Hacking USB Loader GX

[XFlak]

So I dusted off my WiiU and updated my vWii softmods (last time it was touched was 2018). I acted a bit rashly and updated everything before even confirming if things were working in their previous state. I've updated d2x cIOS to v11-beta1-vWii (base 56,57,58 to slots 249-251 as recommended). My HDD for vWii is the same HDD I use for Wii so it already had GX updated to blackb0x's latest version and working properly on the Wii, just never tested on the vWii. Unfortunately now my HDD is not recognized by GX.

Here are some other things to note:
-This is the same HDD that was working on my vWii previously, it still works on my Wii, and I know 100% it is formatted properly
-HDD is detected by HBC, and can be used to launch GX
-I use a Y-cable on vWii for extra power to the HDD (standard cable works fine on Wii though with same HDD), y-cable still works today and can power another HDD just fine (formatted for use in WiiU mode though, not vWii), so for these reasons I don't think the issue is likely to be HDD or cable related
-I reinstalled d2x v10 beta52 which made no difference, I've since reverted to d2x v11 beta1
-I tried installing base 57 to slot 249 as was previously recommended years ago, made no difference, since reverted back to base 56 in slot 249
-I tried adjusting the meta.xml ios and bootios arguments, but I'm just guessing at what to change (I did remove the comment lines)

    <!-- remove this line to enable arguments
    <arguments>
        <arg>--ios=249</arg>
        <arg>--bootios=58</arg>
        <arg>--usbport=0</arg>
        <arg>--mountusb=1</arg>
        <arg>--sdmode=0</arg>
    </arguments>
    remove this line to enable arguments -->

So basically all I updated was GX and cIOS and now the HDD isn't detected anymore. Any ideas anyone? I'm really not a vWii expert so any help would be appreciated. Thx!

edit: solved, see below

 

[ber71]

Don't ask me why, but in order to share my usb, i had to enable the 'read all partitions' flag.

 

[morning_glory]

So I dusted off my WiiU and updated my vWii softmods (last time it was touched was 2018). I acted a bit rashly and updated everything before even confirming if things were working in their previous state. I've updated d2x cIOS to v11-beta1-vWii (base 56,57,58 to slots 249-251 as recommended). My HDD for vWii is the same HDD I use for Wii so it already had GX updated to blackb0x's latest version and working properly on the Wii, just never tested on the vWii. Unfortunately now my HDD is not recognized by GX.

Here are some other things to note:
-This is the same HDD that was working on my vWii previously, it still works on my Wii, and I know 100% it is formatted properly
-HDD is detected by HBC, and can be used to launch GX
-I use a Y-cable on vWii for extra power to the HDD (standard cable works fine on Wii though with same HDD), y-cable still works today and can power another HDD just fine (formatted for use in WiiU mode though, not vWii), so for these reasons I don't think the issue is likely to be HDD or cable related
-I reinstalled d2x v10 beta52 which made no difference, I've since reverted to d2x v11 beta1
-I tried installing base 57 to slot 249 as was previously recommended years ago, made no difference, since reverted back to base 56 in slot 249
-I tried adjusting the meta.xml ios and bootios arguments, but I'm just guessing at what to change (I did remove the comment lines)

<!-- remove this line to enable arguments
<arguments>
<arg>--ios=249</arg>
<arg>--bootios=58</arg>
<arg>--usbport=0</arg>
<arg>--mountusb=1</arg>
<arg>--sdmode=0</arg>
</arguments>
remove this line to enable arguments -->

So basically all I updated was GX and cIOS and now the HDD isn't detected anymore. Any ideas anyone? I'm really not a vWii expert so any help would be appreciated. Thx!

Have you tried earlier version/s of GX ?

 

[XFlak]

Have you tried earlier version/s of GX ?

I haven't, I suppose this would be a good idea, lol. I did try the latest versions of cfg and Wiiflow and none of them worked either. I'll try older versions when I get a chance and circle back, thanks.

edit: I tried GX rev1271, no difference

edit2: SOLVED! Such a dumb issue. I swapped the usb ports used by the 2 ends of the Y cable, I'm pretty sure I had the data cable in port0 (the 1 nearest the edge) - is this the intended data port for vWii the same as it is for Wii? I swapped it so the data line is now in port1 and addition power line is in port0. Either this or I got the y-cable ends mixed up, I am assuming the thicker end is data+power and the thinner one is additional power only.

 

[jeannotte]

I swapped the usb ports used by the 2 ends of the Y cable, I'm pretty sure I had the data cable in port0 (the 1 nearest the edge) - is this the intended data port for vWii the same as it is for Wii? I swapped it so the data line is now in port1 and addition power line is in port0.

the USB port, closest to the edge is that of the second power supply
.

 

[XFlak]

the USB port, closest to the edge is that of the second power supply
.



View attachment 413711

that explains it, I thought the usb port nearest the edge was the primary one, my bad. It differs from the Wii in this way, I totally forgot

 

[morning_glory]

that explains it, I thought the usb port nearest the edge was the primary one, my bad. It differs from the Wii in this way, I totally forgot

Just don't go forgetting the things you're good at

 

[steval_beaning]

If you're playing the game from an SD card then that's likely why it's freezing. And that issue will be addressed in my next release.

Can I ask if there's any updates on this? I'm also having trouble getting the game to run from the SD card I store my games on.

