Hacking cIOSX rev21: controller lag [FIXED!]

[strapsoz]

do any USB loaders support ciosx rev 21, with base 58?

rev21 Base 58 works with configurable usb loader. It must be installed as 249 (ie, you cant install as 248 and boot game from diff ios)
The controller lag is gone.

However has same compatibility issues with ashes cricket and my guess MHT, usb instr. aswell.
It is also alot slower than b57 and b56. (even in the loader the covers take time to buffer)

For people with controller lag issues
I would still recommend r19 b57 for majority of games and rev4 37 + 38 or rev 5.1 b37 for others.

This was with my setup so if someone else wants to test it out and confirm my findings that would be appreciated

 

[vinzanity]

i have reformatted my 500 GB Buffalo ministation lite to Fat32 and guess what Wario disconnects controller every then seconds using IOS56. So somehow my theory is correct. The only other difference I see is that when I use WBFS it is 2 partitions (1 Small FAT32 and the other partition WBFS) while when I use FAT32 it is 1 big partition only. Thanks to everyone contributing to this. Wiiflow does not support CIOSRev 21 yet so I can't use IOS58 for tests yet.

 

[nando]

do any USB loaders support ciosx rev 21, with base 58?

rev21 Base 58 works with configurable usb loader. It must be installed as 249 (ie, you cant install as 248 and boot game from diff ios)
The controller lag is gone.

However has same compatibility issues with ashes cricket and my guess MHT, usb instr. aswell.
It is also alot slower than b57 and b56. (even in the loader the covers take time to buffer)

For people with controller lag issues
I would still recommend r19 b57 for majority of games and rev4 37 + 38 or rev 5.1 b37 for others.

This was with my setup so if someone else wants to test it out and confirm my findings that would be appreciated

in my personal case i only use hermes v5 for everything i have. the only issue is rb3 for which i'd like to use sdhc.

 

[toss01]

I tried rev19 b38, it seems to work just fine for me now with no lag, I will just stick to this till everything gets sorted I think

what adv ndoes different b57 have?

I dont use usb attachments

 

[Pat123456789]

Thanks nando and strapsoz

I've just installed the cIOS 249 rev21 base 58 and launched cfg usb loader and Wario Land Shake It with it,
there are no more controller lags with the WD Mybook 1tb that had the issue.

I've observed too a longer loading time for some games, but it's acceptable in the cases where the cIOS rev21 is preferable and the lags exist.

 

[Lacius]

I tried rev19 b38, it seems to work just fine for me now with no lag, I will just stick to this till everything gets sorted I think

what adv ndoes different b57 have?

I dont use usb attachments

Faster loading times.

 

[toss01]

Is the compatibility still the same compared to base 38? Because I don't mind a little bit of loading if its all compatible

 

[zizer]

Base 56 - Compatibility with most games and slightly faster read timing. Definitely use this for games with microphones and Wii Speak.
Base 57 - Compatibility with many games. Definitely use this with Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is also helpful for some people for old games

 

[toss01]

Thanks

does 38 not compare anymore?

 

[zizer]

base 37 is good with hermes (ios223)

 

[Lacius]

Is the compatibility still the same compared to base 38? Because I don't mind a little bit of loading if its all compatible
If you use rev19 in order to avoid controller lag that occurs with some USB drives, this is the optimal setup:

IOS249 - Base 57 - Compatible with 90-95% of games and has the fastest loading times. IOS57 the only base IOS that works with Call of Duty: Black Ops.
IOS250 - Base 37 - For use with games that do not work with Base 57. This includes games with USB devices, Monster Hunter Tri, etc. IOS37 can be replaced with IOS38 as a base if you plan on using Hermes' IOS223 (Base 37) with these games.

Note: With rev19, one is not able to choose IOS slots; using the installer automatically installs whatever base you are using to both IOS249 and IOS250. You can follow this guide to accomplish the above setup, but keep in mind that the guide uses Base 38 instead of Base 37 for IOS250. The guide also includes the optimal setup for Hermes' IOS. In the unlikely event that something does not work correctly with the above setup, Hermes' IOS is a viable alternative.

If you use rev21 because you do not have controller lag problems with your USB drive, then NeoGAF's setup is the optimal one:
QUOTESlot 249 - Base 56 - Compatibility with most games and slightly faster read timing. Definitely use this for games with microphones and Wii Speak.
Slot 250 - Base 57 - Compatibility with many games. Definitely use this with Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is also helpful for some people for old games like Twilight Princess.

 

[toss01]

If you use rev19 in order to avoid controller lag that occurs with some USB drives, this is the optimal setup:

IOS249 - Base 57 - Compatible with 90-95% of games and has the fastest loading times. IOS57 the only base IOS that works with Call of Duty: Black Ops.
IOS250 - Base 37 - For use with games that do not work with Base 57. This includes games with USB devices, Monster Hunter Tri, etc. IOS37 can be replaced with IOS38 as a base if you plan on using Hermes' IOS223 (Base 37) with these games.

