Homebrew pimp my wii - yay or nay?

[tronic307]

Pimp My Wii is wack, Son!

 

[bostonBC]

I've seen a lot of hate towards PimpMyWii but don't recall seeing problems from it. Who has bricked their Wii with PimpMyWii? Seriously who?

I've also used ModMii but PimpMyWii is easier to use.

Can someone explain what it installs wrong... why are the Wii's produced by it are messed up? Why is it a terrible setup?

I've done dozens of Wii's with the SSBB and LetterBomb attack and then used PimpMyWii and have had zero problems. They work with Homebrew, USB loaders - everything.

Please don't insult my intelligence with hand waving "it's bad". What does it install wrong? I really want to know.

FWIW I hold no stock in the PimpMyWii corp but it automated what used to be an extremely tedious set of manual steps and for those who say you shouldn't rely on all in one tools - poppycock. Programs exist to automate things and modding a system is a perfect example of something that should be automated.

I am serious - enlighten me on what PimpMyWii does wrong.

If you already have a semi-bricked system or if some dumb-f installed DarkCorp they deserve a brick.

I am talking about on the overwhelming majority of systems - stock 4.3 consoles. Accept all the defaults and press A until your finger hurts. What does it not patch correctly, what cIOS is not installed or installed wrong?

 

[JoostinOnline]

The main problem with Pimp My Wii is the automation itself. Its strength is its weakness. You shouldn't depend on one program to mess with ALL your system titles in the background. You can't stop in the middle and fix something before it's too late. If anything goes wrong, everything goes wrong.

Another problem is that the author seems to be under the assumption that newer = better. That's not always the case, especially with the Wii. Pimp My Wii installs the latest cIOS and System Menu. The benefit of having multiple slots is that you can have different versions of a cIOS, because some versions work for specific games, some don't. Many people have reported problems with the latest d2x cIOS. 222 and 223 (hermes cIOS) should be v4 to increase compatibility. The System Menu shouldn't be above 4.1 because 4.2+ has less brick protection/recovery options (many people will tell you it doesn't matter, but redundancy for brick protection is VERY GOOD THING), prevents region free for modchips (unless you use the unstable Priiloader region free hacks), and attempts to brick region changed Korean Wii's at every startup.

Now onto IOS's. Pimp My Wii patches every single IOS (although you can say "no"), which isn't a good thing. Now a patched IOS here and there isn't a big deal, and I recommend having your System Menu IOS patched, but don't go messing with every IOS you've got. With AHB access, you can patch a vanilla IOS on the fly if you need to, so there aren't any permanent changes.

As far as people bricking, a google search of '"Pimp My Wii" brick' returns about 19,400 results. Now obviously those aren't all cases of people bricking. I'm sure at least half of them are topics where people call it "Brick My Wii" and such, but you'll still find plenty of legitimate bricks caused by the software.

I think that answers all your questions. If I missed something, or if I wasn't clear, just post your question below.

 

[Bat420maN]

As long as you aren't completely stupid Pimp works just fine. You guys have been bashing on it for years. If the dev's for Modmii weren't so prevalent here, I doubt it would get as much support as it has. Again, Pimp works just fine as long as you aren't a moron. I have easily done a couple 100 Wii's all of them have had Pimp ran on them at one point, never once have I experienced any problem at all with it.

 

[bostonBC]

The main problem with Pimp My Wii is the automation itself. Its strength is its weakness. You shouldn't depend on one program to mess with ALL your system titles in the background. You can't stop in the middle and fix something before it's too late. If anything goes wrong, everything goes wrong.

Another problem is that the author seems to be under the assumption that newer = better. That's not always the case, especially with the Wii. Pimp My Wii installs the latest cIOS and System Menu. The benefit of having multiple slots is that you can have different versions of a cIOS, because some versions work for specific games, some don't. Many people have reported problems with the latest d2x cIOS. 222 and 223 (hermes cIOS) should be v4 to increase compatibility. The System Menu shouldn't be above 4.1 because 4.2+ has less brick protection/recovery options (many people will tell you it doesn't matter, but redundancy for brick protection is VERY GOOD THING), prevents region free for modchips (unless you use the unstable Priiloader region free hacks), and attempts to brick region changed Korean Wii's at every startup.

Now onto IOS's. Pimp My Wii patches every single IOS (although you can say "no"), which isn't a good thing. Now a patched IOS here and there isn't a big deal, and I recommend having your System Menu IOS patched, but don't go messing with every IOS you've got. With AHB access, you can patch a vanilla IOS on the fly if you need to, so there aren't any permanent changes.

