Hacking USB Loader GX

[XFlak]

Hello,

I want to report a very small issue, if it is even an issue at all.

So when I play New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Europe, Rev2) using the latest USB Loader GX release (v3.0-r1281), every time I pick up a star powerup and every time the "Hurry Up!" music starts playing (100 seconds left in a level, I think?), there is a mini game freeze.

I guess this happens because it can't load the music fast enough?

Again, this is a very small issue, but I just wanted to mention it.

Try updating your cios or your game rip

Unless u have tested other loaders are working where gx is failing, all else being equal, it doesn't sound like gx is to blame

 

[DorDur215]

Try updating your cios or your game rip

Unless u have tested other loaders are working where gx is failing, all else being equal, it doesn't sound like gx is to blame

My cios are the most recent ones from here: https://github.com/wiidev/d2x-cios/releases

And the game is a verified clean dump from redump, "New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It) (Rev 2)" to be precise.

And unfortunately, I'm too lazy to set up another loader to verify.

There might also be a chance that this happens with an actual disk.

Although I highly doubt that a first party game would behave like this.

 

[SwedishGojira]

There might also be a chance that this happens with an actual disk.

And of course you have verified if this happens when you play your actual disk?

I have the game in question dumped from my original disk and it plays just fine in both usbloader gx and directly from disk.

 

[DorDur215]

And of course you have verified if this happens when you play your actual disk?

I have the game in question dumped from my original disk and it plays just fine in both usbloader gx and directly from disk.

Which rev is your disk/dump?

 

[SwedishGojira]

Rev 2 according to the serial (RVL-SMNP-EUR-B0) and md5.
You should check and verify your file using md5 or other checksum against the values from the redump page for the game (http://redump.org/disc/20088/)

 

[grooster]

Does anyone have a theme that hides the menu bar at the top? I have everything set up the way I want and when I use the lock, it's still possible to change some things like the viewing mode.

 

[DorDur215]

Rev 2 according to the serial (RVL-SMNP-EUR-B0) and md5.
You should check and verify your file using md5 or other checksum against the values from the redump page for the game (http://redump.org/disc/20088/)

I verify all dumps that I use on all devices before actually playing a game and my copy of NSMB Wii does match the redump entry.

I use the "Extended" setting for the deflicker option, could that maybe be the culprit?

Or maybe just my HDD (Western Digital Elements) causing the issue?

 

[SwedishGojira]

I verify all dumps that I use on all devices before actually playing a game and my copy of NSMB Wii does match the redump entry.

I use the "Extended" setting for the deflicker option, could that maybe be the culprit?

Or maybe just my HDD (Western Digital Elements) causing the issue?

Have you turned off or changed the sleep mode on that WD disk? I know that there is a common problem for many of them to go to sleep too fast. I have had several that I had to disable sleep on to function properly on the Wii. By default they usually go to sleep after 3 to 5 minutes and then when the game want to read something the harddisk is asleep.
Google how to disable sleep on wd disks and you will find several solutions.

 

[DorDur215]

Have you turned off or changed the sleep mode on that WD disk? I know that there is a common problem for many of them to go to sleep too fast. I have had several that I had to disable sleep on to function properly on the Wii. By default they usually go to sleep after 3 to 5 minutes and then when the game want to read something the harddisk is asleep.
Google how to disable sleep on wd disks and you will find several solutions.

Ok since you seem to have experience with this topic could you nudge me in the right direction?

I just tried official WD software (WD Drive Utilities) but it seems my HDD is not supported.

Other than that, I can only find stuff about old DOS software (wdidle3) to change the parking timer to a max of 5 minutes.

 

[SwedishGojira]

I disabled the timer using idle3-tools in linux.
https://idle3-tools.sourceforge.net/

But you could check this link for some tools that may work via Windows. You may have to do it via the commandline though.
https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/hacking-wd-greens-and-reds-with-wdidle3-exe.18171/

 

[DorDur215]

I disabled the timer using idle3-tools in linux.
https://idle3-tools.sourceforge.net/

But you could check this link for some tools that may work via Windows. You may have to do it via the commandline though.
https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/hacking-wd-greens-and-reds-with-wdidle3-exe.18171/

Ok, so I tried the wdidle3.exe method with a ms-dos USB stick, and unfortunately it couldn't detect the drive.

And since I don't use linux + have no Linux experience, I guess I'm shit out of luck.

I checked the drive with crystaldiskinfo, and apparently it has been on for roughly 500 hours and had 388 "Power On Counts".

I'm not sure that I actually turned it on 388 times manually, so does that mean that it's constantly doing the sleep mode thing?

Edit: It seems like either ms-dos or wdidle3 can't interact with usb drives so it might have worked if it weren't for the fact that it's an external usb drive.

 

[grooster]

Ok, so I tried the wdidle3.exe method with a ms-dos USB stick, and unfortunately it couldn't detect the drive.

And since I don't use linux + have no Linux experience, I guess I'm shit out of luck.

I checked the drive with crystaldiskinfo, and apparently it has been on for roughly 500 hours and had 388 "Power On Counts".

I'm not sure that I actually turned it on 388 times manually, so does that mean that it's constantly doing the sleep mode thing?

Edit: It seems like either ms-dos or wdidle3 can't interact with usb drives so it might have worked if it weren't for the fact that it's an external usb drive.

Did you try disabling it with CrystalDiskInfo? If you can set the APM mode to "maximum performance", that disables standby.

