Hacking Current state of the scene

[shrimps]

I am a little late to the scene having only just acquired a Wii and was wondering what my options are for playing backups and homebrew. I understand that there are millions of pages of information available but unfortunately not much is of use. Generally as scenes mature, new information assumes cumulative knowledge and there is very little in the way of objective overviews.

I am perfectly tech savvy and have no problems messing around with consoles, I was just wondering if someone could in very broad terms explain what is out there at the moment. Maybe just a few sentences with pros and cons of softmods/chips/wode as the technology stands now. I am more than happy to delve into the detail later without hassling anyone. (In case it makes any difference I have a brand new model, which has not yet been opened but I imagine will have been shipped with very recent firmware)

I remember spending hours on forums tracking the historical development of Xbox homebrew, and trying to figure out who knew what they were talking about on year old threads, when all I wanted to do was get on with installing xbmc.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Please no crappy 'Read the stickies' type comments

 

[Tagg7]

I don't know if you already have one, but I'd suggest getting a USB hard drive for your games. Then you'd only need to install Waninkoko's latest cIOS for it to work. For Homebrew, you need to install the Homebrew Channel. This is fairly easy to do, and there should be a tutorial on the official HBC website.

Before you do anything, though, I'd recommend installing BootMii in case anything goes wrong (this allows you to recover data if anything becomes corrupt).

 

[megatron_lives]

I saw you didn't want any "read the stickies" comments. But I will direct you to a site which is excellent for all the information you want

http://sites.google.com/site/completesg/home

Hope that helps buddy

 

[shrimps]

I remember that towards the end of the Xbox homebrew scene physical mods became unnecessary and that softmods were cheaper, easier, more functional and less likely to go wrong. Is that the deal with Wiis then?

 

[tj_cool]

There is only one thing I know of that modchips can what Softmods can't and that's playing Gamecube games from an USB device.

Other than that, softmod pretty much has it all

* Good brick protection
* Backup loaders that load from disc, HDD
* Play VC/WW from SD/USB
* WiiMC - excellent Media Player
* ....


Another article I should probably promote a little: http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Wii_Hacking_FAQ
More people should read it and even contribute to it!

 

[shrimps]

15 minutes and several helpful answers, unusual to say the least. Just saw this thread and am a little concerned that I may also have the newest DVD drive and firmware. Is there any way of checking the serial number on the box or does diagnostic software need to be run?

 

[leondmsmith]

their is, if its a black wii - it has a d-32 whatever blah drive that cant read backups, usb hard drive is the best way to go anyway with either config or gx, for backups and all your other cool homebrew stuff on a fat32 drive.

theirs also this website

http://www.wiidrives.com/list

 

[TRushInfo]

why cant people just read up first instead of wanting it hand fed to them, its ridiculous

 

[shrimps]

why cant people just read up first instead of wanting it hand fed to them, its ridiculous

Couldn't help yourself, could you?

I have had a handful of very useful replies within a day and am asking no more. If you can't understand where I was coming from in my long first post then don't bother replying.

Thanks to everyone else, appreciate it.

 

[techboy]

If the wii is brand new (color doesn't matter), it has a 99% chance of having the new drive.

You can buy an older model drive and install it if you want disc backups. Otherwise a USB drive is the best way to go.

 

[spacedkadet]

Fellow UK modder

As already stated the chances are that you will have the latest drive inside which simply will not read dvdr's and nothing can be done to make it do so. That leaves 2 options, replace the drive with an older type or go down the usb loading route.

As for getting the console cracked and running Homebrew first off you need to look for bootmii from http://bootmii.org/ . this is the application that gets past the securities and installs both the homebrew channel and bootmii itself. Bootmii is a loader that runs prior to the system operating system to allow various things although much less on newer wii's like your's 9I suggest researching bootmii and the differance between having it as boot2 or IOS.

Once the homebrew channel is installed the fun can start

If you plan to play backups in any way then you will need to get the trucha bug (an early bug that allowed users to run code but was patched but can be put back in again ) restored so do some reading on tbr (trucha bug restorer) or one of the more recent all in one tools. Once you have put the trucha bug back in then you can install the customIOS that let you load the back up games and the backup loaders.

This is only a basic run through of what you will be looking at - I highly recommend using the simple guide in the sticky as it is totaly up-to-date and ready to roll!

 

[apoptygma]

I wrote this email to my friend who asked the same thing the other day, it might be a little out of context but it should get you up to speed in a couple of minutes. It's very opinionated but I have no desire to use 'Configurable USB loader' because it's not as pretty as 'USB loader GX'

Copy/paste follows....

