Hacking Wii Menu 4.2 Released

[FenrirWolf]

If you had no precautions then you really would be doing something pretty dumb. But you at least had BootMii/boot2 right?

 

[xzxero]

And if there are people out there who are randomly picking up a hex editor and using it to modify their 250 dollar console without any knowledge or precaution that is stupid and I agree, stupid people shouldn't do stupid things.

-FTen

Ouch... that hurt my feelings

LoL jk

that is whats going on in reality guy.

 

[marcan_troll]

I believe I'm beginning to understand your reasoning. I don't have anything against you now provided you don't insult me for tinkering. And I can fully understand you not wanting this information wide spread when you think of how many inexperienced users can destroy their wii.

That's my point. I mean, I'm a pretty damn careful person when it comes to mods like this (proof: haven't bricked my Wii yet, and no, I don't have a NAND programmer), so I might snicker a little when people do crazy stuff and mess up their systems, but I don't go around posting about it. However, I see clueless people doing dangerous things just because someone decided to post them. And these people do brick their Wiis. I mean, besides the emails due to wanky's (sorry, I try hard not to call him that, but I can't resist) poorly coded apps failing during 'correct' usage, I also get a whole bunch from newbies who brick their consoles doing really silly stuff. Thing is, there were no serious warnings whatsoever of the danger involved during that process. For example, WAD managers will happily uninstall the system menu or its IOS, or overwrite them. One person e-mailed me saying they semibricked their console by installing some "donkey_kong_whatever.wad" (can't remember the name), and then bricked it by uninstalling it. Obviously, the file must have been some version of the system menu. And yet nobody thought of adding some simple checks to the installer? I can't possibly be the only person that is this paranoid when it comes to other people's consoles. A little paranoia is very healthy. This is also why I never seriously recommend any WAD dealings. If you want to install custom channels or whatever (whether they're needed is another entirely separate topic), I think it should be done with a specific installer for that channel - something that can check your system for compatibility, much like we've done for HBC from the start.

Everyone knows what things I don't like, but a large part of the reason usually involves simply the poor or nonexistent (by my standards) safety. It would be much harder to flame system modifications if there were an awesome packaging system with safety checks, backups, big warnings where needed, BootMii integration or whatever for brick-proofing, etc. Heck, system menu theming can be done safely, it just takes a lot of effort since it's a system component, and no one seems to be willing to put that in. The 'hackier' the mod, the better the safety needs to be. The BootMii install process checks every single bit of data going into and out of the patching routine against a hash database, and I spent a lot of time going over the flashing process to ensure that it should be very safe, much more so than Nintendo's version. You should be more likely to brick a virgin Wii by updating to 4.2 normally than by installing BootMii.

 

[illinialex24]

It DELETES the homebrew channel??? Isn't that considered INVASION OF PRIVACY???

It goes against their license agreement, you aren't mandated to update, you should be happy compared to what they could do. I believe by updating and using the software you agree not to use third party software so it breaks their user warranty, which isn't illegal but they have the right to do this in an optional update.

I hate Nintendo.

 

[marcan_troll]

So in other word's it's not against the forum rules at all because it's not copyrighted and is not illegal.

HBC is copyrighted, just like every other piece of software out there not released into the public domain. HBC's license states that you are not allowed to modify it or even distribute it. So yes, any kind of distribution of HBC, but especially modified versions, is illegal. Just link to our site.

We used to not care about distribution, but that quickly changed when the scammers showed up.

 

[xzxero]

A little paranoia is very healthy

Exactly my view.

 

[zektor]

You should be more likely to brick a virgin Wii by updating to 4.2 normally than by installing BootMii.

I read that in Bushing's blog. I am still pretty stunned that Nintendo had the balls to include a boot2 update without any ECC checks. I wonder who approved that!

 

[mdp_1992]

@Fenrir
Of course I had BootMii2. I always read and ask question because I take my to understand what I'm doing.

