Hacking Wii U Hacking & Homebrew Discussion

[WulfyStylez]

To all the people saying "Learn how to code and make your own exploit etc" , in which world is it easier to do that (which will take you 1-3 years and you'll probably end up at square 0).

For what it's worth I picked up C, C++, ARM PPC x86 and MIPS assembly, and how to effectively use IDA and Hex-Rays in like 2-3 months. For a lot of people, console hacking (or homebrew) is actually the kick in the butt they need to get themselves programming or reverse-engineering.

If you don't have any experience at coding there is an advice I can give you which is don't waste your time trying to "reinvent the wheel" since someone doesn't want to release it. It is a waste of time.

If somebody had just handed me 'completed' 3DS hax a year and a half ago, I never would have learned any of these skills yo. Especially in cases of console hacking, "reinventing the wheel" is actually like the best way to get up to speed and familiar with a system. We actually have our own implementation of the current private PPC kernel vuln because I needed an excuse to get super familiar with Cafe OS userland. All the debug I had to do to get that up and running taught me more than I expected honestly.
Smea mentions how fun reverse-engineering is a lot, and he's not joking! If you're into computer science at all, you can have a blast with it.

 

[steelseth]

The Wii U was my first time with C, and within a week or two I'd released LiteNESU. I'm no special super-hacker or whatever, I'm just an average guy who did a terrible job writing the aforementioned program, and I'll definitely not find a kexploit for a while yet.

For what it's worth I picked up C, C++, ARM PPC x86 and MIPS assembly, and how to effectively use IDA and Hex-Rays in like 2-3 months. For a lot of people, console hacking (or homebrew) is actually the kick in the butt they need to get themselves programming or reverse-engineering.

Hmmmmm choices choices ....... Continue following my current career path which puts food on the table bought me a house, car, electronics, clothes, shoes, holidays, etc ..... or take a break for a few weeks to a few months to do some console hacking .....

 

[Pikachuk]

personnaly,i learned a little the C but i stopped at the arrays for the moment XD

 

[ryuutseku85]

Hmmmmm choices choices ....... Continue following my current career path which puts food on the table bought me a house, car, electronics, clothes, shoes, holidays, etc ..... or take a break for a few weeks to a few months to do some console hacking .....

I start learning c during January this year , I am actually at a really base stage . I have a work 45 h per week , 5 day a week , I have a wife so rarely coding and learning on week end , so what I want to say is : when we want we can .

Actually I didn't know anything about gx2 lib but I open Ida , a web page , I take blank page and a pen and let's go , I learning how the things works .

So try it a least you can say that you try , and when you will be in the Dev's side you will understand how hard is to make something and don't have a thanks from people who only want loadiine .

 

[steelseth]

I start learning c during January this year , I am actually at a really base stage . I have a work 45 h per week , 5 day a week , I have a wife so rarely coding and learning on week end , so what I want to say is : when we want we can .

Actually I didn't know anything about gx2 lib but I open Ida , a web page , I take blank page and a pen and let's go , I learning how the things works .

So try it a least you can say that you try , and when you will be in the Dev's side you will understand how hard is to make something and don't have a thanks from people who only want loadiine .

I would but I dont want to spend $3000 for IDA and Hex-Rays ......
I could pirate it but that would make me worst than those people that only want loadiine wouldnt it ?
I mean stealing $3000 from a small company is worst than stealing $60 from a multi billion dollar company, atleast thats the way I see it.

 

[ryuutseku85]

I would but I dont want to spend $3000 for IDA and Hex-Rays ......
I could pirate it but that would make me worst than those people that only want loadiine wouldnt it ?
I mean stealing $3000 from a small company is worst than stealing $60 from a multi billion dollar company, atleast thats the way I see it.

I use the free version it's not complete but work fine and I think it's a good start for newbies . I use it only for 2 or 3 week by now

 

[steelseth]

I use the free version it's not complete but work fine and I think it's a good start for newbies . I use it only for 2 or 3 week by now

The free version might be good to learn the basics but its lacking too many features to actually be useful, according to NW even the 6.1 Pro paid version is lacking essential features.

 

[ryuutseku85]

The free version might be good to learn the basics but its lacking too many features to actually be useful, according to NW even the 6.1 Pro paid version is lacking essential features.

thanks fo the information

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

like i already said i try to understand how i can get the gx2 lib to work .

is this like to you a good starting point to set the screen to a better resolution for my homebrew?

unsigned int gx2_handle;

   OSDynLoad_Acquire("gx2.rpl", &gx2_handle);

   void(*GX2Shutdown)();

   OSDynLoad_FindExport(gx2_handle, 0, "GX2Shutdown", &GX2Shutdown);

   int(*GX2GetMainCoreId)();

   OSDynLoad_FindExport(gx2_handle, 0, "GX2GetMainCoreId", &GX2GetMainCoreId);

   void(*GX2Init)(void *args);

   OSDynLoad_FindExport(gx2_handle, 0, "GX2Init", &GX2Init);

   GX2Init(0);

   void (*GX2SetTVScale)(uint32_t xres, uint32_t yres);

   OSDynLoad_FindExport(gx2_handle, 0, "GX2SetTVScale", &GX2SetTVScale);

   GX2Shutdown();

   GX2Init(0);

   GX2SetTVScale(1280,720);

 

[brienj]

I would but I dont want to spend $3000 for IDA and Hex-Rays ......
I could pirate it but that would make me worst than those people that only want loadiine wouldnt it ?
I mean stealing $3000 from a small company is worst than stealing $60 from a multi billion dollar company, atleast thats the way I see it.

