Hacking Where do I start and what do I need to hack my Wii?

ThatRagnarokBoi

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 23, 2019
Messages
8
Trophies
0
Age
24
XP
59
Country
Mexico
I have recently found my old Wii and got interested in hacking it to play games since I Don't have either a way to buy the games nor the money, and I've seen this whole deal of Homebrew and emulators and stuff. But what do I need in order to get all this stuff from my computer to my Wii? I know I need an SD card for the hacks and virtual console games. And i know i also need an USB to put the Wii and GameCube games, so is there a guide somewhere on how to do the entire process? I also need to know what size of SD card and USB I need to do all of this
 

Lacius

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 11, 2008
Messages
18,099
Trophies
3
XP
18,338
Country
United States
I have recently found my old Wii and got interested in hacking it to play games since I Don't have either a way to buy the games nor the money, and I've seen this whole deal of Homebrew and emulators and stuff. But what do I need in order to get all this stuff from my computer to my Wii? I know I need an SD card for the hacks and virtual console games. And i know i also need an USB to put the Wii and GameCube games, so is there a guide somewhere on how to do the entire process? I also need to know what size of SD card and USB I need to do all of this
Use ModMii to hack your Wii. Use Wii Backup Manager to send Wii games to your USB HDD. Launch Wii games from the USB HDD using Configurable USB Loader in the Homebrew Channel.

The size of your SD really doesn't matter (you don't even need an SD card after you install the Homebrew Channel, since you can put homebrew applications onto the USB HDD).

Make sure the USB HDD is formatted as FAT32 with 32K cluster sizes. Wii games are small compared to Wii U and Switch games, so you really don't need a lot of storage space. Some people use 32GB or 64GB thumb drives, although they're not as reliable. I have more Wii games than I could ever hope to play (58 games), and they total about 120GB. That averages out to about 2GB per game.
 
Last edited by Lacius,

KleinesSinchen

GBAtemp's Backup Reminder + Fearless Testing Sina
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
4,384
Trophies
2
XP
14,763
Country
Germany
I have recently found my old Wii and got interested in hacking it to play games since I Don't have either a way to buy the games nor the money, and I've seen this whole deal of Homebrew and emulators and stuff. But what do I need in order to get all this stuff from my computer to my Wii? I know I need an SD card for the hacks and virtual console games. And i know i also need an USB to put the Wii and GameCube games, so is there a guide somewhere on how to do the entire process? I also need to know what size of SD card and USB I need to do all of this
For automatic setup to a good state use ModMii ← This is very easy and complete.
A good guide for manually setting up homebrew and USB loading: http://wii.guide/

You don't need any SD (with Str2hax exploit) but I would recommend using one for the BootMii backup. Install BootMii into boot2 if possible on your console (HackMiiInstaller will tell if possible) and as IOS. Don't skip Priiloader installation. It might save your Wii if something goes wrong now or years later.

Many flash/thumb/stick USB drives are not compatible with the Wii for USB loading or at least fail at writing (dumping discs). For the best compatibility use an external HDD with it's own power supply (not 2.5" drives with Y-cable). It might be a bit trial and error to find a working USB drive. Size depends on your preference. Some people use HDDs with 2TB+ which does not make much sense (illegally downloading loads of games to never play them).

Good luck and have fun!
 

The Real Jdbye

*is birb*
Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
23,207
Trophies
4
Location
Space
XP
13,730
Country
Norway
I have recently found my old Wii and got interested in hacking it to play games since I Don't have either a way to buy the games nor the money, and I've seen this whole deal of Homebrew and emulators and stuff. But what do I need in order to get all this stuff from my computer to my Wii? I know I need an SD card for the hacks and virtual console games. And i know i also need an USB to put the Wii and GameCube games, so is there a guide somewhere on how to do the entire process? I also need to know what size of SD card and USB I need to do all of this
A 1-2TB HDD is good, avoid flash drives as they do not work reliably (or often at all) with USB loaders. Anything more than 2TB will be wasted as only the first 2TB can be used on drives in MBR format (and AFAIK GPT format is only supported by Nintendont and won't work for Wii games), not like there are more than 2TB of Wii and GC games worth playing anyway.
 

ThatRagnarokBoi

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 23, 2019
Messages
8
Trophies
0
Age
24
XP
59
Country
Mexico
Hey man quick question, i dont have an SD card right now, can i just go back to the HackMii installer at any time to install BootMii in the time I get one? and also, would a 4 GB SD card be good for it or would I need a bigger one?
 

XFlak

Wiitired but still kicking
Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
13,763
Trophies
3
Age
38
Location
Cyprus, originally from Toronto
Website
modmii.github.io
XP
9,720
Country
Cyprus
Yes it can be done later, 4GB is plenty, in fact 1 or 2gb would be fine too. Note that compatibility is generally greater with a standard SD card over sdhc or sdxc

Edit: and in the meantime and just generally don't take any unnecessary risks like installing suspect wads or themes, or tinkering with the system menu or system menu IOS without knowing what you're doing
 
Last edited by XFlak,

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    maaaaan that's so awesome but I also don't want to fork over a hundo for it
  • Veho @ Veho:
    The fuuuuu---
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I thought it was an actual xBox at that price.
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    I wanna grab a 360 Slim and a 360 E one of these days. Missed the boat of getting them at their lowest though, once they were discontinued. Could've got them for cheap back when I was a broke 20 something working at Target, but then again, I was a broke 20 something working at Target
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Being broke is no fun.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    @Sicklyboy, $150 isn't that bad for a jtag slim on ebay
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I only wish it was actually playable.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    There's a guy on the Tube of You that makes playable mechanical arcade games out of Lego. This could work on the same principle.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Just a couple of guys taking their manatee out for some fresh air, why you have to molest them?
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Stupid Chinese shop switched their shipping company and this one is slooooooow.
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    STOP BUYING CHINESE CRAP THEN
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    SUPPORT LOCAL PRODUCTS, MAKE REVOLUTION
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    THEY KEEP REMOVING LOCAL SHIt AND REPLACING WItH INFERIOR CHINESE CRAP
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    THATS WHY MY PARTNER CANT GET A GOOTWEAR HIS SIZE ANYMORE
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    HE HAS BIG FOOT AND BIG DUCK
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    d*ck i mean*
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    lol
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Mkay.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I just ordered another package from China just to spite you.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Leo could not withstand communism.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Its OUR products to begin with lol.
    SylverReZ @ SylverReZ: Its OUR products to begin with lol.