@Marcan*_Troll
Man, you're amazing xD

 

[Monster Hunter]

So in other word's it's not against the forum rules at all because it's not copyrighted and is not illegal.

HBC is copyrighted, just like every other piece of software out there not released into the public domain. HBC's license states that you are not allowed to modify it or even distribute it. So yes, any kind of distribution of HBC, but especially modified versions, is illegal. Just link to our site.

We used to not care about distribution, but that quickly changed when the scammers showed up.

No man, haha thats not true at all. You can def. modify your wii in anyway possible, if it voids warrenty then whatever, that just means you have fuked up the return policy and if you fry your wii you can't have it repaired by any major wii mechanic. Look it up.

"HBC is copyrighted" WHo is HBC copying without permission?

 

[marcan_troll]

I read that in Bushing's blog. I am still pretty stunned that Nintendo had the balls to include a boot2 update without any ECC checks. I wonder who approved that!

Oh, it does have ECC checks, it's just that at least once or twice we've seen ImportBoot fail to write the ECC data. Not sure why. I can't remember if that's an instant brick or just a greatly increased chance of an instant brick - it depends on whether boot1 errors out on a bad ECC or not, and how the sector tables wind up. There are a lot of peculiar edge cases during boot2 update.

@Monster: I'm not sure you understand what HBC is. The Homebrew Channel. It's copyrighted by us (that is, Team Twiizers), and you're infringing our copyright if you distribute it, modified or not. You're actually free to modify your own copy, as long as you don't distribute the result.

 

[zektor]

Oh, it does have ECC checks, it's just that at least once or twice we've seen ImportBoot fail to write the ECC data. Not sure why. I can't remember if that's an instant brick or just a greatly increased chance of an instant brick - it depends on whether boot1 errors out on a bad ECC or not, and how the sector tables wind up. There are a lot of peculiar edge cases during boot2 update.

That does not necessarily make me feel all that "safe" in regards to Nintendo's boot2 management, that is for sure.

 

[sphere9]

This confuses me, if I update will it strip any vc games I have installed with the wad manager? Because I've been planning to get rid of all of those anyway.

Anyone?

 

[Mr_Boo_Berry]

The fix I used, in particular, was hex editing the 0000008.app file and changing 4 bytes to basically remove all of the homebrew deletion functions. The guy who tried it said it was fine, told others how to do it, and I used it and ended up fine. I'm well aware some people would fuck it up and brick their wii, and I can understand the annoyance. But I consider myself to be a responsible person, and I would not blame you or anyone else in the scene should my wii brick. I knew the risks, and I decided to try it.
It's pretty simple. Ninty's update breaks HBC. That is, it breaks our software. Since we have a fix in the pipeline to be released soon, and it isn't the same as your fix, I think it's reasonable to say that your fix is unnecessary and can cause trouble in the future. Simply, there is no reason for people to touch their system menu when a fix (in the form of an HBC update) is coming anyway. If they do, once that happens, they'll have two redundant fixes for the same problem: one supported, and one not. Do you really want to commit to supporting the people who hack their system menu that way? What if, for whatever freak reason, Ninty decides to start checking the signatures on installed contents? A modified System Menu could brick a Wii. Maybe instead of that, it will just cause a bad interaction with some other homebrew tool. Who knows. It's unnecessary patching of a core system component.

Again, I don't really care if you do it, but I don't think encouraging it, telling others how to do it, etc is a good idea.
For me it's more of a temp workaround until the Hackmii update is out. When that happens, I'll just install a clean system menu 4.2 to ensure everything's working fine.

I'm a pretty damn careful person when it comes to mods like this (proof: haven't bricked my Wii yet, and no, I don't have a NAND programmer), so I might snicker a little when people do crazy stuff and mess up their systems, but I don't go around posting about it.

Ditto, never bricked a Wii because I don't commit to a single change unless I know what I'm doing. In this case, I feel sorry for those who install cIOSCORP and other 'fixes'.

QUOTE(marcan_troll @ Sep 29 2009, 11:33 PM)

A little paranoia is very healthy.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Inferior_Design]

Just wondering how many others think its cool that Marcan is hangin out here.