As far as people bricking, a google search of '"Pimp My Wii" brick' returns about 19,400 results. Now obviously those aren't all cases of people bricking. I'm sure at least half of them are topics where people call it "Brick My Wii" and such, but you'll still find plenty of legitimate bricks caused by the software.

I think that answers all your questions. If I missed something, or if I wasn't clear, just post your question below.

I don't understand your 1st paragraph about depending on 1 program to mess with ALL your system titles. It only patches what is needed. And if something goes 'wrong' during any installation what are you going to do? How often do people get in the middle of a batch patch and realize they are installing the wrong files? PimpMyWii figures out what you need so you don't have to worry about it.

PimpMyWii doesn't install updated System Menus. It patches things for whatever System Menu you are on. You need DOP-Mii or similar tools to update the system menu.

I ran games w/o any problem with v8 and just updated to the latest d2x cIOS and have no problems with my collection so I must be missing the threads with people having problems. FWIW I'm using WiiFlow which only needs 249/56, 250/57.

I'm also running 4.3 with working boot2 so I have all the protection I want. The likelihood that Nintendo will come back and mess up peoples Wii's is negligible so I don't know what I am protecting. If someone doesn't block updates they are stupid IMO.

PimpMyWii does not patch every IOS unless you change the default. The default is to NOT patch everything.

ModMii brick returns 132,000 results so which one has caused more bricks?

Seems to me the PimpMyWii folks have created the common logic trees branches based on the System Menu being used. I think noobs could get into a lot more trouble with ModMii if they don't know what they are doing.

If I buy your argument on the older System Menu's are better and run the latest version of ModMii the default recommendation is to upgrade you to 4.3 and it even downloads the files for you. So ModMii pushes you to update and PimpMyWii just installs on whichever System Menu you are on.

And ModMii defaults to installing d2x v10beta 52.

Using your arguments it sounds like PimpMyWii might be a better solution.

 

[JoostinOnline]

No need to get so defensive man. Seriously, your acting like I insulted you.

I don't understand your 1st paragraph about depending on 1 program to mess with ALL your system titles. It only patches what is needed. And if something goes 'wrong' during any installation what are you going to do? How often do people get in the middle of a batch patch and realize they are installing the wrong files? PimpMyWii figures out what you need so you don't have to worry about it.

Not what you need. Just what is the latest.

I don't mean to offend you, but I'm not sure you understand how titles, particularly an IOS, works. If you can see what is going on, you can fix issues before anything is reloaded into the RAM.

PimpMyWii doesn't install updated System Menus. It patches things for whatever System Menu you are on. You need DOP-Mii or similar tools to update the system menu.

It does if you aren't on 4.3 already.

I ran games w/o any problem with v8 and just updated to the latest d2x cIOS and have no problems with my collection so I must be missing the threads with people having problems. FWIW I'm using WiiFlow which only needs 249/56, 250/57.

Not necessarily. You're assuming that your setup is exactly like everyone else's. Not all HDD's work with every cIOS. Most do fine with just about everything, but not all. For example, some HDD's (especially older ones) have much better success with hermes cIOS.

I'm also running 4.3 with working boot2 so I have all the protection I want. The likelihood that Nintendo will come back and mess up peoples Wii's is negligible so I don't know what I am protecting. If someone doesn't block updates they are stupid IMO.

I hate people who call others stupid instead of sympathizing with someone who made a mistake.

PimpMyWii does not patch every IOS unless you change the default. The default is to NOT patch everything.

It must have changed since I used it last.

ModMii brick returns 132,000 results so which one has caused more bricks?

That's because 99% of the time when someone gets a brick, the solution (if there is one) involves using ModMii to download something.

Seems to me the PimpMyWii folks have created the common logic trees branches based on the System Menu being used. I think noobs could get into a lot more trouble with ModMii if they don't know what they are doing.

Not really. Have you even looked at the code?

If I buy your argument on the older System Menu's are better and run the latest version of ModMii the default recommendation is to upgrade you to 4.3 and it even downloads the files for you. So ModMii pushes you to update and PimpMyWii just installs on whichever System Menu you are on.

No. The default is to leave it on the System Menu you have (in your case 4.3), unless you have something below 4.1, in which case it downloads 4.1 for you. That's one reason it asks what you've got when you first start.

And ModMii defaults to installing d2x v10beta 52.

No it doesn't. You have to have the BETA option enabled for that. The default is v8.

