Hacking USB Loader GX

[Sonic3320]

I still have the same issue with the newest versions of USBGX of emunand and all custom settings not working on disc games. The last version this feature worked well was 1247, all games that I have on disc and on the USB drive work fine with emunand, after the sneek detection and integration was implemented, this happens. If I insert the disc and install the game on the drive, emunand and cheats start to work, even though the settings themselves were unchanged between the process. It is supposed to activate sneek only on channels which is a good idea but I think the modes are not switched properly, like it is running only through SNEEK+DI. An option to change SNEEK modes would be greatly appreciated.
I know that loading everithing on USB is objectively better but I think having the option to patch and use disc games as well is incredibly useful. I know it is "USB Loader" after all, but I really liked this program because all installed games, channels and disc could run in one place but I am still stuck on 1247 because of emunand and cheats not working on discs. It works ok but many cool features, mostly related to Nintendont and wiimmfi are not working because I have to be stuck on such an old version.

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edit:I made further tests, removing the SNEEK folder and such so if doing this it would be forced to use emunand on disc games and no, the issue is not the sneek integration, it is just that USBGX is ignoring custom settings all together if you click on the option to run a game on the disc. Emunand it is just easier to notice, but if I try to use wiimmfi on a Mario Kart Wii disc it doesnt work, but it magically works if the game is installed on a usb drive

 

[wei134102]

question：
Has anyone ever encountered a crash when GX switches WII and NGC games from the top button of the interface?
2T wd fat32 mbr,ios249 base 57 ios250 base58!
gx version 1262

 

[r1vver]

gx version 1262

1262? Is that the one from 2016-10-19 anno Domini?

 

[Sypherone]

@wei134102 Do you use a Y-Cable? The drive might be underpowered. A Indication is if USBLGX stucks and is not responding.

r1281 by blackb0x (latest/recommended), it has a lot of new features, fixed issues and improvements e.g :

• Play Wii games from SD-Card
• Automatic used cIOS selection for games by scanning the cIOS and their used base.
• A recommended cIOS setting with new base order, no IOS reloading will then be needed :
  • ciOS 249(base56), 250(base57), 251(base38) (Wii) / (base58) (vWii)
  • For higher game compatibilty, add: cIOS 248(base38) (Wii only!!) and 251(base58) (Wii+vWII)
• A new d2x v11 beta1 patch based on d2x-v10-beta52 with same USB 2.0 support. And contains additional bug fixes like a RiiConnect24 compatibility problem and it also adds EmuNAND UStealth support. Use latest installer Wii / vWii.

 

[XFlak]

Small feature request, put it way back at the end of the queue, lol

But I always liked how cfg usb loader would prompt u before launching a game with cheats, to confirm if u want to load normally or with cheats. I'd love to see this added to gx (and wfl too for that matter), but ultimately it's a minor suggestion

Thx for the awesome tool my friend!

 

[ecto]

@wei134102

• Automatic used cIOS selection for games by scanning the cIOS and their used base.
• A recommended cIOS setting with new base order, no IOS reloading will then be needed :
  • ciOS 249(base56), 250(base57), 251(base38) (Wii) / (base58) (vWii)
  • For higher game compatibilty, add: cIOS 248(base38) (Wii only!!) and 251(base58) (Wii+vWII)

I just updated my USB Loader and cIOS slots. I chose the recommended cIOS setup 249(base56) / 250(base57) / 251(base38).
I'm just wondering some things:

• What do you mean that no IOS reloading is needed. Should I disable that in the loader settings?
• Why is this setup recommended if the other one has better compatibility? Don't we all need a higher compatibility?

 

[Sypherone]

What do you mean that no IOS reloading is needed. Should I disable that in the loader settings?

By the mentioned setting, the cios will not reloaded when a game starts. Which makes the game start a bit faster.

Why is this setup recommended if the other one has better compatibility? Don't we all need a higher compatibility?

The second basically is the same, but has additionally the cIOS 248(base38) (Wii only!!) and 251(base58) (Wii+vWII).

Normaly the first one recommended is enough to nearly run every game. But a few games require a base 38 or 58. See -> https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Wii_cIOS_base_Compatibility_List

 

[ecto]

By the mentioned setting, the cios will not reloaded when a game starts. Which makes the game start a bit faster.

