Hacking USB Loader GX

[Cyan]

the plugin was a mod, and released as a test version by Fledge.
It's not part of the final code yet, so 1262 doesn't have it. 1263 won't have it either (I'll commit the xml update as new revision, it will be easier to track related issues if any. I should post changes one by one instead of waiting too long and commit 10 changes at the same time).
I can make another mod of it for users who like it. Like the Tab mod compiled on every revision.
Maybe on github it would be easier to manage different branches for each mod, but I'm not familiar with github.

some users did a github copy when googlecode closed, so you could fork one of them as base until it's part of the code.


@smf :
try to apply some filters, like favorite or categories, and reboot the loader.
see if there's a specific game which produce that issue, or if it's linked to a game count, etc.

 

[Zonta85]

I will really appreciate a new mod
Or instead something that can be added to each version of usbloader gx independently from the core code, like a plugin for usb loader gx that allows to use the plugins XD
Is that possible?

 

[Cyan]

a plugin to use plugin, hmm yeah lol

I could make a precompiler condition, and make it easy to compile mods, but I don't know if it's best to include them in the source, it would make it hard to maintain, maybe. the tab mod is easy, but the plugin mod should in part of the code directly.
I imagined working on it after 3.1 release, but it's there so let's not release any 3.1 milestone ?

 

[sideskroll]

a plugin to use plugin, hmm yeah lol

I could make a precompiler condition, and make it easy to compile mods, but I don't know if it's best to include them in the source, it would make it hard to maintain, maybe. the tab mod is easy, but the plugin mod should in part of the code directly.
I imagined working on it after 3.1 release, but it's there so let's not release any 3.1 milestone ?

@Cyan remind me, how do I mark some channels as hidden so they don't appear in the loader? Create a hidden category... and then what? put a checkmark on each channel and in the categories? (by the way, it should be more self explanatory, what with all the X and + and checkmark...)
I want to hide the loaders forwarder, HBC etc. Emunand and real nand.
Thanks as always
Also, if I may. I think if you're working on the loader, the first thing you should check is the "auto" option from Nintendont. since its only passing arguments...

 

[Cyan]

it's hard to make self explanatory with so little interface option.
I tried to re-use existing interface.
It would require an overall GUI rethink. I have ideas, but it's always that: ideas...

put "all" with a "X", it's telling the user to display "all except the one marked as X".
it's different than " " (nothing), which tell the user to display only the one marked as "V" (enabled) or "+" (required)


So,
create a hidden category.
go to your games you want to hide, and link them to that category.
go to the main category menu, set "hidden" as "X" (forbidden)
Set "all" as "X" (don't display forbidden categories)

https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx.149922/page-778#post-4251265
(Could have been made "featured post" but it's removed )

 

[self_slaughter]

A picture says 1000 words.
A CRT is feckin hard to photograph.

Main categories menu:

Game settings menu:

***

Just uncross the main hidden category later if you need to find them again.

Or uncross all and tick Hidden, to only show hidden channels.

* Edited for clarity.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[sideskroll]

it's hard to make self explanatory with so little interface option.
I tried to re-use existing interface.
It would require an overall GUI rethink. I have ideas, but it's always that: ideas...

put "all" with a "X", it's telling the user to display "all except the one marked as X".
it's different than " " (nothing), which tell the user to display only the one marked as "V" (enabled) or "+" (required)


So,
create a hidden category.
go to your games you want to hide, and link them to that category.
go to the main category menu, set "hidden" as "X" (forbidden)
Set "all" as "X" (don't display forbidden categories)

https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx.149922/page-778#post-4251265
(Could have been made "featured post" but it's removed )

Ok. So to link the game, I would... put checks on BOTH categories? and then X 'em both in the categories menu.
Did I get that right?
By the way, can't you add that post to the OP?

 

[Zonta85]

I'm not a noob and i follow the wii scene since dayone but i think that i lost some update/improvements during the last year due to the decrease of interest in the wii scene, except fpr Nintendont. What is the tab mode?

 

[sideskroll]

A picture says 1000 words.
A CRT is feckin hard to photograph.

Just uncross the main hidden category later if you need to find them again.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Beat me to the punch
Thanks. Both of you.

 

[Cyan]

@self_slaughter : Your second picture is not displaying only hidden titles, as "all" is check it will display ALL titles.
uncheck all (blank), and keep hidden checked, it will display only the checked categories.