And this is the kicker, because you can't effectively reverse the Wii U firmware without IDA. I wonder how many people that have successfully reversed it though, that are against piracy, actually have a license for IDA. I personally DO have a legit license of IDA, I've had one for years, but I can afford it However, at the same time, I don't believe that holding anything back because of piracy is ever a good idea, and in the end just hurts a hacking community.

Putting in ways to stop online play or hacking in online play with backups is ok, but outright stopping it all together never makes sense. The only way to be a noble knight for a huge corporation is to tell them of all the exploits in their system, so they can fix them, and prevent other people you have no control over, from discovering the same exploit, which could be used for far worse things.

 

[DeadlyFoez]

What this community needs is waninkoko. J/k.

 

[Wishi]

I really don't get it , MN1 is keeping his Exploit private to make sure it is available to more people and don't get patched but it really doesn't matter that much anymore I mean it will get patched eventually whenever MN1 decide to realase it
It could be 5.6 >realase exploit>Exploit gets patched within days with 5.6.1 or realase Exploit > gets patched in 5.6 is that much a difference ? Nintendo can just launch a post patch whenever they feel like .
Anyway anyone who is interested in Hacking their Wii U will get to this forum and will know how to block updates etc at time , there's no way a new "wave" of hypothetical 5.6 Wii U firmware would arrive at this point when NX is around the corner to its formal announcement
And this is slowly dying just compare the messages this forum is getting to those from months ago.
Im patiently waiting , and I thank devs for their efforts , just lets hope that when it gets realased there are still people who is still interested in Wii U Hacking

 

[Onidemon]

Exactly. If someone could explain the logic behind keeping the exploit hidden even though it will get patched anyways.

I get that by keeping it hidden for now, there is a chance it will still work on the next FW, but once it is released Nintendo will patch it. Or is MN1 thinking of keeping it hidden forever until Nintendo figures it out on their own and patch it? If that is the case then we may never see the exploit.

Also with the ability to spoof the firmware, does it matter if Nintendo patches it in the next upgrade or not?

 

[vgmoose]

Yeah, I agree that homebrew is a far, far better entrypoint to Wii U programming stuff than exploit research. The main issue is that people just need to start coding, whether homebrew or not. To me, it seems that nobody's really doing that, instead going for a far more... complainy approach. ;3

Hey, I did it and also complained... that must be worth something!

I stand by that Homebrew Launcher isn't hitting its true potential (like HBC did for Wii) because people who want to get into the scene can't even run it. Ideally we'd have a collection (similar to @pwsincd 's wiiubru.com ) that offers HBL zipped app bundles to download, and then people (on any FW) can load them up and play them. Then we'd be able to form a community around that.

Of course I don't disagree with your post though. If more people were trying to code homebrew apps there'd be more grounds for such a community to grow, rather than just the 5 or 6 guys we have now. And I haven't even released anything in 2 months! I'll also get on a podium to aspiring devs and say: it's always the right time to learn. Even if you have to stay up all night trying to figure out four lines of code aren't behaving the way you'd expect, as long as you keep it up I'm sure you'll get there.

 

[NWPlayer123]

That's just the thing, it won't get patched until we let it just cause of the way it works lmao

 

[WulfyStylez]

I could pirate it but that would make me worst than those people that only want loadiine wouldnt it ?

Actually you can't even buy IDA unless you purchase it as part of like, an accredited security firm. They literally refuse sales to individuals, even given the money. Most reverse-engineers I know turn a blind eye to IDA piracy because of this. I'm licensed as a CS student thru my university, but it rly doesn't mean anything to me if someone pirates IDA. If you really have moral issues with it, you can be an objdump hero like nocash, too.

Exactly. If someone could explain the logic behind keeping the exploit hidden even though it will get patched anyways.

Nintendo has no indication of what this vuln is, nor would they pick up on it if they (for some reason, in 2016) did another security audit of Cafe OS. It's very unsuspecting. Here's me kinda putting words in Marionumber1's mouth but - in a few years it'll be much more acceptable to casually release this exploit since the platform will be pretty much dead. Don't hold your breath for an intentional public release of this exploit while the console's still on the market and actively supported, tho. My onion, peace.

 

[vgmoose]

That's just the thing, it won't get patched until we let it just cause of the way it works lmao

That's... arrogant.

 

[NWPlayer123]

That's... arrogant.

It's not arrogant at all, it's a fact, as Wulfy said, even if they do an audit they wouldn't be able to find it

 

[steelseth]

Actually you can't even buy IDA unless you purchase it as part of like, an accredited security firm. They literally refuse sales to individuals, even given the money. Most reverse-engineers I know turn a blind eye to IDA piracy because of this. I'm licensed as a CS student thru my university, but it rly doesn't mean anything to me if someone pirates IDA. If you really have moral issues with it, you can be an objdump hero like nocash, too.

Tell your reverse-engineer friends to go here

http://www.german-sales.com/shop/de/system-tools/ida-pro-basis-computer-lizenz-windows.htm

Add to cart.

Press checkout and they are done, no more piracy .

 

[EclipseSin]

It's not arrogant at all, it's a fact, as Wulfy said, even if they do an audit they wouldn't be able to find it

Almost make it sound like a bug in something not theirs.

That site for IDA you posted... not look so legit.... Is that really a reputable site for Germans to buy software? o.O Looks like some nobodies scamming site. Lol.

 

[vgmoose]

It's not arrogant at all, it's a fact, as Wulfy said, even if they do an audit they wouldn't be able to find it

"it won't get patched until we let it just cause of the way it works lmao"
I've heard and seen it's been shared with several people already. They could release/leak at any moment and you wouldn't "let" them. You are making it sound like you're strong-arming/in charge of Nintendo's actions, which you are not. That is arrogance: "revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance".