Hacking USBLoaderGX can't detect Port1, Nintendont can't detect Port0?

[soupkiff]

Hey all! Huge time lurker here, just recently got back into Wii modding after a long-term hiatus (8 years...?). Title describes my problem, I can play Wii games on Port0, and Gamecube games on Port1. Ideally, I want to be able to play both from Port0. My problem is as follows:

With the HDD plugged into Port0:

USBLoaderGX is able to see both my Wii games, and my Gamecube games. When attempting to play a Gamecube game, I get a splash screen from Nintendont after which the console shuts down.
If I boot Nintendont via HBC, it fails to initialize the HDD.

With the HDD plugged into Port1:

USBLoaderGX is unable to see any of my games, which defaults to the 'channel mode' showing my nand installed apps.
If I boot Nintendont via HBC, I can play all of my Gamecube games with no problems.

I have USBLoaderGX r1268 (launched via UNEO Forwarder channel on nand) installed on my SD card. My Wii / GameCube backups are installed on a 1TB HDD formatted to a single FAT32 partition with 32k clusters, set as Primary and Active. My Nintendont version is 4.431 v5.485, installed on my SD card. I used the ModMii v6.4.8 and selected the 'Start Here to Mod Your Wii' option to download and configure my Wii IOS / cIOS. Not sure if it is applicable, but my Wii is boot1 patched.

Here is a SysCheck log containing all of my installed IOS / cIOS.

Spoiler: SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 dump:

SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 HacksDen Edition by JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199, and Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.3U (v513)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 02.13.2007
Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58

Hollywood v0x11
Console ID: 107188849
Console Type: Wii
Shop Channel Country: United States (49)
Boot2 v4
Found 85 titles.
Found 49 IOS on this console. 4 of them are stubs.

IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS16 (rev 512): Stub
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS31 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS36 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS37 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS38 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS40 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS41 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS50 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS53 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS55 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): No Patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS80 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS202[60] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS222[38] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS223[38+37] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS224[57] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS236[36] (rev 65535, Info: rev 3351): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS249[56] (rev 21008, Info: d2x-v8final): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 21008, Info: d2x-v8final): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v10
Report generated on 09/21/2018.

Any help with this issue is greatly appreciated, my head has been spinning the last week or so trying to catch up on all the new goodies the homebrew scene has put together.

EDIT: Corrected my Nintendont version, I am using v5.485 built on August 26 2018 - Firmware: 58.24.32

 

[Escorpion]

DId you have you´re Wii games in Wbfs format, or in Iso format?

 

[FancyNintendoGamer567]

If you are using non d2X v9/v10-beta53-alt cIOSes, then it's normal that port1 isn't detected.
However, if your Nintendont is using IOS 58 for loading GC games. Then it's not normal for it not detecting IOS 58.

 

[soupkiff]

@Escorpion: All of my Wii games are in .wbfs format.

@FancyNintendoGamer567: Gotcha, thanks for confirming that the Port1 behavior is expected in GX. I used v8 because it was the revision ModMii downloaded, and also one that I've seen recommended as being more compatible than v10. If Nintendont was working as intended, is v8 still the ideal d2x version? I could try installing v10-beta53-alt if it would assist in troubleshooting, just to see if I can load GC games from GX. Also, what is the best way I should go about troubleshooting Nintendont?

EDIT: Just verified that HBC was using the correct IOS (I think?), showing the following when I go the options menu in HBC: v1.1.2 - IOS58 v24.32

 

[GreyWolf]

You don't want beta 53. It has nothing to do with Nintendont not working and will cause problems with your Wii games.

What kind of drive is it, and is it bus powered or does it have external power supply?

 

[soupkiff]

@GreyWolf: Hey GreyWolf, thanks for the response! A lot of your posts around the forums helped get me back up to speed with recent homebrew stuff. The drive is bus powered, it's a Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1 TB External HDD - STDR1000100 - USB 3.0.

I also have an old USB 2.0 specific drive (500GB of space) that I tried earlier, but only to verify USB Loader GX could not load on Port1 (explained as expected behavior by @FancyNintendoGamer567's info about the v10 d2x cIOS).

 

[Cyan]

keep your cIOS v8, it's fine for everything.

if you set IOS58 in USBLoaderGX, you can use Port1 without the need of any buggy cIOS.
but you won't be able to launch Wii games from that port. It's only useful in case you have 2 HDD plugged at the same time, port0 for wii games and port1 for gamecube games.