@Zonta85 :

it's a "quick mod", which works only with that setup.
channel layout, and only Wii OR gamecube OR wiiware/VC on emuNAND.
you currently can't have one tab with Wii+gamecube, one with VC only, one with wiiware only on NAND, etc.

@Badablek is the one "maintaining" it. he is adding that mod on every new revision.


the idea I had to integrate it correctly in the loader was to make tab preferences, you set different global+individual settings for each tabs, and restore settings quickly by selecting your tab.
You could have one tab for parents (with locked titles), one for kids, one for RPG, one for Adventure, one for Plugin SNES, Game in english for you, game in Italian for your wife, etc.
I would add a "duplicate tab" to make it easier and prevent setting the loader and games again from zero every time.
position tabs manually, reload to last used tab except if parental locked, etc.
allow user to name or put any picture on the tab from a picture displayed menu (like theme selection).

Ideas, Ideas ....

 

[sideskroll]

@self_slaughter : Your second picture is not displaying only hidden titles, as "all" is check it will display ALL titles.
uncheck all (blank), and keep hidden checked, it will display only the checked categories.

@Zonta85 :

it's a "quick mod", which works only with that setup.
channel layout, and only Wii OR gamecube OR wiiware/VC on emuNAND.
you currently can't have one tab with Wii+gamecube, one with VC only, one with wiiware only on NAND, etc.

the idea I had to integrate it correctly in the loader was to make tab preferences, you set different global+individual settings for each tabs, and restore settings quickly by selecting your tab.
You could have one tab for parents (with locked titles), one for kids, one for RPG, one for Adventure, one for Plugin SNES, Game in english for you, game in Italian for your wife, etc.
I would add a "duplicate tab" to make it easier and prevent setting the loader and games again from zero every time.
position tabs manually, reload to last used tab except if parental locked, etc.
allow user to name or put any picture on the tab from a picture displayed menu (like theme selection).

Ideas, Ideas ....

I think his second picture was showing me how to mark the game itself... That's what I understood by your explanation as well... That isn't how it's done?

By the way. That mod is the way to go. Forget about configurable tabs. Wii/GCN and WiiWare. That's it. (I'm assuming WW also includes VC?)
It looks GREAT to me.

 

[Cyan]

ahh you are right, it was the individual game menu, not the full category menu

about that mod : I cant make it the default.
it would break existing themes, and not everyone want tabs, they could want Wii+NAND channel, you don't know. some users don't even know what emuNAND is.
I can make that an internal option, OR a preprocessing option (will require 2 different dol releases)

 

[sideskroll]

ahh you are right, it was the individual game menu, not the full category menu

about that mod : I cant make it the default.
it would break existing themes, and not everyone want tabs, they could want Wii+NAND channel, you don't know.
I can make that an internal option, OR a preprocessing option (will require 2 different dol releases)

Yes. I understand. But if you try to cater to EVERYONE you end up with a bloated convoluted mess, or releasing 2, 3 dols. Or a lo-----oooot of bugs
Those tabs look clean, serve their purpose and most importantly: are SIMPLE. You could even give an option to turn off tabs if you think some people might not like them.
Or you know what? You could even not include them at all
The loader is fine as it is (maybe some issues mainly with some HDD, and some new Nintendon't options, and perhaps memory isues, which by the way. After reading new posts I'm not sure if 1262 is indeed bugged or not... )
Anyway, You try to do too much and end up doing nothing (I know. I'm the same when I feel overwhelmed)

 

[Cyan]

You try to do too much and end up doing nothing

you sum'ed it well,

 

[Zonta85]

This is awesome,really! But i have too much wii/gc games on my hard drive to use this display mode it will be boring to navigate trough so many games in this "channel mode", i prefere the classic list plus covers but i think that this can be very useful to other users.
This tab mode is related to the plugins (that if i understand correctly will allow to load emulated roms directly from usb loader gx)?

 

[sideskroll]

you sum'ed it well,

You know it.
Brother from a different mother. I told ya'!

 

[Cyan]

This tab mode is related to the plugins (that if i understand correctly will allow to load emulated roms directly from usb loader gx)?

the tabmod is different than the plugin feature.

