Hacking The Definitive vWii Hacking Guide!

[pOLLYpoCKET]

Hey guys, I have a Wii U microphone and I'm trying to get it to work with some Wii games on CFG Loader, any ideas? I've plugged it in to all available USB ports and I'm not getting any sound.

 

[owek1]

Hey guys, I have a Wii U microphone and I'm trying to get it to work with some Wii games on CFG Loader, any ideas? I've plugged it in to all available USB ports and I'm not getting any sound.

i think if a device like the WiiU Pro Controller or GamePad or in your case a "WiiU" Microphone is specifically stated on the box when you purchased it as made only for WiiU then it won't work with vWii as it is like having the actual Wii with that mode..unless it says on the package that it is for both Wii and WiiU or if a patch has been added like support for WiiU Pro Controller like some of the vWii / Wii retro emulators..

 

[CJB100]

i think if a device like the WiiU Pro Controller or GamePad or in your case a "WiiU" Microphone is specifically stated on the box when you purchased it as made only for WiiU then it won't work with vWii as it is like having the actual Wii with that mode..unless it says on the package that it is for both Wii and WiiU or if a patch has been added like support for WiiU Pro Controller like some of the vWii / Wii retro emulators..

I would assume this to be correct. Is it like a Rock Band mic? I know those work. But if you mean like a mic for use in multiplayer, it almost definitely won't.

 

[Waveracer]

About what you were talking... New Wii Remotes are Wii Remote Plus (Wii Remote with Wii Motion Plus inside) and Wii Remote Plus is compatible with Wii Remote software. However, there's one homebrew program that doesn't recognise Wii Remote Plus (one for dumping or installing CIOS or something like that) but it's not important since you can use another program instead. I don't remember the program name now but this happened to me and I found a thread saying that that program has not Wii Remote Plus support, most probably because it was designed years ago for Wii.

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About USB Loader GX... There is a horizontal visual artifact in the middle part of the screen when I play Mario Kart Wii (PAL) using USB Loader GX but that doesn't appear at all when using the disc (PAL) in vWii Menu. Does anybody know why or have you heard about it? It doesn't occur with other Wii games.

 

[CJB100]

About what you were talking... New Wii Remotes are Wii Remote Plus (Wii Remote with Wii Motion Plus inside) and Wii Remote Plus is compatible with Wii Remote software. However, there's one homebrew program that doesn't recognise Wii Remote Plus (one for dumping or installing CIOS or something like that) but it's not important since you can use another program instead. I don't remember the program name now but this happened to me and I found a thread saying that that program has not Wii Remote Plus support, most probably because it was designed years ago for Wii.

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About USB Loader GX... There is a horizontal visual artifact in the middle part of the screen when I play Mario Kart Wii (PAL) using USB Loader GX but that doesn't appear at all when using the disc (PAL) in vWii Menu. Does anybody know why or have you heard about it? It doesn't occur with other Wii games.

Not sure. Doesn't happen in the NTSC version, I know that much. Very odd. @Cyan any ideas?

 

[scubamage]

Has anyone encountered an issue where usbloader GX can't see other items in the sd:/apps directory?

When I try to run a GC backup, it gives an error stating that boot.dol has to be in the nintendont path. When I try to set the nintendont's path, it literally cannot see anything else in the sd:/apps directory EXCEPT usbloader_gx, even though there are a ton of other folders in there.

 

[CJB100]

Has anyone encountered an issue where usbloader GX can't see other items in the sd:/apps directory?

When I try to run a GC backup, it gives an error stating that boot.dol has to be in the nintendont path. When I try to set the nintendont's path, it literally cannot see anything else in the sd:/apps directory EXCEPT usbloader_gx, even though there are a ton of other folders in there.

What option exactly are you setting? A screenshot would be best if you can do so, even if you just take a pic with your phone. Nintendont should be located in SD:/apps/Nintendont/boot.dol. I only ever has to make sure it was there, the option to use Nintendont was on correctly, and the path to the games was correctly set.

 

[scubamage]

What option exactly are you setting? A screenshot would be best if you can do so, even if you just take a pic with your phone. Nintendont should be located in SD:/apps/Nintendont/boot.dol. I only ever has to make sure it was there, the option to use Nintendont was on correctly, and the path to the games was correctly set.

So, it looks like the issue may actually be larger. For some reason the 64GB SD card I put in was readable as of this morning. Now, the vWii seems to be unable to read it. All other devices can read it without an issue.

However, a 4GB SDHC card seems to work without any issue. I have no idea why the 64GB won't be read though. I've formatted it several times and cloned the 4GB SD card over to it, and nothing shows up on the wii.

