Hacking Save Nintendo WiFi - A project to save online servers for Wii (and DS) games

[Lemzy101]

This is great news, really don't want games like excitebots, mario kart and Cod/007 to die off.
However do thinks its possible to expand this to a wider audience, through Youtube or well known nintendo blogs (or well well known mods like Project M?)

 

[Red Joker]

Yes games that need leaderboards need captures as well. I know Rockband 3 has been captured, and I hope someone can get captures for Fishing Resort. That uses leaderboards as well.

makarios
I will let you know what the friend code is after I get the game. Should be later today.

@Red Joker
Wimm pulled down his capture server last I heard as I needed it for other parts of the project. If you have a DD-WRT flashed router you can do packet captures with that.

The other 'possible' option is to use the dolphin emmulator and say Microsoft's Network Analizer that is simpler and will capture your computer's traffic easily. But of course it may take a while to get backup copies of all your games so you can run them on Dolphin. If you have a softmod wii and use a HD/usb loader then not hard at all and you only have to plug that drive in and point Dolphin to it.

@SuchATroll,

I agree with both Endless Ocean games, and I don't think anyone has done full dumps for it yet. I am trying but I think my card is having issues. I am going to try rigging up a new router and see if I can do dumps with it. But don't wait for me, if anyone can do dumps PLEASE do. It is up to us to save the games.

So there are 3 possible captures :
- Wiimm's DNS (Which has been disabled for a while.)
- Wireshark
- Dolphin

Guess I'll be trying to use Wireshark then. Thanks.

The other 'possible' option is to use the dolphin emmulator and say Microsoft's Network Analizer that is simpler and will capture your computer's traffic easily. But of course it may take a while to get backup copies of all your games so you can run them on Dolphin. If you have a softmod wii and use a HD/usb loader then not hard at all and you only have to plug that drive in and point Dolphin to it.

I do have softmodded wii and I use USB Loader GX. Can you please re-explain about the packet capturing procedure? I don't use Dolphin because it lags so much.

BTW, can anyone test The Last Story? I have just started the game and can't find any people online last night.

One question, do we need to patch our iso/wbfs to be online? Or will the servers automatically redirect us from Nintendo servers? Or must we set up custom DNS for the Wii?

If it's DNS, I suggest there should be a site where we can see which DNS is free and which one is full.

 

[Videomanman87]

Wiimm's system uses DNS and a patch on the ISO/WBFS. I suspect it is really the only way as everything is hard coded to go to Nintendo's servers otherwise.

Be advised that some network adapters do not allow going into monitor mode with Windows (which is needed) otherwise you may just be getting packets on the machine you are sitting at. Sometimes the promiscuous mode works ok, but not often. There are a lot of adapters and drivers out there. So be sure you are actually getting the Wii packets.

 

[Red Joker]

This is great news, really don't want games like excitebots, mario kart and Cod/007 to die off.
However do thinks its possible to expand this to a wider audience, through Youtube or well known nintendo blogs (or well well known mods like Project M?)

About 80% chances are Project M team are going to use their own server. Well, their new version is going to be released in December 2014, which means the online features will be unusable unless they make their own server. However, it won't hurt to tell them.

On the other hand, I think we should avoid telling well known Nintendo blogs. There are chances that someone is going to tell Nintendo, or it's going to be posted in Nintendo's official blog. We don't want to create the risk of getting 'cease or desist' from Nintendo.

 

[Red Joker]

Wiimm's system uses DNS and a patch on the ISO/WBFS. I suspect it is really the only way as everything is hard coded to go to Nintendo's servers otherwise.

Be advised that some network adapters do not allow going into monitor mode with Windows (which is needed) otherwise you may just be getting packets on the machine you are sitting at. Sometimes the promiscuous mode works ok, but not often. There are a lot of adapters and drivers out there. So be sure you are actually getting the Wii packets.

Ok, I'll see what I can get. Dumb question, how do I know that it's Wii Packets? Networking isn't my forte, lol.

