Hacking Hacking the Disc Channel

[AbdallahTerro]

Hello world!

Here is a way to turn your ugly disc channel into a Supercool Neogamma channel

The channel will not only look great but also will almost run every single Wii/GC or MultiISO Disc or Backup thanks to Wiipower's Neogamma even if you don't have cMIOS installed and will show the banner of the disc inserted as usual

Here are some screenshots
Before Screenshot:

After Screenshots: (More theme screenshots below)

You might also move that disc channel from First channel slot to anyone like any other channel (using priiloader hack)

Spoiler

Before:

After:

Or even you can rename it:

Spoiler

Before:

After:

And Yes hide it if not needed (Even if you don't have 48 channels present).
Screenshots:

Spoiler

You need the following:
1. System Menu version 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3 installed
2. Ability to run homebrew (HBC installed) from SD card
3. Ability to install fakesigned wads
4. the NeoCORP PoC-pack Includes Priiloader (thanks damysteryman for the hack & wiipower for Neogamma) http://gbatemp.net/t...a-disc-channel/
5. Mymenuify to install the theme. Read this: http://sites.google....hacks/Mymenuify
For more info on themes http://www.wiihacks....y-tutorial.html
& Diddy The Theme Boss's page http://gbatemp.net/t...-team-creations (Thanks man - I included your avatar on the tiny disk )

My Themes:

Health Screen for DarkWii_GreenWhite_NeoCORP Theme

Disc Channel Thumbnail & Banner + Settings Screen

Spoiler

(warning: the icon background of the disk channel moves from Up to Down Like The Matrix -
Sorry I'll not show a video since some people will have a heart attack & you don't want that)

The NeoGamma_NeoCorp_Inside Theme shown above is now available for download:
Download link: http://www.mediafire...hamgns4yr0my0vu

And For WiiKing Theme:

Spoiler

(warning: the icon background of the disk channel moves from Rt to Lt Like Mario Kart channel -
Sorry I'll not show a video since some people will have a heart attack & you don't want that)

Download link for WiiKing theme: http://www.mediafire...gafj1mrmy8u27pp

So here you go:

Part 1: Hack the channel and change its function:

* Install the NeoCORP Poc-Pack and get the hack enabled using the guide above in #4

Part 2: Change the way the channel looks

* Create and Install the Theme: Link for the DarkWii_GreenWhite_NeoCORP Theme:
http://www.mediafire...5miwlcem3fq9s5s (use this at your own risk after reading all of the above)
This theme is a modification of Diddy81's DarkWii-Green Theme. Obviously you can pick any other theme from Diddy's garden: http://gbatemp.net/t...-team-creations

You can apply the theme to create a CSM for your own Wii SM Version and Region using ThemeMii:
Apply only "DiskThum.ash & diskBann.ash" to create the new Disc Channel (In case you don't need to apply the full theme)

Part 3: Rename the channel

* You'll need ShowMiiwads or any U8 Archive Packer/Unpack and a HexEditor
* Unpack the 000000XX.app file using showmiiwads/tools/unpack u8 archive (where XX varies with SM region and version - use the one that matches your Wii's)
* this will create 000000XX_app_OUTfolder
* Navigate to 000000XX_app_OUT\message\eng folder and open the file (ipl_common_noe.bmg) in your Hex Editor
* Change the Name using only 12 characters max (including spaces)
* It should look like this:

Spoiler

*Now Pack the folder without header and without compression and replace your 000000XX.app file with the new one
*Use ThemeMii to create CSM using the new file as a base

* 20 Characters long title (Thanks to the great GiantPune who provided the C++ code to change the offset of the title in the bmg file & for Diddy81 for making use of this code)
You can find the code here: http://gbatemp.net/t...53#entry4129353

*So for a longer title download this modified "ipl_common_noe.bmg" by diddy81 (this is for Pal SM) file and change the last part using a HexEditor (I included the orginal 12 character long file for backup)
http://www.mediafire...n944j9bh5e922mi

* It seems that 20 is a magic number set by the system menu (hardcoded) and can only be changed via a priiloader hack (Thanks to the Pune for this info)
If anybody is interested check this post: http://gbatemp.net/t...ost__p__4131280


* 000000XX_app_OUT\message\ folder contains all languages available for your region so make sure you select the language you are using (EN in my case)

* ipl_common_noe.bmg can be named ipl_common.bmg depending on SM version or language used (Same hack applies) - you can just rename the file and use it with no problems.
* Alternatively, Instead of using HexEditors you can use SZSmodifier to edit the dmg file since it has a more user friendly interface.