Using your arguments it sounds like PimpMyWii might be a better solution.

Then you should get your hearing checked out.

 

[Wiimpathy]

Do you have the source code JoostinOnline ? I thought he never released it. Not an adept of pmw or modmii megabatch sects, but just curious.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Do you have the source code JoostinOnline ? I thought he never released it. Not an adept of pmw or modmii megabatch sects, but just curious.

I don't have the real source, I've just dug through it some. I'm pretty bad at RE'ing stuff, but I was able to get an idea of how it worked.

Edit: I obviously do have the ModMii source, as it's on Google Code.

 

[bostonBC]

No need to get so defensive man. Seriously, your acting like I insulted you.
Not what you need. Just what is the latest.

I don't mean to offend you, but I'm not sure you understand how titles, particularly an IOS, works. If you can see what is going on, you can fix issues before anything is reloaded into the RAM.

It does if you aren't on 4.3 already.

Not necessarily. You're assuming that your setup is exactly like everyone else's. Not all HDD's work with every cIOS. Most do fine with just about everything, but not all. For example, some HDD's (especially older ones) have much better success with hermes cIOS.

I hate people who call others stupid instead of sympathizing with someone who made a mistake.

It must have changed since I used it last.

That's because 99% of the time when someone gets a brick, the solution (if there is one) involves using ModMii to download something.

Not really. Have you even looked at the code?

No. The default is to leave it on the System Menu you have (in your case 4.3), unless you have something below 4.1, in which case it downloads 4.1 for you. That's one reason it asks what you've got when you first start.

No it doesn't. You have to have the BETA option enabled for that. The default is v8.

Then you should get your hearing checked out.

I just downgraded one of my 4.3 Wii's to 4.2 and ran PimpMyWii 3.01.

It did not ask or automatically upgrade the Wii to 4.3. Not sure where you got your information from. I've used PimpMy Wii for many revisions and never once did I see or have it auto-upgrade to a new System Menu.

I have used Seagates, WD, Toshiba, Hitachi and pretty much every hard disk in between and have had no compatibility problems with d2x v8 or the latest betas. I must be lucky! Now if someone wants to run a very old hard disk and does have problems that requires them to go back to an old hermes cIOS - I haven't heard a lot of that.

Regardless of how sympathetic I am bootMii and or Priiloader is likely to be more than sufficient for everyone since Nintendo isn't likely to come back and mess things up.

Google 'modmii bricked my wii' versus 'pimp my wii bricked my wii' and ModMii wins 53,300 to 38,200 but I don't know if I want to win that contest.

PimpMyWii is not open source so how have you looked at the code? It has flawlessly modded every 3.4, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 Wii that I have thrown at it. Homebrew runs, USB loaders run so I'm not sure where you get your information that the logic in PimpMyWii is somehow defective.

I stand corrected on the ModMii system menu. When you tell it you are using 4.2 or 4.1 it doesn't push you to upgrade. Which is exactly like PimpMyWii.

Likewise for the cIOS. I had the beta option enabled and without it ModMii pushes out v8-final instead of the newer v10 beta. With regards to the v10 beta the Google Code page says:

Basically v10 = v8 + problematic hdd fix from v9 + vWii base support

So I would think that most people would want the more recent version for increased hard disk compatibility.

I think we will have to disagree on the conclusion. I feel PimpMyWii is an incredibly easy to use modding tool and have used it many times without any problems. Others may like ModMii and I do too and have used it many times.

But in my experience PimpMyWii is not the oozing junkpile that some people portray it to be. It is a very useful tool - especially for noobs.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Again, super defensive.

Pimp My Wii may be better now, but it EARNED a bad reputation. Nobody made it up. ModMii has never bricked a Wii to my knowledge, but this isn't a Pimp My Wii vs ModMii competition, although you keep bringing it up.

With regards to the source, all you need is the dol (or preferably the elf) file to get a look at the basic operation.

 

[bostonBC]

Again, super defensive.

Pimp My Wii may be better now, but it EARNED a bad reputation. Nobody made it up. ModMii has never bricked a Wii to my knowledge, but this isn't a Pimp My Wii vs ModMii competition, although you keep bringing it up.

With regards to the source, all you need is the dol (or preferably the elf) file to get a look at the basic operation.

If it is better now - or at least equal - why all the hate directed towards it?