Is it safe to re-run through the full steps of this process just to ensure that whatever enables the reading of larger SDHC devices is restored to what it was this morning?

 

[cmdwedge]

Which IOS should I be using for USBLoader GX? Initially i was using 249 without issue, then all of a sudden yesterday I could not get past 'Initialize USB drive'. Pulled out the USB cable and power cycled. Jumped into USBLGX without a drive plugged in, changed to IOS 58 and now everything seems to work again? What gives?

I used the Bathaxx method for my vWii and it's been working for a few weeks. I did recently update to 5.5.1 (from 5.3.2) on the Wii U itself, but my homebrew and everything still works in vWii, as does USBLGX IF I use IOS 58.

Ta.

 

[CJB100]

So, it looks like the issue may actually be larger. For some reason the 64GB SD card I put in was readable as of this morning. Now, the vWii seems to be unable to read it. All other devices can read it without an issue.

However, a 4GB SDHC card seems to work without any issue. I have no idea why the 64GB won't be read though. I've formatted it several times and cloned the 4GB SD card over to it, and nothing shows up on the wii.

Is it safe to re-run through the full steps of this process just to ensure that whatever enables the reading of larger SDHC devices is restored to what it was this morning?

You can safely run through the whole guide again, though I wouldn't recommend deleting the homebrew channel and I am positive it wouldn't help. It sounds as though something became corrupted on the SD Card at a hardware or firmware level. First thing to check is that the card is in regular mode, not write protected. This can be done on most SD Cards and adapters by flicking the small switch on the left side of the card. Next up try FAT16 instead of 32, see if anything will read. You may run into some limitations imposed by the file system though, not sure, so if you get something to read in FAT16, try FAT32 again. Next up make sure your apps are all set to read homebrew apps off the SD while that card is plugged in. Doubt that's be an issue but we might as well cover the bases. Other than that idk. There may not be much that can be done. @Kafluke @Robins any ideas?

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Which IOS should I be using for USBLoader GX? Initially i was using 249 without issue, then all of a sudden yesterday I could not get past 'Initialize USB drive'. Pulled out the USB cable and power cycled. Jumped into USBLGX without a drive plugged in, changed to IOS 58 and now everything seems to work again? What gives?

I used the Bathaxx method for my vWii and it's been working for a few weeks. I did recently update to 5.5.1 (from 5.3.2) on the Wii U itself, but my homebrew and everything still works in vWii, as does USBLGX IF I use IOS 58.

Ta.

I believe IOS58 is a valid choice and should work just as well as a cIOS in most cases. I would let it stay on IOS58 if the cIOS are having issues.

 

[7Robins]

Perhaps try loading some Wii U homebrew and run then through browserhax. Also, try Mii Maker to see if it can detect the SD card. This may sound stupid, but try blowing into the SD card slot. It's super finicky.

 

[Kafluke]

You can safely run through the whole guide again, though I wouldn't recommend deleting the homebrew channel and I am positive it wouldn't help. It sounds as though something became corrupted on the SD Card at a hardware or firmware level. First thing to check is that the card is in regular mode, not write protected. This can be done on most SD Cards and adapters by flicking the small switch on the left side of the card. Next up try FAT16 instead of 32, see if anything will read. You may run into some limitations imposed by the file system though, not sure, so if you get something to read in FAT16, try FAT32 again. Next up make sure your apps are all set to read homebrew apps off the SD while that card is plugged in. Doubt that's be an issue but we might as well cover the bases. Other than that idk. There may not be much that can be done. @Kafluke @Robins any ideas?

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I believe IOS58 is a valid choice and should work just as well as a cIOS in most cases. I would let it stay on IOS58 if the cIOS are having issues.

I'm interested in what you said when you mentioned cloning the sd. What did you use to clone it? Were you just describing the process of re copying everything over or did you actually use a program to clone. Don't do that. Format the sd and copy manually. No cloning software.

 

[DarkIrata]

Planing to hack my vWii anything i have to watch for except going by the guide?
Or is it better to currently wait?

 

[owek1]

Planing to hack my vWii anything i have to watch for except going by the guide?
Or is it better to currently wait?

the vWii is fully hacked now since forever, i dont think there is any benefit waiting for the WiiU side to have a permanent hack as they are considered separate..new features might be added on vWii but im not holding my breath on that one..

