Hacking Configurable USB Loader

[IAmTheRad]

i'm thinking of movies the cover to the fat32.. is this right?

covers_path = usb:/usb-loader/Covers
covers_path_2d = usb:/usb-loader/Covers
covers_path_3d = usb:/usb-loader/Covers/3d
covers_path_disc = usb:/usb-loader/Covers/disc
covers_path_full = usb:/usb-loader/Covers/full

do i need to have anything else besides these folders inside the usb-loader folder?

Nope. You only need to make the folders because it cannot make them itself. I personally put the covers on my drive (using fat32) and they work fine.

 

[mousex]

Last I knew nothing but windows could write to an ntfs drive. Maybe linux has a way, but I know macs cant. Hence when you go to the store and see western digital drivers for mac, its really just preformatted hfs. format to ntfs and now macs can read it, but not write.

Linux can write with ntfs-3g. Macs can write without extra tools since snow leopard, you just need to mount with the -o rw option. Also older macs can write with ntfs-3g too. If I remember right the ntfs lib for Wii is based on ntfs-3g. So once the port becomes stable writing should be as safe as in linux and mac (by the way, I wrote several hundreds of gb data to ntfs without problems on my mac)

 

[cambric]

Hi all,

I have a wbfs HD and another FAT32 one. Everything works like a charm with .wbfs file and Configurable thanks to Oggzee

.....

After the Christmas days I saw the new "sparse" iso files.... and some questions arised to be

. I thank everybody will answer to my clarification requests...

1) which are the advantages of sparse .iso files over the .wbfs files?

2) I saw sparse .iso files are placed in the same game subfolders of the USB:/wbfs/ folder. Can they be used also in FAT32 HD or only in NTFS ones (in the case the size is smaller that 4GB of course, otherwise the question is a nonsense)

3) if I have a 4.38GB .iso file I can covert it in .wbfs, but sparse .iso format need a conversion too. hence, which is the real use of sparse .iso file? What do they give us that .wbfs files do not?

4) which format provides smaller image files?

5) which format is loaded faster?

Thanks again, and thank Oggzee for being the leader of the USB Loading world

...

Cambo

 

[mousex]

1) which are the advantages of sparse .iso files over the .wbfs files?
You can directly burn them, open them in WiiScrubber or play them in Dolphin but they are still as small as .wbfs files
2) I saw sparse .iso files are placed in the same game subfolders of the USB:/wbfs/ folder. Can they be used also in FAT32 HD or only in NTFS ones (in the case the size is smaller that 4GB of course, otherwise the question is a nonsense)
FAT32 doesn't support sparse files, so the files would always become 4,7G and couldn't be copied because of the 4GB limit.
3) if I have a 4.38GB .iso file I can covert it in .wbfs, but sparse .iso format need a conversion too. hence, which is the real use of sparse .iso file? What do they give us that .wbfs files do not?
see my answer to 1), .iso o sparse .iso is not a real conversion, it's more like cutting waste out of the file

4) which format provides smaller image files?
I guess .wbfs, but only in a range from kilobytes to a few mb
5) which format is loaded faster?
doesn't matter as the cIOS reads the data directly from the drive without knowing which format or filesystem is it on, it's just reading the sectors.

 

[cambric]

1) which are the advantages of sparse .iso files over the .wbfs files?
You can directly burn them, open them in WiiScrubber or play them in Dolphin but they are still as small as .wbfs files
2) I saw sparse .iso files are placed in the same game subfolders of the USB:/wbfs/ folder. Can they be used also in FAT32 HD or only in NTFS ones (in the case the size is smaller that 4GB of course, otherwise the question is a nonsense)
FAT32 doesn't support sparse files, so the files would always become 4,7G and couldn't be copied because of the 4GB limit.
3) if I have a 4.38GB .iso file I can covert it in .wbfs, but sparse .iso format need a conversion too. hence, which is the real use of sparse .iso file? What do they give us that .wbfs files do not?
see my answer to 1), .iso o sparse .iso is not a real conversion, it's more like cutting waste out of the file

4) which format provides smaller image files?
I guess .wbfs, but only in a range from kilobytes to a few mb
5) which format is loaded faster?
doesn't matter as the cIOS reads the data directly from the drive without knowing which format or filesystem is it on, it's just reading the sectors.

Thanks a lot

Cambo

 

[millhaven]

I have a problem.
Sometimes my Configurable USB Loader starts with a black screen when starting from Homebrew Channel. It forces me to restart the Wii because the black screen persists and my Wiimote disconnects. Sometimes I have to restart the console several times before the loader will start properly.
How can I fix it?

