Hacking Wii Firmware 4.0 Guide.

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

I had a 3.3U Wii, and updated to 4.0 today to be the guinea pig and see what changes happen if you update. So I'm posting my findings here.

If you update to 4.0:

1.You WILL NOT lose your current Homebrew Channel.

2.You WILL lose the ability to install the Homebrew Channel with any version of the Twilight Hack if you don't already have the homebrew channel installed.

3. Softmods and DVDX SHOULD still work. I haven't tested this myself as I have a modchip, but the IOS's which make this work have not been patched as far as I know. (If anyone else can personally confirm their softmod still works, let me know. EDIT: Wii softmod/backup confirmed to work, no word on Gamecube.

4. You will NOT lose your ability to install WADs if you have Waninko's cIOS. I've heard conflicting reports about this, but I have successfully installed WiiWare games onto the system menu and played them just fine. I simply used WAD Manager 1.3 and had a cIOS installed. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE WANINKOKO'S CIOS INSTALLED BEFORE UPDATING YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO INSTALL WADS. Be sure to install this before updating if you decide to. You can find it: here.

5. You CAN play WiiWare/VC/Custom Channels you've installed via WAD Manager and play them via the SD Channel! (Thanks stev!) Once you update to 4.0, you must find a IOS60 file, patch it with freethebug, and then install it via wad manager. Once you have, use the "MOVE" option on the Wii to move the WAD over to the SD card, launch it, success!

6. You CAN downgrade from a 4.0 Wii if you already have a cIOS installed. Just use waninkoko's cIOS downgrader. I have personally gone from 3.3U, to 4.0U and back to 3.2U successfully. All that is required is that you have the a cIOS installed BEFORE upgrading to 4.0U. You can find the latest one here. Just install this before upgrading and you should be able to update to 4.0U with your wad installing abilities intact and be able to downgrade to 3.2U if you wish.

7. This does NOT affect modchips at all.

There ya go, it's what I know so far. Anyone else post their findings and personal experience here.

eric_4_life · Mar 25, 2009

So it's NOT a bad thing to update, other then the loss of region free (except for Gamma) and brick protection

games2007 · Mar 25, 2009

So basically, there's no real point in updating, unless you're legit and have enough Virtual Console games that aren't pirated for the update to be practical.
Sucks.
I have only $20 worth of VC games. I guess I can just launch those 3 games from my SD launcher to save space for other games.

Bergkees · Mar 25, 2009

Thnx for being a guinea pig

blazingwolf said:
Also, if you want to undo your 4.0 install if you aren't happy with it for some reason, you can easily rollback to 3.2U through the homebrew channel.

Really.. how? Did you test this?

SirTempest · Mar 25, 2009

i'm still in 3.2 but i'm also very interested in knowing how to downgrade from 4.0. as far as i know IOS 16 is needed to dwongrade but it is patched on 4.0

snikerz · Mar 25, 2009

If you remove a channel via WAD Manager, it deletes the ticket as well. So the games can't be launched from the SD menu ... try deleting a channel via the Wii preferences. I guess it will work from SD then.

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

games2007 said:
So basically, there's no real point in updating, unless you're legit and have enough Virtual Console games that aren't pirated for the update to be practical.
Sucks.
I have only $20 worth of VC games. I guess I can just launch those 3 games from my SD launcher to save space for other games.

Not necessarily. This update does do two good things:

1. Gives you all the latest IOS's so you don't need to hunt for and install them for the latest games to work.
2. Moving over free channels like the Internet Channel, Photo Channel, Nintendo Channel, etc, to have more space for custom channels, wiiware games/ vc games, etc.

Bergkees said:

Thnx for being a guinea pig

QUOTE(blazingwolf @ Mar 25 2009, 09:57 PM) Also, if you want to undo your 4.0 install if you aren't happy with it for some reason, you can easily rollback to 3.2U through the homebrew channel.

Click to expand...

Really.. how? Did you test this?