The second basically is the same, but has additionally the cIOS 248(base38) (Wii only!!) and 251(base58) (Wii+vWII).

Normaly the first one recommended is enough to nearly run every game. But a few games require a base 38 or 58. See -> https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Wii_cIOS_base_Compatibility_List

Thanks for your help!
So that means, that if I disable the cIOS reload, the game loads faster, but the automatic selection will be disabled (so I'd have to set the game cIOS in the game settings)?

This compatibility list is interesting. But as far as I can see, base58 is only needed for We Sing! (as I don't have this game, my slot selections are indeed optimal.

 

[Sypherone]

In USBLGX v1280/1281 the auto select option is seperate and by default enabled, see in settings-> game cIOS "auto".

 

[wei134102]

@wei134102 Do you use a Y-Cable? The drive might be underpowered. A Indication is if USBLGX stucks and is not responding.

r1281 by blackb0x (latest/recommended), it has a lot of new features, fixed issues and improvements e.g :

• Play Wii games from SD-Card
• Automatic used cIOS selection for games by scanning the cIOS and their used base.
• A recommended cIOS setting with new base order, no IOS reloading will then be needed :
  • ciOS 249(base56), 250(base57), 251(base38) (Wii) / (base58) (vWii)
  • For higher game compatibilty, add: cIOS 248(base38) (Wii only!!) and 251(base58) (Wii+vWII)
• A new d2x v11 beta1 patch based on d2x-v10-beta52 with same USB 2.0 support. And contains additional bug fixes like a RiiConnect24 compatibility problem and it also adds EmuNAND UStealth support. Use latest installer Wii / vWii.

Thank you for your reply. The DSI error does not occur when the game is started, but only when the game type is switched. There is a plug-in version of 1262. I use it to manage other simulators. I have no programming ability to upgrade to 1281

 

[lordelan]

@Cyan When I launch the forwarder to start USB Loader GX while the Wii U HDD is also connected it would stay at the boot screen (trying to detect) forever.
Luckily enough I have an active USB hub with separate on/off switches for each USB slot so I can turn the Wii U HDD off but I was wondering whether you could detect (and ignore) it.

 

[awefour44]

Finally tested out the latest version and it's working great, the new features and compatibility are amazing! Thank you so much @blackb0x for your work on this project.

A small feature request: for the "VI Width" option, it would be interesting to be able to force arbitrary (or a preselected set of) width values in addition to the existing "auto" and "framebuffer" options. The mega man 9/10 games ought to be rendered in 512-pixel width given the games' assets but the framebuffer value is 640 pix, which causes unsightly shimmer distortion when the game scrolls.

 

[ssjkakaroto]

I saw that the first post doesn't mention it, but does USB Loader GX support exFAT formatted drives?
I'm asking because I just saw that GameCube Backup Manager's github say that Nintendont does support it.

 

[XFlak]

No it doesn't, iirc that's more of a cios thing than a usbloader thing

 

[trogdon]

I swear I tried looking before asking this, but where do I put the Wii WBFS files on the SD card if I want to boot them from there?

 

[Sypherone]

@trogdon Same filestructur like on a external drive or go to "user path" in USBLGX settings and set a own location for them.

 

[wiio]

Hi guys !

I'm trying to play "New Super Mario Bros Wii" (SNMP01) from USB Loader GX v3.0
r1281 and d2x v11 beta1, but it "freezes" few seconds after the first screens,
when actually playing. The game seems to work fine from the dolphin emulator.

I'm using an external 256GB hard drive plugged on USB0, formated as FAT32. One
USB port is enough to power it, but the HD box has an optional power cable
that I plugged on USB1, just to be on the safe side.

I've been able to backup two games on the HD, and played "Rabbids Go Home"
with no freeze.

When SNMP01 freezes, the music stop, animations on screen keeps moving, but
it looks like any action from the wiimotes are blackholed. Trying to connect
a second wiimote makes it blink desperately in the great void. the only thing
I can do is to force-off the wii pushing the on/off physical button on it for
few seconds.

