Hacking USB Loader GX

[Nomado]

@XFlak, I know that. I was just hopeful he would come back and patiently waited since last December. I haven't been frequenting the thread since last spring. I understand him wanting to take a time off since I also had massive burnout this spring and had to quit my job for health reasons. Then I noticed that other forks of USB Loaders GX were made and r1282 was released. I just wanted the creator of said fork to become aware of this issue that was not fixed. Now that Blackb0x is back. All is good. Hope things are doing fine for him.

 

[lordelan]

Is anybody using a >2TB SSD (!) by any chance?

Would something like a 4TB SSD with GPT (rather than MRB) work and can it have one big FAT32 partition thanks to tools like Mini Partition Tool?
I recall reading somewhere in the past, that USBLGX supports GPT since a certain update.

Currently I have a 5TB HDD (not SSD) from WD that I was able to format to MBR/FAT32 (one big partition) but I'm looking to replace it with an SSD.
And since the tool used to change the partition table to MBR on my big drive is proprietary (WD Tool) it can't be used on any SSD. In case you didn't know, WD never had own SSDs. Most of their SSDs are in fact from SanDisk.

 

[Sypherone]

I recall reading somewhere in the past, that USBLGX supports GPT since a certain update.

Some Points:

• MBR (recommended) is supported by any homebrew including Emulators and USB Loaders.
• MBR partition-table supports 4 primary partitions or up to 8 extended partitions.
• GPT is supported mainly by USB Loaders. And supported by USB Loader GX since v2.0 released on 2011 01 09 (Changelog)
• GPT partition-table supports up to 128 partitions
• GPT on USBLGX is (old) bugged, games on multiple partitions wont load correctly (complained by user) and showes each partition twice:

• GPT had a bug where it mounted each partition twice, so if it detects 1 HDD (not 2) in one single USB Port (for example USB Port0), with only ONE partition, it duplicated that partition

So maybe using GPT partition Style with one big Partition for all games, may work flawless. But its missing on source to verify, including if still works with a existing hidden WiiU partition.
But there is an old Project on sourceforge where they did almost the same and splited the drive for use with vWii and WiiU, so it could work.

 

[BillyBlaze]

Is anybody using a >2TB SSD (!) by any chance?

Would something like a 4TB SSD with GPT (rather than MRB) work and can it have one big FAT32 partition thanks to tools like Mini Partition Tool?
I recall reading somewhere in the past, that USBLGX supports GPT since a certain update.

Currently I have a 5TB HDD (not SSD) from WD that I was able to format to MBR/FAT32 (one big partition) but I'm looking to replace it with an SSD.
And since the tool used to change the partition table to MBR on my big drive is proprietary (WD Tool) it can't be used on any SSD. In case you didn't know, WD never had own SSDs. Most of their SSDs are in fact from SanDisk.

The reason why your WD-drive works is that it has larger sectors....

Been I while since i dabbled with this but in general a disk will present with 512KB-sectors, however this I believe is for compatability... WD has utilities which allows you to to change to 4K (4KB) sectors, which means that instead of 2TB the maximum for FAT32 will be 16TB).. The limit is 2^32 sectors if I am not mistaken.

 

[Sypherone]

Basically to use more then 2TB, a drive with 4kb (4096b or "4kn" = native) sectorsize is required and are limited to 8TB(32kb)/16TB(64kb clustersize). It requires a generation 2 "Advanced Format Technology (AF)" drive or a enclosure with a ASM1153/ASM1153E chip that (re)emulate to 4k.

• The manufacturing of AF drives started 2010, with two available generations :
  • AF/Gen 1 ("AF" label on drive) are mainly consumer HDD`s and have physical 4k sector size. But forced to be 512be (emulation) for backwards compatibility and cannot be changed.
  • 4kn/Gen 2 ("4kn" label on drive) are mainly enterprise HDD`s with physical 4kn (nativ) sectorsize. Able to use logical 4kn or 512be and can be changed by a tool provided by the Manufacturer.

