Accurate Wii Menu USBLoaderGX Theme

[PMP174]

This is really cool. Would be cool to have an actual disc channel and if the loading screen could be replaced with the standard Wii loading screen either the health and safety screen or the channel loading screen. It would make the experience basically the same as using the Wii menu.

Post automatically merged: Jan 25, 2025

This is really cool. Would be cool to have an actual disc channel and if the loading screen could be replaced with the standard Wii loading screen (black screen with channels . It would make the experience basically the same as using the Wii menu.

 

[jwmu]

This is really cool. Would be cool to have an actual disc channel and if the loading screen could be replaced with the standard Wii loading screen either the health and safety screen or the channel loading screen. It would make the experience basically the same as using the Wii menu.

Post automatically merged: Jan 25, 2025

This is really cool. Would be cool to have an actual disc channel and if the loading screen could be replaced with the standard Wii loading screen (black screen with channels . It would make the experience basically the same as using the Wii menu.

Yep, I tried pretty much everything in the process of making this theme to get it as close as possible and you can sadly only do so much with the theme engine. You sadly can’t override the boot screen since when you boot USBLoaderGX, it hasn’t loaded a custom theme yet so it defaults to the stock USBLoaderGX logo. Maybe the interest this has sparked may inspire someone on the programming side of things like @blackb0x to try and port some more stuff over from the stock menu. I’m pretty sure USBLoaderGX borrows the static-y/fuzzy empty channel icon from the stock menu files on the NAND in real time so I imagine the same could be done for other assets. Glad you like it though!

 

[jwmu]

After all of the positive responses this theme has received, I felt like polishing it off for a final release that fixes and improves a bunch of small things, especially for the widescreen variant. I probably won't come back to it after this unless someone makes a perfectly accurate font for the clock. I think its pretty much perfect! Below are the changes & download link (same as the link in the original post). Thanks everyone!

V1.1:
* Improved readme
* slightly improved the "0", "4" and "7" on the clock font to better match the stock menu (still not perfect though)
* Fixed the graphic for the "number of players" sort mode to display the proper sort direction. V1 showed 1P>4P but USBLoaderGX actually sorts 4P>1P.
* Greatly improved the widescreen variant of the theme so all pointers and loader icons are the correct proportions. Also made the SD card icon a bit smaller (only for the widescreen variant) to match the stock menu better.
* Made a few other small tweaks & fixes to better mimic the look of the Wii Menu overall.
* Added theme previews for the USBLoaderGX theme picker menu.

download: https://gbatemp.net/download/accurate-wii-menu-usbloader-gx-theme.38994/download

 

[PMP174]

The clock font looks much better. What I notice is that the clock on the Wii menu is much thinner. Btw does USB loader GX let you theme the home button menu? The one that USB loader looks very rough compared to the real menu.

 

[jwmu]

The clock font looks much better. What I notice is that the clock on the Wii menu is much thinner. Btw does USB loader GX let you theme the home button menu? The one that USB loader looks very rough compared to the real menu.

Yes I agree the font is a bit off still. If you feel up to it, you could try editing the font further in FontForge but it would require a good bit of of time and attention to detail to get it right as editing vector based font files is an entirely different wheelhouse than pixel images.

As for the home button menu, yes USBLoaderGX does allow you to change the graphics but I didn't bother with it since I felt that it was close enough from a graphics standpoint, but I agree its not great. I think the issue with the home button menu in USBLoaderGX is less the textures themselves and more the way the menu animates & places non moveable objects too.

All that said, I'm pretty burnt out on this project for now as I think it is good enough, but maybe I will come back to it in a few months with a fresh set of eyes. The process of placing things, making small edits to each graphic, uploading to my SD card, testing on console and repeating dozens of time a day was getting to be a little maddening

Honestly though, I think from here, collective community dev time would be much better spent trying to change USBLoaderGX from the inside on a code/software level vs trying to fix the gui's aesthetics through a custom theme given how much interest was shown in this theme between here & reddit.

 

[yoelhidalgo]

how about the dark wii theme.

 

[Rainman82]

Looks great

 

[Noroxus]

@jmwu Heja, first of all thanks for this awesome theme it looks really nice and finally!! I dont get permanent eye damage from looking at the default theme!

Just wanted to quickly ask: Is it possible to swap the Clock Tooltip/function (Toggle SD) with the SD-Card button (HB Launcher)? I tried looking into the .them file but I dont really understand the text used here and the folders are just assets.

Would appreciate any help!

 

[jwmu]

@jmwu Heja, first of all thanks for this awesome theme it looks really nice and finally!! I dont get permanent eye damage from looking at the default theme!

Just wanted to quickly ask: Is it possible to swap the Clock Tooltip/function (Toggle SD) with the SD-Card button (HB Launcher)? I tried looking into the .them file but I dont really understand the text used here and the folders are just assets.

Would appreciate any help!

Yes if you want to make changes, you can do so with this tool:
https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/USB_Loader_GX_Theme_Creator_Wii

You'll need to switch the names of the .pngs for the graphics and then move their positions within the editor. It may take some trial and error as the tool doesn't always show the icons in the exact right places on the preview.

 

[Noroxus]

Yes if you want to make changes, you can do so with this tool:
https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/USB_Loader_GX_Theme_Creator_Wii

You'll need to switch the names of the .pngs for the graphics and then move their positions within the editor. It may take some trial and error as the tool doesn't always show the icons in the exact right places on the preview.

thanks!

