Hacking USB Loader GX

[Amuro-san]

Driver San Francisco is sensative to setting changes, which is why I can only guarantee that it works with the default settings.


That won't work until the next update.

a curiosity is that before Metroid Prime 3 of the Metroid Prime Trilogy did not work, but the separate Metroid Prime 3 did work, however now it is working perfectly, I wonder what prevented the game from starting

 

[Kirby567fan]

An update on the GC Wii VC settings not being sent to Nintendont if booting through ULGX Wii U forwarder with GamePad support:
I tested loading games with no USB drive being connected to the console and the result is the same(everything is off/set to no in the settings or set to 0).

 

[blackb0x]

a curiosity is that before Metroid Prime 3 of the Metroid Prime Trilogy did not work, but the separate Metroid Prime 3 did work, however now it is working perfectly, I wonder what prevented the game from starting

It could be the automatic cIOS selection, the language or one of my other bug fixes. It's hard to say for sure.

An update on the GC Wii VC settings not being sent to Nintendont if booting through ULGX Wii U forwarder with GamePad support:
I tested loading games with no USB drive being connected to the console and the result is the same(everything is off/set to no in the settings or set to 0).

Yea, that issue has now been fixed for my next release. But for now you could work around the issue by using this older version of Nintendont.

 

[almmiron]

The channel grid is normally the slowest viewing option to use since it needs to load in cached banners, but you shouldn't have a delay when you click on one to get that Settings/Start screen.

Do still try editing the meta.xml file, since I'd be curious to know if that makes a difference. Just make sure you remove the two lines to enable arguments.

Also, do you have the loader and the cached BNR files on an SD card or are using a USB HDD for everything?

I'm using USB for everything usbloaderGX related, besides having a sd card inserted with some emulators. All banner cache are on USB.

My usb hdd is in good health, formatted fat32 32k cluster size, not fragmented:
Video:


Inconsistency is the word to describe behavior: Sometimes, if enter and leaves menu, the delay is there, something I cant remember hapenning before.

So I removed the lines, edited my xml fine just like this:

Spoiler

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
<name> USB Loader GX</name>
<coder>USB Loader GX Team</coder>
<version>3.0 r1281</version>
<release_date>20230107233054</release_date>

<arguments>
<arg>--ios=249</arg>
<arg>--bootios=249</arg>
<arg>--usbport=0</arg>
<arg>--mountusb=1</arg>
<arg>--sdmode=0</arg>
</arguments>

<ahb_access/>
<short_description>Loads games from USB-devices</short_description>
<long_description>USB Loader GX is a libwiigui based USB iso loader with a wii-like GUI. You can install games to your HDDs and boot them with shorter loading times.
The interactive GUI is completely controllable with WiiMote, Classic Controller or GC Controller.
Features are automatic widescreen detection, coverdownload, parental control, theme support and many more.

Credits:
Coding: Cyan, Dimok, blackb0x, nIxx, giantpune, ardi, Hungyip84, DrayX7, Lustar, r-win, WiiShizzza
Artwork: cyrex, NeoRame
Validation: Cyan and many others
Issue management: Cyan
GameTDB / Covers: Lustar
USBLoader sources: Waninkoko, Kwiirk, Hermes
cIOS maintenance: davebaol, xabby666, XFlak and Rodries
Languages files updates: Kinyo and translaters
Themes website: Larsenv, Wingysam

Libwiigui: Tantric
Libogc/Devkit: Shagkur and Wintermute
FreeTypeGX: Armin Tamzarian

USB Loader GX:
https://github.com/wiidev/usbloadergx
Support:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/149922
GameTDB:
https://www.gametdb.com
Themes:
https://theme.rc24.xyz

Libwiigui:
https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Libwiigui
FreeTypeGX:
https://github.com/ArminTamzarian/freetypegx
Gettext:
https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext</long_description>
</app>

here is my syscheck:

Spoiler: SYSCHECK

sysCheck v2.1.0b19 by Double_A and R2-D2199, Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.3U (v513)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 2008.07.14
Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58
HomebrewFilter ist nicht installiert
Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 86129044
Boot2 v4
Found 135 titles.
Found 52 IOS on this console. 5 of them are stub.

IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
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
IOS248[38] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS249[56] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS251[58] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v11beta1): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v10

Report generated on 2023/04/05.

Tried with boot ios 259, same results: Strange, slow menu navigation, sometime freezes in a white screen 5~10 seconds just to show game screen or some other menu. Well, It's usable, but it's strange. I have Another wii that I will mess around as well. Think I'm gonna go back to d2xv8 final and older UsbloaderGX for now.

Also @blackb0x can you, please, provide the older versions of your usbloaderGX On github? I could only find these year releases.

 

[vizz]

Is there a known issue with memory leaking? I've seen a few mentions of it searching the Web and seeing posts from like 2012 lol. I've reached over 200 games on my USB loader gx install and now the emunand Wiiware/VC banners aren't caching - and the app will crash if I try to change the display configuration (like only showing emunand apps).
Works fine again if I delete a few games from the harddrive. Is there a way around this that you guys know of?
Thanks

 

[blackb0x]

Also @blackb0x can you, please, provide the older versions of your usbloaderGX On github? I could only find these year releases.

The previous release can be found here. You should delete all existing cache related files for it to work.

The behaviour that you're experiencing is certainly odd, so I'd be curious to know if the previous release behaves the same way.

Is there a known issue with memory leaking? I've seen a few mentions of it searching the Web and seeing posts from like 2012 lol

A lot of memory leaks were fixed within the last few years and USB Loader GX r1280 (and newer) can easily handle a huge collection of games.

Are you using Wii Backup Manager to install the games so that title lengths and characters are all valid?

 

[Sypherone]

@almmiron d2x-v8, d2x-v10, d2x-v11 have the same USB modul, there is no difference. Your description looks like a loading issue, as the drive need some time to find the correct location or the data is corrupted.

• Either the drive has a power issue (use a Y-Cable) when reading the information.
• Port connection issue, check the USB plug that it fits correctly.
• It has some kind of standby and need to spin up again. There exist tools, also on commandline to check and disable it.
• Or filesystem/sector issue, then ckdsk X: /r in Powershell does its job.

Last suggestion would be doing a softreset or a clean install of USB Loader GX.

• Try resesting or deleting all settings and try again
  • Soft: USB Loader GX > Settings > Reset
  • Hard: Delete everything in the /apps/USBLoader_gx/ folder and reinstall only boot.dol, icon.png and meta.xml files.

 

[almmiron]

@almmiron d2x-v8, d2x-v10, d2x-v11 have the same USB modul, there is no difference. Your description looks like a loading issue, as the drive need some time to find the correct location or the data is corrupted.

• Either the drive has a power issue (use a Y-Cable) when reading the information.
• Port connection issue, check the USB plug that it fits correctly.
• It has some kind of standby and need to spin up again. There exist tools, also on commandline to check and disable it.
• Or filesystem/sector issue, then ckdsk X: /r in Powershell does its job.

Last suggestion would be doing a softreset or a clean install of USB Loader GX.

• Try resesting or deleting all settings and try again
  • Soft: USB Loader GX > Settings > Reset
  • Hard: Delete everything in the /apps/USBLoader_gx/ folder and reinstall only boot.dol, icon.png and meta.xml files.

Strange thing that, on older usbLoaderGX (I mean last one before BlackB0x came) and d2xv8, butter smooth navigation for me.

Loading after games starts, and game compatibility is the same, only the navigation trough the app became strange and slow.

Will try some other usb HDD case I have around, just to see if makes any difference. Just to make clear, it's a 2,5'' hdd with ORICO(aliexpress) case of very good quality.

I have 2 wiis, and will put side by side to compare and make a video.