I am using:
- Configurable USB Loader v50 (release).
- Homebrew channel 1.0.6
- Wii firmware 3.4E.
- WiiKey 1, firmware 1.9s
- Seagate FreeAgent GO 320.
- IOS249.
- cIOS 222 (IOS38 merged with IOS37)
- cIOS 223 (IOS38 merged with IOS60)
- IOS56-64-v5146.wad

 

[Mr_Q]

wbfs_file 2.5
wbfs_file_2.5_win32.zip
(included sources and windows binary)
Changes:

v2.5:

* Properly mark last scrubbed block as sparse when creating an .iso
either by scrubbing or by converting from .wbfs (windows-only issue)
(The file is the same but will use a little less space)

oggzee, good to see you added the option I requested.

I do have some strange behaviour with the new function of wbfs_file (using v2.5)
Filename: b-nsmbwii.fixed.iso
Command: wbfs_file.exe -1 -z "C:\b-nsmbwii.fixed.iso" scrub "C:\wbfs"
Original - Size on disk: 4,37 GB (4.699.979.776 bytes)
After sparse copy (see command) - Size on disk: 4,32 GB (4.641.128.448 bytes)

So it did save some space, but not as much as I expected:
When converting this same file to wbfs (all partitions) and back to iso (which was the only way before 2.4)
WBFS filesize: 552 MB (578.813.952 bytes)
ISO filesize on disk: 564 MB (591.659.008 bytes)


Any idea why it does not 'sparse' the file as good as with the converting steps?
Will try v2.4 aswell to see what the results are.


Thanks!

The filesize is exactly the same with v2.4: 4,32 GB (4.641.128.448 bytes)

 

[Dr. Clipper]

Noob question here
but this app downloads the disc covers is there any point to that
because i dont know how to display it while using Configurable Loader
Add "cover_style=disc" to your config.txt and take a look at the game list menu and the different GUI modes (push D-Down).

QUOTE(millhaven @ Dec 27 2009, 10:58 PM) I have a problem.
Sometimes my Configurable USB Loader starts with a black screen when starting from Homebrew Channel. It forces me to restart the Wii because the black screen persists and my Wiimote disconnects. Sometimes I have to restart the console several times before the loader will start properly.
How can I fix it?

I am using:
- Configurable USB Loader v50 (release).
- Homebrew channel 1.0.6
- Wii firmware 3.4E.
- WiiKey 1, firmware 1.9s
- Seagate FreeAgent GO 320.
- IOS249.
- cIOS 222 (IOS38 merged with IOS37)
- cIOS 223 (IOS38 merged with IOS60)
- IOS56-64-v5146.wad

It could be spindown. Try disabling it, or using IOS222 as your default IOS.

 

[oggzee]

Command: wbfs_file.exe -1 -z "C:\b-nsmbwii.fixed.iso" scrub "C:\wbfs"
[....]
Any idea why it does not 'sparse' the file as good as with the converting steps?

See help for -1 option.

 

[ChaosEnergy]

maybe you mixed up -1 with -u 1

 

[millhaven]

I have a problem.
Sometimes my Configurable USB Loader starts with a black screen when starting from Homebrew Channel. It forces me to restart the Wii because the black screen persists and my Wiimote disconnects. Sometimes I have to restart the console several times before the loader will start properly.
How can I fix it?

I am using:
- Configurable USB Loader v50 (release).
- Homebrew channel 1.0.6
- Wii firmware 3.4E.
- WiiKey 1, firmware 1.9s
- Seagate FreeAgent GO 320.
- IOS249.
- cIOS 222 (IOS38 merged with IOS37)
- cIOS 223 (IOS38 merged with IOS60)
- IOS56-64-v5146.wad

It could be spindown. Try disabling it, or using IOS222 as your default IOS.

The spindown is disabled and I'm already using IOS222 as my default IOS...
I realized that the problem with black screen and disconnected Wiimote exists with other apps that starts from the Homebrew channel..

But not every time I start them.

 

[Mr_Q]

Command: wbfs_file.exe -1 -z "C:\b-nsmbwii.fixed.iso" scrub "C:\wbfs"
[....]
Any idea why it does not 'sparse' the file as good as with the converting steps?

See help for -1 option.

When I copy the ISO using Wii Backup Manager. The size is: 358 MB (375.390.208 bytes)
This is also iso -> iso. I did not check the checksum yet.
This file is offcourse highly fragmented.

