GAF Wii Homebrew thread: Homebrew, emulators, USB disc installs! Easy tutorial!

I was so excited for Zelda that I didn't even bother to install it on my HDD...I had forgotten how great that was (reduced loadtimes, etc).

I also tried various emulators. SNES + CC Pro = Awesome.

Anyway has anybody succeded to play the N64 emulator (really awesome one btw, I played Majora's Mask and it was really good and close to the original experience...I wonder how it plays on WiiWare...) with the CC Pro ? It doesn't recognize the joysticks :(
 
I was so excited for Zelda that I didn't even bother to install it on my HDD...I had forgotten how great that was (reduced loadtimes, etc).

I also tried various emulators. SNES + CC Pro = Awesome.

Anyway has anybody succeded to play the N64 emulator (really awesome one btw, I played Majora's Mask and it was really good and close to the original experience...I wonder how it plays on WiiWare...) with the CC Pro ? It doesn't recognize the joysticks :(

The VC version of Majora's Mask is pretty much perfect, much better then the GC Collector's Edition version.
 
Does the Wii have to be connected to the internet prior to doing LetterBomb? I just tried on a brand new Wii I'm hacking for a friend, and I couldn't get the red envelope to appear until I connected it to my network.

If so, might be a good thing to stick in the tutorial.
 
Does the Wii have to be connected to the internet prior to doing LetterBomb? I just tried on a brand new Wii I'm hacking for a friend, and I couldn't get the red envelope to appear until I connected it to my network.

If so, might be a good thing to stick in the tutorial.

Nope. It shouldn't need the network.
 
You didn't buy the far better football game on the Wii, PES 12.

Kidding aside Ubisoft found ways to prevent their newer games to run from HDD, wouldn't be surprised EA achieved that as well.

Haha, actually I do have PES 2012 and I know it's much better than FIFA 12 but just one of those games was giving me a problem so I decided to check here. It's sort of annoying though, sometimes it freezes sometimes it doesn't, so just to be safe I just reset the game instead, sure it takes longer but it's better than turning the console off and on again.

Thanks though, I'll keep checking here to see if a solution is found.
 
A couple of straight forward questions for you gentlemen please, if you wouldn't mind :).

I could use a memory stick as a temporary usb loader yes? I have an 8GB memory stick that is rarely used so that would be very handy for me to do a trial run of homebrewing my Wii while I sort an external HDD for it. My current EHDD, which I use purely for pc back up, could do with being upgraded to a larger capacity for that purpose and then I would use the existing EHDD for my Wii. However it has a 'stand by' mode which it goes into when not being used. Is this the 'spin down' issue that you gentlemen discuss ITT? If so, could I format the EHDD to remove the manufacturer's software [and get the drive nice and 'clean' for the Wii] to get round this issue or would the drive not function without the manufacturer's software?

Sorry if those questions are too straight forward. I have lurked in this thread, on and off for ages but I confess that I am not really up to speed anymore. I only recently decided to homebrew my Wii as it is a near launch model so I was nervous about having to send it into Nintendo and potentially lose all my VC/Wiiware purchases. Hopefully this post is not too rambling; any help would be appreciated :).
 
A couple of straight forward questions for you gentlemen please, if you wouldn't mind :).

I could use a memory stick as a temporary usb loader yes? I have an 8GB memory stick that is rarely used so that would be very handy for me to do a trial run of homebrewing my Wii while I sort an external HDD for it. My current EHDD, which I use purely for pc back up, could do with being upgraded to a larger capacity for that purpose and then I would use the existing EHDD for my Wii. However it has a 'stand by' mode which it goes into when not being used. Is this the 'spin down' issue that you gentlemen discuss ITT? If so, could I format the EHDD to remove the manufacturer's software [and get the drive nice and 'clean' for the Wii] to get round this issue or would the drive not function without the manufacturer's software?

