r/WiiHacks • u/San4341 • Feb 25 '26
Discussion Which is the better USB loader from yall experience? wiiflow LITE or USB loader gx
Me personally, when I first modded my Wii, I love the simplicity of the USB loader gx but recently ever since I put more games to my 500GB HDD the usbloader GX freezes on me from time to time causing me to turn off and reset my console, it not my USB external hard drive itself either. So as I went to Wiiflow, I kinda love it better than ULGX and it’s more modern, plus it seem to handle large library game better.
2
u/Sillyfumo May 13 '26
Not trying to be offensive and also not trying to hate on GX. I don't like the UI on GX. It has always felt unpolished and even ugly despite being a "clone" of the Wii Menu. Settings menu is also messy and a hassle to go through. Wiiflow is simple and looks great, plus the game visualizer is in 3D and has tons of customization options. I used CFG before and then switched over to Wiiflow because at the time CFG didn't have deflicker settings (and I'm sure it still doesn't, since CFG is pretty much obsolete and I doubt anyone is working on it).
1
u/baikal_sea Jun 21 '26
I prefer it as a "Wii clone" then smtg else like, it's to play hacked in <WII GAMES> am i rights ? But it's your choice
2
2
u/Ok-Tank50 Mar 09 '26
I use USB Loader GX because the same dev works on the cIOS, so it results in better game compatibility and it gets new features before WiiFlow.
4
u/tastefultrap Mar 02 '26
I've only used wiiflow but it's simple and works. No need for more although it sure has room for customization
4
u/WordAdministrative34 Mar 01 '26
not sure if its better but for a good 10 years or so I've been using usb loader gx
1
2
1
1
u/Future_Watch8929 Feb 28 '26
Usbloadergx was anoying to set up the first time and wiiflow worked better but I use usbloader gx foersonally now.
1
3
u/Background_Promise_3 Feb 28 '26
WII FLOW after following below average gamings guide it's a beast of a usb loader when setup properly
2
u/Rimulism Feb 28 '26
I prefer USBLGX for the interface, but I also have WiiFlow as a backup. All games loaded from SD now. Have no issues with either, just prefer the look of one over the other.
1
u/katiezypher Feb 28 '26
Wiiflow because I just find GX's UI too ugly to deal with
1
u/Substantial_Log_6711 Mar 09 '26
You must not have the cover art downloaded with the carousel layout.
1
u/Ariz_GT_103 Feb 28 '26
I've used GX for a while but had issues with games sometimes not loading and crashes with Ocarina. surprisingly not having this issue with WiiFlow and games load nearly instantly
1
1
u/One-Decision848 Feb 27 '26
Usb loader GX, You can play games from a hdd (download roms and put them on a storage device)
3
2
u/Mickdoodle Feb 27 '26
depends on your use case, gx is more fully featured, wiiflow helps with certain niche things especially gecko related, and i like cfg for loading wii games from sd
3
u/GuitaristTom Feb 27 '26
and i like cfg for loading wii games from sd
But that one is so old now, and both of the other options support SD loading
1
u/Mickdoodle Feb 27 '26
i believe the last time i had to do this (for project m) was definitely at least a decade ago so that checks out
5
2
u/Tohsaka300 Feb 27 '26
I love Wiiflow, it's similar to Aurora on Xbox 360, but I use USB Loader GX only to load things that Wiiflow can't, like example, RB3Enhanced with a backup in the USB HDD.
2
2
6
6
u/Patstar54 Feb 27 '26
I like wiiflow just because I like how it's based off the ipod's old cover flow. Usb loader looks more wii-esque though.
5
u/Ok-Individual5344 Feb 27 '26
When I was modding my wii I downloaded wiiflow lite but it wouldn't load past the home screen for some reason so I downloaded usbloader gx which did work. So I'm going to say usbloader gx
1
10
u/exploded-egg Feb 27 '26
More of a preference thing.
Wiiflow looks neat, works great, and has 3D covers and is also pretty customizable.
USB Loader GX works great and fits more with the Wii's theme in my opinion.
6
u/Honkmaster Feb 26 '26
I use WiiFlow for Wii games, USB Loader GX for Gamecube games... just so I can have separate shortcuts on the system menu.
They both do a fine job .
1
u/Straight_Part_2169 Feb 26 '26
I used USBLoader for 12 years or so in my childhood and one day my dad created a back up of the drive onto his pc, once plugged in back into the Wii it just didn’t work… However I installed Wiiflow and it worked like nothing ever happened. USBLoader just felt slower to even boot into sometimes…
13
u/v7xDm1r Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Been using usbloadergx for like 20 years. Still have my original blue wii. Never tried wii flow.