More Info:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-...-on-a-wii-as-a-single-fat32-partition.602038/

 

[grandosegood]

hi all,

figured i'd share my appreciation post as well, which will hopefully be informative

thanks to people here and on discord such as @XFlak and @SaulFabre , I was able to setup my wii with a more advanced configuration called emunand. since the wii nand is limited, emunand in both usb loader gx and wiiflow allow you to create a virtual nand on your external storage. emunand allows you to install nearly unlimited wads, which could be games, forwarders or apps. for the games that aren't compatible on emunand, you need to utilize another software in conjunction called sneek in the sd card case or neek in the external hard drive case (modern app names called neek2o or sneek2o).

with this setup, you can have as many game wads as you want (though too many many bog the system down) and utilize fowarder wads to start a game within an emulator and take you to the game directly, rather than starting the emulator and selecting the game. one major drawback is that forwarder apps will sometimes not work on the emunand, (eg, the forawrder wad for Mega Man X3 Zero project that takes me directly to the start screen of the game via snes 9x RX would instead return back to loader/main page). @blackb0x was kind enough to PM me a working solution in the interim as we discussed the issue. he also shared some thoughts on deflicker, still during his hiatus, at a time when the fall holiday was fast approaching. for that, and the crazy amount of work you've put into community, i'd like to extend a huge thank you!

it is this kindness that makes gbatemp a great place to be - even as duties and responsibilities pull us away from our passions, the kindness of others still finds a way to rise to the top. modding is often done by others who have squeeze a little more out of their day, just to help a community that shares their passion but lacks the knowledge to bring it to life. to everyone, please keep paying it forward - even outside of gbatemp/gaming. thank you and stay #blessed

 

[pyorot]

hello hello, figured i'd write a message here since i'm working on smth

i'm trying to fix priiloader, which currently doesn't boot ntsc-u vc super mario 64 in 480p, rather 480i. usbloader gx is one of a couple of loaders that does do this; however, its Disc Default setting loads it in 480i whereas Force NTSC and Force NTSC480p both load it in 480p, even tho Force NTSC explicitly specifies an interlaced render mode. i've been staring at the code and am completely baffled by what the difference is between Disc Default and Force NTSC/NTSC480p

anyway, i'd like to find the magic trick and patch it into priiloader. idk if it'll be simple enuff to be accepted by upstream but i'd like at least to have a fork that can be used for sm64 speedrunning out-of-the-box (i.e. using only default software installed by wii.hacks.guide)

Post automatically merged: Nov 18, 2024

priiloader is now fixed (was some dumb unrelated bug) but forcing video mode (rather than just shutting down VI and letting the game restart it) on ntsc-u vc super mario 64 now switches it from 480p to 480i KEKW. so it won't do that, even tho usbloader gx does. the plot thickens

 

[Metro City]

Hi, I once saw that you had put the tabs where to choose the wii and the ngc, do you know if that function is still there? thanks

 

[XRGBFanatic]

Hello and seasons greetings! I wanted to ask if it would be possible to add GameID for Memcard Pro GC memory cards to USB Loader GX?

Memcard Pro is a replacement memory card for Gamecube. It uses an SD card for a basically unlimited amount of space. Users can create virtual memory cards on the SD card and access them through the Memcard Pro GC either by it's LCD or a web interface.

On Gamecube with Swiss, Swiss is able to tell the Memcard Pro GC which game is being played. The Memcard Pro then automaticlaly mounts the correct memory card or makes a new one if none exists.

It would be super cool if this could happen for any Gamecube game that was launched through USB Loader GX too.

 

[worm28]

Hi, I once saw that you had put the tabs where to choose the wii and the ngc, do you know if that function is still there? thanks

You mean the USB Loader GX tab mod here it is.

 

[ukigh4ie2]

Hello and seasons greetings! I wanted to ask if it would be possible to add GameID for Memcard Pro GC memory cards to USB Loader GX?

I'm assuming this is a GC topic and thus goes in the thread on Nintendont.

 

[karto95]

Actually, the issue is resolved as was mentioned by Blackb0x a year or so ago. Unfortunately it is not yet publicly released.

