am having the .xml issue on, since it was a clean install, it's likely back on Slot 249 (since that's the slot USBLoaderGX defaults to) which would mean it's using 'base 57' currently. I am pretty sure I have both Wii's setup the same with what my signature says short of that Slot 250 thing since I recently removed the 'sd:/apps/usbloader_gx' folder which means it should be on Slot 249 with the Wii I am having the issue with (although my primary Wii is still likely using 'Slot 250').

I would imagine the currently working Wii with the .xml file(which is my primary Wii), which was last updated months ago, might act up (as in the .xml will no longer work for filtering games with parental controls) if I updated it?.

but anyways... are you saying that as a general rule 'base 57' is better to use than 'base 56'?

but lets just say all of the games I have work fine on 'base 56', is that one generally a little better as I heard something about it being a little quicker than 'base 57'?

 

[Xaranar]

which version of USB Loader GX are you using? Did you try latest/older versions and do they work the same?
I have been using ULGX all the way from r1180 up to r1268 without any problem.

I'm on r1271 currently. I might try older versions to see if it makes a difference.

 

[Cyan]

1) I would imagine the currently working Wii with the .xml file(which is my primary Wii), which was last updated months ago, might act up (as in the .xml will no longer work for filtering games with parental controls) if I updated it?.
2) but anyways... are you saying that as a general rule 'base 57' is better to use than 'base 56'?
3) but lets just say all of the games I have work fine on 'base 56', is that one generally a little better as I heard something about it being a little quicker than 'base 57'?

1)
If you can test with your other wii and older version of the loader, let me know if you have proper access to game info, renamed game's title, and control parental level filled automatically.
the update since 3.x are mainly for gamecube support (nintendont), so you might not need to update if you play only wii games.

2) there's no real "better" if you understand what you have and what you need.
Most of the games work on both 56 and 57.
some games works only on 57.
some games only with neither 56 nor 57.

Due to old softmod tutorials always telling users to install base56 in slot249 (default slot used by loaders), and 3 of the big games not working with 56 (Call of duty, just dance, sing it), lot of newbie users ended with the compatibility issue and came to the forum for help, and the fix was just "set the slot to 250 instead of 249" to use 57.
I had enough of repeating myself to all newcomers and decided to start telling users to install 57 in default slot so they don't have to ask how to fix these 3 "well known and often played" games.

compared to Spyro, these 3 games are more often played.
so, I think it's "best" to use 57 by default for users with no hacking knowledge.

if you know what a slot is, and what you installed where, then you can just pick the slot which works best for you

3)
The slot which works best for you being :
base56 or base57 for most games ! IOS56 having a faster USB Read speed than IOS57.
base57 for 3 mentioned games if you have them
base56 for Spyro+portal
base 53 or 58 for spongebob boating bash
base 38 for Animal Crossing new leaf City folk, if you want to use the USB keyboard

like you see, some games don't work with either 56 OR 57, they need specific IOS base. these games are even less known or played. at least, less users are asking for help here.
maybe if you have kids you'll have a use of that info for spongebob ? you need to install a new d2x cIOS base 58 in slot251. It's one common place for this base, but any or another slot between 230-253 are fine, as long as you know where/what you install and set it in your game's individual setting.

Hi everyone, so I'm having the most frustrating issue with USB Loader GX and I can't for the life of me figure it out. Gametdb titles and synopses refuse to show up. I've updated wiitdb.xml, "use gametdb titles" is set to on, "force disc titles" is off, my paths all point to the correct directories, and still nothing. I can press 2 on a title and a little window pops up with its 3D cover art, but no game synopsis either. It just out right refuses to work and I don't know why. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks

ThaCrip just reported the same issue ! (on the same page, few post above yours).
I'm not sure yet if the problem is the loader's version, or the xml itself.
maybe the last version of the xml is malformed, or maybe the console run out of memory parsing the file because it became too big? Maybe 29MB is too much for 64MB RAM of the console (the loader takes lot of RAM to run already), I'll have to check.
try with older version of the loader and latest xml to see if it works or not, to leave out the possibility of being the file or the loader's version.
you can also try to edit the xml to remove some of the game you don't need and see if file size matters.

 

[justjack]

base 38 for Animal Crossing new leaf

OMG you can play 3DS games on the Wii???!!!!!!1111

Spoiler

Sorry, I had to do it. IlI' see myself out.

 

[Cyan]

ahhh, it's not titled "new leaf" ?
I forgot the one for the Wii

edit : you are right, it's "City folk".
Thanks for fixing my mistake, I'll looking less stupid now haha

 

[Xaranar]

Whilst I'm here, and I apologise if this isn't the place to ask, but I'm having problems with Bomberman Blast. It won't run at all under USB Loader GX, nor will it run under neek2o, or my real NAND. Every time it just boots to a black screen. Both the PAL and NTSC WADS exhibit the exact same behaviour. Any ideas?

