Hacking USB Loader GX

[Oddx]

The Wii's usb port was not designed to power portable hard drives.

that's what they say... always had good luck on the wd portables.

 

[Mulambo]

I‘ve searched around now for a while, but what‘s the best way of managing larger collections?

If my wbfs folder contains too many files, USB Loader GX takes forever to load. And when the menu is ready to be used, I still can‘t see any images of the covers, as it slowly loads them one at a time.

So basically what I have to do so far, is to move undesired games from my wbfs folder into another on on my hard drive (its an external Seagate), to keep the wbfs folder small. This is very inconvinient, as I have to plug it into a PC first and move the games I like/dislike at the moment.

I wonder, why there is no option to just set the path of the wbfs files, like for the artwork. It would be much easier to group the games in folders (like for example genres), just switch the wbfs root folder in the settings and reload the USB Loader GX (or refresh the games).

I have no problem on game loading times, it‘s just the menu itself struggling with the amount of content…

How are bigger collections Supposed to be handled? Did I do something wrong?

 

[Oddx]

I‘ve searched around now for a while, but what‘s the best way of managing larger collections?

If my wbfs folder contains too many files, USB Loader GX takes forever to load. And when the menu is ready to be used, I still can‘t see any images of the covers, as it slowly loads them one at a time.

So basically what I have to do so far, is to move undesired games from my wbfs folder into another on on my hard drive (its an external Seagate), to keep the wbfs folder small. This is very inconvinient, as I have to plug it into a PC first and move the games I like/dislike at the moment.

I wonder, why there is no option to just set the path of the wbfs files, like for the artwork. It would be much easier to group the games in folders (like for example genres), just switch the wbfs root folder in the settings and reload the USB Loader GX (or refresh the games).

I have no problem on game loading times, it‘s just the menu itself struggling with the amount of content…

How are bigger collections Supposed to be handled? Did I do something wrong?

If your drive is greater than 2tb use fat32 with 64k blocksize, update to latest bb version of loader and make sure header cache option is on. Making a bunch of extra folders and trying to switch them in is going to be a nightmare. If the gamelist hasnt changed from the last time things will be as fast as small collections, if it has then it recaches the lists which will be a delay. Also if your having slow artwork or banners it caches those too so you may want to move it through the list till all the art is shown. Basically the more you use it the speedier things should get. If speed doesnt improve you may have a faulty hdd or sd card. At that point its time to verify your filesystems and game files.

 

[Mulambo]

My drive is a 2TB Seagate Barracuda formatted in NTFS. I store the games directly in the wbfs folder, so no subfolder for each title.

I‘m not sure what „bb version“ means, but i am using the latest sourceforge release which is version 3.0 r1281.

I didn‘t find any option for header cache. I turned the title cache for games on and I also set the cache options for bnr.

I never scrolled through all of them, maybe I should give it a try. Thank so far!

 

[Oddx]

bb version

The builds blackbox maintains, they have advanced features that will make what you are trying to do easier. I would ditch ntfs also, but your call if you get it working the way you want.

 

[blackb0x]

but i am using the latest sourceforge release which is version 3.0 r1281

You can only download r1272 or older from SourceForge. Newer official releases are on GitHub

I‘ve searched around now for a while, but what‘s the best way of managing larger collections?

If my wbfs folder contains too many files, USB Loader GX takes forever to load.

Some people have thousands of games and don't experience any issues. So roughly how many do you have?

I still can‘t see any images of the covers, as it slowly loads them one at a time.

The only list that's a little slow to populate is the channel grid, since that's got to load in animated banners for each game.

If deleting the usbloader_gx folder and reinstalling the loader doesn't speed things up then I'd assume that it's either got something to do with you using NTFS or that the d2x cIOS doesn't play nice with your USB HDD.

1. Reformat the HDD to FAT32 (Wii Backup Manager has a tool to do this)
2. Use Wii Backup Manager to install the games
3. Change the cover paths from SD to USB if they're still slow to load

 

[Darklordofthesith]

I’m trying to get my tabs to look like this.
Any ideas?
Running ver. 3.0.1269 tab mod

 

[ukigh4ie]

Hi @blackb0x and @XFlak

I recently also upgraded cIOS on my vWii from v10-beta52 to v11-beta1, because the later supports EmuNAND on hidden USB drive.

I can't get the partial (for Wii-Saves) EmuNAND on USB get recognized by the games started via ULGX. It works if I unhide the USB drive.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[blackb0x]

I’m trying to get my tabs to look like this.
Any ideas?
Running ver. 3.0.1269 tab mod

Check Badablek's posts for that mod.

I can't get the partial (for Wii-Saves) EmuNAND on USB get recognized by the games started via ULGX. It works if I unhide the USB drive.

I just tested this and can confirm that it's working for me, so I'll shoot you a private message about this.

By the way, you don't need to use UStealth anymore if you've got Aroma installed. You'd just go into Aromas setting (L + select + down), select AromaBasePlugin, Wii U Menu patches and then enable Avoid "Format" dialog on Wii U Menu.

 

[johw]

Hey how is everything
what is the newest version of USB Loader GX TAB?

 

[blackb0x]

Hey how is everything
what is the newest version of USB Loader GX TAB?

Everything's good

I think Badablek put out one based on r1281.

 

[Mulambo]

You can only download r1272 or older from SourceForge.

Some people have thousands of games and don't experience any issues. So roughly how many do you have?


The only list that's a little slow to populate is the channel grid, since that's got to load in animated banners for each game.