We should have just some patience.

Well, I’ve been patient for a few years . Do we know anything about when a new version will be released, if it ever will?

 

[XFlak]

Well, I’ve been patient for a few years . Do we know anything about when a new version will be released, if it ever will?

https://gbatemp.net/threads/does-cios-d2x-v11-completely-supersede-d2x-v10.663089/post-10559734

 

[huncho]

I just cant get gamecube games to load via ULGX.. not anymore atleast. It worked for exactly 1 day and now everytime I boot up an GC game I get a perma black screen and I need to hard reset my Wii.

Booting these games directly from Nintendont works perfectly.

Im using a 32gb SD card formated in FAT32 and I tested 3 other SD cards ( 2 with 32gb and 1 with 128gb) all with the same result.

Paths are also correctly set, didnt even change them when it was working.

 

[daddu3]

Project Plus used to be bootable from USB Loader GX 1271 through this method, but as of 1281, it's now giving me the following backchain error.

Wonder what was changed between the builds to have it become broken like this now.


On that end, trying to change the custom IOS ends with the game getting odd colors and worse framerate.

 

[AskaLangly]

I have a 1TB Samsung T7 Touch SSD, formatted to FAT32.
Nintendont reads the GC games proper; tested with PSO.
Works in HBC, WiiXplorer, etc.
USBLGX 3.0r1281 is unable to read it.
Plugged into port 0 directly.

 

[AtomicStaple]

Hi all, I'm currently having an issue with getting emuNAND to work with Wii Saves. I've backed up my games but not matter what setting i set save emulation to (PARTIAL or FULL) it seems to always load the system NAND and never the emuNAND. I did the same process for channels/WiiWare and they seem to work no problem, I just can't get Wii Saves to load from emuNAND. Can anyone help me with this issue?

 

[Sonic3320]

Hi all, I'm currently having an issue with getting emuNAND to work with Wii Saves. I've backed up my games but not matter what setting i set save emulation to (PARTIAL or FULL) it seems to always load the system NAND and never the emuNAND. I did the same process for channels/WiiWare and they seem to work no problem, I just can't get Wii Saves to load from emuNAND. Can anyone help me with this issue?

It is the issue that I have with any newer USBGX version, especially when I am playing a game directly from the disc. The only way I found to make emunand work is using rev1247.

 

[SillyBayo]

Apologies if this isn't the right way to ask, I've literally never used a forum before. But could anyone give me a step by step and clear tutorial on how to import saves from your wii into usb loader gx? My old discs don't work anymore, and while I now have new roms in usb loader, I was wondering how to recover the old saves. I've been told to use a save dumper, and I've looked into savegame manager gx and emunands, but it doesn't make much sense to me. So a precise tutorial for what I want would help a ton

 

[WuaZ]

Apologies if this isn't the right way to ask, I've literally never used a forum before. But could anyone give me a step by step and clear tutorial on how to import saves from your wii into usb loader gx? My old discs don't work anymore, and while I now have new roms in usb loader, I was wondering how to recover the old saves. I've been told to use a save dumper, and I've looked into savegame manager gx and emunands, but it doesn't make much sense to me. So a precise tutorial for what I want would help a ton

Welcome on this forum!

It depends on the kind of games you are talking about :
- for Wii games, nothing to do: the saves are at the same location for game on disc and for iso loaded with USB Loader GX, so if you start the iso of a game you were playing from disc you should see your save already there. The matching is done by the ID of the game, so you should use the same region (PAL, US, JAP, KOR) for your iso than for your disc game
- for WiiWare and Virtual Console games you should extract your saves from your Wii using Savegame Manager GX and import them in your emuNAND with the same homebrew
- for GameCube games launched with Nintendon't, you can either use your Nintendo GameCube memory card if you activate this option in the settings of USB Loader GX or extract your saves from it using GCMM, then launch the game once with Nintendon't for it to create a dedicated virtual memory card and finally use Dolphin on your computer to transfer your save from your dump of your real memory card (from GCMM) to the newly created virtual memory card (from Nintendon't)