Hacking USB Loader GX

[sonictopfan]

Was the Hid issue fixed?

 

[sideskroll]

I'll make a version with width setting this weekend.
I have nothing working for neek2o, sorry. I only did very few so far.

I will also add the loader's revision number to the startup logo screen, I think it will be useful.


edit:
at the same time, I will try to add "black bar fix" for nintendont, like Devolution.
It can be done from the loader if nintendont is correctly accepting "none" as video mode. we will see.

What is that "Black bar fix"? You mean, like when you play a game that natively supports widescreen, with WiiU Widescreen enabled there are 2 small bars at each side of the screen? Those? I thought they were there because GC resolution couldn't be upscaled properly to say, 1920x1080. and to keep the correct aspect ratio those bars were displayed.
Am I wrong? Cause if that's the case I would see no point in over stretching the image and potentially losing stuff from top and bottom like health bars and whatnot...

 

[cobleman]

Hi Cyan it showed correct size then only ripped the 350mb like stated. I no longer have the disc as it was a clients that a done a wii for.

 

[Maximilious]

Hey guys, searched this thread but there's a LOT of results. Does 3.0 support CISO files or do I need to stick to ISO? Also, is there a converter out there similar to WFBS to ISO for CISO files if needed?

Edit: Found my answer from their documentation in the ReadMii section:

http://usbloadergx.koureio.net/help/readmii

To install games (ISO or cISO) with your computer, you need a WBFS manager. Most popular are WBFS manager 3.0 and WBFS intelligent GUI v6. Using these programs should be self-explanatory.

 

[Cyan]

don't use old tools.
WBFS manager is not recommended, unless you don't care about game corruption.
You should use Wii Backup Manager to convert formats, or Wit/Wwt (wiimms Iso Tools)

3.0 should support cISO (just rename the file to ISO, it's a normal ISO but rebuilt without the dummy files).
don't use WBFS partition format.
you should prefer the wbfs files over FAT32 partition format. (or cISO but wbfs is the "native" format for loaders).


Thanks for reporting googlecode is closing their service.
I don't know what I'll do yet, probably sourceforge to continue using svn.
I don't want to lose the svn logs and history, it's useful to debug. I guess there's no way to transfer the revision history in a single process? I'll read their "other service" solution.
And not talking only about USBLoaderGX. It's useful to find old logs from other projects too. a lot of projects might disappear soon

edit:
Ah, sourceforge has a project importer tool
I'll probably use that.

edit2:
I see anyone can click on the "migrate to github" button, and there are already clone of the last revision on github.
https://github.com/svn2github/usbloader-gui
But it contains only the trunk, not the branches.

I don't know github nor how to make my own clone/fork and make it the master or reclaim ownership.
I'm still on Windows XP, which git is not compatible with...
I'll try tortoise git.


Black bar issue is that games are displaying black bars on the side of the screen to compensate for TV with big overscan area.
TV capable of displaying full pixels (1:1 display) don't need that compensation and games could take the full screen.
they might look stretched, I don't know. I didn't test the devolution option yet to see the effect.
It's only a possible setting that the loader can provide that nintendont don't need to include. the loader would have exclusive options that users could use over the official nintendont loader.
But nothing's done yet, I don't even know if nintendont is properly accepting the video mode "none".

 

[Maximilious]

don't use old tools.
WBFS manager is not recommended, unless you don't care about game corruption.
You should use Wii Backup Manager to convert formats, or Wit/Wwt (wiimms Iso Tools)

3.0 should support cISO (just rename the file to ISO, it's a normal ISO but rebuilt without the dummy files).
don't use WBFS partition format.
you should prefer the wbfs files over FAT32 partition format. (or cISO but wbfs is the "native" format for loaders).

Thanks Cyan,

I have a FAT32 drive I'm using so I can run my GC roms as well T_T. Still figuring out how to get them showing in USB Loader if possible. Haven't had much time to fool with it so I may use cfgUSBLoader instead for GC roms (I'm assuming cfgLoader is what everyone means when they say DiosMios).

I just got a Wii this Monday so still learning the in's/out's of softmodding it.

 

[Magnus87]

don't use WBFS partition format.

I never have problems with WBFS partition. What kind of problems do you know about WBFS ?

 

[Maximilious]

I never have problems with WBFS partition. What kind of problems do you know about WBFS ?

They can only run Wii games and you have to use WFBS Manager to inject data onto the drive. If you set up as FAT32 you can put any kind of ROM format you would like on it. I think he meant it as more of a suggestion/opinion than a requirement.

 

[Cyan]

I'm also using WBFS partition.
I don't recommend it to new users, they better use FAT32 for all homebrew compatibility now that FAT32 is possible.
Some old manager (like WBFS manager) corrupts already present games when adding new ones. The old wbfs library has a bug, and Wii backup Manager is using the fixed version.
USBLoaderGX used the old one too, but has been updated long ago.

When you add new games, the used blocks are not properly marked as used, and when you add another game it replace clusters used by already present games.
The affected games can still launch so you think they are not corrupted, as it affects only part of the ISO, but you could end on black screen while playing, loading a map, playing a video, etc.

If you don't care about corrupting data (you can redump your disc or have the ISO safely stored on computer), you can use WBFS.
FAT32 (ntfs, ext, etc.) have better file corruption prevention. you don't risk overwriting part of already existing files.

