Hacking Why not make a ticket (.tik) installer?

[dimmujed]

Tickets (.tik) files are downloaded from the store when you buy a VC/WiiWare title. They tell the store you are allowed to download the game from the store from then on if it is deleted from your console.

Most of the VC games released onto the web have 'bad' tickets that will not let you redownload them from the store. Most of the ones that have bad tickets have packed the .WAD with one of the WAD packers that makes a 'fake' ticket instead of a valid one. The reason most of them are 'bad' is because the WAD packers that make 'fake' tickets are much easier to use than the ones that make good ticekts.

But what If someone just make an app for the Wii that just installed tickets (.tik files)? Then you could get a collection of valid tickets, which are very very small files, and install them on your Wii. Imagine being able to download a weekly update of all ticket files, and installing them, then being able to download the game directly from Nintendo whenever you choose.

Most of the WiiWare titles released have valid tickets. To test this, delete the channel via the Wii memory management. Then go to the WiiShop and try to download it. If it downloads, then you have a valid ticket.

Hopefully someone will see the usefulness of this idea, and make such an app. We could have a ticket collection for around 5MB's and being able to have every VC/WiiWare title at the tips of our fingers, with no need for SD cards everytime we want to install another game.

 

[jan777]

yeh then nintendo will more likely track you down or ban you

 

[dimmujed]

1. They will not track you down
2. Who cares if they ban you? This would actually be safer than what everyone is doing now with bad tickets. With Wii 24 Connect on, you don't think Nintendo can see the hidden files on your Wii? Also going into the shop with an unvalid ticket should instantly trigger a flag to them. Having a proper ticket is safer.

ALSO, I do believe that when you install a game via the proper ticket that you get off the internet (pirate) that it shows up in your download history. But the good thing about that is, so does a game you get gifted, and neither show up in your purchase history.

So in reality, with any proper tickets it would be hard for Nintendo to check, plus their online is terrible even if they could.

Plus Nintendo aren't notorious for trying to stop modders/homebrewers. The only thing I can actually think of is Mario Kart DS, and that had to get to a point where people were ALWAYS cheating.

 

[jan777]

how about that you have all the tickets then connect for the first time without any wii points?

wouldnt that strike nintendo wierd?

 

[dimmujed]

I don't think they would ever know. Because it's your Wii that allows/disallows you to download the games. The only thing Nintendo does is recheck to make sure the ticket is valid when you go to download it.

For example, I install a VC game with a bad ticket. I delete the channel and keep the ticket. I go to the Wii Shop, and go to that game. It shows as downloadable. I click it, and click download. Mario comes on the screen for a split second and then an error occurs.

The only thing Nintendo actually does is verify the ticket is valid. Your Wii tells you if you have to pay or if you can download it for free. And since you can gift Wii titles, it could be possible for someone to have all the downloadable games, just not likely.

 

[hemanthegreat]

If this ever became a reality, Nintendo would start checking tickets with what you paid for. A ban would be just the start, if you connected to their store, and downloaded the game like that, they would be able to log your IP and then go after you if they wished.

2. Who cares if they ban you? This would actually be safer than what everyone is doing now with bad tickets.

If you don't care if you get banned, what's wrong with the current method? As of right now, you probably can't get caught unless you hook up to their store, and that would be the same situation with the "good" tickets. If their only method of catching you is when you connect to the store because that's the only time your Wii shows your tickets, then you're equally at risk.

Nintendo is not stupid, they have people in their company whose sole job it is to track this kind of stuff(I worked at a major corp. that had a group of people that dealt with hacking their software, they get to spend their days surfing the web and reading message boards like this one). If they see it as a serious threat to their bottom line, they will counter it.

My thought is, why poke the sleeping beast? Nintendo is sitting on their hands right now, and probably will until a CFW or usb iso loader(that's a big IF on both of those) shows up. A ticket installer that would let you get the VC titles straight from the source would probably set them off just as quickly.

