Hacking USB Loader GX

[jackdolphin1947]

Does the latest version of USB Loader GX support 480p?

 

[Draxikor]

does the latest version of usb loader gx support 480p ?
or do they support lower resolutions like 360p , 240p etc

also which was the last old version that didnt support 480p

All versions support 480p

 

[Rustygx]

Would it be possible to put a 4th tab for Nand only (not emuNAND) in the USBGX Tab Mod? Maybe named 'Loaders'/'Emulators'/'Other' or something?

I would be willing to put a small bounty on this although not sure if that's allowed forum rules.

 

[NoobletCheese]

For anyone having issues with HDD not detected or strange IOS behaviour, eg. controllers not detected properly, here's something worth trying: edit the meta.xml file to remove the top and bottom lines:

<!--   // remove this line to enable arguments
<arguments>
       <arg>--ios=249</arg>
       <arg>--usbport=0</arg>
       <arg>--mountusb=1</arg>
</arguments>
// remove this line to enable arguments -->

For whatever reason this resolves the issues I was having with my HDD not being detected and player1 wiimote detected as player2.

I think deleting those lines might cause a reload of IOS and HDD at startup, not really sure, but it's definitely causing ULGX to take a different code path.

In Cyan's version they get deleted automatically whenever you manually reset or change IOS/USB settings but not in blackb0x's version.

You can also try adjusting those 3 arg parameters, in particular ios to 58 or 249. The other 2 are self explanatory; usbport 0 is the bottom one on the console.

 

[hadi aulia]

@blackbox
Im having trouble booting gamecube games with Nintendont-CrisMMMod ver 7.30 from your latest ULGX version

When using ULGX it just showed black screen, i tried using wiiflow it boot gamecube games no problem

Is theres any spesific setting that need to changed?

 

[NoobletCheese]

I made these codes for NTSC-U Mega Man 9, for anyone interested.

Mega Man 9 - NTSC-U WiiWare

Game width1 492 to 512 (Wii set to 16:9)
203016b0 028001e0
043016b0 029a01e0
e0000000 80008000

Game width2 492 to 512 (Wii set to 16:9)
2039b264 028001e0
0439b264 029a01e0
e0000000 80008000
//Both must be enabled to work correctly. Wii must be set to 16:9 mode.

I can't get this to work. I pasted them here 3 lines at a time using game ID wr9e, saved the wr9e.gct to sd:/codes, enabled ocarina and launched the game, got no error message so ULGX definitely read the gct file, but no difference in image.

WAD is installed to sysnand. I am required to set ULGX loader settings > channel launcher > boot content, otherwise game just black screens on launch. Launches from Wii sysmenu fine though.

Is there some other way to patch the codes directly into the wad?

edit: I should mention I had to patch the wad using this process since the game is NTSC and my console is PAL, so maybe it breaks the cheat code somehow? On the other hand, @MaeseJesus is using a PAL console and it works for him...

btw, even without the cheat codes I find the scaling artefacts are greatly reduced when Wii is set to 4:3. Unfortunately ULGX's aspect ratio patch to 4:3 is not working so it requires changing Wii aspect every time the game is played, which is kind of a dealbreaker too *sigh*

 

[Maeson]

Well, my setup is this:

The games were US versions modified for 480p and no filters (and also Wiimmfi patched, because I enjoy the rankings), then I used Custom Nand Loader Mod to make them play on my PAL system. I boot them through USB Loader GX, and they work well, but I must say that I have the option "Force NTSC 480p" activated on both of them, maybe that helps.

For the cheats I actually like to use the txt files for cheats on USB Loader GX. I will share both my txt files. put them on the folder "txtcodes" on the root of the SD card. Then on USB Loader GX, go to each game settings, and look on the Ocarina menu, you'll see the cheats. Turn them on, and push Create, it will make a gct file. Then turn on Ocarina Codes for each individual game, and they should work. At least that's what I do and works.

For the Aspect Ratio, yeah, I agree, USB Loader GX (maybe others too) has issues with forcing either 4:3 or 16:9 with at least some Wiiware games, such as these two. But because I basically play 99% of things in 4:3, well, I don't deal much with aspect ratios anymore.

 

[NoobletCheese]

@MaeseJesus thanks for that.

Unfortunately still not working for me. I think it's because I have to set ULGX loader settings > channel launcher > boot content , otherwise game doesn't boot (black screen). Did you have to do this as well?

 

[Maeson]

No, not at all. Just the NTSC 480p video thing.

I could try to make a Beat or xDelta patch for the wads if you want. I don't know if the problem is the games themselves or something else, though...

 

[NoobletCheese]

The issue ended up being that for Megaman 9, for some reason I must set ULGX to patch the video mode to NTSC480p, otherwise the game black screens on launch. This can be worked around by setting the ULGX loader setting to 'boot content', but then it kills the cheat code.

This is strange considering (1) the game is already NTSC, (2) it loads from stock Wii sysmenu without issue, (3) the wad is patched region free with Custom Nand-Loader and (4) Superrsonics cheat code for 480p is applied, and yet it still needs more NTSC patching on top of that.