Sorry if those questions are too straight forward. I have lurked in this thread, on and off for ages but I confess that I am not really up to speed anymore. I only recently decided to homebrew my Wii as it is a near launch model so I was nervous about having to send it into Nintendo and potentially lose all my VC/Wiiware purchases. Hopefully this post is not too rambling; any help would be appreciated :).

If your "memory stick" is a USB flash drive, then you may be able to use it, as many of those do work. If the standby takes a long time to activate (a few minutes), it'll be fine without changing anything. You'll have to look for the software on your own, if you do start getting errors. You don't have to reformat your current external drive (unless it's not in FAT32 or NTFS format) and don't need to delete the other data off there, so if there is enough room, you could even use it for your tests.
 
Hi all

I have a quick question. I am going to sell my Wii but it is homebrew enabled. Is there anyway I can put official firmware back on it without breaking the shit out of it
 
Is it possible to use a NAND emulator to launch when you start the console, so that you arrive at the main menu with all your homebrew channels without messing with the original menu ? (I'd like to have my emulators and USB game launcher on the main menu but I've read that installing *.wad is dangerous for the console...).
 
Hmm, has anyone else had random problems with Skyward Sword? Went through 4 temples just fine, but at the very end of the fourth, it failed to load a cutscene, I tried twice and it would hang on the very same spot. Luckily I saved right before it. I loaded it via disc and it was fine. This is the first time I've ever had this kind of consistent lockup before.

It might just be my HDD was overheating. I did have a LOOONG session playing Zelda (a good 10 hours I think, only paused it for Dinner) I did have a heater on, and it was warm in the room. But I thought I'd ask in case it is an IOS / USBLoader issue of some kind.
 
Hmm, has anyone else had random problems with Skyward Sword? Went through 4 temples just fine, but at the very end of the fourth, it failed to load a cutscene, I tried twice and it would hang on the very same spot. Luckily I saved right before it. I loaded it via disc and it was fine. This is the first time I've ever had this kind of consistent lockup before.

It might just be my HDD was overheating. I did have a LOOONG session playing Zelda (a good 10 hours I think, only paused it for Dinner) I did have a heater on, and it was warm in the room. But I thought I'd ask in case it is an IOS / USBLoader issue of some kind.

I've played past that point in USBLoader with no issues. Not in a single sitting, though.
 
Hi all

I have a quick question. I am going to sell my Wii but it is homebrew enabled. Is there anyway I can put official firmware back on it without breaking the shit out of it
It still has official firmware if you followed our guide. All the homebrew install does is add extra channels and new IOSes to the ones already on the Wii. Well, unless you installed BootMii into boot2, which does overwrite the normal one, but you can undo that with the BootMii installer. You can delete any of the other extra stuff with AnyTitle Deleter Mod if you desire.

Is it possible to use a NAND emulator to launch when you start the console, so that you arrive at the main menu with all your homebrew channels without messing with the original menu ? (I'd like to have my emulators and USB game launcher on the main menu but I've read that installing *.wad is dangerous for the console...).
No. You'd need Priiloader on there or something to do that, I think. The forwarder i the tutorial is safe to install and most others are these days, just check to see for reports of other forwarders working before you attempt to install them.

Hmm, has anyone else had random problems with Skyward Sword? Went through 4 temples just fine, but at the very end of the fourth, it failed to load a cutscene, I tried twice and it would hang on the very same spot. Luckily I saved right before it. I loaded it via disc and it was fine. This is the first time I've ever had this kind of consistent lockup before.

It might just be my HDD was overheating. I did have a LOOONG session playing Zelda (a good 10 hours I think, only paused it for Dinner) I did have a heater on, and it was warm in the room. But I thought I'd ask in case it is an IOS / USBLoader issue of some kind.
There were two points in the game where I lost progress due to the game hanging as my hard drive skipped and locked up (I heard the drive click in these cases). Both were during transitions after I left an area, but at completely different points. This has happened before in other games on very rare occasions, so I thought nothing of it. I'd probably assume that it happening at the same spot was just coincidence in your case. You'd need a third time to know if there's something wrong with your drive.
 
