Gaming Wii FW 3.0 experiment

[wlof]

Hello all,

I have a small experience I'd like to conduct. Someone on another forum (Wiinewz) suggested that the new Wii firmware checks GameCube discheaders. If it does not start with G (GameCube game), P (promotional) or D (demo), the disk doesn't load. He says that's why chip config disks don't work anymore: they use custom letters (WiiKey uses W, WiiFree uses Y, etc.)

So I thought of a simple, harmless experiment I'd like to conduct myself, but can't for various reasons (ok, not various, I just won't be at home for several days).

I need someone with a Wii upgraded to 3.0, a WiiKey, a DVD burner and a little bit of computer knowledge to do the following:

1. Grab the 1.2 config disk from WiiKey official site (wiikey.cn, section Resources)
2. Decompress the archive somewhere.
3. Go into \bootdisc subdirectory and open gbi.hdr.xyz (xyz being either jap, pal or us, depending on your Wii's region) with an hex editor
4. Change the first letter (which should be W) to G.
5. Save and close the hex editor.

Now follow the normal process of creating a config disk, and put it in your Wii.

If it works, then it confirms that the new firmware only checks the first letter of the disk's header!

If someone could do this and post the results here, that would be awesome. If no one volunteers (don't see why, it's not like this could brick your Wii or anything ^^), I'll do it myself, but that won't be 'till next week or so.

 

[ledav007]

Basically you're right. They added a little more than this test in the update but you're absolutely on the right path for the config disk problem. Seen this appear before on another forums though...

 

[wlof]

Yeah, considering the simplicity of the experiment, I was certain someone had already thought of something like that.

Can you remember which forum that was? I'd really like to know more about this.

 

[KrashLF]

Hm... didn't work for me.
I tried the PAL version.

The disc loads as usual, but then it says:

wiiKey base v1.2
Consolo region: unk

Please insert the wiikey base disc!
Press any key to continue

:'(

 

[wlof]

Hmm, I guess changing the disc's name like that might mess up with some other things. Since the disc's name is different for each region (WKECFG for US, WKPCFG for PAL, WKJCFG for Japan), I suppose it is used by the configuration program to know your region. So changing the first letter confuses the program since the new name doesn't match any of the three names it knows about.

But if the disc loads, that means it passes the check from the new firmware, proving what I said in the first post. More tests are needed, of course, but I bet very soon we'll have config disks working again without the need for GCOS.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this, KrashLF!

 

[wlof]

I'm sure it's totally useless, but I've let the WiiKey team know about these results (even if they probably already had figured it out). It'd be good if they released official new disk images...

 

[niklasnyfiken]

I'm sure it's totally useless, but I've let the WiiKey team know about these results (even if they probably already had figured it out). It'd be good if they released official new disk images...

The Wiikey team just called me saying they will release the new updated disc in 4 months. Happy waiting!

 

[wlof]

The Wiikey team just called me saying they will release the new updated disc in 4 months. Happy waiting!

4 months??

Are you kidding?

It not, how are you in contact with the WiiKey team? Usually they don't seem to be very communicative...

And when you say the new disc will be released in 4 months, do you mean the new chip firmware? When I said it'd be good if they made new images, I simply meant an image of the actual (1.2) config disc that boots without the need for GCOS.

If you ARE kidding... Ha-ha

I don't really care myself as I don't play GC games, but still, all those delays don't make them look very professional... Retrospectively, I think I could have saved a few bucks and gone for WiiFree instead ^^

 

[ledav007]

I'm sure it's totally useless, but I've let the WiiKey team know about these results (even if they probably already had figured it out). It'd be good if they released official new disk images...


The Wiikey team just called me saying they will release the new updated disc in 4 months. Happy waiting!

You contacted the Wiikey team and they called you ?????????

Ok, what is the way to contact them ? Because if it's true you got a contact, and if it's via their website then you probably got a call from the reseller, not the Wiikey team... Though I'm really curious of this "contact", tell us more !

 

[jergens]

He's obviously kidding and just poking fun at the fact that Wiikey is so slow with their updates.

 

[ledav007]

did not see the post was not from the same user, crazy me ! Nice one got me !

 

[wlof]

He's obviously kidding and just poking fun at the fact that Wiikey is so slow with their updates.

I thought so...

To get back to the topic, I think it's possible to make a custom config disk that will work. It would require following the steps in my first post, but also modifying the configuration program. I know it's possible to disassemble DOL files, but I don't have the knowledge nor the resources to do it myself... Perhaps if someone experienced enough reads this, I think it might be interesting/useful (even if lots of modified, working versions of the disks are already available now. Some of them use GCOS, but maybe others use an approach similar to mine ?)