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Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2021 7:32 pm
by TheFlippedSides
Hello all,
Recently I picked up an Action Replay disc so I could launch homebrew, namely Swiss and the Game Boy Interface. However, when booting up the AR disc with my SD card in slot B, the disc hangs indefinitely. I've waited for it to respond, but nothing happens until I unplug the SD card adapter when operations resume. A pop-up asking to insert the Media Launcher into slot B remains on screen.
The AR disc is version 1.14b. The SD Card Adapter is a Wisd off of Amazon. And I'm using an old Wii-branded 2gb SD card.
I assume I must be missing something with the SD card file structure? I've copied the compressed swiss .dol, corresponding Action Replay autoexec and SDLoader.bin, and the GBI .dol and .dpc files to the SD card root; I didn't mind the GBI and MCBACKUP folders at the moment.
Any advice?
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 1:24 am
by emu_kidid
You need a FAT16 formatted SD card (NOT SDHC/SDXC). SD cards less than 4GB in size are what you want to buy for this. I'd recommend getting a SD2SP2 with a larger micro card so you don't have to swap SD cards once Swiss has booted.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:35 pm
by TheFlippedSides
Should I try another card, then? I've been formatting the same 2gig regular SD card over and over to no avail and I'm not sure what else I'm missing about the process. I even tried using the formatter off of sdcard.org.
Thank you for the feedback.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 11:37 pm
by emu_kidid
Yeah try another SD card but also try another SD card adapter first ("WiiSD" branded ones you can get from eBay).
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:10 am
by TheFlippedSides
I own two WiiSDs and it looks like both of them hang. I just tried formatting a micro 2gb SD card and got nothing.
Is there a file or something I'm missing so the AR disc can communicate properly with the SD card? I assumed at first that the hanging was due to the software looking for specific files for cheat codes and etc. found on the original Media Launcher included with the full package.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:04 pm
by capzlk
TheFlippedSides wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:10 am
I own two WiiSDs and it looks like both of them hang. I just tried formatting a micro 2gb SD card and got nothing.
Is there a file or something I'm missing so the AR disc can communicate properly with the SD card? I assumed at first that the hanging was due to the software looking for specific files for cheat codes and etc. found on the original Media Launcher included with the full package.
i've used AR/SDML without official memory card/SD card just fine. it is possible that it just doesnt like your brand of cards, i believe even swiss can be a little picky at times. at the very least it shouldnt hang when running the software without SD card/storage inserted
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:16 pm
by TheFlippedSides
capzlk wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:04 pm
i've used AR/SDML without official memory card/SD card just fine. it is possible that it just doesnt like your brand of cards, i believe even swiss can be a little picky at times. at the very least it shouldnt hang when running the software without SD card/storage inserted
I've found that it hangs even without an SD card plugged into the WiiSD. Unplugging the adapter resumes the disc. It won't do anything but show the prompt to insert the media launcher into slot B. That's why I wonder if the AR disc is trying to load a specific file from the original media launcher that it's not finding on the generic WiiSD or on my SD card. Otherwise the file selector should pop up on screen if I have all the right homebrew files packed on the SD card, right?
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:05 pm
by Papy.G
Beware that in 2GB, you can have both Standard and HC cards, from 1GB downwards, you should then be sure what you really have is a non-HC card.
Memcard-SD adapters are wired such a way that the card presence pin for the GC is shorted regardless of the SD card presence in the SD slot, this is a design flaw that makes many homebrew freeze when an empty adapter is plugged in.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:44 pm
by TheFlippedSides
Papy.G wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:05 pm
Beware that in 2GB, you can have both Standard and HC cards, from 1GB downwards, you should then be sure what you really have is a non-HC card.
Memcard-SD adapters are wired such a way that the card presence pin for the GC is shorted regardless of the SD card presence in the SD slot, this is a design flaw that makes many homebrew freeze when an empty adapter is plugged in.
Gotcha, thank you for the explanation.
I tried a 1GB card and still got nothing, waited 10 minutes for something to happen. At this point, I'm pretty stumped with this project.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:19 pm
by Papy.G
Check your sd card adapter, if the SD card goes all the way in (i've seen people with an sd card chunk stuck inside the slot that prevented any card to be inserted properly; twice.).
I have got a pair of more recent WiiSDs that are a little darker gray than the lighter gray of the earlier ones, the board was larger that the gray plastic slope that is supposed to ease its insertion, so I had to file half a milimeter on one edge to make them fit in the memcard slot more easily. I fear that's not the problem here, as you won't get the freeze when it's inserted without any SD card in.
Are you sure there is nothing wrong in the naming of your files, no unnecessary resource files such as what Mac OSX plagues all over every media it writes to?
Something might just be wrong with the card adapter, check inside for proper soldering…
Maybe you can find someone in your area who has a "softmod" already set up to help you check what's wrong?
PS: I have always assumed the AR/SDML boot method needed the SD card adapter to be in the slot A…
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 11:19 pm
by TheFlippedSides
Papy.G wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:19 pm
Check your sd card adapter, if the SD card goes all the way in (i've seen people with an sd card chunk stuck inside the slot that prevented any card to be inserted properly; twice.).
I have got a pair of more recent WiiSDs that are a little darker gray than the lighter gray of the earlier ones, the board was larger that the gray plastic slope that is supposed to ease its insertion, so I had to file half a milimeter on one edge to make them fit in the memcard slot more easily. I fear that's not the problem here, as you won't get the freeze when it's inserted without any SD card in.
Are you sure there is nothing wrong in the naming of your files, no unnecessary resource files such as what Mac OSX plagues all over every media it writes to?
Something might just be wrong with the card adapter, check inside for proper soldering…
Maybe you can find someone in your area who has a "softmod" already set up to help you check what's wrong?
PS: I have always assumed the AR/SDML boot method needed the SD card adapter to be in the slot A…
Here's a look at my card's root folder. I grabbed whatever files the wiki said to for AR.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 2:56 pm
by Papy.G
Is the SDloader case sensitive?
As long as you have enough space on your card, why would you use a compressed version of SWISS?
Isn't the autoexec.dol supposed to be the uncompressed SWISS.dol renamed so it will boot? That's the way we should do with save exploits, so…
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 4:35 pm
by TheFlippedSides
I'm not sure. I've been copying over whatever the guides said to from the Swiss and GBI downloads.
Update: I was able to run everything using the SD Load method. GBI is acting a little funky when forced to run in 240p, but I'll keep playing with it.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:31 pm
by emu_kidid
I have to admit I thought you had SDML or a version of Action Replay that allowed loading DOL files from SD, but you're saying you've actually got an older version where you've had to run sdpatch + enter the 29 line code? That would explain a lot if so.
Re: Trouble Launching Homebrew
Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 10:40 pm
by TheFlippedSides
emu_kidid wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:31 pm
I have to admit I thought you had SDML or a version of Action Replay that allowed loading DOL files from SD, but you're saying you've actually got an older version where you've had to run sdpatch + enter the 29 line code? That would explain a lot if so.
Yep. I didn't see much about the 1.14 version from the googling I've done, so I assumed it booted my files automatically on start up. I tried the codes on a whim after I figured out you could stick a 3rd party memory card in slot B so I can access the AR menus.