If your "memory stick" is a USB flash drive, then you may be able to use it, as many of those do work. If the standby takes a long time to activate (a few minutes), it'll be fine without changing anything. You'll have to look for the software on your own, if you do start getting errors. You don't have to reformat your current external drive (unless it's not in FAT32 or NTFS format) and don't need to delete the other data off there, so if there is enough room, you could even use it for your tests.

That is really helpful; thank you Mr Clipper! :)
 
There were two points in the game where I lost progress due to the game hanging as my hard drive skipped and locked up (I heard the drive click in these cases). Both were during transitions after I left an area, but at completely different points. This has happened before in other games on very rare occasions, so I thought nothing of it. I'd probably assume that it happening at the same spot was just coincidence in your case. You'd need a third time to know if there's something wrong with your drive.

Yeah I definitely heard some clicking. My first time resetting and trying again, the USB Loader would hang on the logo screen. The next time it didn't see the device. I unplugged it, tried again and it loaded, but then, it froze on that spot (second time trying). When I got past the cutscene and area via disc, I saved immediately, reset, and loaded up via USB, played about 30 minutes, no problems.

Hopefully, like you said, it's just an unfortunate coincidence maybe mixed in with a slightly strained and overheating HDD. Good thing the game has tons of save points.
 
Loving USB loader. Wondering how much of a bad idea something like this is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsB_8ejXfh4&feature=related

I know installing extra channels is risky but good god that would be awesome.

It's certainly possible. You'd want to use an app called loadstructor or something similar (there are a few). Having said that, I don't recommend it (and have never used it myself). The banners will waste a lot of the limited space on your Wii drive and yeah, you don't want to be installing new channels all the time.

Just go with the forwarder from the tutorial and you get one channel to all your games.
 
It's certainly possible. You'd want to use an app called loadstructor or something similar (there are a few). Having said that, I don't recommend it (and have never used it myself). The banners will waste a lot of the limited space on your Wii drive and yeah, you don't want to be installing new channels all the time.

Just go with the forwarder from the tutorial and you get one channel to all your games.
They're usually 7-12 blocks making the space issue more about the 48 channels on menu (possibly the 200 on SD too if you're a prolific Wii Shop consumer). Also, having more channels on menu=menu takes longer to load (that is the black screen lasts longer).

I went with the forwarder covered in the wiki as soon as the writing on message board feature was implemented (as that was my main reason for using the individual forwarders before).
 
It still has official firmware if you followed our guide. All the homebrew install does is add extra channels and new IOSes to the ones already on the Wii. Well, unless you installed BootMii into boot2, which does overwrite the normal one, but you can undo that with the BootMii installer. You can delete any of the other extra stuff with AnyTitle Deleter Mod if you desire.

I didn't follow your guide, I used one on the internet. The way it work on my Wii is that I have an SD card and if you leave it on while switching the wii on it takes you to a little diagnostics menu. if you leave it out you can go the regular wii channels scrren. you then have to click on the wii homebrew channel and select usb loader to load a game from the hard drive

how would I determine what version of wii homebrew i'm using? and what steps would i need to follow to do a clean wipe and get the wii updated to the latest version of the official firmware?
 
I didn't follow your guide, I used one on the internet. The way it work on my Wii is that I have an SD card and if you leave it on while switching the wii on it takes you to a little diagnostics menu. if you leave it out you can go the regular wii channels scrren. you then have to click on the wii homebrew channel and select usb loader to load a game from the hard drive

how would I determine what version of wii homebrew i'm using? and what steps would i need to follow to do a clean wipe and get the wii updated to the latest version of the official firmware?

That is a little hard to determine. It sounds like you have Preloader or Priiloader installed on there in some fashion.

However, if the diagnostics menu is just 4 icons and you can't navigate them with the remote, needing to use a Gamecube controller or the buttons on the console, then it's BootMii, which is part of our tutorial.