Anyways, thanks! Will check all of your suggestions and report later.

 

[Oddx]

Strange thing that, on older usbLoaderGX (I mean last one before BlackB0x came) and d2xv8, butter smooth navigation for me.

I had a similar issue when i updated but it ended up being a usb drive failing and corrupting itself. Cached banners we're fast until it had to actually read from the drive to create a new cached banner at that point everything would just hang for me. I have a huge number of games and use banner mode exclusively and its fast and smooth after i replaced the bad hardware. I would checkdisk that drive or use a util to look at the smart counters if you want to confrim the drive isnt failing.

 

[Amuro-san]

Strange thing that, on older usbLoaderGX (I mean last one before BlackB0x came) and d2xv8, butter smooth navigation for me.

Loading after games starts, and game compatibility is the same, only the navigation trough the app became strange and slow.

Will try some other usb HDD case I have around, just to see if makes any difference. Just to make clear, it's a 2,5'' hdd with ORICO(aliexpress) case of very good quality.

I have 2 wiis, and will put side by side to compare and make a video.

Anyways, thanks! Will check all of your suggestions and report later.

the problem with me was only that the NGC bios were in the root of the HD, where the Wii games were also, I made a partition just for NGC and emulators and another one just for Wii, in this case the Wii partition is in WBF and the from NGC FAT32, I can assure you that it is now 100%

 

[PsOmA]

Seem to have a fundamental issue with config files and the config not saving since upgrading to 1281. Noticed after installing 1281 that my artwork had gone... no big deal. But also changes made to the launcher settings weren't persisting. After deleting the config files from my USB stick (there were none on the SD), I re-inserted them and launched usbLoaderGX again. Still no good. If I select "Default Settings" and quit, not only does nothing change, but there are no config files on either the USB stick or SD card. The custom paths for most folders list "usb8:", but I can't change these to point to the SD card, and pointing to usb1: works for the session, but all settings are erased on relaunch.

The games themselves launch file, I'm just perplexed as to what is happening with the configs or lack thereof?!?

EDIT: Should note, this is on a vWii

 

[Sypherone]

Seem to have a fundamental issue with config files and the config not saving since upgrading to 1281. .... After deleting the config files from my USB stick (there were none on the SD),.. still no good.

You are for sure using a forwarder channel in vWii (not the full channel), this is pointing to : SD:/apps/usbloader_gx/boot.dol USB:/apps/usbloader_gx/boot.dol
Remove existing Folders "usbloader_gx" in this locations. Put the the latest USB Loader GX version, the folder including three files (boot.dol, icon.png, meta.xml), on SD and USB under /apps/.

Try running USB Loader GX from SD (the forwarder checks first on SD), change settings and save. If this works, try to set it up to run from USB.

//EDIT:

I'm using uStealth though... is this supported for launching channels?

Most used homebrew apps meanwhile support the hidden drive (Ustealth/usbhide) including USB Loader GX . If its a specific it needs to be checked.

 

[PsOmA]

Thanks Sypherone,

I just returned to add "Yes, the SD card is unlocked and this happens even if I launch directly from Homebrew Launcher" but yeah, it's the forwarder channel and I have completely wiped the apps/usbloader_gx directory and extracted fresh.

Didn't know you could run apps from the USB so I'll give that a try now. I'm using uStealth though... is this supported for launching channels?

Cheers!

 

[Cyan]

The custom paths for most folders list "usb8:"

usb8 is a symptom of no drive found at launch.
when booting into the loader, it mounts the SD card to search for a suitable partition to load a config file.
if it can't find one, it checks on USB if there's one (the first found takes priority, because some users don't want to use SD, but place everything on their USB : games, but also homebrew, the usb1:/apps/ folder)
if the first partition doesn't contain a config file, it checks the second partition, up to 8th partitions (up to 4 primary partitions, on two USB ports).
if no config is found, it should go back to the first compatible partition to create one (usually SD). but it seems to fail to find a suitable partition.

