Homebrew postLoader4

[stfour]

(Click the icon to go to http://postloader.mooo.com)


What postLoader is:

* HomeBrew Browser with subfolder and xml support
* Channel/Title Browser with filters and cover
* Emulator frontend page with plugin system (plugin .dol from WiiFlow)
* neek2o & Uneek+DI game browser with cover support
* game loaders forwarder (for CFG, GX and WiiFlow) with cover and filters support
* DML gamecube browser with USB to SD copy feature
* Themable user interface
* Wiiload server
* Designed for stability and performance

Feature and little howto:

Spoiler

========================================
Features:
========================================

General:
* If started from priiloader it gains AHPBROT and spawn full hardware rights to homebrew applications (with system menu 4.3 it seems that priiloader can't pass AHBPROT. Use the forwarder channel)
* Autoboot your default application/channel: If you don't press (A) in time to enter in interactive mode, postLoader will launch the predefined app (if enabled)
* Direct access to BOOTMII
* Support costom splash screen (only from SD device)
* Full support for UNEEK environment. May work under SNEEK
* Support for Wiimote and GC controllers
* Intergrated UNEEK nand switcher
* wiiload update: If you send postLoader.dol via wiiload, postloader installation will be updated (after confirmation).
* Direct shortcut for SettingEditor GUI and WiiMod
* Upper and bottom toolbars with icons for accessing common command

oneek2o advanced support
* USB Access for HOMEBREW (see historii.txt for important notices)
* Multiple nand support for different region games
* Built in game cache rebuilder (partially implemented, see historii.txt)
* uid.sys managment for neek (neek2o)

Uneek+DI game browser (see historii.txt)
* Support covers
* Support title vote

USB Loaders forwarder
* Support cfg, gx and wiiflow (actually wiiflow crash)
* Support covers
* Support title vote
* Support ios selection

DM(L) gamecube games
* Support covers
* Support title vote
* Support ios selection
* Can copy games from USB to SD before execute them

Homebrew:
* HB Channel replacement: It can be used to browse homebrew application, with it own interface.
* Dangerous homebrews can be hidden
* Full support for meta.xml arguments and all other tags.
* up to 8 category can be assigned for each homebrew. Five category are assigned by default: Games/Utility/Emulators/Backup loaders/Hacking tools, and them can be changed in runtime
* Can browse SD and USB device (FAT32 on first/active partition)
* WiiLoad support (straight, compressed dol, zip archieve)

Channels:
* Nand emulation (ciosx/waninkoko on slot 249)
* AHBPROT is need for real nand browsing (otherwise ios249 is used)
* Wii System Channel replacemente: Can browse and run Channels, WiiWare and VC.
* Can run Titles from real and emulated NAND on SD or USB with folder support
* Titles can be sorted voted and/or hiddened
* Support interactive application sorting
* Sort titles by vote/name
* Titles filters (System channels/wiiware/neogeo/c64... etc)
* Fast titles search
* Download title icons from wiitdb
* Alternat nand folder support (other that classic root)

========================================
Installation:
========================================

postLoader can be executed like any wii homebrew. Anyway you can get the best from it in these ways:

(A) Real Wii: priiloader extension via priibooterGUI (see below) [SUGGESTED]

PRO: Easy to upgrade. All priibooterGUI beneficts
CON: SD is always needed in the Wii

1) Install to your SD or USB /apps/postloader like any homebrew
2) Copy to your SD root priibooterGUI.dol.
3) Enter in priiloader pressing "reset" when you turn on your wii.
4) Select "Load/Install file" from priiloader menu'
5) Select priibooterGUI.dol
6) Go back to main menu'
7) Select settings -> Autoboot: Installed File
8) Select settings -> Return to: Autoboot
9) If you wish, you can remove priibooterGUI.dol from the SD

(B) neek2o/UNEEK: priiloader extension via priibooterGUI

1) Install to your SD or USB /apps/postloader like any homebrew
2) Copy to your SD root neekbooter.dol.
3) Run your NEEK environment pressing "reset" to enter in neek priiloader.
4) Select "Load/Install file" from priiloader menu'
5) Select neekbooter.dol
6) Go back to main menu'
7) Select settings -> Autoboot: Installed File
8) Select settings -> Return to: Autoboot
9) If you wish, you can remove neekbooter.dol from the SD
10) postLoader MUST exist on the root of SD, and SD must be inside the Wii

========================================
DML: (gamecube games on USB)
========================================

notes: ngc iso (already converted with DiscEX) must be copied in usb://ngc folder (primary FAT32 part).
postLoader will take care to copy to sd://games when required
Games icon from usb games are dimmed. Copying process is slow (1750 kb/s on my sd)
If there is no space on sd, postLoader will ask to delete some games.

