Hi all!
I've been somewhat into the Wii U for a few years now and even did a few hardware projects in the past, like:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-internal-ssd-with-activity-led.606315/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-controller-10-000mah-internal-battery-mod.606314/
Spent a lot more time with the Switch recently and ended up selling my Wii U back in 2022. To cut a long story short I decided to pick up a Japanese (cos why not make life harder) 32GB Wii U. First of all I've been doing a fair bit of reading on mlc2sd interposer which can effectively bypass the internal MLC NAND chip and replace with a MicroSD card instead.
Reading up on this then also got me onto the de_fuse project which can use an RP2040 to glitch the CPU and unlock the bootloader: As a side note, It amazes me nobody seems to talk about the correlation between using an RP2040 to hack a Wii U in what's very similar exploit to the Tegra chip on the Switch, that means 2 generations in a row are hacked by the same chip lol.
What I'm trying to achieve are 3 main overarching goals:
1. The best possible way to have ~512GB of internal storage without losing the Optical Drive, in the past I just soldered an SSD to USB adapter internally.
2. Ideally not lose any functionality of the Wii U
3. To preserve / no use the internal NAND chip and use MicroSD instead on the SDIO bus - more for preservation / cos I can reasons.
I've ordered an RP2040, and i've also got an SD2MLC PCB on the way from Germany.
* Question 1:
Am I right in saying that you can replace the NAND with a 64GB SD card, and the OS is able to access all 64GB of this? I know you need to use minute menu and de_fuse, but by having 64GB I assume this needs no further modifications and everything else will work as intended because the Wii U OS was intended to have a 64GB version but never happened.
* Question 2:
I know you can also upgrade to much larger storage on the SDIO bus using wafel (https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-upgrading-rebuilding-wii-u-internal-memory-mlc.636309/). Are there any downsides to this, i've heard it will prevent the vWii menu working, but will Wii / Gamecube forwarders and everything else still work?
* Question 3:
Can you install Wii/GC forwarders to NAND in general, or does this *have* to be USB storage? Only ever installed to USB is why I ask.
* Question 4:
Given the choice, would I be better off:
a. Replacing the internal NAND with a 64GB SD card and then simply using USB storage for installing WUP content to
b. Just upgrade to a 512GB NAND (SD Card, on the SDIO bus) I know this will then *require* the de_fuse chip with patched config but I intend on leaving this installed anyway.
All a bit of a waffle really, but any help or guidance is appreciated
I've been somewhat into the Wii U for a few years now and even did a few hardware projects in the past, like:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-internal-ssd-with-activity-led.606315/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-controller-10-000mah-internal-battery-mod.606314/
Spent a lot more time with the Switch recently and ended up selling my Wii U back in 2022. To cut a long story short I decided to pick up a Japanese (cos why not make life harder) 32GB Wii U. First of all I've been doing a fair bit of reading on mlc2sd interposer which can effectively bypass the internal MLC NAND chip and replace with a MicroSD card instead.
Reading up on this then also got me onto the de_fuse project which can use an RP2040 to glitch the CPU and unlock the bootloader: As a side note, It amazes me nobody seems to talk about the correlation between using an RP2040 to hack a Wii U in what's very similar exploit to the Tegra chip on the Switch, that means 2 generations in a row are hacked by the same chip lol.
What I'm trying to achieve are 3 main overarching goals:
1. The best possible way to have ~512GB of internal storage without losing the Optical Drive, in the past I just soldered an SSD to USB adapter internally.
2. Ideally not lose any functionality of the Wii U
3. To preserve / no use the internal NAND chip and use MicroSD instead on the SDIO bus - more for preservation / cos I can reasons.
I've ordered an RP2040, and i've also got an SD2MLC PCB on the way from Germany.
* Question 1:
Am I right in saying that you can replace the NAND with a 64GB SD card, and the OS is able to access all 64GB of this? I know you need to use minute menu and de_fuse, but by having 64GB I assume this needs no further modifications and everything else will work as intended because the Wii U OS was intended to have a 64GB version but never happened.
* Question 2:
I know you can also upgrade to much larger storage on the SDIO bus using wafel (https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-upgrading-rebuilding-wii-u-internal-memory-mlc.636309/). Are there any downsides to this, i've heard it will prevent the vWii menu working, but will Wii / Gamecube forwarders and everything else still work?
* Question 3:
Can you install Wii/GC forwarders to NAND in general, or does this *have* to be USB storage? Only ever installed to USB is why I ask.
* Question 4:
Given the choice, would I be better off:
a. Replacing the internal NAND with a 64GB SD card and then simply using USB storage for installing WUP content to
b. Just upgrade to a 512GB NAND (SD Card, on the SDIO bus) I know this will then *require* the de_fuse chip with patched config but I intend on leaving this installed anyway.
All a bit of a waffle really, but any help or guidance is appreciated