 

[jan777]

very well said

 

[dimmujed]

Like i've said, they don't even check the ticket besides making sure it's legit when you download something. As far as history goes, gifts don't show in history, same as these games would. They show as downloads only.

Hacking software is a little bit different then this, in the sense that software is software, by itself. The ONLY thing they make money off of. Nintendo make a killing on ANYTHING on the Wii. And so far they have done little to nothing to stop modchip which have been around since like 2 monthes after Wii's release.

It's just not popular enough for them to want to do anything, and I really don't think people would care if they did. What are the consequences? No online play? What a loss, I know I love emotionless, communicationless, 12 digit friend codes.

Also, you really don't think when you update etc your Wii doesn't send out some glimpse of files to Nintendo? Don't go to the Shop channel and keep using this Draconian method.

And you really think Nintendo is trying? Remember their press release or interview or whatever it was about Mario Kart Wii not being able to run on modified consoles? Yeah, I was laughing when I read it as I had been playing Mario Kart Wii on my system for about 2 weeks, with a burnt copy. That just goes to show you that they have no idea what to do other then propaganda to try to stop people from getting modchips or starting to pirate.

I'm just suggesting an easier, faster method.

 

[Xeronage]

BAD Idea. Doing this will most likely attract the wrath of Nintendo and make them block Homebrew much sooner...

I also oppose the VC Hacking, but meh..that already happened..

 

[Vater Unser]

With Wii 24 Connect on, you don't think Nintendo can see the hidden files on your Wii?

What kind of fool has WiiConnect24 turned on when having pirated VC and WiiWare games installed?

 

[hemanthegreat]

I never said that they already were trying, I said they would given the correct incentive, ie: have thousands or hundreds of thousands of consoles using fake "good" tickets to download their software. Using tickets and actually downloading them from Nintendo is an easier way to be caught than installing wads and never turning your wifi on.

modchips will always be a bad example because of the technical skill need to install them yourself. Sure they're not that hard, but the average gamer doesn't want to risk opening up their wii and soldering a few wires. Unless you've had skill with a soldering iron, the whole things will scare the hell out of you when you try to solder 18-gauge wire to a 10-mil hole.

They may not check the tickets with sales records now, but who's to say they couldn't? For that matter, how do you know what records Nintendo keeps on VC sales? Unless you personally work there and have looked at the line-item sales records, you don't. Just because the history they show you doesn't say where the game came from, only that you own it, doesn't mean Nintendo is none the wiser. I would say its very likely that somewhere they have a database of what console purchased which game. It would be stupid for them not to hold on to that valuable data, even if just for marketing purposes. A check of f-codes with sales records is an easy bit of code to write, and would fit in nicely when you're loading the store.

The only way to make the installation of VC games faster, is to do it without the TP hack, otherwise it would take just as long to install a .tik and then go download it, as it would to just install the wad. Maybe longer. There is nothing less "draconian" about installing and then downloading, instead of downloading then installing.

 

[lajd]

free tickets to all downloadable games? and updated regularly? hmmm, wholesale piracy. if the current vc hacking spree hasn't earned a response from nintendo, i think this certainly will.

i think the only reason you would download from wiishop a hacked vc title is to ensure you can still play it when IOS37 gets activated. but that would still be asking for trouble.

i seriously doubt that nintendo is not aware of what is happening only that it is watching whether this would snowball into something that would significantly affect their business.

 

[nanika]

i think the only reason you would download from wiishop a hacked vc title is to ensure you can still play it when IOS37 gets activated. but that would still be asking for trouble.

No, the IOS37 incompatible bit is in the ticket, not the game.

 

[shtonkalot]

"Why not make a ticket (.tik) installer?"
Why not indeed, feel free to go make one. Just don't be surprised if no one wants to use it.