Anyway, on topic...
Let me tell you the secret to avoid losing homebrew...
DON'T UPDATE!
Since 3.4 all updates have been aimed at stopping "unofficial modifications" What makes anybody think that this one would be any different?

If you want to update, do some fxcking research first. Don't be a dumbass and then whine about it later.

 

[nknave]

you just installed the SM wad and IOS wad's right?

I Installed all Newer IOS including the Stubs 249, 250 to simulate a full update from Nintendo (witout Boot2 update)

I think he did. Although, he wouldn't be able to load BootMii as Boot2...

I didn't install new Boot2v4, so I was able to restore my Wii though BootMii Boot2 using my nand.bin

QUOTE(Dr. Clipper @ Sep 29 2009, 08:52 AM)

Try again, but this time don't install the IOS250 stub (as most seem to think it doesn't install). Then try using 250 to run the TBR to install a patched IOS36.

Like I mentioned before, I want to simulate what a full Nintendo Update will be like, so skipping IOS250 will work, but Nintendo doesn't skip it this time.


My purpose was to attemp to hack my Wii with all new stuff from this new update, and it was a Fail.

We need an updated TBR or HackMii Installer that will comply with these newer IOS.


I have a theory of hacking a Wii, but not too sure if it will Work.

Example:

As long as you can install BootMii into IOS, you may use Patched WAD Manager to install over IOS249 and IOS250, and than also install IOS249 to latest release.

That should leave a vunerable IOS to mess with, but can't load from HBC, that's a diferent Story.

Another is to have a NAND.bin from a similar Wii, take NAND backup from updated Wii, use Betwin 1.0 to patch Keys to the other NAND and flash to Wii, you'll downgrade to what ever NAND you choose to flash (of course, being careful of the Boot2 version).


Cheers

 

[FenrirWolf]

This confuses me, if I update will it strip any vc games I have installed with the wad manager? Because I've been planning to get rid of all of those anyway.

Anyone?

Nope, they'll stay there. get rid of them with Wad Manager or something.

@nknave: They didn't skip IOS250, but their attempt at overwriting it should have failed since the installed cIOS has a higher version number than the stub Nintendo tried to replace it with.

 

[pm_41]

Since 4.2 updates boot2, wouldn't it need some form of a boot1 key to even touch boot2? If so, can the check be haxxed for BootMii?

 

[Monster Hunter]

I read that in Bushing's blog. I am still pretty stunned that Nintendo had the balls to include a boot2 update without any ECC checks. I wonder who approved that!

Oh, it does have ECC checks, it's just that at least once or twice we've seen ImportBoot fail to write the ECC data. Not sure why. I can't remember if that's an instant brick or just a greatly increased chance of an instant brick - it depends on whether boot1 errors out on a bad ECC or not, and how the sector tables wind up. There are a lot of peculiar edge cases during boot2 update.

@Monster: I'm not sure you understand what HBC is. The Homebrew Channel. It's copyrighted by us (that is, Team Twiizers), and you're infringing our copyright if you distribute it, modified or not. You're actually free to modify your own copy, as long as you don't distribute the result.

Lmao...I know what HBC is. Do you even know who made the HBC? IF your distributing HBC without there permission thats on you. If you read there license and you continue to distribute then thats all on you. Im talking about in general that modifying the Wii is not illegal, and you come out and say HBC is illegal when the HBC developers allow themselves to distribute it to the public. They are under the GPL license (General Public License). So if you want to get technical, theres your answer.

 

[Mr_Boo_Berry]

I Installed all Newer IOS including the Stubs 249, 250 to simulate a full update from Nintendo (witout Boot2 update)

Personally, I wouldn't do this. I updated all the IOSes to the current versions and left 222/223/249/250 stubs alone. Dop-IOS works wonders for this.

 

[FenrirWolf]

Lmao...I know what HBC is. Do you even know who made the HBC?

Umm, he's one of the guys who made it. XD