Hacking USB Loader GX

[Cyan]

I have ticked the NES box at the top and Gamecube is ticked within there.

it's supposed to be a Wii game box and a channel layout. (to choose from game or channel, or any sources)
Sorry I'm bad a pixel design. I also don't always have ideas (I made a drawer for "category" from the idea to sort things in different places), if someone is better at making icons, let me know

All you installed is gamecube games, you don't have wii games on your drive?
Maybe that drive is not compatible with custom IOS (more probably if it's a flash drive instead of an external hard drive).
To make it recognized by the loader, you need to use the official IOS58 inside the loader :
USBLoaderGX > Settings > Loader's settings > Loader's IOS : 58
reboot

 

[Gamefreakblog]

it's supposed to be a Wii game box and a channel layout. (to choose from game or channel, or any sources)
Sorry I'm bad a pixel design. I also don't always have ideas (I made a drawer for "category" from the idea to sort things in different places), if someone is better at making icons, let me know

All you installed is gamecube games, you don't have wii games on your drive?
Maybe that drive is not compatible with custom IOS (more probably if it's a flash drive instead of an external hard drive).
To make it recognized by the loader, you need to use the official IOS58 inside the loader :
USBLoaderGX > Settings > Loader's settings > Loader's IOS : 58
reboot

No, I don't have any wii games loaded. I was just trying it with GC games first. It is one of those little 8GB USB flash drives I think. I can load stuff there from my computer, it is also formatted to FAT32. Just when I try to load USB loader in the outside USB port on the Wii it freezes when initialising USB. I always have to hard reset it. So if i set it to IOS 58, it should work?

 

[Cyan]

it should yes, IOS58 seems to be more compatible, but it can't be used for wii games. that's why I asked if you used wii games.
It could be just the initialization process which is the issue, in that case cIOS can take the relay for wii games (if you plan to play any Wii games in the future with that device), or may end being completely incompatible with cIOS and in that case you'll need another drive. In general, Flash drives are not good with the Wii or WiiU.

 

[Gamefreakblog]

it should yes, IOS58 seems to be more compatible, but it can't be used for wii games. that's why I asked if you used wii games.
It could be just the initialization process which is the issue, in that case cIOS can take the relay for wii games (if you plan to play any Wii games in the future with that device), or may end being completely incompatible with cIOS and in that case you'll need another drive. In general, Flash drives are not good with the Wii or WiiU.

Yes, because I am a newcomer to all this and a bit of a noob I just wanted to load the games to a flash to see if it worked. I do want all Wii/GC games on my system, and will invest in a external HD, this was just for testing purposes. I'll do what you suggest and get back to you

 

[mcmn]

Beta 52 base 56 in slot 249 and bets 52 too (but with 57 base)in slot 250.

Thanks. Do you keep the USB Loader GX iOS (menu and game) at the default 249 with this setup?

 

[Zonta85]

Thanks. Do you keep the USB Loader GX iOS (menu and game) at the default 249 with this setup?

Yes because while loading usb loader gx and initializing hard drives ios 249 works fine for me, but sometimes (as you can see @Cyan was talking about this issue) with few hard drives and most flash memories cIOS249 doesn't work, if it happens, since ios 58 is more compatible use:

249 for games
58 in USBLoaderGX > Settings > Loader's settings > Loader's IOS

 

[Gamefreakblog]

it should yes, IOS58 seems to be more compatible, but it can't be used for wii games. that's why I asked if you used wii games.
It could be just the initialization process which is the issue, in that case cIOS can take the relay for wii games (if you plan to play any Wii games in the future with that device), or may end being completely incompatible with cIOS and in that case you'll need another drive. In general, Flash drives are not good with the Wii or WiiU.

Right. I set it to what you said and this time it loaded up right away. But the two games that I put into the folders (Wind Waker and Fire Emblem) are not showing.

 

[Zonta85]

Right. I set it to what you said and this time it loaded up right away. But the two games that I put into the folders (Wind Waker and Fire Emblem) are not showing.

Be sure that the games are placed in this way and with this name (view attached image)

Be sure that in the usb loader custom path menu the path for the gamecube games is set to usb1/games

 

[Cyan]

it's that format?
usb:/games/Zelda wind waker/game.iso

it's also a good idea to add the GameID if you know it. It speeds up the loader's load speed (well, with only 2 games you won't see a difference)
usb:/games/Zelda wind waker [GZLP01]/game.iso

Like zonta said, check the settings in the loader.
Settings > user path > Gamecube MAIN path : usb1:/games/
usb1 means it's the first mounted partition on USB.

be sure your drive is FAT32 and not exFAT.
exFAT works with nintendont now, but not with USBLoaderGX.


verify you don't have "favorite" option enabled or only favorite games will be displayed. (the star icon in the top menu)

 

[Zonta85]

it's that format?
usb:/games/Zelda wind waker/game.iso

it's also a good idea to add the GameID if you know it. It speeds up the loader's load speed (well, with only 2 games you won't see a difference)
usb:/games/Zelda wind waker [GZLP01]/game.iso

be sure your drive is FAT32 and not exFAT.
exFAT works with nintendont now, but not with USBLoaderGX.

