Hacking USB Loader GX

[Effef]

@GreyWolf Do you plan to add SD card support to your mod in the future?
Thanks for your hard work!

 

[GreyWolf]

@GreyWolf Do you plan to add SD card support to your mod in the future?
Thanks for your hard work!

No.

 

[CheatFreak47]

@Cyan @GreyWolf I think I've figured something out about the EmuNAND banner caching issue I mentioned above.

It seems that it just refuses to cache banners from EmuNANDs on USB Devices for whatever reason- I can take the same exact NAND from the USB Device and put it on an SD card of the same exact same file system and it will read the banners and cache them just fine after I set the path.

 

[Shiranui-san]

Why some WiiWare and Virtual Console titles fail to boot directly from USB Loader GX (neek2o emuNAND)? They just try to boot nswitch instead and I end up in the HBC (I have "Return to" set to HBC, otherwise I go back to main menu).

Example:
I installed Cave Story with ShowMiiWads into my emuNAND. I plugged my HDD back into the Wii, loaded real NAND --> HBC --> USB Loader GX --> Cave Story, but all I saw was nswitch screen trying to boot my emuNAND, then back to HBC screen.

But if I first boot my emuNAND through nswitch or through USB Loader GX, and then load the game from emuNAND main menu it boots fine. Other titles also fail to load from emuNAND main menu and only boot by selecting them in the emuNAND hidden menu.

 

[Cyan]

I don't remember if I tried Cave story with neek2o, but it works fine without it.
It's one of the game I did all my test with, so I think I used it on neek2o autoboot feature too.

I have (again) PC issues... (now HDD or RAID issues)
sorry I'm not prevent a lot here recently.

 

[CheatFreak47]

Why some WiiWare and Virtual Console titles fail to boot directly from USB Loader GX (neek2o emuNAND)? They just try to boot nswitch instead and I end up in the HBC (I have "Return to" set to HBC, otherwise I go back to main menu).

Example:
I installed Cave Story with ShowMiiWads into my emuNAND. I plugged my HDD back into the Wii, loaded real NAND --> HBC --> USB Loader GX --> Cave Story, but all I saw was nswitch screen trying to boot my emuNAND, then back to HBC screen.

But if I first boot my emuNAND through nswitch or through USB Loader GX, and then load the game from emuNAND main menu it boots fine. Other titles also fail to load from emuNAND main menu and only boot by selecting them in the emuNAND hidden menu.

I created a new EmuNAND yesterday and Cave Story along with almost everything else all seem to work fine.
Perhaps your setup is bad? Try reinstalling the appropriate version of neek on your HDD and SD card with ModMii.

 

[Effef]

@Cyan Do you plan sooner or later to add SD support to USB Loader GX?

 

[CheatFreak47]

@Cyan Do you plan sooner or later to add SD support to USB Loader GX?

Honestly I'm all for SD support in the loader as well if only to appease the constant requests for it. In any case, this has been asked time and time again and the answer is almost universally "no probably not".

I know d2x supports SD for Wii games, so I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been added yet- I guess doing so would require a lot of work that nobody wants to do I guess.

 

[Cyan]

@Cyan Do you plan sooner or later to add SD support to USB Loader GX?

Later, probably.
When I get my PC back, and time to work on the project, and it's at the bottom of the priority list.

I guess doing so would require a lot of work that nobody wants to do I guess.

This reason, and also that the loader was designed around USB, there are few places where USB is hardcoded.
Also, it's name is "USB" loader GX
Also, users who can't buy a HDD to pirate are really cheap people. They don't have money for games, but are not even willing to do what is required to pirate ? they want everything, without effort, without buying anything "new" (let's use what I already have, I will NEVER buy something AGAIN even if required! ...
And if it's only for "I don't want to unplug the drive because having 2 HDD is making issues, I have 1 HDD for WiiU and don't want to format it, don't want to stand up, don't want to walk up to my TV or console to catch a cable and pull it because I'm too lazy", that's not the developer's fault that you are lazy.

Currently, it's how it's working.
Live with it, or use Wiiflow.
You'll also notice that SD card is not compatible with all games.

 

[CheatFreak47]

Later, probably.
When I get my PC back, and time to work on the project, and it's at the bottom of the priority list.

