Hacking USB Loader GX

[RetraCarteR]

with results like this, it should be more than just a warning. This should be a super warning with three degrees of verification. Do not forget that people usually poke everything without reading anything. Maybe it's worth to add a forced reset of last settings (just last settings, not to default) for such modes?

I've just finished updating the mod with your feedback in mind. Now, it shows two warning prompts when switching over to the new video modes and gives users the option to opt out of doing so, in which case the video mode will be set back to the default. If the user proceeds anyways, one last prompt comes up telling them to reset their console and try a different video mode if it doesn't work.

 

[Darz]

@blackb0x yep, formatted with guiformat... and no usb connected.

I tried previous versions and It gives me the same error..., Is like Wii do not mount the SD Card correctly but only happens with usb loader gx.

 

[jeannotte]

Yeah it will, but you'd have better compatibility if you also put base 38 into slot 248. And d2x v11 fixes compatibility with patched RiiConnect24 channels, but it might also fix issues in some games.

i have base 38 on cios 246

In general you'll be able to play more games from USB than an SD card.

yes I agree with you, I don't know either why USB detects games better than SD (maybe the reading speed?)

I sincerely thank you for your comments here.

 

[zigoraty]

I've just released USB Loader GX r1280 along with d2x v11 beta1

Information and downloads @ https://gbatemp.net/posts/8856063

This update is compatible with other cIOS configurations, but I'd recommend updating your cIOS as per my guide so that unnecessary IOS reloads will be avoided. That is unless you're currently using d2x-alt, since I'm not going to provide updates for the alt branch.

And before anyone asks, yes, every game in this list and many that aren't on it will be playable without you needing to change any settings.

I currently have d2x-v10-beta52 installed. I'm thinking of replacing with d2x-v11-beta1 on my Vwii. I'm a little afraid to touch the vwii, I'm undecided. I'm also thinking about installing bomberman blast on emunand on the usb loader gx, I'll try to perform the procedure on the SD card since my pendrive has UStealth. Any suggestion ?

 

[Ouaz]

I have 16:9 TV. Some games looks great with "Force Widescreen" path, some are streched... how to run them in pillarbox (setting width to 40 wouldn't be enough)?

I suppose your Wii is set to 16:9 display.

So, if you want to run a particular game in its original 4:3 ratio (with pillarboxes), enter the game settings in ULGX, and in "Aspect Ratio", choose "Force 4:3". Then, obviously, change your TV display to 4:3 when playing this game.

Or set your Wii to 4:3 display (in this case, you will have to force 16:9 for Wii games) > that's my setting as I play GC games way more often.

Regarding 16:9 on 4:3 games without stretching, there's two ways to achieve it:

- "Force Widescreen" (through GC loaders like Nintendont) which is a "true" 16:9, as it shows things computed outside of the 4:3 viewport. But it's likely it also shows some garbage (untextured objects, clipping, etc, as it is not meant to be shown in first place).

- Anamorphic widescreen (what the Wii does actually in 16:9). The 4:3 image is squished horizontally, so when extended to 16/9, the image has a good aspect ratio, but it induces a slight blur as it's still the same 4:3 base resolution. However, in case of GC games, 2D elements (mainly the HUD) are still stretched.

To get anamorphic widescreen in GC games, you have to use Wiird/Ocarina codes, and enable them in ULGX. This site has anamorphic widescreen codes for numerous GC games (NTSC or PAL): https://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2165

But imo, GC games are meant to be played in 4:3 anyway, to have the best image clarity.

EDIT: some GC games have a 16:9 display options, which are anamorphic widescreen (without stretched 2D elements): Eternal Darkness, Burnout 2, Starfox Adventures and a few others.

 

[blackb0x]

yes I agree with you, I don't know either why USB detects games better than SD (maybe the reading speed?)

I suspect the d2x cIOS needs some changes to improve compatibility.

The d2x cIOS does have some other limitations though. For example, you can't use EmuNAND saves while playing games from an SD card. And there's games like Excite Truck that won't work from an SD card because the game wants to read from the SD card to check for custom music.

I tried previous versions and It gives me the same error..., Is like Wii do not mount the SD Card correctly but only happens with usb loader gx.

So it's a problem with r1272 and older versions too?

