Hacking USB Loader GX

[Cyan]

Thanks, will try when I´m home.
I didn´t find the path setting for wiitdb under "custom paths", wrong section?

I renamed it to "Titles Path", as it also contains titlecache.bin and other files related to game's titles.
Editing the config manually will be hard to find too if you search "wiitdb" name, it's called "titlestxt_path".

One day I will make proper/more intuitive names changes all over the menus.

 

[[Truth]]

Joostin reported it when launching Nswitch to go to sneek vWii.
it's near the end page of the vWii sneek thread. or mayb it's not the same issue, it's hard to explain what we see.

based on all user's report, it happen only on NTSC consoles. Maybe something to do with resolution, width/height/watever the video mode is set to use.

I´m using a PAL console, but played around with different Nintendont video modes, perhaps that´s the reason.

It looks like about 5 transparent horizontal lines in the middle of the screen that add some kind of blur effect.
Looks a bit like tearing.

I thought the issue was fixed:

Forwarder for vWii on WiiU

• Download the Forwarder 5.1 Fix for vWii.
• Install the forwarder on your vWii using a Wad manager.

ATTENTION:If you installed the forwarder v5.1 for vWii, please update it to 5.1Fix! The old forwarder is in fact v2.0 without USB support and has a video corruption bug.

I renamed it to "Titles Path", as it also contains titlecache.bin and other files related to game's titles.
Editing the config manually will be hard to find too if you search "wiitdb" name, it's called "titlestxt_path".

One day I will make proper/more intuitive names changes all over the menus.

Thanks.
Should GX create the /titles subfolder automatically? Cause it isn´t there with my clean install.

 

[Cyan]

no, the "fix" is because the user who converted the forwarder from Wii to vWii used an old version (version 2.0 without USB support) and titled it "5.1"...
I released a proper 5.1 with USB initialization support.
You can now place the boot.dol on USB and the forwarder will work. you don't need SD card to use the forwarder.


It should create the /titles/ folder
but as there's an issue with the missing "/" it failed.
just edit and validate the same value in the path settings, and it will add the missing slash automatically. it will ask if you want to create the folder at the same time. if not, it will be created when you download the xml.

 

[[Truth]]

no, the "fix" is because the user who converted the forwarder from Wii to vWii used an old version (version 2.0 without USB support) and titled it "5.1"...
I released a proper 5.1 with USB initialization support.

Ah ok, I thought that bug was fixed too.

You can now place the boot.dol on USB and the forwarder will work. you don't need SD card to use the forwarder.

Do I have any benefits to launch the boot.dol from USB, the same path my games are on?
Sometimes my HDD doesn´t get detected when GX boots up (could also be an power issue, I´m using an Y-Cable), perhaps that way I can prevent that from happening.

It should create the /titles/ folder
but as there's an issue with the missing "/" it failed.
just edit and validate the same value in the path settings, and it will add the missing slash automatically. it will ask if you want to create the folder at the same time.

Ok, will try that, thanks.

 

[Cyan]

no benefit, on the contrary.
A lot of users don't want or don't like using SD card. I really don't understand why, it's so cheap and doesn't hurt keeping a little plastic piece on your console.

I personally prefer using SD card :
- Loads faster
- Doesn't have spin up and sleep time issues
- some homebrew don't use USB at all.
- Place all resources (configs, themes, wiitdb.xml, audio, etc.) on SD card or you might lose and corrupt your HDD if you are using multiple USB Ports. (multiple ports are closing USB and reopening the other one. If you have settings file or audio file currently playing in background music, switching ports will have undefined effect and could crash or corrupt your HDD).
Having all ressources on SD ensure that switching USB Ports, the files will be always accessed "sd:/" will never change and will always be mounted.

When we added multi ports support, we warned the users not to place resources on USB.
But it went unnoticed, nobody read changelogs and recommendations u__u
If I have time, I'd like to add checks on all current paths before enabling dual ports, if it's not using SD the loader should refuse to enable that option.

 

[Acidflare]

Do I have any benefits to launch the boot.dol from USB, the same path my games are on?
Sometimes my HDD doesn´t get detected when GX boots up (could also be an power issue, I´m using an Y-Cable), perhaps that way I can prevent that from happening.

this is a bug on the Wii/vWii my HDD's get this same issue. also the past 2 days r1244 has been giving me dsi code dumps everytime I start up my console and usblgx boots(autoboot channel with priiloader) I get the code dump I press reset and it works, I don't know what it is, I probably have to defrag my HDD's and scan my SD card for any issues

 

[Cyan]

with r1244 ?
is 1246 doing it too? (beta or official)

If it does, please post a screenshot of the code dump with the version you used.

 

[Acidflare]

no benefit, on the contrary.
A lot of users don't want or don't like using SD card. I really don't understand why, it's so cheap and doesn't hurt keeping a little plastic piece on your console.

I personally prefer using SD card :
- Loads faster
- Doesn't have spin up and sleep time issues
- some homebrew don't use USB at all.
- Place all resources (configs, themes, wiitdb.xml, audio, etc.) on SD card or you might lose and corrupt your HDD if you are using multiple USB Ports. (multiple ports are closing USB and reopening the other one. If you have settings file or audio file currently playing in background music, switching ports will have undefined effect and could crash or corrupt your HDD).
Having all ressources on SD ensure that switching USB Ports, the files will be always accessed "sd:/" will never change and will always be mounted.

When we added multi ports support, we warned the users not to place resources on USB.
But it went unnoticed, nobody read changelogs and recommendations u__u
If I have time, I'll like to add checks on all current paths before enabling dual ports, if it's not using SD the loader should refuse to enable that option.

