Hacking USB Loader GX

blackb0x · May 11, 2025

Squished Squirrel said:
I may not have mentioned it in this thread, but the mayflash does work fine with fakemote once in a game, if the game is set to an ios slot that has the fakemote patch (Currently slot 247, IOS 57). Both fakemote 57 and 58 IOSs can see the bottom rear USB port without issue in-game.

The only issue left is the USB Loader GX menu screen. When the loader IOS is set to one of the fakemote slots, the GUI isn't accepting input from the mayflash. (I do exit out of USB Loader after changin loader IOS slots, and verify it is using the expected slot with the credits button.)

The game will use Nintendo's Wiimote code, but USB Loader GX won't. So if your adapter doesn't behave exactly like an official Wiimote does, then it might not work.

Squished Squirrel said:
if I understand correctly, I can exit games back to the loader, or I may be misremembering that post.

I recently put updated instructions in the first post of this thread.

Squished Squirrel said:
I am a little hesitant to stub the 248-251 IOS slots until I understand what that does and how it works. Last thing I need right now is to screw up my vwii, so I am taking this step by step making sure I understand what I am doing before attempting it.

Anything from 202 to 253 are normally unused slots, so you can stub (uninstall) them and it won't brick your Wii or vWii.

I'm suggesting that you stub all of the d2x cIOS slots that you see in SysCheck report and then reinstall the d2x cIOS in the recommended slots with fakemote. Or at least use fakemote in slots 250 (base 57) and 251 (base 58).

Some third-party LAN adapters require you to use cIOS 251 (base 58) for the loader to work with them, so maybe that would also work for your Mayflash adapter?

XFlak · May 11, 2025

blackb0x said:
I'm suggesting that you stub all of the d2x cIOS slots that you see in SysCheck report and then reinstall the d2x cIOS in the recommended slots with fakemote. Or at least use fakemote in slots 250 (base 57) and 251 (base 58).

Said differently, Squirrel should enable d2x-v11-beta3-FM051in modmii's options and run modmii's syscheck updater wizard (when prompted asking if u want to change cios to the recommended one, say no)

ChibiMofo · May 11, 2025

blackb0x said:
I assume your drive is also formatted to NTFS, which isn't the recommended format for the Wii, and NTFS support might be dropped in a future release.

NTFS is a far superior file system (journaling) and has been supported on homebrew for well over a decade. Please do not needlessly rip out support for what is by far the best filesystem that can be used on the Wii.

blackb0x · May 11, 2025

ChibiMofo said:
NTFS is a far superior file system (journaling) and has been supported on homebrew for well over a decade. Please do not needlessly rip out support for what is by far the best filesystem that can be used on the Wii.

While journaling is beneficial for HDDs, it's detrimental to flash drives and SD cards because of the increased number of writes. And I believe the only apps to support NTFS are the USB loaders and CleanRip? Everything else expects you to use FAT32, which is why FAT32 has remained the recommended file system.

The NTFS library is around 580 KB, and the EXT2 library is around 450 KB. So by removing both, I can reduce the loaders memory footprint, improve maintainability, and overall stability.

With the removal of NTFS and EXT2, the loader will gain exFAT support. So, you'll still have a file system option that allows larger files while also being a lot more optimised for USB flash drives and SD cards. And the really nice thing is that Nintendont already supports it too.

I'm unlikely to release a loader update with these changes anytime soon, since there's a few other things that I need to work on first. So if you're using NTFS you might still get 1 or 2 more loader updates that support it.

lordofcombo · May 11, 2025

i thought the dev for GX is cyan,who are you blackbox?a heir or a forker?

JustMeDaFaq · May 11, 2025

lordofcombo said:
i thought the dev for GX is cyan,who are you blackbox?a heir or a forker?

Cyan isnt developing usbgx anymore.(Also, there where more than Cyan in the past) Blackbox is the main developer nowadays

lordofcombo · May 11, 2025

im happy ,blackbox seems the type to code faster than his shadow.exfat support is so much better.i just want him to have a twin brother to help ps3 scene develop exfat or ntfs support.