What's strange is that you still have games displayed, so your USB is compatible.
Maybe not the expected partition format for the config ?


@blackb0x :
I updated cucholix's thread. I added an update message and linked to your vWii UNEO version.
it's the direct link. I think it would be better to point to a place where all next releases will be located too, so the link is not outdated on next change or fix. But if it works, I guess it's ok for years now.
A version number or a date in the filename would have been usefull to know which version is newer. Dimok and me last forwarder release was 5.1

 

[PsOmA]

Ahah - always good to know expected behaviour. What's strange is, usb1: is definitely detected and working as per your point (I've even disabled uStealth to see if that was the issue) AND if I have the USB drive unplugged, it will read the sd: mount for games (though not find any). Bizarre!

 

[Cyan]

it's probably the IOS you use to boot the loader.
ex: it uses IOS58 to check if there's a config file to know which IOS slot you want to use. IOS58 doesn't work with your USB device, so if none is found it doesn't create a config, it reloads to default slot 249 and display the main menu, and then can see your devices and games.


change the value in the settings, edit the settings>loader's IOS, it used to change the meta.xml too. Maybe it's now called "boot IOS", I don't know.
But if blackb0x disabled the meta.xml automatic edition, you can do it manually. remove the 2 "//remove this line" located in the xml, and edit the IOS line.
if 58 is not working for you, try 249
it would even be faster to boot if 249 works for you, no need to reload IOS at boot

 

[PsOmA]

it's probably the IOS you use to boot the loader.
<snip>
change the value in the settings, edit the settings>loader's IOS, it used to change the meta.xml too. Maybe it's now called "boot IOS", I don't know.

Nailed it @Cyan - changing the "bootios" to 249 solved it. Well, it's saving the config to usb1: now. Still not sure why it's not interfacing with the sdcard, but main thing is, I'm up and running again.

Thanks!

 

[blackb0x]

I updated cucholix's thread. I added an update message and linked to your vWii UNEO version.
it's the direct link. I think it would be better to point to a place where all next releases will be located too, so the link is not outdated on next change or fix. But if it works, I guess it's ok for years now.
A version number or a date in the filename would have been usefull to know which version is newer. Dimok and me last forwarder release was 5.1

I had asked him if he could reupload his forwarder package with the WAD file switched out, but he said that he's left the Wii and Wii U scene and left it at that. Kinda weird since it wouldn't take him 5 minutes, but at least now you've added an edit to his post

The forwarder "update" isn't actually an update and I didn't create it, since it's the same 5.1 forwarder that you'd uploaded to GitHub years ago You see, when I got my hands on a Wii U (thanks to danny19901) I figured I'd test SD card mode while using the most popular forwarder package, since a tester had previously said that it acted weird and things like SD card mode wouldn't stick. So it turns out that the issues existed for years simply because cucholix had included USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_2_0_AHBPROT_vWii (old 5.1).wad instead of USB Loader GX-UNEO_Forwarder_5_1_AHBPROT_vWii (Fix).wad.

Nailed it @Cyan - changing the "bootios" to 249 solved it. Well, it's saving the config to usb1: now. Still not sure why it's not interfacing with the sdcard, but main thing is, I'm up and running again.

https://gbatemp.net/posts/10069288

In your case since you're using vWii it'd also be good to know if you're launching the loader from the HBC or via a forwarder.

 

[rexus_pl]

Simple, maybe stupid, question.

How to run Wii game in 4:3 pillarbox mode (console is set to 16:9 and I don't want to change TV settings everytime I run such game) - like WarioWare Smooth Moves or Opoona? I've tried some options, but every try gives 16:9 streched output.

 

[SolidSonicTH]

When loading Wii games from SD card where do you place them? Is it in a WBFS folder?

Also what do you do about games that exceed 4GB? There aren't a ton of them but they're out there.