Hacking How do I find out which kind of hack my console is running?

Larkas · May 23, 2022

I’ve just fulfilled my dream of buying a Wii U, and got my hands on a pretty well preserved second-hand console. However, it supposedly came pre-hacked, and I have no idea which solution it is running. I wanted to undo whichever hack it sports to, eventually, run Tiramisu in it.

So, my question is: how do I find out which hack my pre-owned console is running?

Lostbhoy · May 23, 2022

There is a few methods....
Did it come with an sd card? If so what are the contents?
Does it say "autobooting" with a title id before the menu loads?
Does it have an icon on the menu anywhere titled "don't touch me" or even a homebrew launcher channel there at all?
What is the system firmware listed as in system settings?

Larkas · May 23, 2022

Thanks you very much for taking the time to help me! So, answering you step-by-step:

1) It did indeed come with an SD card. These are the contents (with the "Date modified" year in case that helps with anything):

/haxchi - 2017

/install - 2018

/licenses - 2016

/retroarch - 2013

/wiiload - 2016

/wiiu - 2016

boot.elf - 2012

bootex.log - 2018

bootmini.elf - 2012

credits.txt - 2012

fw.img - 2016

license.txt - 2012

readme.txt - 2012

readme-bootmii.txt - 2012

readme-hbc.txt - 2012

This would seem to indicate it would be running haxchi, right? Now, I have no idea how haxchi is supposed to look, but there's no Homebrew Channel anywhere, nor any retroarch. Could this perhaps be an intended hack that never was installed?

2) It does not.

3) As alluded before, no Homebrew Channel here. I can't seem to find anything named "don't touch me" either.

4) 5.5.5 U

Ehm... Could it be the case that this console is not, in fact, hacked at all?

NinStar · May 23, 2022

That BootMii is kinda scary, vWii doesn't support it. But based on that I believe that maybe the previous owner used it to hack the vWii. I would recommend you to check it to see if Mii Channel (on vWii) is working.

Larkas · May 23, 2022

NinStar said:
That BootMii is kinda scary, vWii doesn't support it. But based on that I believe that maybe the previous owner used it to hack the vWii. I would recommend you to check it to see if Mii Channel (on vWii) is working.

If by vWii you mean Wii Mode (sorry, noob here

), its Mii Channel seems to be working fine. It's pretty much the same as a Wii's, IIRC (been years since last I fiddled with that!)

Lostbhoy · May 23, 2022

It looks like just Haxchi was used and i'll assume that possibly mocha will be located inside the wiiu folder as this folder holds all apps visible in homebrew launcher when loaded.

To remove Haxchi I believe you just delete the title used however that should have changed into the "don't touch me" icon i mentioned. (its been a while, maybe someone can confirm or elaborate further) The previous owner may have already taken these steps to remove the title. Are there any games installed at all?

Larkas · May 23, 2022

Lostbhoy said:
It looks like just Haxchi was used and i'll assume that possibly mocha will be located inside the wiiu folder as this folder holds all apps visible in homebrew launcher when loaded.

To remove Haxchi I believe you just delete the title used however that should have changed into the "don't touch me" icon i mentioned. (its been a while, maybe someone can confirm or elaborate further) The previous owner may have already taken these steps to remove the title. Are there any games installed at all?

There are a few games, yes. I don't know if they're pirated, though, there IS an account bound to the console, they just might be legitimate. They are: Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario Maker, Pac-Man Ghostly Adventures 2, Penguins of Madagascar and DuckTales: Remastered. All of them boot into those actual games, as far as I could ascertain.

NinStar · May 23, 2022

Larkas said:
There are a few games, yes. I don't know if they're pirated, though, there IS an account bound to the console, they just might be legitimate. They are: Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario Maker, Pac-Man Ghostly Adventures 2, Penguins of Madagascar and DuckTales: Remastered. All of them boot into those actual games, as far as I could ascertain.

You can confirm that by going to the eShop purchase history, if the previous owner account is still there, but you should be able to see the history from any account from the same region if you are unable to access their account.

Larkas · May 23, 2022

NinStar said:
You can confirm that by going to the eShop purchase history, if the previous owner account is still there, but you should be able to see the history from any account from the same region if you are unable to access their account.

