Wii DVDtools Released

[Opium]

Wii DVDtools Released

Allows you to write to the Wii's DVD drive

Reading and writing to the Wii's DVD drive is now possible with the release of Erant's dvdtools.

I'm finally ready to release 'dvdtool'. Dvdtool is a utility that allows you read and write from the Wii's DVD drive, but also inject code into the interrupt handler thread (ON THE DRIVE, not in the Wii itself). The readme should be pretty self-explanatory.

The code is still a little rough around the edges, so I won't be releasing that for now, but you can still have fun with the tool itself.

This could potentially mean that we are one step closer to running backups on our Wii's. However for now all it does is let us tamper with the Wii's DVD drive. You will need a serial port and a computer running linux to use the files. We advise you don't do any such thing unless you know what you're doing.



Thanks to koentje3 for the heads up.

Download dvdtools

 

[JPH]

Yep, it probably won't be long until we can play back-ups on Wii...YES!

 

[phoood]

There's a burner on there?!?

 

[lolsjoel]

I keep trying to convince myself that I am thoroughly uninterested in flashing/modding my Wii. But man, it's tempting to want to give into piracy, but I mustn't!

 

[azndragonguy115]

piracy~!

i wonder if it will let homebrew on

 

[cruddybuddy]

Fun! I've been using this to play Wii games all day! Unfortunately "Red Steel 2" crashed on me right at the final boss, otherwise it's working great!

 

[Tomobobo]

This tool does not allow reading/writing from/to the firmware. Everyone's getting excited over a tool that basically, lets you use the Wii's DVD-rom as a DVD-rom in your pc.

 

[Opium]

This tool does not allow reading/writing from/to the firmware. Everyone's getting excited over a tool that basically, lets you use the Wii's DVD-rom as a DVD-rom in your pc.

However it allows reading and writing to the DVD drive RAM.

I'm not a pro on it all, but I do believe that if someone were to tinker with the DVD drive RAM they could get backups to boot. Isn't that what they do on the 360? Fool the DVD drive into thinking the backup DVD has been signed?

 

[Tripp]

This tool does not allow reading/writing from/to the firmware.  Everyone's getting excited over a tool that basically, lets you use the Wii's DVD-rom as a DVD-rom in your pc.


However it allows reading and writing to the DVD drive RAM.

I'm not a pro on it all, but I do believe that if someone were to tinker with the DVD drive RAM they could get backups to boot. Isn't that what they do on the 360? Fool the DVD drive into thinking the backup DVD has been signed?

Hey it's late and I'm drinking but, I thought they rewrite the firmware on the 360 because Ram mod would not survive the reboot...

I don't care about the 360 anyway so not sure...

 

[adgloride]

This is good news. If someone ever hacks the dvd drive on the wii they then have to get the games working on it.

 

[Tripp]

This is good news. If someone ever hacks the dvd drive on the wii they then have to get the games working on it.

Sounds like a step in the right direction...

 

[skydoune]

I'm not a pro on it all, but I do believe that if someone were to tinker with the DVD drive RAM they could get backups to boot. Isn't that what they do on the 360? Fool the DVD drive into thinking the backup DVD has been signed?

On a 360 you flash the dvd-rom drive firmware to fool the drive. If you can't access the firmware on the wii dvd-rom, don't know how this could be done.

 

[thegame07]

would nintendo not learn from microsofts mistakes and make it impossible to do the same as the 360??? im waiting for a hack to be made before i buy a wii

 

[Lacrimosa]

would nintendo not learn from microsofts mistakes and make it impossible to do the same as the 360???

Are you so sure this was a "mistake" by microsoft?

I'm not.

I think that Nintendo learned that a console that is very hard to play backups (see Gamecube) is not going to sell that much. Many people is interested having a console and playing backups. They won't bother bying a console that can't do that. So if we have a firmware update on Wii that allows playing backups, then Nintendo will give a reason for many people to buy this console. THIS is marketing (see Microsoft's windows. How easy it was all these years to just copy them and use them and playstation 1/xbox.).

The good in the thing I mentioned is: more consoles sold ---> nintendo will do more sales ---> more money for N ---> more games will come.

At least that's what I think. Piracy exists (either we like it or not), the companies are very well aware of it and they know how to use it.


My 2 eurocents.

 

[nevixa]

Are you so sure this was a "mistake" by microsoft?Â

I'm not.

I think that Nintendo learned that a console that is very hard to play backups (see Gamecube) is not going to sell that much. Many people is interested having a console and playing backups. They won't bother bying a console that can't do that. So if we have a firmware update on Wii that allows playing backups, then Nintendo will give a reason for many people to buy this console. THIS is marketing (see Microsoft's windows. How easy it was all these years to just copy them and use them and playstation 1/xbox.).

The good in the thing I mentioned is: more consoles sold ---> nintendo will do more sales ---> more money for N ---> more games will come.Â

At least that's what I think. Piracy exists (either we like it or not), the companies are very well aware of it and they know how to use it.


My 2 eurocents.

Interesting thought...but I'm not sure about that. I can't imagine that multinationals like M$ and Nin WANT their console to be hacked. If they would really wanted that they would made it far more easy. (it took 2 months before we finally could read the Wii disks (properly and fast)).

