Hacking Configurable USB Loader

[Dr. Clipper]

Sorry , but I don't understand "launch it using Cfg" ....Bud

You can either use the Boot Disc option from the Main Menu (accessed via the - button by default), or assign the boot_disc action to a button in order to get Cfg to boot original discs.

 

[Budweiser]

Sorry , but I don't understand "launch it using Cfg" ....Bud

You can either use the Boot Disc option from the Main Menu (accessed via the - button by default), or assign the boot_disc action to a button in order to get Cfg to boot original discs.

Ok , Thank You

Bud

 

[C.S.I.]

I think Configurable USB Loader is the ducks guts. Excellent program.

Have tried a couple of times to use the "GX' loader, it just doesnt seem as simple to use, more menus to wade thru, etc.
In fact last time, I could'nt even work out how to download covers ?? Hence its now deleted.

Keep up the good work all.

 

[gorp001]

I recently updated to version 56 and now none of my games work...It keeps telling me I need cios 222 or 223 to play from FAT but I'm sure I installed those already (the hermes ones i think).

I had the same problem. I had to go into the settings and set Configurable USB Loader to load games using 222-mload as the ios.

 

[ctkxtreme]

I recently updated to version 56 and now none of my games work...It keeps telling me I need cios 222 or 223 to play from FAT but I'm sure I installed those already (the hermes ones i think).

I had the same problem. I had to go into the settings and set Configurable USB Loader to load games using 222-mload as the ios.

Settings in the file itself or manually doing it in the loader?

Never mind, figured it out.

 

[TroyTheZombie]

sorry if this is a stupid question, I haven't been around for close to a year, and its a little hard to find out every piece of info from reading posts.

I am aware an NTFS partition does work (read only). But, does a compressed NTFS Partition work?

 

[Dialexio]

sorry if this is a stupid question, I haven't been around for close to a year, and its a little hard to find out every piece of info from reading posts.

I am aware an NTFS partition does work (read only). But, does a compressed NTFS Partition work?

NTFS file compression does not work. Sparse ISO files do work, though. (They can be made sparse via wbfs_file.)

 

[TroyTheZombie]

Ah, thank you. so using a NTFS partition really has no advantages at this moment, unless I am missing something?

 

[commdante]

Also, if you save the your discs/isos on NTFS (uncompressed) it usually is as compressed as it can get anyway. Besides that, defragging a compressed NTFS drive takes ages (I had a large rar file compressed on the ext-HD that was fragmented: 14 hours ... moving it to another drive and the drfrag was about 20 min orso.)

Why defragging? Well, I had some troubles with MarioKart Wii, only 6 fragments ... but I could only race with Yoshi and Luigi on a certain track, then at finish it would crash, most other racers wouldn't even show the "intro" of the track. After defrag it works fine now again. I use NTFS and 1 file (so no 2 or 4GB parts) so it's easier to "emulate" the adresses. No idea if the program really works that way, but I've got a lot better loading times and no hassle anymore since I defrag. Rest is still compressed due to me being lazy and rather have "unzipped/unrarred" files on my HD commpressed in NTFS, as it rather native in windows and doesn't require much extra time, while still being compressed.

The movie player (some name/mplayer? Christmass edition) doesn't seem to care about ntfs compression ... or most of those files are already compressed as much as they can be orso, because my anime series etc seem to run fine. Then again, mplayer thingy has a buffer, while games expect data pronto.

All in all: Imo best is to have a separate (sp?) drive with about 5-10GB in FAT (FAT32?, I always only see FAT mentioned for 249 ... really only FAT16?) for homebrews, saves etc and the rest for your ISO/WBFS/WhateverYouWannaCallIt.

 

[C.S.I.]

Only advantage would be IF the file is over the 4GB FAT32 limit, but the Game managers deal with that anyway by splitting the file into 2 parts.

And trying to store a compressed file on a compressed volume may in fact increase the storage space used by the resultant file. No point at all.

If it were me, I would avoid NTFS.

You also get sparse file support via FAT32.

 

[LxTrix]

Thoughts on updating profiles?

- Profiles listed in main menu so you can select the one you want
- Profiles autoboot to only show the games you have favorited
- profile names shown in corner or somewhere
- easier way to add games to profiles

 

[TroyTheZombie]

hmm, interesting.

Well, I've been using FAT32 since these loaders started supporting it, look like I'll be continuing to use it.

I appreciate the very informative answers you provided.

 

[Dr. Clipper]

For those still confused about .wdms and Alt Dol Disc Plus, I made a tutorial for it. Click here.

Thoughts on updating profiles?

- Profiles listed in main menu so you can select the one you want
They are listed on the global options page, which is accessible via the Main Menu. You can also make the global options page your main menu via button actions, or just add profile switch to a button.
- Profiles autoboot to only show the games you have favorited
Already there for yonks. Add start_favorites=1 in config.txt.
- profile names shown in corner or somewhere
If you make the profile switch via button action, it will name your profile as you switch profiles for a brief time.
- easier way to add games to profiles
Configurator.
So I think that everything you suggested is already there. Try adding this to config.txt and see if it acts the way you want:
CODEstart_favorites=1
button_2 = profile

That way it starts in favorites mode and the profile switch is mapped to button 2 (you won't have a way to turn off favorites mode, though, but you can always map to a different button if you need that).