Have you ever checked to see if an emulator like WiiSXRX or Snes9x GX can find games on your SD card? I'd be curious to know because they're using some of the same code as USB Loader GX.

Any suggestion ?

For vWii you basically just need to follow this guide, but use my d2x v11 cIOS installer for vWii instead. It should be painless.

---

I've had someone ask me this elsewhere, so I figure I'll mention it here too.

If you're using USB Loader GX r1280 or newer for the first time then there will be a slight pause before your games are displayed. This occurs because the loaders caching everything so that subsequent boots and a few actions within the loader are much faster.

If you add or remove games to your storage device via a PC then the loader should automatically detect the change and the cache will be reset. But if something doesn't look right then you can also manually reset the cache by going to settings > features > reset cached titles.

 

[zigoraty]

I installed d2x-v11-beta1 on the Vwii and everything went well, I also reinstalled the Patched IOS80 Installer for vWii, performed the syscheck (I had never used it before) and the IOS80 appears as "no patches", It's normal ?

 

[Darz]

@blackb0x

I'm sorry, yesterday I couldn't continue doing more tests. I have tried with snes9xgx 4.5.3, it opens perfectly and I can locate the roms inside the microSD.

I returned to th USB Loader and one of the tests that I am doing is, for example, downloading languages from the loader. Initialize network fine, try to download but... get this message

Another test that I have done a couple of minutes ago is take a usb flash drive, put two games of wii and gamecube and try again. Well, the loader recognizes the games,

But I am not able to download covers or save configuration or explore in the parths beyond in this case "usb1:/"

Anything I can test. I will be happy to help.



PS. I tried D2X V8 too and same results

PS2. Testing with older versions before 1280 like 1272 and... error


Edit.


I have searching for people on gbatemp and other websites who had problems when microSD was not detected once inside usb loader... and I found a thread right here
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loa...sd-card-confusing-problem.353761/post-4757779

But being a larger sd, the Panasonic software do the format in ExFat, so I decided, just for curiosity, to go with the EaseUS software.

And... surprise

32MB on one first partition were giving me quite a huge headache So I deleted all, formated again, minimum SD files with two games and...

Maybe now I only have to correct some paths, but at least now everything is correct. @blackb0x thank you anyway for the help and these new versions!

 

[zigoraty]

I tested the Usb Loader GX r1.281 with Nintendont MMMod v6.499, and it works perfectly

 

[kot7k]

You previously said you'd tried changing the cIOS for the homebrew channel. So I'm just telling you that it wouldn't make a difference as of r1280.

If you press the home button and select to return to the homebrew channel then is the USB option inaccessible?

Yeah, if i access it through home button in usb loader gx it loads usb apps.

 

[ChibiMofo]

I just want to thank @blackb0x for all of his hard work on our behalf. Between @BrandNewman fan translations and the improvements to USB Loader GX, wii are getting things I would not have thought possible two years ago when I assumed the wiiscene was dead!

 

[Sypherone]

@ChibiMofo Ya, he put a lot of work in it. Thats why already donated him some really worth kof-fi .

 

[zigoraty]

One more novelty, after installing d2x-v11-beta1 on the Vwii, I don't know if it has a direct relationship but surprisingly now pokémon battle revolution works perfectly through usb loader gx. I tested it through USB and SD and it worked perfectly on both, and the best now it works in the shrunk wbfs format which is only about 1 GB. From my tests and research on the internet to make it work on the Wii U, this game only worked well if it was injected full iso, or loaded through a loader using wbfs with full iso size (4.37 GB) thus becoming a wbfs and wbfs1, I was using it that way through wiiflow because in the usb loader gx the game wouldn't even open.

 

[GDX]

@blackb0x Thanks for your work!

it's been a while since i last updated my wii

I have a question,
do you think you can create a fix or workaround for The Adventures of TiNTiN game crashing after the plane cutscene?
it's the only unplayabble game in my library .

On the dolphin emulator there is a fix but I don't know if you can do something about it for USB Loader GX
https://bugs.dolphin-emu.org/issues/10361

 

[r1vver]

Somehow I also just caught the "could not create path usb8:/apps/usbloader_gx/..." error when working with single alone SD card.
But in my case my 4GB SDHC card have exactly only one partition (without any hidden ones), MBR, FAT32, 32k and all that (rechecked).
It's Wii, cIOS d2x-v11-beta1 and USB Loader GX v3.0-r1281.
Some sort of mystic.