 

[NoobletCheese]

The aspect ratio of the active pixels in the above screenshot is precisely 8:7 (1.14:1) which I find is impossible to achieve using your codes on Dolphin or ULGX, in either 4:3 or 16:9 mode:

Dolphin
16:9 + no code = 1.34:1 (too wide)
16:9 + code = 1.39:1 (much too wide)
4:3 + no code = 1.29:1 (too wide)
4:3 + code = 1.04:1 (too skinny)
16:9 + code + patching viWidth 512 in 01.app = 1.10:1 (symmetrical shapes in game).

Therefore I am very curious to know how you produced this screenshot which has 8:7 (1.14:1) aspect which is in none of the above configurations.

 

[NoobletCheese]

Just wanted to report I've had a couple of bugs resolved by loading ULGX from a forwarder -- specifically this forwarder* -- instead of launching via Homebrew Channel.

The two bugs I had were wiimote incorrectly detected as player2 at the ULGX interface, and the title Super Swing Golf displaying graphical bugs if the dol is patched.

* only for original Wii. Wii U should use this one as per this article.

 

[Maeson]

Yeah, I've been having the same issue, but I always launch USB Loader GX from the HBC. It's not every time, but happens quite often. Of course I don't find it very annoying because once I launch a game the controller is recognized as Player 1, but it has stood out as something weird.

I guess both could be fixed without the need of a forwarder, isn't it?

 

[blackb0x]

I guess both could be fixed without the need of a forwarder, isn't it?

I've already got a fix in place

I'm taking a bit of a break right now, but I'll probably start pushing my changes to GitHub by the end of the week.

 

[XFlak]

Just wanted to report I've had a couple of bugs resolved by loading ULGX from a forwarder -- specifically this forwarder* -- instead of launching via Homebrew Channel.

The two bugs I had were wiimote incorrectly detected as player2 at the ULGX interface, and the title Super Swing Golf displaying graphical bugs if the dol is patched.

* only for original Wii. Wii U should use this one as per this article.

Do you mind checking if this forwarder also solves the issue?

https://github.com/modmii/modmii.gi...s)-ahbprot58-SD-USB-v12-IDCL-alt.zip?raw=true

I think it should behave the same as the one you linked to.

I've already got a fix in place

I'm taking a bit of a break right now, but I'll probably start pushing my changes to GitHub by the end of the week.

Amazing! I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Maeson]

Fantastic, blackb0x! And yes, take some rest, it's well deserved.

 

[NoobletCheese]

Do you mind checking if this forwarder also solves the issue?
https://github.com/modmii/modmii.gi...s)-ahbprot58-SD-USB-v12-IDCL-alt.zip?raw=true

No issues on my end with that forwarder, and I tested it quite thoroughly by first reproducing the p2 bug consistently with one of blackb0x's test builds, and then switching to the forwarder instead and being unable to reproduce it. Super Swing Golf is fine too.

 

[SuperrSonic]

The aspect ratio of the active pixels in the above screenshot is precisely 8:7 (1.14:1) which I find is impossible to achieve using your codes on Dolphin or ULGX, in either 4:3 or 16:9 mode:

Therefore I am very curious to know how you produced this screenshot which has 8:7 (1.14:1) aspect which is in none of the above configurations.

Sorry for the late reply, had to step out for a bit. The screenshot is from Dolphin, but it should match an xfb screenshot taken with a usb gecko because it's the same config the game uses internally: 640px wide and 512px wide for the game's scale.

In case it helps, the VI scale cannot be lower than the fb width.

 

[NoobletCheese]

I'm pretty sure d2x always flashes the slot light when it's redirecting NAND saving. I've never found a way to turn it off.

maybe I just forgot (I rarely play games).
If there's no option, then a cIOS recompilation is required to disable it (or to add a user setting).

Yes, it's a feature of the cIOS, not NEEK's kernel. There might be a way to turn it off, I just don't know what it is.
I see an option for LED_ACTIVITY in the d2x source but it's a define flag so if that's it then the cIOS modules would have to be recompiled.

Are we absolutely sure it isn't possible to forcibly disable the disc light in ULGX without recompiling cIOS? Is there perhaps some global value or memory address that can be written to to kill it?

For me it's kind of a dealbreaker for playing games off EmuNAND as that light keeps flashing every now and then -- very distracting in a dark room.

Ocarina of Time is a useful test subject as it flashes a couple of times shortly after booting, and the first time opening the home menu seems to trigger it as well.

I've seen that Neek is a viable solution, however I'd like to avoid that if possible as it's a bit heavy handed for my needs -- I'd probably rather crack open the console and manually disconnect the LED wire

 

[Larsenv]

I'm having 2 problems with USB Loader GX lately:

1. Game titles from GameTDB are not showing up correctly. Even though I have the title data downloaded, USB Loader GX is grabbing the game names from the disc header.
2. This is a problem I've noticed for a long time. RiiTag does not work properly if there are multiple connections on your Wii. It's touchy. For example, if I have a Connection 1 and a Connection 2 on my Wii Settings, and I'm currently using Connection 1, RiiTag will likely not connect to the server when I launch a game until I delete Connection 2.