 

[W hat]

Ok, I'll see what I can get. Dumb question, how do I know that it's Wii Packets? Networking isn't my forte, lol.

http://save-nintendo-wifi.com/cfw-router.html

Filter it. <DEVICE_IP> is your Wii.

In the filter text box, input "[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]ip.addr == <DEVICE_IP>" and apply it. You should now be ready to go!

Example:

ip.addr == 192.168.1.150

 

[Red Joker]

http://save-nintendo-wifi.com/cfw-router.html

Filter it. <DEVICE_IP> is your Wii.

In the filter text box, input "[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]ip.addr == <DEVICE_IP>" and apply it. You should now be ready to go!

Example:

ip.addr == 192.168.1.150

Okay, I've installed WireShark. However I'm blind at these kind of things. ._.
So, how do I load my IP? Then how do I filter it?

 

[Red Joker]

nvm. Now have successfully connected to WireShark. A question, what must I capture? I have logged in, searched, but haven't battle yet in Tatsunoko vs Capcom.

 

[Friendsxix]

I made a new save on the Japanese Pokemon Mystery Dungeon WiiWare game (The Light one, to be exact) and took a wireshark capture of accessing the available downloadable missions and receiving a friend code on a save file named "NWFC*". This was captured with SSL stripped, so I hope it'll be somewhat useful. If I can find the time tomorrow, I'll try to send a rescue request over wifi and capture that.

Download here.

 

[eN-t]

Just capture everything you can, ffs. You or anyone else who is willing to analyze these dumps can still do that later and they can still filter out the things they want or need to look at later. It is the most important thing to just capture what you can capture, at best even multiple times with many different settings, new profiles, ... every possible action at different times with different savegames and profiles. BUT: do NOT forget to also write down (or even better: video capture!) what you do and when you do that, so that you don't leave some network dumps here without any information on what has been done in these dumps. Without any information on what has been done when, no one will be looking into the dumps anyways because it's basically searching for a needle in a haystack. Not gonna happen.

And for everyone who's always saying "I can't capture network traffic because blabla", ofc you can, you're just too lazy. Everyone can. All of you have a computer or a laptop and as long as one of these has atleast two network connections (e.g. wired and wireless), you can create a personal hotspot and connect your Wii to it, then simply use Wireshark to capture the stuff. And if your computer does not have two connections, grab a WLAN usb card, plug it in and you're good to go. It's 5$ and if you're not even willing to pay 5$ for this, then please keep your mouth shut about how important your favourite game is. It takes a lot of work, time, effort and knowledge to get the server and games running so if you're not even ready to put 5$ and maybe 1h of your time into this, that's really all I can say.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Wondering if anyone has some pointers. I've followed the instructions on using DD-WRT and Wireshark here to the letter but Wireshark doesn't seem to be picking up anything. Whenever I apply the filter for my Wii's IP address (ip.addr == 192.168.1.3), nothing is showing up in the capture window. Are there any particular things that I should be checking?

I know that the static IPs for both the PC and Wii are correct. I was able to execute the commands for the router without it returning an error. I'm not sure where to go from here.

 

[Videomanman87]

Wondering if anyone has some pointers. I've followed the instructions on using DD-WRT and Wireshark here to the letter but Wireshark doesn't seem to be picking up anything. Whenever I apply the filter for my Wii's IP address (ip.addr == 192.168.1.3), nothing is showing up in the capture window. Are there any particular things that I should be checking?

I know that the static IPs for both the PC and Wii are correct. I was able to execute the commands for the router without it returning an error. I'm not sure where to go from here.

Ok check my previous post here sounds like the pcap service is not running. The commands are in the post to start it via a cmd window. Or are you getting packets and just not the Wii's packets? If it is getting other packets in general then the service is running. What version/size of DD-WRT? The smaller ones (micro for example) do not have the features to enable packet copy and forwarding.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

What version/size of DD-WRT? The smaller ones (micro for example) do not have the features to enable packet copy and forwarding.

