Hacking Why you don't need to be afraid of a vWii Update

[Sage Gaara]

Some people are concerned about updating their Wii U and it bricking their vWii. That's not going to happen and here's why:

vWii is "essentially" a Wii but not to it's entirety. The vWii is a built in emulator, just like how the original Xbox 360 came with a built in Xbox emulator same with the original PS3 although to an extent this is a full-blown emulator not just backwards compatibility. The main reason i'm talking about that is because like an emulator on a PC you'd have to manually update it. When updating a Wii U you're not updating the vWii. The vWii cannot be downgraded (It would take a substantial amount of time and effort to figure out a way to because the way of doing so would be entirely different than how you downgrade a regular Wii) and cannot be updated because like I stated, in essence it can't be updated through the emulator and for the Wii U to update it it would technically have to delete it and re-download the entire thing. Now new models of the Wii U could technically have an updated version of the vWii but the probability of that happening is extremely, extremely slim. If you already have your vWii homebrewed you're absolutely fine. The only way you're going to brick your vWii is if you screw it up yourself. Just wanted to put that put there. I come to these forums often to get my softmodding/hacking/whatever done and decided to start posting on here and came across a few threads about this.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

You are totally wrong about most of this.

 

[Ryupower]

Nintendo can do anything they what to do to the vwii channel even remove it if they want to

and make is it will ONLY boot to wii mode if you run a wii game and it goes right to the wii game and NOT to the vwii menu

 

[Edgarska]

vWii is not even an emulator, when you use a Wii U in vWii mode, you're basically locking 2 of the cores, and running one of them at a lower clock speed than in Wii U mode, but it's running natively.
Nintendo could update, downgrade or change the firmware however they want and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them, short of just refusing to update your Wii U.

 

[blaisedinsd]

Launch wiius did not even have the vWii until you did the day 1 update. So if it was installed originally via an update why couldn't nintendo update the vWii in a future update?

 

[Sage Gaara]

For one, i'm not wrong about most of this. The vWii IS an emulator, by slowing the clock speed it allows the Wii U to EMULATE a regular Nintendo Wii. Nintendo could technically force a Wii U to delete vWii but the likelihood of that is slim, I even said they could in my post. Yes Launch Wii U's didn't have vWii and the update downloaded the entire OS in an EMULATOR to run vWii.

What you guys aren't getting is the whole point of this post. vWii's firmware is locked at what it is. It won't be updated unless like I said there's an update that deletes the vWii and replaces it again, which again, it's highly likely it won't happen, no reason to start flaming.

EDIT: Just to further my that it's an emulator http://gengame.net/2012/11/wii-u-is-literally-two-systems-in-one/

 

[metroid maniac]

For one, i'm not wrong about most of this. The vWii IS an emulator, by slowing the clock speed it allows the Wii U to EMULATE a regular Nintendo Wii.

You don't understand the difference between emulation and virtualization.

 

[Sage Gaara]

You don't understand the difference between emulation and virtualization.

I do, vWii runs an EMULATED OS the emulator is booted form the Wii U. When the emulations starts the Wii U EMULATES almost the same precise specs as the Wii

 

[metroid maniac]

I do, vWii runs an EMULATED OS the emulator is booted form the Wii U. When the emulations starts the Wii U EMULATES almost the same precise specs as the Wii

It removes access to the extra hardware functions and underclocks or restricts shared components. That's a sandbox or a virtual machine, it's absolutely not an emulator.

 

[Sage Gaara]

It removes access to the extra hardware functions and underclocks or restricts shared components. That's a sandbox or a virtual machine, it's absolutely not an emulator.

I think you need to look up the definition of emulation

 

[metroid maniac]

I think you need to look up the definition of emulation

http://www.griffincaprio.com/blog/2006/08/virtual-machines-virtualization-vs-emulation.html
What is the vWii? It underclocks the CPU, limits it to one core, limits access to RAM, etc... Everything runs on native hardware, and the vWii is simply isolated from extra functions.