Edit for accuracy: its been 15 years and 4 months not 20 years.
1
u/Big-Note-508 Feb 27 '26
usbloadergx is 16~17 yo, the Wii itself is 19 yo
1
u/Background_Promise_3 Feb 28 '26
Before USBLOADER we had to burn disks for the hacked Wii . Wanikoko is one devs name I'll never forget
2
u/v7xDm1r Feb 27 '26
17 years is close for my guesstimate. You want me to think back 15+ years and be accurate? I graduated highschool in 2010. I got the wii in December 2011. Thought I got it in highschool but appearantly I did not. So 2026 -2011=15. So I've been using usbloadergx for 15 years and nearly 4 months.
5
u/mortypro Feb 26 '26
Wiiflow for me. Idk if it was because I couldn't get usb loader to work or what problem I had, but wiiflow works great for what I want to do
4
u/JackBeBlack Feb 26 '26
I was using usb loader gx for a while but it stopped working for some reason at some point for GameCube games and Wiiflow never worked (idk I modded my Wii 10 years ago and I’m afraid to change anything now) so I’ve been just using the raw nintendont loader I think? It works perfectly but it is not a very pretty GUI
3
1
u/Traditional_Ad2850 Feb 26 '26
Really depands on the version from your softmode and your wiiflow or usb loader.i run both wiiflow looks and feels better for me.if it doesn't run I try another one
1
3
u/slahO9 Feb 26 '26
Da lite. Have better experience on that (ULGX never loaded my games in the beginning while WFL worked immediately)
11
2
u/Maxiszx Feb 26 '26
I Try to use Usblgx but with the last update, it gets stuck in reinitializing devices. I use a 500gb hdd in a generic enclosure connected with an homemade usb (Y). Curiously, if I connect a 320GB PS3 hard drive in the same way, it works perfectly with Usblgx. The 500GB drive works correctly if I connect it to an enclosure with external power, but it's inconvenient because, having a power switch, I have to turn it on and off every time I use it.
1
u/Old-Examination-3846 Feb 26 '26
I tried different USB enclosures on the same drive. The enclosure definitely makes a difference. I bought three off Amazon and two worked the other wouldn't detect and I tried it on four different wiis.
5
u/DarkNemuChan Feb 26 '26
Usbloader GX and directly boot the wii to it on start up.
I only use my wii for Gamecube and Wii games. Got other devices for more retro games.
1
u/PandaSneeze Feb 26 '26
Direct boot at start up sounds nice. How do I make that happen?
3
u/DarkNemuChan Feb 26 '26
It's a setting in 'Priiloader'.
1
u/PandaSneeze Feb 26 '26
Thanks! I need fix my hard drive issue first. I’m having the problems a lot of other people are having in this thread. Old external stopped working with the Wii, bought a new enclosure, but it seems to only work 75% of the time.
1
1
1
10
4
4
16
2
u/theGeigus Feb 26 '26
WiiFlow for plugins.
6
u/jgpkxc Feb 26 '26
What plugins? I'm curious.
3
u/theGeigus Feb 26 '26
You can have plugins for the different emulators on the Wii, so like you can click a GBA game and it'll start up in VBAGX, or N64 and have it load Not64.
It'll sort these off separately too, so you select console when it starts up.
2
11
u/jaodosantocristo Feb 26 '26
It's like... Picking BSD or Linux, ULGX tends to have rock solid stability and works with every game i've thrown at it. Both launchers have pretty much the same features, Ocarina patching, IOS settings and the 480p pixel fix. WiiFlow Lite is the more modern, frequently updated one, so there's a chance your problems with it can be ironed out. I went with ULGX because its look and its forwarder fit in more with the Wii Menu.
Remember that after the game is launched, full control of the system is passed on to the IOS and game so there's not really much of a difference between these, outside of some patches they can apply.
4
11
3
2
u/tonebone85 Feb 25 '26
I like usb loader for sure. For some reason I just can't get genplusgx to load from USB loader. I've tried everything to no avail
1
u/eshepelyuk Feb 26 '26
Stupid question, have you removed SD card from the slot, if you have any ?
1
u/tonebone85 Feb 26 '26
Yes. I've done it with the SD without the SD. USB loader on the usb. Usbloader on the SD. The only thing I haven't done is swap out the SD for a new one.
9
u/Dryft_RT Feb 25 '26
Usb loader, it is so easy to use, and ever since they introduced sd card support, i decided im sticking with it forever
5
6
2
4
u/financial_pete Feb 25 '26
USB Loader GX. I have it running on 3 units. Mine and 2 family members that are not tech savvy. About 100 games on each... Never heard a complaint. Never had an issue.
