Hacking WiiFlow - an open source GUI USB-Loader

[jodur]

Anyone else problems with slow FAT32 games loading?

After i was encouraged to make the switch from WBFS to FAT i see a big delay before the games actually starts.
The background music keeps playing and the "please wait" screen show up immediately but it takes about 5 seconds until the game actually is loaded.

The “strange part” is that this same delay is also, when starting a channel (so I my opinion it isn’t directly USB related).

I tried everything, different CIOS, other FAT device but the delay is still present.

After all I tried at last the cfg usbloader (mostly referred as reference loader) and this loader starts the games immediately, so a bad USB device/connection can be excluded.

Is this normal behaviour? , our am I the only person who is experiencing this problem?

 

[r-win]

After i was encouraged to make the switch from WBFS to FAT i see a big delay before the games actually starts.
The background music keeps playing and the "please wait" screen show up immediately but it takes about 5 seconds until the game actually is loaded.

Jodur, I'm not sure if you're the only one. I'm positive that I don't have this delay (not this long, that is). Please make sure that the ios you've selected for a game, is the same as the wiiflow version you're using. If a cios reload is required, you will get a delay. Also, remember that CFG Loader USB makes the screen black right away, while we display a please wait message. That can give a the feeling that wiiflow is slower, while, in fact, it might be as fast as CFG.

Finally, the code we use in Wiiflow to launch a game was based on CFG Loader code. Wiiflow has some different functionality, which uses file io, so the delay might be there.

If you have a gecko, you might be able to get some debug messages, and maybe pinpoint the delay.

Anyway, I guess it's not something you are doing wrong.

 

[jodur]

R-win, the strange thing is that starting a channel, has the same delay.
And in this case something is launched from the Nand and not USB!
Before(when i used WBFS) this was also fast!

To bad i don't have a Gecko so i wont be able to debug this!

 

[ricerobo]

forwarder does not load because of dump code error

I had similar problems when using an old version or PriiLoader (v0.3) I updated to latest version and now works with all of the forwarder dols that are avaliable.

Thank you for your reply.
The latest version of priiloader is v0.5 beta5?
I cannot get the latest version because I cannot update online(Check For update: No official update).

 

[bula]

forwarder does not load because of dump code error

I had similar problems when using an old version or PriiLoader (v0.3) I updated to latest version and now works with all of the forwarder dols that are avaliable.

Thank you for your reply.
The latest version of priiloader is v0.5 beta5?
I cannot get the latest version because I cannot update online(Check For update: No official update).

You have to enable beta in settings.

 

[jceggbert5]

I know for a fact that this has been asked and answered before, but I can't find it...

How do you disable parental controls?

 

[ricerobo]

@bula
Thanks for your advice, I could update priiloader online.
On the main screen of the priiloader it still 0.5(beta v4).
I have confirmed that the forwarder dols such as NForwarderWiiflow, green, violet, orange, work properly except Carbonik Forwarder dol.

 

[Etheboss]

@bula
Thanks for your advice, I could update priiloader online.
On the main screen of the priiloader it still 0.5(beta v4).
I have confirmed that the forwarder dols such as NForwarderWiiflow, green, violet, orange, work properly except Carbonik Forwarder dol.

I,m glad it worked out, if you still want the new forwarder dol, come to irc again.

 

[bula]

@bula
Thanks for your advice, I could update priiloader online.
On the main screen of the priiloader it still 0.5(beta v4).
I have confirmed that the forwarder dols such as NForwarderWiiflow, green, violet, orange, work properly except Carbonik Forwarder dol.

It is beta 5. beta 4 did not boot up to the new Home Brew Channel.

 

[jodur]

If you have a gecko, you might be able to get some debug messages, and maybe pinpoint the delay.

Anyway, I guess it's not something you are doing wrong.

Delay problem found without gecko!

After studying the code, the common thing that was done before launching (game or channel) is storing the configuration (m_cfg.save()).