If it's BootMii or Priiloader, you should have no problem just doing a normal Wii update and it will probably delete all the homebrew apps on the system anyway given you haven't kept it up to date. If it's Preloader (an older form of Priiloader), then things are a lot more complicated and you should figure out how to remove it before updating as updating could brick your Wii on some versions of Preloader.

It is also imperative that you try to remember if you ever used an application called cIOScorp on the Wii as well. This was a very dangerous app with very little benefit that has bricked many Wiis of people foolish enough to install it. Getting you up to date if this was installed is going to be a much more complicated set of instructions, so hopefully you didn't do it and we don't have to go through it here...
 
So I can't find any of my GameCube memory cards anywhere - this is an issue because I really, really want to replay Wind Waker. Is there something I can download for the homebrew channel that will allow me to save and access GameCube saves on an SD card?
 
So I can't find any of my GameCube memory cards anywhere - this is an issue because I really, really want to replay Wind Waker. Is there something I can download for the homebrew channel that will allow me to save and access GameCube saves on an SD card?
Nope. The Wii in Gamecube mode is a Gamecube and thus you can't use the additional features and new ports of the Wii through the code.

Fortunately, there's still some cheap GCN memory cards you can get your hands on.
 
That is a little hard to determine. It sounds like you have Preloader or Priiloader installed on there in some fashion.

However, if the diagnostics menu is just 4 icons and you can't navigate them with the remote, needing to use a Gamecube controller or the buttons on the console, then it's BootMii, which is part of our tutorial.

If it's BootMii or Priiloader, you should have no problem just doing a normal Wii update and it will probably delete all the homebrew apps on the system anyway given you haven't kept it up to date. If it's Preloader (an older form of Priiloader), then things are a lot more complicated and you should figure out how to remove it before updating as updating could brick your Wii on some versions of Preloader.

It is also imperative that you try to remember if you ever used an application called cIOScorp on the Wii as well. This was a very dangerous app with very little benefit that has bricked many Wiis of people foolish enough to install it. Getting you up to date if this was installed is going to be a much more complicated set of instructions, so hopefully you didn't do it and we don't have to go through it here...

It definitely sounds like BootMii i'm using. if you get to the diagnostics menu you can only use the gameube controller and there's 4 square boxes on the screen. Based on what you're saying I just go into the wii menu and update the firmware as normal. Is that right?
After that will it just run like a normal wii (assuming the sd card isn't inserted)?

The cIOScorp doesn't sound familiar but ideally i'd like to be sure it's not on there. Is there a way of making sure?

thanks
 
It definitely sounds like BootMii i'm using. if you get to the diagnostics menu you can only use the gameube controller and there's 4 square boxes on the screen. Based on what you're saying I just go into the wii menu and update the firmware as normal. Is that right?
After that will it just run like a normal wii (assuming the sd card isn't inserted)?

The cIOScorp doesn't sound familiar but ideally i'd like to be sure it's not on there. Is there a way of making sure?

thanks
It's a bit hard to explain the checks. What you describe is almost certainly BootMii. Another thing to confirm that is to perform the steps on the Bootmii page of our tutorial to get it to autoboot to the menu.

It sounds like you're safe to update, which will probably make it overwrite or remove most of the homebrew stuff you have installed.
 
It's a bit hard to explain the checks. What you describe is almost certainly BootMii. Another thing to confirm that is to perform the steps on the Bootmii page of our tutorial to get it to autoboot to the menu.

It sounds like you're safe to update, which will probably make it overwrite or remove most of the homebrew stuff you have installed.

Right clipper. you're not going to believe this, but the guy who wants the wii is going to softmod it. the problem is that i've already updated the firmware and formatted it

can he still do this or is he screwed?

i'm beginning to think this isn't possible because when i put the sd card in with bootme on it the diagnostic menu didn't come up
 
Right clipper. you're not going to believe this, but the guy who wants the wii is going to softmod it. the problem is that i've already updated the firmware and formatted it

can he still do this or is he screwed?

i'm beginning to think this isn't possible because when i put the sd card in with bootme on it the diagnostic menu didn't come up

Nah, he can do whatever he wants. Suggest to him that he follow our guide and he'll be able to put everything back on, including BootMii. It sounds like you must have been at firmware 3.4 or something as your boot2, where BootMii resides, has been replaced too (this only happens on the first upgrade to firmware 4.x).
 
