Hardware LAST check before modding begins!

[towens81]

Okay, here's what I have so far:

1. USA D2E Wii, unopened, so I don't know the firmware or if it has epoxy.
2. WiiKey 2 presoldered to a WiiClip
3. Some ISO's ready to be burned and tested.

When my WiiKey comes in, I will install it and put in one of my backups.

Should I take any extra caution with my ISO's? If I have a chip, I don't think I need to brick block them or patch them. Also, what's Trucha?

Are there any steps I'm missing besides just putting in the chip and loading a game?

Will everything work smoothly? Will I need to download and burn the WiiKey 2 update + config DVD first?

 

[lll]

1. USA D2E Wii, unopened, so I don't know the firmware or if it has epoxy.
When my WiiKey comes in, I will install it and put in one of my backups.

Here's hoping it doesn't have epoxy. You can make a pretty safe guess at whether it does or not by putting your serial number into http://www.wiidrives.com/. If you're unlucky enough to have epoxy, your clip is going to be useless - the chip will have to be soldered.

Should I take any extra caution with my ISO's? If I have a chip, I don't think I need to brick block them or patch them.

No, you don't need to do anything special - but if you install updates, they may affect your ability to run homebrew. It's always a good idea to at least have the Homebrew Channel installed. You can also use GeckoOS to run the few PAL or Japanese games that don't work with the Wiikey2's region free setting.

Also, what's Trucha?

All content for the Wii has to be cryptographically signed - that means you (in theory) shouldn't be able to run non-Nintendo-approved stuff. The Wii IOS and System Menu have a bug in the way that they check those signatures and Trucha Signing (fakesigning) uses this bug to trick the Wii into thinking homebrew channels, custom IOSes or modified discs are signed by Nintendo. The fakesigning bug has been fixed in firmware updates, which is a great reason not to update even if you have a chip.

If all you care about is own-region game backups, then you don't need to worry about avoiding updates.

QUOTE

Are there any steps I'm missing besides just putting in the chip and loading a game? Will everything work smoothly? Will I need to download and burn the WiiKey 2 update + config DVD first?

The first disc you insert after the chip is installed must be an own-region disc. I don't know if it has to be an original or if it can be a backup, but I'd just use your Wii Sports disc.

You don't need to use the update/config disc first, but it's a good idea anyway. It's very small to download. You can probably get away with burning it to a rewritable disc if you're concerned about wasting a DVD-R.

Otherwise, things should go pretty smoothly.

 

[towens81]

Cool, thanks!
What would be the advantage of burning the WiiKey 2 install disc?
Any extra settings I can configure?

 

[ModchipCentral]

Yes, theres a few features in the config disc such as enabling update blocker to help prevent bricking your Wii