The delay in loading games and channels was only when you load wiiflow from the USB drive. When using the SD for the wiiflow to there was no delay!

For test i removed the m_cfg.save() in Launch and Launchchannel and tried it again from USB.

Loading of games and channels is now fast! Saving to usb is perhaps to slow or it contains a bug for when storing on USB

Could you or miigotu have a look at it?

 

[Benjay]

Woooot !!! I never noticed this !!!

Wiiflow forwarder channel by me :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYxDLrw8vvw

71785 views !!!!!

 

[ricerobo]

It is beta 5. beta 4 did not boot up to the new Home Brew Channel.

Thanks.
I have already confirmed the problem of the new HBC1.0.7.
My friend said that some applications could not boot up to the HBC1.0.7.
So I have reinstalled the HBC1.0.6.

 

[Pippin666]

Woooot !!! I never noticed this !!!

Wiiflow forwarder channel by me :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYxDLrw8vvw

71785 views !!!!!

And a million more if you add kittens in it

Pip'

 

[jodur]

New debugging feature?

I noticed following in wiixplorer r191 svn

*Added a wifi gprintf because having to connect the usb cable to the gecko and
having it laying around was annoying me. If anyone wants a PC receiver for that,
contact me on IRC. I made one for linux/unix/windows.

Wouldn't this be handy for wiiflow also for debugging? The other advantage is you don't have to buy a gecko (they are hard to get now).
Also more people could assist you with debugging betas!

 

[Marsje79]

Hi,

I have a small question about WiiFlow.
I just started using this loader and its a great loader.
Everything works good but there is one annoying thing, it
doesnt show all covers on screen. When I have a theme setup
with a lot covers at once on screen it only shows like 30 and the rest
have the loading image, when i move to another cover, others will be refreshed and the initial
get the loading image.
Can it be because i put compress textures to off in the configuration file?

 

[djbubba2002]

when you use it for the first time , let it make the cache first , then you will be good to go then ,
i have 868 games on my drive, and all 868 covers load up ,,,heheh

 

[Marsje79]

when you use it for the first time , let it make the cache first , then you will be good to go then ,
i have 868 games on my drive, and all 868 covers load up ,,,heheh

Thanks for your reply, I think i have about 180 games so
that wont be a problem. I used it different times and i was inside
the loader for a few hours now, so it must have build the cache for sure as
i couldnt find an option in the loader itself. Inside the config its set to on.

 

[Benjay]

what is the theme , and which view of the theme

A screenshot of your problem would be a good thing.

 

[Marsje79]

what is the theme , and which view of the theme

A screenshot of your problem would be a good thing.

Hey Benjay,
For the example I use the default theme on WiiFlow 2.1.
When I scroll the outer sides get unloaded
and the middle ones get their appropriate picture.

Here are 2 pics to show what I mean:




In the ini file i have this lines that are about the covers:
allow_texture_compression=no (I turned it of because I dont know if the overs still work on cfg loader, I use the same path)
compress_cache=yes
cover_buffer=120

They are all loaded from SD card

 

[r-win]

If you have a gecko, you might be able to get some debug messages, and maybe pinpoint the delay.

Anyway, I guess it's not something you are doing wrong.

Delay problem found without gecko!

After studying the code, the common thing that was done before launching (game or channel) is storing the configuration (m_cfg.save()).

The delay in loading games and channels was only when you load wiiflow from the USB drive. When using the SD for the wiiflow to there was no delay!

For test i removed the m_cfg.save() in Launch and Launchchannel and tried it again from USB.

Loading of games and channels is now fast! Saving to usb is perhaps to slow or it contains a bug for when storing on USB

Could you or miigotu have a look at it?

Hm...it makes sense, of course. We have to call a save because we update the playcount. We could, of course, move the playcount to another file, but I guess that will not solve this problem.

File IO is known to be slow, but I think we still need this save. It's strange that it's taking such a long delay though. May I ask how many games you have?