Hacking 3 questions...

[Ondrashek06]

1. Why do I need to backup my NAND, when you CANNOT EVEN RESTORE IT? What's the point of the backup then?
2. Why is downgrading firmware STILL not possible? It is already possible for old Switches.
3. Is a 2GB SD Card enough to hack my Wii U, provided I do not want a NAND backup (see question 1)?

 

[DinohScene]

You can restore it, you just need hardware access to your Wii U in order to restore it.
Don't downgrade, it's stupid, unnecessary and can lead to a brick
No, you'll need a larger one to accommodate for the backup.

 

[godreborn]

you can restore with a hardmod. it may be possible to downgrade, but it would be dangerous. I don't know for sure though, but the versions.bin is what prevents downgrading games (don't know if system stuff is in here), but you can hex edit to install a lower version. 2GB should work without a nand backup.

 

[godreborn]

nm, just checked. it doesn't look like the versions.bin houses system updates, only game and game updates.

 

[Ondrashek06]

You can restore it, you just need hardware access to your Wii U in order to restore it.

The Wii U was BORROWED. The one who let me borrow it gave me an okay to hack it, but not to screw up the hardware inside. Also it just got from a repair centre because it was only used for ~3 days before the kids dropped it from their window. The repair costed $300 in total because the motherboard was broken.

I'm gonna stay FAR AWAY from doing any sort of hardware modifications.

 

[Lacius]

1. Why do I need to backup my NAND, when you CANNOT EVEN RESTORE IT? What's the point of the backup then?
2. Why is downgrading firmware STILL not possible? It is already possible for old Switches.
3. Is a 2GB SD Card enough to hack my Wii U, provided I do not want a NAND backup (see question 1)?

1. It is possible to restore your NAND.
2. There's no reason to downgrade.
3. Skip backing up your MLC, and it might fit on your SD card.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

1. Why do I need to backup my NAND, when you CANNOT EVEN RESTORE IT? What's the point of the backup then?
2. Why is downgrading firmware STILL not possible? It is already possible for old Switches.
3. Is a 2GB SD Card enough to hack my Wii U, provided I do not want a NAND backup (see question 1)?

3. Yes, 2GB is enough for starting – even WITH the backup (please don't skip it). See this portion of wiiu.hacks.guide:
https://wiiu.hacks.guide/#/tiramisu/nand-backup

The big 8GB or 32GB part is the MLC, another chip that is ironically much easier to write with hardmod than the small chip holding the OS (both Wii U and vWii). The big thing is not needed for unbricking (and would obviously require a bigger SD).

Just store all the others, especially OTP (just 1KB or 2KB or similar). If at some point something software side goes wrong, hardmod and restore might be the only chance (there aren't many Wii U consoles… and they can spontaneously brick, even without modding).

Also it just got from a repair centre because it was only used for ~3 days before the kids dropped it from their window.

Those kids wouldn't get another Wii U from me. They would get and anvil and some rocks. Less likely to break.

 

[godreborn]

wow, nm, system titles are in there (they're at the bottom). I looked this up, and it's the system OS.:

https://wiiubrew.org/wiki/Title_database

the bytes before 00 00 at the very end of that line -- those two bytes are the version number (03 EE). they're hex, then you convert to decimal, which means they're 1006 version, which is the latest. I think this is how you downgrade.

 

[godreborn]

you should be able to use the newer version still after the edit. the versions.bin just prevents lower version titles from booting unless you hex edit. 00 00 should completely remove it afaik. it's dangerous though. I don't think there's much harm in editing the versions.bin (done it before myself), but if you install something that's part of the OS or a system title or whatever, you could brick if you haven't made the change to the versions.bin. without a safe mode of some sort, it's extremely dangerous.

 

[Ondrashek06]

Yes, 2GB is enough for starting

Apparently not, since the SD card formatter doesn't let me set 32K as its cluster size.

 

[godreborn]

Apparently not, since the SD card formatter doesn't let me set 32K as its cluster size.

it's probably set to 32KB by default. that's normally the default size.

 

[Ondrashek06]

it's probably set to 32KB by default. that's normally the default size.

 

[godreborn]

are you using the built in formatter with windows or the fat32 formatter gui?

 

[Ondrashek06]

are you using the built in formatter with windows or the fat32 formatter gui?

Built-in doesn't let me pick 32k at all, the pop-up that I posted recently is thrown by the GUI.

 

[godreborn]

choose something smaller then, it will probably be okay.

 

[Ondrashek06]

probably be okay

Another reminder that my Wii U was borrowed. If I break it in ANY WAY, I'll have to pay the damage.

 

[Ondrashek06]

So what do I do now?

 

[OldWiiGamer]

Just do 16k. I used a 2GB formatted to 16k on mine. I then used NUSPLI and a USB thumb drive. It's possible to do everything very cheaply if you want.

I bought my wii u for 80 dollars, used an old SD card I had lying around and bought the decent USB stick for less than 20. Don't expect the thumb drive to last forever but it is good if you just want to enjoy it cheaply.