Hacking USB Loader GX

[RBFraphael]

Hi everyone! I'm facing a problem with r1281 and can't figure out why.

I've bought an 256gb SD Card to use with my Wii, preventing the usage of USB (external HDs or usb flash drivers). After setting up all things, USB Loader GX stills working ok, recognizing all games on my SD, but it only runs GameCube games. When I try to start an Wii game, it just goes back to Wii Home.

I've found some people on internet talking about SD Card compatibility, but, in those cases, even Homebrew was able to show up apps. In my case, Homebrew is showing (and running) all apps and emulators normally, and USB Loader GX also can run normally (settings are saved, GC games are working normally too), the only problem is when I try to run a Wii game from SD, that comes back to Wii Home.

I've tried re-formatting my SD in FAT32, re-transfering games with Wii Backup Manager, but neither worked.

Can someone help me? Thanks!

 

[jeannotte]

Hi everyone! I'm facing a problem with r1281 and can't figure out why.

I've bought an 256gb SD Card to use with my Wii, preventing the usage of USB (external HDs or usb flash drivers). After setting up all things, USB Loader GX stills working ok, recognizing all games on my SD, but it only runs GameCube games. When I try to start an Wii game, it just goes back to Wii Home.

I've found some people on internet talking about SD Card compatibility, but, in those cases, even Homebrew was able to show up apps. In my case, Homebrew is showing (and running) all apps and emulators normally, and USB Loader GX also can run normally (settings are saved, GC games are working normally too), the only problem is when I try to run a Wii game from SD, that comes back to Wii Home.

I've tried re-formatting my SD in FAT32, re-transfering games with Wii Backup Manager, but neither worked.

Can someone help me? Thanks!

Check wii games ,4 th icon at the top of usb loader gx

 

[RBFraphael]

Check wii games ,4 th icon at the top of usb loader gx

Already marked. As I said, the games are showing normally. The problem is when I try to start a Wii game. When I try to start a Wii game, it tries to open, goes to a black screen and, after a few seconds, return to Wii's Home.

It only occurs with Wii games. GC games are ok, emulators are ok, Homebrew apps are ok.

Also tried with another SD card of another brand. Stills not working.

 

[blackb0x]

Perhaps it just has something to do with me testing in Dolphin, but USB Loader GX r1281 always does the "waiting for USB" 20-second countdown even though I set the options to use SD card mode and to not mount the USB drive.

It'll likely be caused by Dolphin not passing the expected parameters.

My personal pet theory was always just that they just expected you to use the N64 Master Quest rom injected into the OoT VC channel, but then again Zelda Collectors Edition has a proper custom channel banner and that wouldn't even need VC injection as Zelda 1, Zelda 2, OoT, and MM all even have official VC releases (the VC version of MM in particular being notably superior to the GC version).

You could be right. I can't say for sure since most of these banners and mods were created over a decade ago, yet I've only been active in the scene for the last 5 years.

I have it set to return to the usb loader after exiting and I get a hardlock where I have to pull out the cable to power down as holding the power button does nothing.

Update: seems to be something to do with the banner animation settings.
When I turn on quick boot all games return to usb loader gx without problems.

I've heard of this problem before and I believe the issues been fixed for my next release.

I've bought an 256gb SD Card to use with my Wii, preventing the usage of USB (external HDs or usb flash drivers). After setting up all things, USB Loader GX stills working ok, recognizing all games on my SD, but it only runs GameCube games. When I try to start an Wii game, it just goes back to Wii Home.

When you boot up the loader does it ask you to enable SD card mode or is the setting remembered? And if you go into the loaders settings and look at the custom paths are they all set to your SD card?

You could try going to Settings > Feature Settings and then select Reset Cached Titles. This isn't normally necessary though.

 

[RBFraphael]

It'll likely be caused by Dolphin not passing the expected parameters.


You could be right. I can't say for sure since most of these banners and mods were created over a decade ago, yet I've only been active in the scene for the last 5 years.



I've heard of this problem before and I believe the issues been fixed for my next release.


When you boot up the loader does it ask you to enable SD card mode or is the setting remembered? And if you go into the loaders settings and look at the custom paths are they all set to your SD card?

You could try going to Settings > Feature Settings and then select Reset Cached Titles. This isn't normally necessary though.

