Hacking need to re-examine my USB Loader GX and Nintendont config on my Wii for 2018

[DonsSword]

Feb 1, 2018 - Original Post:
Hi Cyan--still always amazed by everything you are doing here after all these years--I'm grateful to see you still active and helping everyone. I've been off of my Wii for few years, but I'm jumping back in and wanted some of your seasoned advice.

I have a 2nd gen Wii (I think), long ago hacked using Lego Indy. Everything on my 32GB Sandisk SD card has always run 100% perfect, all emulators, apps, WiiWare, forwarders/channels--everything runs fine. All that being said, I'm running into HDD annoyances for my GC and Wii games. For reference I run Win, Mac, and Linux, so I have access to ALL the hardware I need/want to make things work. My HDD is a 750GB WD Blue (details below)

My core set-up is built around:

• 32GB 30MB/s 10-class SDHC SanDisk card (love it, it's always worked perfect) - runs all my old school games with ease except GC and Wii.
  
• USB Loader GX on an external HD (more details below) - I think I may need to manually overwrite some configs to prioritize Nintendont consistently.
  
• Homebrew Channel/Browser - the usual
  
• Nintentdont - I just updated this to the Nov 2017 release, but I now know that not everything is set properly
  
• My HD is probably the source of all my issues -- I run a WD Blue HD that I pulled from a dead iMac. It's 750GB, 1 partition, FAT, (I “think” it’s 7200rpm) holds all my GC and Wii games -- I'm one of those hardheads who owns 98% of my games on disc, games from US, EU, JPN (I love the little GC boxes from JP), but I ripped 98% of them myself all to my HD and put my games in my closet to free up my shelves. I have this weird Sabrent HD USB 3.0 Enclosure, Model EC-TB4P--its thicker to hold physically larger HDs and has done the job until these past year. It was supposed to have a Y-cable, but it came with a 3.0 straight line--despite of all of that, things ran well, but I have kept my system (and drive) mostly unplugged. I’m certain “time” is a source of my challenge. I know I am not supposed to defrag the drive, but I can’t help think that some kind of unoptimized rot is setting in.

For the most part my config runs well. I can usually play TimeSplitters Future Perfect with 4-wavebirds in glorious HD widescreen. I can rip GC and Wii disks whenever I want. I can fiddle with my settings as needed. But in the past weeks--things stopped running efficiently as they should, and when I attempt to play a GC or Wii game, it asks if I want to load the game from my HD to my SD. These behaviors are new in recent months--things used to run properly for years.

In an ideal configuration I would like to consistently prioritize all GC and Wii gaming to load properly from my HD.

Any recommendations on a properly tweaked set-up? I can provide more technical details if necessary. Any advice would be appreciated.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Feb 18, 2018 - UPDATE: Here is my current SysCheck HD Edition Report
[
sysCheck v2.1.0 HD Edition by Double_A and R2-D2199, JoostinOnline, Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).
Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.3U (v513)
Drive date: 07.14.2008
Homebrew Channel 1.1.0 running on IOS58
Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 83257403
Shop Channel Country: United States (49)
Boot2 v4
Found 188 titles.
Found 49 IOS on this console. 15 of them are stub.
IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 256): Stub
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS16 (rev 512): Stub
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20 (rev 256): Stub
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30 (rev 2816): Stub
IOS31 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS36 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS37 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS38 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS40 (rev 3072): Stub
IOS41 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS50 (rev 5120): Stub
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 5888): Stub
IOS53 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS55 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): No Patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 6400): Stub
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70 (rev 6912): Stub
IOS80 (rev 6944): No Patches
IOS222 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS223 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS236[36] (rev 65535, Info: rev 3351): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS248[37] (rev 21006, Info: d2x-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS249[56] (rev 21010, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 21010, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v10
Report generated on 02/18/2018.
]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Feb 18, 2017 - UPDATES AND NOTES:

• I swapped to a WD Black 1TB HDD @ 7200RPM. I suspect a 5400RPM drive would be preferred, but finding older drives is difficult and this was available.
  
• I used Linux dd to copy my 750GB HDD to the 1TB drive, but it partitioned my drive to match the 750GB HDD, which is fine, because I have too much space anyhow.
  