 

[morning_glory]

Can I ask if there's any updates on this?

I thought it was resolved (?). I haven't been keeping up with it. I'm still living in BC
But, don't discount the fact that not all games will be trouble free. You did state "game" (not plural). Try other games (if you have any). Also, try other loader/s.

 

[Error52]

Will there's be compatibility improvements to EmuNAND with the next update? Juggling between the NAND and EmuNAND just for a few games is a bit of a pain.

 

[RedColoredStars]

Will there's be compatibility improvements to EmuNAND with the next update? Juggling between the NAND and EmuNAND just for a few games is a bit of a pain.

I've never used an emunand on my Wii U. Why not just get rid of it instead of having to juggle?

 

[leejaclane]

I've never used an emunand on my Wii U. Why not just get rid of it instead of having to juggle?

Emunand is useful if you're using the same HDD to play games via Dolphin or on a different console, for example if you're going over to a friend's you can take just the HDD with games and the emunand on it instead of the whole Wii or Wii U, and then you can just play on their homebrewed console or on Dolphin.

It also allows you more space for saves, since the space on a Wii or vWii is rather limited, especially if you have more than a few WiiWare and Virtual Console games installed to the nand.

 

[Error52]

I've never used an emunand on my Wii U. Why not just get rid of it instead of having to juggle?

Because it would be very convenient to have everything on my hard drive instead of having to manage what games are installed on the puny internal storage.

 

[RedColoredStars]

Emunand is useful if you're using the same HDD to play games via Dolphin or on a different console, for example if you're going over to a friend's you can take just the HDD with games and the emunand on it instead of the whole Wii or Wii U, and then you can just play on their homebrewed console or on Dolphin.

Thanks. I have no friends so I guess I don't need an emunand. LOL!

Because it would be very convenient to have everything on my hard drive instead of having to manage what games are installed on the puny internal storage.

That doesn't make a lot of sense considering all of my games are on a hard drive and I have no emunand. Emunand is not a requirement to store or load your games from/on an hdd.

 

[Error52]

Thanks. I have no friends so I guess I don't need an emunand. LOL!



That doesn't make a lot of sense considering all of my games are on a hard drive and I have no emunand. Emunand is not a requirement to store or load your games from/on an hdd.

Is for WiiWare and VC stuff, I believe.

 

[RedColoredStars]

Is for WiiWare and VC stuff, I believe.

Hm. I remember installing both to an external drive using WUP Installer GX2. Maybe I'm wrong. I dunno. lol

 

[XFlak]

Hm. I remember installing both to an external drive using WUP Installer GX2. Maybe I'm wrong. I dunno. lol

That's referring to the WiiU. But wiiware can be installed to the wii real nand in a similar fashion using wads. That being said, and as previously mentioned, u are limited in terms of storage space, so an emulated nand would be needed for wii if u have a lot of content. However u can still just have the games on emulated nand and still have saves directed to the real nand, at least in most cases

 

[Error52]

That's referring to the WiiU. But wiiware can be installed to the wii real nand in a similar fashion using wads. That being said, and as previously mentioned, u are limited in terms of storage space, so an emulated nand would be needed for wii if u have a lot of content. However u can still just have the games on emulated nand and still have saves directed to the real nand, at least in most cases

I've actually been directing my saves to EmuNAND as well, funnily enough. Partly for storage reasons but mostly because I have a Wii U with a Hynix NAND chip, so if that ends up dead and I can't fix it then at least all my Wii saves won't go down with the ship.

There any major drawbacks to this in terms of bugs or potential save corruption? I know it all being attached to a hard drive is still a point of failure itself, granted.

 

[leejaclane]

There any major drawbacks to this in terms of bugs or potential save corruption? I know it all being attached to a hard drive is still a point of failure itself, granted.

Save corruption I'm not familiar with so someone else would have to chime in, but there are certain games that don't play nice with running from emunand and other games that don't play nice with saving to emunand (that includes, apparently, some disc based games, such as Skyward Sword and Metroid Prime 3, including the Trilogy version of Prime 3).

From what I've heard, doing NEEK for the emunand resolves these issues, at least for most games, but I haven't gone to the trouble to set up NEEK yet and I believe it's different between Wii and vWii.

If you're worried about save corruption though, the great thing about an external hard drive is that you can make backups of the data on it pretty easily, so periodically doing that ensures that any unexpected drive failure or data corruption doesn't cost you your progress in any games.

 

[DA88]

I am hoping to get some help.

I homebrewed my Wii a few years ago and have been using USB loader GX to load my Wii and GC games. I wanted to add WiiWare games, so I followed the directions from a video on youtube by Anton Retro. This entailed putting the WAD files on the WAD folder on my HD, dumping the NAND to EmuNAND, and then using EmuNAND Wad Manager to install the contents of the WAD folder from the USB.

I am having some problems. First, all of the channels from my Wii home screen are showing up in the WiiWare tab on USB Loader GX, not just the WiiWare games. Also, most of the WiiWare games don’t load. They just go to a black screen and I have to do a hard reset of my Wii.

What is causing these issues and how do I fix them?

Does dumping the NAND to EmuNand delete anything from the console?

If I delete the EmuNAND from my HD, will I lose game data? If so, how do I put game data back on the NAND?