Hacking Unmodified RVL-001 Wii: Want to play GC Burns...

[Big_Monk]

Hello! First post here with what I think is a straightforward question. Some quick background:

I’m in my mid 30s so I started back in the early 90s with NES and have always had a soft spot for Nintendo and Sega products. Owned a PS1, Xbox, Genesis, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, and Gamecube over the years. Was particularly fond of Gamecube and Dreamcast.

My Gamecube died prior to the release of the Wii and rumors at the time were that it was going to be backwards compatible with Gamecube. Rumors being what they are, I sold off the Gamecube games I had but burned copies of my favorites just in case.

We eventually bought a Wii a few years later and frankly, I forgot all about the box of Gamecube stuff I had until we recently moved. I still have those burned ISOs, a memory card and 2 controllers. Our Wii is an unmodified RVL-001 with Gamecube compatibility.

My question: I attempted to insert a burned copy of Call of Duty: Finest Hour into the Wii and had no luck. My initial searches yielded a TON of information about Wii modifications. In order to play these burned discs in my Wii, what is the bare minimum I would have to do, modification wise, to the Wii to make that happen?

Appreciate any responses in advance. I am an electrical engineer by trade so I can follow technical directions just fine but computer software and hardware terms, and their gaming system counterparts, escape me most of the time.

So speak slow and be clear and I’m sure I’ll be able to get the gist!

 

[realg123]

Follow this guide:

https://wii.guide/

Better to run games from a hard drive than disc. Faster loading and can have multiple games on your hard drive. You can store your Wii, Gamecube and older generation games loaded onto your hard drive

 

[Big_Monk]

I'll definitely look into that as a longer term option, especially since i have the ISOs backed up on my external drives already.

For the short term, however, what would be required to run the backup discs?

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

Welome to the Wii Section.

I'll definitely look into that as a longer term option, especially since i have the ISOs backed up on my external drives already.

For the short term, however, what would be required to run the backup discs?

Congratulations to decide to mod your Wii.

You have many Choices,so you can choose and pick the Solution you want and like.

The first Step is to use the Guide from @realg123
For this Step there is no Way around it.
Please read all the Steps in Peace and Calm,it is very well described and very easy to use.
It makes the following:

- uses an Exploit (an Vulnerability / Bug in the Wii´s "Programming") to bring the "Homebrew Channel"on your Wii.
with this you are able to run Homebrew like USBLoaders,Emulators and so on.
- Installs (if possible) Two Brick Protections -> Priiloader and BootMii (if possible,depends on the Wii Revision)
- Installs the needed Custom IOSes to make USB Games Loading possible.

If you have Questions,please feel free to ask us.

For your Backup Disc Question:
- you can use then an USBLoader for Example like USBLoader GX to run your Disc(s) or Install/Copy them on an USB HDD.
(Needs an already modded Wii)
- you can use an Application called "NeoGamma" to run your Disc Backups directly from the Wii Menu

The Success of this depends on
- how good in 'Shape" your Wii Drive actual is.
- how good your DVD-Rs are and with which speed you have burned them.

I really hope,this helps you on your Way to Wii Modding.
Good Luck and
Thank you for Reading.

 

[Big_Monk]

I also found this in my researching the topic:

(Can't post the link) Complete Softmod Guide

Any reason to use one guide over the other?

 

[Alexander1970]

I also found this in my researching the topic:

(Can't post the link) Complete Softmod Guide

Any reason to use one guide over the other?

Yes,please use this Guide.
https://wii.guide/

It is actual and really very easy to use.

Thank you.

 

[Big_Monk]

Yes,please use this Guide.


It is actual and really very easy to use.

Thank you.

So, if I am understanding the basics correctly (I am not foregoing the guide, as I plan to read that as well) from a high level point of view, I need to do the following:

1.) Install the "Basics", i.e. Homebrew Channel, etc.
2.) Install a loader to allow me to boot games from disc, SD, or USB

 

[Alexander1970]

Thank you.

So, if I am understanding the basics correctly (I am not foregoing the guide, as I plan to read that as well) from a high level point of view, I need to do the following:

1.) Install the "Basics", i.e. Homebrew Channel, etc.
2.) Install a loader to allow me to boot games from disc, SD, or USB

Yes,that is correct.

 

[Big_Monk]

Yes,that is correct.

Am I correct in assuming that no Wii console, even the RVL-001 that is backward compatible with GC, can, in its unaltered form play burned DVD backups of GC games?

 

[Alexander1970]

Thank you.

Am I correct in assuming that no Wii console, even the RVL-001 that is backward compatible with GC, can, in its unaltered form play burned DVD backups of GC games?

Yes,that is also correct.

 

[master801]

You can also use burned GameCube discs in Nintendon't.

Nintendon't is a backup loader that can play GameCube games for the Wii and Wii U, either from SD/USB, or even discs.

 

[Big_Monk]

Sounds like I’ll just need a few simple mods and I’ll be on my way.

 

[Alexander1970]

Sounds like I’ll just need a few simple mods and I’ll be on my way.

Yes,that is correct again.

So maybe you should try and make the first Step.
Good Luck.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Am I correct in assuming that no Wii console, even the RVL-001 that is backward compatible with GC, can, in its unaltered form play burned DVD backups of GC games?

Loading DVD-R (GameCube and Wii backups) only works on older Wii consoles. Newer drives will not even read anything but legit discs.
It will not work on:

• RVL-101 and RVL-201 (Wii Mini)
• RVL-001 with any other shell color than white (assuming there was no shell swap of course)

Be aware that a white RVL-001 is a necessary requirement but is not sufficient → There are white Wiis with newer drives as well.

I'm not really into loading disc based backups. Maybe somebody else knows more about this: I think booting GC backups from Disc Channel and/or Neogamma might need a cMIOS. Nintendont runs GC games in Wii mode and should work without cMIOS.
==========

Having all that said, USB loading is far more comfortable, more reliable once correctly set up, goes easy with the aging drives and the load times are faster. Especially Wii DVD-backups are a pain with softmodding (with a good modchip it's okay). See this discussion for more information.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Big_Monk]

Loading DVD-R (GameCube and Wii backups) only works on older Wii consoles. Newer drives will not even read anything but legit discs.
It will not work on:

• RVL-101 and RVL-201 (Wii Mini)
• RVL-001 with any other shell color than white (assuming there was no shell swap of course)

Be aware that a white RVL-001 is a necessary requirement but is not sufficient → There are white Wiis with newer drives as well.

I'm not really into loading disc based backups. Maybe somebody else knows more about this: I think booting GC backups from Disc Channel and/or Neogamma might need a cMIOS. Nintendont runs GC games in Wii mode and should work without cMIOS.
==========

Having all that said, USB loading is far more comfortable, more reliable once correctly set up, goes easy with the aging drives and the load times are faster. Especially Wii DVD-backups are a pain with softmodding (with a good modchip it's okay). See this discussion for more information.

Good luck and have fun!

I really appreciate all the responses on this one. I did some reading last night and my comfort level is increasing.

I am going to grab some dedicated drives to use with these and start getting files together. I was really only trying disc backups because I have them all burned already. Seems like USB/SD loading is a better, more compact solution.

I am mostly just being cautious because this is our family console and I only want minimal additions in order to:

a.) Prevent any damage/issues to the console (which seems highly unlikely with minimal soft mods);
b.) Be discreet. I don't want my kids monkeying around with anything I add.