 

[scubamage]

You can safely run through the whole guide again, though I wouldn't recommend deleting the homebrew channel and I am positive it wouldn't help. It sounds as though something became corrupted on the SD Card at a hardware or firmware level. First thing to check is that the card is in regular mode, not write protected. This can be done on most SD Cards and adapters by flicking the small switch on the left side of the card. Next up try FAT16 instead of 32, see if anything will read. You may run into some limitations imposed by the file system though, not sure, so if you get something to read in FAT16, try FAT32 again. Next up make sure your apps are all set to read homebrew apps off the SD while that card is plugged in. Doubt that's be an issue but we might as well cover the bases. Other than that idk. There may not be much that can be done. @Kafluke @Robins any ideas?

I think I may have figured out an issue. I was using the SD Associations SD formatter, which I thought formatted to FAT32. It appears that it actually formats to exFAT. I am trying it again using a windows box using the good old format command and specifying FAT32. It should be done formatting sometime tomorrow, lol.

I'm interested in what you said when you mentioned cloning the sd. What did you use to clone it? Were you just describing the process of re copying everything over or did you actually use a program to clone. Don't do that. Format the sd and copy manually. No cloning software.

I tried using both copy/paste of the contents, as well as dd if=(working sd card) of=(not-working sd card) to do a bitwise copy. Neither one seemed to work. But as mentioned above, it looks like it could be the SD formatter using exFat instead of Fat32. Once it is done reformatting the card I'll copy everything over and see if it is recognized or not.

 

[scubamage]

Update: My mac was significantly faster at formatting back to FAT32. After zeroing out the drive and re-formatting fat32, it seems to be showing up again. My guess is that the first time around the SD card ended up getting some kind of corruption on the filesystem that caused the device to be unreadable (why it couldn't see itself or certain directories). Everything seems to be working as expected now.

Again, thanks for all of the assistance folks, it is very much appreciated. While the 4GB SD card was working, I bought a 64G specifically for this and was kind of worried when it stopped working!

 

[Ailuros27]

Do I need any custom IOS to use SaveGame Manager GX?

Edit: So, the official page for SaveGame Manager GX says it needs either cIOS 249 revision 9 or higher or IOS 58. IOS 58 is installed in the process of updating the Wii Menu to 4.3, so I'm assuming the vWii would have that IOS installed. Is that correct?

For anyone who finds this by searching, the answer appears to be yes. You just need to make it so that the settings tell SaveGame Manager GX to use IOS 58. Just edit the line in the cfg file that says "UseIOS58" to be "1" instead of 0. Thus, you should be able to use this homebrew on a vWii with just the HomeBrew Channel installed.

 

[7Robins]

Update: My mac was significantly faster at formatting back to FAT32. After zeroing out the drive and re-formatting fat32, it seems to be showing up again. My guess is that the first time around the SD card ended up getting some kind of corruption on the filesystem that caused the device to be unreadable (why it couldn't see itself or certain directories). Everything seems to be working as expected now.

Again, thanks for all of the assistance folks, it is very much appreciated. While the 4GB SD card was working, I bought a 64G specifically for this and was kind of worried when it stopped working!

Yeah, the SD Formatter tool isn't the greatest, it formats your card depending on the capacity. SDXC cards are technically only supposed to be "exFAT." SD Formatter also sucks because you can't set a cluster size.

Do I need any custom IOS to use SaveGame Manager GX?

Edit: So, the official page for SaveGame Manager GX says it needs either cIOS 249 revision 9 or higher or IOS 58. IOS 58 is installed in the process of updating the Wii Menu to 4.3, so I'm assuming the vWii would have that IOS installed. Is that correct?

For anyone who finds this by searching, the answer appears to be yes. You just need to make it so that the settings tell SaveGame Manager GX to use IOS 58. Just edit the line in the cfg file that says "UseIOS58" to be "1" instead of 0. Thus, you should be able to use this homebrew on a vWii with just the HomeBrew Channel installed.

Is that homebrew supported on vWii? You might wanna make sure, since vWii isn't a 1:1 copy of original Wii, you could end up messing something up.

 

[Ailuros27]

I've already used it for a long time on a vWii. I'm just trying to backup my girlfriend's Skyward Sword save from her vWii. She doesn't even have the Homebrew Channel, and I don't feel like selling her on doing a full NAND backup or installing cIOS, so I was just looking for confirmation I could use SaveGame Manager GX without doing all that. Now I pretty much know for certain I can.

 

[pOLLYpoCKET]

i think if a device like the WiiU Pro Controller or GamePad or in your case a "WiiU" Microphone is specifically stated on the box when you purchased it as made only for WiiU then it won't work with vWii as it is like having the actual Wii with that mode..unless it says on the package that it is for both Wii and WiiU or if a patch has been added like support for WiiU Pro Controller like some of the vWii / Wii retro emulators..

I think you may be absolutely right. It is a Wii U mic. Thanks!