Nah, he can do whatever he wants. Suggest to him that he follow our guide and he'll be able to put everything back on, including BootMii. It sounds like you must have been at firmware 3.4 or something as your boot2, where BootMii resides, has been replaced too (this only happens on the first upgrade to firmware 4.x).

thanks duke. you're the man
 
Its been a long time. My PAL Wii is on firmware 4.3 - i would like to install the hbc via letterbomb and the usb loader gx after that, will i still be able to access and purchase the shop without getting busted or so ?
 
OK got a Wii, did letterbomb and installed homebrew channel and hackmii installer was bundled too so thats on there. Don't know where to go from here though, the Hackmii menu, it seems I can only move around with the power button for some reason and the controller doesn't work. Maybe I should start with the tutorial, I don't know what to install now that I've actually done it. :P
 
OK got a Wii, did letterbomb and installed homebrew channel and hackmii installer was bundled too so thats on there. Don't know where to go from here though, the Hackmii menu, it seems I can only move around with the power button for some reason and the controller doesn't work. Maybe I should start with the tutorial, I don't know what to install now that I've actually done it. :P

Yes, that is exactly what the tutorial is for, and you can visit back to check everything is up to date and how to upgrade things later on too.
 
Yes, that is exactly what the tutorial is for, and you can visit back to check everything is up to date and how to upgrade things later on too.

OK, got things working, tried out the homebrew channel and homebrew browser. Even tried Wii64 and one of my old favorites: WCW/nWo Revenge. I was shocked that it was actually running well outside of a few graphical glitches. Pretty amazing stuff.

I'm sure you've tried some of the emulators, how do they compare to Nintendo's own Virtual Console games? Is the emulation for the 16 bit and lower systems basically just as good?
 
Hey Clipper, just wanted to thank you for your wonderfully kept wiki tutorial. :)

I'd like to ask you a question about using a USB Loader for Gamecube Bakups, I've backed up my GCN discs in ISO format and can convert them using DiscEx if i need to.

I've read about something of a hardmod called WOBE, but I'd like to ask about a softmod called DIOS-MIOS through something called SNEEK, which allows USB loading of GCN Backups.

DIOS-MIOS was discontinued but the tutorial linked above still work if you've got the source files before the project's google-code page was taken down. (I still have the files)

I' was basically wondering what you think about this for USB Loading GCN Backups, if you've found sucess in another method, and/or if you would cover this in your wiki by adding an optiojnal tutorial for those who not aonly have Wii backups but also would like to backup their GCN discs as well? :)

Thanks again, kind sir.
 
Hey Clipper, just wanted to thank you for your wonderfully kept wiki tutorial. :)

I'd like to ask you a question about using a USB Loader for Gamecube Bakups, I've backed up my GCN discs in ISO format and can convert them using DiscEx if i need to.

I've read about something of a hardmod called WOBE, but I'd like to ask about a softmod called DIOS-MIOS through something called SNEEK, which allows USB loading of GCN Backups.

DIOS-MIOS was discontinued but the tutorial linked above still work if you've got the source files before the project's google-code page was taken down. (I still have the files)

I' was basically wondering what you think about this for USB Loading GCN Backups, if you've found sucess in another method, and/or if you would cover this in your wiki by adding an optiojnal tutorial for those who not aonly have Wii backups but also would like to backup their GCN discs as well? :)

Thanks again, kind sir.
DIOS MIOS was an ambitious project that was an outright failure, I believe. Only a handful of games were playable and there is really no point in even trying it out. Hardware mods are your only solution on this one.
 