Note: With rev19, one is not able to choose IOS slots; using the installer automatically installs whatever base you are using to both IOS249 and IOS250. You can follow this guide to accomplish the above setup, but keep in mind that the guide uses Base 38 instead of Base 37 for IOS250. The guide also includes the optimal setup for Hermes' IOS. In the unlikely event that something does not work correctly with the above setup, Hermes' IOS is a viable alternative.

Thanks for that link and explanation, I use hermes for music games so will go for the 57/38 combo until the lag issue hopefully gets resolved

 

[mrplowdan]

one problem, IOS37 doesn't support SDHC, so its kinda useless for RB3 DLC

 

[netspy]

Yes, there still is the issue if you want to play RB3 with SDHC.
Anyway, thanks a lot Lacius for your advice. It sums up very well the best cIOS setups and covers 99% of the USB loading needs.

I just received my new Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB, I've done the "Warioland : Shake It" with cIOS 249 rev20, IOS56 base and guess what :
- with FAT32 => LAG
- with NTFS => LAG
- with WBFS => LAG

That's the second hard drive people are reporting as working that doesn't work for me. I give up, I'm really tired of wasting my time and my money.
I'll stay with my big and not USB-powered Western Digital drive that is working fine, even if it is not really convenient.

Another technical explanation for the controller lag issue :

In the rev20 has lags thread http://gbatemp.net/t263019-waninkoko-s-cio...with-ios56-base, and the rev21 released thread http://gbatemp.net/t271050-custom-iosx-rev21-released?, people are discussing problems with lag and controller dropouts using Wanin rev20 or higher with any base.
....
The quickest way to test it, is with the Wario Shake It game. Load the game to the screen where you select your save game, and just let it sit there. The hard drive will blink every 8-10 secs. This HDD activity will be synchronous with a message flashing onscreen for an instant saying that communication with the remote has been lost. Most games don't show an error, but it causes problems like constantly missed notes (every 10 secs) in RB3.

QUOTE(oggzee @ Jan 18 2011, 03:53 PM) I have checked waninkoko ehci module (USB2 driver)
And it has a "watchdog" that reads from the hdd every 10 seconds, I believe this is intended to keep the hdd from going to sleep.

Maybe I'm a bit off-topic, but do you think it could be a good reason for the controller lag problem ? Thanks in advance for your answer.

You're right that is probably the reason.

 

[BBogey]

Here's interesting thing I found from S.M.A.R.T data:
sudo ./smartctl -d sat --all /dev/sdc

4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 92
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 205
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 339
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7
225 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 10526


Seems drive parks the heads after 5 seconds of idle. It does not spin down, but if put the Drive on my ear, I can hear heads clicking after 5 seconds, when cios makes wakeup call it clicks again. And load_cycle_count increases. In about one hour gaming session cycle count increased about by 300. HDD is specified to last 600000 load cycles, so it means 2000 hours of gaming. Of course it can last longer or fail before...

The USB Drive model is Lacie Rikiki usb 3.0 and HDD inside is SAMSUNG HM500JI. By googling this HDD, it seems to be an issue also with laptops, and many laptop HDDs have the same problem.

Parking can be disabled in Linux by issuing command
sudo hdparm -B 254 /dev/sdc

But setting is not stored in the drive it self, so it does not help with the issue with Wii.

Here's one good explanation about the load cycle count http://xenomorph.net/misc/clicking-hard-drives/

I don't know why, but rev19 still works fine, so this may not be the cause of the Controller Lag.

 

[netspy]

I'm not sure it is the cause of the controller lag, because with the Seagate drives I bought (Expansion 500GB and FreeAgent Go 500GB) I disabled the sleep mode using Seagate tools, and the controller lag issue is still there.

By the way, if Disasterous is reading, I really like you to do the "Warioland : Shake It VS ciosX rev20 or 21" test with your Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB drive, just to be sure I haven't missed something in my test.

Maybe the key for the controller lag issue is somewhere here :
Latest rev : loop.c
February 27, 2010 (I guess it's Rev19) : loop.c

 

[BBogey]

Would it be possible to send ATAPI commands to HDD in Wii? I found a thread where someone already investigated it briefly, but at least that time it was not possible to send raw commands to HDD.

For example writing 254 (0xfe) to register 0x05 would prevent most drives for sleeping and parking the heads (similiar what hddparm does).

Then the wakeup calls would not be needed.

See the ATA8 spec: 7.48.6 Enable/disable the APM feature set

http://t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments...6a-ATA8-ACS.pdf

 

[Etheboss]

Has anybody considered this lag problem has to do something with HDD's with NO external power..?

A friend of mine tried a lot of different drives and it seems that the drives with NO external power are more unreliable.

 

[Lacius]

Has anybody considered this lag problem has to do something with HDD's with NO external power..?

A friend of mine tried a lot of different drives and it seems that the drives with NO external power are more unreliable.

The reverse is true for me.

 

[netspy]

Lacius, which usb-powered HDD is working for you ?
Because I begin to think like Etheboss (I'm also suspecting the RPM spin speed). My only working HDD is not USB powered; the 3 USB powered drives I tried (Seagate Expansion 500GB, Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB and WD My Passport 250GB) have the lag issue. And if you look at the first page, most of the drives that are listed as lag-free are 3.5inch desktop drives and not 2.5inch portable drives.