Though, if you have both on the same hdd, and uses only one, then using USBPort0 should not be a problem for nintendont.
if you use only one HDD, be sure you don't plug anything in Port1 (except y-cable if needed).
be sure you don't use HUB too. (though, hub should work with nintendont)


did you try to use your HDD with IOS58 and other homebrew ? WiiMC, Wiixplorer, emulators ? even HBC itself.
just to see if IOS58 can detect your drive's fat32 partition correctly, on port0 or port1


I think your problem could be because your drive has more than one partition.
you might see only the second partition, and a hidden partition might be located before the one with games. but, nintendont should skip non compatible format (it can mount only from FAT32 and exfat)
if you have a exfat before FAT32, USBLoaderGX will not list it, but nintendont will try to mount that one.
Maybe I'm wrong, but could you verify in a partition manager that you correctly have only one single partition defined in your partition table?

 

[soupkiff]

@Cyan: Thanks so much for the reply, Cyan. Your wiki is the main reason I've been able to get this far, love your contributions to this community.

My hdd uses a USB 3.0 micro connector, so nothing plugged into any other ports during testing, also no USB HUB.

I'm not sure of how to force homebrew to use a certain IOS, I tried changing the Loader Lettings > Loader's IOS to use IOS58 to test the drive in GX, although I'm unable to change the Hard Drive Settings > USB Port to 1, it gives me the following error: "USB Port Changing is only support on Hermes cIOS".

In any case, the drive shows a "USB Device not initialized. Switching to channel list mode" when plugged into Port0, or plugged into Port1 (rebooted each time), in GX. The error also occurs when using my other, older 500 GB drive from 2011, it has a WBFS partition that I had used for another Wii years ago. USB Loader GX is also unable to detect this drive, either plugged into Port1, or Port0 (When using IOS58 as the Loader's IOS).

As far as other homebrew goes, how would I force them to use a specific IOS?

Also, here is a diskpart / diskmgmt report detailing my drive, I also made a dummy .txt file to ensure that the size on disk is in 32k clusters.

Spoiler: diskpart / diskmgmt report:

  Disk    Type   Status  Partition style           Capacity   Unallocated space  Reserved space
  ------  -----  ------  ------------------------  ---------  -----------------  --------------
  Disk 3  Basic  Online  Master Boot Record (MBR)  953869 MB  2 MB               0 MB

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label  Fs     Type       Size    Status   Info
  ----------  ---  -----  -----  ---------  ------  -------  ----
  Volume 5     J          FAT32  Partition  931 GB  Healthy

  Partition ###  Type     Size    Offset
  -------------  -------  ------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary  931 GB  1024 KB

I'm scratching my head over this one, I could try and reformat my old drive just to see, I think I used Wiimms tool to prepare this drive most recently. Could it be that my IOS58 is bad? I just find it interesting that Nintendont launches on Port1, but GX can't see it... and vice versa when on Port0.

 

[soupkiff]

For good measure, I went ahead and cleaned the disk, and verified the MBR on my 1TB USB 3.0 disk. I also did the same for my 500GB USB 2.0 disk (formatted from wbfs to FAT32), and put 1 GC + 1 Wii game on it, for testing. After initializing my 500GB disk in GX with IOS58 as the Loader's IOS, I am able to see the drive on both Port0, and Port1 within GX. I tried my 1TB drive again, and I am also able to see it on both Port0, and Port1.

Unsure if the MBR fix / clean command fixed some weird partition header / garbled data or what. My big problem now is that, even with GX plugged into either Port0 or Port1 (still using IOS58 in GX) I get a black screen when attempting to launch GC games. But if I launch Nintendont via HBC, I am able to see my GC games and launch them just fine.

Are there any additional steps I should take to bridge the disconnect between GX and Nintendont? I figured I could try reinstalling / redownloading the apps and also clearing their configuration files.

 

[Cyan]

I'm unable to change the Hard Drive Settings > USB Port to 1, it gives me the following error: "USB Port Changing is only support on Hermes cIOS".

Okay, you are using outdated versions.
You think you are using r1268, but you are obviously not.

hermes is not needed anymore for a long time.
now, new version of the loader tell users that they need d2x (not hermes).
Hermes was the only method to use Port1 when d2x didn't exist yet.


You said you are launching the loader from the (forwarder) channel.
I think you mistaken and installed the full channel, whitch internally installed an old version of the loader into your console. That channel is NOT booting the version 1268 located on your SD card.

To verify :
launch the loader from your channel
go to settings > credit > look at the top.

to fix :
follow this https://gbatemp.net/posts/6478222


What I think :
You messed a lot of your setup, internal IOS, settings etc.
while it was just because you use outdated version of the files. You might have follow and old guide, a youtube video, or just picked the wrong file to install.

 

[soupkiff]

@Cyan : Just to make sure, I went ahead and audited my entire installation process. The steps I followed are below:

1. PC: Downloaded LetterBomb package from please.hackmii.com, put it on an 8 GB SDHC card.

2. Wii: Executed LetterBomb + followed HackMii Installer v1.2 instructions to install HBC (verified version: 1.1.2), and then BootMii 1.5 (could only be installed as an IOS due to patched boot1).

