Hacking USB Loader GX

[nico402]

sometimes when I boot the wii and start the loader it hangs on the loading screen fade animation and it the only way to move from that screen is shut the wii down from the wii itself...
is there something I can do to help?

 

[spotanjo3]

@RockmanForte :
It's either an error from your Wii IOS installation or usbloader_GX version (take the latest one, now it's 888.dol).

I forgot to tell in my previous message :
you need to install Hermes cIOS 222 (37 merged 38 is working great) if you want to use FAT32 or NTFS drives.
then, delete your config folder on your SD card (so the loader will automatically rewrite the good preferences for NTFS, and select the path accordingly (it will detect your games))
Then, when you connect a NTFS drive and run usbloaderGX, it will load this IOS222 (instead of IOS249) and find your games.

If you are using Wii backup Manager, and seeing games, then they are correctly installed.

Thank you kindly. I decide not to run it on usb hard drive so I go ahead and burn it unpatch and run it on USB Loader GX and mount the dvd and quite enough.. Its works.

 

[dwmyke]

Just installed r890 and a new ntfs formatted hdd. Odd-- it finds and loads wiiware and VC games I have on a nand dump. But it will not find any .wbfs games. Do they have to be iso? Where do I put them on the hard drive? (root or in a folder?)

 

[eye123]

since most of the homebrew doesnt support ntfs yet, you cant simply go all ntfs yet.. the hbc wont read a NTFS drive... neither do channel fowarders...

If most homebrew can't read NTFS and the HBC can't read NTFS why are members being told to format thier drives to NTFS?

Dosen't wii backup manager only read from a Fat32 drive?

But I just read that USB Loader GX can read NTFS...



I guess what I am asking is...

An app that can use NTFS (ie USB Loader GX) be lauched from HBC that can't read NTFS?

Or does USB Loader GX "setup" to read NTFS have to be ran as a channel?


You really have to read like crazy not to screw things up on a wii around here.

I read something I want to try, I feel I am going in the right direction from reading the posts...

I read more only to find out what I was going to try is wrong and may even end up with a brick

Does site need to be cleaned up, just like my mother always telling me to clean my room, then I can find what I am looking for...xD


This site is my first love and got me going, but I had to put in over 40 hours of reading and most of it should be deleted



I'm all NTFS'd out...xD

 

[r-win]

If most homebrew can't read NTFS and the HBC can't read NTFS why are members being told to format thier drives to NTFS?
Dosen't wii backup manager only read from a Fat32 drive?
But I just read that USB Loader GX can read NTFS...
USB Loader GX contains some code (made by Oggzee, Rodries and Shareese) which is capable of identifying and reading NTFS partitions. The HBC and most homebrew cannot read those partitions, since they do not contain this code.

It comes down to this:

• If you have a dedicated HDD for Wii game loading, you can choose to format your disc to WBFS, FAT32 or NTFS. Choose the format you prefer.
• If you have homebrew on your HDD, and you want to use it for Wii game loading, you have different options:
  • You can make one big ass partition, formatted as FAT32. This partition will be readable by most homebrew, and by the HBC.
  • You can make multiple partitions, one formatted as FAT32 for homebrew and the HBC. The other partitions can be a format of choice, but again, when used for Wii game loading, it should be either WBFS, FAT32 or NTFS.

QUOTE(eye123 @ Jan 8 2010, 08:53 AM) An app that can use NTFS (ie USB Loader GX) be lauched from HBC that can't read NTFS?

Yes!

 

[eye123]

Thanks guys

Now this is worth printing!


eye123

 

[r-win]

Just installed r890 and a new ntfs formatted hdd. Odd-- it finds and loads wiiware and VC games I have on a nand dump. But it will not find any .wbfs games. Do they have to be iso? Where do I put them on the hard drive? (root or in a folder?)

Put them in a /wbfs folder.

 

[Zulithe]

r883 is the last build that works for me still.

r884 complained about parental controls even though I had it set to everyone, and no matter how i changed my parental settings nothing was loading (not even disc covers etc.)

upgraded to r891 just now and everything APPEARS to work (all cover/disc images load, and my entire game list shows up as it should) until I try to load a game from USB HDD (ntfs formatted, works great with r883. It's a Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 2.0 which I saw many people recommend)

I just get a black screen. I've tried several popular games, namely Twilight Princess. crash maybe? I don't really know how to troubleshoot it. All I know is r883 works and I hope you guys can figure out what is wrong before you make a new release

*edit*
little addendum here...
the drive is fully partitioned (single partition) as NTFS, with all games in /wbfs/; r883 reads all the games fine off this disc.

*edit #2*
I just want to double confirm that r883 does work fine on my config, i just swapped builds again with the ONLY change being going from 891 to 883, and 883 works perfectly.

Let me know what other information i can possibly provide to help

 

[dwmyke]

Just installed r890 and a new ntfs formatted hdd. Odd-- it finds and loads wiiware and VC games I have on a nand dump. But it will not find any .wbfs games. Do they have to be iso? Where do I put them on the hard drive? (root or in a folder?)

Put them in a /wbfs folder.

I saved them as iso's with the gameid_gametitle option in Wii game manager. Put them in a wbfs folder.. Updated to r891. Still only sees channels. No games. What am I doing wrong?