Hmmmm, it says the eShop isn't available in my region. So, a little background: I'm in Brazil. We used to have a local eShop, but Nintendo closed it off sometime in the past. I think they actually reversed that decision recently for the Switch, but that might've not carried over to the Wii U. :hateit:

V10lator · May 24, 2022

Larkas said:
Ehm... Could it be the case that this console is not, in fact, hacked at all?

It looks like that to me, too. To confirm it a bit further: When you click the Mii Maker icon it opens the Mii Maker and not HBL, right? Also knowing the contents of the wiiu folder (as well as its subfolders) on your SD card might give more hints.

Larkas · May 24, 2022

V10lator said:
It looks like that to me, too. To confirm it a bit further: When you click the Mii Maker icon it opens the Mii Maker and not HBL, right? Also knowing the contents of the wiiu folder (as well as its subfolders) on your SD card might give more hints.

The Mii Maker icon opens Mii Maker itself, yes!

Regarding the wiiu folder, here are its contents:

/wiiu

/apps

/appstore

/cache

(several .png files)

hbas.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/bluemsx_libretro

bluemsx_libretro.rpx

icon.png

meta.xml

/cfwbooter

cfwboot.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/ddd

ddd.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/ftpiiu

ftpiiu.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/genesis_plus_gx_libretro

genesis_plus_gx_libretro.rpx

icon.png

meta.xml

/haxchi

haxchi.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/hidtovpad

hidtovpad.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/homebrew_launcher

homebrew_launcher.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

/loadiine_gx2

/languages

english.lang

french.lang

pt_BR.lang

spanish.lang

icon.png

loadiine_gx2.cfg

loadiine_gx2.elf

meta.xml

/mame2003_midway_libretro

icon.png

mame2003_midway_libretro.elf

meta.xml

/mrboom_libretro

icon.png

meta.xml

mrboom_libretro.rpx

/nnupatcher

icon.png

meta.xml

nnupatcher.elf

/prosystem_libretro

icon.png

meta.xml

prosystem_libretro.rpx

/quicknes_libretro

icon.png

meta.xml

quicknes_libretro.rpx

/saviine

icon.png

meta.xml

saviine.elf

/snes9x2010_libretro

icon.png

meta.xml

snes9x2010_libretro.rpx

/stella_libretro

icon.png

meta.xml

stella_libretro.rpx

/wupinstaller

icon.png

meta.xml

wupinstaller.elf

/wupinstaller mod y

icon.png

meta.xml

wupinstaller.elf

/cfwbooter

cfwboot.elf

icon.png

meta.xml

V10lator · May 24, 2022

Wow, the previous owner used some really old hacking method. This method needs another HBL entry point but whatever it is: It's probably not coldbooted. So it should be save to remove /wiiu/cfwbooter as well as /wiiu/apps/cfwbooter. Should also be save to install Tiramisu.

Larkas · May 24, 2022

Whew! Thank you very much for the help, everyone, I was feeling like that dog in a suit thinking "I have no idea what I'm doing" for a moment there

godreborn · May 24, 2022

it sounds like he was using rednand with the fw.img and haxchi being present, but it's hard to say considering I still have all my old exploit stuff on my sd card. he may have been like me and never deleted old stuff, just moved on. haxchi requires a ds game on the nand, so if you have a ds game there, you can check the configuration as the config file. it should be in the ds title's 10 folder iirc. I remember moving that using wup server a long time ago, when there was no haxchi installer. the config.txt will be in this folder. I don't have one since I uninstalled haxchi. the rom.zip is haxchi, but in this case, it's the original brain age game.

Larkas · May 25, 2022

There was no DS game! The console wasn't hacked after all. I followed https://wiiu.hacks.guide/ and it worked just fine!

godreborn · May 25, 2022

Larkas said:
There was no DS game! The console wasn't hacked after all. I followed https://wiiu.hacks.guide/ and it worked just fine!

might've been system formatted or something before being sold, which would've been the smart thing to do.

V10lator · May 26, 2022

@godreborn No. There never was Haxchi or Mocha on this Wii U. As outlined before the previous owner uses some homebrew entry point (probaby browserhax), then startet https://github.com/dimok789/cfw_booter which loaded a complete fw.img ... This is a really, really old method of loading a CFW - basically what was used before Haxchi and Mocha existed.

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