XFlak · May 11, 2025

lordofcombo said:
im happy ,blackbox seems the type to code faster than his shadow.exfat support is so much better.i just want him to have a twin brother to help ps3 scene develop exfat or ntfs support.

Ntfs and exfat is already supported in some ps3 tools btw, but yeah, I wish we had 2 blackb0x's too

Squished Squirrel · May 11, 2025

blackb0x said:
The game will use Nintendo's Wiimote code, but USB Loader GX won't. So if your adapter doesn't behave exactly like an official Wiimote does, then it might not work.

I recently put updated instructions in the first post of this thread.

Anything from 202 to 253 are normally unused slots, so you can stub (uninstall) them and it won't brick your Wii or vWii.

I'm suggesting that you stub all of the d2x cIOS slots that you see in SysCheck report and then reinstall the d2x cIOS in the recommended slots with fakemote. Or at least use fakemote in slots 250 (base 57) and 251 (base 58).

Some third-party LAN adapters require you to use cIOS 251 (base 58) for the loader to work with them, so maybe that would also work for your Mayflash adapter?

XFlak said:
Said differently, Squirrel should enable d2x-v11-beta3-FM051in modmii's options and run modmii's syscheck updater wizard (when prompted asking if u want to change cios to the recommended one, say no)

I don't trust the Fakemote patch fully yet, so I wanted a solution I was familiar with, something I could back out of in just a few seconds. I'm still learning all the terminology. I found I could erase individual slots with Delete Anything Mod. Is that the same as "stubbing out?" That was how I cleared out 252 and 253 where I initially installed Fakemote IOS 57 and 58, and then used d2x to put the Fakemote IOS 57 into slot 247, leaving the regular v11beta3 IOS installs in 248-251.

======================

This is what I did to make a Switch Pro controller work on USB Loader GX (vWii) using a Mayflash NS2 plugged into the lower rear USB of the Wii U. I know this is long winded, but figure someone might want the details. Also note that I have the Fakemote patched IOS in slot 247, where the common instructions have you put it in 252 (IOS 57) and 253 (IOS 58.)

I took the recommended vWii USB Loader GX forwarder wad:

"USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT_vWii (Fix).wad"
(If doing this on a Wii, make sure to use the Wii version and not the vWii version!)

• Using ModMii on your PC, select F to open a file (and hit return).
• On the next screen, drag the wad above to the window and hit return. It will launch ModMii WAD tools and open that wad.
• Select Modify.
• Change the name to "USB Loader GX-247". The 247 is whatever slot your Fakemote ios is in that you want to try. Beware, if the title is too long, it can get cropped in the Wii Menu. This doesn't set the IOS to use, this is just for the Wii menu name.
• Next, changed the IOS to use. I am using 247. Most people using Fakemote with default install would want 252 here, as well as in the title name.
• I kept it UNEO so it would be compatible with the Wii U forwarder, and any "Return to UNEO" settings.
• Keep hitting return until it requires a visibility setting. I selected N, "Don't make it invisible."
• Hitting return, it then saves the wad with a new name ending in ModXXXX. I changed the name of the whole file to "USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_vWii_247.wad". Again, if the file name is too long, you might not be able to tell the difference between the original and the modded version in your wad installer of choice.
• Put this in your wad folder on your SD card.
• Uninstall the original forwarder channel with your wad manager of choice. I used YAWM ModMii Edition of course. If you don't have the wad for it in your wad folder, you should be able to just uninstall this one. I believe since it has the same UNEO id as the original, it will work to uninstall the old one.
• Install the modded forwarder.
• Beware, if you don't have an IOS in the slot this is set to, it won't work!
• Return to the Wii menu, and try the forwarder. When you hover over it, it should have the name you gave it in ModMii.

In USB Loader GX, I set the LoaderIOS to 247, and I defaulted the game IOS to 247 as well.

With this, I can open USB Loader GX from the forwarder and have immediate control with Fakemote, maintaining the common d2x setup of slots 248-251. I can also use the Wii U USB Loader GX forwarder to go directly from Wii U to USB Loader GX and use the Switch Controller from there on. I don't have the Switch controller paired to the Wii U using Bloopair, I just have it paired to the Mayflash NS2.