 

[smf]

If most homebrew can't read NTFS and the HBC can't read NTFS why are members being told to format thier drives to NTFS?

Human nature.

All the cool kids are running with a single FAT32 partition and no SD card.

 

[tech3475]

Thanks for this great app, however, I was wondering:
1. could you make it possible to use this to backup GC games, not run them, just back them up. Its allot easier than the wifi method or buying a new DVD drive.
2. Is WBFS better than NTFS for performance? I am just asking because if the performance is the same I may switch to NTFS instead because I can use the drive easily. If not I'll stick to WBFS.

 

[Cyan]

I saved them as iso's with the gameid_gametitle option in Wii game manager. Put them in a wbfs folder.. Updated to r891. Still only sees channels. No games. What am I doing wrong?

- Check if you are running on cIOS222 globally (not per game settings). if you change that preference, restart GX.
- Check if you are reading the correct partition
- Check which format your setting is reading (subfolder or not) :
1) drive:/wbfs/ID_name.iso
2) drive:/wbfs/ID_name/ID.iso

I don't think of any other things for the moment, and I may giving bad direction as I didn't try the few latest revisions (I'm still on r815), it's just probable options.

 

[GolfDude]

your new sound menu worked once, then when i went back a 2nd time onward it code dumps and doesnt remember where your sound file are..

 

[dwmyke]

I saved them as iso's with the gameid_gametitle option in Wii game manager. Put them in a wbfs folder.. Updated to r891. Still only sees channels. No games. What am I doing wrong?

- Check if you are running on cIOS222 globally (not per game settings). if you change that preference, restart GX.
- Check if you are reading the correct partition
- Check which format your setting is reading (subfolder or not) :
1) drive:/wbfs/ID_name.iso
2) drive:/wbfs/ID/ID_name.iso

I don't think of any other things for the moment, and I may giving bad direction as I didn't try the few latest revisions (I'm still on r815), it's just probable options.

Has to be something with the partition setting. It's stuck on wbfs, takes while to cycle through the options, and then won't recognize anything on the ntfs setting. Backing out after that causes a stack dump. Guess I'll try fat32 and if that doesn't work.. sticking to wbfs.

 

[r-win]

I saved them as iso's with the gameid_gametitle option in Wii game manager. Put them in a wbfs folder.. Updated to r891. Still only sees channels. No games. What am I doing wrong?
I see a couple of things here. At first, it doesn't recognize either your harddrive, or your partitions. I can tell, because you see the channels listed. USB Loader GX will only show you the channels when it can't find a harddrive.

Therefor, it comes down to a few possibilities. Either you have an incompatible harddrive, or the globally used cios doesn't recognize your harddrive. It is possible that your harddrive is recognized with cios 249, but not with 222. The other way around is also possible. It's also possible, that you didn't mark the partition as active, or that the partition method you used isn't MBR partitioning.

- Check if you are running on cIOS222 globally (not per game settings). if you change that preference, restart GX.
It doesn't matter if you set the cios to 222 when using FAT or NTFS. If you use globally cios 249, it can still read the games in USB GX. The problem is launching a game with the wrong cios. Therefor, USB GX will automatically switch to cios 222 or 223 when you launch a game.

QUOTE(Cyan @ Jan 8 2010, 07:01 PM)

- Check which format your setting is reading (subfolder or not) :

That setting affects INSTALLING only. USB GX will ALWAYS read files from the /wbfs folder, as well as all subfolders it contains, if they match the _ pattern.

Cyan, you are right about one thing though. It's best to switch the cios globally to 222 or 223. It's the best way to see if you drive is detected with cios 222. If ppl have their global cios set to 249, and use FAT or NTFS, USB GX will automatically switch to 222. If cios 222 doesn't detect the drive, it'll result in a black screen.

 

[gil21]

should i install hermes cios 222,if i want to play usb loader gx with ntfs format?

 

[XFlak]

yes

 

[Cyan]

Thanks for the precision r-win.

I didn't know about the 222 not selected globally and GX still using it to list the games.
but I did read once about the wbfs sub-folder was only for installing, I just forgot

Ah, one question though :
Does the loaders (gx and others) reads the gameID from filename, the folder name, or need both the same to detect the installed games ?
(I know, I could try myself, or check the source)

1 - drive:/wbfs/SMNE01/test_mario.iso
2 - drive:/wbfs/test/SMNE01_mario.iso
3 - drive:/wbfs/SMNE01/SMNE01_mario.iso

which one will not work ? 1, 2, or both ?

 

[DarkBowser]

It have to be wbfs/GameID_Name/GameID.iso

I have also a little question: When I use my NTFS hard drive with the games in .wbfs format, you can choose the game in the USB Loader GX, but when I want to start it, there's only a black screen. Do I need the Hermes cIOS rev4?

 

[Cyan]

It have to be wbfs/GameID_Name/GameID.iso

I have also a little question: When I use my NTFS hard drive with the games in .wbfs format, you can choose the game in the USB Loader GX, but when I want to start it, there's only a black screen. Do I need the Hermes cIOS rev4?

Yes, only rev4 is working with ntfs.