I have figured out part of the problem. Searching a bit more deeper on comments of some unlocking videos, I've found some people having the same issue as me. They recommended to install ciOS d2x-v11-beta1 versions 248, 249, 250 and 251 (according to the guide found on wii.guide / cios.html - sorry, I'm not allowed to post links yet), and most of the games started working again. I'm having issues now with some Just Dances, that, when I click on "Start", they freeze the Wii with no signal to TV, forcing me to hard reset the console. Some time ago I've changed iOS version for some JD games (4, 2014, 2015 and 2016 - 249, 224, 224 and 224, respectively), and they worked fine. But now, using these versions of iOS from USB Loader GX "Loader" configs, doesn't make them to work. Curiously, 2014 and 2016 are now working natively (with global iOS version - current 251). But other JD games aren't working. They all freeze the console without TV signal after trying to start. I will test every Wii game on my SD card (almost 29 games) to verify if all are working fine, or others than JD games are having some problem too.

 

[blackb0x]

Some time ago I've changed iOS version for some JD games (4, 2014, 2015 and 2016 - 249, 224, 224 and 224, respectively), and they worked fine

Are your video settings set to their defaults? Since I know that the video width setting doesn't work with a bunch of Just Dance games.

If the games aren't modified then they should work, but if they're modified in any way then you'll need to wait for my next release.

 

[eNgamers]

Are your video settings set to their defaults? Since I know that the video width setting doesn't work with a bunch of Just Dance games.

If the games aren't modified then they should work, but if they're modified in any way then you'll need to wait for my next release.

glad to heard that you still working on a new/update release

 

[RBFraphael]

glad to heard that you still working on a new/update release

For sure hahaha

Are your video settings set to their defaults? Since I know that the video width setting doesn't work with a bunch of Just Dance games.

If the games aren't modified then they should work, but if they're modified in any way then you'll need to wait for my next release.

The games are not modified. But I tried removing the config files of USB Loader GX from my sdcard, and, magically, all games started working like a charm! I think, maybe, some config was conflicting from the old ULGX I've used (r1260 - pls don't ask me why), or something else. BTW, installing ciOS versions following the wii.guide tutorial and "resetting" all configs of my ULGX has fixed the problem. Curiously, I haven't faced any issues after just upgrading the ULGX version, only when I migrate from external HD to SD. Also, after deleting all config files, I haven't changed iOS version for any game (even JD games I've mentioned I changed before), and all games are working normally.

Thank you all for the support!

 

[japa4551]

@blackb0x Can you add "Aggressive Scanning" to scan games in subdirectories or custom directory support? I'm currently sorting my games by letter (D:/wbfs/W/GAMEID_Game Name.wbfs) and by default without some crazy workarounds it does not work.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Hey, I just rediscovered a minor control discrepancy that I think I reported back with the old r1272 version, but it seems to still persist in r1281.

Basically the shoulder buttons on the classic controller/pro, whether R & L and/or ZR & ZL, do absolutely nothing when in channel view. This is a control discrepancy because R & L on the GameCube controller can be used to change pages, ang also R & L (though not ZR & ZL unfortunately) on a classic controller can be used to similarly change pages on the actual Wii Menu.

Furthermore, using left & right on the dpad to change pages in USB Loader GX's channel view works on both the classic controller and the GameCube controller, so it's not like it's a case of one or the other.

So yeah, when in channel view, ideally both L and ZL on a classic controller/pro should be mapped to the same thing as what L currently is mapped to on the GameCube controller, and similarly both R and ZR should be mapped to the same thing as what R currently is mapped to on the GameCube controller.

————————

Also, how realistic would it be to have the Wii's official SD card menu as an additional source, like how for sources you have "GC games", "Wii games", "NAND Channels", etc — that seems like the perfect place to also have a "SD card channels" or something.

You could be right. I can't say for sure since most of these banners and mods were created over a decade ago, yet I've only been active in the scene for the last 5 years.

Of course, Super Mario 64 was literally a launch title for the Wii's virtual console while Mario Kart 64 released on the Wii's VC only 2 months after launch, so why you'd need to rely on modded versions of GC OoT Master Quest for that is beyond me since it's my impression that said mods originate from the pre-Wii homebrew era on the GameCube.

...unless all of these custom GameCube banners actually do predate the launch of the Wii?

 

[hadi aulia]

I have it set to return to the usb loader after exiting and I get a hardlock where I have to pull out the cable to power down as holding the power button does nothing.

If you're using Aroma then you should check out evWii. it Allows 4 second power button press to force power off while in vWii mode.

@RBFraphael from my experiece
All just dance (NTSC) games works with framebuffer except :
just dance 1
just dance 3
just dance 4
Just dance 2015

Above titles just shows blackscreen, you need set video width to auto to play it

 

[DolphinCube]

Added patches that make Kirby's Return to Dreamland playable (SUKE01, SUKP01 and SUKJ01)

That explains it.