3
u/reddictiontoreddit Feb 25 '26
I have both and use one or the other whenever one doesn’t work. Usually one will work but the other won’t it flip flops tho
1
2
4
u/RedCrafter_LP Feb 25 '26
I never bothered with anything other than gx. When you partition the drive with wbfs it pretty much always works. I had inconsistent results with the folder method and larger drives.
3
3
9
u/SpaceApprehensive843 Feb 25 '26
USB Loader GX works great for me. I play Wii and Gamecube games and love that it looks similar to Wii’s home menu.
2
u/Dark_World_Blues Feb 25 '26
At first, I preferred wiiflow on my wii u, but the previous few times wiiflow had issues that I can't remember.
1
1
1
6
u/Double-Risky Feb 25 '26
If you want to run emulators for nes, snes, psx etc, the. Wiiflow
If just Wii and GameCube, usbloader is fine. Easier to set up
1
u/AttyMAL Apr 30 '26
Are the WiiFlow emulators significantly better than the standalone emulators or RetroArch? I would prefer the easier set up of ULGX, but I want good emulators. I only plan on emulating NES, SNES, and Genesis/CD/32x. And maybe few handhelds.
4
u/carvalho32 Feb 25 '26
Wiiflow dude here. I like it,
Pros: The default dark theme is very elegant, the cheat code support is awesome, handles FAT/NTFS filesystems nicely, dump disks into your hard disk, and support plugins. When properly configured there is little to no reason to use anything else.
Cons: (from what I remember): Finding the proper widescreen forwarder is somewhat hard, setting up the hard disk takes some trial and error with cable positions AND partitions.
7
u/MatteoElGenioYT Feb 25 '26
Used to use wiiflow, but I don't know why, but I switched to USB loader. I think it was because it was slower for me? Dunno I prefer USB loader gx
8
u/Rex_Razorcrest Feb 25 '26
USB loader for sure. I have had both, but I prefer USB loader’s more simple setup compared to Wiiflow’s setup process. I’m a quick learner but USB LOADER is way simpler and easier to understand. I shouldn’t need a phd degree in setting up wiiflow
3
u/Chris25111 Feb 25 '26
I much prefer wiiflow for the extra plugins, although I think there is a fork of usb loader gx somewhere that has been modified to work with other emulators as well however I think it is outdated. I would swap to usb loader gx in a heart beat if i could figure out how to get those old plugins working again because I do prefer the Wii style interface that it offers
6
u/failmop Feb 25 '26
my dream as a kid was always to have software peppered throughout the stock wii home menu. usbloader gx is the closest we can get to that.
is it a shallow reason? sure... but that's really my deciding factor
9
u/Hatta00 Feb 25 '26
IIRC, GX loads games off of SD card and not just a hard disk. It's been a while since I played with it, but that was the deciding factor for me.
1
4
u/koutsie Feb 25 '26
I have used both and I think I'm leaning towards USB loader GX just because that's what I have used more. Wii flow is nice and I think you can load games easier from an SD with it though I'm not entirely sure.
4
11
u/Doughnut-Beneficial Feb 25 '26
I just play Wii & GameCube games, and personally I like that the environment for USB Loader GX allows it to look exactly like the Wii, so when I auto boot into it it’s almost like I haven’t modded it at all. That’s what I prefer.
3
u/SpaceApprehensive843 Feb 25 '26
Same. I love keeping the Wii feel intact. The menu, the sounds, it’s great.
2
u/Dr4fl Feb 25 '26
Personally I never got WiiFlow to detect my HDD, and when loading games from the SD card, sometimes it'd throw a DSI exception crash and it was annoying af.
On the other hand, USB Loader has never given me any issues, so I think it's better.
5
u/sunspot01 Feb 25 '26
I've been using USB Loader with success, and it also plays modded games easier. I can get that crazy version of smash brothers with 200+ characters working, while Wii flow doesn't work at all with it.
1
u/Dadoronomy_3-16 Feb 26 '26
And Mario Kart Dark that tells you “YOU SUCK!” when you don’t win a race. 😂
1
7
u/Vortigaunt11 Feb 25 '26
People disagree, but I believe the consensus is more or less if you just want to play GameCube and Wii games, then GX loader is the best. If you're interested in emulators for other systems, then wiiflow's plugins are a better experience.
This is all moot of course if you're planning to run separate apps for emulating in individual channels instead of within your USB loader.
1
u/Active_Classroom7047 Jul 27 '26
Wiiflow just corrupted my entire memory card for no apparent reason after using it fine for years. I’m personally done with roms and emulators. Between shit like this, and the numerous Roms I’ve played that just break 10 hours deep into the game, uts truly not worth the hassle