EDIT: Never mind. Just patched it with the wiimmfi patcher and it works fine now.

 

[Xaranar]

Now I'm having the same problem with Excitebike World Rally. Won't boot under emunand, real nand or neek. Have patched it with wiimmfi as well, but no joy. Why is WiiWare so flaky it seems?

 

[ThaCrip]

1)
If you can test with your other wii and older version of the loader, let me know if you have proper access to game info, renamed game's title, and control parental level filled automatically.

Well currently it's on v1271 and is working on my last update of the .xml some months ago now. but just to see what happens I updated the .xml a moment ago, it said update was successful, and it reacts the exact same way as the Wii with the issue that I recently clean installed v1271 to in that the game info is all blank when highlighting a game and pressing the 2 button on the Wii remote and after locking the system it no longer filters anything like it should be doing. so there is definitely something going on with the more recent updates of the wiitdb xml file as it was working fine doing what I said some months ago but not anymore.

so since the current stuff is pretty much shot... you said to download a older version of the loader and see if I got access to the 'game info' etc. so I downloaded the 'USBLoader_GX_V2_3_AllinOnePackage_IOS249.zip' (I assume this is okay?) and installed that (I completely removed the 'usbloader_gx' folder (which is v1271) from the apps folder before installing this older version so everything is in a clean state), downloaded the covers for the games, and then proceeded to update the wiitdb xml (of which it said 'successfully updated'), adjusted parental control to show only 'Everyone' and 'Everyone 10+' games, locked the USBLoaderGX and nothing was filtered and I even checked the 'game info' by highlighting a game and pressing 2 on the Wii remote and it reacts exactly the same as the newest USBLoaderGX v1271 in that it shows the cover art for the game but in the white screen next to it (to the right) it's a blank white where normally, when things were working in the past you could see some game info along with rating of the game etc.

so does this suggest that something is wrong with the XML? ; because, correct me if I am wrong, but you were wondering whether it's a system memory issue (like not enough RAM on the Wii) not being able to load that XML file into memory and that by me using a older version of USBLoaderGX, which I assume uses a bit less RAM than the newer verisons do(?), but yet it still does not work, does that seem to suggest it's the XML at fault and not USBLoaderGX v1271 etc?

any other suggestions?

EDIT: on a side note... I was looking at my SD card backup and checked the size of the wiitdb XML and on that one it was "25.4 MB (25,363,598 bytes)". so it grew roughly 4MB in size since about Nov 2018.

the update since 3.x are mainly for gamecube support (nintendont), so you might not need to update if you play only wii games.

I do play some Gamecube games. so I imagine it's best for me to stay on the newest versions, which I am currently using v1271.

 

[Cyan]

Whilst I'm here, and I apologise if this isn't the place to ask, but I'm having problems with Bomberman Blast. It won't run at all under USB Loader GX, nor will it run under neek2o, or my real NAND. Every time it just boots to a black screen. Both the PAL and NTSC WADS exhibit the exact same behaviour. Any ideas?

EDIT: Never mind. Just patched it with the wiimmfi patcher and it works fine now.

Ohhh, you found a solution I didn't know !
I have that problem too, I didn't thought it was internet access which broke the game.
thank you for that info

same problem with Excitebike World Rally

hmm, that one was never a problem.
Is it a network-only game too, like bomberman?
maybe it's a bad dump.

Wiiware/VC are not all working with simple cIOS mode, but neek mode usually fix that problem (with proper settings, identical NAND region instead of region free option, etc.). it can be a little tricky to get every games to play. but usually, cIOS mode is enough for most games.
I really don't know what's wrong with that game, sorry.

using a older version of USBLoaderGX, which I assume uses a bit less RAM than the newer verisons do(?), but yet it still does not work, does that seem to suggest it's the XML at fault and not USBLoaderGX v1271 etc?

older version of the loader might actually use more memory, because it had more menus (like Theme menu, which I disabled in recent revisions to get more RAM for other things).
but now we know the problem is not the loader version, both old and new have the problem.
it leaves two possibilities :
- memory issue (try to delete lot of games from xml to make it smaller)
- malformed xml (need to find which game breaks the xml, and fix it on the gametdb website)

I was looking at my SD card backup and checked the size of the wiitdb XML and on that one it was "25.4 MB (25,363,598 bytes)". so it grew roughly 4MB in size since about Nov 2018.

Ahh, you have backup with smaller size? did you try it?