Apparently I was having issues running mods with KRtDl. And thats prob the reason why. Mind having an option to disable those patches? I dunno why but I think it might help me out.

 

[blackb0x]

Apparently I was having issues running mods with KRtDl. And thats prob the reason why. Mind having an option to disable those patches? I dunno why but I think it might help me out.

Without the patches you can't use cheats or modify the game in any way because the games protected by MetaFortress.

Have you tried using an older release? When downgrading you'll need to delete TitlesCache.bin from the usbloader_gx directory, otherwise the loader will crash.

 

[DolphinCube]

Without the patches you can't use cheats or modify the game in any way because the games protected by MetaFortress.

Have you tried using an older release? When downgrading you'll need to delete TitlesCache.bin from the usbloader_gx directory, otherwise the loader will crash.

Yeah I'm trying to use the original Usb Loader GX. Not the modded version. It should work fine with me.

Also can I just say because the current release on sourceforge is 1271 so someone decided to fight me on it? Like I asked for the file because I have trouble with github and he just went on me for it I guess.

 

[blackb0x]

Yeah I'm trying to use the original Usb Loader GX. Not the modded version. It should work fine with me.

The version that I linked to is basically USB Loader GX r1279, since it was the last release before my builds become official.

Also can I just say because the current release on sourceforge is 1271 so someone decided to fight me on it? Like I asked for the file because I have trouble with github and he just went on me for it I guess.

Cyan made r1271 the last stable build on SourceForge, since r1272 causes problems for some people.

I only upload new releases to GitHub and then they eventually make their way to the Open Shop Channel.

 

[Amuro-san]

@blackb0x
Is there no way to make more PAL games work on NSTC in the next update? One of them is Zelda TP, when I force PAL 480p or NSTC it sends me a black screen, and when I force it to NSTC (only NSTC and not 480p) it gets split screen and blinking
but anyway I made my 480p version by transferring the PAL ISO files to NSTC, but there are other games that are only in 50hz

 

[Brand Newman]

@blackb0x
Is there no way to make more PAL games work on NSTC in the next update? One of them is Zelda TP, when I force PAL 480p or NSTC it sends me a black screen, and when I force it to NSTC (only NSTC and not 480p) it gets split screen and blinking
but anyway I made my 480p version by transferring the PAL ISO files to NSTC, but there are other games that are only in 50hz

You should try using the "dol video patch" in conjunction with "force 480P", setting instead of forcing PAL games to NTSC.

Most of the time, this combination will give you progressive at 60hz, even if the game wouldn't with the sole "force 480P" setting.

There are only a few games I've met in my entire collection that wouldn't display 480P after that, including Mad World, Little King's Story (both in 50 hz), Coraline (stuck to 480i, but at least in 60 hz), Crash (Bandicoot) of the Titans, an the Simpsons game, which will display 480P, but in a cropped screen.

As for Twilight Princess, I own both PAL and NTSC, and if you use the deflicker filter the picture is just the same : you shouldn't need to convert your ISO.

Have a nice day rediscovering your games in crisp 480P : it's a game changer sometimes!

 

[Amuro-san]

You should try using the "dol video patch" in conjunction with "force 480P", setting instead of forcing PAL games to NTSC.

Most of the time, this combination will give you progressive at 60hz, even if the game wouldn't with the sole "force 480P" setting.

There are only a few games I've met in my entire collection that wouldn't display 480P after that, including Mad World, Little King's Story (both in 50 hz), Coraline (stuck to 480i, but at least in 60 hz), Crash (Bandicoot) of the Titans, an the Simpsons game, which will display 480P, but in a cropped screen.

As for Twilight Princess, I own both PAL and NTSC, and if you use the deflicker filter the picture is just the same : you shouldn't need to convert your ISO.

Have a nice day rediscovering your games in crisp 480P : it's a game changer sometimes!

I'll look into that, Shin Chan's game I forced NSTC and it works, Red Steel I forced another one (I don't remember now) and it also worked, but there are some that insist on only working PAL 50Hz

 

[Brand Newman]

I'll look into that, Shin Chan's game I forced NSTC and it works, Red Steel I forced another one (I don't remember now) and it also worked, but there are some that insist on only working PAL 50Hz

Yeah, but they are very few, so better not go through the incovenience of converting if you can do otherwise.

I must say it always has been very surprising to me that not ALL games support 480P by default, even more so when some "obscure" 3rd party games do, and "major" titles don't.

 

[CheeseBurgerwithLove]

There is a WiiWare game that I tried to force to NTSC without success and it is Chronos Twins DX from the EU version. I activated all possible patching options but no luck.