I didn't know that adding the game id will speed up the loader's load speed, thank you.
But the name before the game id can be everything, correct?

 

[Cyan]

the GameID in the folder is used as "ID" in the loader to recognize the game.
It's using that "ID" to get the game's title from wiitdb.xml and download the correct cover from gametdb.com

so you can have any name in the folder if you use the proper GameID.


If you don't have a GameID in the folder :
it will open the ISO to read the GameID from it (making open/read/close cycle operation for each found games, making the loading speed slower)

If you don't use Gametdb.xml to get the proper game's title, it will also have to read the title from somewhere :
games/GameID6/game.iso <-- will read the game's title from inside the ISO (open/read/close the iso), but the cover will be download from gametdb correctly using GameID6
game/Title/game.iso <-- will use the folder's name as Game's title, except if it's 6 letters (it will think it's a gameID and cover download will fail)

What's best is :
1. update Wiitdb database : Settings>update>wiitdb
2. enable wiitdb : settings>features>Wiitdb : ON
3. always put the gameID in the folder games/whatever you want [GameID6]/

 

[Gamefreakblog]

Be sure that the games are placed in this way and with this name (view attached image)

Be sure that in the usb loader custom path menu the path for the gamecube games is set to usb1/games

Yes, I am sure that the drive is set to usb1/games. And this is the USB drive with the folder and how I have put the games in the folder.

 

[sideskroll]

it should yes, IOS58 seems to be more compatible, but it can't be used for wii games. that's why I asked if you used wii games.
It could be just the initialization process which is the issue, in that case cIOS can take the relay for wii games (if you plan to play any Wii games in the future with that device), or may end being completely incompatible with cIOS and in that case you'll need another drive. In general, Flash drives are not good with the Wii or WiiU.

@Cyan 3 questions regarding the ios.
-what's the difference if any, between manually editing the xml file to add ios58 as the loaders default (so it reloads 249 before launching the loader) *which is what I currently do* and just entering ios 58 in the loaders options? ( So basically ios 58>cios 249)
-Why not use a cIOS with base 58? Would it be the same?
-Why don't you make ios 58 as the default? Everyone has it and apparently, a lot of people (myself included) have issues with initializing some drives with 249... Speed? Or...?

 

[Zonta85]

the GameID in the folder is used as "ID" in the loader to recognize the game.
It's using that "ID" to get the game's title from wiitdb.xml and download the correct cover from gametdb.com

so you can have any name in the folder if you use the proper GameID.


If you don't have a GameID in the folder :
it will open the ISO to read the GameID from it (making open/read/close cycle operation for each found games, making the loading speed slower)

If you don't use Gametdb.xml to get the proper game's title, it will also have to read the title from somewhere :
games/GameID6/game.iso <-- will read the game's title from inside the ISO (open/read/close the iso), but the cover will be download from gametdb correctly using GameID6
game/Title/game.iso <-- will use the folder's name as Game's title, except if it's 6 letters (it will think it's a gameID and cover download will fail)

What's best is :
1. update Wiitdb database : Settings>update>wiitdb
2. enable wiitdb : settings>features>Wiitdb : ON
3. always put the gameID in the folder games/whatever you want [GameID6]/

Yeah, i'm very friendly with IDs and wiitdb and i use gametdb.xml and i use to update it very often, my only concern was about the name before the ID, for example,if i understand, i can name it "NameThatIprefere [GZLP01]" and the loader will still get the id from here insted reding it from the ISO?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Yes, I am sure that the drive is set to usb1/games. And this is the USB drive with the folder and how I have put the games in the folder. View attachment 70107

Be sure that the folder is setted as in the image attached in "main gamecube path.
Be sure too that under the loader menu, the option "Gamecube source" is setted on "Main path".

If it still does'nt work, create a "games" older in the root of sd card, then copy and paste the zelda subfolder in it, then change the "Gamecube source" from "Main path" to the SD card

 

[GreyWolf]

@Cyan 3 questions regarding the ios.
-what's the difference if any, between manually editing the xml file to add ios58 as the loaders default (so it reloads 249 before launching the loader) *which is what I currently do* and just entering ios 58 in the loaders options? ( So basically ios 58>cios 249)
-Why not use a cIOS with base 58? Would it be the same?
-Why don't you make ios 58 as the default? Everyone has it and apparently, a lot of people (myself included) have issues with initializing some drives with 249... Speed? Or...?

