Hacking RegionHax - How to get RegionFree on WiiU

[d.d.d.]

can't i just edit the prod.xml by hand using ftpiiu?

So by doing that, can you make an out of region game load on a different system?
My situation: JP Wii U, US LoZTP and others - If I edit the prod.xml to say that x-game is to be run as USA/English, it will be run that way cuz the prod.xml tells the system OS to do that??

 

[CosmoCortney]

So by doing that, can you make an out of region game load on a different system?
My situation: JP Wii U, US LoZTP and others - If I edit the prod.xml to say that x-game is to be run as USA/English, it will be run that way cuz the prod.xml tells the system OS to do that??

The files holds regional information and such.
there's a line telling which regional version of games to accept.
the value 1 will only accept JPN games. 2 USA games and 4 EUR games. Therefore 7 will accept games of all three regions. the value 119 covers up all regions known by the Wii U (EUR, USA, JPN, KOR, TWN and CHN)

 

[SirNapkin1334]

The files holds regional information and such.
there's a line telling which regional version of games to accept.
the value 1 will only accept JPN games. 2 USA games and 4 EUR games. Therefore 7 will accept games of all three regions. the value 119 covers up all regions known by the Wii U (EUR, USA, JPN, KOR, TWN and CHN)

Apparently (shown by the video) 199 works, for some reason. Interesting.

 

[CosmoCortney]

Apparently (shown by the video) 199 works, for some reason. Interesting.

it does because it also sets the 3 least significant bits to 1. but it lacks others and enables non existent regions

 

[oslo83]

@Ne2buntu
Links for pictures are down: http://presshomeagain.fr/wiiu/regionfree/regionfree_values.PNG
http://presshomeagain.fr/wiiu/regionfree/cfg_wupclient.PNG
http://presshomeagain.fr/wiiu/regionfree/IMG_0051.JPG

By the way, some leaked documents available online for ages, speak about number 120 and not 119 for region free ; Any idea why and what's the extra bit regiontype is?

 

[oslo83]

I'd like to thank you, i regionhaxed my wiiu for last year.
I did it on sysnand with mocha.
(yes while on mocha wupserver is always enabled, so i realise that while on mocha, anyone on local network could fiddle on wiiu system files :/, but it's an other subject)

 

[Uzeir]

Hi,

I have a Japanese Wii U. I've downloaded the games from Wii U USB Helper - EUR Region. All games that I've installed are in EUR- ENGLISH region. My Mario Kart 8 just stuck on the start up loading screen and Star Fox Zero stuck on the loading screen as well. I have change region setting through "Spiik" homebrew application but my MK8 stuck on the start up loading screen again. Is the "regionhax" and "spiik" are functionality is same or different?

 

[Keizel]

Could I modify a only one game of other region (JAP) for play in my Wii U EUR?

I know about CFW and RegionHax, but I prefer don't use it and play another region games without use CFW/RegionHax.

Maybe is possible by edit the game by FTP, anyone know how?

 

[Shadow#1]

So it's time to show you how to setup your WiiU to get Region Free. With that you don't need to modify any meta.xml anymore to make your game region free. This method will make your console able to launch any region content ! This was found by me.

THIS BEEN TESTED ON SYSNAND BY MANY USERS (WITH SUCCESS FOR ALL GUYS WHO GAVE ME A FEEDBACK), BUT IF YOU DOING A WRONG MANIPULATION (MODIFY THE WRONG VALUE BY EXAMPLE) YOU CAN BRICK.

I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY BRICK.

THIS METHOD WORKS BOTH ON SYSNAND AND REDNAND
​

WHAT WILL WORK WITH REGIONHAX ?

All eshop content from all regions. Just install them on your rednand (with sigpatch) and launch them like any game. They can be normally updated and DLC should works too (I've no time to test, but i'm pretty sure they will work).

Disc games from others regions will works too.

HOW IT WORKS ?

Wii U store some settings and check them on boot. One of them settings is named game_region (like in meta.xml from a game) and for EU Wii U is set to 4.

I knew (from other region content) that JPN game_region is set to 1 and US to 2. So it looks like a binary number and each bit represent a region. By deduction (and tests), i found the others values, they are here :

​

Like you can see on this picture, if you add values together, you get others regions unlock, so the magic value to unlock all regions is 119.


HOW TO DO THE TRICK ?

What you need :

- python installed on your PC
- wupclient.py (from Fix94)
- your redNand already setup on Wii U if you want RegionHax on redNand
- Wupserver with cfwbooter if you want RegionHax on sysNand

[EDIT] SO THIS HAS BEEN NOW TESTED BY MANY USERS ON SYSNAND AND IT WORKS TOO. SO IF YOU WANT DO THIS ON YOUR SYSNAND, JUST REPLACE fw.img FROM YOUR CFW REDNAND BY THE fw.img FROM WUPSERVER BY Fix94 AND DO EXACTLY THE SAME PROCEDURE.

First off all, you have to edit wupclient.py to insert your WiiU IP address like in this example :

Start your Wii U in rednand (or with wupserver if you do RegionHax on your sysNand) and go on your PC.

In a command terminal (in the path you have stored wupclient.py) write :

python -i wupclient.py

This will start python and you will be able to write commands with wupclient.py. Write :

w.dl("/vol/system_slc/config/sys_prod.xml")

This will download your sys_prod.xml. Open it with a proper text editor like Notepad++ (a bad text editor can eventually change encodage in your file, so it's not what we want). You can see this line (value 4 is for EU) :

<game_region type="unsignedInt" length="4" access="700">4</game_region>

Replace the 4 (EU) by the magic value 119 like this :

<game_region type="unsignedInt" length="4" access="700">119</game_region>

Save and close text editor. In the command terminal write :

w.up("sys_prod.xml", "/vol/system_slc/config/sys_prod.xml")

When file upload is finished, you're done with RegionHax installation. You can reboot your Wii U, start again your rednand (or just reboot for those who did RegionHax on sysNand) and enjoy the Region Free !!!