========================================
Usage:
========================================

Keys (during initialization - time depends on the speed of usb init + 2 sec)

(A) Enter in interactive mode (show user interface)
(B) Skip USB initialization

Keys (interactive mode)

(A) Start selected homebrew
(B) Show selected application menu, also act as cancel on popup menu
(-)(+) Change page
(Home) Show postLoader options menu
(1)(GCX) Go to page
(2)(GCY) Show filter menu (if available)
(up) WII Games
(down) GC games
(left) Channels
(right) Homebrew


========================================
CUSTOM SPLASH SCREEN
========================================

Themes tipically contains and install their own splash screen.
Copy your png named "ploader.png" on the root of SD card. 640x480 is suggested.
Using a custom splash screen will slow a bit postLoader startup.

========================================
Additiona applications:
========================================

priibooterGUI.dol
-------------------------

priibooter is a little gui application intended to be installed under priiloader. It allow to
* Boot (remembering last operation [sd needed])
> postloader from sd://apps/postloader/boot.dol or usb://apps/postloader/boot.dol
> postloader via POST forwarder channel
> HBC
> system menu
> neek (bootmii)
* Enable postloader uneek nand folder switching functionality

neek2obooter.app
-------------------------

As neek2o r96 do not support priiloader, you have to install neek2obooter.app to start games from real mode to neek2o. neek2obooter.app is available from full installation package 4.1.9.

Installation:
in (usb:/nands/pl_eu)/title/00000001/00000002/content/

1) rename your system menu .app to sysmenu.app
2) copy neek2obooter.app and rename it as system menu

example for 4.3 eu nand

rename 0000009b.app to sysmenu.app
rename neek2obooter.app to 0000009b.app

!!! DO THIS ONLY IN YOUR R96 (and possibily above) NEEK2O, DO NOT TRY IN REAL NAND !!!

This allow also to go back directly to real mode when you select return to menu in games.
neek2obooter.app can also boot directly to postloader when you run your neek2o nand. Just create /title/00000001/00000002/data/n2oboot.ini (also empy) to enable this feature.

neekbooter.dol
-------------------------
(OBSOLETE neek2o > r96 bypass priiloader): To be installed in priiloader under neek. It will run postloader from sd://apps/postloader/boot.dol or ISFS://apps/postloader/boot.dol

NAND Folders:

Alternate nand folders are supported only on SD and USB on first partition (active)


========================================
Files you will find after running postLoader:
========================================

sd://ploader.png: custom splashcreen (added by you)
sd://ploader/ploader.sd: if it is present, usb will not be used
dev://ploader/channels.png/: icon of installed channels (dev is the one selected the first time)
dev://ploader/channels.cfg/: configuration data for channels/titles
dev://ploader/channels.txt: dump of the last nand scan
nand.dat in every emulated nand folder

dev://ploader/channels.txt: dump of the last nand scan
dev://ploader/ploader.cfg: postloader configuration file
sd://ploader/pldneek.cfg: neek - postloader configuration file
sd://ploader/sdonly.nek: neek - if it is present, usb will not be used


========================================
THEMES:
========================================

Since build b16, postLoader support themes. Actually only one theme at time can be used.

Themes must be copied to dev://ploader/theme and are composed of the following files

* window.png: window elements. On load, it will be tiled 3x3 to draw corners, top, bottom, left rigth, and center of the window (if windowbk it is not present)
* windowbk.png: (optional) this is the window background. It is actually used for menues. Dimensions should be multiple of 8.
* button.png: 3x3 tile for drawing button (suggested size 24x24 px)
* button_sel.png: 3x3 tile for drawing selected button (suggested size 24x24 px)
* bkg.png: is the 640x480 background png
* frame_back.png: is the background of empty icon. Should not be transparent
* frame.png: is the standard frame for icons
* frame_sel.png: when an icon is selected, this frame will be drawn

* theme.cfg: it is an ascii configuration containing some customizabile values:
> grlibSettings.theme.windowMagX: how a window (for example menu) is enlarged in X axes
> grlibSettings.theme.windowMagY: Y axes
> grlibSettings.theme.buttonMagX: how a button is enlarged when mouseover... X
> grlibSettings.theme.buttonMagY: Y
> grlibSettings.theme.buttonsTextOffsetY: vertical text offset for buttons
> grlibSettings.fontBMF_reverse = 1: font color is reversed (if 1 text is black)
> theme.line1Y: selection name
> theme.line2Y: selection short description (if applicable)
> theme.line3Y: path and args info. If 0 it isn' displayed (like wii theme)
NOTE: actually cfg file do not accept comments (like # or ; as first character of a line)