3. PC: Used ModMii (verified version: v6.4.8) and selected the 'Start Here to Mod Your Wii' option to download IOS / cIOS, then put downloaded IOS / cIOS on SD card.

4. Wii: Installed all ModMii downloaded IOS / cIOS (SysCheck log is in first post) using Some YAWMM Mod v1.0 by FIX94 (except for patched IOS36 as IOS236, completesg states it is obsolete / no longer needed).

5. Wii: Followed the wii.guide instructions to install Priiloader (verified version: v0.8.2, IOS v80, Systemmenu v513) with the following hacks enabled:
5a. Replace Health Screen with Backmenu
5b. Region Free EVERYTHING
5c. Block Disc Updates
5d. Remove Diagnostic Disc Check
5e. No System Menu Sounds AT ALL
5f. Remove NoCopy Save File Protection
5g. Auto-Press A At Health Screen
5h. Move Disc Channel
5i. Block Online Updates

6. PC: Used Wii Backup Manager (verified version: build 78) to transfer Wii Games from old 500GB USB 2.0 HDD (Used on another Wii, games ripped in USB Loader GX back in 2011) to PC.

7. PC: Formatted new 1TB USB 3.0 HDD to FAT32 / MBR / 32k clusters, using Wii Backup Manager, and transferred old wbfs rips to this drive.

8. PC: Placed ripped GC games in HDD:/games/Game [ID]/game.iso, made sure there were no six character strings followed by an underscore.

9. PC: Downloaded 'USBLoaderGX r1268.7z' (extracted and moved icon.png / meta.xml / boot.dol to SD:/apps/usbloader_gx/), and downloaded 'USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT.wad', moved to SD:/wads/

10. Wii: Installed Forwarder Channel via YAWMM Mod, verified channel booted to USB Loader GX.

11. PC: Downloaded Nintendont via FIX94's github (master/loader/loader.dol version 4.431, meta.xml, icon.png, and moved to SD:/apps/Nintendont/)

12. Wii: Launched USB Loader GX for the first time (verified version: r1268), IOS222 was default Loader's IOS, IOS249 was default Disc's IOS. GameCube Mode is set to Nintendont, and GameCube Source shows Auto(null)

At this point, Wii games launched fine while plugged into Port0, but Gamecube games would not launch (Nintendont could also not see the drive, on Port0). Switching to Port1 allowed my Gamecube games to launch via Nintendont, but then USB Loader GX was unable to see the drive plugged in on Port1. IOS58 was unable to see the drive on either Port0 or Port1. I did some troubleshooting on my PC with the drive, basically consisting of doing a diskpart clean, as well as repairing / verifying the partition table.

After this, my Wii was able to see the drive from Port0, or Port1 inside USB Loader GX (from IOS58), and Nintendont is now also able to see the drive from Port0, or Port1. My issue now is, although both apps can see the drive on Port0 from their prospective launchers, Nintendont is still unable to load games from USB Loader GX, leading to a black screen which ends with the Wii no longer outputting video (No Signal on TV). I am unsure of how to move forward from this point in terms of troubleshooting. Is there an audit / log feature I can enable within USB Loader GX to see the output of it attempting to launch Nintendont? I poked around in the options and I wasn't able to find anything that would generate a log to my SD card.

P.S. I wanted to make 100% sure that I'm not crazy, because although I verified my version as r1268 (screenshot of my credits below), the Hermes cIOS message would still appear every time I tried to change the USB Port.

I did a little digging and discovered that the message stems from a file in the latest build source, with the code below:

usbloadergx-code-r1268-trunk > usbloadergx-code-r1268-trunk > source > settings > menus > HardDriveSM.cpp:

    if(!IosLoader::IsHermesIOS() && !IosLoader::IsD2X())
        {
            WindowPrompt(tr("ERROR:"), tr("USB Port changing is only supported on Hermes cIOS."), tr("OK"));
            NewSettingsUSBPort = 0;
            Settings.USBPort = 0;
        }

Although the function has been updated to refer to d2x, the printed message has not. I looked over the rest of the code with Atom, but that was the only file that contained text that was not updated to refer to d2x.

 

[soupkiff]

I just wanted to give an update on this thread. After an arduous troubleshooting process, I got everything working.