The loader requests an IOS reload into the one in the meta.xml immediately on starting before it initializes the USB and filesystem.

IOS58 doesn't work on my drive. Forcing the USB Loader GX to start with it would result in the same issue I have with Wiiflow: it crashes. I have to force WiiExplorer to reload to IOS249[56] too or it freezes while writing to the drive. Any file that's more than a few megabytes won't make it onto my HDD.

 

[Cyan]

yes, as long as it finds the ID in the folder, it will use it from here.
and if you use wiitdb, you can name your folder with anything else, it's just for your own convenience, as it will use the title from wiitdb.xml instead.

@Cyan 3 questions regarding the ios.
-what's the difference if any, between manually editing the xml file to add ios58 as the loaders default (so it reloads 249 before launching the loader) *which is what I currently do* and just entering ios 58 in the loaders options? ( So basically ios 58>cios 249)
-Why not use a cIOS with base 58? Would it be the same?
-Why don't you make ios 58 as the default? Everyone has it and apparently, a lot of people (myself included) have issues with initializing some drives with 249... Speed? Or...?

3. We did that few years ago, and lot of users had issues with their HDD not being recognized (that's funny, because now it's being used to fix unrecognized device with cIOS), so we reverted back to use cIOS at launch.
2. we can use a cIOS with base58, yes. the USB Module in a base58 is kept to the official one. But not all games are compatible with cIOS base58 (lot of black screens at launch, unfortunately).

1. When you edit the settings from inside the loader, it's ALSO editing the meta.xml argument.
so if you edit the setting manually in GXGlobal, it's not editing the meta.xml
if you edit the meta.xml manually it's not editing GXGlobal.

all this is maybe confusing because of the setting's names (I always told the GUI names were poorly chosen).
It's actually missing a setting : boot IOS.

The loader is using two different IOS : one at boot (located in meta.xml), one inside the loader (located in GXglobal.cfg).
When you set the "Loader's IOS" setting, it's affecting both.
I recently added a forced meta.xml rewrite when the user edit the settings. it wasn't affecting the xml in previous revision, and it worked like your current setup : different slots numbers for boot and settings. I thought if users wanted to use 58 in the loader, they would better use 58 in meta.xml too (no need to reload to 249 to reload to 58 again while HBC was already using 58)


When you launch the loader, the current IOS is already IOS58 (loaded by either HBC or the forwarder channel).
If you don't use the meta.xml arguments, it's automatically reloading to the default cIOS (249/250/222 based on the boot.dol you use, but I stopped releasing 222 and 250!) before mounting the devices, then read the cIOS the user want to use for the loader's IOS and reload to it if different.

IOS58 > Boot > meta.xml IOS ? yes -> reload to it. no, reload to default cIOS 249 -> mount SD and USB using current IOS -> load GXGlobal.cfg -> is the user requesting a different IOS slot than the currently loaded ? no-> fine; yes -> unmount device, reload IOS, remount devices -> display GUI.


So, if you set 58 in meta.xml and 249 manually in GXGlobal, it will use 58 to "look for the GXGlobal.cfg file" at launch, and will see you want to use 249 so it will reload to cIOS249 (takes 1-2 seconds at launch screen)
if you set your meta.xml and GXglobal to the exact same slot, you win some loading time, as you skip a IOS reloading cycle.
if your meta.xml is set to 58, it's even faster because HBC is already using it and you don't need any reload at all.

But if you use dual port, you'd have to use a d2x IOS as "loader's IOS" or it will not mount both drives at the same time. you can use 58 in meta.xml (to init the drive in case you have HDD detection issue) and then switch to cIOS v10-alt in the loader to mount both usb drives.
That's why a proper third option could be useful : "Boot's IOS" "Loader's IOS" and "Game's IOS". Boot IOS would be the one located in the meta.xml.
note that meta.xml also have a "usb to mount" option, and you'd better use a d2x in meta.xml in that case, or the partition order could be reversed if you load with 58.


I feel I made it more confusing than clearing your concerns, no?

HBC or forwarder 58 -> meta slot -> config slot

the meta is used to init the drive
the config is used to manage the drive

 

[Gamefreakblog]

Yeah, i'm very friendly with IDs and wiitdb and i use gametdb.xml and i use to update it very often, my only concern was about the name before the ID, for example,if i understand, i can name it "NameThatIprefere [GZLP01]" and the loader will still get the id from here insted reding it from the ISO?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Be sure that the folder is setted as in the image attached in "main gamecube path.
Be sure too that under the loader menu, the option "Gamecube source" is setted on "Main path".

If it still does'nt work, create a "games" older in the root of sd card, then copy and paste the zelda subfolder in it, then change the "Gamecube source" from "Main path" to the SD card

So here is what I see. Should there be a file showing in the game files? When I select usb1/games, I see the folders that I have made for the games, and when I click in the folder, there is nothing there. SHould that be the case?