========================================
UNEEK Nand switcher notes:
========================================

Requirements:
* Newest neek2obooter.app should be configured (OBSOLETE: priibooter.dol (dist. from b34 or above) installed in priiloader)
* an sd inside the wii with uneek configured
* the folder usb://nands containing up to 16 uneek nand subfolders

How it works:
When wii boot priibooter will create a list of available nands. Look at message that show the boot mode and press a key on wiimote o gc controller accordly.
If you are in "UNEEK mode" and a nand image is on the root of usb, uneek is started.
The nand can be switched both in real and emulated mode. In postLoader just select [home]->Options->Change UNEEK nand and choose your nand. The wii will reboot and nand changed

NAND tracking:
If you have a uneek nand on the root of usb, you should have also an empty folder under usb://nands. plneek will search an empty folder to store back current nand before copying new one. This is done automatically, but the first time you will try plneek maybe you forget it. So current nand will be backed up in "usb://nands/backup<random number>" folder

========================================
neek2o only features
========================================

Alternate per-game region nand
--------------------

postloader support nand switching for up 4 region. Anternate nand to use can be selected pressing (B) on the game cover

/nands/pl_eu for euro pal nand
/nands/pl_us for usa nand
/nands/pl_jp for japan nand
/nands/pl_kr for korean nand

IMPORTANT: priiloader must be present on the nand. There is non need to configure it.

If the region if different from default, postloader install as "installed file" in priiloader on the selected nand n2oswitch.dol that will run the disc, and on return to menu (or power off/on) will restore old settings
Even if the four roms can be used for any porpouse, I suggest to leave them light, without any additional channel to keep high switching speed

usb homebrew access
-------------------
postLoader thanks to the "magic code" from obcd can now access directly to usb hdd under neek2o. This is enabled with just 2 line of code. KEEP IN MIND, that even
if postLoader will launch any hb, launched hb will not work correctly if relay on data in usb hdd. Every hb like postloader must be updated to run under neek2o like
postloader do. I hope that a lot of homebrew makers will integrate this modification in their applications.

Built in game cache rebuilder
-----------------------------
postLoader can now rebuild diconfig.bin by internal function only (ONLY) for the following kind of file structure

/wbfs/<gamedescription>[gameid].wbfs
or
/wbfs/<anycharacter>.wbfs

it is really much faster then neek2o. Reboot seems to be required.

========================================
Running vc/wiiware from realnand via neek2o
========================================

* Use modmii to create a fresh nand.
* name this nand pln2o and put in usb://Nand/pln2o
* Start that nand, configure it (also the network).
* Install neek2obooter.app
* postLoader will automatically copy (only one time) your vc/wiiware to pln2o nand and execute it.
* This is a great workaround for WFC games and games that doens't work in d2x emulation


CREDITS:
----------------------------------------

* obcd for all support during neek2o specific code and for let me enabling usb access under neek2o
* GRRLIB (I've removed ttf support to have much smaller application)
* USB Loader GX, I've used it's app_booter.dol... it seems to give the best compatibility
* wiiXplorer for network code
* Yal for disc boot code
* Joyflow for (better) boot disc code
* Priiloader
* CFG Usb loader (for let me understand how priiload magic words should be used)
* TriiForce: It was integrated in postLoader. I've tried to minimize the impact, so I can update postLoader as triiforce is updated.
* oggzee for helping me to solve homebrew boot problems (wiimc & cfg72)
* Dolphin: great help in testing
* GBATemp community
* davebaol for d2x and path code for ahbprot
* FIX94 video init code

Screenshots

Spoiler

Addons and interesting topics

Spoiler

emu masterpiece by AbdallahTerro http://gbatemp.net/threads/postloader4.299384/page-177#post-4636354

emu icon set by gl1mml1ng http://gbatemp.net/t...54#entry4299454

emu icon set by AbdallahTerro http://gbatemp.net/t...ost__p__4300315

SourceMenuEditor from Maxternal can convert wiiflow plugin format to postloader http://gbatemp.net/threads/postloader4.299384/page-185#post-4776387

 

[stfour]

Sorry for the new thread, but too much thing are added from v1. Tomorrow I will complete it with snapshoot and more informations.

And also I hate the title I've added to the old thread.

As a new release, expect some problems. Anyway I've tested it deeply.