• I swapped to an older USB 2.0 enclosure from MacSales, again for success with older tech.
• I removed all Apps from my USB drive, and they all run from my SDHD.
  
• I doublechecked that I am using the latest:
  • Nintendont v5.481
  • USB Loader GX 3.0r1268
    • Loader's IOS 249 / 56
      
    • Game's IOS 250 / 57
  • Rev. 21010
  • AHB
  • d2x v106beta52 base 56
  • USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT.wad

All of this means I can load Gamecube games again successfully (most times), but I can't go back to the USB Loader GX, Homebrew Browser screen using the "Home" button from a Wii game--rather when I press the Wiimote "Home" button, the game dumps to a black frozen screen instead of USB Loader GX or the Wii System Homescreen. The game won't unfreeze and the Wiimote shutsdown and won't restart/reconnect.

I spent some time reviewing this thread https://gbatemp.net/threads/what-exactly-do-i-need-to-install-the-usb-loader-gx.403354/ , and the problem might be related to my use of d2x-v10beta52, but I'm not quite sure.

 

[DonsSword]

bump

 

[TheThief]

Hi. I can send you a link to my usbloaderGX files that works with everything without a hitch. You would just need to move the files in the appropriate directory on the SD card. Since you have not used your wii for sometime I could also include updated apps such as genesisplus GX, Snes9xGX, wii64(rice plugin) neek folder for 100% VC/Wiiware compatibility within usbloasder gx, etc. If you already have all that I would just include the configured usbloadergx folder and nintendont folder. Just think the easiest method would be to install preconfigured working folders rather than trying to mess with settings one by one.

 

[DonsSword]

All the emulators are updated. I used to update everything via Homebrew Browser until HB stopped updating, and then I swapped to manually updating them myself. I'm not interested in someone else updating my set-up, I'm just interested in advice on an ideal configuration that I can update myself.

Thanks

 

[TheThief]

All the emulators are updated. I used to update everything via Homebrew Browser until HB stopped updating, and then I swapped to manually updating them myself. I'm not interested in someone else updating my set-up, I'm just interested in advice on an ideal configuration that I can update myself.

Thanks

Makes sense. The suggestion was merely to rule out issues quicker. If start you start a second/alteranate usbloadergx from the HBC (as to not delete yours with preferred settings/covers), and the GC/Wii games play without any odd prompts then the likely problem is with a setting change within your loader. That being said, I'm sure you have made sure the custom paths for Wii and GC games has been set, just make sure they didn't get changed somehow when you were updating. Though that's probably not it because they wouldn't appear if you weren't pointing the loader to where they are. Hmm.

 

[DonsSword]

Yup--all paths are unchanged. I am pretty sure it is a USB drive issue, but what I really want to do is to ensure the Wii prioritizes loading of USB Loader GX from the drive consistently.

 

[DonsSword]

Updated original post with SysCheck and latest results.

 

[DonsSword]

I am attempting to use "d2x v8 Final" so that I can get better compatibility, but I can't get d2x v8 to properly be recognized so that I can load it via d2X Custom IOS Installer. It won't show up in the list.

Also, I am not a fan of ModMii because it is too "hand holdy" and I also don't like some of the pieces of middleware it uses to access my registry. I don't want an app to do all the work for me, I want to know what it is actually doing, and I would prefer to do the work myself so that I know how to actually debug it. Also, my access to Windows in limited, and I am doing most of my work on my Wii via Linux.

 

[Cyan]

sorry for late answer, I didn't see you thread earlier.

the original d2x installer doesn't know cIOS above v6. v7 and newer were released later, you need to manually add the data to let the installer see them.
but, don't edit anything, your setup is fine.

you have a problem which I didn't understand correctly.
you said in first post that when you launch a gamecube games it asks to copy to SD. (you didn't say if this copy process works, nor if games launches correctly from SD)
then you edited and said you "I can load Gamecube games again successfully (most times)", so your USB to SD message disappeared ?
you said you can run gamecube game but exiting a wii game crashes the game, you talk about gamecube or wii games? there has been no issue exiting a wii game before...


