After going through this quick guide, you will be able to launch any game that requires the GamePad to launch without the GamePad connected. This is useful for games like NES Remix and Super Mario Maker that work just fine without the GamePad connected but for some reason still need the GamePad to launch. I'll assume you already know how to use FTPiiU Everywhere. Of course this can be dangerous if you screw something up in the nand and I'm not responsible for whatever you do. You know the drill.

All you need to do change the "drc_use" tag in the games meta.xml from a 2 to a 1. That's all you need to do!



If the game is installed on your nand and the game doesn't have an update the file path is
/storage_mlc/usr/title/00050000/Last 8 digits of the games title id/meta

If the game is installed on a usb drive and the game doesn't have an update the file path is
/storage_usb/usr/title/00050000/Last 8 digits of the games title id/meta

If the game has an update installed on nand the file path is
/storage_mlc/usr/title/0005000e/Last 8 digits of the games title id/meta

If the game has an update installed on your usb drive the file path is
/storage_usb/usr/title/0005000e/Last 8 digits of the games title id/meta

 

[godreborn]

people have been using this with haxchi since the button presses are locked due to needing the game pad.

 

[El 15]

Does this work in Home brew launcher?

 

[Zaweet]

Does this work in Home brew launcher?

It should work just fine. You'll still need a compatible controller inside the launcher though

 

[leon315]

Nice tutorial, anybody know how to shut down completely my game pad, now I rarely use wiiu know cauz of other consoles, but everytime I turn it on, the battery is always ran out.

 

[Ryccardo]

anybody know how to shut down completely my game pad

Assuming you're using the standard (small) battery, there's a lot of space around it -- perfect to add a switch that disconnects the red wire... or manually unplug it every time

 

[leon315]

Assuming you're using the standard (small) battery, there's a lot of space around it -- perfect to add a switch that disconnects the red wire... or manually unplug it every time

wut?! nope, i always knew there's a ways to shut it down completely, it's annoying as fuuuk, everytime i wanna use wiiu and pad's battery is always dead, any other solutions??

 

[Ryccardo]

wut?! nope, i always knew there's a ways to shut it down completely, it's annoying as fuuuk, everytime i wanna use wiiu and pad's battery is always dead, any other solutions??

Both ways I mentioned achieve the goal perfectly... I am not sure if a simple (call a system function) software way exists at all, but certainly there's nothing out yet that implements it

 

[trunske]

wut?! nope, i always knew there's a ways to shut it down completely, it's annoying as fuuuk, everytime i wanna use wiiu and pad's battery is always dead, any other solutions??

I recommend you open the gamepad battery , its pretty easy because it was a Switch.

Anyway there a little trick, When you turn on console o when you launch the game, on the screen loading title you can hold the Power Buton from gamepad and it wlil shut down completely

 

[leon315]

I recommend you open the gamepad battery , its pretty easy because it was a Switch.

Anyway there a little trick, When you turn on console o when you launch the game, on the screen loading title you can hold the Power Buton from gamepad and it wlil shut down completely

I tried it, doing so will also shut down wiiu, right steps should be turn on wiiu, then immediately press and hold power bottom to turn off game pad ?

 

[Razor83]

Is it possible to modify the Wii U System Settings app so it can be loaded without the GamePad? and then control it with a Wii Remote/Wii U Pro Controller?

 

[godreborn]

Is it possible to modify the Wii U System Settings app so it can be loaded without the GamePad? and then control it with a Wii Remote/Wii U Pro Controller?

there's a way to do this with games, but I know of no way to do this with the system itself.

 

[Ryab]

wut?! nope, i always knew there's a ways to shut it down completely, it's annoying as fuuuk, everytime i wanna use wiiu and pad's battery is always dead, any other solutions??

always keep it plugged in like I do

 

[Codemastershock]

It is possible to shut down the GamePad entirely without removing the battery.

Press Sync button twice, it wiil prompt to sync the GamePad, and then press and hold the Power button on the GamePad.

Problem is that turning off to hold the battery life when the console is powered down dont work because it is a trait of the GamePad itself, it works when you want to play something like Mario Kart 8 with Pro Controller.

Every battery has a discharge rate when idle and this battery is reasonably fast and to help, the GamePad keeps the WiFi turned on everytime. Unlike the common knowledge, it is this chip that is responsible for the bad battery life, not the screen.

 

[Seabass559]

Sorry to revive an old thread, I did this and changed Drc to 1, and tried launching haxchi with a wii mote but it didn't work

 

[El 15]

Well, my wii u is weird I don't undestend why but I changed drc_use for 10179b00 (brain age "haxchi") and 10198c00 (big brain academy "haxchi") from 2 to 1 and it didn't work ....... then I tried from1 to 0 and it didn´t work I even tried to change the config.txt file and it keeps doing same things as in the very begining

I've already checked directories and in filezilla downloaded again the meta.xml, changes were saved but my wiiu keeps doing same things, does someone has an idea about my problem?

Excuse my english.

 

[axelluu]

thanks, helped.

 

[damage9]

What I do is get far enough so the Gamepad alerts that has lost the connection with WiiU, then I hold Power button 'till it turn off.

 

[Retro_Mod_Gamer]

I linked to this in my post about Games that work without the Wii U GamePad. I've found 4 games so far that work without the GamePad after using this hack and will continue updating the list as I continue testing games.

Cutie Clash, EctoPlaza, Epic Dumpster Bear, NES Remix Pack so far.
You need a GamePad to say yes to Miiverse once during set up of both Remix 1 and 2 to be able to play them without the GamePad in the future.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-games-that-work-without-the-wii-u-gamepad.581843/

What I'm really finding to be a pain in the ass are games that check for the GamePad AFTER boot. Is there a way to bypass this as well?

 

[SapphireBulletBill]

I tried this with Super Mario Maker.
Once I restart the system it still requires the gamepad.
I believe the values change back after restarting the system.