Hacking How do people know how to hack the wii?

[EmperorOfCanada]

No need to be a jerk to the guy just for asking what you all thought was a stupid question.. Its not like he was rude about it.

 

[Cubedevelop]

Learn:
1- Programming ( C and C++ especially )
2- Basic hardware architecture. ( Andrew S. Tanenbaum's book is a good start)
3- Operating systems ( Andrew S. Tanenbaum's book is a good start)
4- Cryptography ( Bruce Steiner's book is a good start)
5- some ASM

... other stuff... but i stop here for now because it will take you a long time to reach this point ; ) after then you become skilled enough to be able to continue with the list.

Anyway it's sad that on this site there is not enough documentation for modern console hackers.
I want to know what they have discovered so far.

For example i am looking for these details about the Wii (and not only):
- how boot process works, including how bootrom decryption works
- Wii game disc file system
- game disc encryption details
- how the Wii OS loads a game, at what memory address the ELF file is loaded, etc.
- REL files, how the addresses in them are patched at runtime. When does a REL module get loaded/unloaded from memory and at what address, and how a static (ELF) Wii game can call a function or use a variable in a REL if it does not know at which address the REL is located

Anyone can point me to a site with these and other technical findings?
Or at least tell me how can i reverse engineer that stuff myself.
Thx!

 

[lordkaos]

Learn:
1- Programming ( C and C++ especially )
2- Basic hardware architecture. ( Andrew S. Tanenbaum's book is a good start)
3- Operating systems ( Andrew S. Tanenbaum's book is a good start)
4- Cryptography ( Bruce Steiner's book is a good start)
5- some ASM

... other stuff... but i stop here for now because it will take you a long time to reach this point ; ) after then you become skilled enough to be able to continue with the list.

Anyway it's sad that on this site there is not enough documentation for modern console hackers.
I want to know what they have discovered so far.

For example i am looking for these details about the Wii (and not only):
- how boot process works, including how bootrom decryption works
- Wii game disc file system
- game disc encryption details
- how the Wii OS loads a game, at what memory address the ELF file is loaded, etc.
- REL files, how the addresses in them are patched at runtime. When does a REL module get loaded/unloaded from memory and at what address, and how a static (ELF) Wii game can call a function or use a variable in a REL if it does not know at which address the REL is located

Anyone can point me to a site with these and other technical findings?
Or at least tell me how can i reverse engineer that stuff myself.
Thx!

dude, look at the date of the last message, you just revived a 9 year old thread.

 

[urherenow]

any of that info on http://www.wiibrew.org/ ? I seriously can't connect to that site from my location...

dude, look at the date of the last message, you just revived a 9 year old thread.

Whatever. Necrobumps can be amusing during slow times. The next big news will ignite a bunch of flame wars again, it'll be exciting, and it'll feel like a necrobump. Since GW seems dead for months... (but is supposed to see a release on Sunday. What time or time zone, I don't know...)

 

[Cubedevelop]

@urherenow Yeah thanks that site seems to have many of the info i look for!
Try accessing it via TOR

@lordkaos 9 year old thread LOL i realized that later.

Anyway i can't stand that console hackers want people to contribute but yet they make it difficult to find all the tech info, maybe they fear prosecution especially for new consoles.

For example i want to read low-level tech findings about WiiU, PS3/4 as well. Where is it?

Now i understand why emulation development takes ages...

 

[Ryccardo]

For example i want to read low-level tech findings about WiiU, PS3/4 as well. Where is it?

WiiUBrew, PSDevWiki

maybe they fear prosecution especially for new consoles.

Sony was able to defeat Geohot in court only because he's American (and therefore under the DMCA), in many developed countries and most other ones it's not illegal to hack for the purpose of running your 3rd party software

 

[ScarletDreamz]

If you watch CCC, you would get an idea on how it works.

 

[Seliph]

Just look up a guide online lol, if you have an SD card you should be set. I was able to hack my Wii with zero prior hacking experience.
Oh, I realized what you meant. You should probably word this better because currently the title and the way you worded your post made it seem like you want to learn how to hack the Wii with programs like letterbomb, not hacking and making homebrew.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

A lot of us just learned by ourselves. I don't think there's any "classes" you can take. Some of us started with learning how to code, others may have been tinkering with PCs and other electronics for a while. In the hacking scene, everyone with this kind of background just gets together to share vulnerabilities and findings. If you want to read up on vulnerabilities, there's plenty of resources you could Google. But we're black hat hackers. There's always a legal gray area we're in when we hack a console or hardmod something, so there's no official "classes" per se. It's all a very do-it-yourself kind of thing. You pick up on it over time.

If you're looking where to start, I would say start learning how to code. That's the basis for all homebrew. If you want to hack the operating system yourself and come up with exploits, learn about different encryption methods, how operating systems work, etc. Get a very solid understanding of computer systems. Of course, if you want to go the more hardware mod route, then learn about how electronics are built, the various components, etc.

 

[Cubedevelop]

I have always been somewhat scared by the hardware way, i don't wanna get hurt by a solderer or an electric shock while i am just learning LOL

While reading the Hacking The Xbox book paragraph where he used highly toxic acid to melt that motherboard down risking his life... i was thinking he's crazy!

Would you really risk your life throwing a console motherboard in the acid just to find where the bootrom is ? LOL

 

[GreyWolf]

You don't need a very powerful acid to remove coatings on a PCB and it's not hard to take precautions.

You should also never work on electronics while they're plugged in and always pay attention to where the tip of your soldering iron is.