I haven't tested it but it should work. Because 1. Homebrew Channel still works. 2. There is an app in the softmii package that downgrades your Wii to 3.2U, so therefore it should still work.

eric_4_life · Mar 25, 2009

But some apps do not work with with these updates

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

SirTempest said:
i'm still in 3.2 but i'm also very interested in knowing how to downgrade from 4.0. as far as i know IOS 16 is needed to dwongrade but it is patched on 4.0

Actually, I just remember that the downgrade works via ISO16, I am trying it now and will report back.

QUOTE(snikerz @ Mar 25 2009, 10:22 PM) If you remove a channel via WAD Manager, it deletes the ticket as well. So the games can't be launched from the SD menu ... try deleting a channel via the Wii preferences. I guess it will work from SD then.

That makes sense, I will try it and let you guys know.

Slowking · Mar 25, 2009

Well as far as I can see IOS249 hasn't been updatet. So if you have a cIOS installed you should still be able to install wads, downgrade, whatever. If you don't have it installed, you are screwed. (though I can't guarantee anything)

FenrirWolf · Mar 25, 2009

But that app depends on IOS16 functioning. Please test something before saying whether it works or not.

Also, I'm pretty sure you can still install WADs because you have cIOS installed and WM can take advantage of it.

Gamer · Mar 25, 2009

snikerz said:
If you remove a channel via WAD Manager, it deletes the ticket as well. So the games can't be launched from the SD menu ... try deleting a channel via the Wii preferences. I guess it will work from SD then.

That makes sense, I will try it and let you guys know.

I'm interested to see if this works. If it does, then gonna update right away

Chalky94 · Mar 25, 2009

I updated to 4.0 a little while ago to test it out, in my opinion waste of time, but i have downgraded back to 3.2 using cIOS downgrader

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

EDIT: You can downgrade via cIOS downgrader 1.2 from waninkoko if you have a cIOS already installed, if you wish to test out 4.0 and might want to go back, make sure you have the latest cIOS installed beforehand.

I tried installing a wad, copying it over, and then deleting it via system menu and running via SD channel and it didn't work. I got another error that just states "Failed to Launch". I am trying again with a different game and will report back.

Jotokun · Mar 25, 2009

I can confirm that the backup launcher still works(for wii, havent tested GC backups yet).

As far as downgrading, just use Waninkoko's cIOS downgrader to go back to 3.2, and then his normal IOS downgraders to get the rest of your IOS back to normal.

One thing to note, I have been successfull with wad installs, but I have a hunch that its only working because I have a cIOS installed. So, you should probably make shure you have one installed before you update if you dont already.

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

Okay I tried installing a wad, deleting it via system menu, and then loading off SD, does not work, gives you a failed to launch error. Tried it on MM9 and Bomberman Blast.

As for the downgrading, I have an old verison of the CIOS installed. so that might be it. It's like the 2nd or 3rd version, maybe if you have the latest one the downgrader will work.

_CARLOX_ · Mar 25, 2009

If the Homebrew Channel is still working, what about using Any Region Changer to downgrade?

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

Is the downgrader you are referring the one packaged in softmii 2.1.1? That's the one I have/using. It doesn't work for me but I think that might be because I have an old CIOS installed, if I install the latest rev8 it should work? I think, I don't know.

blazingwolf · Mar 25, 2009

I tried using any region changer in the softmii package, where is the cIOS downgrader from waninkoko?

fogbank · Mar 25, 2009

FenrirWolf said:
But that app depends on IOS16 functioning. Please test something before saying whether it works or not.

Also, I'm pretty sure you can still install WADs because you have cIOS installed and WM can take advantage of it.

Only one app depends on IOS16 and that is the custom WAD manager used to install cIOS as IOS249 on a 3.3v2+ system. If you have cIOS installed already you don't need IOS16...never have.

Slowking knows of what he speaks.

Hacking Wii Firmware 4.0 Guide.

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