Part 4: Hiding or deleting the channel

* After doing some research I got a working workaround for this issue:

The data related to all channels in the system menu is stored in the file (\title\00000001\00000002\data\iplsave.bin)
When the "Disc Channel" is in the first channel slot, It's corresponding info is found at offset 10 sel 0x10 bytes like this "0101 0000 0000 000F 0000 0000 0000 0000"
http://www.imagethe....6bc379f18ec.jpg
*an empty slot in the SM has "0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000" instead
*Any other channel slot has the following structure: "0300 0000 0000 000E 0001 0001 XXXX XXXX" where the X's depend on channel title [ex Neek2o channel NK2O = 4E4B 324F]
*The last channel in the last spot is found at offset 300
*Just replacing the Disc channel with zero's won't work because the SM recreated the "disc channel" upon booting.
If the iplsave file is made read-only after zeroing the disc channel you'll get "System Files are corrupted" message
* Here's the "full process" to hide the disc channel manually by hex editing:
1. Dump iplsave.bin
2. Replace disc channel entry in iplsave.bin with 0x00 bytes
3. Remove last 0x10 bytes from file
4. Generate MD5 sum (should be 0x10 bytes long)
5. Append MD5 sum to end of iplsave.bin (making it back to original length)
6. Replace iplsave.bin in Wii. Thanks Sifjar (HexKing)

* Using a third party application made for tweaking the Channels can make changes to hide the disk channel, I found out that Snort 48+ v1.1 by Mark can just do that
Homepage: http://usuaris.tinet...snort48-english
*It basically zero's the "Disc Channel" data and generates checksum of the iplsave.bin file to prevent the SM from recreating it. Here's a comparison of 2 files one with and one without the disc channel:
those last 16 bytes are the checksum, if this is wrong the iplsave.bin will be rejected and disc channel recreated in first slot (or first empty slot)

This tool can also be used to manage all the channels in Real and Sneek Nands.

Warning:
Please read the info on Mark's page because messing with iplsave.bin file can potentially brick your Wii, So try it on Sneek/Uneek before trying it on the real nand (at your own risk) - It's important that the Disc Channel is in the first SM-Slot before hiding it or this will fail.
Messing with Priiloader and with Themes can Brick your wii so before you start add several layers of brick protection and please make a test on an emulated Nand using S/Uneek first to make sure this babe will work.

Many people will say I don't use the Disc channel "I'm a USB loader guy" and I'll say "me too" but this is really cool even if you don't use it

Things you might do (optional):
Delete the Neogamma forwarder channel and gain 1 channel space on your first page.
Change the dol in NeoCORP hidden Channels if you want to use a forwarder or other loaders

Will make life a bit easier: Create a priiloader hack to rename the disk channel without using themes

So, this ends the talk about hacking the "Disc Channel"
Hope someone learned something

Many thanks to:
-Nintendo for making the Wii and Homebrew teams for hacking it making all of this possible
-Damysteryman and priiloader team for making the awesome hacks
-Diddy81 for his great help in everything related to system menu themes and long title name
-Giantpune for providing the info needed to make the title 20 characters long
-SifJar for his help in HexEditing parts
-DeadlyFoez for suggesting this section
-Raulpica for cleaning the mess and being the sheriff
-Whoever made these available: Showmiiwads, HexEditors, ThemeMii, Priiloader, Neogamma, Snort, and Corel/Adobe Photo Editors
-Anyone who helped and I forgot to mention

