Hacking USBLoader GX - I managed to make things worse

[eyeliner]

Hi, guys.
Let's be clear:
I read far and wide about my particular issue, and followed a whole lot of advice from this very forum, namely a lot of Cyan's advice.

But let's go and explain things:
Same old story, Wii in storage a whole lot of time, with USBLoaderGX working perfectly, with Wii games.
Wanted to update the softmods, and load GC games from USBLoaderGX.
No dice.

My GC games appear only if there is an HDD connected to the lower port and the other port has no disk inserted. The GC games list appear.
If I unplug the HDD and then connect the HDD with my Wii games in the top port, they show.
Never both. Even after setting the paths, that for some funky reason, shows USB2 and USB1 with the same contents.
I went on to accept the fact that things are as they are and probably I'll just use a fat32 HDD and be happy with it, unless there's a workaround.

I followed this advice:

the guide will let you install this :
cIOS 249 base 56 v10 beta53-alt
cIOS 250 base 57 v10 beta52

But if you don't NEED to use two HDD at the same time, do not install beta53.
install v10 beta52 instead.
The beta53 has USB Port1 supports, but EmuNAND compatibility issues.
It's a choice YOU should make, not the guide for you:

d2x r52 : good EmuNAND, no USB Port1 support.
d2x r53 : bad EmuNAND, USB port1 enabled.

About the IOS base:
base 56 : faster USB access, not all game working.
base 57 : slightly slower USB access, more games are working.

So, if you want to use a "game not compatible with base 56" (such as Call of Duty, just dance, etc.) from USB Port1, then you need a IOS base57 + d2x r53 (v10-alt) !
This is a thing that this guide is not explaining to you, it only forces you to do things you don't understand and don't know why.

A good guide should explain the d2x revision differences and let you choose what you need, or in my opinion it should tell users to install r52 only because all previous cIOS were single port, and it was fine so far.
If the users really want/need port1, then the guide should give the option to such users but not set it as default for everyone as there are more users who want EmuNAND than ones who need dual USB ports. Or at least set r53 to the slot 250 and not the slot 249 which is the default slot for usb loaders!

Their "own recommendations, based on the experience" seems a little broken to me "based on my own experience helping people on gbatemp".


Tips:
There shouldn't be any games requiring IOS base56 but not working with base57.
So all you need is a cIOS base57, which has better compatibility. instead of wondering why a game is not working and going to a forum to get someone tell you "use 250", you could install base 57 right away and don't have to worry later.

You could install either only one cIOS :
cIOS 249 base 57 v10 beta52

or if you have to use dual USB port and emuNAND, you could install two base 57 with two d2x version :
cIOS 249 base 57 v10 beta52 (use this one for emuNAND channels, from port0)
cIOS 250 base 57 v10 beta53-alt (use this one when launching games from port1)
but dual port is really really not recommended, it's the door to complications and setup issues.

But now Active Life: Explorer throws me out to HB Channel, as Castlevania Judgement, and they worked fine (yes, I know I'm probably the only human being that thinks that Active Life games are worthy. Try them with a 4 year old and see for yourself.) Also, they run on Dolphin. Some other games work, like New Super Mario Wii, and other Active Life titles.

So, I'd prefer to clear everything and start from scratch, because I think I mucked up something along the way.

I'm only interested in USBLoaderGX. I like it, I'm used to it, it works.

So, I'm asking that, in order to maximise the compatibility, what are my main steps even after following Cyan's advice quoted above.
Heck, is there any tool to revert the system to a clean state and rehack from the ground up? I believe that because of my meagre understanding of IOS/cIOS, I might have broken something.

Thank you.

 

[Cyan]

why connect Wii game in top port ? (usb1) ?
you want/need to use 2 different HDD at the same time ? if you do, then that's the reverse !

plug Wii drive on bottom port (usb 0) and gamecube drive on top port (usb 1).
go to usbloadergx settings, set loader's ios to 58.
go to setting > custom path > change the gamecube main folder to usb2:/games/
go to settings > hdd menu > click on the first option to pic the partition where you have your wii games.

done. you have both hdd at the same time.


But, why not use only one HDD ? is that a problem to put gamecube and wii games on the same FAT32 drive?

 

[eyeliner]

Hello, Cyan.

Thank you for your reply. I have a single 40Gb HDD for Gamecube, but considering that I can still put a few games that I can manage, I've used it for Wii/GC as you suggested. About 7/10 games is more than enough. Later I realized that the biggest Wii game there was already split, it was a no-brainer. Makes sense, as there's less clutter. And simpler. But I wanted to try, anyway.

In the end, simplification won. I just might retry, because I never set the Loader IOS to 58. Maybe that was where I was wrong.

All is ok, because I see all Wii and GC games. I just can't load a couple, and one of them is important. My daughter loves them Active Life(s). But I asked in the stickied USBLoader topic.

Also, I went on and uninstalled cIOS from unneeded slots like you posted several times, and all is ok. Just 249/250/254(?) are occupied.

also, i love USBLoaderGX, and I must thank you for your hard work. This console really is amazing.