Hacking Coverflow7 USB Loader

[Don Killah]

no problem mate, i know we can sort it out.
this loader might not be the top notch one, but surely gonna be a great one.
at least i'm sure the both of us are gonna make our best to achieve this.

by the way, why the name Coverflow7? (even though i ike it spelled with an uppercase C and the trailing 7 merged with the word.)

 

[cdreams]

Well the name was just to clarify to myself what I was working on. Originally it only had 3 images and I have a working version of that which 56killer helped me with. I called that Coverflow. But then I started working on the 7 image version but I kept getting folders mixed up and what was what, so I renamed them to Coverflow3 and Coverflow7

Happy to change that though, it was just for me keeping myself straight on what version I was working on and where to save to.

Yeah I agree this loader when finished will be very nice. As it is right now I'm fairly happy with it. Obviously from a code side I am sure there are parts you would like to add and tweak, just like me with the visual side of it. I will continue adding to what I've already done and trying to get it as clean and intuitive as I can. Like i might make a very slightly modified version for the adult one that also says what the + and - buttons do. Little bits like that and they can go in their own folders so not to confuse anyone what is what.

I'm looking forward to future versions so we can change directories of where the images go and stuff. Right now I have 2 images folders with virtually the same stuff so would be good to make it one larger folder and any loader just calls from it. I'm sure this is all stuff you have on your todo list, but lets get the main stuff done first.

Is there anything you want me to add graphically to the images or even another style?

 

[cdreams]

DK, not sure if my game is PAL or not, but I just tried to use the cover download feature for a game I deliberately left a missing cover for and it gave me a DSI error occurred, and code dumped on me.

Actually wait, I think I might know what it is. I have my stupid wi-fi off so t's probably failed and code dumped due to that right?

 

[Don Killah]

yep that might be it. everyloader has this bug, need to work on this...

 

[cdreams]

So what's been happening DK, been away on the bike with the missus, just got back. How's the latest code coming along?

 

[Don Killah]

@cdreams:
Not much coding today, as it was the last day of my 2 weeks holiday.
So i spent it with my heart.
well, what i've done so far:
- improved the code a little bit (optimized some bits, removed some stuff)
- managed to downsize the boot.dol from almost 3M to 474kb ^^
(due to removing the freeimage library (pictures are resized serverside now, thanks to djtaz implementing our little request. Thanks again mate)
- changed the native pictures of usbloader:
so when there's an error, instead of loading wanin's artwork, it load ours (with a line stating that there's an error with paths)
- improved the config.txt with a new argument:
you can now edit the text/background colors (to match a theme for example).
- added the save/discard game settings:
yes, each game can now (finally) have it's own video/language/ocarina settings.
- improved the config console: now displays the game name/id/size and also how many games are installed on hd with game size and free size (15 games (33.056GB) - 199.83GB Free)

Well time to go to bed, tomorrow i'll wake up early...
Expect an update for tomorrow. but i still need some feedback.

 

[cdreams]

Sounds like some nice improvements and very happy your cleaning the code up. I always said that when I get into coding it will the cleanest code I can possibly do. I think I have a bit of OCD for having things that way, but it's a good thing most of the time lol.

I'll see what other stuff I can think of to improve the loader, most will be extras no doubt, but there may be some tweaks that if we agree could be implemented or added. So I hope you have a good night and speak to you tomorrow at some point.

I'm away filming from 4:30pm but I only have a couple of scenes I'm in so I'm hoping I get away fairly early, not like the 11pm last week, that was a tiring stint. I will be on here till about 2pm though so if your around catch you then and I can test some stuff. I'll add a couple of PAL games to my usb for testing too.

ALSO

You mentioned the removal of Freeimage library, does that mean we don't need to resize the images to 66x93, it will be done automatically? If so great work, that should make life a lot easier for people.

 

[jarod71]

Ok guys, I messed up. I did not have the latest IOS rev 10 on my Wii! I coulda sworn I did. Now Everything is working great.

I would Love to either see an option to have text centered over cover or no text at all. I would love if we could use different fonts as well. and background music would be nice too.

over all great looking gui, and very nice playback loader. love that it is kid friendly and downloading of coverart is great.

good work to all involved!

P.S. can we get a widescreen version? no extra covers but maybe a background with a little more space on the left and right so It fills my widescreen? thanks.

 

[SolidMetal]

Ok i'm still not getting this Loader to work, in the zip that i downloaded there was no latest IOS rev 10
file? i did download it from somewhere else but if i could get a link to download it again then i will try to install it again, also do i need to have another loader installed for yours to work?
thanks

 

[Don Killah]

Yeah, i know. there's no link to get cIOS36rev10 in the package.
Cdreams edited the file but might have forgottent to provide it.
As i think that it's forbidden to share, i'll send you a pm.