>>>

1. It's not firmware, you clearly don't understand how the Wii works. That's probably a result of using BrickMyWii instead of learning what you are doing.
2. BrickMyWii installs a very bad setup, and sometimes patches every single IOS, which is a bad idea as it has the potential for problems.
3. Nothing should be done all-in-one. It's very dangerous. By no means is it fool-proof.
4. You shouldn't be on 4.3 (which again, is just a title, not firmware) anyway.
5. If you take a look at the code, it's a disaster. The translations aren't even done properly, so a lot of the menu doesn't make sense in some languages.

<<<
You started by calling it a name that is not deserved IMO. Then you claim that it installs a bad setup and patches every single IOS which is false. Then you say it is dangerous and not fool-proof. Another guy said he's done a couple hundred mods with Pimp My Wii and I've done more than that so you have people who have done 500+ mods using PimpMyWii with no problems. That sounds bullet-proof and not dangerous at all.
Then you claim to look at the code and say it is a disaster. But it is not open source so you don't have access to the source code.
Decompiled object code can be hard to read and understand. Commented source code is much easier to follow. You appear to be basing your conclusion about how 'bad' PimpMyWii is by trying to read decompiled object code without any comments. Does the decompiler present variable and procedure/function names? If not no wonder you think it is a disaster, it's a step away from reading/deciphering machine code.
Try decompiling ModMii and deciphering its flow without any variables or procedure/function names.
Sorry if you perceive my posts to be defensive but IMO your anti-PimpMyWii posts are quite offensive and are pushing people away from a very solid, useful tool.

 

[JoostinOnline]

First off, I really have a hard time believing that he's used it on over 200 Wii's, or that you've done 300. Unless you're one of those assholes who charges money to run a few programs (and usually call themselves "hackers").

Second, I went against my better judgement when I bothered responding to your post in the first place. I was pretty sure you where going to stick your fingers in your ears and get super defensive, but I thought I'd give you a chance. You tried to turn this into a comparison against other tools, suggested I was just a hater, and that I was lying about my experience with PMW.

Third, I've have used Pimp My Wii. I speak not only from the hundreds of victims, but of my own personal experiences with it.




Joostin out.

Joostin drops mic and walks off stage.

 

[Bat420maN]

For the record... I have done well over 200. The only thing I ever got out of it was a copy of Lego Indy. Shouldn't go around assuming crap, you know what they say...

Joostin, you are a hater of Pimp! This is not the first time I have seen you bash it for no reason other then to promote Modmii. Why hate on other options? If it don't work for you delete the shit and leave it alone. Don't stand by waiting for any chance you get to call it "BrickMyWii".

I don't know anyone personally that has ever bricked from using Pimp, I know three that did with Modmii. Take that as you will...

 

[Bat420maN]

Dam lag!

 

[bostonBC]

First off, I really have a hard time believing that he's used it on over 200 Wii's, or that you've done 300. Unless you're one of those assholes who charges money to run a few programs (and usually call themselves "hackers").

Second, I went against my better judgement when I bothered responding to your post in the first place. I was pretty sure you where going to stick your fingers in your ears and get super defensive, but I thought I'd give you a chance. You tried to turn this into a comparison against other tools, suggested I was just a hater, and that I was lying about my experience with PMW.

Third, I've have used Pimp My Wii. I speak not only from the hundreds of victims, but of my own personal experiences with it.




Joostin out.

Joostin drops mic and walks off stage.

Wait a minute - who is sticking their fingers in their ears? I called out your 'statements' that PimpMyWii sucks, is a terrible setup, is dangerous, gives you genital warts etc and you turn and run?

So you have used PMP. Great. If you weren't lying about your experience with PMW where is the function/screen that auto-upgrade to the latest System Menu? It doesn't exist.

You complain that it automatically installs the latest cIOS when the latest cIOS has the best HD compatibility. There is a menu option in the program to install the cIOS version that you want.

As you run away you spread more fertilizer - where are the hundreds of other victims and how the heck did you manage to brick a Wii using PimpMyWii? You sure alluded to it. No response or more diversion just proves you are lying about it.

My original request was an honest attempt to get an answer to what PMW is doing wrong. About the only potentially valid thing you pointed out is that it installs the latest versions of things and you say there may be HD compatibility problems with the latest version. But the d2x GoogleCode notes say that v10 has the best HD compatibility. So who should we believe? You or the people who wrote d2x?

And anyone who feels that they can read decompiled object code with no comments, variable or procedure names just as well as commented source code is fooling themselves and lying to everyone else. To claim that the PMW code is a disaster/garbage/junk when you aren't looking at source code is lunacy and I know you probably don't give a carp but IMO you lose all credibility with statements like that.