Sounds like how I set up USB Loader GX, games, game resources and 1 theme(2 Themes one for each drive) on usb. usbloader GX and all of it's config files on SD

with r1244 ?
is 1246 doing it too? (beta or official)

If it does, please post a screenshot of the code dump with the version you used.

it's only with 1244 I haven't tested 1246 yet. it happened twice yesterday both times it gave me a 20 second reload count which I found odd as I never get the same countdown time twice in a row I can see if I can reproduce it.

 

[Cyan]

as long as you don't use "dual port" (settings>HDD>ports : both) you are fine.

 

[Acidflare]

as long as you don't use "dual port" (settings>HDD>ports : both) you are fine.

I hate murphy's law(Go do something and something else you were expecting will happen), I went to turn on my Wii and USBLGX decides it's going to boot just fine. happens everytime I report a code dump, i'm just going to start taking a picture when I see one and i'll send you PM's about it.

I don't use both ports I have 2 HDD's a 750GB for Wii and a 160GB for GC each HDD has it's own .them file that's titled USB.Them this makes it so when I plug in my Gamecube HDD it looks like the GameCube BIOS sounds like it too and when I plug in my Wii HDD I get the Modern Wii Theme. I hex edited both .them files to use the USB name so that USBLoaderGX recognize's them as the same theme but in fact they are different

 

[Acidflare]

But, if users still have the old version, then yes they need cIOS (236 or d2x)

just to feed my own thoughts does the vWii have a compatible 236? i've been under the impression that normal Wii homebrew doesn't run on the vWii. At least not without any modifications done

 

[Cyan]

yes, vWii 236 exists, but it's not installed anymore.

it was the first cIOS released to be able to use wad managers.
But then most recently managers updated to use AHB access + real time IOS patches, so 236 is not needed anymore.
it's one less cIOS to install and prevent issues if not incorrectly.

But if you still want to use old Wii homebrew on vWii, you might need it.
either 236 or one of the d2x cIOS.

All Wii homebrew work on vWii, but some are more dangerous than other.
All homebrew which affects the NAND are dangerous (IOS patchers, softmod tools, title deleter, etc.)
Some wad managers are also not recommended. Some managers are auto-patching files silently, and install them in the shared folder... see what can happen if a vWii application tries to access it. (well, shouldn't happen, as they are using checksum, but again it shouldn't be done)
That's especially the case for Wad Manager 1.5 GUI. Don't use that one, even if it looks nice it's a bad one.

 

[Farowe]

Alright, so far i have been unable to launch system menu from neek on vwii... Im greeted with a black screen (which never ends to display) everytime i try to launch into neek system menu. I have followed the instructions provided clearly.

I used ModMii to setup the emunand + uneek and moved the generated files into their proper folders (within the sd and usb device); i have checked my file structure and so far i haven´t seen anything wrong with it...

Is there a proper tutorial for booting a vwii emunand?

 

[Cyan]

if it's your first launch, how long did you wait?
the Wii is re-generating all missing files and folders that the system menu will use.
it can take a long time (5~10 minutes. Maybe more?)

You can try launching your neek EmuNAND with nswitch instead.
see if it helps, maybe USBLoaderGX can't launch neek on first run? (I didn't try)


Note: Sorry, I didn't say it in the text file, I forgot about it.
vWii will not work with neek2o r96 : you need vWii neek2o beta.

Additionally, modmii will not generate a vWii mode neek files.
you need to follow the vWii neek guide on the WiiU hacking section of this forum.


vWii support requires :
- vWii neek (not a Wii neek)
- neek2o beta (unreleased)

 

[Acidflare]

did you copy the nand to usb?
Kernel.bin needs to be on the SD card and usb device
If I remember correctly the usb device needs to be Fat32 with a maximum cluster size of up to 64kb I use 32kb it works fine, I don't think NTFS support is working for loading the nand NTFS can be used in homebrew once the nand has loaded though

also use the bootmii launcher first time it is faster even with BootMiiIOS there's just no display about it loading, just wait it will load sometimes can take 5-20 minutes

 

[Farowe]

Note: Sorry, I didn't said it in the text file, I forgot about it.
vWII will not work with neek2o r96.
you need vWii neek2o.

This is most likely the cause, i am using r96. (You should put a note with it within the setup instructions)

Unfortunately i don´t know where i can download the vWii neek2o.

 

[Acidflare]

This is most likely the cause, i am using r96. (You should put a note with it within the setup instructions)

Unfortunately i don´t know where i can download the vWii neek2o.

Go ask on the IRC irc.abjects.net Channel: #cdi

 

[Cyan]

yeah, I might update the txt file.

The vWii version of neek2o is private beta, there's no public links available.
but if you find it, be sure to follow the sneek vWii guide first.


and I'm not sure he would be happy to see a lot of users coming to IRC only to ask for the beta.
but, that's not me so I don't know.
You should wait until I test it myself and confirm it's working with the loader.

 

[Acidflare]

yeah, I might update the txt file.

The vWii version of neek2o is private beta, there's no public links available.
but if you find it, be sure to follow the sneek vWii guide first.

Cyan you might want to add the IRC channel info for anyone that has a vWii that is testing so they know where to go

Edit: well there's not much activity when I go there from time to time it's mostly an idle room and it's stated on the custom-di - nand emulation google code page how to join the irc to get the beta

Spoiler

neek2o SNEEK/UNEEK mod
Visit also our IRC channel for support and beta's
Server: irc.abjects.net Channel: #cdi

 

[Cyan]

if it was public and anyone could go ask it, the link to latest version would be somewhere everyone could find it. (googlecode, IRC chan title, etc.)
I don't suggest users to go beg for beta releases. but, it's up to you. I'm just not the one who say it's fine.