Hacking USB Loader GX

[sonictopfan]

I will give that a shot. 1 partition sounds good at this point!

Did you have to set the partition as "active"? I see some posts referring to that..

Yeah, go for one partition, also don't worry about the split just use Wii Backup Manager to transfer the games as wbfs format, I too was worried at first that I might get slowdowns or any issues but nope, it runs just as if it's one big file, goes back and fourth with no problems (now if only PS3 did the same but nope, you still need to transfer the entire game to the internal HDD there).

As for your second question, afaik you don't really need to set it as primary, I never done it before and it works great for me, the brand of the hard drive seems to matter though so I recommend WD from my testing.

I have a 4TB WD MyBook also. I originally thought the same thing as you and tried to do 2 drives connected at the same time and it was just too confusing for me to figure out and get working right. I thought the drives had to be formatted to 32k cluster size but no matter what I did I couldn't get my 4TB drive to do anything less than 64k. So I formatted the whole thing to FAT32 with 64k clusters and put everything onto one drive and everything works great for me.

I never heard of such a thing, I'm planning on getting a 2TB WD HDD soon "still on 1TB but am running out of space" should I transfer my GC collection first or does it not matter?

 

[tswntk]

I will give that a shot. 1 partition sounds good at this point!

Did you have to set the partition as "active"? I see some posts referring to that..

As for your second question, afaik you don't really need to set it as primary, I never done it before and it works great for me, the brand of the hard drive seems to matter though so I recommend WD from my testing.

I never heard of such a thing, I'm planning on getting a 2TB WD HDD soon "still on 1TB but am running out of space" should I transfer my GC collection first or does it not matter?

I don't think the partition has to be active. If you are adventurous, you can try both since its only a simply toggle that can be done in less than a minute.
I also don't think the partition has to be primary for Wii games loading but it is mandatory for GC loading.
Loaders had problems reading pass the 2TB mark. Don't know if this has been fixed or not.

 

[ToneL]

@ToneL GX doesn't support booting straight to NEEK for disc-based titles. You have to launch the NEEK environment and start the game from the system menu. You can use the save emunand feature to redirect disc saves to HDD but it uses the cIOS not NEEK. I know OverJoy was working on booting straight to disc images but it's not working yet.

Partial = saves on HDD, settings from NAND. Full = everything on HDD.

Thanks

PriiLoader froze on me the first time I tried to update and the second time I ran it froze again but this time it actually updated. So I would say just try again.

As for the forwarder I believe you can put the forwarder dol anywhere but the SD card root probably would be best. Then you have to choose install file and install the forwarder dol file. Then choose the option to boot installed file. Once the file is installed I don't think you need the dol file on your sd card anymore so you can delete it.

Worked great. Got it updated and the forwarder working.

 

[Clutz450]

That is a really good guide you posted. I formatted my hard drive per the guide and am transferring the Wii games over via Wii Backup Manager right now. Also copying over the NAND, Game (GameCube Games) and SNEEK folders.

I never heard of such a thing, I'm planning on getting a 2TB WD HDD soon "still on 1TB but am running out of space" should I transfer my GC collection first or does it not matter?

Loaders had problems reading pass the 2TB mark. Don't know if this has been fixed or not.

As for the GameCube games and the 2TB mark, I remember hearing that would cause issues if the game you want to play is beyond the 2TB mark. However, I never tested or experienced it. But just in case what I always did on a freshly formatted drive was to copy over my nand first, then GameCube games and then Wii games and I've never had any problems.

 

[ngs428]

As for the GameCube games and the 2TB mark, I remember hearing that would cause issues if the game you want to play is beyond the 2TB mark. However, I never tested or experienced it. But just in case what I always did on a freshly formatted drive was to copy over my nand first, then GameCube games and then Wii games and I've never had any problems.

For some reason Wii Backup Manager won't copy over Super Smash Bros Brawl. It shows as transferring but the the game shows red in the transfer window. Any special settings for this game? I suppose I could just rerip using USBLoaderGX?...

Wii backup manager did properly split a few of my other games at the 4gb size. Per the setting I have set.

 

[Clutz450]

For some reason Wii Backup Manager won't copy over Super Smash Bros Brawl. It shows as transferring but the the game shows red in the transfer window. Any special settings for this game? I suppose I could just rerip using USBLoaderGX?...

I don't know. I never had that happen to me before. Maybe their is something wrong with your copy of the game. But yeah, using USB Loader GX to rip the game again to your hard drive should work. It will automatically split the game as well.