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/crystaldiskinfo-aam-apm-control/

 

[impeeza]

this is my syscheck

SysCheck ME v2.5.0 by blackb0x, JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199 and Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.1U (v54449)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 12.18.2008
Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58

Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 150824517
Console Type: Wii
Shop Channel Country: United States (49)
Boot2 v4
Found 236 titles.
Found 54 IOS on this console. 4 of them are stubs.

IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS16 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, Flash Access, NAND Access
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS31 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS36 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS37 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS38 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS40[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS41 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS50[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS53 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS55 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): No Patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS80[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS90 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug
IOS202[60] (rev 65535, Info: hermes-v5.1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS222[38] (rev 65535, Info: hermes-v4.0): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS223[38] (rev 65535, Info: hermes-v4.0): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS224[57] (rev 65535, Info: hermes-v5.1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS236 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, Beer Ticket
IOS247[37] (rev 21006, Info: d2x-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS248[38] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS249[56] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS251[58] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v65535
Report generated on 03/03/2024.

i dont think its the hard drive because i can load it onto my wii and it works fine. i havebeen trying to update my sisters wii so i have both here to try, but it is the toshiba canvio basics

next time use this instructions to upload your syscheck:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/posting-a-system-check.300279/

 

[DorDur215]

Did you try disabling it with CrystalDiskInfo? If you can set the APM mode to "maximum performance", that disables standby.

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/crystaldiskinfo-aam-apm-control/

Yeah I tried that but it seems like that only affects the hdd while crystaldiskinfo is running.

So this would only work on pc and only with the program constantly running in the background not on a wii.

 

[grooster]

Yeah I tried that but it seems like that only affects the hdd while crystaldiskinfo is running.

So this would only work on pc and only with the program constantly running in the background not on a wii.

That seems very unlikely. Drive parameters are saved on the drive.

One other option is to remove the drive from the enclosure, plug it into a computer and modify the parameters. Then you can put it back in the enclosure.

 

[DorDur215]

Ok, so since I seemingly hit a dead end with my HDD "issues", I started looking at YouTube walkthroughs of NSMB Wii to see if this stutter issue was happening to other people as well.

And literally every gameplay video I look at, either being played on an emulator (because high resolution) or real hardware (presumably, because of low resolution), has a clear "stutter" or "freeze frame" when you pick up a star power up.

I have evidence it's happening on real hardware with a real disc because in part 1 of this person's walkthrough series:



he shows the game's disc to the camera, and he's clearly playing real hardware with how shitty the video quality looks in general, and at 52:33 in this video:



it clearly stutters when he picks up the star.

So the "100 seconds left stutter" will probably also happen to him and other people (hard to check because no one takes that long in a level).

So I guess I don't have HDD "issues" at all, and it's seemingly not the loaders fault either, and this is just how the game works.

I should have probably checked YouTube videos first before even commenting here.

 

[GR-DRACULA]

Having connected 2 hdds one for WiiU (wiiu formatted) and other for Wii (fat32 formatted) makes loaders to crash or not work using cios 249 or 250 (I installed latest vWii v11 cioses as stated in the guide). However using 251 on usb1 port does the trick but certain games don't work with that. (on 251 they blackscreen and if you choose 249 or 250 they exit to vWii system menu) Wiixplorer always works (whatever port and cios you use for the hdds) and never crashes.

This issue always appears if both hdds are connected and the WiiU one is mounted from the WiiU side, on cios 249 250 usbloadergx gets stuck on refreshing devices

 

[geoGolem]

Having connected 2 hdds one for WiiU (wiiu formatted) and other for Wii (fat32 formatted) makes loaders to crash or not work using cios 249 or 250 (I installed latest vWii v11 cioses as stated in the guide). However using 251 on usb1 port does the trick but certain games don't work with that. (on 251 they blackscreen and if you choose 249 or 250 they exit to vWii system menu) Wiixplorer always works (whatever port and cios you use for the hdds) and never crashes.

This issue always appears if both hdds are connected and the WiiU one is mounted from the WiiU side, on cios 249 250 usbloadergx gets stuck on refreshing devices

ya i ended up just getting a usb switch thing to turn off the wiiu drive when i wanna use wii mode... but i also ran into this problem. I never discovered 251 on usb1... but i might give that a try and see how it works when ihave a chance.. thanks for charing.

 

[jeannotte]

Having connected 2 hdds one for WiiU (wiiu formatted) and other for Wii (fat32 formatted) makes loaders to crash or

Good morning,

connect your hard drive for vwii mode games to the back of the wii U (recommend a Y cable).

Connect your hard drive for Wii U games to the front of the console (recommend a Y cable).

the simplest, a single external hard drive format in Wii U format, then inject the other games you want.

 

[GR-DRACULA]

Good morning,

connect your hard drive for vwii mode games to the back of the wii U (recommend a Y cable).

Connect your hard drive for Wii U games to the front of the console (recommend a Y cable).

the simplest, a single external hard drive format in Wii U format, then inject the other games you want.

Good Morning! My wiiu disk has y cable because it doesn't have external power supply my vWii disk has external power supply, I have connected an old phone adaptor to the y cable so everything is powered on the back ports of the wiiu

this issue also happens if I connect the wiiu disk in front... (keep in mind that if I use front for wiiu and back for vWii or I need to have wiiu disk on buttom and vWii disk on port 1 or wiiu disk on top and vWii disk on port 0 or they would conflict (but still if the wiiu disk is mounted by wiiu side only the port 1 vWii with 251 cios combo works).