 

[jan777]

"Why not make a ticket (.tik) installer?"
Why not indeed, feel free to go make one. Just don't be surprised if no one wants to use it.

well said

 

[jalaneme]

What kind of fool has WiiConnect24 turned on when having pirated VC and WiiWare games installed?

excatly, i always have my Wii turned off at the mains when not in use anyway

 

[Social0]

hmmm I would use it. I couldn't care less about Nintendo tracking me.

When shit hits the fan, it wasn't me

 

[teq]

I'm surprised no one has thought to log their connection to find out what really gets sent out. I haven't done that in a while, but I'll provide a quick explanation of what actually happens in the background:

The primary function of tickets in the shop channel are to act as passwords when accessing the shop channel's file server.

The flow of data goes like this:

Local >> Requests Wii Shop Channel page
Wii Shop >> Checks browser User Agent string and IOS version, sends page if they match
Local >> If any local Title IDs match strings of Title IDs on the Wii Shop page, the gif is changed to "Downloadable"
Local >> User selects title for download. If the title has been previously downloaded, the Wii will send both the Title ID and the ticket. If the title is new, the Wii sends only the Title ID and requests the ticket file tied to that ID.
Wii Shop >> If Title ID is found, Wii Shop sends you to the purchase page.
Local >> Sends credit card information, etc
Wii Shop >> Verifies. If the information is accepted, the Wii Shop sends the ticket file.
Local >> Function is passed to file server request. Ticket and Title ID are sent to file server.
Wii Shop >> Sends files, if ticket and Title ID are accepted.

Naturally, there are encryption algorithms, but that doesn't present much of a problem.


So, basically, what I'm trying to get at is that:

A) The Wii initiates the file request. Before they released the Nintendo Channel, with the ability to opt in or out to sending your local title information(including play time), I don't believe there was any type of remote logging occurring.

B) The shop channel does not respond to incorrect Title IDs and tickets, meaning you're not going to get caught by the shop channel for roms you've injected yourself, because they will never match anything on the shop channel server. The closest you might ever get is the channel name matching, but the Wii has no conflicts with this(as proven by the ability to duplicate the same channel over and over).

C) Nintendo transfers the tickets for your virtual console titles to a new console when repairing it. This explains the ability to have tens upon tens of games without spending a dime on Wii points. The only way this could present a problem is if they began to tie virtual console titles to consoles remotely(they currently only do this locally).


Now, as far as a ticket installer is concerned, it doesn't sound like a bad idea. But, before you start working on it, can you write an uninstaller(that doesn't read from .tik files) first, so we can get WADs removed more easily?

 

[jinxvorheeze]

Very informative teq. The only thing I see being a hassle is download time for VC games is outrageous compared to a wad installer. Although.... the longer install times are not so bad when you figure this will allow you to add and remove VC and WiiWare games without having o use an SD card ever. Also makes it easier to pick and choose which games to install unlick an SD card where they are either all going to install, or you have a to pick a few you like, and then swap out the SD card for a different one or change which files are in the WAD directory... which requires a PC.

I would love to be able to go to a friends house and just install every ticket for every VC game, then just tell them they can go to the WiiShop and get whatever they want. Makes it alot easier then installing game after game for them. And swapping them out when they get tired of said games.

 

[lou_weed]

Why cant you understand , that installing a pirated wad/ burning an iso of a game is one thing ,
but installing a ticket and then downloading the game from nintendo is exactly like printing a receipt of a pre-order , and walking (yes, actually walking , in real life) into gamestop or whatever shop you want , and taking the game like you've actually paid for it ?

Yes , piracy is like stealing , but its only second hand if you download the iso/wad from the internet.
I understand some people tried , on the early days of VC hacking , to download the game "again" from the wii-shop channel. It was just for learning the system, but these days are over. No one is doing it now.
Just go low profile , thats it .
Is it so hard to install the wad? are 40 MB too much for you ? (after a year of downloading 4GB per game..)