This reason, and also that the loader was designed around USB, there are few places where USB is hardcoded.
Also, it's name is "USB" loader GX
Also, users who can't buy a HDD to pirate are really cheap people. They don't have money for games, but are not even willing to do what is required to pirate ? they want everything, without effort, without buying anything "new" (let's use what I already have, I will NEVER buy something AGAIN even if required! ...
And if it's only for "I don't want to unplug the drive because having 2 HDD is making issues, I have 1 HDD for WiiU and don't want to format it, don't want to stand up, don't want to walk up to my TV or console to catch a cable and pull it because I'm too lazy", that's not the developer's fault that you are lazy.

Currently, it's how it's working.
Live with it, or use Wiiflow.
You'll also notice that SD card is not compatible with all games.

I agree, but the thing is- I'm not talking about piracy or doing it for people because they're just lazy end-users, I'm saying it should be added on principle. Let me explain.

USB Loader GX is at it's core, is a GUI for Managing and Interacting with a collection of games on USB and/or SD and launching those games with other community developed software(s).

There shouldn't need to be an asterisk on the SD card support with a footnote about SD being unsupported for Wii games, when the cIOS we're launching everything with has the ability to launch games from the SD card.

It's a nearly fully functional feature of the cIOS we all are running, and to my knowledge, it's one of the only cIOS functions that USB Loader GX can't handle properly, and to me- that's kind of silly.

Bear in mind I'm sure many wouldn't even use it, and of course this is free, community developed software, and no-one has any obligation to work on the loader at all to begin with.

The fact that this project is still pretty alive is nothing short of impressive to me, to be honest. You guys rock.

 

[Cyan]

On principle and because "it can be done" I agree.
Also, it's compatible with SD card for other game type (Gamecube and emuNAND) and it's strange to not get Wii games working too. At first, it was supposed to be USB only, but now the SD can be used for different features.
And I think I'll do it, I already noticed few area where the code could be changed, but I never did it.
I now have free time issue (living alone is taking a lot of my free time weekend are spend on chores, duty, shopping, etc.)

But it's planed, it's not a rejected feature, just I don't know when I'll do it.
maybe greywolf or fledge would do it before me, even if for the moment they are not planing it.
One day I should catch up with greywolf mod, or it will be harder to make the "official" branch official again

 

[Shiranui-san]

@Cyan
PC issues again? Maybe some piece of hardware you're always using is making all those troubles?

@Cyan @CheatFreak47
About emuNAND, it's not only Cave Story, and definitely it's not about if it works good or bad without neek2o.
The issue here is that some titles, including Cave Story, fail to autoboot the first time they are launched after installation. Instead of booting the game, nswitch is shown there for whatever reason, fail to switch to emuNAND and takes me back to HBC (real NAND).
Maybe my setup is bad? I don't know, while some games have this issues, others don't.
I will try later with a full reinstall of both emuNAND and neek2o files
By the way, any alternatives to nswitch .dol file and NK2O channel by Overjoy?

 

[CheatFreak47]

@Cyan
PC issues again? Maybe some piece of hardware you're always using is making all those troubles?

@Cyan @CheatFreak47
About emuNAND, it's not only Cave Story, and definitely it's not about if it works good or bad without neek2o.
The issue here is that some titles, including Cave Story, fail to autoboot the first time they are launched after installation. Instead of booting the game, nswitch is shown there for whatever reason, fail to switch to emuNAND and takes me back to HBC (real NAND).
Maybe my setup is bad? I don't know, while some games have this issues, others don't.
I will try later with a full reinstall of both emuNAND and neek2o files
By the way, any alternatives to nswitch .dol file and NK2O channel by Overjoy?

Oh weird, I used to have that problem with the cIOS emunand, yeah you need to just make a new EmuNAND, mate.

Easy Method:
1) You can generate a fake Wii NAND with ModMii
2) Set it up on the SD card or USB
3) Install your games with ShowMiiWads
4) Use USB Loader GX -> Features to copy SysConf and Miis to the EmuNAND.

If you in the future have issues with DLC like I did, you can try dumping your Real NAND overtop the EmuNAND- which fixed it for me.

You can use SaveGame Manager GX to manage EmuNAND Save Files if you have a hard time getting Into the EmuNAND Wii Menu.

