Hacking USB Loader GX

[Cyan]

It's used to create playlog on the Wii's Message board with the game's title and play time.
But it works ONLY if you disable "return to" setting.

When you launch a game, the system menu (or USBLoaderGX if you launch from it) is writing a temporary file with the game's title and the current date/time.
When you exit the game back to system menu, it finds the temporary file and generate a play-log with the time you spent on that title.

If you use "return to" or just shutdown the console while playing, it never triggers the system menu's playlog creation tool, and this option is useless (hence why it's OFF by default, because users prefer returning to the loader when exiting a game than using a useless function that nobody read on their system menu).

That's only the only function used by the loader which actually writes to NAND.
The loader is written with no NAND writing access in mind to prevent any console bricking. This option is not dangerous, it writes a file which is deleted by the console at boot.

 

[Subscriber0101]

Oh ok. I suppose that means Playstats is mostly useless for me now But no biggie.

 

[stealth_gerbil]

hey cyan, if you want some feature ideas for USB loader GX, I suggested a kind of homebrew DS Download Service here

kind of like how the old Nintendo Channel had, but for already dumped DS files

 

[GreyWolf]

hey cyan, if you want some feature ideas for USB loader GX, I suggested a kind of homebrew DS Download Service here

kind of like how the old Nintendo Channel had, but for already dumped DS files

That seems overly complicated and of limited audience. There's barely any memory for the loader left as is.

 

[stealth_gerbil]

really?

the wii is already very capable of transmitting data like this, with DS files, and with the close of the Nintendo Channel, this in-built feature of the Wii is kind of gone to waste

perhaps a separate dedicated homebrew app would work if USB Loader GX cant fit it in

 

[GreyWolf]

Would you please make USB Loader GX properly use CHANS Scripts?

These are present in certain Wii Channels to properly display stuff. Otherwise, they won't display right along with the other Channels like right now.

Like in the Wii Fit Plus Channel, it displays the last time you've taken your Body Test.

I can give you some more information on this format if you would like to code this in.

ChannelScript reads that data from the NAND. Is there enough documentation to rewrite it so it can retrieve it from another source? It needs to be able to be decompiled and replaced.

 

[sieroi]

I've encountered a peculiar issue while attempting to use USB Loader GX with a 128GB USB flash drive (specifically, the Sandisk Ultra Flair - one of these).

After some fussing around with d2x versions and reformatting the drive in single-partition (FAT32, 32k) mode, it's detected by ULGX (initially, only Cfg USB Loader and Tantric's GX emulators detected it), and loads Wii backups fine.

At least, at first.

From a cold boot, the drive works as expected- ULGX detects it normally, and Wii disc backups play fine. However, WiiWare titles and Nintendont can each take upward of ten seconds to load when started from ULGX- which is a huge contrast to the USB HDD I had hooked up previously, which loaded everything more-or-less instantly, even when loading Emunand channels via neek.

The peculiar thing's that, upon resetting the console (Home->Wii Menu), the drive's performance seems a bit more patchy- Emunand channels load much more slowly (if at all), and Wii titles also take longer to load. After a third (or fourth- it varies) soft reset, it's pretty much guaranteed that ULGX won't even load at all- it hangs at "Initializing USB Device", and nothing but a hard reset wakes it up again.

It's a strange issue. I've tried multiple d2x versions (v6, v10, and the beta/alt version, and even just starting ULGX with IOS58), and none of them seem to offer any appreciable difference. Until I reformatted the drive from scratch as a single FAT32 partition with gparted, versions other than v6 wouldn't even detect the drive at all.

Does ULGX have any logging features that might help me diagnose what's going on?

 

[goodeddie]

USB Loader GX works great with a USB 3.0 cable from your hard drive. But other apps like Wad Manager 1.7 or FCE emulator do NOT work with a USB 3.0 cable. This was tested and verified.

Now USB Loader GX isn't working with the USB 2.0 cable but still works with the USB 3.0 cable...maybe the USB 2.0 cable got screwed up somehow? It was working last night. The only change last night was the installation of a single WAD and playing it.

EDIT: USB Loader GX is stuck on the Loading... screen with the USB 2.0 cable through the forwarder. Running USB Loader GX through the Homebrew channel is working.

EDIT: Wtf now the channel is working...gonna test some more.