 

[sonictopfan]

As for the GameCube games and the 2TB mark, I remember hearing that would cause issues if the game you want to play is beyond the 2TB mark. However, I never tested or experienced it. But just in case what I always did on a freshly formatted drive was to copy over my nand first, then GameCube games and then Wii games and I've never had any problems.

What I always do is copy everything at once, this way I make sure everything is organized on the hard drive cluster next to the other hoping that it would increase loading speed.

For some reason Wii Backup Manager won't copy over Super Smash Bros Brawl. It shows as transferring but the the game shows red in the transfer window. Any special settings for this game? I suppose I could just rerip using USBLoaderGX?...

Wii backup manager did properly split a few of my other games at the 4gb size. Per the setting I have set.

I don't know. I never had that happen to me before. Maybe their is something wrong with your copy of the game. But yeah, using USB Loader GX to rip the game again to your hard drive should work. It will automatically split the game as well.

If it shows the game red then it's most likely a bad rip so do another rip see if that would help, I remember having an issue with this game when I ripped it a long time ago even though I ripped it strait from the disc with USB Loader GX though it was a very old version of GX long ago before I switched from WBFS format so it could be because of that, the rip I did wouldn't go past the 4GB limit, always gives me an error message if I reach the 4GB limit while playing, I then downloaded the game from a torrent and since then it worked fine.

 

[ToneL]

@ToneL GX doesn't support booting straight to NEEK for disc-based titles. You have to launch the NEEK environment and start the game from the system menu. You can use the save emunand feature to redirect disc saves to HDD but it uses the cIOS not NEEK. I know OverJoy was working on booting straight to disc images but it's not working yet.

Partial = saves on HDD, settings from NAND. Full = everything on HDD.

Wait.... I'm confused. How do I run a wbfs game in neek? Do I have to copy to disc. Because when I ran the Neek channel from USB Loader it just went into the NAND System Menu with all my channels. I must be missing something I'm sure.

 

[gamingsincethe80s]

I am so friggin happy! I found that beta version of neek2o that is supposed to work with Wii U's vWii....

I launched Nswitch and my Wii U froze. Not to be discouraged, I tried loading a game from within the USB Loader menu and BOOM, working perfectly!!!!!! I've been playing Paper Mario all afternoon

Thanks Cyan for the tip regarding that unofficial beta neek2o release - it was made over a year ago, so I think it's safe to say Wii U owner's should go ahead and use it instead of holding their breaths for an "official" release.

 

[GreyWolf]

Wait.... I'm confused. How do I run a wbfs game in neek? Do I have to copy to disc. Because when I ran the Neek channel from USB Loader it just went into the NAND System Menu with all my channels. I must be missing something I'm sure.

Press 1 or 2 on the remote and you can pick which WBFS file you want to mount.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I am so friggin happy! I found that beta version of neek2o that is supposed to work with Wii U's vWii here:

I launched Nswitch and my Wii U froze. Not to be discouraged, I tried loading a game from within the USB Loader menu and BOOM, working perfectly!!!!!! I've been playing Paper Mario all afternoon

Thanks Cyan for the tip regarding that unofficial beta neek2o release - it was made over a year ago, so I think it's safe to say Wii U owner's should go ahead and use it instead of holding their breaths for an "official" release.

You should edit out the link. We can't post stuff that contains Nintendo's code in it.

 

[ToneL]

Thanks @GreyWolf.

 

[ngs428]

What I always do is copy everything at once, this way I make sure everything is organized on the hard drive cluster next to the other hoping that it would increase loading speed.



If it shows the game red then it's most likely a bad rip so do another rip see if that would help, I remember having an issue with this game when I ripped it a long time ago even though I ripped it strait from the disc with USB Loader GX though it was a very old version of GX long ago before I switched from WBFS format so it could be because of that, the rip I did wouldn't go past the 4GB limit, always gives me an error message if I reach the 4GB limit while playing, I then downloaded the game from a torrent and since then it worked fine.

Thanks @Clutz450, @sonictopfan, @Cyan and @GreyWolf. After quite a bit of messing around I got Neek2o working. Reformatting the hard drive per the guide that @Clutz450 posted was the key. Everything is on one partition, FAT32. Once again, thank you. I hope to post steps on what i had to do to get this setup. Something for others to use.