 

[TheStump]

when this hack DOES get released people are gunna have even more trouble getting a Wii, it is the hottest item out at the moment and that fact that it will play backups is gunna make it even harder to get...
Remeber what happened to the DS, i know my swing vote to upgrading the DS was two reasons, MarioKart DS and an a easy way to play backups and i did this when some of the first dev were made on the regular GBA carts. Now look at the market and GBAtemp for that matter, after the Slot 1 cards have been released (the most easiest way to play backups so far on nearly any console/handheld) the market has craved for the DS/LITE and just look at how huge our favourite web page has gotten.

So yes i would agree with the above posts, the Wii whether Nintendo intended to or not make the Wii easy to hack, regardless is gunna explode on the market when the first hacks start flooding the net.

but you have to think, will third party developers be put off by this hack when it comes out, Wii needs more third partys, the last thing we need is hesitant companies due to piracy. Sure piracy is great but only really the third parties are getting hurt here not nintendo. Just have to wait and see i guess. the last thing i want to see is companys go out of business due to lack of sales (look at Clover), especially the ones that are making games that are so unique and different. To be honest though after i bought MarioKart DS i only bought one other game (tetris). But in my defence as a nintendo fanboy i think after the hundreds of dollars ive spent on the products i deserve some freebies (roms). I do hope that third parties find a way to make money from piracy much like itunes did. i just hope it happens before we lose are best dev teams

my two aussie cents

 

[opcode32]

would nintendo not learn from microsofts mistakes and make it impossible to do the same as the 360???

Are you so sure this was a "mistake" by microsoft?

I'm not.

I think that Nintendo learned that a console that is very hard to play backups (see Gamecube) is not going to sell that much. Many people is interested having a console and playing backups. They won't bother bying a console that can't do that. So if we have a firmware update on Wii that allows playing backups, then Nintendo will give a reason for many people to buy this console. THIS is marketing (see Microsoft's windows. How easy it was all these years to just copy them and use them and playstation 1/xbox.).

The good in the thing I mentioned is: more consoles sold ---> nintendo will do more sales ---> more money for N ---> more games will come.

At least that's what I think. Piracy exists (either we like it or not), the companies are very well aware of it and they know how to use it.


My 2 eurocents.

more piracy --> less software sales --> less profit for 3rd party companies --> less interest to develop for wii --> less 3rd party support --> less games --> less sold wii units & less licensing fees (which make most of the profit anyway) --> less $$$ for nintendo

 

[Lacrimosa]

I can't imagine that multinationals like M$ and Nin WANT their console to be hacked.

Take windows for example. How the hell an unstable system like that became so famous?

1- It was user friendly (1 click and you got the job done-apart from the blue screens of death

)
2- All the home users had the choice to just get a copy of the OS and just install it without paying it

Now Microsoft is the biggest company ever. They used piracy to get where they are now. That was one of the smartest moves EVER.

That thought applies also in the console world. Many people don't give a f*ck to buy games. They just want a user-friendly-hackable console/1 time pay and all games free. Those users, apart that they are illegal, they also represent a VERY big piece of buyers. Sony understood that and playstation 1 and 2 was a big success. Nintendo didn't, and Gamecube wasn't so successfull (even if N didn't lose money, they could make more, that's what a company wants after all--->profit).

The "play backup games" thing is very important to sell consoles. At least that's what recent years told us.



I have the feeling that I'm repeating myself so I'll stop.

p.s. I'm not supporting the "not paying for games" thing. I'm just presenting some facts (let's hear the objections now

)



(sorry for crappy english)

 

[Lacrimosa]

more piracy --> less software sales --> less profit for 3rd party companies --> less interest to develop for wii --> less 3rd party support --> less games --> less sold wii units & less licensing fees (which make most of the profit anyway) --> less $$$ for nintendo

One sentence: "Sony playstation 1 and 2". You are saying that because of the piracy, playstation 2 had less 3rd party support?

Think again.

 

[nevixa]

Take windows for example. How the hell an unstable system like that became so famous?

1- It was user friendly (1 click and you got the job done-apart from the blue screens of death

)
2- All the home users had the choice to just get a copy of the OS and just install it without paying it

Now Microsoft is the biggest company ever. They used piracy to get where they are now. That was one of the smartest moves EVER.

That thought applies also in the console world. Many people don't give a f*ck to buy games. They just want a user-friendly-hackable console/1 time pay and all games free. Those users, apart that they are illegal, they also represent a VERY big piece of buyers. Sony understood that and playstation 1 and 2 was a big success. Nintendo didn't, and Gamecube wasn't so successfull (even if N didn't lose money, they could make more, that's what a company wants after all--->profit).

The "play backup games" thing is very important to sell consoles. At least that's what recent years told us.



I have the feeling that I'm repeating myself so I'll stop.

p.s. I'm not supporting the "not paying for games" thing. I'm just presenting some facts (let's hear the objections now

Â

)

(sorry for crappy english)

Maybe you are right, but CERTAINLY NOT with your Windows story. You are talking about Windows XP, but Windows/M$ is so big as they are now is purely the cause of very good marketing. Their Windows(/dos) system wasn't nearly as userfriendly as Mac's system. Besides that...in 1985 no one had Internet...and NO ONE had cd-burners.

Windows XP just sells good because it is a more stable version of all previous Windows versions AND it is compatible with them. Also the amount of software that is available for Windows is 1000 times bigger than for Apple's for example.