Thank You
Abz

 

[Luigi2012SM64DS]

guy we already have instructions

 

[JoostinOnline]

The channel will not only look great but also will run every single Wii/GC or MultiISO Disc or Backup thanks to Wiipower's Neogamma even if you don't have cMIOS installed and will show the banner of the disc inserted as usual

I should point out that the statement in bold isn't true. Compatibility for retail games will drop slightly.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

The channel will not only look great but also will run every single Wii/GC or MultiISO Disc or Backup thanks to Wiipower's Neogamma even if you don't have cMIOS installed and will show the banner of the disc inserted as usual

I should point out that the statement in bold isn't true. Compatibility for retail games will drop slightly.

Thanks Joost

 

[Thomas83Lin]

So you and Diddy are teaming up?

 

[AbdallahTerro]

So you and Diddy are teaming up?

He's a great guy - couldn't have done this without his help
Any problem with that Ace?

 

[JoostinOnline]

So you and Diddy are teaming up?

He's a great guy - couldn't have done this without his help
Any problem with that Ace?

Ummm...what did you actually do?

 

[LWares87]

Do we really have to install the theme? As I'd rather have the hack to be honest.

Also... it looks like your showing off your theme, than the hack in general.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

So you and Diddy are teaming up?

He's a great guy - couldn't have done this without his help
Any problem with that Ace?

Ummm...what did you actually do?

Just check the pictures and you tell me.

 

[SifJar]

So you and Diddy are teaming up?

He's a great guy - couldn't have done this without his help
Any problem with that Ace?

Ummm...what did you actually do?

The, rather poor IMO (sorry), theme, which seems to include a weird, cluttered health screen and a disc channel banner change. Neither of which are to my tastes, but I'm sure some people will like them.

 

[diddy81]

So you and Diddy are teaming up?

no we are not teaming up i just offered to make the edits to a theme that AbdallahTerro wanted

The, rather poor IMO (sorry), theme, which seems to include a weird, cluttered health screen and a disc channel banner change. Neither of which are to my tastes, but I'm sure some people will like them.

true its not the best out there and yes the health has quite alot on it i didnt make any of the images AbdallahTerro did all that i just made the theme as he wanted it

 

[DeadlyFoez]

The, rather poor IMO (sorry), theme, which seems to include a weird, cluttered health screen and a disc channel banner change. Neither of which are to my tastes, but I'm sure some people will like them.

I agree completely.

@[member='diddy'], I feel really sorry for you that AbdallahTerro had even associated himself with you publicly like this and made a huge freaking production out of it like you are his best friend now or something like that. I offer my condolences.

 

[pepxl]

So youve took this thread and added a pretty ugly SM theme to it

 

[crwys]

Yea nice work and all but. The theme is bad. Features are good.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Shouldn't this be titled:
"Disc Channel" - Modification of the past

Running burned games from the disc channel has existed since like 2007. The only difference is that this is slower and lowers compatibility.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

can we rename the disc channel?
Maybe this is the only thing we need to do besides hiding it.

This is not about the theme, It can be any other theme. I respect everybody's taste but liking or disliking the theme is not the issue, just showing how the "Disc channel" which is not really a channel (since it's part of the SM) can be treated almost like any other channel.

Welcome

 

[giantpune]

you can replace the bmg files in the system menu resource. these are where it gets pretty much all of the text it uses that shows up differently in different languages. iirc, the very first entry in every version of the system menu is "Disc Channel".

 

[AbdallahTerro]

you can replace the bmg files in the system menu resource. these are where it gets pretty much all of the text it uses that shows up differently in different languages. iirc, the very first entry in every version of the system menu is "Disc Channel".

How to do so for real nand?

 

[giantpune]

the bmg files are in the same archive that gets patched when applying a system menu theme. just extract the translation file for your language, edit it to replace the strings, and insert it again in the archive.

 

[JoostinOnline]

The file you want in particular is:

\message\eng\ipl_common.bgm