Wii Softmod [complete]

[PJW]

Ive just been researching modifying my Wii to play Homebrew, Imports etc and instead if a chip it seems it is possible to mod the Wii without even taking the top off, by utilising some code embedded in Zelda: Twilight Princess and loading up a cracked savegame from an SD card.

So essentially, you need a copy of zelda, a SD card and about 80mb of files from teh net.

Anyway, ill be doing it as soon as my mates copy of zelda turns up in the post and ill post the results.

I have done this on the xbox before and it worked fine, we shall see. Anyone else done it yet?

[pre620ti]

You've just got my interest.

Just so happens I've got a new(ish) Wii, a 2Gb SD card and Zelda Twilight princess sitting in front of me.

Tell me more

[daz500]

Yep. I upgraded the nephews new wii which I bought him for Christmas. I used the latest wii firmware and followed one of the online guides. I have prepared the files that need to go on the memory card which can be emailed to anyone that needs them but the rar file is 11MB. I needed an active internet connection for my set-up which downloaded some files. This bit shouldn't be needed since I have included the files in my package. Everything is available from MaxConsole and the bit torrents.

Basically ...
1) Play zelda and save the game.
2) Shut down zelda, go into the wii's memory storage and delete zelda game save.
3) Transfer game save (PAL) from memory card to wii.
4) Load zelda and then select gamesave. After a bit the custom code will run which looks for a boot.dol. If you've done it right that should fire up an application allowing you to run the homebrew channel.

Once homebrew is on you can do pretty much anything but a few things need done first in order to play games

1) Using WAD Manager 1.3 install 07-cIOS249-v7_waninkokoFULL-nw7.wad
2) Using WAD managerIOS16 install IOS16-64-v257.wad
3) Using WAD Manager 1.3 install 04-BackupLauncher0.3g_249-NeoRame.wad (this basically adds a backuplauncher channel)

You can install other wads to dump discs and play DVD's but the core ones are CIOS and IOS16

[PJW]

So once ive installed the above, do the games play from putting ISO files on dvds or do you actually burn the ISOs to Wii format using an image burner? Do the wads get installed through the Homebrew Channel?

I downloaded about an 80mb file from demonoid with everything in it.

Seems stupidly easy. I will admit though it seems that Wii games retain their value, as there are rather few decent titles on the market when your not into the pub game/beach sports/chess tosh.

Ill be doing it as soon as zelda turns up. Im on Rapidshare now too

[PJW]

Easy. So long as my Wii doesnt end up bricked. Think all its cost me is a £4 subscription to Rapidshare so i can use RapGet overnight.

By the way im halfway through Twilight Princess (the gamecube version, albeit) and its pretty damn good.

[daz500]

Burn the iso's as usual (I use image burn) and they play fine but you need good media such as verbatims.
The home brew channel really just allows applications like wad manager to be executed and the wads in turn allow applications to have accessed via their own wii channel. Its all pretty amazing how its been done.

[Grant620]

Is this legal and above board?

[Cableguy]

Is this legal and above board?

Obviously not ?

[PJW]

I cant see how the softmod can be illegal. Nothing is being created, no copyrights are being broken. I dont even see how it can affect your warranty. Al you are doing is using a legally bought game and a piece of code from the internet to exploit a hole in programming to allow you to run your own software.

Aside from the obvious ability to play backups of games, you can actually use it for legal purposes to play homebrew games, applications, dvds etc.

The games, on the other hand are obviously illegal to copy, share, download etc etc unless you have the original. ITs merely a doorway, like saying that the writing of the code is illegal which would allow the playing of backups.

[Ritchie]

Very intrested in this

So once you've played and saved a copy of the zelda game, and done your wares with the downloaded software (Daz very intrested in an e-mail copy of that ) i don't have to use Zelda again, so in theroy i could rent/borrow a copy of it to allow this to happen?

Someone mentioned i hope it doesn't 'brick' my Wii out, whats the risk of this, and if this does happen, is it possiable to restore your Wii, or is that it game over, need a new one

People are mentioning it allows you to play DVD's does it also play Divx Media?

Sorry for all the questions, can just see a weekend of getting my head around this and modding the Wii

[PJW]

Very intrested in this

So once you've played and saved a copy of the zelda game, and done your wares with the downloaded software (Daz very intrested in an e-mail copy of that ) i don't have to use Zelda again, so in theroy i could rent/borrow a copy of it to allow this to happen?

Yes, you could even just sell all your originals after. I am simply going to lend a copy of the game.

Someone mentioned i hope it doesn't 'brick' my Wii out, whats the risk of this, and if this does happen, is it possiable to restore your Wii, or is that it game over, need a new one

It is possible from reading up on AfterDawn forums, however thousands of people have successfully carried this mod out by simply following the instructions to the letter

If you use your files from a reputable source which have been downloaded a few hundred times, you know theyre reliable and useful, and essentially its not going to brick your wii. If you get them off LimeWire or iMesh or other such thing, i would be dubious.

