Hacking NTSC discs on a PAL Wii

[laksasarawak]

Newbie question.

I have a Wii console purchased in New Zealand (PAL) and have had a D2CPRO mod installed. I want to play some games I have been given from the US, I believe they are NTSC.

When I load the US game disc I get the prompt to update the Wii. I abort at this point as I am concerned about stuffing up my Wii - am I right to be concerned or should I let the update proceed?

 

[SenorClean]

You're right to be concerned yeah...

So long as you are 100% up to date (ie, go in to settings and tell it to update your wii - you may have to repeat this a few times) You'll just get duplicate channels (the update is showing because it sees out of date news/weather for NTSC.... they aren't there!). If however you perform an out of region update that is newer than your system menu, you can brick or semi-brick your wii!

There are other options... you can use gecko OS to launch your games through the homebrew channel which will bypass the update.

Bushing/Marcan's menu loader can block updates - but you'll have to go to the homebrew channel, then use their menu loader every time you play the game.

There are tools out there (brickblocker, WUM) which let you strip updates out of games, but you need an ISO of the game to do this - it won't help you with originals. Also, they may trucha sign the discs, leaving them unplayable without using gecko OS in 3.3.

Personally, i just update my wii 100% and let the NTSC update run.

 

[laksasarawak]

Thanks for that.

Newbie question number 2. My Wii is totally standalone (no wired or wireless connections to the internet) so would the Wii update carried out by the NTSC disc fail or brick or semi-brick the wii?

 

[SenorClean]

Thanks for that.

Newbie question number 2. My Wii is totally standalone (no wired or wireless connections to the internet) so would the Wii update carried out by the NTSC disc fail or brick or semi-brick the wii?

Maybe!

Go in to settings - and it will show you the firmware version on the top right hand corner of the screen. (Latest is 3.3E for PAL).

It depends which game you are playing, and which version you are at now... Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Mario Kart Wii have 3.2U updates on them, so are the most dangerous.

It's probably safest to brickblock everything before you play it. - http://wbb.rockman18.com/?page=home&ln=en - This is assuming you can get your hands on a backup, rather than an original.