If a user really wants WBFS partition format, he should be sure to place it on a second partition, and put a FAT32 as first partition for other homebrew (hbc, gamecube, wiimc, etc.)

 

[tswntk]

IIRC, WBFS partition have a limit of 500 games and if you remove/install games, newer games can corrupt older ones.

 

[Cyan]

the limit was because game table was stored in a sector size -12.
512 bytes per sector HDD could store up to 500 games.
4096 bytes per sector HDD can store up to 4084 games.

Later, wbfs could use fake sector size : Instead of writing the first game on the second sector, you reserve multiple clusters for the game table.
512 bytes per sector HDD can now stores up to 4084 games, but you need to reformat it to allow this fake table size.
USBLoaderGX is compatible with the fake size table, and I think the integrated format prompt is formating using the fake size (but I think nobody is triggering the format prompt anymore)

 

[sideskroll]

I'm also using WBFS partition.
I don't recommend it to new users, they better use FAT32 for all homebrew compatibility now that FAT32 is possible.
Some old manager (like WBFS manager) corrupts already present games when adding new ones. The old wbfs library has a bug, and Wii backup Manager is using the fixed version.
USBLoaderGX used the old one too, but has been updated long ago.

When you add new games, the used blocks are not properly marked as used, and when you add another game it replace clusters used by already present games.
The affected games can still launch so you think they are not corrupted, as it affects only part of the ISO, but you could end on black screen while playing, loading a map, playing a video, etc.

If you don't care about corrupting data (you can redump your disc or have the ISO safely stored on computer), you can use WBFS.
FAT32 (ntfs, ext, etc.) have better file corruption prevention. you don't risk overwriting part of already existing files.

If a user really wants WBFS partition format, he should be sure to place it on a second partition, and put a FAT32 as first partition for other homebrew (hbc, gamecube, wiimc, etc.)

Just out of curiosity. Why are you still using WBFS? Is there any specific reason for it or is it just because you started like that and don't want to go through the trouble of reformatting etc...?
I remember a long. long time ago (in a galaxy far away) when I first started with this I has a WBFS formatted drive. When it died on me FAT32 support was already mainstream so I did that and never looked back...

 

[Badablek]

Is there any specific reason for it or is it just because you started like that and don't want to go through the trouble of reformatting etc...?

I'm curious too...

BTW you don't need to format ANYTHING in order to stop using an old and buggy WBFS partition with old and buggy programs to write on it

thanks to PsyBlade, you can convert it to FAT32, with wbfs2fat
it takes only a few seconds, even with a big HDD full of games, and it automatically splits games > 4GB

There is really no reason to keep using WBFS. It was a great format when nothing else was available, but right now it's much better and easier (copy/paste, defragment, repair, etc.) to use normal partitions like FAT32, NTFS, EXT2/3

 

[Cyan]

a mix of laziness and testing purpose.
like he said, there's no need to format, you can convert it.
But I want to check bad dumps first using wwt to detect blocks used by multiple games, I know I have few games already corrupted.
I don't have a lot of games, I'm not collecting, but it takes some time anyway.



Edit:
I migrated/cloned one of my Googlecode project to sourceforge to see how it works.
It went well (but there are only 100 revisions, no issues, wiki, etc.) and cloned all folders (branches, tags, wiki, etc.) and it seems easy to work with it.
I think I'll do it for USBLoaderGX too. the loader is relying on svn revision number so I should continue using svn instead of git.
Auto-update will break again for full wad channel (but it's not updated anymore since 3.0)

 

[sideskroll]

a mix of laziness and testing purpose.
like he said, there's no need to format, you can convert it.
But I want to check bad dumps first using wwt to detect blocks used by multiple games, I know I have few games already corrupted.
I don't have a lot of games, I'm not collecting, but it takes some time anyway.

Let me know when you have the test rev ready to try it out please.

 

[c3pu]

hey guys is ocarina broken again or am i using the wrong version again i'm on r1239 from this forum? pressing the wrench does nothing. or cheat dont apear on it cant remember witch on it is anyway it doesnt work either way.

 

[Cyan]

broken how?
empty file/error on downloading/file not present?
or the weird html header again? (it shouldn't happen, the loader checks for the GameID at the top of the downloaded stream and deletes the content if incorrect)

 

[c3pu]

no eror code i just dont see any cheat after the file as been downloaded.

 

[c3pu]

does it work with gamecube games?
update its only seem to be an issue with twilight princess on gamecube. im on wiiu if it makes a diferrence. sry i tend to be realy vague with my issues.

 

[Cyan]

if the downloaded file was empty, it would delete it and tells you there's no cheat file.
Something might be wrong again, but this time loader's side.

Could you check your downloaded file on your computer? see if the file exists, if the codes are present.
send me a copy if the codes are present, maybe it's a wrong format.

which game?
did you try another one?
edit:
Ok, you answered these two questions. So it's only one game.
Maybe the cheat code is badly formed.

Yes it works fine with gamecube games, as long as the game exists on geckocodes


edit2:
http://geckocodes.org/index.php?chid=G&r=*&l=l
twilight has ... 0 code

problem solved


I will add a check to the code list, if there's no code I will put a warning.