Hacking How to get WiiWare working on Wii Firmware 3.1 and up

[Tichinde925]

This will stop the resetting back to the Main System Menu when launching WiiWare.

For NTSC-North America users, on step 3 and step 4:

3. When asked to patch the .dol file, press 0. After it finishes, press any key.

Press 1 instead.

4. For the next option (Video Mode Changer), press A then enter. If converting to PAL, choose option 1, if not, choose 2, then press enter. Press any key to continue.

Press 2 as you want it to stay NTSC.

For the most part everything else can be followed word for word.

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For PAL users, just make sure to select PAL when following along. When converting, you want it to be converted NTSC to PAL, which will be option 1 at step 4.

It doesnt matter what region you get the wad from. Just make sure to convert it to PAL even if it is already is a PAL wad.

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The following is a direct quote.

All thanks goes directly to Eeyoregurl27.

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Eeyoregurl27:
Hello

I'm the person who cracked Angel Solitaire and Oekaki Logic. I decided to try and crack these myself by reading this topic (specifically posts #113 and #116), but it seems the directions were a bit scrambled. After playing around with various settings on wwpacker and GenericWiiPatcher, I finally figured out how to properly patch these Wiiware games to work correctly with no problems. Now I'm going to tell you all how I did it as clearly as I can (note: I'm going to be explaining the way to do it with a JP wad, but it should work for other regions by making adjustments as needed

).

Tools needed:
wwpacker 1.6 (download from here: http://sharebee.com/bbc2ec50 )
common-key.bin (Google iz yur frend

)
Generic Wii Patcher (download from here: Generic Wii Patcher 1.11 )
WiiWare wad you want to patch (for this example a Japanese one)

Before you begin:
-Unzip wwpacker to C:\ or whatever letter your root hard drive is (to reduce the possibility of errors)
-Place common-key.bin in the wwpacker folder
-Unzip GenericWiiPatcher and paste a copy to the wwpacker folder
-Place an unzipped copy of your wad into the wwpacker folder

How to crack:
1. Drag the wad to the file named _wwunpacker.bat. When the program is finished, press any key to close the window.
2. Drag the whole folder the program produced to the file named _wwpacker-IOS35-Plus.bat.
3. When asked to patch the .dol file, press 0. After it finishes, press any key.
4. For the next option (Video Mode Changer), press A then enter. If converting to PAL, choose option 1, if not, choose 2, then press enter. Press any key to continue.
5. Now it should have the option to patch the .dol file with Generic Wii Patcher. Leaving the DOS window open, go to your wwpacker folder and open GenericWiiPatcher.exe.
*5a. Under GWP, press open and go to your wwpacker folder. The folder of the unpacked wad should be the only one to select if you didn't unpack any other wads there. Open it, select the .dol file, and press open.
*5b. The only options you need to use with this are the Error001-Fix and the Country Strings. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE!
*5c. Under Error001-Fix, press Search, then Press Remove 001. Under Country Strings, select the country of your choice, then press Patch Strings. Press Save. Close Generic Wii Patcher.
6. Press the DOS window so it has the focus again. Press any key to repack the wad. Press any key again to close the window.
7. Rename your new wad whatever you want, use Wad Installer/Manager to install on your Wii, and enjoy your new game

Note that this is explaining how to crack a Japanese game. You will have to use a different setting for step 3 if you're using a game from another region. It should all work the same

 

[Deleted User]

Wow! Thank you very much!

Just to confirm that this works with 3.1E and Dr.Mario PAL. ^^

I never upgraded beyond 3.1E because of the outdated WiiFree modchip in my Wii and really am happy to be able to install WiiWare.

 

[hencthurk]

I'm confused :S I just bought my wii the day before yesterday, I assumed (I'm hoping correctly) that Wiiware ect. worked on all firmwares, I have PAL newest firmware (don;t know what that is) my Zelda hasn't arrived yet...

Does Wiiware work just by installing wad via HBC??

Thanks in advance

 

[jfitie]

Works with Bomberman

 

[Deleted User]

Does Wiiware work just by installing wad via HBC??

Thanks in advance

Yep, that's the way I'm installing it.

To update:
Potpourri NTSC, Bomberman PAL, My Aquarium PAL, Pop PAL and Helix NTSC all works great.
Family Table Tennis NTSC can't switch to 480p but works (480i) although pressing the Home button locks my Wii up and I have to power it down by plugging it out.

All this on 3.1E@480p.

