Hacking USB Loader GX

[azzarod]

I don't know why it worked it like that, but at least it works now.

That would be the, "flash drives" are flaky phenomenon.

Seriously, flash drives do crazy things on Wii. Some work, some don't, the same brand, model and batch sometimes work and sometimes don't - I've got no idea why.

 

[smf]

Well, isn't a rom file just a name for a backup of a game?

No, it's a copy of a ROM chip. Or at least something that acts similar to a ROM chip, like an EPROM, EEPROM or FLASH. It doesn't have to be a game. A lot of consoles used cartridges with ROMs, but the Gamecube/Wii/Wii U do not. The term used for those is ISO, although this is slightly incorrect as it's supposed to only be used for images of discs with ISO9660 file systems.

If I can keep only one copy, I'll do what I said, since some games are the same size both extracted or not from a rar/7zip.
What I was wondering is, if I install to the wbfs folder, can I just move wbfs files in and out the folder? Or do I need to install them again if I move them out?

The wbfs files are nothing special, you can keep the wbfs files on your PC and copy them to USB with explorer. Just makes sure you copy them in the right place. It's best to keep the USB drive defragmented as I think there was a limit to the number of fragments that cios could cope with.

 

[GreyWolf]

>20 file fragments will fail.

 

[Deleted User]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image

How did you install the game apart from extracting it from the rar/zip? Did you have to go through an installer that changes the wbfs content? If not, what is making it so different from the original rar/zip? Have you read and understand how to "install" a game for use with usbloaders?

Oh, so it's ROM when it's chips and image when it's CD's/DVD's? I've read people saying 'PSX roms', for example, but I guess they were wrong. It's interesting though, since disks are still read only and they have memory.
I use USB Loader GX to install the games to an external HD. If they are in rar format, the program automatically extracts it and converts it to wbfs. What I didn't know was if I could just drag and drop files on the wbfs folder after installing them, because I thought the disk file would hold indexing data, but I guess not.

No, it's a copy of a ROM chip. Or at least something that acts similar to a ROM chip, like an EPROM, EEPROM or FLASH. It doesn't have to be a game. A lot of consoles used cartridges with ROMs, but the Gamecube/Wii/Wii U do not. The term used for those is ISO, although this is slightly incorrect as it's supposed to only be used for images of discs with ISO9660 file systems.

Got it. You always learn something everyday.

you can keep the wbfs files on your PC and copy them to USB with explorer. Just makes sure you copy them in the right place.

I tried that, but it didn't work. But now that I've read the "right place" part, I think it's because they weren't in folders with the name and titleid. Guess I'll try it again.

 

[GreyWolf]

Well something's not right. USB Loader GX doesn't install RAR files. It can only copy from discs to WBFS or ISO.

 

[Deleted User]

USB Loader GX doesn't install RAR files

If they are in rar format, the program automatically extracts it and converts it to wbfs

I never said it installs RARs, I said it extracts them (since a lot of uploaders upload games in multiple parts) and then converts and installs what's inside to wbfs.

 

[GreyWolf]

I use USB Loader GX to install the games to an external HD. If they are in rar format, the program automatically extracts it and converts it to wbfs.

It doesn't do this. You're mixing up the loader app with something else. Just Wii Backup Manager to copy everything to your HDD. (Except Super Smash Bros. It corrupts that games' partition table.)

 

[Deleted User]

Wii Backup Manager

Forget it, I'm stupid. I was indeed thinking about that. Don't know why I mixed it up with the loader...
Anyways, I tried installing with the manager, then moved the game folders out and deleted the wbfs folder. Then I started the manager again so that it would create the folder and disk file, and after moving the games back in there how the manager previously created them, does indeed work. Now I just need to test and see if the wbfs files come out smaller than compacted iso into rar.

 

[CheatFreak47]

Hey @GrayWolf could anything you did in Steamline have messed up reloading into specific IOSs for specific games?
I have my Just Dance and Guitar Hero games set to use 250, which I have d2x-beta53-alt installed into for Plug-n-Play USB use, but they fail to boot and I'm kicked into Homebrew Channel every time.

Edit: Tested it, definitely seems like something streamline changed borked it- the last stable USB Loader GX worked fine for that.

 

[GreyWolf]

It depends on the branch. Master is identical to GX minus the devkit update and Nintendont settings. Preview only changed debug output.

I haven't had any trouble with guitar hero but I don't use beta53 and don't want to support it. It's not worth the trouble.

 

[CheatFreak47]

It depends on the branch. Master is identical to GX minus the devkit update and Nintendont settings. Preview only changed debug output.
I haven't had any trouble with guitar hero but I don't use beta53 and don't want to support it. It's not worth the trouble.

I'm using the release you have posted on the releases page on your github.

It looks like the problem isn't even the related cIOS, it's just not reloading into it with your fork, even if I stick the exact same IOS in slot 250 as 249.

On top of this, on my console if I set the Loader IOS to be something different from the Game IOS, it fails to load any game.

For example, if I set loader IOS to 58, and set Game IOS to the usual 249, restart the loader, and try to play anything, it will just kick me to homebrew channel.

To me that says it's having a hard time performing reloads into other IOSs


Also, why don't you want to support beta53-alt anyway? It's extremely commonly used.
Almost every guide out there has people using it, and I've never experienced any issues. The D2X-wiki says it's identical to 52 but with Plug-n-play USB support at the expense of improved emunand support- which for games like Just Dance, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band is pretty useful.

 

[GreyWolf]

beta53 is broken. It has too many compatibility issues and it's not worth the headache when you can just plug USB peripherals in before starting the game.

I'm not sure what the problem you're having is with IOS reloading. Nobody else has mentioned it and I haven't touched the IOS reloading code at all.

 

[CheatFreak47]

beta53 is broken. It has too many compatibility issues and it's not worth the headache when you can just plug USB peripherals in before starting the game.
I'm not sure what the problem you're having is with IOS reloading. Nobody else has mentioned it and I haven't touched the IOS reloading code at all.

Yeah I don't get it either- all I know is official r1262 is fine at booting with my IOS 250, and your r1269 isn't, do you have a debug-logging build you could send me or something that I could run so I can see what's going on? (If you think that'd help)

 

[Cyan]

debug can be done with file or wifi, but I noticed the loader is crashing if the debug is enabled at game launch.
I don't know if it was an issue on the revision I used or if it's due to network not being de-init long enough before game launch.

You might not get what you want with debug on game launch, as hardware has to be closed before launching a game, so you lose network, USB and SD card access to write logs to it.

The only safe debug mode always enabled is (unfortunately) USBGecko.

 

[CheatFreak47]

Request: Support reading of GameCube game banners from cISO format files, as Nintendont now supports cISO for shrunken images.

Also support files named "game.ciso"

 

[GreyWolf]

I've got debugging on my list of fixes, too.

 

[JasonH]

My hard drive takes a minute to initialize. Usbloadergx counts down too quickly and goes into default mode as if the harddrive wasnt read. Is there a way to extend the initialization time just a little to give it enough time to read the drive? Wiiflow works great and if i go into wiiflow first then back out and then Go into usbloadergx it initializes immediatly every time but i would like to simply click on Usbloadergx and it give the drive enough time to spin up before it reverts to default mode.

 

[Cyan]

set the loader's IOS to 58 in the settings.

 

[MrKatanaObiWan]

Both project m and nintendont support the gamecube controller on WiiU now. Why is this project still lacking support? Forces to pull out the wiimote even if all you want to do is play GameCube games....

 

[GreyWolf]

Gamecube controllers work fine on it. The Wii U Gamecube adapter does not because it's a USB HID device.