The problem seems to have stemmed from a corrupt (or qausi-corrupt) configuration, in combination with Nintendont and USB Loader GX. I deleted the entire apps folder for USB Loader GX (usbloader_gx) except for image, cache, and the boot.dol. I dragged the default installation folder (from the r1268 archive file downloaded via SourceForge) and merged it with what was left on the SD card in my usbloader_gx folder. From what I could see, this meant that only the configuration files were going to be replaced. I also deleted any configuration files that I could find for Nintendont, leaving only the boot.dol behind in the apps/Nintendont/ folder. From there, I booted USB Loader GX first, and saw that it had now defaulted to IOS249 for both Loader, and Disc IOS (a good sign?). I immediately tried to launch one of my Gamecube games, which... led to the Nintendont screen, and... then... the game started successfully. So, I think after it was all said and done, this was either a corrupt meta.xml issue, a corrupt configuration issue, or a harddrive partition issue.

With that issue solved, some other thoughts did run across my mind:

1. How do I properly set up the uneoboot.dol / uneoboot.elf files that are configured to boot the USB Loader GX forwarder from Priiloader? I tried to do some digging, but I'm not really sure how to set it up (and I didn't see them as an available selection in my Priiloader Install Files menu.) I'm mostly just unsure about what the best directory is, as far as putting them on my SD card. (Should the files be in the apps folder, or root, or the USB Loader GX folder, etc.)

2. How do I configure my Nintendont so that it shows the Gamecube bootsplash logo? I tried looking around the forums and saw some references to enabling IPL and needed bios files and such, but I wasn't able to find a comprehensive guide detailing how to do that (I can probably find the bios on my own if it is inappropriate to discuss here in the forums.)

In any case, I want to thank Cyan, and other members, for looking over my issue which I seemingly overcomplicated.

 

[Cyan]

thank you for the detailed steps.
You were right, I thought the message had been updated to also mention d2x, but only the check is done with d2x not the message.
when using IOS58, you don't need to choose whether you want Port0 or Port1, they are all activated at the same time, and mounted in reversed order (1 then 0).

step8: made sure there were no six character strings followed by an underscore.

oh, you even knew about it! good.

Step12. IOS222 was default Loader's IOS

ahh, that's strange, it should have been 249 by default.
maybe you had a residual config file on your SD card ? the loader checks on sd/apps/usbloader_gx/ folder and sd/config/ folder.

After this, my Wii was able to see the drive from Port0, or Port1

oh, good, so the problem was the drive?
now both USBGX and Nintendont work with both ports with IOS58, and port0 with cIOS ?

Nintendont is still unable to load games from USB Loader GX, leading to a black screen which ends with the Wii no longer outputting video (No Signal on TV).

hmm, very strange.
you can launch game from nintendont when launched from hbc? just not from the loader?

did you try USBLoaderGX 1268 mod4 ? it has fixes for 2 nintendont settings. Though, it shouldn't prevent launching, it should just set these settings to default values if missing.


there's no automatic log, you need to recompile the loader to output logs to wifi (instead of usbgecko), and use a wifi server to receive the logs. though, it will not work to debug launching process because the network is deactivated before launching a game, losing access to the log server.

From there, I booted USB Loader GX first, and saw that it had now defaulted to IOS249 for both Loader, and Disc IOS (a good sign?).

Oh, yes, good
so you had a residual setting file, good you deleted it.


I'll answer other question in few hours, have to go to work right now.

 

[GreyWolf]

Just put the uneoboot.dol on your SD card and install it on Priiloader then set Priiloader to autoboot to installed file. You can delete from the SD after it's installed.

You'll have to have the regular USB Loader GX forwarder installed on your NAND as the uneoboot file just launches it. (I made it work that way instead of launching the dol directly so the loader will have AHB access and use the right IOS. Priiloader doesn't grant AHB. :/)

 

[Cyan]

1.

2. How do I configure my Nintendont so that it shows the Gamecube bootsplash logo? I tried looking around the forums and saw some references to enabling IPL and needed bios files and such, but I wasn't able to find a comprehensive guide detailing how to do that (I can probably find the bios on my own if it is inappropriate to discuss here in the forums.)

1. was answered by Greywolf.

2. I think the nintendont thread first post has a guide for IPL.
if not, I'm not fully sure how to setup.
I think you need to put the ipl-pal.bin ipl-usa.bin etc. or something like this, on the root of your device where you have the games.
if you enable IPL, it will use these bios files, if you disable it will skip IPL.

if the option is called "skip IPL" it means it's loading IPL by default if found, you have to enable the option to skip loading the IPL.

really, for all nintendont related information, no need to read random and many websites, just read the official guide on the official release thread's first post that I spend months to write

 

[soupkiff]

Sorry for the late update (things have been busier than usual...!) The Gamecube bios is working as intended, and Priiloader is booting into USB Loader GX without any issues (thanks to the uneoboot.dol). My next challenge is trying to consolidate my physical retro games collection on Wii, well worth the journey. Thanks again to you Cyan, as well as GreyWolf, and the helpful GBAtemp community.