USB Loader GX

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This is a quick start guide on how to use USB Loader GX, a popular USB loader for the Wii that’s used to play games from a USB drive.

USB Loader GX

What you need

Make sure you have installed cIOS before following this!

We recommend you copy games over with Wii Backup Manager if you use Windows, Witgui if you use macOS, or Wii Backup Fusion for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

If you want to play games that are in NKit format, use this program to convert them to ISO first. You can also use a development build of Dolphin, right click on a game, and use “Convert File” to convert it.

If you are not copying games using Wii Backup Manager, Witgui, or Wii Backup Fusion, make a folder on the root of the USB drive or SD card named “wbfs” and put the games in there.

To play games, we recommend using an external hard drive for your Wii. Flash drives should be usable too, but external hard drives are recommended as they are more reliable, and can store more games.

Make sure your USB drive is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS. Do not format it as other types such as exFAT, extFS, or WBFS, the latter is an old format of storing Wii games.

Instructions

Downloading
  1. Extract USB Loader GX and put it in the apps folder on your USB drive or SD card.
  2. Insert your USB drive, and SD card if you’re using one, into your Wii and launch USB Loader GX from the Homebrew Channel.
Getting Started

There is no “guide” to use the USB Loader GX app. This is intended to help you learn how to use it, by giving you a quick start. You should be able to figure out all the great features of USB Loader GX by using it.

  • If USB Loader GX says “Waiting for HDD…” with a 20 seconds countdown, it’s likely that it can’t find the USB drive. Try to exit out of the app, and then relaunch it after you put the USB drive in the other port of the Wii.
  • You can press the 1 Button on your Wii Remote to open up a dialog to download game covers and artwork from GameTDB. It might take a while to download the game covers and artwork, depending on how many games you have.
  • There are WADs that can open up USB Loader GX if you load it from the Wii Menu. This is called a forwarder WAD. An official forwarder WAD can be found here, and a version for the vWii (Wii U) can be found here.
  • GameCube or “custom” Wii games may or may not have a custom banner that USB Loader GX uses. To enable this, find or write CustomBannersURL = http://banner.rc24.xyz/ in config/GXGlobal.cfg on your USB drive. Then you can use the “Custom Banner” download by pressing the 1 Button on your Wii Remote.
User Interface

There are multiple buttons in the USB Loader GX interface.

These are the functions the buttons found on the top of the main menu do, from left to right:

  • Star - Shows games that you have marked as “favorites”.
  • Search - Lets you search for games by name.
  • Sort - Cycles through sorting methods for games.
  • Platform - Choose to sort games by platform.
  • Category - Sorts games by category.
  • List - Shows games in a list view.
  • Multi-Cover View - Shows games in a multi-cover view.
  • Cover Carousel View - Shows games in a carousel view.
  • Wii Menu View - Shows games in a Wii Menu view.
  • Parental Control - Locks USB Loader GX.
  • Disc - Loads a game via disc.

Pressing any game will allow you to play the game by pressing “Start”.

There are also other buttons:

  • (+) Icon - “Install” a game, i.e. loading it from disc and dumping it.
  • Gears - Settings for USB Loader GX.
  • SD card - Remount the SD card.
  • Homebrew - Load homebrew apps.
  • Wii - Open up the HOME Menu, which can also be accessed by pressing the HOME Button on the Wii Remote.
  • Power Button - Turn off your Wii.

On the middle of the bottom of the screen, you can see how much space is free on your USB drive and how many games you have.

Continue to RiiTag
RiiTag is a customizable gamertag for your Wii that USB Loader GX can integrate with. This is optional to set up.

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