Hacking USB Loader GX

[Cyan]

ah that's weird, I thought it was due to that error.
Someone else had the same problem with "back to loader", I pointed him to that same solution, and he said it's now working.

You can try older loaderGX revision to see if it's only 938 which has this problem.
you could also try (but it's not recommended I think) to reinstall HBC1.0.6, but you will have 2 HBC channel on your wii.

 

[specht]

Thanks for the replies Dexter222 and Cyan. I have Hermes v4 37/38 and cIOS rev17 trying to run r938 and still no luck. When running from homebrew channel it does switch to 222 to load the HDD but the 'no partitions found' windows still comes up.

All I can think of now is that I must have some sort of other IOS or something installed that prevents GX from reading my HDD. Might have to switch to Config after all.

Ironically the problem started when I updated the loader without touching any IOS. From r920 with IOS's that haven't had their compatibility removed.

 

[dexter222]

Thanks for the replies Dexter222 and Cyan. I have Hermes v4 37/38 and cIOS rev17 trying to run r938 and still no luck. When running from homebrew channel it does switch to 222 to load the HDD but the 'no partitions found' windows still comes up.

All I can think of now is that I must have some sort of other IOS or something installed that prevents GX from reading my HDD. Might have to switch to Config after all.

Ironically the problem started when I updated the loader without touching any IOS. From r920 with IOS's that haven't had their compatibility removed.

That does sound odd. Did you try deleting the config files? I doubt it makes any difference but I use the forwarder channel. I updated to r938 from r899 - I had no reason to other than to see what it was like

perhaps you can revert to an earlier version if you can't get r938 to work? Good luck

 

[EnigmaXtreme]

I don't know if this has been brought up yet, im on rev938. When I click the install a new game button, it dosnet go to the install screen. All it does is show the game select screen again, but some of the game titles are garbled with strange letters and such

 

[petspeed]

I don't know if this has been brought up yet, im on rev938. When I click the install a new game button, it dosnet go to the install screen. All it does is show the game select screen again, but some of the game titles are garbled with strange letters and such

That's a known bug. Don't use the install button, instead insert the disc you want to rip while USB Loader GX is started and it will automatically pop up asking if you want to install the game.

 

[Cyan]

I would like to list USBloaderGX problems and outdated features (to help other users, so I could remember faster what's wrong)
So far I remember these :

Bugs or regressions, and its temporary solution :

• Install button not working : Eject and reinsert the game, the install dialog will popup automatically. Though, game dumping might still not work correctly with latest revision, use older one (r874 is the last official stable release)
• The spinning disc window freeze the loader, I can't run games anymore : It's caused by using cIOSx as main IOS and a banner sound reading bug in the loader. You have 4 solutions :
  • Go back to cIOSrev17,
  • Set game launching options to quickboot in the loader preferences,
  • Set the sound volume to 0 in the loader preferences,
  • Use a revision less than r922, or more than r931(938 reported working fine. Not tested by me) (not compatible with cIOSx+ntfs).
• No cIOSx (rev18, rev19, rev20) support as main IOS : Install cIOSRev17. It's the officially recommended cIOS revision and it works with double layer.
  cIOSx are working as main IOS with WBFS partition, but may have bugs with some USBloaderGX revisions (loader freezing, error messages at game launch).
  As a second solution, you can use cIOSx as individual game preferences, not as main IOS for the loader, for example for Arc Rise Fantasia (loader uses IOS249rev17, and ARF uses cIOS[56]rev20)
  for FAT32/NTFS partition, it's recommended to use Hermes v4 instead.
• No Hermes V5 support as main IOS : install Hermes v4 (select cIOS222 with base 37+38 for better compatibility)
• No NTFS support : Use Hermes v4 as main IOS for NTFS support (read only). If you still want to use hermes v5 or a cIOSx set as main IOS to access NTFS partition, use USBloaderGX revision in range 923-930. Use at your own risk, they are not officially supported. Attention : read 2nd point of this faq : spinning disc freezing.
  Stable NTFS reading/Writting will be available in few days (starting in r944).
• In a game, the "return to loader" doesn't work anymore : The patch on the "Wii menu" button has been removed in r931. You can use GX rev927 (this revision has the patch for every games, even early ones (twilight princess etc.)), or use the latest beta which will allow you to select the return to Title ID. It Requires AHBPROT+IOS58, launched either from HBC or from the new (unreleased ?) AHBPROT compatible forwarder. (PM me if you want it)
• My 2TB HDD is not working anymore : Use rev899 for the moment. it should be corrected in future revisions.
• In the loader, Back to HBC gives a black screen with HBC1.0.7+ : Use rev942+ (available only as beta), or Install a (hidden) forwarder. see guide bellow.
  
