A while ago, some of my friends found out I had softmodded my Wii to play game backups, and asked me to do it to theirs. A few months later, and everyone knows I'm the modding guy that mods Wiis for free, and I think I've modded quite a few ever since. For the last 3, I've used the Simplistic Mod guide (a great one btw), and even though it explains in detail how to mod a Wii, most guides don't explain the after. What should you tell the people you helped out? What optional stuff should you install in theirWii? I'm sure many others also wondered this, so here's a list of what I did. Feel free to give ideas, I'll add them here.
Tips for the modder:
Don't give access to the tools you used
A pretty obvious tip. It may be useful for you, but I doubt that anyone that isn't a modder will have any use for a Wad Manager or DOP-IOS in that SD you left in their console, and using them in the wrong way may end up with a bricked Wii, or disable the softmod. Unless they're somewhat proefficient with technical stuff, you should fix their problems or update their softmod yourself rather than give them the tools to do it themselves.
Don't install unnecessary things
They want backup loading? Ok. USB loading? Sure. Maybe a SD file explorer, or a media player? Could be. But that's it. Don't offer to install stuff that may put their Wii in danger (aka CIOSCorp or custom menu themes) unless they explicitly ask for it. They'll cause trouble if something goes wrong, to the owner and to you, who is supposed to fix things. And on that note...
Store all NAND + keys backups
As you probably know, a NAND backup + BootMii IOS + Priiloader = 99.9% brickproof. Make sure to make all your Wiis brick-proof, and store the NANDs of all of them. Or at least tell the owner to keep it somewhere safe. Also install BootMii boot2 whenever possible.
What to tell the Wii owner:
Tell them to NOT...
- Try to update (not a problem if you disable it with priiloader)
- Erase the Homebrew Channel (it will make things harder if a brick occurs)
- Format the Wii (this = brick if Priiloader is installed)
- Mess around with Priiloader (tell him/her not to press RESET while turning the Wii ON)
- Try to fix things if they stop working. They'll probably make it worse if they don't know what they're doing.
- Hack their Wii on their own. In the case the owner decides to learn about Wii modding and decides to do anything odd, he/she should tell you beforehand, as whatever they want to do may break something you installed.
Explain how to do stuff
Installed a disc loader? Tell the owner how to load it, you don't want him/her calling to say that the game won't show up in the disc channel. Got a nice, USB loader? The guy should know the basics of loading, how to get new games on the drive, how WBFS works (or fat32, for that matter). Media player? Give them the web of the player, so they can look up instructions and important stuff. Either way, make sure that the owner knows how to work on every-day stuff, and will only need help for technical issues.
Tell them about problematic games and drives
Tell the owner of the Wii you'll be modding about problematic games that need some fine tuning before working, like Metroid Prime Trilogy or Wii Sports Resort, and if they plan on playing them try to fix the issue/explain how to fix it. They should also know that if they have a new Wii, it's possible that it won't run DVD backups, and the only option is to use USB loading.
Explain the different possibilities
You shouldn't mod Wiis the way you want, but how the OWNER wants. It's them that will keep it, after all. Show them the different channels you can install, that they can load games from USB if they want to, the StartPatch/Priiloader hacks you can install (of course, some hacks should be installed without asking like update disabling). It's nice when your stuff works the way you want to.
You'll always be there
When you do this kind of thing, think this way: when you mod a Wii, you're "offering a service", so to say. Whether you do it for free or charge for it (
) you are supposed to make sure everything works, even after the modding. Give the guy your number or email, let him/her know that you're just a call away if they need help
You get to do more hacking (yay!) and the dude will always have a working Wii. It's win-win!
So... yeah. Most of this is pretty obvious stuff, but maybe something in here can be useful. If you have any more things one should consider when modding someone else's Wii, I'll add them to the list.
Tips for the modder:
Don't give access to the tools you used
A pretty obvious tip. It may be useful for you, but I doubt that anyone that isn't a modder will have any use for a Wad Manager or DOP-IOS in that SD you left in their console, and using them in the wrong way may end up with a bricked Wii, or disable the softmod. Unless they're somewhat proefficient with technical stuff, you should fix their problems or update their softmod yourself rather than give them the tools to do it themselves.
Don't install unnecessary things
They want backup loading? Ok. USB loading? Sure. Maybe a SD file explorer, or a media player? Could be. But that's it. Don't offer to install stuff that may put their Wii in danger (aka CIOSCorp or custom menu themes) unless they explicitly ask for it. They'll cause trouble if something goes wrong, to the owner and to you, who is supposed to fix things. And on that note...
Store all NAND + keys backups
As you probably know, a NAND backup + BootMii IOS + Priiloader = 99.9% brickproof. Make sure to make all your Wiis brick-proof, and store the NANDs of all of them. Or at least tell the owner to keep it somewhere safe. Also install BootMii boot2 whenever possible.
What to tell the Wii owner:
Tell them to NOT...
- Try to update (not a problem if you disable it with priiloader)
- Erase the Homebrew Channel (it will make things harder if a brick occurs)
- Format the Wii (this = brick if Priiloader is installed)
- Mess around with Priiloader (tell him/her not to press RESET while turning the Wii ON)
- Try to fix things if they stop working. They'll probably make it worse if they don't know what they're doing.
- Hack their Wii on their own. In the case the owner decides to learn about Wii modding and decides to do anything odd, he/she should tell you beforehand, as whatever they want to do may break something you installed.
Explain how to do stuff
Installed a disc loader? Tell the owner how to load it, you don't want him/her calling to say that the game won't show up in the disc channel. Got a nice, USB loader? The guy should know the basics of loading, how to get new games on the drive, how WBFS works (or fat32, for that matter). Media player? Give them the web of the player, so they can look up instructions and important stuff. Either way, make sure that the owner knows how to work on every-day stuff, and will only need help for technical issues.
Christopho said:
Tell them about problematic games and drives
Tell the owner of the Wii you'll be modding about problematic games that need some fine tuning before working, like Metroid Prime Trilogy or Wii Sports Resort, and if they plan on playing them try to fix the issue/explain how to fix it. They should also know that if they have a new Wii, it's possible that it won't run DVD backups, and the only option is to use USB loading.
Explain the different possibilities
You shouldn't mod Wiis the way you want, but how the OWNER wants. It's them that will keep it, after all. Show them the different channels you can install, that they can load games from USB if they want to, the StartPatch/Priiloader hacks you can install (of course, some hacks should be installed without asking like update disabling). It's nice when your stuff works the way you want to.
You'll always be there
When you do this kind of thing, think this way: when you mod a Wii, you're "offering a service", so to say. Whether you do it for free or charge for it (
So... yeah. Most of this is pretty obvious stuff, but maybe something in here can be useful. If you have any more things one should consider when modding someone else's Wii, I'll add them to the list.