You get http://bootmii.org/download/ and chuck it on an SD
64mb should do the trick. Maybe even 32mb

That installs:

DVDX - allows burnt discs to read
Homebrew Channel - Adds a channel where you can lauch any application placed in SD:\apps\appname\boot.elf (or boot.dol)
BootMii - Either installs as an IOS or as Boot2 (installer will tell you which it's doing) - allows you to back up the whole Wii's NAND (requires 1gb SD card)

That gets you running 'questionable' content like emulators (snes/n64/mega drive/arcade/commodore64 etc) and media centre software.

To get full blow pirated wii titles running there's a few more steps

First you need to install what's called the truncha bug, it's a security loophole that lets you install whatever you want really.

http://filetrip.net/f7484-Trucha-Bug-Resto...MOD-source.html

you might need these files in the root of the SD too

IOS15-64-v257.wad
IOS15-64-v523.wad
IOS36-64-v3351.wad
IOS37-64-v3869.wad

you can get those on the PC by using a program called NSUD ( http://wiibrew.org/wiki/NUS_Downloader )
you basically click 'Database' then 'IOS15' then 'v257' for the first one for example
make sure you have 'pack wad' ticked, as well as 'decrypt contents'
nb. decrypt contents requires common-key.bin to be located in the NSUD folder. ShowMiiWads can make a common-key ( http://wiibrew.org/wiki/ShowMiiWads ) (it's in the tool menu up the top, Create Common-Key)

So once you have those files on the SD you run Truncha Bug Restorer from the Homebrew channel you installed earlier
then do the following

Downgrade IOS15
Install IOS36 with patches
Restore IOS15

Once that's done you can install a USB loader and what's called a 'custom IOS' which will read files from the USB

You want USB Loader GX version 921 (http://code.google.com/p/usbloader-gui/downloads/list?can=1&q=921&colspec=Filename+Summary+Uploaded+Size+DownloadCount )

There's two there, the Wad and the Dol. You have a couple of options here:

You can throw the dol into the apps folder on the SD and run it from there, that's safe and easy.
You can do the same and also install* the forwarder http://usbloadergx.koureio.net/downloads/forwarders
You can outright install* the wad onto the Wii and you won't need an SD sitting in there 24/7

*to install Wads you need to use http://teknoconsolas.tv/wanin/WAD-Manager_v1.5.zip which goes in the app folder, the wads it will be able to install are kept in "SD:\wad" so for eg. you'd put 921.wad into that folder

Wad manager asks which IOS to use to install wads, you want to choose IOS36 - remember we put the exploit in this one in the previous step

Now you need a custom IOS to be able to run all this jazz. Hermes is the best one, v5 has a bug which prevents you using FAT32 or NTFS on the USB drive so you want v4 http://filetrip.net/f8367-hermes-cIOS-2222...nstaller-4.html

It gives you a lot of options on how to install, generally you're best off putting a merge of 37+38 onto slot IOS222

It's a little weird to look at the installer, it asks which slot to use first, (222) then which IOS to use as a base (37+38)
at the start it might also ask which IOS to use to install (similar to wad manager earlier) you can just use IOS36 which you've patched.

Once all that's done you just need to pop the games into USB:\wbfs\gamename.wbfs and load up USB loader GX and the games should appear
some games need a little tinker with the options but 99% of games run straight away.

You'll also find a lot of games you download are still in ISO format, obviously so they can be burnt. To convert them to wbfs you want to use Wii game manager (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D0MBCKAA) on the PC, in which you just open a folder full of ISOs then right click and convert to WBFS

I don't have a lot of experience with playing burnt discs instead of USB-loading but you'd use NeoGamma ( http://www.mediafire.com/?zjytnnjryyn ) there's more info on it here http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=158884

It probably doesn't need the custom IOS so you could get away with only following the first part of this guide (the green bit) and then throwing neogamma into the apps folder on the SD

 

[Krestent]

You're missing a crucial step. The cIOS. You DO need it.

 

[apoptygma]

You're missing a crucial step. The cIOS. You DO need it.

It's in there man...