  Spoiler: guide to install a hidden HBC forwarder

  For everyone who updated HBC to 1.0.7 and 1.0.8:
  in USBloader, back to loader = load "JODI" channel.
  But you updated the homebrew channel, and since 1.0.7, the homebrew channel has change name. JODI doesn't exist anymore.
  Until USBloaderGX is updated to support the new HBC title, you need to install a hidden channel named JODI acting as a forwarder to the new HBC name. (or reinstall HBC1.0.6, but you will have 2 HBC channel)
  
  Download this forwarder dol
  Then use "Hide and Seek" with the dol to make it a hidden channel forwarder, with title ID : JODI
  install the wad to your Wii.
  USBloaderGX (and any other old homebrew trying to load JODI) will be redirected and will be able to boot HBC1.0.7+

I didn't include the requested features (like alt dol+), I only listed the non working or removed ones.
It's an attempt at writing a mini FAQ for helping users.

 

[petspeed]

Return to loader removed in r931
Rugby League 3 doesn't work (only in demo mode)

Requested features:
Alt. Dol+
Savegame emulation (Hermes v5)

 

[Bladexdsl]

i've given up on this and moved to wiiflow PMW updated me to 4.1 and now nothing works on it i click to load a game, change options or anything = freezes. gx had it's chance and blew it!

 

[specht]

Deleting the config files was the first thing I attempted whenever I switched the revision of the loader. And when I open it the cios is set to 1 and partition is set to 0 which is correct since I only have the FAT32 partition and I'm using Hermes ios222 v4 as Cyan suggested.

I don't recall ever installing an IOS that lets you use port1 for loading. Either way I'm always using port0. And yes the drive works perfectly fine with Configurable Loader which makes me think I'll probably have to switch over to that if I can't get this sorted out.

Right now I'm gonna go through the IOS's installed on my Wii individually to see if one of those are causing the problem. I've been messing with this thing since the original Twilight Hack so I probably installed something a while back that's just causing problems now.

 

[Cyan]

Thanks for the infos.

Other IOS, and even the Wii system menu version, don't affect the loader at all.
The loader only load the cIOS it needs, no other IOS are used. even if you installed a lot of things, it has no connection with GX not working.

If all your cIOS config are good, the problem might really comes from the drive.
Maybe the drive has something that GX doesn't like, while other loader doesn't care.
Maybe the fat32 partition is not set to active ? Though, as there's only 1 partition, it should be automatically set, so it's most certainly not the problem here, but who knows, just check the partition state

Do you have another HDD to try GX with ? even a USB stick in fat32, just to see if GX load the partition just fine, or still ignore it.
Does going back to rev920 resolve the problem ?


Ps: sorry if I asked the same questions again, *Alzheimer starting early*

 

[specht]

It seems the problem is in my HDD. I used a USB stick I have lying around and it works fine with r938.

I wasn't entirely sure what version I was on before I originally had the problem, but it seems that what they changed in r914 lost compatibility with my drive since it works with r913.

I guess I'll have to stick with this revision for now.

 

[Cyan]

I see that r914 is the revision when they added the first Hermes V5 compatibility (and modified the FAT functions).
Maybe some HDD models are not compatible with the new functions.
But if other loader works fine with the same hdd, it will be possible to update the code of USBloaderGX.
I don't know if one of the dev will be willing to work on this, it might be hard and needs a lot of recoding.

I'm sorry for you that you can't try the new features (mainly return to loader, and Wip patching (for PoP and future games)).
If you are still willing to try, could you tell me the result with r923 ? (this revision corrects hermesv5 support, maybe the fat is fixed too for v4)

 

[specht]

Tried on r923 and get the same result as anything else r914+.

I'm not too worried about the features I'm missing out on right now, but who knows what'll happen later on. I'll have to submit an issue on the google code site.

Looking at the source code and judging by how far the program recognizes the drive (the partition is recognized, but can't be mounted) I'd say the bug is somewhere in fatmounter.c or how the main.cpp uses the functions. If I had access to the code changes between r914 and r913 and more free time I'd try and figure it out myself.

And if it wasn't a 2TB drive that's about 75% full I'd try reformatting to WBFS to see if it's a physical drive problem, though that doesn't seem needed since it works at a previous revision.

