Hacking USB Loader GX

[JuanMena]

Forgive my ignorance. It's 2023 and I assumed every single person on this forum had long ago converted to ISO/WBFS or similar files on a USB drive (or now even SD). Personally I haven't used the Wii's drive since I bought Harley Pasternak's Hollywood Workout in 2012. Writing all the code necessary to utilize a USB DVD drive this late in the game seems a big ask. But good luck!

I agree, it might be a waste of time, but still, I'd like to recommend everyone to just use SD and USB since it achieves the same goal, that is, preservation of physical meedia.

 

[godreborn]

I agree, it might be a waste of time, but still, I'd like to recommend everyone to just use SD and USB since it achieves the same goal, that is, preservation of physical meedia.

my wii's disc drive makes a weird noise when turning on the system now. it still seems to work though. I have a wiikey in mine, and it seems to handle burns better than original discs.

 

[blackb0x]

Oh boy! I am curious to see what change you made. Thank you!

It gets Nintendont booting into games correctly again, but I'd like to see if I can remove the workaround that Cyan introduced and fix the freeze that you encounter when using a HID controller.

On the subject of Wii U, if anyone is using this forwarder package then they should avoid using the UNEO WAD file that's bundled with it, since it's a buggy version that doesn't pass arguments to the loader correctly. Instead you should use this WAD file (for vWii only).

I've asked cucholix to repackage his Wii U forwarder, but I don't know if he will since he's left the Wii scene.

 

[Kirby6417]

Amazing work blackb0x, I finally updated to rev1281 from the old version and it is so nice. Thanks thanks thank you for the work you've done to improve Cyan's incredible app.

2 questions for anybody to answer:

1) Does Metroid Prime 3 work better than on rev1271? Mine would close and return to USBLGX randomly no matter what cIOS base I would use, made the game not worth playing.

2) Changelog says custom forwarders now return to USBLGX, but mine are still returning to HBC. Specifically forwarders to WiiSXRX and Not64. Is there a way for those to return to USBLGX yet? It would be reaaaaalllly sweet if that could happen, since it would make the user experience of my Wiis never have to visit the HBC.

 

[mario-lucis-caelum]

What's the extension for split iso files? With wbfs I know it's .wbfs for the first one and .wbf1 for the second. Is it .iso and .iso1?

 

[blackb0x]

1) Does Metroid Prime 3 work better than on rev1271? Mine would close and return to USBLGX randomly no matter what cIOS base I would use, made the game not worth playing.

Honestly, I haven't played through Metroid Prime 3 enough to know for sure. But I think a few people have mentioned playing it and this is the first time I've heard about it returning to the loader randomly.

2) Changelog says custom forwarders now return to USBLGX, but mine are still returning to HBC. Specifically forwarders to WiiSXRX and Not64. Is there a way for those to return to USBLGX yet? It would be reaaaaalllly sweet if that could happen, since it would make the user experience of my Wiis never have to visit the HBC.

The changelog has a few different fixes...

Fixed an issue that prevented homebrew from returning you back to USB Loader GX when you'd exit

So, if you used the loaders built in homebrew browser and launched something like WiiSXRX then when you'd exit WiiSXRX it wouldn't return you back to the loader. Now it will.

Fixed an issue that prevented USB Loader GX from launching custom channel forwarders correctly

In a previous release I added the ability to patch WiiWare and VC games, but in the process I accidently broke support for custom channel forwarders, so I fixed that.

As long as you've got the return to setting set to the UNEO forwarder then you should always return to the loader, unless of course another homebrew app changes the stub to return to something else.

What's the extension for split iso files? With wbfs I know it's .wbfs for the first one and .wbf1 for the second. Is it .iso and .iso1?

I don't think that's supported. So for large files you'd need to try using NTFS instead of FAT32.

 

[Glomgold]

I've been revisiting my Wii, updated USB loader GX, cIOS, Nintendont etc. I noticed that I'm not saving to the emunand. Is this something I should enable? The emunand channel is set to full. I don't have NEEK.

