Hacking Wii-modding Predicament

[CamaroShifter88]

I've been strolling through these forums for quite a bit now, and now that brawl is about to come out.. and no signs of a wii price drop or more supply of them in the near future

, I've decided to go ahead and get myself a wii. However, I'm not sure what would be the best approach for modding it. I've done quite a bit of research and will probably buy a cyclowiz (wiikey doesn't seem to be having too great of support recently), or d2ckey. I guess it all depends on the wii I'm going to get, but I can imagine I'd get the d2ckey.

Anyways, that's not where I'm confused. I remember seeing many videos of people using their computers as "modchips", and figured that'd be pretty handy for me (I'm a college student w/ very little $$

). My monitor will also be my tv for the wii, and I leave my computer on 24/7, and it's a strong rig. Is this a good approach at all? I know I'd have to boot up software every time I load a game, and I'd have to have my computer running, but are there any other major flaws? Is this too outdated, and will I be at risk for a few games (such as SMG), or is this way invisible? I understand the big N catches you by reading a burnt cd, not the chip, but would I have to worry about that with the computer booting?

Lastly, I've read about the wii being hacked and potential for playing modded games w/o hardware mods. Any idea of if this is going to be implemented and work, or when?

I'm sorry if this is an outdated question, and I'm just trying to do this on a big budget (also don't want to worry about dealing with nasty wires/soldering jobs unless I have to). Thanks everyone.

 

[DBlaze]

Probably you have a D2C Wii. So that would leave D2CKEY and Argon/infectus.

But really if you mod it, let someone solder who has really knowledge of soldering, I looked in the wii today and normally I solder myself (i did my GC and ps2 myself) but the wii would be like an epic fail if I'd mod it

that is with the current mods.

D2C does have flexpcb which makes it way easier tho.

 

[mr deez]

I'd not heard about this PC option before, but I've had a quick read up and seems a nightmare, with limited support - no advantage over a modchip as soldering still required, but a number of disadvantages...

So to use your monitor I guess you need a VGA converter? Or is there a 3rd party lead available now, dunno..

Anyway, I only got my Wii recently, and specifically bought 2nd hand - that didn't save much in purchase, but getting a d2b chipped saved me a load of time, cash and bother to get chipped as someone local does wiikeys - if not, I'd have to send the wii off and all sorts, costing at least double for d2c.. you might want to consider that.

Also, the rumour of wiikeys being defunct is a bit excessive, considering it plays every game, with features others don't offer.. and it's not like Galaxy came out THAT long ago! but hey, Cyclo is much the same.

 

[CamaroShifter88]

ya, I read up on the Wlip and flexpcb, but haven't done much researching on it yet. Does the operation seem possible for a newbie w/ flexpcb, or is it still risky business? I've been really good at small fidgety stuff like that, but have never actually soldered before. I would practice a lot on my stray pc memory cards beforehand, of course, but like mentioned.. the wii DOES look a lot harder to crack.

Do you have any take on the computer-based one at all, or is that just TOO far out of the question?

thanks again for your help!

EDIT: Didn't see your post there at first deez.
So pc is not a very good idea then? Anyways, VDigi makes a VGA adapter for the Wii, but it'd require a male-male adapter as well. I heard it works really well, but is just a bit of a hassle to install, as you have to set the config to 420p instead of 420i, which requires another TV. That's not a problem, we have a 720p 42" LG tv RIGHT by my computer, but we're using that for the 360 if we both decide to play a game at once, and are hassled w/ one tv (DAMN DORMS!).

As for wiikey, I'm just talking about their site being down for some time. I understand they have someone new in charge who should be a bit more punctual w/ updates, unlike the SGM instance. The two overall are too similar to make me take one over the other so much.

 

[amptor]

last i checked, d2b's were cheap on ebay and I think some were on craigslist too. I have a wiikey, it works great.. I'm wondering if smash brawl will incorporate another copy protection. that'll show us if there's really support for the thing any more or not.

I'm hoping they put their web page back up.. they still own the domain. I bought my wiikey from dealextreme for $5 and I believe it is legit.. so I think I actually may have supported the wiikey team lol.. just not for that outrageous fee of $50 that they started at

which isn't a lot either, but..... it's a wii, it tends to get shelved after a month and never looked at again LMAO. I have not seen anyone gloating about this year's software offerings either hehe... just xbox 360 is going to obliterate everything this year, and I am a sony fan ! but I know what's best

 

[ben_r_]

If you have never soldered before and dont have nice equipment there is no way I would recommend to you to try the install of a D2CKey yourself. Its a VERY difficult soldering session for a newb. Why dont you try paying someone to do it for you?

 

[mickthestud]

what is everyones problem with the last wiikey update it took 3 days for the wiikey team to bring out the galaxy patch my god people get a life even the cylowicks team took a day and they only fluked it as for the wiikey coders we dont need them at the moment but i guess we will find out the real deal with em in a month time when brawl is released no doubt it will have some other form of protection on it...

 

[Kiljaeden]

I can't understand why you would discount the Wiikey, yet consider the D2CKey. The D2CKey is made by Wiikey and I would presume that the updates for D2CKey would be as frequent as updates for Wiikey.

I can understand the caution due to the Wiikey website being down, but it's been down before and they've provided updates for games when required.

That being said, I think if you got Cyclowiz or Wiikey for a D2B and below drive, you'd be fine. Or a D2CKey for a D2C drive, you'd be fine.