 

[Shiranui-san]

Oh weird, I used to have that problem with the cIOS emunand, yeah you need to just make a new EmuNAND, mate.

Easy Method:
1) You can generate a fake Wii NAND with ModMii
2) Set it up on the SD card or USB
3) Install your games with ShowMiiWads
4) Use USB Loader GX -> Features to copy SysConf and Miis to the EmuNAND.

If you in the future have issues with DLC like I did, you can try dumping your Real NAND overtop the EmuNAND- which fixed it for me.

You can use SaveGame Manager GX to manage EmuNAND Save Files if you have a hard time getting Into the EmuNAND Wii Menu.

Maybe similar problem, but not exactly the same since a cIOS-based emuNAND doesn't mess around with nswitch and/or neek2o.
In fact, the emuNAND I'm using right now is a dump of my 4.1E Real NAND.
About savefiles, manually copy-pasting the right files from one emuNAND into the new one is faster than SaveGame Manager GX.

 

[GreyWolf]

nswitch is for NEEK, not EmuNAND. EmuNAND is part of the cIOS.

 

[CheatFreak47]

Maybe similar problem, but not exactly the same since a cIOS-based emuNAND doesn't mess around with nswitch and/or neek2o.
In fact, the emuNAND I'm using right now is a dump of my 4.1E Real NAND.
About savefiles, manually copy-pasting the right files from one emuNAND into the new one is faster than SaveGame Manager GX.

Ah, my EmuNAND is on 4.3- seems there's not much reason to be running an older SysMenu anymore these days.
In that case, try making a new emuNAND with ModMii and using that with ShowMiiWads and see if your issue is still present.

nswitch is for NEEK, not EmuNAND. EmuNAND is part of the cIOS.

You're misunderstanding, both cIOS and neek run an EmuNAND. What you're calling "EmuNAND" is actually what is called cIOS Based NAND Redirection- neek2o is a software based NAND Redirection or something.

 

[GreyWolf]

No, NEEK is NEEK. And EmuNAND is EmuNAND. The settings in the loader are not shared, etc. The files can be.
NEEK is an entire virtualized system menu that redirects everything. EmuNAND is a feature of cIOSes. It redirects NAND folders only.

 

[CheatFreak47]

No, NEEK is NEEK. And EmuNAND is EmuNAND. The settings in the loader are not shared, etc. The files can be.
NEEK is an entire virtualized system menu that redirects everything. EmuNAND is a feature of cIOSes. It redirects NAND folders only.

Yeah but what you store on an SD card isn't an actual NAND because NAND is a chiptype- it's not a system of folders.
People often call copies of NANDs on non-nand devices "EmuNAND" or "EmuNANDs" for this reason. It's a copy of the file structure of a NAND, when used with appropreate software, it effectively immitates a real NAND- hense it being called an EmuNAND.

Anyhow that's what I mean when I say Neek Runs an EmuNAND.
While you are right, "EmuNAND" is a feature of cIOS, I try not to call it that so as to not confuse people- so I use "cIOS NAND Redirection" to describe the feature.

You're the first I've met that didn't understand what I meant.

Anyhow that concept of calling a backup of a NAND chip an "EmuNAND" carries over into the 3DS scene where the partition of a SD card which contains a copy of the 3DS's NAND Chip are denoted as EmuNANDs or RedNANDs depending on the specific way the partition is setup. It's a pretty widely accepted use of the term.

 

[Cyan]

Instead of booting the game, nswitch is shown there for whatever reason, fail to switch to emuNAND and takes me back to HBC (real NAND).

NSwitch is NOT used at all by USBLoaderGX to boot neek2o.
USBLoaderGX is using its own neek booter and doesn't rely on any neek channel booter

If you see nswitch when launching neek2o autoboot feature from the loader, then something is wrong with your setup. I don't understand how you could even see nswitch when it's never loaded.

Nswitch is the "NK2O" channel installed on your emuNAND and is used to "return to" real NAND. (in facts, it reboots the console).
Maybe what's happening is that the game you try to launch couldn't be found, so it exits to system menu (like all the time a game can't be launched and sysmenu is launched/reset), except that neek2o replaced the system menu with the "return to" channel, which is nSwitch.