How about some Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1hf6hk4ube45h7/2016-02-25 20.35.08.jpg?dl=0

 

[Clutz450]

Thanks @Clutz450, @sonictopfan, @Cyan and @GreyWolf. After quite a bit of messing around I got Neek2o working. Reformatting the hard drive per the guide that @Clutz450 posted was the key. Everything is on one partition, FAT32. Once again, thank you. I hope to post steps on what i had to do to get this setup. Something for others to use.

How about some Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1hf6hk4ube45h7/2016-02-25 20.35.08.jpg?dl=0

Awesome. Glad you got everything working. Enjoy.

 

[ngs428]

Neek2o Setup
Instructions for Wii, using USBLoaderGX and EMUnand on USB HDD (assuming you already have a copy of your EMUnand available to copy to the HDD)
Special Thanks to @Clutz450, I am just compiling below what was provided to me to get my setup working.

Formatting your USB HDD to FAT32, 32k Cluster size and Transferring Games and Emunand to the HDD

Spoiler

I recommend using a single FAT32 partition with 32k cluster size. Your Wii games, GC games and your Emunand can all be stored on this drive. Wii games will need to be split at the 4GB limit. This will be done automatically when transferred to your HDD using Wii Backup Manager as outlined in the link below.
http://www.wiihacks.com/showthread.php?t=96770

After the USB HDD is formatted, you can copy any Gamecube games you have over to the HDD put them on the Root of the drive in a folder called "Games". The Emunand should also be copied over to the root of the HDD. Copy the "nand" folder to the root of the HDD.

Compiling UNeek+DI using ModMii, Neek2o, Rev 96

Spoiler

1. Go to http://modmii.comuf.com/ and download ModMii.
2. If you have used ModMii before then delete all the files in your COPY_TO_SD and COPY_TO_USB folders so that you don't accidentally copy over files from another install and accidentally install them. If you installed ModMii into its default path then you can find those folders in C:\ModMii\COPY_TO_SD and C:\ModMii\COPY_TO_USB.
2. After it's installed and/or you've deleted the files in the above folders then open up the regular version of ModMii. Not the skinned version. (Just personal preference and is what I use.)
3. Type "I Agree" (without the quotes. None of the things I will tell you to type will need the quotes) and press Enter.
4. Type "O" and press Enter to go to options.
5. Make sure that that it says "<Enabled>" next to "n20 = neek20 - build mod of s\uneek instead of original". (It should be by default.)
6. Type "M" and press enter to go back to the Main Menu.
7. Type "S" and press enter for "SNEEK Installation, Nand Builder, and Game Bulk Extractor"
8. Type "1" and press enter for "SNEEK Installation".
9. Type "1" and press enter for "96 (hosted online).
10. Type "UD" and press enter for "UNEEK+DI"
11. Type "D" and press enter for "Default Setting: COPY_TO_SD".
12. Type "D" and press enter for "Default Setting: COPY_TO_USB".
13. Type "Y" and press enter for "Yes, do it now!"
14. When everything is done you can exit ModMii.
15. Now go to your "COPY_TO_USB" directory which should be located at "C:\ModMii\COPY_TO_USB" and open that folder. (Ignore the COPY_TO_SD folder. You don't need it).
16. In that folder you will see a folder named "SNEEK". Copy that folder to the root of your USB drive. (if you were to look inside that folder you should see 4 files. di.bin, font.bin, kernel.bin and rev.txt).
Done

Setup to Return to NAND (Wii Home Screen) After exiting Neek2o

Spoiler

Now that is done you need to do one more thing to make it so USB Loader properly exits neek mode EmuNand back to Regular NAND:
1. Now go to "https://code.google.com/p/custom-di/downloads/list" and download one of the 4 wads that have NK2O in them. Me personally I downloaded the one that said "neek2o_NK2O_1.wad"
2. Place that file anywhere you want. Preferably the root of either your SD card or USB drive.
3. Open up USB Loader GX.
4. Click on the gears on the lower left to open up "Global Settings".
5. Click on "Features".
6. Scroll all the way down and click on "EmuNAND Wad Manager"
7. Click on "File"
8. Then go to where you have the WAD file and install it. When done you can delete the WAD file.
Done.
Now when you exit a game loaded in neek it will exit back into real NAND (Wii Home Screen)

Setting Your Games to load with Neek2o in USBLoaderGX

Spoiler

Now all you have to do is change your settings to have your WiiWare and Virtual Console games load up using neek. I would recommend doing this on a per game basis. To do that you would want to do the following:
1. Click on the game you want to play.
2. Click on "Settings".
3. Click on "Game Load".
4. Scroll all the way down until you see "Nand Emulation" and change it to "Neek".

