Hacking Configurable USB Loader

[DonTlaloc]

Would you find the ability to change the overlay file name useful?

As at the moment the file names are hard-coded (bg_overlay.png, bg_overlay_w.png, bg_gui_over.png, bg_gui_over_w.png). And I'm leaning towards not making that configurable so that the filenames are standardized and can be easily swapped between themes without the need to edit theme.txt. Also note: if there are no wide variants supplied then the normal 4:3 overlay is used, so it is possible to use the same file for both 4:3 and wide mode. I'm mostly looking for opinion from: DonTlaloc, Blue-K, Milkoi and Narolez. But if anyone has any thoughts about that let me know.

Either way is ok with me, at first I thought hard-coded but after reading what Dr. Clipper wrote, I'm leaning towards configurability. And the guys who prefer the default naming can just use that and not specify it in theme.txt.

Actually, all in all I think I prefer the good old way (without the overlays) for most of the themes I've made - some of the effects use colors from the background in Photoshop and that's not easily reproduced by using the overlays. But I think I'll make a couple of 'generic' themes of with the overlays so people can easily put in their own backgrounds if they prefer that.

 

[Dr. Clipper]

Comma seperated options are confusing (how would you handle a filename with a comma in it?).
That is a good point. I was under the impression that commas aren't a valid character in filenames (I've certainly never seen one), but I just checked and I am wrong. Replace the comma with a pipe (|) then.

The reasons why I think they should be done in the same option is that first, oggzee doesn't want to add more options that hardly anyone will use and I definitely agree after making the Configurator. Secondly, there is no point to setting an overlay file without a background file, so we should combine them into one option if possible.


Here's an example of something that goes very weird with the current method:

test/theme.txt:

background_base = bg_auto.png

config.txt:
CODEtheme=test
background_base = bg_auto.png

Now put bg_auto.png and bg_overlay.png into sd:/usb-loader (or whatever your base directory is) and no other files in test/. This is what you currently would do for your default stuff for every theme that doesn't specify otherwise.

If you use this, you will get your screen with overlay showing up properly on startup. However, if you switch theme and come back, you will no longer have your overlay, but will still have the background. If you remove the background_base option from config.txt, you end up with your bg_auto without overlay (because bg_auto is searched everywhere, bg_overlay is not).

And the solution is not to search bg_overlay everywhere. That would mean the designers that don't want to have an overlay must include a file with a completely transparent .png because otherwise the loader would default to the one in the base directory if one exists.

For those designers that don't want to use overlays, that means you actually do want the augmented option because it allows you to not have an overlay.

 

[gizmomelb]

oggzee - I haven't grabbed the 41beta to check it out yet, but thankyou for implementing my requested / updated Install Game menu.

more a query than a request - how difficult would it be to implement APNG for animated PNGs?

a quick google found this, don't know if it's of any use or not as I'm not a (C/.NET etc.) coder (z80 and 6502 assembly for me baby!) - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/graphics/APNGViewer.aspx

 

[bnm81002]

I would like to have a FAT partition on my drive for this loader, but I already have a FAT partition for the GX loader, how can I create 2 FAT partitions on my drive without having to erase my drive?

 

[pepxl]

you dont need to plus i think all loaders can only see the one FAT32 partition and not 2, just make all loaders use the same cover paths, i have CFG, CF, and USB GX using the same folder SD:/usb-loader/ for exerything, well everything for the loader goes in that folder, but then all share the same .pngs for covers....

 

[Dr. Clipper]

I would like to have a FAT partition on my drive for this loader, but I already have a FAT partition for the GX loader, how can I create 2 FAT partitions on my drive without having to erase my drive?

Why do you need 2? They can share the same partition.

 

[bnm81002]

I only made a 1GB FAT partition, so I'm thinking that won't be enough for 2 loaders, am I wrong?

 

[pepxl]

i have 3 loaders using the same resources meaning i dont have 3 seperate folders for 3d cover, 3 seperate folders for flate covers... u get the gist. they all use the same and it only takes up 680mb



but i have covers for games i dont have incase i decide to go buy them killin the need to download then manually or thru loader. but doin so takes up afew hundred mb of space.

 

[Dr. Clipper]

I only made a 1GB FAT partition, so I'm thinking that won't be enough for 2 loaders, am I wrong?

That should be plenty. The additional files to have one loader on a partition over two is only a few megabytes, especially if you share images between them.

 

[zektor]

New Hybrid Channel/Forwarder Release

Excerpt from the readme:

The channel is now also a forwarder (aka: "hybrid"). It has the v40 release of Configurable USB Loader integrated, so if you do not have an SD card present in the system it will load v40. But, if you do have an SD card in the Wii, it will look at the following locations for a boot.dol:

sd:/apps/USBLoader/boot.dol
sd:/USBLoader/boot.dol


This is a complete replacement for the channel only release, and future releases will be in the hybrid format.

Download:

http://sharebee.com/394aadc4


The title id is: UCFG

Special thanks to Wiipower for the hybrid code from Triiforce!

 

[pepxl]

@ Dr. Clipper

i think u can reproduce it.

i wont save setting unless u click both "Set 4:3 Options" and "Set 16:9 Options" even tho u might only use one of them, if not then im doin something wrong and appologize for the time wasting.

p.s .

here my overall theme.txt settings cover co-ords, and console co-ords, the thing is the cover is showing inside and fills the console and not where the cover is actually place in the editor when loader in the wii?