Oh, and on the Configurator thing, you can manage your favorites using the following Dialog after loading settings.cfg, I don't think it can get easier than that:

 

[commdante]

OMG

We need windows?

J/k

would be nice to have some sort of editor on the wii itself, then again ... I think I read somewhere it's opensource and you probably have better things to do (being all "Woopa: new update...and another...and another ...)

(Read: when I check for new updates orso, cfgUSB usually has new_r>2).
Suckering suckatash ... annoying guy again, do it yourself!

Too bad I'm kinda stuck in a PSPPC game project (and haven't even checked Wii-dev stuff), else I probably would've made my own cfg-editor for on the Wii. I guess noone really cares about having one in general anyway though, haven't even seen the usual "I need programmers and GUI-peeps and stuff .. we need X" posts/threads.

Meh, like the dev said: Just use the windows thingy already! .. I guess.

And in other news: What happened to the RED switch, too hard to render? Or did the dev think it wasn't "modern" enough?
(I miss the red switch, I kinda feel like I'm booting some beta now.

)
And yet again: Thanks for this awesome program. (One really can't say that enough to great stuff being handed out for free!)

Opensource and homebrew ftw, if games on PC's weren't so monopolized, I'd be on Ubuntu on my game-PC too.

Edit Neato, seems you've added another nice feature. Too few beers left though, have to check it out in detail tomorrow.

 

[thevoiceover]

Just add "covers_path=usb:/usb-loader/covers" to config.txt on the SD card after copying it over (with the other files in the usb-loader directory except for the covers subdirectory).

I am using usbloader v56 and am trying to get covers to load from my hdd. I have it partitioned as 470GB WBFS and the rest (a few gig) to Fat32 and have edited the config.txt on the sd card in the usb-loader subdir to add the covers_path as listed above. I made sure the subdir existed on the fat32 partition (even added the 3d/full/disc subdir within) and I still can't get the covers to load/dl to the hdd. Do I have to specify what partition within the path? Can someone post a sample config that is known working for me with a similar hdd configuration? This is frustrating as I have read all through the wiki and it pretty much tells me what to do as you have listed above, but it isn't working for me. I have also ran the configurator, but it doesn't give me the option to add/ dl covers from USB hdd (fat one) to my knowledge.

Thanks again for the help.


TheVoiceOver

 

[Dr. Clipper]

When you edit it, do the images on the SD still load? Are they downloading to the SD too? If so, then you are editing the file wrong. Check the global options page (push 1 twice) to make sure you are editing the correct config.txt. Also, try adding another option (like cursor="AA") to test if it is reading that file.

Also, make sure you have the case of the option correct. It should be covers_path=usb:/path. covers_path and usb should be lowercase. The path part probably isn't case sensitive, but try ensuring it matches your actual path too.

 

[davidw89]

Damnit with Priiloader autoboot to cfg with a forwarder, when i'm in a game and i click wii menu, it gives me a code dump error every single time. I'm guessing the solution would be change the forwarder, anyone have a link to priiloader compatible forwarder with the latest version of cfg loader?

 

[thevoiceover]

When you edit it, do the images on the SD still load? Are they downloading to the SD too? If so, then you are editing the file wrong. Check the global options page (push 1 twice) to make sure you are editing the correct config.txt. Also, try adding another option (like cursor="AA") to test if it is reading that file.

Also, make sure you have the case of the option correct. It should be covers_path=usb:/path. covers_path and usb should be lowercase. The path part probably isn't case sensitive, but try ensuring it matches your actual path too.

Thanks for the help, I couldn't read where it was loading the config.txt from (d/l with homebrew browser) but I did copy config.txt to the apps\usbloader and it started working and then I could read where it was loading the config from (all clear after that)... Weird but thanks either way.

A question I do have as I searched and didn't see any answers to this (but many requests from sometime ago) is if Themes, BCA/WDM and or cheats can be added to the USB drive and read from there? If not, is this planned? Not much of a big deal, just want it for structural reasons.

Thanks again for helping me get the cover art running from hdd.

 

[Dr. Clipper]

A question I do have as I searched and didn't see any answers to this (but many requests from sometime ago) is if Themes, BCA/WDM and or cheats can be added to the USB drive and read from there? If not, is this planned? Not much of a big deal, just want it for structural reasons.

The other files all use the base directory to determine where they go. The base directory will be the first place where one of the following files is found:
[*] sd:/usb-loader/config.txt[*] (sd/usb):/apps/appname/config.txt (i.e., where boot.dol is)[*] usb:/usb-loader/config.txt
Thus, make sure you only have a config.txt file in usb:/usb-loader, and just put your other stuff there and then the only thing you need on the SD card is the apps subdirectory with boot.dol, icon.png and meta.xml.

 

[davidw89]

1. I take it you use priiloader to boot (and return) to CFG instead of the original wii menu. Which causes the wii menu to be rather inaccessible (if you set your 'home' key to return to the wii menu, priiloader will redirect you to CFG instead).
This 'bug' is overcome in v55 by setting the home key (or any other key) to 'Pune'.
IMPORTANT NOTE: you will need a version of priiloader that is newer than 3.0b (which is currently the latest official release). If you scavenge through this thread, you'll find a link to a working version...or you can wait until Daco decides he tweaked priiloader sufficiently enough to release the next version.

How do i set the home key(or any other key) to Pune?