Remember that Fakemote uses Left-shoulder + Left Stick click to switch between wiimote and classic controller mode. I wasn't even aware that the sticks WERE clickable.

I would like to be able to use the Switch Pro via Mayflash with the Wii U, but Bloopair doesn't like the Mayflash (or any wired HID controller apparently). I tried what was purported to be an alpha of the Aroma version of hidtovpad, but it didn't do anything either. I think Maschell has lost interest in that project since Bloopair is the better solution for most people.

Side notes:

As for getting the vWii menu to use Fakemote too, I tried to change vWii Menu IOS to 247 in PriiLoader, where I have Fakemote IOS 57, and got error:

"ES_Diverify failed! Is the IOS patched? IOS v247"

Apparently from the Priiloader issues page on github, that was fixed in libogc's 2.8.0, but there isn't a Priiloader build with that fix in it yet. (And isn't libogc in peril?)

https://github.com/DacoTaco/priiloader/issues/351

Probably would be best to have a Fakemote IOS 80 for the menu, but it doesn't matter at this point, since I am not comfortable changing ios 80 to a patched version.

I'm sure there will be plenty of comments about how it can be done better, but this felt safest to me. Of course I will edit in any recommended changes!

grandosegood · May 12, 2025

XFlak said:
U can try updating the forwarder dol and or nandloader of those channels. Modmii can assist with both of these things. It may be a bit of trial and error since there are various forwarder dol types and nandloader options to choose from. Emulator forwarders shouldn't be an issue to get working, not sure about SRLs

Hey there, thanks for your helpful info. For the forwarder dol, I blieve that would be using the fowarder option, but where could I update the nandloader of the wad?

XFlak · May 12, 2025

grandosegood said:
Hey there, thanks for your helpful info. For the forwarder dol, I blieve that would be using the fowarder option, but where could I update the nandloader of the wad?

Open the wad using modmii to edit/modify it

grandosegood · May 12, 2025

Hey thank you very much, switching one of them to the new openboot nandloader did make it work.

If I am redoing some of my wads, is there a good base wad to start creating these rom forwarders with? eg, one of runningsnakes wads to use as a base?

XFlak · May 12, 2025

ModMii can build hidden channels when building forwarder dols for u, then u can edit that. Note that modmii won't permit u to convert it to a visible channel until after you add a banner (you'll probably also want to also add icon and audio too).

Or u can continue as you have been using whatever as a base. So long as, in Modmii, u ensure ahb and DVD access is enabled, startup ios is 58 (except in unique situations) and nandloader is ODB the end result will be more or less the same. personally I'd pick a base that's closest visually to what you want so you don't necessarily need to create banner animations and such from scratch

grandosegood · May 14, 2025

Hey there, I wanted to thank you once again for your help.

Switching to openbootdol and setting AHB/DVD to 'enabled' fixed my rom forwarders. They now load properly from emunand on a usb drive. They were already on ios 58, so I just needed to make the other changes.

Edit: I forgot to ask, is there an eta on a version of USB Loader GX that doesn’t have the test time limit? Thanks again

blackb0x · May 14, 2025

grandosegood said:
Edit: I forgot to ask, is there an eta on a version of USB Loader GX that doesn’t have the test time limit? Thanks again

I should have the stable version released before June 20th.

Don't check for updates within USB Loader GX until then, since it'd just download the current stable version, which would be a downgrade.

tmnr1992 · May 15, 2025

Squished Squirrel said:
I don't trust the Fakemote patch fully yet, so I wanted a solution I was familiar with, something I could back out of in just a few seconds. I'm still learning all the terminology. I found I could erase individual slots with Delete Anything Mod. Is that the same as "stubbing out?" That was how I cleared out 252 and 253 where I initially installed Fakemote IOS 57 and 58, and then used d2x to put the Fakemote IOS 57 into slot 247, leaving the regular v11beta3 IOS installs in 248-251.