 

[Albatroz]

nice changes

downloading to test it now
thx

 

[stfour]

nice changes

downloading to test it now
thx

grrr... found 2 problems... before starting a channel, need almost one time to open the channel menu with (B). And after a channel was run, the wiimote is no more detected. need to power off/on.

See you tomorrow with b6...

 

[DEFIANT]

Sweet! Gonna test this now.

Could you add code support?

 

[Albatroz]

I found something too:

1. apps/postloader/boot.dol is 1b4 and not 2b5
2. when u configure autoboot to some app, it isnt showing that start marker
3. im getting code dump to hide soome app like Hackmii Installer/Postloader/WadCreator...


But,,, this is loading CFG 70b2 flawless now

the GUI is better too

GZ once again!!!

 

[DEFIANT]

OK disregard the codes post above. I found out how to use them. Doh!

Things I noted:

I had a problem trying to launch 1942 on sneek nand. It wasn't until I "Forced" NTSC 480i then it worked. Why doesn't default not work?

Codes work. I'm so f*cking stoked. All in all, this app has exceeded my expectations in for that in sneek.

Is there a way to manually sort channels (real nand)? I didn't see anything.

I see the support for pictures has been increased to 192x112. This is good.

I was wondering if I could get an adjustable time delay, say 0-10 sec for splash screen. It whizzes by so fast that I barley get to see it. If at all. I'm not sure if that's even possible?

Just blows my mind how good this app is. Thank you.

 

[Taleweaver]

It took me a while to actually start it. For some reason, it just kept using the old postloader (1beta4). Or so I thought. It turns out the \apps\postloader folder in your zip file is still that version. The new version is the postloader.dol in the root of the zip.

(to those interested: Albatroz's forwarder from the original thread? still works if you rename that postloader.dol into \apps\postloader\boot.dol).
EDIT: what albatroz mentions, in other words.


Anyhow...you sure added a lot of options, stfour. However, these things will require exponentially more support. A few examples:
-boot.elf files are now found (yeey!). However, the two I have (descent and scummvm) crash upon booting. I guess this wasn't as easy as I thought it was.
-channels do not work for me (yes, I opened the 'B' menu first). In uneek, it just quits to the HBC. On real nand, it just black screens. I'll test some more on this (if Defiant can get stuff to work, it should be okay on my end too...somehow).
-I have both SD:\apps\ and USB:\apps\. Without the SD card, all my USB homebrew is found nicely. Once I plug in the SD card and rescan the devices, it just shows me the SD card homebrew.
-there used to be a star icon on homebrew if it was marked as auto-run. That icon is now gone for some reason (the actual autobooting still works). I also can't find the option to disable the auto-booting anymore.


For bystanders: these may sound serious issues, but they're not. It's just that you can't "just" merge the HBC with triiforce in just a few weeks and expect everything to be a-ok. So here are a couple of the good things:
+plus and minus now switch pages, 1 switches between homebrew and channels
+nice little icon on the bottom left to indicate the location of the homebrew (sd or usb). Would be better if it would find both SD and USB homebrew at the same time, though.
+an ability to run bootmii (which doubles as a 'switchtosneek' option for those who have it)
+ability to hide applications (which is nicely implemented, I must say)
+downloading channel covers works perfectly.


All in all: very impressive work, man.

 

[stfour]

-boot.elf files are now found (yeey!). However, the two I have (descent and scummvm) crash upon booting.

Ops, this is my fail... yesterday I was becaming crazy making both wiimc and cfg72 working... I was thinking that was the elf support that cause some issue.. so I've partially removed it... this is why it crashs. Sorry.

-I have both SD:\apps\ and USB:\apps\. Without the SD card, all my USB homebrew is found nicely. Once I plug in the SD card and rescan the devices, it just shows me the SD card homebrew.

If on the root of sd you have "ploader.sd" usb device is just skipped. Can you check ?

-there used to be a star icon on homebrew if it was marked as auto-run. That icon is now gone for some reason (the actual autobooting still works). I also can't find the option to disable the auto-booting anymore.

This is strange... I'll check...

The option for disable autobooting is under "About postloader"... yes, I need to change this label

QUOTE(Wever @ Jun 30 2011, 09:15 AM) +nice little icon on the bottom left to indicate the location of the homebrew (sd or usb). Would be better if it would find both SD and USB homebrew at the same time, though.

It should !

QUOTE(Wever @ Jun 30 2011, 09:15 AM)

All in all: very impressive work, man.

Thank you... I hope to make postLoader2 more stable in few days...

