is d2x cIOS Installer absolutely essential for WAD Managers + Wiilink24?

[hyrulefield]

I recently ordered a Wii with an intent to hack it and use it for Virtual Console games which I can install using a WAD Manager and Wiilink24. This is my first experience with homebrew of any sort and I'm not fully confident in what I'm doing. I read on the Wiilink24 installation page that YAWMme is needed. I was planning to use a different WAD Manager for Virtual Console WADs but then I thought that probably didn't matter and after googling I kept seeing something about d2x cIOS Installer so naturally I watch a few tutorials. I also find a lot of people saying that it failed to install or even bricked their Wii and as well as this I find that Virustotal flagged the NUS Downloader required as well as several IP addresses it's connected to.
So I'm wondering if it's absolutely essential to use d2x cIOS Installer for Virtual Console WADS, WAD Managers and Wiilink24? Sorry for the ridiculously long post I just want to be sure I'm clear on what I mean.

 

[XFlak]

Use modmii

D2x cios installer won't brick u, it installs cios to non-critical ios slots not used by any official wii functions

If u use modmii though it can have u install d2x using a wad manager instead of the d2x cios installer app

 

[hyrulefield]

Use modmii

D2x cios installer won't brick u, it installs cios to non-critical ios slots not used by any official wii functions

If u use modmii though it can have u install d2x using a wad manager instead of the d2x cios installer app

I'll look into that

One last question about cIOS though, is NUS Downloader needed?

 

[XFlak]

Modern wad managers, no

Trust me, just softmod using modmii, don't be scared of cios. Better to use cios and install VC/Wiiware to an emulated nand anyway

If u are installing random wads to real nand that's way more risky than anything you're worried about. If u use modmii it will also make sure u have brick protection in place like bootmii priiloader and a nand backup. If u really don't want cios at this stage fine but seriously at least get yourself some brick protection and a basic softmod before diving into the stuff you're talking about

Modmii.github.io