======================

This is what I did to make a Switch Pro controller work on USB Loader GX (vWii) using a Mayflash NS2 plugged into the lower rear USB of the Wii U. I know this is long winded, but figure someone might want the details. Also note that I have the Fakemote patched IOS in slot 247, where the common instructions have you put it in 252 (IOS 57) and 253 (IOS 58.)

I took the recommended vWii USB Loader GX forwarder wad:

"USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT_vWii (Fix).wad"
(If doing this on a Wii, make sure to use the Wii version and not the vWii version!)

• Using ModMii on your PC, select F to open a file (and hit return).
• On the next screen, drag the wad above to the window and hit return. It will launch ModMii WAD tools and open that wad.
• Select Modify.
• Change the name to "USB Loader GX-247". The 247 is whatever slot your Fakemote ios is in that you want to try. Beware, if the title is too long, it can get cropped in the Wii Menu. This doesn't set the IOS to use, this is just for the Wii menu name.
• Next, changed the IOS to use. I am using 247. Most people using Fakemote with default install would want 252 here, as well as in the title name.
• I kept it UNEO so it would be compatible with the Wii U forwarder, and any "Return to UNEO" settings.
• Keep hitting return until it requires a visibility setting. I selected N, "Don't make it invisible."
• Hitting return, it then saves the wad with a new name ending in ModXXXX. I changed the name of the whole file to "USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_vWii_247.wad". Again, if the file name is too long, you might not be able to tell the difference between the original and the modded version in your wad installer of choice.
• Put this in your wad folder on your SD card.
• Uninstall the original forwarder channel with your wad manager of choice. I used YAWM ModMii Edition of course. If you don't have the wad for it in your wad folder, you should be able to just uninstall this one. I believe since it has the same UNEO id as the original, it will work to uninstall the old one.
• Install the modded forwarder.
• Beware, if you don't have an IOS in the slot this is set to, it won't work!
• Return to the Wii menu, and try the forwarder. When you hover over it, it should have the name you gave it in ModMii.

In USB Loader GX, I set the LoaderIOS to 247, and I defaulted the game IOS to 247 as well.

With this, I can open USB Loader GX from the forwarder and have immediate control with Fakemote, maintaining the common d2x setup of slots 248-251. I can also use the Wii U USB Loader GX forwarder to go directly from Wii U to USB Loader GX and use the Switch Controller from there on. I don't have the Switch controller paired to the Wii U using Bloopair, I just have it paired to the Mayflash NS2.

Remember that Fakemote uses Left-shoulder + Left Stick click to switch between wiimote and classic controller mode. I wasn't even aware that the sticks WERE clickable.

I would like to be able to use the Switch Pro via Mayflash with the Wii U, but Bloopair doesn't like the Mayflash (or any wired HID controller apparently). I tried what was purported to be an alpha of the Aroma version of hidtovpad, but it didn't do anything either. I think Maschell has lost interest in that project since Bloopair is the better solution for most people.

Side notes:

As for getting the vWii menu to use Fakemote too, I tried to change vWii Menu IOS to 247 in PriiLoader, where I have Fakemote IOS 57, and got error:

"ES_Diverify failed! Is the IOS patched? IOS v247"

Apparently from the Priiloader issues page on github, that was fixed in libogc's 2.8.0, but there isn't a Priiloader build with that fix in it yet. (And isn't libogc in peril?)

https://github.com/DacoTaco/priiloader/issues/351

Probably would be best to have a Fakemote IOS 80 for the menu, but it doesn't matter at this point, since I am not comfortable changing ios 80 to a patched version.

I'm sure there will be plenty of comments about how it can be done better, but this felt safest to me. Of course I will edit in any recommended changes!

I tried this and the forwarder simply stopped working, I installed fakemote to cIOS 252, and double checked that it was indeed installed and that the forwarder was using that cIOS when modifying it with modmii. Also the adapter that I'm using is the Mayflash Magic-S Pro, I plugged it to the bottom rear port but it still gets shut down whenever I go to the vWii.

[EDIT]

I just read a couple of your previous posts and noticed you're loading Wii games from an SD card, I unplugged the HDD and now the adapter stays on when I go to the vWii menu, but I'm using USB partition with SD emulation, so I have no SD card inserted and therefore no USB Loader. I'll do some more testing to see if I can get both connected at the same time.