 

[RockmanShinobi]

Hello everyone. I wasn't entirely sure where to ask or if I should have started a new topic, so I decided to ask here. I have a softmodded Wii (of course) with 4.3E firmware, USB Loader GX and Nintendont, and a Western Digital external HDD (maybe this is relevant, not sure). Anyway, the question is this: the loader crashes the entire console after about an hour playing a game. Settings are almost all default, screensaver is off, in Nintendont settings only autoload and memcard emulation is on. The games run fine, no matter if GC or Wii, but one hour into the game, give or take a few minutes, and the console shuts down, as in, no reaction to wiimote or GC controller button presses. Also, strangely enough, the Wii is still on: the power LED glows green and the HDD is working. And every time that happens I have to force shutdown (hold the power button until the LED turns red) and then turn the console on again. What may be the reason and how can that be corrected?

 

[sonictopfan]

USB Loader GX still doesn't work on my 64GB SD card despite most other apps and emulators I have working fine, I wonder if anyone can explain why this happens with some apps and not others, btw SD card works fine with regular Wii stuff at full speed too.

 

[GreyWolf]

Hello everyone. I wasn't entirely sure where to ask or if I should have started a new topic, so I decided to ask here. I have a softmodded Wii (of course) with 4.3E firmware, USB Loader GX and Nintendont, and a Western Digital external HDD (maybe this is relevant, not sure). Anyway, the question is this: the loader crashes the entire console after about an hour playing a game. Settings are almost all default, screensaver is off, in Nintendont settings only autoload and memcard emulation is on. The games run fine, no matter if GC or Wii, but one hour into the game, give or take a few minutes, and the console shuts down, as in, no reaction to wiimote or GC controller button presses. Also, strangely enough, the Wii is still on: the power LED glows green and the HDD is working. And every time that happens I have to force shutdown (hold the power button until the LED turns red) and then turn the console on again. What may be the reason and how can that be corrected?

Power saving on the drive, maybe? See if there is a utility to enable or disable features on it.

USB Loader GX still doesn't work on my 64GB SD card despite most other apps and emulators I have working fine, I wonder if anyone can explain why this happens with some apps and not others, btw SD card works fine with regular Wii stuff at full speed too.

It probably depends on the libogc version the app is linked with.

 

[Clutz450]

Hello everyone. I wasn't entirely sure where to ask or if I should have started a new topic, so I decided to ask here. I have a softmodded Wii (of course) with 4.3E firmware, USB Loader GX and Nintendont, and a Western Digital external HDD (maybe this is relevant, not sure). Anyway, the question is this: the loader crashes the entire console after about an hour playing a game. Settings are almost all default, screensaver is off, in Nintendont settings only autoload and memcard emulation is on. The games run fine, no matter if GC or Wii, but one hour into the game, give or take a few minutes, and the console shuts down, as in, no reaction to wiimote or GC controller button presses. Also, strangely enough, the Wii is still on: the power LED glows green and the HDD is working. And every time that happens I have to force shutdown (hold the power button until the LED turns red) and then turn the console on again. What may be the reason and how can that be corrected?

Check out this post and see if it helps.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/people-with-westerndigital-hdd-sleep-problem.318273/

 

[Larsenv]

ChannelScript reads that data from the NAND. Is there enough documentation to rewrite it so it can retrieve it from another source? It needs to be able to be decompiled and replaced.

I use this tool.

https://github.com/Parlane/Parse-Channel-Script

 

[GreyWolf]

I use this tool.

https://github.com/Parlane/Parse-Channel-Script

You misunderstand. The channels for Mario Kart and Wii Fit have different banners read their data from their games' save data in NAND. The banners on USB Loader GX are the disc banner animations, not the channel ones. The loader would have to be modified to figure out where the game data is saved (NAND, EmuNAND, etc.) and then decode it.

There's really not much use in the channels if you're loading the games from USB because they can't launch the title without a disc.

 

[Larsenv]

You misunderstand. The channels for Mario Kart and Wii Fit have different banners read their data from their games' save data in NAND. The banners on USB Loader GX are the disc banner animations, not the channel ones. The loader would have to be modified to figure out where the game data is saved (NAND, EmuNAND, etc.) and then decode it.

There's really not much use in the channels if you're loading the games from USB because they can't launch the title without a disc.

