Hacking The Early History of Wii Modding

[xfcrowman]

This was a great trip down memory lane. I started lurking here during the fall of 2008 shortly after purchasing my wii, and finally decided to mod it shortly after the release of backup loader 0.3 (using the old EmperorOfCanada guide).

It's amazing how much progress has been made since then. Thanks for the nice summary!

 

[techboy]

I believe the so-called "dummy" HBC he is referring to was really the early trial version that was supposed to deactivate itself after running a couple of times but hacked to continue working.

That was it. It was basically the DOL/ELF loader from Twilight Hack packed into a bannerless channel. It has no GUI whatsoever, and just ran the boot.elf/boot.dol that was in the root of the SD. It's title ID was HAXX, that of old HBCs.

If anyone wants to see it, let me know. I still have the installer, so I can upload to MF or install it on SNEEK and shoot a video of it.

 

[SifJar]

I believe the so-called "dummy" HBC he is referring to was really the early trial version that was supposed to deactivate itself after running a couple of times but hacked to continue working.

That was it. It was basically the DOL/ELF loader from Twilight Hack packed into a bannerless channel. It has no GUI whatsoever, and just ran the boot.elf/boot.dol that was in the root of the SD. It's title ID was HAXX, that of old HBCs.

If anyone wants to see it, let me know. I still have the installer, so I can upload to MF or install it on SNEEK and shoot a video of it.

I'd like to see a video of it if its not too much trouble. How does it show up in HBC? Just a plain black icon?

EDIT: Nevermind, I found a video. Here it is for those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od3i1TDGr3c

 

[dronesplitter]

It installed as a channel called Homebrew Channel but without a banner on your system menu. It would boot just like the Twilight Hack, I think, that is it would run boot.elf on the root of your SD card. Don't recall what it would do if you didn't have a boot.elf file there. I'm pretty sure I used something called magloader at the time which had a basic gui for browsing different ELF files on your card. Boot magloader from this early HBC and it wasn't such a pain in the neck to load stuff, heh.

 

[robo989]

It started off as an article, then turned into an opinion piece.

 

[noobwarrior7]

It started off as an article, then turned into an opinion piece.

? I'm not sure I understand where you get that? you mean from the comments? Everyone is right though, there is a lot more to tell...I was going for a low-tech, linear narrative...Part 1 starts with Twilight Hack and ends with Backup Loader, Part 2 (midlife) starts with cIOS madness and ends with boot2 update...

basically the evolution from TP-Hack to MINI, and the intended and unintended stops along the way.

I would love to tell the stories of those who contributed so much out of the spotlight, like QLeap, Dack, and nickasa,
or even to tell the bizarre anecdotes about how it seems like everytime anyone on gbatemp mentions some little custom needed app they would like to see, davi92 shows up 2 posts later and posts a link to his creation with no real words or explanation, like he's precognitive...

...but see even something like that breaks up the linearity of the story and makes it a little more confusing.

I think the comments telling the little side-stories and opinions are great, so far theres been no lame bickering.

 

[muck chucker]

I remember that homebrew Channel was so happy when the snes emu came out that supported wiimotes.

 

[Fudge]

Nice article. I have been in the seen since March 2008. I remember how cool it was to be able to pirate VC and WiiWare. Good times.

 

[ChokeD]

I haven't been signed up here at gbatemp the whole time but I've been following the scene since the start.

Nice article, decently summarized.

Just an opinion, it does need a little more, well done though, good form.

Props,
ChokeD

 

[BlankaSr]

Needs moar tehskeen and xanax popping

 

[geoflcl]

Wonderful summary. You're quite good at this stuff!

And I'm not going to criticize you for anything you left out, for I certainly couldn't have done nearly as good of a job.

 

[dn_angel000]

What about BootMii?? lol U mentioned DVDx and the HBC but no BootMii!! lol

 

[tueidj]

Fuck off with your lols already.

 

[damysteryman]

Well, THAT was offtopic!! lol



@noobwarrior7:
A very nice article. It is a very interesting read.
"A blast from the past"

I remember buying a SD card + reader and renting Zelda: TP as soon as the Twilight hack was released, and then teaching all my friends.

Do you think you would update it with more events?
Or perhaps maybe a detailed explanation about the entire Wii hacking scene, from the very start, all the way to where we are now?

It would probably be very difficult to acquire every detail though and write up something so big...
Kindof like an encyclopedia or chronicle or something... but that would be VERY interesting to read.

 

[giantpune]

i still have the copy of zelda TP i rented back in the day ( and never returned ) for the sole purpose of running homebrew. i didnt have a card reader in those days, so i used a digital camera to copy the files to my SD card.

 

[damysteryman]

You stole a Zelda game?

Naughty giantpune!
"Rebel!"

I did not have a SD card (or any SD-using devices) or reader, so when the twilight hack was released, that is when I went and bought them.

I did not steal a rental copy, but I did rerent it and dump it when wanin released his cIOS DVD Dumper, despite having no way to use the backup.

 

[Fudge]

Well, THAT was offtopic!! lol



@noobwarrior7:
A very nice article. It is a very interesting read.
"A blast from the past"

I remember buying a SD card + reader and renting Zelda: TP as soon as the Twilight hack was released, and then teaching all my friends.

Do you think you would update it with more events?
Or perhaps maybe a detailed explanation about the entire Wii hacking scene, from the very start, all the way to where we are now?

It would probably be very difficult to acquire every detail though and write up something so big...
Kindof like an encyclopedia or chronicle or something... but that would be VERY interesting to read.

I could attempt to write it. I have been in the Wii scene for a long time, and I remember many of the landmarks.

 

[ocdetective]

Team Twiizers were responsible for the Twilight Hack itself

 

[luminalace]

Nice write up. It's amazing how far we have come since the early days!

 

[MikeyTaylorGaming]

ahhh, i remember the days of the twilight hack well, what a legend! haha alot has been achieved since those days indeed!

i can't believe a CIOS revision 20 has been released, last time i was online properly i remember it being that waninkoko was finishing up on rev 14 and wuitting on them haha

Well, THAT was offtopic!! lol
@noobwarrior7:
Do you think you would update it with more events?
Or perhaps maybe a detailed explanation about the entire Wii hacking scene, from the very start, all the way to where we are now?

It would probably be very difficult to acquire every detail though and write up something so big...
Kindof like an encyclopedia or chronicle or something... but that would be VERY interesting to read.

I could attempt to write it. I have been in the Wii scene for a long time, and I remember many of the landmarks.

i'm sure that wiibrew has most of the history of homebrew on it, it has practically every app released and it's very well organised, and although it doesnt have a write up of everything that's ever happened it has all breakthroughs and such highlighted in the news section so it shouldnt be hard at all to remember landmarks lol.