Squished Squirrel · May 15, 2025

tmnr1992 said:
I tried this and the forwarder simply stopped working, I installed fakemote to cIOS 252, and double checked that it was indeed installed and that the forwarder was using that cIOS when modifying it with modmii. Also the adapter that I'm using is the Mayflash Magic-S Pro, I plugged it to the bottom rear port but it still gets shut down whenever I go to the vWii.

[EDIT]

I just read a couple of your previous posts and noticed you're loading Wii games from an SD card, I unplugged the HDD and now the adapter stays on when I go to the vWii menu, but I'm using USB partition with SD emulation, so I have no SD card inserted and therefore no USB Loader. I'll do some more testing to see if I can get both connected at the same time.

Do you have the single forwarder with cios 252, or do you have both the original one (58) and the 252 one installed at the same time? I don't know what would happen if both were installed. If you skip using the forwarder, and just launch USB Loader GX with Homebrew, then set one of the Wii games to use slot 252, if you go into that game, can you use the remote? Are you able to sync the controller to the Magic S after the game has started up? Is the Magic S in PS 4 mode? It uses different color codings than the NS2. Did you start out with "USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT_vWii (Fix).wad"? I don't know what would happen with the non fix version, and make sure it is the vWii version.

tmnr1992 · May 16, 2025

Squished Squirrel said:
Do you have the single forwarder with cios 252, or do you have both the original one (58) and the 252 one installed at the same time? I don't know what would happen if both were installed.

I had the original USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT_vWii (Fix).wad, I uninstalled it and installed the modified one.

Squished Squirrel said:
If you skip using the forwarder, and just launch USB Loader GX with Homebrew, then set one of the Wii games to use slot 252, if you go into that game, can you use the remote? Are you able to sync the controller to the Magic S after the game has started up? Is the Magic S in PS 4 mode? It uses different color codings than the NS2.

I set both loader and game ios to 252 in the settings menu, when I go into a game the adapter turns off, so I can't sync the controller. I tried unplugging everything and booting the loader and games from an SD card, but either the card reader or the SD cards themselves are dying since I can't even get USB loader to show up in the homebrew channel half of the time, and when it does show up it just crashes, but I don't want to load the games from an SD card anyway.

My guess is that the console can't provide enough power for both the HDD and the adapter, so later I'm gonna try using a Y cable for each one.

Squished Squirrel · May 16, 2025

tmnr1992 said:
I had the original USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT_vWii (Fix).wad, I uninstalled it and installed the modified one.

I set both loader and game ios to 252 in the settings menu, when I go into a game the adapter turns off, so I can't sync the controller. I tried unplugging everything and booting the loader and games from an SD card, but either the card reader or the SD cards themselves are dying since I can't even get USB loader to show up in the homebrew channel half of the time, and when it does show up it just crashes, but I don't want to load the games from an SD card anyway.

My guess is that the console can't provide enough power for both the HDD and the adapter, so later I'm gonna try using a Y cable for each one.

My NS2 shuts off if it is in any other mode than PS4 mode. On my NS2, that mode is a cyan LED, but on the Magic S, it looks like PS4/Mac mode is a blue LED.

Hope you can sort out the lockups.

BTW, I would be curious to know what VID/PID your Magic S shows on Blue and Cyan LEDs. I was able to compile Fakemote.app, so I am going to try adding the VID/PID for various PS3 controller modes of the Mayflash adapters. I know them for NS and NS2, but I suspect the Magic S might be different than those.

Ohh, there is a Wii mode app called HIDTest that might be interesting to see what modes of your adapter it can see (Not the Wii U HID-Test app for tiramisu, that is a different animal.) I think it uses the same USB HID code that Nintendont does.

grandosegood · May 16, 2025

Hey all, I'm testing a bunch of different WiiWare and Virtual Console N64 wads on the emunand.

I notice that some WiiWare no longer requires the Neek setting from "Emunand Channel Path", while many of the N64 ones do.

Is this correct behaviour? Some N64 games don't need it, but many others do need that setting, otherwise they just go to black screen.

Thanks again.

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