Hacking Hacking Process

[antiaverage]

I'm working on a summary of the hacking process in order to bring people up to speed on why they're doing what they're doing to their Wii:
http://wiihacks.pbworks.com/Hacking-Process

I want it to be more of a summary than an in-depth explanation. If a reader wants depth, they can click the included links and learn more. This should offer a way for the serious Wii hacker to get their feet wet and see what the path is and which parts of it hold their interest.

Any suggestions for addition, removal, or general editing are appreciated. I used pbworks as a simple way to jot this stuff down as I ran it through my head. I can convert it to forum format if preferred.

If I'm just repeating work, please point it out to me and let me know if you think what I'm doing is worth pursuing at all.

 

[retKHAAAN]

Or you could just link people to CompleteSoftmodGuide

 

[antiaverage]

Or you could just link people to CompleteSoftmodGuide

I agree that your softmod guide is both complete and excellent. It is, in fact, linked at the bottom as an additional resource. However, does it fulfill the goal of a brief outline? My notes are not to serve as a guide, but more of an overview of what the process includes, regarding the reasons for each step. The outline is meant to spark interest in hacking the Wii not just as an end-goal of piracy, but of manipulating the system.

I want it to be brief, but informative. If anything, I'd like to cut a few things out and simplify in a few spots. Any suggestions?

Also, a question. The Korean Wii systems give trouble to hacking because they are missing IOS36. However, the HackMii installer seems to place the HomeBrew Channel on all sorts of IOS files. Mine is currently residing on IOS35. I have seen it on IOS61 and others. So, do we still need to install IOS36 before running the HackMii installer as stated in your guide? Does the most current HackMii installer initiate the hack via IOS36 and then pick another IOS to install on (seems unlikely)?

 

[retKHAAAN]

If you be willing to write up your summary I can see about adding it to our guide if you're interested. We are in the process of re-writing it so any changes you recommend will be welcome.

As far as HBC, I don't believe it actual installs anything to those IOS. Those are just the IOS that it uses to run. Like how backup loaders use 249 or 222 or how the system menu uses 70 (if you're on 4.2).

 

[antiaverage]

As far as HBC, I don't believe it actual installs anything to those IOS. Those are just the IOS that it uses to run. Like how backup loaders use 249 or 222 or how the system menu uses 70 (if you're on 4.2).

Ah, yes, that's understood. HBC resides in JODI, formerly HAXX. I understand that it uses the given IOS to run, I meant to say relies, not resides x_x

The question remains, then, do Korean Wii systems really need an IOS36? Or is it just that we typically install an IOS36 which allows fakesigning, and it's the fakesigning that's important? It seems to me that Team Twiizers is not a fan of fakesigning. I believe they use a different exploit.

 

[retKHAAAN]

Well, the patched IOS 36 in our guide is for other things. It's more out of convenience really. We patch IOS 36 in our guide so that we have an IOS to use to install 249. Since Korean Wiis don't normally have it, it's added. That's only because TBR and Dop-IOS MOD are built to perform that on IOS 36 and none other (on a previously un-modded system anyway).

If you'd like to discuss any of this further, PM me and we can get into an IRC channel

***edit***
the IOS 36 is necessary though for the Hackmii Installer.

 

[antiaverage]

Yar, I'm aware of the fact that the use of IOS36 to obtain fakesigning is a result of WiiPower's method in TBR (and consequently borrowed for usage in dop-IOS MOD). You're saying that IOS36 is also absolutely necessary during the HackMii install process. That's interesting, and I would like to know more. I will PM you.

 

[xzxero]

antiaverage, your writings could be of use for the CSG.

Please consider helping out.

 

[antiaverage]

antiaverage, your writings could be of use for the CSG.

Please consider helping out.

I would love to help out, this guide is precisely for giving aid to others. Simply point me in the right direction and my efforts will be applied.

Thanks for your support, and I appreciate any criticism or suggestions.

 

[xzxero]

Well, if you can go through the complete softmod guide, which im sure you already have, and look for paragraphs or steps that can be simplified, or if you feel something should be added to a certain page, let us know and we'll add it in, giving you credit of course. If your help turns out to be useful, tj_cool could possibly give you editing powers to the CSG, but only he could do that.

 

[antiaverage]

Well, if you can go through the complete softmod guide, which im sure you already have, and look for paragraphs or steps that can be simplified, or if you feel something should be added to a certain page, let us know and we'll add it in, giving you credit of course. If your help turns out to be useful, tj_cool could possibly give you editing powers to the CSG, but only he could do that.

Awesome. At the moment, Old8oy, tj_cool, and I are chatting in IRC about the Korean install process which may be simplified. Also, dop-IOS MOD makes for a much simpler process, but we're waiting for the official v10, I believe. I feel v9gp is solid enough and utilize it for helping others hack, but it's not official.

 

[xzxero]

nice.

yeah v9 works fine except for the lack of WiFi support during the TBR process.

thats the only thing we're waiting for.