Update: Tho nevermind. in the same mystical way it began to work.

 

[V800]

@blackb0x Thanks for your work!

it's been a while since i last updated my wii

I have a question,
do you think you can create a fix or workaround for The Adventures of TiNTiN game crashing after the plane cutscene?
it's the only unplayabble game in my library .

On the dolphin emulator there is a fix but I don't know if you can do something about it for USB Loader GX
https://bugs.dolphin-emu.org/issues/10361

Have you tried using neek2o? I think it was Xflak who said Tintin was playable by using it.

 

[GDX]

Have you tried using neek2o? I think it was Xflak who said Tintin was playable by using it.

Yes with neek2o it works but i mean run it from usb loader GX without emunand.

 

[blackb0x]

IOS80 appears as "no patches", It's normal ?

I believe it is.

But being a larger sd, the Panasonic software do the format in ExFat, so I decided, just for curiosity, to go with the EaseUS software.

And... surprise

32MB on one first partition were giving me quite a huge headache So I deleted all, formated again, minimum SD files with two games and...

I'm glad you figured out the problem. But it should be less of an issue in the future as I will improve how it handles multiple partitions

Yeah, if i access it through home button in usb loader gx it loads usb apps.

Okay. I guess your system is a little picky, but I think I know how to work around the problem. I'll send you a private message.

I just want to thank @blackb0x for all of his hard work on our behalf. Between @BrandNewman fan translations and the improvements to USB Loader GX, wii are getting things I would not have thought possible two years ago when I assumed the wiiscene was dead!

Thank you for the kind words

One more novelty, after installing d2x-v11-beta1 on the Vwii, I don't know if it has a direct relationship but surprisingly now pokémon battle revolution works perfectly through usb loader gx.

Did you test it with r1281 prior to the cIOS update? Since I'd expect automatic cIOS selection and automatic language selection to be what boosts compatibility and gets games to easily boot.

do you think you can create a fix or workaround for The Adventures of TiNTiN game crashing after the plane cutscene?
it's the only unplayabble game in my library .

I know that one's problematic due to it using MetaFortress, but I'll take another look before my next release.

Somehow I also just caught the "could not create path usb8:/apps/usbloader_gx/..." error when working with single alone SD card.
But in my case my 4GB SDHC card have exactly only one partition (without any hidden ones), MBR, FAT32, 32k and all that (rechecked).

I assume you've already deleted the usbloader_gx directory and started over. So are you launching the loader from the HBC or a forwarder other than UNEO?

 

[r1vver]

I assume you've already deleted the usbloader_gx directory and started over. So are you launching the loader from the HBC or a forwarder other than UNEO?

I tried both from HBC and through a forwarder (I don’t know which one, ModMii installed it for me once).
The problems disappeared completely when I formatted the card using SD Card Formatter 5.0.2 (from sdcard.org).
Prior to this (when there were problems) the card was formatted with GUIFormat.
Basically, I'm not going to use the Wii without a USB-HDD, it was just a trial run for a quick check. So it doesn't really bother me.

btw, that's what SD Card Formatter 5.0.2 did that GUIFormat didn't:
(i.e. completely opposite to this)

 

[zigoraty]

Did you test it with r1281 prior to the cIOS update? Since I'd expect automatic cIOS selection and automatic language selection to be what boosts compatibility and gets games to easily boot.

Yes, I had tried it on r1281 with d2x-v10-beta52 and also later with d2x-v11-beta1. I used the same unshrinked wbfs that I use on wiiflow and it didn't work, the game banner was black and the game wouldn't start. Today I deleted the cache files from the usb loader folder and downloaded the game again even though it worked fine on wiiflow. I downloaded wbfs shrinked to check if the loader would load. This time the banner appeared and the game loaded, and as a bonus it doesn't freeze before starting the battles as always happens with this shrinked game on the wii u. I don't know if it was the usb loader gx r1281 or d2x-v11-beta1 that fixed the problem with this game on the wii u.

I saved 3GB, my storage is limited I use a 64GB pendrive so I was happy . Thank you very much for your work!