 

[Kirbeast]

This is fantastic. I remember the first time using USB Loader GX I thought why didn't they just match the Wii menu. Would this theme work with the latest version? https://github.com/wiidev/usbloadergx/releases/tag/v4.0-r1283

 

[jwmu]

This is fantastic. I remember the first time using USB Loader GX I thought why didn't they just match the Wii menu. Would this theme work with the latest version? https://github.com/wiidev/usbloadergx/releases/tag/v4.0-r1283

Yes it should be compatible, doesn't sound like they've changed the theme engine at all.

 

[blackb0x]

Yes it should be compatible, doesn't sound like they've changed the theme engine at all.

It has changed, but I put in the work to maintain backwards compatibility with old themes.

The loaders new default theme is designed to be familiar yet deliberately different from the system menu. And I managed to keep all of the functionality from the old theme while simplifying the design and adding new features, such as quick switching between game types.

Just so you're aware, you wouldn't be able to upgrade your theme to support the new quick switching functionality because the four view type buttons have been merged into one. That means you'd lose the ability to force people into using the channel grid. Not that I think you'd want to support it anyway, since you’ve already given up searching, favorites, the child lock, cover art, and alternate view types

 

[jwmu]

It has changed, but I put in the work to maintain backwards compatibility with old themes.

The loaders new default theme is designed to be familiar yet deliberately different from the system menu. And I managed to keep all of the functionality from the old theme while simplifying the design and adding new features, such as quick switching between game types.

Just so you're aware, you wouldn't be able to upgrade your theme to support the new quick switching functionality because the four view type buttons have been merged into one. That means you'd lose the ability to force people into using the channel grid. Not that I think you'd want to support it anyway, since you’ve already given up searching, favorites, the child lock, cover art, and alternate view types

Good to know, thanks for maintaining legacy support then. I just checked out the new default theme and it's definitely an improvement over the old one visually and is a bit easier to use. The "heart" button and the "square circle triangle" button are admittedly little confusing though. Is the heart button meant to replace the old star button?

With this, do you think you'd consider porting other Wii Menu functionality/assets from the stock menu like USBLoaderGX does with the channel icons? There's been a really surprising amount of interest in my theme, I think many people just want a loader that looks like the Wii Menu we remember growing up. Save a few minor and understandable inconsistencies, something like the DSi Menu Theme on TWiLightMenu is a really good example of a faithful launcher imo.

It's just an idea, but something like a "Stock Menu mode" toggle in the GUI settings or Theme selection menu would make me and seemingly many others very happy. Getting things like the button press animations/sounds right, adding the ability to move channels, the original clock graphics, having a proper disc channel, a health and safety screen, things like that from the stock menu would be awesome.

 

[blackb0x]

The "heart" button and the "square circle triangle" button are admittedly little confusing though. Is the heart button meant to replace the old star button?

Yeah. When it comes to iconography, people typically think of a heart for favourites. And if you search for "category icon" online, you'll see the shapes icon come up quite a lot. This is because it's a visual metaphor where different shapes represent different types of things, which is exactly what a category is.

With this, do you think you'd consider porting other Wii Menu functionality/assets from the stock menu like USBLoaderGX does with the channel icons? There's been a really surprising amount of interest in my theme, I think many people just want a loader that looks like the Wii Menu we remember growing up. Save a few minor and understandable inconsistencies, something like the DSi Menu Theme on TWiLightMenu is a really good example of a faithful launcher imo.

It's not something that I'd personally want to support, since it would mean maintaining code for two completely different UIs and it would bump up the loaders memory usage, which is the opposite of what I'm trying to do right now.

Also, I've previously worked on editing some system menu assets in real time for Korean systems. And that wasn't exactly fun, so I can't imagine doing it for an entire UI.

 

[jwmu]

Yeah. When it comes to iconography, people typically think of a heart for favourites. And if you search for "category icon" online, you'll see the shapes icon come up quite a lot. This is because it's a visual metaphor where different shapes represent different types of things, which is exactly what a category is.


It's not something that I'd personally want to support, since it would mean maintaining code for two completely different UIs and it would bump up the loaders memory usage, which is the opposite of what I'm trying to do right now.

Also, I've previously worked on editing some system menu assets in real time for Korean systems. And that wasn't exactly fun, so I can't imagine doing it for an entire UI.

That all makes sense. I thought of the buttons purpose more as “filter” button rather than a “categories” button but your rationale makes sense.

Not wanting to over complicate UI options makes sense too, I think my theme will scratch the “stock” itch for enough people. I will come back through sometime too and fix the clock font. If you’d be willing, disabling the 88:88 drop shadow on the clock font would allow me to better replicate the stock UI, but that’s a small nitpick.

Lastly, if you ever want to borrow any of the stock assets that I ported for the default UI, feel free!

 

[jwmu]

I got tired of looking at it and decided to make a custom font that matches the stock OS 1:1. I would say this project is 100% completed now:

Old clock:

New clock:

New comparison:

V1.2 is live in the Resources section:

Accurate Wii Menu USBLoader GX Theme

Jan 22, 2025

A near 1:1 recreation of the stock Wii Menu, for a more vanilla Wii experience through USBLoaderGX

• jwmu
• Other Files

 

[Beenus]

I feel bad for the menu under the clock. I think it hurts the neat Wii menu.

So I've been thinking about it. How about the four menus that come out under the watch, not in sd mode, category, management, and display method when you press the clock? Wouldn't it be okay if it was hidden in the past?

 

[jwmu]

I feel bad for the menu under the clock. I think it hurts the neat Wii menu.

So I've been thinking about it. How about the four menus that come out under the watch, not in sd mode, category, management, and display method when you press the clock? Wouldn't it be okay if it was hidden in the past?

If I understand what you're asking, this would not be possible. I don't have the ability to make any menu elements move or hide within the limitations of the USBLGX theme file. If you really don't like them, you can go into the theme files and make their .png's transparent. But you won't be able to see them after that. Sorry!