So, something is wrong with the game path.
That's why I suggested that you check or delete or do something with the /sneek/ folder, inside there's a file which setup the path to the NAND copy.
in the nand copy folder, there are also (sometime) a file setup for neek2o


Neek2o autoboot feature can be used with a temporary path to a different EmuNAND.
You could have one emuNAND path set as default (the one you'll return to when you exit a game), and could still autoboot a game from another emuNAND path (for example one with a different setting, video, region, etc.)
Maybe something is wrong in that path sent to neek2o, and it expect a temporary path to be used, but can't be found, so exits to the main emuNAND's neek system menu where it finds the nswitch to "return to"
All this is stored in the binary file in /sneek/ folder, please look into it, delete it.

Edit:
Also, as you mentioned that "only some games have that issue", I suspect that the temporary emuNAND path is set in the individual game setting.
For example, you have a setting for Cave story which has a path to a specific emuNAND folder, which is different than the one used by neek2o ?
Maybe, in the past, you had a setting for cave story and still have it saved in USBGX setting file.

As the settings are "global" per game, and not different based on the way you launch it, maybe you have a setting set for when you tried that game with "cIOS-based emuNAND" and now that you use "neek based emuNAND" you didn't reset the old settings for that game?
Please, check your individual game settings first

neek booter is using that individual nand path as a way to have multiple neek2o settings (different video mode, nand regions, etc.), it's great and powerful once you set everything correctly, but if you don't remember or understand how muli-nand path is working it could be an issue.
USBX and neek can manage up to 8 different NAND paths at the same time.

 

[Shiranui-san]

Nswitch is the "NK2O" channel installed on your emuNAND and is used to "return to" real NAND. (in facts, it reboots the console).
Maybe what's happening is that the game you try to launch couldn't be found, so it exits to system menu (like all the time a game can't be launched and sysmenu is launched/reset), except that neek2o replaced the system menu with the "return to" channel, which is nSwitch.

Ok, you're right, I thought that what I was seeing was nswitch trying to boot emuNAND, but no, it is actually nswitch reloading the console back to real NAND. So yeah, maybe the game cannot be found and NK2O is doing its magic immediately after that.

So, something is wrong with the game path.

But then in this scenario, why does the same game using the same exact settings sometimes boot and sometimes don't, hence causing NK2O to reload the console?

That's why I suggested that you check or delete or do something with the /sneek/ folder, inside there's a file which setup the path to the NAND copy.
in the nand copy folder, there are also (sometime) a file setup for neek2o

I deleted the SNEEK folder in the HDD, and the sneek and bootmiineek folders in the SD, made a clean reinstall, still happening the same.

Neek2o autoboot feature can be used with a temporary path to a different EmuNAND.
You could have one emuNAND path set as default (the one you'll return to when you exit a game), and could still autoboot a game from another emuNAND path (for example one with a different setting, video, region, etc.)
Maybe something is wrong in that path sent to neek2o, and it expect a temporary path to be used, but can't be found, so exits to the main emuNAND's neek system menu where it finds the nswitch to "return to"
All this is stored in the binary file in /sneek/ folder, please look into it, delete it.

Yeah, I understand your point here, but as I said above, the same game with the same settings sometimes boots and sometimes doesn't. How could that temporary path change (sometimes is found, sometimes it is not) without manually changing anything?
Anyways, I deleted the SNEEK folder in the HDD, and the sneek and bootmiineek folders in the SD, made a clean reinstall, still happening the same.

Edit:
Also, as you mentioned that "only some games have that issue", I suspect that the temporary emuNAND path is set in the individual game setting.
For example, you have a setting for Cave story which has a path to a specific emuNAND folder, which is different than the one used by neek2o ?
Maybe, in the past, you had a setting for cave story and still have it saved in USBGX setting file.

As the settings are "global" per game, and not different based on the way you launch it, maybe you have a setting set for when you tried that game with "cIOS-based emuNAND" and now that you use "neek based emuNAND" you didn't reset the old settings for that game?
Please, check your individual game settings first

No, it is the first time I install Cave Story in this emuNAND. I have checked individual game settings for this and some other problematic titles and they are set to "Use global". Besides, I only have one emuNAND and paths are set correctly in the loader (USB1/nands/nand1) and neek2o settings are the default ones after reinstalling, didn't change anything so it shouldn't be using any temporary path.