What I find strange :
suggesting to copy a gamecube to SD is ONLY triggered if you have this setting :
- DML installed in MIOS Slot
- gamecube mode set to MIOS
- gamecube game launched from USB

But your syscheck doesn't display any DIOS MIOS install, just the regular MIOS.
if you had MIOS set as gamecube mode, then the loader would tell you to install another gamecube loader method (devolution or nintendont), and won't prompt to copy game to SD.


your problem about game crashing at exit :
It's usually happening if you exit a game, but don't have "return to" option set at all (or properly) to return to the forwarder channel.
You said you have UNEO forwarder installed, so maybe the issue is not the missing channel but the setting which is not properly set.
go to settings>loader setting>return to : (re)Select the UNEO channel.


Your problem could be :
You don't have UNEO forwarder, BUT the full channel (ULNR) instead.
that would explain everything :

1. that version (1180) knew only DML (DM wasn't even released at that time, even less nintendont). ALL games on USB were asked to be copied to SD before launch, because ONLY sd card method existed at that time.
2. return to doesn't work because it doesn't find "UNEO" but "ULNR"
3. lot of settings are missing from r1180 compared to 1268, crashing the loader and resetting unknown settings.

you launch the loader from HBC -> 1268 -> play -> exit (return to full channel ULNR instead of UNEO) -> setting used by 1268 missing in 1180 are deleted -> being in 1180 you can't launch gamecube using any other methid than DML asking to copy to SD.

just delete your full channel (go to credit page -> 3.0c is the Channel version) and reinstall the forwarder.
set the return to back to that forwarder to force a refresh of the titleID in the settings.
re-set all your missing settings due to running an old version of the loader.

 

[DonsSword]

Cyan thanks for your reply, no worries on the timing.

You are right, my original post, combined with the later posts, show some inconsistencies.

• The issue started when my eldest teen wanted to play a GC game from USB Loader GX, and it wouldn't allow me to run games from the HDD and insisted on copying the GC game to my SD in order to run the game. I just packed all my GC games didn't want to dig them up again, as they took up a lot of bookshelf space, which is th reason I migrated them all to an HDD. I think there were issues with USB 3 and the WD Blue drive that has always given me inconsistent performance.
  
• I think at one point I pulled off DIOS MIOS to avoid what I perceived a conflict with Nintendont.
  
• To start problem solving, I swapped to a USB 2.0 external closure and a WD Black in order to mitigate potential issues with USB 3 and the WD Blue HDD.
  
• I updated to a more recent USB Loader GX and Nintendont, and this stabilized the GC files images so that they now consistently load from the HDD and use the official GC memory cards. Having those 2 apps really resolved all issues with GameCube games in USB Loader GX consistenty loading Nintendont, and to keep the settings resident in my system settings. Nintendont now always loads, and it always using real GC memory cards--these are recently wins.
  
• I still have Wii gameslaunching, but when I go home or back to HBB or USBLGX, it black screens (not code panic displayed either)
  
• I have been challenged with installing d2x v8, instead of v10beta--I think your recommendation is the way to go.

To move forward I wiill try to do the following with your recommendation:

• "just delete your full channel (go to credit page -> 3.0c is the Channel version) and reinstall the forwarder."
• "set the return to back to that forwarder to force a refresh of the titleID in the settings."
• "re-set all your missing settings due to running an old version of the loader."
• I'll validate ULNR versus UNEO and I'll reset to yoru instructions.

I'm hoping that will fix most of it.

• I still have a problem with d2x recognizing the right version.

Once I perform the changes I will re-post and incl an udpated SysCheck as well as a report on the performance. Thanks!!!!!

 

[YOUCANTSTOPME]

If you have any reason to suspect the hard drive might be damaged, I highly recommend HD Tune and do a full Error Scan. Seriously one of the best programs out there. Any red blocks = bad.

 

[DonsSword]

If you have any reason to suspect the hard drive might be damaged, I highly recommend HD Tune and do a full Error Scan. Seriously one of the best programs out there. Any red blocks = bad.

Brand new hard drive. I think I'm good. I haven't had a moment to update, but I'll post results as soon as I can.

 

[YOUCANTSTOPME]

While I agree that a new drive SHOULD be good and not have any issues, it can never hurt to do a scan.