If I set save to full and make a save with for example NSMB and then copy over the save from the nand to the emunand with GX. Is it that simple?

 

[blackb0x]

If I set save to full and make a save with for example NSMB and then copy over the save from the nand to the emunand with GX. Is it that simple?

The channel mode should be set to full, but for the save mode you should use partial most of the time.

Not all games work correctly with EmuNAND saves, so you'd need to turn it off it's causing a problem for a game.

 

[Glomgold]

The channel mode should be set to full, but for the save mode you should use partial most of the time.

Not all games work correctly with EmuNAND saves, so you'd need to turn it off it's causing a problem for a game.

Aha, so I could just leave it as is?

 

[blackb0x]

Aha, so I could just leave it as is?

If you're using partial for EmuNAND saves and your games are loading and saving to your storage device instead of your NAND then yea, leave it as is.

 

[blackb0x]

Driver San Francisco is sensative to setting changes, which is why I can only guarantee that it works with the default settings.

I'm going to get Tintin to see if it works (always heard great things about this game and when I saw a video I liked what I saw)

That won't work until the next update.

 

[almmiron]

After Installing d2xv11 and latest UsbLoader gx (jan/2023), some things slowed down....I use channel view: When I click the game, start game screen takes longer to show.

I mean, before the update, start game screen was instantly loaded, now it's a 2~3 seconds delay. I will try to defrag my external HDD, maybe boof things up.

Anyway, if not, I will post a video here and my syscheck to see if it's only me.

 

[blackb0x]

After Installing d2xv11 and latest UsbLoader gx (jan/2023), some things slowed down....I use channel view: When I click the game, start game screen takes longer to show.

Is that d2x v11 with the new recommended slots and bases?

No changes were made for 1280/1281 that should impact how long it takes for a games screen to display. Although maybe your USB HDD doesn't like to initalise with IOS58 at all, in which case you could enable arguments in meta.xml and then try changing the boot IOS to 249.

 

[almmiron]

Is that d2x v11 with the new recommended slots and bases?

No changes were made for 1280/1281 that should impact how long it takes for a games screen to display. Although maybe your USB HDD doesn't like to initalise with IOS58 at all, in which case you could enable arguments in meta.xml and then try changing the boot IOS to 249.

I don't know if I made myself clear:
I mean, from this screen:

To this One, there is a delay:

After this one, is perfectly fine.

 

[blackb0x]

I don't know if I made myself clear:
I mean, from this screen:

The channel grid is normally the slowest viewing option to use since it needs to load in cached banners, but you shouldn't have a delay when you click on one to get that Settings/Start screen.

Do still try editing the meta.xml file, since I'd be curious to know if that makes a difference. Just make sure you remove the two lines to enable arguments.

Also, do you have the loader and the cached BNR files on an SD card or are using a USB HDD for everything?

 

[Glomgold]

If you're using partial for EmuNAND saves and your games are loading and saving to your storage device instead of your NAND then yea, leave it as is.

I have it set off currently, been like that for years.

 

[danny19901]

I have a slight idea which maybe possible to do and that would be making a .conf file for each individual game this being loaded when that game is loaded possibly improving compatibility for each game so users don't need to mess with different settings.
Idealy SB4E01.conf could be used with the game that uses that Title ID not sure if this wuld or could help or even be impemented Idea idealy comes from PCSX2 with auto fixes that get pushed to the gamedb

 

[Kirby567fan]

An update on the GC Wii VC settings not being sent to Nintendont if booting through ULGX Wii U forwarder with GamePad support:
I tested loading games with no USB drive being connected to the console and the result is the same(everything is off/set to no in the settings or set to 0).

 

[blackb0x]

a curiosity is that before Metroid Prime 3 of the Metroid Prime Trilogy did not work, but the separate Metroid Prime 3 did work, however now it is working perfectly, I wonder what prevented the game from starting

It could be the automatic cIOS selection, the language or one of my other bug fixes. It's hard to say for sure.