Looking around at the forum, I updated the IOS following the wiidev guide in the github repo of usbloadergx and the usb-loader-gx-troubleshooting-guide threads on this forum. This helps a bit as the game was freezing on the "take the wiimote
horizontally" screen. Now, the game freezes few second after the action
actually start.

I tried to disable the deflicker: no luck.
I tried to disable the ocarina: no luck.
I set "Region free everything" from Priiloader: no luck.

The freezes also happen when starting the game from a USB key formatted with
NTFS. So I suppose might no be some drive failure/bad blocks.

Any help or ideas or next step I should try?

Here is my SysCheck output:

Spoiler

SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 HacksDen Edition par JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199, et Nano
...tourne sous l'IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: PAL
Menu Systeme 4.3E (v514)
Priiloader installe
Date de disque: 02.13.2007
Chaine Channel 1.1.2 utilise IOS58

Hollywood v0x11
Identifiant de la console: 119289231
Type de Console: Wii
Pays de la chaine boutique: France (77)
Boot2 v4
80 titres trouves.
49 IOS trouves sur cette console. 16 sont des stubs.

IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): Pas de patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 256): Stub
IOS12 (rev 526): Pas de patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): Pas de patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): Pas de patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): Pas de patches
IOS16 (rev 512): Stub
IOS17 (rev 1032): Pas de patches
IOS20 (rev 256): Stub
IOS21 (rev 1039): Pas de patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): Pas de patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): Pas de patches
IOS30 (rev 2816): Stub
IOS31 (rev 3608): Pas de patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): Pas de patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): Pas de patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): Pas de patches
IOS36 (rev 3608): Pas de patches
IOS37 (rev 5663): Pas de patches
IOS38 (rev 4124): Pas de patches
IOS40 (rev 3072): Stub
IOS41 (rev 3607): Pas de patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): Pas de patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): Pas de patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): Pas de patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): Pas de patches
IOS50 (rev 5120): Stub
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 5888): Stub
IOS53 (rev 5663): Pas de patches
IOS55 (rev 5663): Pas de patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): Pas de patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): Pas de patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 6400): Stub
IOS61 (rev 5662): Pas de patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): Pas de patches
IOS70 (rev 6912): Stub
IOS80 (rev 6944): Pas de patches
IOS222 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS223 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS248[38] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, Acces NAND
IOS249[56] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, Acces NAND, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, Acces NAND, USB 2.0
IOS251[58] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, Acces NAND, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65280): Stub
BC v6
MIOS v10
Rapport genere le 2023/02/24.

Thanks all,

Cheers!

 

[XFlak]

It's not the cause of your issue, but it seems like you're missing bootmii (and probably a nand backup)

Have u tried a new/fresh rip of the game? Other games on the same drive are working I'm assuming, right?

 

[GDX]

Probably a bad game dump checked the md5 hash of the full iso before converting it to wbfs

and checked that the md5 hash matches the redump database

 

[Sypherone]

Game image integrity :

• Simple : Verify your game backup image is not corrupted by running it on PC or Smartphone with Dolphin Emulator.
• Recommended : Verify the MD5 or SHA-1 hash value of the generated game backup image and when its moved or copied to another place.
  • The MD5 and SHA-1 hash value of a generated game ISO image, can be verified manually for GC and Wii games on redump.org by using 7zip for hash value calculation or automaticly by Redump Verifier or Wimms ISO Tool.
  • The SHA-1 value is already stored inside the image by Nintendo and can be verified for WBFS and ISO images with GC/Wii Backup Manager under "Tools"
• Use GC Backup Manager or Wii Backup Manager to copy the game automatically to correct path on the drive, which will calculate a new MD5 hash value and store it inside the wbfs images to verify the integrity of the copied image.

When I launch the forwarder to start USB Loader GX while the Wii U HDD is also connected it would stay at the boot screen (trying to detect) forever.

There is a recognizen bug by USB Loader GX that may happen if vWii+WiiU drive is pluged in at the same time.

If you dont play a game, like guitar hero or sing star, that requires a specific IOS. You can try this workaround by using IOS 58 as loader and game IOS and plug vWii drive to port 1 and WiiU drive to port 0.