Running from SSD works; booting from USB gets stuck at Apple logo

I've been running Hackintosh for several years on this hardware and currently running Ventura 13.6.7.

While trying to move to latest OC, I noticed I cannot get MacOS running when launching OC from USB stick. After spending sufficient time to fix the configuration, I noticed I cannot get even my current OC running from USB. I've played with the options (and all USB ports) and just cannot figure out what's wrong. Well, it is probably something related to permissions, but cannot figure out how to fix it. Looks like OC is doing its part but then it gets stuck after passing over to MacOS.

This is probably something very stooped I'm missing, so all pointers appreciated.

The difference in the logs is highlighted below.

[working from SSD]

35:203 00:018 AAPL: #[EB|LOG:VERBOSE] 2024-06-24T08:10:51

35:222 00:018 AAPL: #[EB|OPT:BM] 0x280182

35:240 00:018 AAPL: #[EB.OPT.LXF|F] <"\\50DCFD9C-3EF9-45D5-B428-720A2D1FF7AC\\System\\Library\\CoreServices\\PlatformSupport.plist">

35:258 00:018 AAPL: #[EB.LD.LF|IN] 0 1 <"\\50DCFD9C-3EF9-45D5-B428-720A2D1FF7AC\\System\\Library\\CoreServices\\PlatformSupport.plist"> <"0">
...

8:219 00:021 AAPL: #[EB|RH:PF] usr\standalone\OS.dmg.root_hash

38:241 00:022 AAPL: #[EB|RH:MF] <"usr\\standalone\\OS.dmg.root_hash.x86legacyap.im4m">

38:262 00:021 AAPL: #[EB.LD.LF|IN] 0 1 <"usr\\standalone\\OS.dmg.root_hash"> <"0">

38:286 00:023 AAPL: #[EB.LD.LF|IN] 0 1 <"usr\\standalone\\OS.dmg.root_hash.x86legacyap.im4m"> <"0">

38:305 00:019 AAPL: #[EB.BST.FBS|RHPSZ] 229

38:325 00:019 AAPL: #[EB.BST.FBS|RHMSZ] 3658

38:343 00:018 OCSMC: SmcReadValue Key 4D535463 Size 1

38:389 00:045 OCSMC: SmcReadValue Key 4D534163 Size 2

38:411 00:021 AAPL: #[EB|LOG:DT] 2024-06-24T08:10:54

38:431 00:020 AAPL: #[EB|LOG:EXITBS:START] 2024-06-24T08:10:54

[failing from USB]

70:833 00:059 AAPL: #[EB|LOG:VERBOSE] 2024-06-24T08:07:46

70:921 00:087 AAPL: #[EB|OPT:BM] 0x200082

70:981 00:060 AAPL: #[EB.OPT.LXF|F] <"\\System\\Library\\CoreServices\\PlatformSupport.plist">

71:041 00:059 AAPL: #[EB.LD.LF|IN] 0 1 <"\\System\\Library\\CoreServices\\PlatformSupport.plist"> <"0">

...

81:057 00:060 AAPL: #[EB|RH:PF] usr\standalone\OS.dmg.root_hash

81:120 00:063 AAPL: #[EB|RH:MF] <"usr\\standalone\\OS.dmg.root_hash.x86legacyap.im4m">

81:183 00:062 AAPL: #[EB.LD.LF|IN] 0 1 <"usr\\standalone\\OS.dmg.root_hash"> <"0">

81:249 00:065 AAPL: #[EB.LD.OFS|OPEN!] Err(0xE) <"usr\\standalone\\OS.dmg.root_hash">

81:309 00:060 AAPL: #[EB.RH.LRH|P!] Err(0xE) <- EB.LD.LF

81:399 00:089 AAPL: #[EB.BST.FBS|!] Err(0xE) <- EB.RH.LRH

81:459 00:060 OCSMC: SmcReadValue Key 4D535463 Size 1

81:518 00:058 OCSMC: SmcReadValue Key 4D534163 Size 2

81:578 00:060 AAPL: #[EB|LOG:DT] 2024-06-24T08:07:57

81:639 00:061 AAPL: #[EB|LOG:EXITBS:START] 2024-06-24T08:07:57