 

[PPSainity]

.....
I would like to list every loaderGX problem and outdated features (to help other users, so I could remember faster what's wrong)
So far I remember these :

Bugs or regressions, and its temporary solution :

• No cIOSx (rev18, rev19, rev20) support as main IOS : install cIOSRev17. It's the officially recommended cIOS revision. It works with double layer.
  Though, you can use cIOSx rev20 when you set it as individual game configuration, not as main IOS for the loader, for example for Arc Rise Fantasia (loader uses rev17, ARF uses cIOS[56]rev20)

.....

Running on a 4.3U Wii using USB Loader GX r938 using WBFS drive with cIOSx Rev20 installed as IOS249 with a IOS57 Base here; set as main IOS for loader and all games. No problems running GX nor playing games. Is this issue affecting all Wii's or just some?

-[]D

 

[Cyan]

Ah, yes you are right, it's mainly for FAT32/NTFS support that cIOSx has problems (with this loader). It's not officially supported by the loader team, as fat32/ntfs support was removed, but wbfs code is still in the loader for every IOS used, so it's using the wbfs module of cIOSx.

WBFS partition has always better compatibility, but sometime for few games the loader will throw "WBFS Error : Bad Magic" before booting.
This was mostly when using cIOSx rev18 and 19.
Rev20 seems better (I didn't see the 'bad magic' message myself with this version), but some users reported this error is still here with rev20 too. Though, the game is loading fine.
cIOSx had also problems with few GX revisions (with banner sound enabled, the spinning disc window didn't show and the loader freezed. I'll add this error to my mini-faq)


If you don't have any problem with WBFS, you can keep your config

Edit : I updated the mini-faq a little.

 

[wishmasterf]

@Cyan

Thanks for you list. I was told that the USB-Loader usbloadergx is feature complete and there
will be no improvement anymore. So also Bugfixing, support for newer cios or adding new features will not
be.

I love this loader but now it has to many bugs an is outdated.

We should find good dev who want to reanimate, because yet the project is dead. Next possible solution
is, to start port/make a new interface for cfgusbloader to get that nice interface and active development.

 

[Cyan]

For me USBloaderGX project is not dead yet.
It's not the first time that the loader is in a stalled state (I'm following it since the first revs), and it will be updated when the developers regain their interest into it.
If I had better coding skills, I would gladly help too (like patching the new HBC title ID should be easy. I'll have to look at it when I have time).

The team is still online (IRC, Website) and answering questions and issues (even if lately the posted issues are only crap, I feel sorry for the team).

The loader is not really outdated either, as every games are working. Just use the good IOS and configuration, and you won't have any problem.
Only Sam & max games aren't, use Neogamma (with WBFS partition) for these 2 games.

If you think the Loader doesn't suit your needs anymore, just pick another one. There's no contract linking you to a specific loader

use as many as you want at the same time.

 

[wishmasterf]

For me USBloaderGX project is not dead yet.
It's not the first time that the loader is in a stalled state (I'm following it since the first revs), and it will be updated when the developers regain their interest into it.
If I had better coding skills, I would gladly help too (like patching the new HBC title ID should be easy. I'll have to look at it when I have time).
I hope i can believe but it seems not

The team is still online (IRC, Website) and answering questions and issues (even if lately the posted issues are only crap, I feel sorry for the team).
I know and there i was told that the loader is "feature complete" and there wont be development anymore.

The loader is not really outdated either, as every games are working. Just use the good IOS and configuration, and you won't have any problem.
Only Sam & max games aren't, use Neogamma (with WBFS partition) for these 2 games.

It is outdated. No support for newer cIOS is outdated for me.

QUOTE(Cyan @ Sep 9 2010, 12:56 PM)

If you think the Loader doesn't suit your needs anymore, just pick another one. There's no contract linking you to a specific loader

use as many as you want at the same time.

I love this loader and it would be great to see that bugfixing is done, i dont need new features but the existing features schould not removed if not working, they should be fixed, thats active development for me.

 

[Cyan]

I agree with you too, about outdated stuff, but it's not like it's not working at all. There's always a way to boot the game.
Though, it would be nice to have more choices and be up to date with cIOS revisions.

 

[wishmasterf]

I agree with you too, about outdated stuff, but it's not like it's not working at all. There's always a way to boot the game.
Though, it would be nice to have more choices and be up to date with cIOS revisions.

For me usbloadergx has the greatest GUI. I hope development and bugfixing will continue some time.