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Play Wii games with the Wii U Gamecube Adapter on USB Loader GX [Chadderz121 wup-028-bslug little update]

Hello girls and guys,

Having a Wii U and wanting to play the compatible Wii games with a Gamecube controller, using the wup-028-bslug by Chadderz121 was a way to do it, but I had two problems.


-My first problem was that I launch my Wii games from USB Loader GX but I couldn't manage to make brainslug work with it. After some research on the web I found a solution, you can load an alternative .dol when launching the game from USB Loader GX. In my case, this alternative dol is brainslug.
Combining this solution with the fact that brainslug can load specific symbols and modules depending on the game, I have here for you a set of files that you can put on your SD card to launch the games that I listed below and make them work with the Wii U gamecube adapter, and make it work with USB Loader GX.


-The second one was that not all games were compatible (like Guilty Gear XX Accent Core), on some of the Wii symbols used by the wup-028-bslug couldn't be located. I tried myself to use Ghidra and the Dolphin memory watcher to locate them on these games but I never sucedded. Recently, with the release of chatgpt version 5, I asked it if may knew these missing symbols.

By using the Reverse-engineered Nintendo SDK function dumps (publicly documented in places like devkitPro forums and various Wii homebrew repos), the Super Mario Sunshine decompilation, the Mario Kart Wii decompilation, Dolphin Emulator test builds and its own byte pattern extraction from a few main.dol files of Wii retail games (from its own words), ChatGPT managed to give me an updated version of the file used by the wup-028-bslug. On the bottom of this thread is my discussion with ChatGPT.
I'm not gonna lie, exept for one, none of these symbols managed to work. So, if you are more talented than me, you can help me to find them. The unknown symbols are all from late era Wii games (Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, Sonic Colours, Fifa 12, etc...).

So, if like me you want to use Brainslug with USB Loader GX and use the wup-028-bslug on these Wii games, here is what to do :)


What to do:

a) Follow the Brainslug-Wii and wup-028-bslug tutorials to install Brainslug on your Wii / Wii U. Checkout the end of this post to get the last compiled version of Brainslug-Wii and the updated wup-028-bslug files.

b) Create a :sd/alternative_dols folder, put in it -for each game that you want to be lanched with Brainslug- a copy of Brainslug's boot.dol and rename it to you_game_id.dol (example: RM8E01.dol for Mario Party 8 NTSC-U). For this point only, I didn't put in the sd zip file contains all the necessary files for the compatible games of the list because it's region depandant. I only did it for MK Wii.

c) In the :sd/brainslug/modules folder, make a folder for each Wii game you want to load a brainslug module, the folder name is its id without the last two characters (example: RM8E for Mario Party 8 USA). Put in this folder the modules (.mod files) that you want to load. The sd zip file contains all the necessary files for the compatible games of the list (even the not compatibles).

d) In the :sd/brainslug/modules folder, delete the pad.xml file, make a folder for each Wii game you want to load a brainslug module, the folder name follows the same rules as the modules folders. Put in this folder the symbols (.xml files) that you want to load. Same as before, the sd zip file contains all the necessary files for the games of the list (even the not compatibles).

e) In USB Loader GX, change the path for DOL's to "sd:\alternative_dols\".

f) In the loading parameters of the game you want to load with Brainslug, turn alternate DOL to ON.

g) Launch the game, some text will normally indicate that the necessary symbols are found then the game will show up.


Game compatibility (V->compatible):

-Bomberman Land Wii [RBB] (loads but inputs don't do anything)
-Castlevania Judgment [RDG] (V)
-Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 [RD4] (V)
-Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3 [RJR] (PADInit not found)
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 [RDB] (V)
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 [RDS] (V)
-Dragon Ball Revenge of King Piccolo [R7G] (V)
-FIFA 09 All-Play [RF9] (loads but inputs don't do anything)
-FIFA 10 [R4R] (loads but inputs don't do anything)
-FIFA 12 [SI3] (PADInit not found)
-Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn [RFE] (V)
-GoldenEye 007 [SJB] (PADInit not found)
-Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus [R3N] (PADInit not found)
-Klonoa [R96] (freezes on brainslug launch)
-Mario Kart Wii [RMC] (V)
-Metal Slug Anthology [RML] (V)
-Mortal Kombat Armageddon [RKM] (PADRead not found)
-Muramasa - The Demon Blade [RSF] (PADInit not found)
-MySims Racing [RQG] (V)
-Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution European Version [RNX] (V)
-Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 [RNY] (V)
-Naruto Shippuden Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 [RNE] (V)
-Naruto Shippuden Dragon Blade Chronicles [SN4] (PADInit not found)
-Need for Speed [SNH] (PADInit not found)
-Need for Speed Nitro [R7X] (V)
-Need for Speed Undercover [RX9] (V)
-Resident Evil Archives Resident Evil [RE4] (V)
-Resident Evil Archives Resident Evil Zero [RBH] (V)
-Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition [RB4] (loads but inputs don't do anything)
-Samurai Warriors 3 [S59] (PADInit not found)
-Sin and Punishment Successor of the Skies [R2V] (PADInit not found)
-SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 [RJZ] (V)
-Sonic Colours [SNC] (PADInit not found)
-Sonic Riders Zero Gravity [RS9] (V)
-Sonic Unleashed [RSV] (loads but inputs don't do anything)
-Super Mario All-Stars [SVM] (PADInit not found)
-Super Smash Bros. Brawl [RSB] (V) (symbols found but crash on launch)