 

[Taleweaver]

More info:

-I found the star icon. It now shows up on the homebrew icon you last ran instead of the homebrew you set to autoboot.
-removing the ploader.sd did the trick to find both USB and SD cards. At first, I wasn't sure how to prevent it from happening again, but then I found the "Disable boot time USB initialization" option (perfect option to have, but like the boot option, it's a bit out of place in the "about postloader" section

).
In any case, this shows all the homebrew it can find (you said it: like it should

).

Another small bug:
-if you go to channel mode and then choose 'use Nand on USB device', then using the button 'use real nand' does almost nothing. It says "real nand" in the top, but still displays the emulated nand channels. You have to switch to homebrew mode first before the real nand shows the correct channels again.

I still have a lot to test about the channels...most of them still blackscreen for me, but this is sorta normal: it happened in triiforce as well that I had to mess with those same settings until the damn thing played.

 

[stfour]

More info:

-I found the star icon. It now shows up on the homebrew icon you last ran instead of the homebrew you set to autoboot.
-removing the ploader.sd did the trick to find both USB and SD cards. At first, I wasn't sure how to prevent it from happening again, but then I found the "Disable boot time USB initialization" option (perfect option to have, but like the boot option, it's a bit out of place in the "about postloader" section

).
In any case, this shows all the homebrew it can find (you said it: like it should

).

Another small bug:
-if you go to channel mode and then choose 'use Nand on USB device', then using the button 'use real nand' does almost nothing. It says "real nand" in the top, but still displays the emulated nand channels. You have to switch to homebrew mode first before the real nand shows the correct channels again.

I still have a lot to test about the channels...most of them still blackscreen for me, but this is sorta normal: it happened in triiforce as well that I had to mess with those same settings until the damn thing played.

Now I'm at work... maybe in the pause I will relase a new version, that I can't test by myself (I have no wii at work

). Maybe you can do it for me in the afternoon.

So that I when I come to home I already know what to fix

 

[stfour]

-I found the star icon. It now shows up on the homebrew icon you last ran instead of the homebrew you set to autoboot.

Great ! You are right... fixed it !

 

[oggzee]

btw, shouldn't this be posted in wii hacking section, this is not a backup loader, right?

 

[stfour]

Right, how to move a thread ?

 

[SifJar]

Right, how to move a thread ?

Report your post. In the "Enter Your Report" section, put where you want it moved to.

 

[stfour]

Is there a way to manually sort channels (real nand)? I didn't see anything.

Yes, there is... Use "Vote this title" attribute to assign a rank to a channel. They will be sorted by rank (from highter to lower).

 

[stfour]

Report your post. In the "Enter Your Report" section, put where you want it moved to.

Sorry, I miss your post... thank you !

 

[Slimmmmmm]

btw, shouldn't this be posted in wii hacking section, this is not a backup loader, right?

But what did it hack ?

I think the best sub forum is the Wii - Emulation and Homebrew
A forum dedicated to emulators, homebrew games & applications for the Nintendo Wii

But as long as it gets a regular bump I'm happy

 

[stfour]

postLoader2 b6 is out. Download in the first post

V.2.0 b6

* Fix the star showing the autoboot application (thx Wever)
* Totally changed the triiforce implementation
* Added priibooter.dol mini-forwader
* Corrected a bug on wiimote sync
* Corrected a bug on reloading channel configuration of emulated nand
* Changed a bit the timout on autoboot
* Some minor changes
* Changed "About postoloader" to "Options..."
* Corrected distribution zip
* elf support is back and it is working

 

[Taleweaver]

All right!

Well...it's already quite late over here, but I went for a quick spin. I finally got my channels to work (under uneek, even!

), but I think this is probably because you enabled debugging or something. Because I got a message that the channel couldn't start because cert.sys wasn't found.

I heard of this file before, so I googled a bit. this link (which aims to get triiforce to work under sneek) explained perfectly why: "If you're using a NAND built from ModMii, you'll need to copy the cert.sys file from the sys folder of a full NAND dump (or get it from somewhere else I suppose) into the sys folder of the ModMii NAND. Without it, you'll get an error when you try to launch games from Triiforce_mrc."

So that's what I did. I used an old extracted bootmii dump, copied \sys\cert.sys into the folder on uneek and voila: seems to work perfectly.

What does it mean for postloader? Most likely, absolutely nothing. Uneek and joyflow can run channels without the file, but they are specifically written to do things not on the real nand. Your program just accidentally happens to work on uneek as well as it does. I haven't read your code (and I would probably not understand it if I had), but unless the channel loading code does some simple "is that file there? if not, stop operation" check, I wouldn't worry about it. If people want to 'abuse' your program to run it under sneek, they should make sure they have all the files needed for proper emulation.

I did some other quick tests, but can't say more than "nice job" at this point.