"Now you need a custom IOS to be able to run all this jazz. Hermes is the best one, v5 has a bug which prevents you using FAT32 or NTFS on the USB drive so you want v4 http://filetrip.net/f8367-hermes-cIOS-2222...nstaller-4.html

It gives you a lot of options on how to install, generally you're best off putting a merge of 37+38 onto slot IOS222

It's a little weird to look at the installer, it asks which slot to use first, (222) then which IOS to use as a base (37+38)
at the start it might also ask which IOS to use to install (similar to wad manager earlier) you can just use IOS36 which you've patched."

 

[mvgc3]

Just to clarify a little of what spacedkadet said, it's not Bootmii that gets past any securities or allows anything to run. Bootmii's main purpose is to create and restore NAND backups (seeing as how you're tech savvy, I probably don't have to tell you that the NAND is the Wii's internal storage). I believe it's also needed to run SNEEK/UNEEK.

Bannerbomb is the most popular way to run the Hackmii Installer, which is what installs Bootmii and the Homebrew Channel (and DVDx, but since you have a new Wii, that's useless to you). There are a few other game specific methods (i.e. SmashStack and IndianaPwnz)

At that point you can run all of your apps from the Homebrew Channel.

Have fun!

 

[apoptygma]

That was one thing definitly missing from my write-up. As soon as you've installed Bootmii - DO A NAND BACKUP! can't stress that enough, It will save you from so many problems down the line.

Also another thing I should have mentioned is that you might want to install "Priiloader" too, It will let you boot into a safe-menu by holding reset on the console when powering up. In that menu you can go straight to Bootmii (and restore your backup you made) or the homebrew channel and also has a tonne of little hacks like region free, blocking auto-updates from nintendo (which can brick a modded console) and skipping the stupid health warning screen at the start.

 

[Taleweaver]

Now you need a custom IOS to be able to run all this jazz. Hermes is the best one, v5 has a bug which prevents you using FAT32 or NTFS on the USB drive so you want v4 http://filetrip.net/f8367-hermes-cIOS-2222...nstaller-4.html

Just to clarify: that bug is actually not in v5, but in the way USB loaders use the cIOS. If you use uloader (Hermes's own USB loader), it works without a problem.

 

[apoptygma]

Now you need a custom IOS to be able to run all this jazz. Hermes is the best one, v5 has a bug which prevents you using FAT32 or NTFS on the USB drive so you want v4 http://filetrip.net/f8367-hermes-cIOS-2222...nstaller-4.html

Just to clarify: that bug is actually not in v5, but in the way USB loaders use the cIOS. If you use uloader (Hermes's own USB loader), it works without a problem.

Shame uloader looks like blue dog vomit as far as GUIs are concerned

 

[FenrirWolf]

IIRC, cfg loader runs NTFS and FAT32 just fine using v5 since it accomplishes it with mload trickery.

 

[Taleweaver]

It can? Last I tried rock band 2 on CFG with 223 v5 (with a base IOS of 37) , it wouldn't go past the end of the song (audience just kept cheering). In uloader, it plays just fine.


But anyway...as far as the scene is concerned, here's how I view things:

-modchips are kinda losing their edge. The older ones can't play the newer games (who have better protection), whereas softmodding has quite some aces up their sleeve. The only thing softmodders can not (yet) do is play gamecube games from an external USB drive. The WODE can do that (albeit not perfect).
-softmodding has USB loading, which works for nearly 100% of the wii games (metroid prime trilogy is about the only game that doesn't work perfectly...but with a few tweaks, it's not that noticeable).
-the homebrew channel is a very good "basic" program, which basically does nothing but allow other homebrew to run with minimal efforts. It may not be updated that often, but it's sturdy, stable and just works.
-bootmii and priiloader are 2 tools that make any wii as brick-free as it gets. The first one allows a full backup of your wii's content. The latter may be necessary in order to restore that backup, but it also has some very nifty hacks of itself (such as setting which program loads instead of the wii menu).
-already mentioned but deserves a second mentioning: wiiMC is an excellent media player.
-also worth checking out is the emulator section of this forum. A whole range is at least good (mame, wii64, sega), and some work downright perfect (snes9xgx, fceugx and vbagx come to mind).
-emulating the wii itself has shown some remarkable progress, lately. Sneek/uneek aims to completely bypass the wii's hard disc and load everything from either SD card or external USB drive. This has some very interesting possibilities (100% brick-proof ness! Storage space that is only limited by the size of your USB drive!). It is, however, still quite a hassle to set up correctly. And though things like playing games or even updating the wii work nicely, the actual hacking of the emulated drive is going to require some recoding (in other words: cIOS'es that work fine on the wii's nand don't always work fine on the wii's emulated nand).