This might be the cause:
Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/10/09) micro

I'm getting plenty of packets in the Wireshark capture, but I just can't seem to get anything specific to the Wii's IP address, despite following the instructions on the website.

Should I flash the router with a different firmware? It's a WRT54G v8.0 and I'm not seeing a non-micro build of the firmware at the DD-WRT website.

EDIT: Well, after an exhaustive wiki search, it seems that only the micro firmware can be used on this router. And that the build that the DD-WRT website suggests is buggy. So that's great. I guess I wasted my morning?

 

[Videomanman87]

Ok that is the reason. Micro can't do it. I know I have a router with Micro and it just doesn't have that ability.

Also DO NOT flash with a larger firmware unless your router has the memory for it or you will brick it. Micro is for routers that have 2mb flash memory (if I remember right but check the site to be sure). To be safe pull up your model on the DD-WRT site and look at their instructions in the Wiki, it will say what type of firmware it can handle. But my bet is if you flashed micro and didn't have instuctions for a second (final) build then you only can do micro.

Again DO NOT flash another build unless you are CERTAIN your router can support the larger build. Or you WILL brick it. Possibly beyond recovery (depends on the router).

Also for those trying to capture leader board data. I forgot to mention you not only need to browse the boards but to play until you get a new rank or such is uploaded to the board. That way we know how the board is actually used/uploaded to.

Edit:
Oops now I see what you posted. Ugh sorry to hear that. The only other option is dolphin or trying to make a laptop a access point for your Wii then using wireshark to capture it (unless the laptop can use Monitor mode, some adapters can some can't).

 

[makarios]

Videomanman87 and I both just captured some packets for CueSports Pool Revolution.

Also I attempted to "Send my Brain" to a few people in Big Brain Academy Wii Degree, but it apparently uses WiiConnect24, which was already shut down some time ago. Not sure if you received any useful data there or not.

Next I'll be trying Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party.
And sorry to say I think I may have sold my Endless Ocean disc because I can't seem to find it anywhere, so someone else will need to do that one.

~makarios~

 

[dmace81]

I think this is retarded for nintendo to shut them down. I mean you can still play wii games on the wii u and buy mario kart for wii and ds new full price! People are going to get ripped off. What a load of ! I love mario kart ds and im going to bawl my eyes out when I can't play it online anymore. Especially with the hack to play courses you can't normally online.

 

[gothic_hobbit]

It's not just Nintendo doing this.

Sony did recently shut down the servers for the Resistance series.

 

[Videomanman87]

Technically it isn't Nintendo but GameSpy. They are going out of business. Nintendo hired them and used their servers. It is not just Nintendo but a lot of console games are having a shutdown. I think there was 40 or 50 games from EA that are also having this issue. While Nintendo COULD move the Wii over to their network that the WiiU is using, it would be a lot of work and involve updating the Wii. Not to mention perhaps the games too. And if they couldn't come up with a way outside of updating all the games, well that is not going to happen. I think that is likely why it happened. They would only loose money unless they charged us for access to the new servers, and I am not sure if it would be "worth it to them" even then.

I think I have got some data for Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean 2. But I don't have any one to link up with currently to capture the rest. Hopefully the gate connection and generating a code, adding friends, removing friends is enough. Whew did a lot of capturing today, wouldn't be bad if my new router wasn't giving me fits, I finally managed to tame the beast though.

Edit:
Interesting I looked up Gamespy on Wikipedia and:
"In April 2014, Glu announced that it would shut down the legacy GameSpy servers on May 31, 2014, (server termination was extended until the end of June)so its developers could focus on work for Glu's own services" I wonder if that applies to Nintendo or not. I have a hunch NO lol. I wonder when the extension was announced, last I looked at that article it was still May 20th not May 31st let alone end of june.

 

[daicon]

Sorry for being illiterate on the progress: Does anyone have anyclue how many games we are missing dumps for on the Wii side of things? Multiplayer and Leaderboard

 

[Lemzy101]

Well all the games from this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_Wi-Fi_Connection_games
that isn't mentioned here: http://save-nintendo-wifi.com/