There also is howtos on youtube;
http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_qu ... type=&aq=f

[Grant620]

Is this legal and above board?

Obviously not ?

Nothing is obvious or I'd not have asked.
IF it is illegal, this post will be removed, so I will look into it a bit further.

[-Alex-]

Have seen threads similar to this before - in particular regarding emulation and injecting bootcode / splicing BIOS into a software layer to fool the host system into thinking something is present when it is not / not present, when it really is. i.e. "fooler"

With the links removed (even with them included maybe] it should be legal to discuss at least.

The hacked save and the packages may directly break copyright as part of decompiled machine-code originating from both the machine's BIOS (not sure if this is the case with the wii), and the copyright owners of Zelda may also object to a hacked save for similar reasons.

I am not an authority on legal matters, I just may or may not have been members of a few forums where backups/homebrew/emu were hot topics no, they weren't fun days

[shen]

Ask Nintendo if it's legal

you can come out with the rubbish that it's legal to do so long as you don't use it for illegal purposes but the fact is it's not....(and who'd wanna do such a mod for any reason other than knockoff nigel games?)

Nintendo own the rights to the code which makes the wii run.....modding or using modded version of this code is illegal.
If nintendo wanted to give people the ability to run homebrew software they would advertise the fact loudly....sony did this on first bios for the PSP console then promptly took it off after seeing the implications were more than just johnny coder making some extra stuff for their system.

On another note: Chipped wii are very easily bricked by updating with US rather than UK firmware, be very careful when you update wiikey etc and make sure you have as much info as possible before you set about your machines....just cos you're not opening the box don't think it's any less risky to the console.

[Ritchie]

I would agree with the above

The modifaction of the Wii to play homebrew games and aplications i would 'assume' is not illegal.

The sharing, copying, and use of copyrighted games is obviously illegal, i would personally suguest to cover the back of RT and its owner's etc that the link to the site where sharing of games is promoted is removed, i think we all know where if we wanted to we could obtain such infomation

For the DS you can buy a card with a simular aplication on it which allows you to play home brew games etc from amazon, hence my assumption on its legal status.

[PJW]

Fair enough, links removed. I suppose its like talking about speeding without posting a video.

Either way i posted it as i thought it was interesting, and it definately wasnt something that seems to be on the general issue of information (i got told of my very geeky best mate). You can also do it with an Xbox, which i intend to try tonight.

[Grant620]

I'm sure we'd all like to know the information... The issue is whether it's sensible to be broadcasting it publicly IYKWIM!

[PJW]

Its not illegal to talk about it.

If it was YouTube would remove the 500+ videos on the subject, and they have a team of invidulators and probabaly a section on more than 100k a year devoted to deleting illegal videos.

[Drew]

so could i play normal dvd's on my wii? if so id like to know how. i dont copy or buy copies of games or films. just think the wii should be able to play dvds!

Drew

[PJW]

Yes you can do allsorts. Once you install the Homebrew Channel using the above Zelda hack, you can add little apps through your SD card, such as a Media Player and DVD player.

[Cableguy]

Is this legal and above board?

Obviously not ?

Nothing is obvious or I'd not have asked.
IF it is illegal, this post will be removed, so I will look into it a bit further.

Sorry i wasnt being funny , the guy posted a link to a page that allows you to download copyrighted material

[Null_Byte]

Homebrewing is fine, but lets keep the links to the dodgy stuff off please chaps

[PJW]

NP

[PJW]

Got Zelda in the post today and did the softmod, works a treat.

Took about 20 minutes in all but that was just waiting for programs to load etc.

The files are only about 21mb you need to put on your SD card, and the pack i have included a step by step guide, which i followed to the letter and it installed the homebrew channel and a backup loader fine.

The only downside to anything was that you must downgrade your system firmware from the current one (3.4E, E for Europe) to 3.2, as in the disclaimer for 3.4 nintendo have slipped in a line that lets them decide when to update your Wii, not you, which could undo all the work you put in.

The pack came with a program you can use to 'unbrick' your wii in case something goes wrong. As long as you stick to PAL backups on a PAL machine, and dont update from Nintendo, its all free and works.

[daz500]

Homebrew works fine on 3.4e so it's not strictly necessary to downgrade if you are already at the latest version. You just need a different Zelda savefile for this to work.

[PJW]

It may work fine but if you run an update from a foreign game accidentaly, you end up with a semi bricked wii (play games but no settings menu). You can seriously do some damage doing the wrong things - and Starfall is the only program available which acts as a kind of 'recovery disk' to your Wii.

It only works on firmware 3.2 and below, thats why i downgraded in case someone updates the bloody thing or something goes wrong, its my backup.

I also use a program called brickblocker to patch all my ISOs before burning. This removes any code associated with updateing my firmware, with or without my permission. Better be safe than sorry.