 

[antiaverage]

nice.

yeah v9 works fine except for the lack of WiFi support during the TBR process.

thats the only thing we're waiting for.

Yar. Although most people need offline support, as oppose to needing online support. I've been watching the developments via the SVN repo.

 

[vettacossx]

I like your logic....a "risk assessment" could be done alot easier if we were to eas people into the data while MOST of us HERE ANYWAYS are geeky enough to follow the more in depth guide we have to think about new comers (something not all of us geeks can appreciate (the noobs as they say) but try and keep in mind (like the kind fellow doing this project has) that we are all new to something and we can all use a BASIC explination before we delve into the world of hacking and running homebrew code we should ALL KNOW ABOUT:

Brick recovery and prerequisits for it
Termonology
Cioscorps and the good/bad
Commonly used Modchips and there goods/bads
homebrew vs piracy
the taboo of backup loader descussions
UNDERSTANDING OF THE RIGHTS A HOMEBREWER HAS UNDER GPL
A list of resources such as wiibrew.org and hackmii and other common devs and sites we all use on a dialy basis to make the gathering of info possible


(what is cios,mios, .app and csm and wad files what application are they related to why is it risky to use flash related modifications ect and what are the benifits and drawbacks FOR MY SPECIFIC CONSOLE ect)

BUT THE BIGGEST THING I WOULD STRESS TO NEWCOMERS IS THE METHOD TO WHICH WE USE TO GATHER RESOURCES AND DATA (so we can help them to help themselfs)


Some things a newb is EXPECTED TO KNOW BUT SURELY DOES NOT

That unlike (most sites) The search tab here at GBATEMP WILL YIELD RESULTS SO USE IT...Simply ask the search tab a question and dont be afraid to "phrase that question differently" and search again you will often have more documentation than you expect and it saves you from the SOCIAL ABUSE of our RUDE community

(call it how I see it no offense to anyone in particular cough***TrushInfo....LOL

There are stickies available (tell them what a damn sticky IS! lol) dont just expect a guy who is on the pc 25 min a day to KNOW what a stickie is LOL) We have to have a degree of understanding there situation or else we could well scare off a NEWB THAT COULD HAVE BECAME A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTOR TO OUR SCENE HAD WE BEEN MORE POLITE AND PATIENT WITH THEM


So to cut this ramble short I just want to say KUDOS to the guy who is willing to make a step and contribution toward making the scene a more enjoyable environment for those who have NOT been softmodded since the twilight hack like we have

 

[antiaverage]

Wow, looks like I touched a positive nerve. Thanks for your energetic response.

Oh Twilight Hack, how I miss your charms...

You bring up a lot of good points regarding the many wide and varied topics which are actually important to deciding what you want to do with your Wii system. I'm trying to prune down the brief intro to hacking in order to cover the basic motivations and process of the hacking path. Your list of ideas is going to be useful in making some of those decisions.

 

[WiiPower]

The hackmii installer does not use a specific IOS. It has a set of IOS it knows, and checks if you have one of them. If you modified it, it's skipped and if all usable IOS are modified it says "no vulnerable IOS found". (and i thought that's obvious...)

That's the 1st point about TT and trucha signed IOS, the 2nd is that the HBC will use the latest clean IOS it finds. If you have IOS61 installed, HBC will use it and you won't get upside-down issues. And not even for hyper pirates there's a reason to patch IOS61 other than to have it patched like all other IOS...

 

[antiaverage]

The hackmii installer does not use a specific IOS. It has a set of IOS it knows, and checks if you have one of them. If you modified it, it's skipped and if all usable IOS are modified it says "no vulnerable IOS found". (and i thought that's obvious...)

That's the 1st point about TT and trucha signed IOS, the 2nd is that the HBC will use the latest clean IOS it finds. If you have IOS61 installed, HBC will use it and you won't get upside-down issues. And not even for hyper pirates there's a reason to patch IOS61 other than to have it patched like all other IOS...

Thank you for clearing this up, WiiPower. The reason for my confusion was understanding why HackMii doesn't work on Korean Wii systems. They have IOS40-46 and IOS52 which seem to not be supported by HackMii. So, installing a clean IOS61 should fix the problem, or is another IOS possibly a better choice in order to get HBC onto a Korean Wii system?

 

[xzxero]

The ideal IOS's should be:

IOS34 for the installer itself
IOS36 for DVDX
IOS61 for the homebrew channel

 

[WiiPower]

I would go with IOS35. It should work and as a side effect this will repair some failed mod attempts.

 

[antiaverage]

I would go with IOS35. It should work and as a side effect this will repair some failed mod attempts.

As a side note, IOS35 is the current support IOS for my installation of HomeBrew Channel. Is IOS35 then sufficient for both running the HackMii installer and supporting the subsequent HomeBrew Channel Installation? Since it is common to use IOS36 in order to install IOS35, it would seem the Korean Wii user would then be set for HackMii with IOS35 and IOS36 in place.

Thank you for your help.