Files

-The last compiled version of Brainslug-Wii with the updated wup-028-bslug files (to put on your sd card).

-My discussion with ChatGPT.


Troubleshooting

-The game may not load correctly everytime, you may have to shut down your console and retry to launch the game to make it work.


Thank you for reading me, thank you Chadderz for brainslug, feel free to help if you want.
I wish you a nice day :)
 

Attachments

Last edited by BeeGeesAnd2PacFan,
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Hey, I just updated the files and the game compatibility list because some games I previously thought worked correctly didn’t. Please consider this message and update your sd files :)
 
BeeGeesAnd2PacFan said:
Hey, I just updated the files and the game compatibility list because some games I previously thought worked correctly didn’t. Please consider this message and update your sd files :)
Click to expand...
I was about to write you an answer to ask if it was normal that Resident Evil 0 black freeze on door loading screen 😅.
In all games there is always the message "IOS reload failed" maybe I missed something ?

Ps: you've done an amazing job, the vWii = Wii dream is just near to be touched
 
Last edited by creedof69,
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creedof69 said:
I was about to write you an answer to ask if it was normal that Resident Evil 0 black freeze on door loading screen 😅.
In all games there is always the message "IOS reload failed" maybe I missed something ?

Ps: you've done an amazing job, the vWii = Wii dream is just near to be touched
Click to expand...

Ahah, thank you a lot I'm really glad to read this :)

To be honest, initially for some games I just looked if brainslug succeed to load the symbols in dolphin but not on real hardware, which made some hiccup and I'm really sorry about that :ph34r:. But now it's fixed !

And to reply for the "IOS reload failed" message, I also get it but the game loads fine in the end so + I don't have the knowledge to fix it so I won't go further ahah :ph34r:.
 
Last edited by BeeGeesAnd2PacFan,
BeeGeesAnd2PacFan said:
Ahah, thank you a lot I'm really glad to read this :)

To be honest, initially for some games I just looked if brainslug succeed to load the symbols in dolphin but not on real hardware, which made some hiccup and I'm really sorry about that :ph34r:. But now it's fixed !

And to reply for the "IOS reload failed" message, I also get it but the game loads fine in the end so + I don't have the knowledge to fix it so I won't go further ahah :ph34r:.
Click to expand...
The only better step I would say is a complete cIOS module (like fakemote) to make the Wii and vWii read the usb adapter input as physical GameCube port input.
As I know nobody would never doing this for the people I want to study make it myself, I post a question in the Wii thread but nobody answered yet 😂
 
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creedof69 said:
The only better step I would say is a complete cIOS module (like fakemote) to make the Wii and vWii read the usb adapter input as physical GameCube port input.
As I know nobody would never doing this for the people I want to study make it myself, I post a question in the Wii thread but nobody answered yet 😂
Click to expand...
Yes a cIOS like that would be the best thing ! But maybe USB Loader GX would include this feature one day, after all the last bug update made big improvements on Wii U compatibility.

Ahah, I wish you courage, it's far from simple but such a cIOS would really be great ! I hope someone answer you quickly, maybe you can also get some help from a dedicated Discord server, though I don't know any.
 
That's awesome, thanks for sharing! I was already aware of that Brainslug module, but I always thought it only worked with the disc inserted.

Now, if only DMCU didn't suck, and vWii (or maybe ULGX in particular) was less prone to freezing, that would truly be a great way to play Wii games. The latter could very well be an issue with my particular setup, but diagnosing any of that is a next-level pain in the ass...
 
