Hacking Wrong game_region set

[semac]

While making my Wii U region free my modifying the sys_prod.xml game_region field I accidentally put the wrong game_region (2 instead of the original 4). This is pretty stupid of me but anyway I'm now stuck because the Wii U won't let me access the Settings app (nor the web browser) and says that those apps come from the wrong region.
Is there any way to force a factory reset without accessing the Settings app? Or anything I could try?

Thanks!

 

[godreborn]

do you have the homebrew launcher or haxchi installed? I suppose that issue might happen. I made my system region free by modifying that file, and I never had those issues, so maybe changing the region incorrectly caused that. I backed up the original file just in case I needed it. that modification is no longer needed though since haxchi/cbhc is region free anyway. I'm using cbhc, and I just left the modified file. btw, if you make a new profile, the wii channel and the wii u disc icon will disappear. I've never actually done this since I'm the only one using my wii u.

 

[semac]

Hi, thanks for your help. No I don't have the homebrew launcher nor haxchi installed (I relied on the browser exploit). So there's no way to factory reset apart from the settings app? This whole region-lock is making me crazy.

 

[godreborn]

tbh, I don't know. @Kafluke might know. the only thing I can think of is making a NNiD. that may make things worse though as I don't know what might happen. normally, the wii channel and virtual wii channel will disappear which is why I'm hesitant to suggest it. it's either a new NNiD or a new profile that causes that to happen. I've never personally experienced it, and I've had that mod for over a year.

 

[AmandaRose]

The Internet browser and settings app are both region coded if you set the wrong region you are basically fucked as they wont work. If you had haxchi then this could be fixed but as you dont you have a semi brick that cant be fixed. Also why did you do region hax when you could have just used mocha/haxchi as both are region free and don't fuck uo the system like you have done.

tbh, I don't know. @Kafluke might know. the only thing I can think of is making a NNiD. that may make things worse though as I don't know what might happen. normally, the wii channel and virtual wii channel will disappear which is why I'm hesitant to suggest it. it's either a new NNiD or a new profile that causes that to happen. I've never personally experienced it, and I've had that mod for over a year.

Creating a NNID wont achieve anything as the browser and system app will still not work due to being region locked.

 

[Ryccardo]

You will need a hardmod to restore your SLC backup, then...

 

[AmandaRose]

While making my Wii U region free my modifying the sys_prod.xml game_region field I accidentally put the wrong game_region (2 instead of the original 4). This is pretty stupid of me but anyway I'm now stuck because the Wii U won't let me access the Settings app (nor the web browser) and says that those apps come from the wrong region.
Is there any way to force a factory reset without accessing the Settings app? Or anything I could try?

Thanks!

Oh so i forgot to add in my previous post even if you could do a factory reset (which you cant) this would not achieve anything as the region would not be reset and you would still be in the exact same situation as now.

 

[godreborn]

you need the otp as well to decrypt the slc. otherwise, you need a NAND backup of before the change was made. I think those are the only two possible solutions to your issue. both require a hard mod. you can, however, alter the NAND backup on your pc with eyekey's tools. you'll need your otp for that.

 

[Kafluke]

Do you have any nand backups?

 

[semac]

The Internet browser and settings app are both region coded if you set the wrong region you are basically fucked as they wont work. If you had haxchi then this could be fixed but as you dont you have a semi brick that cant be fixed. Also why did you do region hax when you could have just used mocha/haxchi as both are region free and don't fuck uo the system like you have done.

This makes sense. To be honest I wanted to use just mocha/haxchi without doing the region hax but I couldn't understand how to make this setup work. I tried loading mocha, then going back to the menu but the discs were still erroring as out of region. There's probably something that I'm missing as I'm still unclear what "using mocha" even means apart from going to HBL and loading it.

Thanks for the replies though!

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

Do you have any nand backups?

Nope, I don't have any NAND backup. Any way to flash the firmware of the Wii U to a factory image?

 

[bootmonster]

This makes sense. To be honest I wanted to use just mocha/haxchi without doing the region hax but I couldn't understand how to make this setup work. I tried loading mocha, then going back to the menu but the discs were still erroring as out of region. There's probably something that I'm missing as I'm still unclear what "using mocha" even means apart from going to HBL and loading it.

Thanks for the replies though!

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


Nope, I don't have any NAND backup. Any way to flash the firmware of the Wii U to a factory image?

Nope your Wii u is for the bin.

 

[godreborn]

I think discs require ourloader to work. that's what it's intended for. I'm not sure if region hax affects this though

always, make sure to have a NAND backup for any console just in case something happens. I'm sure Kafluke mentions this in his guide. that's in his siz.

 

[semac]

Just out of curiosity, what could I have done if I had a NAND backup? And why can I not use a backup from someone else?

 

[godreborn]

NAND is encrypted. you need the otp to decrypt it. you could've reflashed the system before the edit. btw, the region free number is three digits, not one iirc.

 

[semac]

NAND is encrypted. you need the otp to decrypt it. you could've reflashed the system before the edit. btw, the region free number is three digits, not one iirc.

Ah, so the OTP is specific to the machine and therefore that's why I cannot use a NAND + OTP from another console?

I know the region free number is 119. For some reason I wanted to put it back to its original value and messed up since I forgot this was a EU wii u.

 

[godreborn]

I think so. I've decrypted the NAND before, and it needed my otp. though, I heard somewhere that the otp was the same for all consoles, so I'm not really sure. I think it's due to the common key which is the same for all consoles. I've not investigated further.

that could be the issue. with region free, it should boot anything without issue. maybe your problems needs to be a warning for anyone who tries region hax. I have the original one of those files backed up.

 

[datahoarder]

Spiik was the program you were looking for. https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-spiik-region-language-changer.464126/

 

[godreborn]

there may be an unknown button combination. the 3ds has one that will install the latest firmware directly from Nintendo's servers. the ps3 has a built in one which I do use sometimes since I fiddle with the firmware sometimes or rather I did. the 360 has xell which is the first fifty blocks of the NAND. I don't know about the wii u, but it's possible. though, it tends to install titles, so something specific like that might be skipped over. I'm not really sure. I'm just making a possible scenario.