DIOS MIOS was an ambitious project that was an outright failure, I believe. Only a handful of games were playable and there is really no point in even trying it out. Hardware mods are your only solution on this one.

Ah ok. Thanks bro, I really appreciate your honest response. :)

You ever tried SNEEK or know of any method to boot into a NAND Emulated version of SNEEK sucesfully on 4.3U? (UNEEK+DI to be exact). I've read that to boot into SNEEK you have to open HBC and boot Bootmi, that it could take anywhere from 5-30 minutes with your Wii on a black screen for it to boot the first time.

I ask because As I've used my NAND and installed the files as per the SNEEK wiki on the Complete Softmod Guide Page I linked to in my above post. And yes I backed up my SD card files before even touching the sneek tutorial, as well as have a game (SSBM extracted to the USB games directory as it should be).

-Sorry if this sounds a bit weird to ask but I'm just curious if you can help me in any way with this as my Wii upon Booting BootMii from HBC doesnt do anything at all. Idk if I'm trying to boot into SNEEK correctly or not. :/ I wont bother you on the subject any more if you'd like, Thanks again.
 
Yeah, sorry. SNEEK is something that I never had time to properly study, so I'm not sure what's wrong for you. I was planning to add it to learn up on the details and add it to the tutorial as there were some games that didn't work with USB Loading, but then a real IOS reloading avoidance strategy was figured out and there was no longer a need.
 
Thats ok, well I got it to load eventually. Thanks for the insight. One question though:

-I've got HBC 1.0.8 right now and I'd like to move to 1.0.7, I have no clue how to do that.
-Should i be OK if I then manually install IOS58 afterwards?

I ask because it seems that HBC 1.0.8 doesnt work with SNEEK as seen on the background information here on their google code page.

Edit: Seems as though what I need is the hackmii installer 0.7b as noted here.

Edit2: Ok I reinstalled the old HBC over the new one. I hope it doesnt mess with anything at all.

Edit3: Now all I need is a method to extract/bump the HBC.wad from the wii, I tried loading WadCreator and BlueDump but they freeze at startup... extracting the HBC.wad from 1.0.7 is needed to Install HBC to SNEEK NAND.
 
Is anyone online at the moment? I desperately need some help with some wii homebrew bullshit. =/
 
@Clipper, Scratch my last post, i eventually got it working and did some dabbling in compiling the right build of the kernel and di files to get DIOS-MIOS working... then i figured out why they stopped devevlopment on it lol.

My quest for USB/SD loaded GC Backups continues with DIOS-MIOS Light, time to invest in an (edit: "BIGGER" SD Card), I'll chime in one the results when all is said and done if anyone is interested.

Edit: I noticed the Wii Homebrew Wiki uses a dx2 cIOS-v6... I ask because d2x cIOSx rev21-v7 is out. Anyone have reasons why I shouldn't upgrade to it?
 
What's the best strategy if I want to run everything off a SD card, including games larger than 4gb? Should I try to make 2 partitions on the card, one FAT and one WBFS? Or make the whole thing NTFS? If the latter, would I still be able to start up HBC and other apps?

Thanks.
 
All right, I keep forgetting to ask this. To play the disc version of Skyward Sword, do I need to do anything special so that the homebrew isn't reversed or something with the required update? Thanks a lot.
 
All right, I keep forgetting to ask this. To play the disc version of Skyward Sword, do I need to do anything special so that the homebrew isn't reversed or something with the required update? Thanks a lot.

I don't think so.

Anyone know if there's a way to play Duke Nukem 3D on Wii, a homebrew port?
 
Is installing Wii games on a harddrive illegal?

Not to back up your game if you have the disc. For instance, I bought the PAL Xenoblade and wanted to play from the usb rather than the disc. I put in my disc, it rips it to the usb, and I can put my disc away and not worry about it getting scratched or whatnot. Nothing illegal about that, just backing up a copy of something I own.

Downloading a torrent of a game you don't own and putting it on a usb is illegal though.
 
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