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Hey there, thanks for figuring this out. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me. As an example, Mario Kart Wii, I have a disk copy and my backup on my portable HDD. I seem to be unable to get my Wii U GameCube Adapter to register when loading via USBLoaderGX. However, loading through brainslug (and my physical disk), Chadderz's module seems to work great.

On USBLoaderGX with the Alternate DOL method, I get success text and everything, just no actual success with my GameCube adapter.

I was first thinking it was because mine is a Hyperkin adapter, yet it does work if I don't go through USBLoaderGX. Do you have any tips or recommendations on what I could try with USBLoaderGX to get this to register magically?

For what it's worth, the adapter does work with Nintendont without any special configuration.
 
Bowe said:
Hey there, thanks for figuring this out. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me. As an example, Mario Kart Wii, I have a disk copy and my backup on my portable HDD. I seem to be unable to get my Wii U GameCube Adapter to register when loading via USBLoaderGX. However, loading through brainslug (and my physical disk), Chadderz's module seems to work great.

On USBLoaderGX with the Alternate DOL method, I get success text and everything, just no actual success with my GameCube adapter.

I was first thinking it was because mine is a Hyperkin adapter, yet it does work if I don't go through USBLoaderGX. Do you have any tips or recommendations on what I could try with USBLoaderGX to get this to register magically?

For what it's worth, the adapter does work with Nintendont without any special configuration.
Click to expand...
Looks like we found this post at the same time cause I'm just trying it as well. I also had some issues using the front port with my GC controller not being detected but then my flash drive wouldn't work through any port except the top one on the back. My solution was to connect the black cable on the GC controller to the bottom port on the back and the grey one on the front since it's supposed to be for power (though rumble seems to work with just the black one oddly enough).
I couldn't get MK Wii to recognise my controller but I got Dragon Ball Revenge of King Piccolo to work and made my own thing for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom which also works. It's a damn shame about the games that fail with the PadInit. I tried to make a thing for Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen Special (A direct sequel to clash of ninja revolution 3) but it had that error, I even used the files from CONR 3 to no avail. So yeah, it's pretty hit or miss. I wonder if these games with the padinit failure work on brainslug via disc.
Edit: They don't
 
Last edited by SK91,
I keep getting a dsi exception and I’m having trouble figuring out as to why! Testing with mkw and my bslug folder looks exactly as yours does aside from adding the region code to the rmc folder. I’m thinking maybe it’s my version of d2x? I’m running v11 beta 3 and I’m thinking maybe that’s the root cause of this.

Edit: also, games work perfectly through usb loader gx without brain slug

Edit: reverting to d2x v10 beta 3 did not help at all,

with the files and method described in the post from the original mkw thread (linked here as solution) it also doesn’t work but acts differently. it loads the game with game id: v and then says no modules found.

Would love some advice from someone smarter than me or anyone who has been able to get this method to work on actual hardware! Thanks!
 
Last edited by DMurray,
DMurray said:
I keep getting a dsi exception and I’m having trouble figuring out as to why! Testing with mkw and my bslug folder looks exactly as yours does aside from adding the region code to the rmc folder. I’m thinking maybe it’s my version of d2x? I’m running v11 beta 3 and I’m thinking maybe that’s the root cause of this.

Edit: also, games work perfectly through usb loader gx without brain slug

Edit: reverting to d2x v10 beta 3 did not help at all,

with the files and method described in the post from the original mkw thread (linked here as solution) it also doesn’t work but acts differently. it loads the game with game id: v and then says no modules found.

Would love some advice from someone smarter than me or anyone who has been able to get this method to work on actual hardware! Thanks!
Click to expand...
All adapters but all peripherals in general have a product ID called "vendor ID". And an homebrew or application has to be coded with the distinction of specific vendor ID. So most of app are only compatible with the official GameCube adapter (Wii U logo or Nintendo logo for the switch one) and the more reliable 3rd party one the mayflash because it has a real "Wii U mode" Any others have a crappy mode between Wii U mode and PC mode, anyway they have to be integrated in the code themselves. Like in nintendont, official and mayflash adapter are compatible natively in the code but others 3rd party has to be used with a .ini file like it's considered like a generic USB controller like dualshock 3 for example. So it's maybe possible that the original brainslug module made by chadderz for disc in a first place is only compatible with the official adapter.
 