Optional: Exiting Neek2o and Rebooting back to USBLoaderGX

Spoiler

The only thing left to do to make exiting neek more seemless would be to install the USB Loader GX Forwarder into PriiLoader so that when it reboots the Wii it automatically loads back into USB Loader GX.

FAQ

Spoiler

Q: I have my Emunand on SD, how can i get it to the UDB HDD?
A: You can copy the nand folder from your SD card to your USB drive. Then just update the custom paths to point to the nand folder on your USB drive.

 

[tswntk]

@Cyan

If I launch WiiXplorer from HBC/System Menu, I can see my SD and USB HDD no problem.
When I launch it via ULGX (r1260, ios d2x b52-249[56] or ios58), I can't find my HDD. Everything else like SD, FTP and even SMB are all working as it should.

I auto launches ULGX via bootmii. Tried launching ULGX from system menu or HBC (1.1.0; ios58) - the same.

Is it an AHBPROT problem? or is ULGX taking excluding rights to the HDD?

Just curious, discovered it accidentally. I don't normally access my HDD from WiiXplorer. If I have to, I can start WiiXplorer without ULGX, no big deal.

 

[Clutz450]

@Cyan

If I launch WiiXplorer from HBC/System Menu, I can see my SD and USB HDD no problem.
When I launch it via ULGX (r1260, ios d2x b52-249[56] or ios58), I can't find my HDD. Everything else like SD, FTP and even SMB are all working as it should.

I auto launches ULGX via bootmii. Tried launching ULGX from system menu or HBC (1.1.0; ios58) - the same.

Is it an AHBPROT problem? or is ULGX taking excluding rights to the HDD?

Just curious, discovered it accidentally. I don't normally access my HDD from WiiXplorer. If I have to, I can start WiiXplorer without ULGX, no big deal.

I had something similar happen to me. I tried launching my emulators from USB Loader GX and I had my roms on my USB Hard Drive but none of the emulators would see the hard drive. But they did see the SD card. So I think it had something to do with being launched from USB Loader GX. But we should wait and see what Cyan has to say about this.

 

[GreyWolf]

@Cyan

If I launch WiiXplorer from HBC/System Menu, I can see my SD and USB HDD no problem.
When I launch it via ULGX (r1260, ios d2x b52-249[56] or ios58), I can't find my HDD. Everything else like SD, FTP and even SMB are all working as it should.

I auto launches ULGX via bootmii. Tried launching ULGX from system menu or HBC (1.1.0; ios58) - the same.

Is it an AHBPROT problem? or is ULGX taking excluding rights to the HDD?

Just curious, discovered it accidentally. I don't normally access my HDD from WiiXplorer. If I have to, I can start WiiXplorer without ULGX, no big deal.

I think GX needs to be calling a USB deinitialize before it launches stuff like that. I've been looking around to see where the info on that I found last month went. :/

 

[sonictopfan]

So yeah, go for Fat32 with 32KB, it'll save you a lot of headache, use Wii Backup Manager to do the formatting and to transfer your games, you're gonna thank us later!

Thanks @Clutz450, @sonictopfan, @Cyan and @GreyWolf. After quite a bit of messing around I got Neek2o working. Reformatting the hard drive per the guide that @Clutz450 posted was the key. Everything is on one partition, FAT32. Once again, thank you. I hope to post steps on what i had to do to get this setup. Something for others to use.

Well @ngs428 I'm glad it worked out for you, you are most welcome and have fun

 

[Cyan]

I think I messed the homebrew launching when I added nintendont support.
I needed to force a reload to IOS58 for nintendont, so I did it for all homebrew too, but maybe something went wrong.
I will have to check the homebrew launching code.

 

[tswntk]

I think I messed the homebrew launching when I added nintendont support.
I needed to force a reload to IOS58 for nintendont, so I did it for all homebrew too, but maybe something went wrong.
I will have to check the homebrew launching code.

I don't think so.
Just tried r1226 and v3.0 (r1180? credit page just says v3.0 but it certainly has no settings for nintendont) and they behave the same way.
At least launching Save Game Manager with r1260 will show a message "waiting for HDD.." and a counts down. Cancelled it with B and SGM still can access HDD.

So something can be done on the other apps or may be ULGX can fix it on its own. Anyway, not a problem for me.