If deleting the usbloader_gx folder and reinstalling the loader doesn't speed things up then I'd assume that it's either got something to do with you using NTFS or that the d2x cIOS doesn't play nice with your USB HDD.

1. Reformat the HDD to FAT32 (Wii Backup Manager has a tool to do this)
2. Use…to install the games
3. Change the cover paths from SD to USB if they're still slow to load

I meant Github, sorry. I just mixed up where I downloaded it, because my first versions were from Sourceforge.

I had about 1050 wbfs files in the folder. But I did only try this 1-2 times, and it was unbearable slow. I moved most of them out and have now about 260 in it. When I start the loader, I see a white screen about 10-15 sec. Then the menus load, and the cover images get rendered. So it‘s acceptable with that amount of games.

If I find another HDD I may try it in Fat 32. I have no Wii Backup Manager, as I have only Linux systems at home. But I can format it with Gparted there…

 

[jeannotte]

I have no Wii Backup Manager, as I have only Linux systems at home. But I can format it with Gparted there…

use ""wii backup fusion"" for Linux ==>

https://sourceforge.net/p/wiibafu/home/Wii Backup Fusion/

 

[blackb0x]

I had about 1050 wbfs files in the folder. But I did only try this 1-2 times, and it was unbearable slow. I moved most of them out and have now about 260 in it. When I start the loader, I see a white screen about 10-15 sec. Then the menus load, and the cover images get rendered. So it‘s acceptable with that amount of games.

The loader should easily be able to handle 1050 games. And you should only experience a brief (~3 seconds) pause the first time you boot the loader, since that's when it's building the cache.

The cache and the covers are likely being loaded from your SD card, so if your USB HDD isn't to blame then it's the SD card. Although it's less likely for it to be caused by an SD card.

As jeannotte pointed out, there are other options. But in general they're all frontends for WIT.

https://wit.wiimm.de/
https://github.com/evertonstz/wiibafu

I don't know if any of these will create the correct directory structure like Wii Backup Manager though.

 

[Mulambo]

The loader should easily be able to handle 1050 games. And you should only experience a brief (~3 seconds) pause the first time you boot the loader, since that's when it's building the cache.

The cache and the covers are likely being loaded from your SD card, so if your USB HDD isn't to blame then it's the SD card. Although it's less likely for it to be caused by an SD card.

As jeannotte pointed out, there are other options. But in general they're all frontends for WIT.


I don't know if any of these will create the correct directory structure like Wii Backup Manager though.

I changed all 4 cover paths to usb1:/ so that shouldn‘t be an issue. I‘m not sure, what path I set for the BNR cache, whatever that is…

 

[blackb0x]

I changed all 4 cover paths to usb1:/ so that shouldn‘t be an issue.

If you were to change the paths back to the SD card and your covers start to load faster then that'd confirm that it's the USB HDD.

I‘m not sure, what path I set for the BNR cache, whatever that is…

The animated banners, which you'd see if you use the channel grid view.

 

[_DJLO]

Hello there, I'm hoping someone can help me. I have modded my wii using the steps on wii.guide. I am able to to play gcn games in nintendont and wii games in usbloader gx.

However I am having trouble with cover art. When I try to download covers I get the error "Can't create directory usb8/apps/usbloader_gx/images".

I was able to get around this by going to the setting and creating custom paths to the sd card and downloading the images. However the next time I open up usbloader, the covers are gone (they are still on my sd card but the loader isn't fetching them until I change the settings again.) I'm also unable to save cheat files.

I have tried using different sd cards, and deleting and reinstalling usbloader (from the home brew browser) . Reminder that I can use custom paths to create folders on the SD card, so it is not write protected. And I can play games stored on the USB and the SD card so it's not that they aren't detected or formatted incorrectly.

Somewhere in this thread someone had the same problem and was told to delete the config file, but I cant find this file. Please help, I want those covers! Screenshots attached.

 

[blackb0x]

However I am having trouble with cover art. When I try to download covers I get the error "Can't create directory usb8/apps/usbloader_gx/images".

This issue occurs when your SD card isn't one big FAT32 partition. So you've got two options.

1. Merge the partitions into one big FAT32 partition and then delete GXGlobal.cfg from the usbloader_gx folder
2. Fully format your SD card and start over

If you're using Windows and you don't have much on your SD card then I'd recommend the full format, which can easily be done with diskpart.

diskpart
list disk
select disk X (change X to the disk number for your SD card)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=fat32 unit=32k quick
assign
exit

The next version of the loader has improved parition seeking, so this will eventually become unnecessary.

 

[_DJLO]

THAT WORKKKKKKEDDD LETS FUCKING GOOOOO. that had been driving me crazy! when you suggested it i thought to myself "no theres no way, i tried two different sd cards and neither worked. and ive been able to download art in the past!" then i realized the last sd card i used that worked is in the old wii i lost, and the other sd card ive only ever used for project m, not usbloader.

i get the feeling the two i used today had that stupid secret partition on them. anyways thank you so much dude that fixed it! And seriously thank you for answering peoples questions in this thread. You dont get paid for this and you are really helping us out with trouble shooting!!! thankssssssssss @blackb0x

edit: fingers crossed this solves my Project M issues too.

edit 2: IT DID WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

edit 3: sent you a tip on your ko-fi account, suggest anyone reading this does the same if this thread solves your problem

 

[GDX]

Hey,

I don't know if it will be easy, but do you think you can solve DSI error problems when you have two FAT32/NTFS partitions in GPT

Cannot use multiple partitions with GPT partition scheme