I just noticed that the brainslug alternative dol doesn't lauch if you run your game from sd card / sd mode of usb loader gx.
 
juderas said:
yeah i noticed this too, how about running the game through a usb drive?
Click to expand...
The game and the alternative dol in the sd or USB run well. Except for Resident Evil Games which, on Wii U, controls doesn't works and on Wii, controls work but the game has infinite black loading screen on the first actions which need a loading. Maybe these game will never work if they don't like that the .dol is altered. And I'm kinda sad because they are the games I wanted to play on Wii U with GC controls
 
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creedof69 said:
The game and the alternative dol in the sd or USB run well. Except for Resident Evil Games which, on Wii U, controls doesn't works and on Wii, controls work but the game has infinite black loading screen on the first actions which need a loading. Maybe these game will never work if they don't like that the .dol is altered. And I'm kinda sad because they are the games I wanted to play on Wii U with GC controls
Click to expand...
so far ive only tested sonic riders zero gravity, which wouldn’t load with the brainslug loading screen until i switched from my sd card to a usb drive, but even then my controller still didnt work despite booting into brainslug. could you tell me which games worked for you?
 
juderas said:
so far ive only tested sonic riders zero gravity, which wouldn’t load with the brainslug loading screen until i switched from my sd card to a usb drive, but even then my controller still didnt work despite booting into brainslug. could you tell me which games worked for you?
Click to expand...
Actually I only tested RE4 on Wii U, to see if it worked regarding to loading freeze. But else on a regular Wii, I tested :
- Dragon Ball revenge of Piccolo daimao (works perfectly)
- DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (works but L and R analog think it's fully pressed while it's only half pressed)
- Mario kart Wii (works, actually the brainslug was made for him)
I didn't tested other games yet

To answer you, I think that the sd issue come from USB loader GX itself, I think it can't load an alternative dol while it's in SD mode. The SD mode is pretty recent btw and GX wasn't know for SD support, Wiiflow was.
 
creedof69 said:
Actually I only tested RE4 on Wii U, to see if it worked regarding to loading freeze. But else on a regular Wii, I tested :
- Dragon Ball revenge of Piccolo daimao (works perfectly)
- DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (works but L and R analog think it's fully pressed while it's only half pressed)
- Mario kart Wii (works, actually the brainslug was made for him)
I didn't tested other games yet

To answer you, I think that the sd issue come from USB loader GX itself, I think it can't load an alternative dol while it's in SD mode. The SD mode is pretty recent btw and GX wasn't know for SD support, Wiiflow was.
Click to expand...
Interesting, never got it to work with mario kart wii under usb
 
SK91 said:
Interesting, never got it to work with mario kart wii under usb
Click to expand...
I don't know if you guys set the brainslug correctly but you can't put them in custom folder (like I like to do for my stuff), except maybe for the alternative dol folder that you can set anywhere from loader GX, the alternative dol launch brainslug app, so I guess all dols are hardcoded to search in SD/apps/brainslug/main.dol, then the brainslug app made by chadderz also hardcoded to look for SD/bslug/modules (or symbol). That the only things you need. An alternative dol with the game ID (like RB4PB8.dol) and a module file wup028 in a folder named with the ID minus the region like "RB4" in the modules folder in the bslug one. Same thing with pad.xml in the symbols folder
 
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creedof69 said:
I don't know if you guys set the brainslug correctly but you can't put them in custom folder (like I like to do for my stuff), except maybe for the alternative dol folder that you can set anywhere from loader GX, the alternative dol launch brainslug app, so I guess all dols are hardcoded to search in SD/apps/brainslug/main.dol, then the brainslug app made by chadderz also hardcoded to look for SD/bslug/modules (or symbol). That the only things you need. An alternative dol with the game ID (like RB4PB8.dol) and a module file wup028 in a folder named with the ID minus the region like "RB4" in the modules folder in the bslug one. Same thing with pad.xml in the symbols folder
Click to expand...
I’m fairly sure it’s right since brainslug detects and loads it, controller just doesn’t do anything
I made a few for other games or some of the existing ones and those had worked fine so I’m not sure
 
Ok so surprising, and disappointing thing, on Wii U the controls seams to work now on resident evil 4 (but still unplayable) in the menu if the USB adapter is connected to the rear usb port of the console. Does it mean that the brainslug module is only compatible for a Wii setup (usb 0 and 1) and not for Wii U's usb 2 and 3 ports ?
It's disappointing because, even if I test through a usb stick, games need be loaded from HDD in port 0 with Y cable, I can't plug into port 0 + the other part of the cable to the rear of the console, then plug the GC controller adapter to the port 1 and the grey cable to the rear of the console too.

SK91 said:
I’m fairly sure it’s right since brainslug detects and loads it, controller just doesn’t do anything
I made a few for other games or some of the existing ones and those had worked fine so I’m not sure
Click to expand...
You can try plugging the adapter to the 2nd rear usb port of the console to test if it works
 

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