Yes, I understand exactly how it works. CHANS Scripts are not banners lol.

Obviously it reads channels, and a lot of ones using WiiConnect24 (which I'm bringing back with RiiConnect24) use CHANS Scripts...

A better example is the Photo Channel when you post a picture to the Wii Menu. The CHANS Script loads the TPL Graphic File it saves to the NAND when posting this on the Wii Menu.

Since USB Loader GX doesn't yet have support for CHANS Scripts, it won't display the photo right now.

 

[sonictopfan]

Power saving on the drive, maybe? See if there is a utility to enable or disable features on it.



It probably depends on the libogc version the app is linked with.

I hope this gets looked at, I really hope to upgrade 64GB

 

[RockmanShinobi]

Check out this post and see if it helps.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/people-with-westerndigital-hdd-sleep-problem.318273/

Thanks, but that didn't work. I have a My Book Essential Edition, and the solution is for Elements.

Power saving on the drive, maybe? See if there is a utility to enable or disable features on it.

Not power saving, definitely. First, this problem wasn't there when I used Configurable USB Loader. Second, I've checked with CrystalDiskInfo as stated in the thread offered by Clutz450, it stated that my external drive wasn't sleepy.

EDIT: I was wrong, my HDD actually has a power-saving mode. Still, the crashing I've described didn't happen with Configurable USB Loader.

 

[GreyWolf]

Yes, I understand exactly how it works. CHANS Scripts are not banners lol.

Obviously it reads channels, and a lot of ones using WiiConnect24 (which I'm bringing back with RiiConnect24) use CHANS Scripts...

A better example is the Photo Channel when you post a picture to the Wii Menu. The CHANS Script loads the TPL Graphic File it saves to the NAND when posting this on the Wii Menu.

Since USB Loader GX doesn't yet have support for CHANS Scripts, it won't display the photo right now.

You're still missing the point. The ChannelScript documentation is woefully incomplete and there are too many places the information could be. It's just not worth it for discontinued service channels and two games. The USB Loader GX source is publicly available if you want to give it a try, though.

 

[tswntk]

@Cyan

If I launch WiiXplorer from HBC/System Menu, I can see my SD and USB HDD no problem.
When I launch it via ULGX (r1260, ios d2x b52-249[56] or ios58), I can't find my HDD. Everything else like SD, FTP and even SMB are all working as it should.

I auto launches ULGX via bootmii. Tried launching ULGX from system menu or HBC (1.1.0; ios58) - the same.

Is it an AHBPROT problem? or is ULGX taking excluding rights to the HDD?

Just curious, discovered it accidentally. I don't normally access my HDD from WiiXplorer. If I have to, I can start WiiXplorer without ULGX, no big deal.

I think I messed the homebrew launching when I added nintendont support.
I needed to force a reload to IOS58 for nintendont, so I did it for all homebrew too, but maybe something went wrong.
I will have to check the homebrew launching code.

I don't think so.
Just tried r1226 and v3.0 (r1180? credit page just says v3.0 but it certainly has no settings for nintendont) and they behave the same way.
At least launching Save Game Manager with r1260 will show a message "waiting for HDD.." and a counts down. Cancelled it with B and SGM still can access HDD.

So something can be done on the other apps or may be ULGX can fix it on its own. Anyway, not a problem for me.

I always set Wiixplorer to boot with ios58 thinking that is the most compatible one.
Today I set it to boot with ios249 (the same default cios for ULGX) just for a test, and it now detects my HDD in Wiixplorer after launching with ULGX. I didn't re-test with older ULGX rev though.

May be there is a conflict with Wiixplorer using ios58 when launched with ULGX, or may be when Wiixplorer fails to init the HDD with ios58 alone (because of ULGX or whatever), it will de-init the USB ports and then reloading into ciso 249 (I can clearly see it says "reloading ciso249") and re-init the HDD. Anyway, I am not going to touch my HDD with Wii apps except loading games.

I am not into Wii emulators and so I don't know if they allow cios re-loading or if that would help them at all.

 

[Cyan]

If you set 249, then Wiixplorer reload the IOS and re-init the drive.
If you set 58, I suppose it doesn't reload/reinit the drive, expecting a launch from HBC and thinking HBC already did it.
I don't know if I can launch homebrew without deinitializing hdd first, I could try.