 

[Pip_X]

New Hybrid Channel/Forwarder Release

Excerpt from the readme:

The channel is now also a forwarder (aka: "hybrid"). It has the v40 release of Configurable USB Loader integrated, so if you do not have an SD card present in the system it will load v40. But, if you do have an SD card in the Wii, it will look at the following locations for a boot.dol:

sd:/apps/USBLoader/boot.dol
sd:/USBLoader/boot.dol


This is a complete replacement for the channel only release, and future releases will be in the hybrid format.

Download:

http://sharebee.com/394aadc4


The title id is: UCFG

Special thanks to Wiipower for the hybrid code from Triiforce!

Can u do this:

LOAD:
usb:/apps/USBLoader/boot.dol
ELSE:
usb:/USBLoader/boot.dol
ELSE:
sd:/apps/USBLoader/boot.dol
ELSE:
sd:/USBLoader/boot.dol
ELSE:
(the channel built-in v40)
ELSE:
HALT! Error message for 5 seconds then back to Wii Menu.


This will be the greatest/ultimate hybrid channel for CFG USB Loader!

 

[bnm81002]

thanks for the help "pepxl" and "Dr. Clipper", I'll do the FAT partition tomorrow then

 

[zektor]

I probably could. I never had any use for the usb loading portion of the forwarder only because I just never load anything off of a fat usb device

 

[charroux]

I probably could. I never had any use for the usb loading portion of the forwarder only because I just never load anything off of a fat usb device

If it doesn't check for a USB FAT partition after not finding an SD FAT, then it's just a "USB List Loader," since there won't be any screenshots, music, themes, cheats, alt dol settings, custom titles, password, favorites, etc., etc. Is this just for people that didn't partition their SD cards?

 

[zektor]

I probably could. I never had any use for the usb loading portion of the forwarder only because I just never load anything off of a fat usb device

If it doesn't check for a USB FAT partition after not finding an SD FAT, then it's just a "USB List Loader," since there won't be any screenshots, music, themes, cheats, alt dol settings, custom titles, password, favorites, etc., etc. Is this just for people that didn't partition their SD cards?

It checks for the SD card in place with a boot.dol in the usual places. This way you can use it as an SD forwarder and perform the online updates as you would normally. If you happen to not have the SD card in and you still want to run it and play a game, well, you can do that too as it is also a channel.

 

[Dochog]

Ok, I have some questions regarding file storage on the USB drive. I just got a 500gig USB drive and partitioned it with Gpart. I have a large WBFS partition and a small Fat32 partition. On my computer these are recognized as drive H & G.

I have read thru the tutorials and config options and am confused as to how you set up the config.txt for file storage on the USB drive. What exactly is stored on the USB drive? Covers, Music Folder with files, settings, config.txt, all the above?

My forward channel runs from the sd card. The loader is finding my games on the usb drive so how do I best use the fat drive on my usb drive.

The tutorial really doesn't say much except maybe changing the cover path or I am just missing it.

Thanks

 

[Dr. Clipper]

@ Dr. Clipper

i think u can reproduce it.

i wont save setting unless u click both "Set 4:3 Options" and "Set 16:9 Options" even tho u might only use one of them, if not then im doin something wrong and appologize for the time wasting.
Those only save the options back to the Configurator. You still need to save to theme.txt in the Configurator afterwards. Also, try the version I have for v41. It changes that process a little.

Edit: I actually just found a bug that would have been on the old 16:9 button. Turns out it was writing the console coordinates to the cover field. Was this your problem?

p.s .
here my overall theme.txt settings cover co-ords, and console co-ords, the thing is the cover is showing inside and fills the console and not where the cover is actually place in the editor when loader in the wii?
There was a slight error in some of my code for cover sizing. Can you please try again with the new version?

QUOTE(Dochog @ Aug 19 2009, 02:30 PM)

Ok, I have some questions regarding file storage on the USB drive. I just got a 500gig USB drive and partitioned it with Gpart. I have a large WBFS partition and a small Fat32 partition. On my computer these are recognized as drive H & G.

I have read thru the tutorials and config options and am confused as to how you set up the config.txt for file storage on the USB drive. What exactly is stored on the USB drive? Covers, Music Folder with files, settings, config.txt, all the above?

My forward channel runs from the sd card. The loader is finding my games on the usb drive so how do I best use the fat drive on my usb drive.

The tutorial really doesn't say much except maybe changing the cover path or I am just missing it.

Thanks

If you want to use the FAT partition, copy everything, including the channel to the FAT partition of the USB drive. Most forwarders should look there too. The games are on the WBFS partition. Everything else should be on the same device that you boot the .dol from (which can be either SD or the FAT partition).

 

[Dochog]

If you want to use the FAT partition, copy everything, including the channel to the FAT partition of the USB drive. Most forwarders should look there too. The games are on the WBFS partition. Everything else should be on the same device that you boot the .dol from (which can be either SD or the FAT partition).

Thanks

Exactly how do you copy the channel to the FAT partition on the USB drive? I have an apps folder on my fat partition but my forwarder channel seems to want to look at the SD card. If I pull the card and hit the channel then it just tries to run and resets to the wii menu. Do I need to install the wad from the USB drive?

 

[Pip_X]

I probably could. I never had any use for the usb loading portion of the forwarder only because I just never load anything off of a fat usb device

If it doesn't check for a USB FAT partition after not finding an SD FAT, then it's just a "USB List Loader," since there won't be any screenshots, music, themes, cheats, alt dol settings, custom titles, password, favorites, etc., etc. Is this just for people that didn't partition their SD cards?

It checks for the SD card in place with a boot.dol in the usual places. This way you can use it as an SD forwarder and perform the online updates as you would normally. If you happen to not have the SD card in and you still want to run it and play a game, well, you can do that too as it is also a channel.

Your previous forwarder do check for USB FAT as well.
Your new hybrid forwarder only check for SD.