 

[Cyan]

yes, that's normal you don't see the "game.iso" because it's in "folder selection mode" not in "file selection mode"
just go into "/games/" folder and select that folder. (don't enter in zelda or fire emblem folders)

it should be fine if they are listed there, it means the loader has properly mounted that drive and see the folders.
then what's wrong is one of your other settings.

either you have "favorite" enabled, and obviously don't have any favored games.
either you enabled category filtering, but did a wrong selection
or you locked the loader, and parental control is enabled and the game hidden
or you changed the settings to load only from SD instead of SD+Main in "settings>loader settings>Gamecube origin"
or another setting I don't think right now

 

[sideskroll]

yes, as long as it finds the ID in the folder, it will use it from here.
and if you use wiitdb, you can name your folder with anything else, it's just for your own convenience, as it will use the title from wiitdb.xml instead.


3. We did that few years ago, and lot of users had issues with their HDD not being recognized (that's funny, because now it's being used to fix unrecognized device with cIOS), so we reverted back to use cIOS at launch.
2. we can use a cIOS with base58, yes. the USB Module in a base58 is kept to the official one. But not all games are compatible with cIOS base58 (lot of black screens at launch, unfortunately).

1. When you edit the settings from inside the loader, it's ALSO editing the meta.xml argument.
so if you edit the setting manually in GXGlobal, it's not editing the meta.xml
if you edit the meta.xml manually it's not editing GXGlobal.

all this is maybe confusing because of the setting's names (I always told the GUI names were poorly chosen).
It's actually missing a setting : boot IOS.

The loader is using two different IOS : one at boot (located in meta.xml), one inside the loader (located in GXglobal.cfg).
When you set the "Loader's IOS" setting, it's affecting both.
I recently added a forced meta.xml rewrite when the user edit the settings. it wasn't affecting the xml in previous revision, and it worked like your current setup : different slots numbers for boot and settings. I thought if users wanted to use 58 in the loader, they would better use 58 in meta.xml too (no need to reload to 249 to reload to 58 again while HBC was already using 58)


When you launch the loader, the current IOS is already IOS58 (loaded by either HBC or the forwarder channel).
If you don't use the meta.xml arguments, it's automatically reloading to the default cIOS (249/250/222 based on the boot.dol you use, but I stopped releasing 222 and 250!) before mounting the devices, then read the cIOS the user want to use for the loader's IOS and reload to it if different.

IOS58 > Boot > meta.xml IOS ? yes -> reload to it. no, reload to default cIOS 249 -> mount SD and USB using current IOS -> load GXGlobal.cfg -> is the user requesting a different IOS slot than the currently loaded ? no-> fine; yes -> unmount device, reload IOS, remount devices -> display GUI.


So, if you set 58 in meta.xml and 249 manually in GXGlobal, it will use 58 to "look for the GXGlobal.cfg file" at launch, and will see you want to use 249 so it will reload to cIOS249 (takes 1-2 seconds at launch screen)
if you set your meta.xml and GXglobal to the exact same slot, you win some loading time, as you skip a IOS reloading cycle.
if your meta.xml is set to 58, it's even faster because HBC is already using it and you don't need any reload at all.

But if you use dual port, you'd have to use a d2x IOS as "loader's IOS" or it will not mount both drives at the same time. you can use 58 in meta.xml (to init the drive in case you have HDD detection issue) and then switch to cIOS v10-alt in the loader to mount both usb drives.
That's why a proper third option could be useful : "Boot's IOS" "Loader's IOS" and "Game's IOS". Boot IOS would be the one located in the meta.xml.
note that meta.xml also have a "usb to mount" option, and you'd better use a d2x in meta.xml in that case, or the partition order could be reversed if you load with 58.


I feel I made it more confusing than clearing your concerns, no?

HBC or forwarder 58 -> meta slot -> config slot

the meta is used to init the drive
the config is used to manage the drive

No, actually I understood everything. So there's no difference at all between using ios 58, reloading to 249, or just 58 all the way. Right? Unless I'm planning on using a dual hdd setup which I'm not.

 

[Cyan]

no differences.
if initiating with 58 works, then you can set the loader to use 58 too. That's why I made the settings to edit the meta at the same time : if it works at init, you better use that same IOS later.

like greywolf mentioned, some users had crashed with 58, so we reverted to cIOS by default. but it might works fine for lot of users.
Now users have detection issue with new drives and cIOS .... I can't force 58 at launch to fix that issue due to the above issue... So I'll have to find a better way to "check if it works" without crashing, then try another IOS.

currently, it's fine setting that slot manually to fix the HDD detection issue. it's the better compromise.