 

[Cyan]

new hard drives seems to have initialization issue with cIOS. You'll have to set the "loader's IOS" setting to 58 instead of 249 in USBGX loader's settings if you have problem detecting your new drive.

 

[DonsSword]

I have been out of pocket for since my last post--I'm dealing with cancer, but on the mend. I had a small tumor removed from my left temporal lobe, but fortunately there are not a lot of nerve endings I need to worry about so I don't have a lot of pain. More than anything, the issue for me is that my radiation treatment is wearing me out. I can't squeeze a game in anywhere right now LOL. I just sleep all weekend.

I just need to go thru and follow all your advice from Feb 23. I will post here as soon as I update my cIOS, and patch the latest "everything." The swap to a slower HD is helping with Gamecube games--they run fine. Swapping to USB2 runs better than USB3, but I always suspected that. I'm sure it will all lbe easy when I make some time to deal with it over an hour or two.

Thanks again!
Don

 

[Cyan]

I hope you'll get better.
Take your time, do things at your pace, and you can always call me (or another user) when you need help.

 

[DonsSword]

I finally got back to this project. Everything now works, except my Wii games will always fail to quit to the USB Loader GX after playing. When I press Home, the game goes to black and my Wiimote flashes to all 4 lights whenever I am dropping to Forwarder or to the The Homebrew Channel.

Gamecube runs great, quits, and goes to USB Loader GX, and Wii games run fine, until I go to Home.

Any advice would be appreciated. Here are my current specs:

sysCheck v2.1.0 HD Edition by Double_A and R2-D2199, JoostinOnline, Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.3U (v513)

Drive date: 07.14.2008
Homebrew Channel 1.1.0 running on IOS58

Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 83257403
Shop Channel Country: United States (49)
Boot2 v4
Found 178 titles.
Found 49 IOS on this console. 15 of them are stub.

IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 256): Stub
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS16 (rev 512): Stub
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20 (rev 256): Stub
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30 (rev 2816): Stub
IOS31 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS36 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS37 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS38 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS40 (rev 3072): Stub
IOS41 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS50 (rev 5120): Stub
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 5888): Stub
IOS53 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS55 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): No Patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 6400): Stub
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70 (rev 6912): Stub
IOS80 (rev 6944): No Patches
IOS222 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS223 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS236[36] (rev 65535, Info: rev 3351): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS248[37] (rev 21006, Info: d2x-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS249[56] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v10
Report generated on 01/04/2019.

 

[Cyan]

If you replaced the full channel with the forwarder channel, you might have to set the proper titleID to "return to" when exiting a game.
go to the loader's setting, click on that option and re-select the proper usbloaderg channel to return to. maybe it's only a simple problem like that.
Launching homebrew has hardcoded channel's ID and don't use that data (it's not correct, one day I'll change that).


in USBLoaderGX, be sure the settings for game's IOS is set to 249 (which is the latest good version of cIOS you installed in that slot).
if your global or individual setting is set to 250, it would use d2x v6 (like you can read yourself in the log above on line 250), which might not have the "return to" patch working correctly. d2x uses a different "return to" method than old cIOS, I don't remember if it had any issues or fixes. All I can tell is I'm sure it works with v7, v8 and v10.


But, to be even better, you shouldn't need d2x v6 at all, it even has game compatibility issues with dol reloading games (zelda skyward words, sam&max, metroid prime, ssx, redsteel 1 and 2, and all wiimote+ games)
I suggest you update your slot250 to replace it with d2x v10r52 too.
as you already have base56 in slot249, install base57 in slot250, so you'll have both base in different slots.
now that you have base57 with latest working cIOS, I also suggest to go to loader's option and set 250 by default instead of 249.
base57 works better and with more games than base56 (call of duty, just dance, sing it, etc.)

so, either :
- use slot249 instead of current 250, which is updated but is not the best for game compatibility. <-- this one can be a quick check to see if it helps with the "return to" feature.
-update slot250 and use it, which will have best compatibility.

 

[DonsSword]

I swapped to slot250 and corrected "return to" on usbloadergx and all is GREAT! I tested a few games, and all is working. Later this weekend I hope to swap to slot249, but for now I have enough for today.

Thanks for your help Cyan, you're the best!