Here the result in SysConfigTools (just to show you it works) :

​

IF YOU USE THIS METHOD (OR INFORMATIONS GIVEN HERE) TO CREATE SOME CFW OR OTHER RELEASED STUFF, YOU CAN! JUST DONT FORGET TO CREDIT ME​

THANKS ! -Netoobuntu- ​

[EDIT] As you can see, your sys_prod.xml, contain your console serial id too. Maybe this can lead to a way to unban peoples (i forgot to mention this). Dunno if just an edited serial can do the trick or not (or if it has no link with the ban method from Nintendo)

Brick warning
=> DONT EDIT YOUR CONSOLE SERIAL OR YOU WILL BRICK (REDNAND & SYSNAND)
=> DONT EDIT YOUR product_area VALUE OR YOU WILL BRICK (REDNAND & SYSNAND)

[MAJ] xXDungeon_CrawlerXx (from this forum) tried the trick on his sysnand with success ! He posted a video with his comments here :

​

[MAJ2] MasterWin (from this forum) made a spanish video tutorial here :

​

Thanks to them for the feedback !


Dont hesitate to let a comment here to share your experience if you try this.

images arnt working anymore in your post

 

[Kafluke]

images arnt working anymore in your post

This is an old post. No need with CFW to do this anymore. The patches are included in all CFWs now and rednand is old news. Nice necro bump

 

[godreborn]

I saw from one member that something on his wii u stopped working after accidentally modifying that string incorrectly. I can't recall what that something was, but I think it might've been the browser. he hadn't installed haxchi either, so I guess you could call that a brick as far as cfw is concerned.

also, if you make either a new NNID or profile (can't recall which), the wii u disc channel and the wii channel will disappear from the system. I'm not really sure why that is, but it must have something to do with the region change. the region for the system must be somewhere else. I'm not sure why something so important would be an xml file. lol

 

[bootmonster]

I saw from one member that something on his wii u stopped working after accidentally modifying that string incorrectly. I can't recall what that something was, but I think it might've been the browser. he hadn't installed haxchi either, so I guess you could call that a brick as far as cfw is concerned.

also, if you make either a new NNID or profile (can't recall which), the wii u disc channel and the wii channel will disappear from the system. I'm not really sure why that is, but it must have something to do with the region change. the region for the system must be somewhere else. I'm not sure why something so important would be an xml file. lol

He changed it to region free then changed his mind and changed it back to what he thought was the right region, but he got it wrong and soft bricked his console. So yeah, can the OP update the thread with a disclaimer and or/can mods please lock this thread?

 

[godreborn]

I left mine with region hax even after installing cbhc. I do have a backup of that file (sys_prod.xml) which I made before making the change. maybe that should be in the disclaimer at least?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

 

[Powerful]

He changed it to region free then changed his mind and changed it back to what he thought was the right region, but he got it wrong and soft bricked his console. So yeah, can the OP update the thread with a disclaimer and or/can mods please lock this thread?

No there is a brick warning on the thread. It’s a pretty dumb mistake since your friend knew where he lived. All he has to do was pay attention to the number code and enter it. They did not therefore buy a new Wii U, sorry. This mod works and the thread explains everything, that was user error.

 

[bootmonster]

No there is a brick warning on the thread. It’s a pretty dumb mistake since your friend knew where he lived. All he has to do was pay attention to the number code and enter it. They did not therefore buy a new Wii U, sorry. This mod works and the thread explains everything, that was user error.

I meant update the thread to say this is no longer required if using CFW.
Wasn't my friend was another forum user btw, though reading between the lines he was using a Wii u from a county other than where he was from, but that's besides the point.

I still think it a good idea to lock the thread to prevent it from jumping to the top every time someone gets the idea that this is worth doing, which in the current climate it is not.

 

[Shadow#1]

I meant update the thread to say this is no longer required if using CFW.
Wasn't my friend was another forum user btw, though reading between the lines he was using a Wii u from a county other than where he was from, but that's besides the point.

I still think it a good idea to lock the thread to prevent it from jumping to the top every time someone gets the idea that this is worth doing, which in the current climate it is not.

Not my doings that be oslo83

 

[mostafa]

hi
by this method only the EUR consoles can be regionfree ?
or the USA consoles too !!!
for the USA consoles the value must be 119 or diffrent value ?
I apologize for the English language
i helped google translate

 

[Shadow#1]

hi
by this method only the EUR consoles can be regionfree ?
or the USA consoles too !!!
for the USA consoles the value must be 119 or diffrent value ?
I apologize for the English language
i helped google translate

Not needed anymore Haxchi is regionfree by default

 

[godreborn]

hi
by this method only the EUR consoles can be regionfree ?
or the USA consoles too !!!
for the USA consoles the value must be 119 or diffrent value ?
I apologize for the English language
i helped google translate

119 for any region.

 

[Uzeir]

Not needed anymore Haxchi is regionfree by default

My Mario Kart 8 for EUR region (downloaded by USB Helper) just stuck on the start up loading screen. I can play MK8 only for JPN region with Japanese subtitle. its possible to run MK8 for EUR region on Japanese console.