And no, you don't need anything else to load but the archive content and the previous cIOS.

 

[SolidMetal]

let me tell you what i have on the screen, maybe it's just something simple to fix.
when i load up the loader i am not getting any of the background images that are in the folder?
i am getting a screen which at the top says SD/USB Loader V1.2 Tekno Consolas.es
underneath that is the box for the boxart and then the bigger box for the gamelist, those boxes are being covered by one boxart box at the back of six other boxes three on one side and three on the other side all have the image that waninkoko did saying no cover?
that is why i asked if ineeded another loader?
hope that makes some sense?

lets say i am downloading for the first time, what do i need to download?
i am missing something here but don't know what?

 

[Don Killah]

if it shows the usbloader 1.2, then you have a folfer/path issue.
make sure that you don't have a config.txt at the root of your sdcard.
make sure to rename the "usb-loader" to whatever in it exists... there's a little line i forgot to change that tries to load the config file from this folder (that i used to use...).
make sure that the main image folder is named "usb-loaderAB".

that should do the trick.

 

[cdreams]

Yeah sorry I was going to add the cIOS Rev10 but then forgot it in the zip. Then I removed the link from the front page but planned to stick an additional link there to my site with it included but haven't had time yet sorry.

It's fairly easy to find around the forum and if you visit Waninkoko's website you can get it direct from there.

Regarding the centering of text over the main game image, I think that is on Don's to-do list, we discussed it earlier and both had similar feelings towards it.

I will look into the widescreen background idea as it's what I have myself. I will keep you all updated on here about it over the next week or so, just a bit busy with some other outside work stuff.

 

[SolidMetal]

let me tell you whats on the sd card, maybe you could let me know whats safe to get rid of
and get the loader working.
on the root : my apps folder, ID1 folder (config.cfg, Wii.pak, PAK0.pak), WAD folder, Boot.elf,
00000001 folder, images folder (for another loader), usb-loaderAB

i don't think anything in my apps folder would conflict? now in the usbloaderDK folder this is what i have : boot.dol , copie de boot.dol, icon, meta.
in the usb-loaderAB in the root is : _backgrounds, _backup-gfx, covers, small, config png, config text,
main, titles.

thanks
Oh and the cios rev10 that i downloaded was a .dol file not a a Wad file maybe i did not install that right? now i don't even have the six boxart boxes there?

 

[SolidMetal]

whoops ! i did a double post LOL

 

[jarod71]

whoops ! i did a double post LOL

I had the same issues, itis the ios rev10, you need ot install it. make sure you have your wireless netowrk setup and do a nrtwork install from homebrew channel of the .dol. I had everythign sorted out after that.

 

[AppleBelly]

Is the install/remove game still disabled?

One option is to when you want to install a new game, by pressing + or - it takes you to a new screen with a bigger console.

 

[SolidMetal]

Well now i have messed it all up! i can't even get any usb loader to work.....
and it won't let me into the homebrew channel.
how can i just get rid of everything and start from scratch, i think i have too much crap on the sd card
and i need to clear it and start from the begining with the TH hack?

 

[cdreams]

Hmm.

Just got back and seen this. First I think you should install Rev9 again and then re-install Rev10. You can get them round the forum or off Waninikoko's website. That's what I used to update mine to Rev10.

As far as I know, and correct me if I am wrong anyone, that once you have the Homebrew Channel installed, you don't need anything on your SD card except the programs you want to use. So if you cleared your SD card and only had the following it should work:

sd:/apps/usbloaderDK/boot.dol
sd:/usb-loaderAB/covers/(then your main 160x225 images in here)
sd:/usb-loaderAB/small/(then your small images at 66x93 in here)
sd:/usb-loaderAB/main.png
sd:/usb-loaderAB/config.png
sd:/usb-loaderAB/config.txt

Also make sure in the covers and small folders there is the noimage and noimagesmall png's.

Make sure if your using that setup that in the config.txt you set the settings like this:

images_path=sdhc:/usb-loaderAB/
folder_big = covers/
folder_small = small/
background = main.png
#simple = 0
home = exit
download = 0
ocarina = 0
#wbfs_device = 0

This is what I have on my card and it should load as long as you have Rev10 installed. By the way I am on 3.2U, but not sure how much difference that makes, if your on something else then maybe it could be an issue with that, but from what I have seen around here it's most likely your folder setup.

 

[SolidMetal]

Thanks for your reply cdreams, i am using Ver. 3.1u, but i am sure i had it at 3.2 before?
everytime i click to open the homebrew channel it just takes me back to the wii channel selection?
and i can't load any backup from the usb loader or the gamma loader? but i can still load my originals

could i not just wipe the sd card and start from scratch? also remove the loader channels from the wii
and re-do the TP hack?