 

[Sage Gaara]

That's almost in all specification the same exact thing

 

[metroid maniac]

That's almost in all specification the same exact thing

The distinction between emulation and virtualization is subtle but important. There's no way the Wii U can emulate the Wii at full speed.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

I do, vWii runs an EMULATED OS the emulator is booted form the Wii U. When the emulations starts the Wii U EMULATES almost the same precise specs as the Wii

No, it is virtualized, not emulated. The vWii is basically like a virtual machine, like when you run a virtual machine on your PC. There is no emulation. Emulation is used when the architecture is different. Emulation requires a machine much more powerful then the one you are trying to emulate. Emulation means faking hardware. The vWii even has its own real NAND chip. It isn't an emulated chip. That article is using the word emulation wrong. You wouldn't call Windows XP Mode on Windows 7 emulated, would you? Because that's what is really going on with the vWii. It isn't an emulated System menu, it's the exact same system menu, except with Wii Connect 24 removed, and with the changes to IOS needed to make it run on a Wii U. IOS is basically drivers.

The original PS3 included PS2 hardware. There was no emulation. PS2 games ran on real PS2 chips inside the PS3.

And who says you can't update the vWii, or downgrade the vWii, or patch the vWii, or anything like that? That's all very possible for Nintendo to do. They don't need to delete the whole thing. They don't need to make you download the whole thing again. You are just making that up.

We can't downgrade the vWii from inside the vWii, because we don't have that kind of access. We don't have vWii compatible versions of all the files needed. Nintendo can make those though. They have Wii U mode access, which can update anything they like. They can patch whatever they want. They can detect if you have modified the IOS, and they can ban you from the Shop Channel, if they wanted to. Nintendo is not too worried about it though. They know that if we can't hack our vWii's, we will just use our real Wiis. Buying the Wii U doesn't make your Wii disappear. They only people buying Wii U's are already hardcore Nintendo fans, and they already have a Wii. My Wii is sitting right next to the Wii U. I don't really use it anymore, but I keep it around just in case I need it someday.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

I do, vWii runs an EMULATED OS the emulator is booted form the Wii U. When the emulations starts the Wii U EMULATES almost the same precise specs as the Wii

Down clocking a core and hiding memory, etc, does not constitute emulation. I can downclock my Core i3 down to an old PowerPC level, or an ARM smartphone level, but that doesn't make it a powerpc or arm.

 

[King penguin]

Needless to say, i doubt wiiu updates even affect wii mode.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

I think you need to look up the definition of emulation

You need to look up the definition of emulation. Emulation is used when the architecture is different. The entire CPU itself must be faked. Instructions are changed at a very low level. That is not true in the vWii. They both use the same CPU architecture. It's like the difference between a Core i3, and a Core i7. They use the same architecture, so the CPU instructions themselves, don't need to be changed. Whatever runs on an i3, will also run on an i7.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Needless to say, i doubt wiiu updates even affect wii mode.

So far, they don't seem to have affected wii mode. They might never affect Wii mode. That doesn't mean it's impossible. Just because Nintendo doesn't want to update Wii mode, doesn't mean they can't. It also doesn't mean that Nintendo can't punish people for having hacked the console. I don't think they will, but they could. They could say, ban you from playing the New Smash Bros online if you have an "unauthorized technical modification." They could refuse to update your Wii U mode, which would also block you from the eShop. No game updates, no buying new games, no DLC, etc. I don't think they will do something like that, they never have before, but they could if they wanted to.

 

[King penguin]

I find it strange they still allow you to connect to wifi, considering the PS3 wont allow you, but i don't think Nintendo knows how to get rid of homebrew, which i find a little bit sad. When the hack for the wiiu comes out, if it comes out, lets hope they make a block for it on the update, for nintendo's sake.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

I find it strange they still allow you to connect to wifi, considering the PS3 wont allow you, but i don't think Nintendo knows how to get rid of homebrew, which i find a little bit sad. When the hack for the wiiu comes out, if it comes out, lets hope they make a block for it on the update, for nintendo's sake.

Hacks don't really hurt Nintendo. Piracy leads to increases of sales, not decreases.