 

[Count Duckula]

Gentlemen, gentlemen. Agree to disagree please. Unless one of you wrote modmii and the other PMW, i dont get it.

Many (myself included) feel fully automating the process is not a good idea. Others want that option and are happy to trust a fully automated app and whatever its coded to do.
You can discuss the relative merits of each but it's still going to depend on the individual and there's no need to get agro over it.

I think the former help the latter out far more than vice versa when issues or queries arise, so even if you are dead set on PMW or another automated tool it's still good for those of that opinion to have others who prefer the alternative around

 

[bostonBC]

Gentlemen, gentlemen. Agree to disagree please. Unless one of you wrote modmii and the other PMW, i dont get it.

Many (myself included) feel fully automating the process is not a good idea. Others want that option and are happy to trust a fully automated app and whatever its coded to do.
You can discuss the relative merits of each but it's still going to depend on the individual and there's no need to get agro over it.

I think the former help the latter out far more than vice versa when issues or queries arise, so even if you are dead set on PMW or another automated tool it's still good for those of that opinion to have others who prefer the alternative around

Happy to agree to disagree but if said folks continue to spew lies about said automated tool I will call them on it. People come here and look for honest answers not over the top lies.

 

[Ryukouki]

Happy to agree to disagree but if said folks continue to spew lies about said automated tool I will call them on it. People come here and look for honest answers not over the top lies.

It's not a lie if it's the truth, and the truth is that this app has had a shady past.

 

[bostonBC]

It's not a lie if it's the truth, and the truth is that this app has had a shady past.

But how far in the past do you go - v 0.1? I and others have used it for years w/o a problem. The only ones who seem to have had a problem with it are the ModMii proponents who say they have used PimpMyWii but when called out cite program 'features' that don't exist and say it does things that it doesn't which shows they don't know what they are talking about.

Or my personal favorite the guy who claims the source code shows it is junk... but it isn't open source and he never viewed the source code.

Or when you google ModMii versus PMP on which has bricked more systems and ModMii comes out on top.

The hate and lies being spewed about PMP really irks me because not everyone who wants a modded system can invest the time into learning every nook and cranny of ModMii.

PMP is a great tool for those who don't want to get into the nuts and bolts of modding. ModMii is great as well and I've used it at times.

But the OP asked about PMP and was greeted with a bunch of outright lies about PMP. That's not cool.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Wow, you've gone overboard. I wasn't going to respond anymore, but I don't like the way you are talking to everyone else. You're comparing hits google searches like they are evidence of bricks (I gave the link so you could look yourself), and trying to turn this into a PMW vs ModMii debate. You've repeatedly called me a liar and said we're just making things up (neither of which are true). Everyone here has been nice to you and you return that by going North Korea on us.

I personally prefer to mod systems my own way instead of following a guide, but there is absolutely nothing confusing about ModMii. It generates a custom HTML guide with youtube videos to guide you through the process.

 

[Ryukouki]

Wow, you've gone overboard. I wasn't going to respond anymore, but I don't like the way you are talking to everyone else. You're comparing hits google searches like they are evidence of bricks (I gave the link so you could look yourself), and trying to turn this into a PMW vs ModMii debate. You've repeatedly called me a liar and said we're just making things up (neither of which are true). Everyone here has been nice to you and you return that by going North Korea on us.

I personally prefer to mod systems my own way instead of following a guide, but there is absolutely nothing confusing about ModMii. It generates a custom HTML guide with youtube videos to guide you through the process.

I'd just like to toss a vouch for JoostinOnline here, and say that I've observed his work since he started actively participating. His work's been great so far and he's provided plenty of help to others and to the newer members involved with the scene. I have seen the stuff he has done, and he has excellent results coming out of it.

No disrespect to you, bostonBC, but you're taking a small issue and turning it into a far bigger matter than what it really should be. This program has had quite a shady past. I am pretty sure (or at least, I hope) that it has gotten better with future revisions, but for those of us who used it back then, it was quite a mess, and I recall seeing decent amounts (note: when I say decent, I mean, more people than there should be) of people reporting issues after having used said application. I do not understand why you're tossing ModMii into the fray, though. I'm like Joostin. I like to do things for myself, and I find ModMii to be incredibly helpful for those who don't want to get more involved with the hacking procedure. None of us have said any lies about Pimp My Wii, we're just enlightening the OP as to his options, given what we have experienced.