Tab mod is only additional buttons as a shortcut to edit the game's origin. (4th icon in the menu). more like a lazy-to-open-4th-menu buttons


the plugin feature will add ability to list any other files (not only wii/gamecube/Channel), and have them launch a respective homebrew with that file passed as argument.
it could be emulators, but also videos with WiiMC.

plugins are based on Wiiflow plugin files, which I find very hard to work with
I wouldn't have coded things like that. (I mean, the .ini file content)
I could make a different format, but users would have to re-create plugin ini files, while they could just share the same plugin folder than wiiflow.

for example, it's expecting the loaded .dol to be located in the plugin folder, while I would have let the user point to the "partition:/apps/any homebrew they want to launch/boot.dol" instead. it would also have prevented specific settings (scummvm) as it would use the existing ones.
Exactly like Nintendont !!! people can run gamecube by using apps/nintendont/boot.dol, and not a "wiiflow/plugin/nintendont.dol".
Nintendont could have been a plugin. or could be converted as a plugin, but has too many options to make it simple.

updating nintendont boot.dol update both the one launched from HBC and the one launched by USBGX.
using the current wiiflow plugin system, it's using different dols (I understand they are modded version to accept arguments, but they could have been placed in the correct apps folder)
issue now is the ROM is loaded from the same partition than the dol, if you want to load it from "USB" you need to set a setting to "enable", which does NOT define which partition to load.

I would have let the user choose :
complete path to files
complete path to dol

or I can make a new format and release updated .ini files to use with the loader.
or a mixed version, compatible with wiiflow, but additional info for GX. <-- that is the best choice in my opinion.

 

[Zonta85]

the tabmod is different than the plugin feature.

Tab mod is only additional buttons as a shortcut to edit the game's origin. (4th icon in the menu). more like a lazy-to-open-4th-menu buttons


the plugin feature will add ability to list any other files (not only wii/gamecube/Channel), and have them launch a respective homebrew with that file passed as argument.
it could be emulators, but also videos with WiiMC.

plugins are based on Wiiflow plugin files, which I find very hard to work with
I wouldn't have coded things like that. (I mean, the .ini file content)
I could make a different format, but users would have to re-create plugin ini files, while they could just share the same plugin folder than wiiflow.

for example, it's expecting the loaded .dol to be located in the plugin folder, while I would have let the user point to the "partition:/apps/any homebrew they want to launch/boot.dol" instead. it would also have prevented specific settings (scummvm) as it would use the existing ones.
Exactly like Nintendont !!! people can run gamecube by using apps/nintendont/boot.dol, and not a "wiiflow/plugin/nintendont.dol".
Nintendont could have been a plugin. or could be converted as a plugin, but has too many options to make it simple.

updating nintendont boot.dol update both the one launched from HBC and the one launched by USBGX.
using the current wiiflow plugin system, it's using different dols (I understand they are modded version to accept arguments, but they could have been placed in the correct apps folder)
issue now is the ROM is loaded from the same partition than the dol, if you want to load it from "USB" you need to set a setting to "enable", which does NOT define which partition to load.

I would have let the user choose :
complete path to files
complete path to dol

or I can make a new format and release updated .ini files to use with the loader.
or a mixed version, compatible with wiiflow, but additional info for GX. <-- that is the best choice in my opinion.

I agree with you, it's stupid to have a specific path for every plugin inside the loader folder (like apps/usbloader_gx/plugins/snes9x/boot.dol when you have the same dol in apps/snes9x/boot.dol).
I have a lot of emulators on my wii (Master System,Meg Drive, Nes, Snes, Gameboy/gameboy advance, scumm ecc.) And is a waste of space on the sd card to have clones of the same dol.
Plus, if you update the one in thw plugins folder, the other launched trough hbc needs another update too, waste of time
And yes, i have thousands of rom (console complete fullsets) on my usb, not sd cards, it will be easiest if we can select the complete usb path.
The solution that you suggested is perfect.
Then, if i understand correctly: plugins will allow usbloader gx to show games or other files (in addition to wii/gc/vc/wiiware),and send the rom (or file) to a specific homebrew as argument dependently from the file extension. I'm right?

 

[GreyWolf]

I'm actually working on integrating JavaScript so maybe we can have a plugin system for plugins.

It'll be a lot easier to "remix" or change the loader if people don't have to recompile it every time. Just change the JS files and go. Plus, since the modules are loaded and unloaded as needed there will be less code/resources in the binary so there should be more free memory.

As for the WiiFlow plugin system it would be easier to change the ini files to XML.

 

[Zonta85]

I'm actually working on integrating JavaScript so maybe we can have a plugin system for plugins.

It'll be a lot easier to "remix" or change the loader if people don't have to recompile it every time. Just change the JS files and go. Plus, since the modules are loaded and unloaded as needed there will be less code/resources in the binary so there should be more free memory.

As for the WiiFlow plugin system it would be easier to change the ini files to XML.

Then my idea of a plugin for plugin wasn't so stupid XD