How can this size be so different from the one using wbfs_file?
I would expect that it would decrease in size much more..

maybe you mixed up -1 with -u 1

Nope, see the quote of oggzee's 2.4 release:

QUOTE(oggzee @ Dec 26 2009, 01:42 AM)

wbfs_file 2.4
wbfs_file_2.4_win32.zip
(included sources and win32 binary)
Changes:

* New option:
-z : make zero filled used blocks as sparse when scrubbing
(by default only unused (scrubbed) data is sparse)

* Using the option -1 (copy 1:1) and the scrub command makes it a simple copy.
Using scrub with -1 and -z makes it a generic sparse copy operation

 

[oggzee]

maybe you mixed up -1 with -u 1
Nope, see the quote of oggzee's 2.4 release:

QUOTE(oggzee @ Dec 26 2009, 01:42 AM) wbfs_file 2.4
Changes:
* Using the option -1 (copy 1:1) and the scrub command makes it a simple copy.
Using scrub with -1 and -z makes it a generic sparse copy operation

Yes that is what it does. But I think you don't understand it correctly.
Using scrub -1 on an iso will not scrub unused data but copy everything because -1 is a 1:1 copy option - that's why it says it's a simple copy operation. Original disc contains garbage data or if you use wiiscrubber it fills the unused data with 0xFF not zeroes so they are all copied, making the file size the same.
Also, use wbfs_file 2.5 instead of 2.4

 

[ChaosEnergy]

is your source file a wiiscrubber scrubbed file?

@oggzee
maybe you could remove the -1 switch and instead create a copy command

also i assume the -z would be a good general default value, isnt it?

 

[oggzee]

@oggzee
maybe you could remove the -1 switch and instead create a copy command

Maybe, or maybe not.

 

[pccfatman]

Simple WBFS File Manager is dead, say hello to Wii Game Manager

The old app has been rewritten to include better stability, renamed to better reflect what it is and has gotten a very nice facelift.
The new app is queue based, so you can do what you want without waiting for the current process to finish before continuing.
It supports several themes and cover management as well.

I hope you guys like it, you can find it here http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=199151

Thanks to Oggzee who has been most helpful in updating wbfs_file.exe to make my life easier

 

[Sabin_Figaro]

Something really weird, I modded my sister's wii and she got an 8 gb USB Kingston pendrive. It's recognized by HBC but NOT by Configurable usbloader and wiiflow. I inserted mine and works flawlessly. Maybe it's not compatible with Hermes'? Gotta try with USBLoader WBFS version to see.

 

[extended]

I have a problem.
Sometimes my Configurable USB Loader starts with a black screen when starting from Homebrew Channel. It forces me to restart the Wii because the black screen persists and my Wiimote disconnects. Sometimes I have to restart the console several times before the loader will start properly.
How can I fix it?

I am using:
- Configurable USB Loader v50 (release).
- Homebrew channel 1.0.6
- Wii firmware 3.4E.
- WiiKey 1, firmware 1.9s
- Seagate FreeAgent GO 320.
- IOS249.
- cIOS 222 (IOS38 merged with IOS37)
- cIOS 223 (IOS38 merged with IOS60)
- IOS56-64-v5146.wad

I have a similar setup to that (3.2E, 1.9g instead of 1.9s, different HDD, no custom IOS56); I have problems if I don't wait for HBC's wireless network connection to either sync, or fail to sync, when it starts. In other words, I need to wait for the icon to stop blinking in the bottom right before I load anything from HBC, otherwise there's a chance of the black screen, wiimote turning off, etc. Not a Configurable USB Loader problem, I'd think. Might be related to this bug?

 

[millhaven]

I have a problem.
Sometimes my Configurable USB Loader starts with a black screen when starting from Homebrew Channel. It forces me to restart the Wii because the black screen persists and my Wiimote disconnects. Sometimes I have to restart the console several times before the loader will start properly.
How can I fix it?

I am using:
- Configurable USB Loader v50 (release).
- Homebrew channel 1.0.6
- Wii firmware 3.4E.
- WiiKey 1, firmware 1.9s
- Seagate FreeAgent GO 320.
- IOS249.
- cIOS 222 (IOS38 merged with IOS37)
- cIOS 223 (IOS38 merged with IOS60)
- IOS56-64-v5146.wad

I have a similar setup to that (3.2E, 1.9g instead of 1.9s, different HDD, no custom IOS56); I have problems if I don't wait for HBC's wireless network connection to either sync, or fail to sync, when it starts. In other words, I need to wait for the icon to stop blinking in the bottom right before I load anything from HBC, otherwise there's a chance of the black screen, wiimote turning off, etc. Not a Configurable USB Loader problem, I'd think. Might be related to this bug?

Wow, maybe that's the problem then! Thanks for answering.

I guess I'll have to wait for the icon to stop blinking then before I'll start any apps.
Hope they'll fix this bug soon, it's quite annoying!

 

[vbp]

O, o, ow. I have the CFG USB Loader 50c playing on sysmenu 4.2e. ISO Games (4.7 GB) loading from NTFS partition external USB 2.0 HDD.

Just want to say keep up the good work and many thanks for programming such a nice loader.

Greetz vbp.