 

[JimmyBobAlex]

I'm going to quote myself from the WiiWare Releases thread and ask if anyone tried doing just this? If you have a same region wad as your console, then I had a feeling the other steps were unnecessary. My guess was that it was working because you were changing the IOS Flag using the IOS35-plus.bat. Bomberman worked on all flag settings except 36 for me using the custom.bat.

Unpack the wad and drag the new folder to the Custom bat. Just change the IOS Flag and skip all the other steps.

 

[Tichinde925]

I'm going to quote myself from the WiiWare Releases thread and ask if anyone tried doing just this? If you have a same region wad as your console, then I had a feeling the other steps were unnecessary. My guess was that it was working because you were changing the IOS Flag using the IOS35-plus.bat. Bomberman worked on all flag settings except 36 for me using the custom.bat.

Unpack the wad and drag the new folder to the Custom bat. Just change the IOS Flag and skip all the other steps.

Well not everyone uses wads from their own region.

If your 100% sure that taking a wad that is in the same region as the Wii, and dragging the unpacked folder to the IOS35-Plus.bat. works, then Ill put a note of it on the first post.

 

[jalaneme]

a bit too late for me, i wanted something like this when dr mario was released but instead i was forced to update to 3.2E so i could play it.

 

[JimmyBobAlex]

Well not everyone uses wads from their own region.

If your 100% sure that taking a wad that is in the same region as the Wii, and dragging the unpacked folder to the IOS35-Plus.bat. works, then Ill put a note of it on the first post.

This thread is about getting newer games to work on older firmware so I was just totally ignoring the issue of PAL to NTSC and vice versa, the steps on how to do that have been covered a few times already. If freethewads doesn't work on a NTSC to PAL game then the video mode changer has to be tried, that's a given. What I'm talking about is that what's making the games work on older firmware is setting the IOS Flag, be it using the custom or ios-33/35plus method. I'm saying you might be able to shorten the process by just doing that one step, that why I wondered if it worked for other people. I'm not 100% sure, I was asking for feedback.

 

[jinxvorheeze]

Great job on the fix. It's nice to see people working for things like this. As programs like starfall only work on specific system menu's, this will help when wiiware is released that requires 3.3 to play.

 

[Spuddelkopf]

Hi Guys
I've tested these programs
they work fine but they never recognize the video mode
and thats the reason why i couldnt patch megaman9
Anyone got an idea how could i fix that problem
I've done everything like in the tutorial above and I have the common-key but it won't work

 

[ashesburn]

Thanks alot for the guide.

Works perfectly for Megaman 9 with 3.2U.

However do I need to do the same for DLC WADs?

 

[LxTrix]

wwpacker 1.6 is really hard to find (yes even with google)

 

[2yugimoto]

thanks soo much dude!

 

[djda]

Hello Just thought i should update this guide kinda needs it i guess most of this is self explanatory and all credit goes to original author as stated above.

*NOTE* The below applies for english and NTSC some settings will change for other regions.

Tools needed:

Spoiler

wwpacker 1.8 (download from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?w5wawjdntz4)
common-key.bin (download from here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/zauzn2zjjgy/MakeKeyBin1.1.rar)

Before you begin:

Spoiler

-Unzip wwpacker
-Use the MakeKeyBin (Self explanatory)
-Place common-key.bin in the wwpacker folder
-Place your wad into the wwpacker folder

How to crack:

Spoiler

1. Drag the wad to the file named _wwunpacker.bat. When the program is finished, press any key to close the window.

2. Drag the whole folder the program produced to the file named _wwpacker-IOS35-Plus.bat.

3. For the first option (Choose Language) press 2.

4. For the next option (Video Mode Changer) press 2.

5. For the next option (Choose Video Patching Method) press X.

6. For the next option (Fix 001 check) Press Y.

7. For the next option (Fix 002 check) press Y.

8. And the last option (Fix JAP WiiFit) press X.

9. It now gives the option to run any other programs but seeing as we have already changed it to NTSC and fixed #001 Error and #002 Error there is no real need to.
Now Press any key to repack the wad. Now press any key to close the window.


10. Now Rename your new wad whatever you want, use Wad Manager to install on your Wii, and enjoy your new game.

 

[SaulFabre]

For patch a NTSC VC/WiiWare WAD for force it to run in NTSC in a PAL Wii, you can use @stev418's Custom NAND Loader MOD 1.1 which can be downloaded here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/custom-nand-loader-mod-1-1.198242/
For apply that patch you will need the wwPacker v1.84 tool which can be downloaded here:
https://gbatemp.net/download/wwpacker.36649/
Greetings