An update on the GC Wii VC settings not being sent to Nintendont if booting through ULGX Wii U forwarder with GamePad support:
I tested loading games with no USB drive being connected to the console and the result is the same(everything is off/set to no in the settings or set to 0).

Yea, that issue has now been fixed for my next release. But for now you could work around the issue by using this older version of Nintendont.

 

[almmiron]

The channel grid is normally the slowest viewing option to use since it needs to load in cached banners, but you shouldn't have a delay when you click on one to get that Settings/Start screen.

Do still try editing the meta.xml file, since I'd be curious to know if that makes a difference. Just make sure you remove the two lines to enable arguments.

Also, do you have the loader and the cached BNR files on an SD card or are using a USB HDD for everything?

I'm using USB for everything usbloaderGX related, besides having a sd card inserted with some emulators. All banner cache are on USB.

My usb hdd is in good health, formatted fat32 32k cluster size, not fragmented:
Video:


Inconsistency is the word to describe behavior: Sometimes, if enter and leaves menu, the delay is there, something I cant remember hapenning before.

So I removed the lines, edited my xml fine just like this:

Spoiler

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
<name> USB Loader GX</name>
<coder>USB Loader GX Team</coder>
<version>3.0 r1281</version>
<release_date>20230107233054</release_date>

<arguments>
<arg>--ios=249</arg>
<arg>--bootios=249</arg>
<arg>--usbport=0</arg>
<arg>--mountusb=1</arg>
<arg>--sdmode=0</arg>
</arguments>

<ahb_access/>
<short_description>Loads games from USB-devices</short_description>
<long_description>USB Loader GX is a libwiigui based USB iso loader with a wii-like GUI. You can install games to your HDDs and boot them with shorter loading times.
The interactive GUI is completely controllable with WiiMote, Classic Controller or GC Controller.
Features are automatic widescreen detection, coverdownload, parental control, theme support and many more.

Credits:
Coding: Cyan, Dimok, blackb0x, nIxx, giantpune, ardi, Hungyip84, DrayX7, Lustar, r-win, WiiShizzza
Artwork: cyrex, NeoRame
Validation: Cyan and many others
Issue management: Cyan
GameTDB / Covers: Lustar
USBLoader sources: Waninkoko, Kwiirk, Hermes
cIOS maintenance: davebaol, xabby666, XFlak and Rodries
Languages files updates: Kinyo and translaters
Themes website: Larsenv, Wingysam

Libwiigui: Tantric
Libogc/Devkit: Shagkur and Wintermute
FreeTypeGX: Armin Tamzarian

USB Loader GX:
https://github.com/wiidev/usbloadergx
Support:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/149922
GameTDB:
https://www.gametdb.com
Themes:
https://theme.rc24.xyz

Libwiigui:
https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Libwiigui
FreeTypeGX:
https://github.com/ArminTamzarian/freetypegx
Gettext:
https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext</long_description>
</app>

here is my syscheck:

Spoiler: SYSCHECK

sysCheck v2.1.0b19 by Double_A and R2-D2199, Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.3U (v513)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 2008.07.14
Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58
HomebrewFilter ist nicht installiert
Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 86129044
Boot2 v4
Found 135 titles.
Found 52 IOS on this console. 5 of them are stub.

IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 16174): 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 512): Stub
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30 (rev 16174): 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 (rev 16174): 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 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 16174): 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 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS80 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS202[60] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS222[38] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS223[38+37] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS224[57] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS236[36] (rev 65535, Info: rev 3351): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
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 v10

Report generated on 2023/04/05.

Tried with boot ios 259, same results: Strange, slow menu navigation, sometime freezes in a white screen 5~10 seconds just to show game screen or some other menu. Well, It's usable, but it's strange. I have Another wii that I will mess around as well. Think I'm gonna go back to d2xv8 final and older UsbloaderGX for now.

Also @blackb0x can you, please, provide the older versions of your usbloaderGX On github? I could only find these year releases.