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

The tutorial seems to have some conflicting information regarding the installation of BootMii. On the BootMii installation tutorial it says that there is no reason to install it as both Boot2 and IOS, but on the tutorial for IOS 249 it says that you need to install BootMii as an IOS before running it, even if you already have it installed as Boot2. Can someone clarify this? I want to install IOS 249 so I can use FTPii to transfer stuff to my Wii wirelessly.
 
nincompoop said:
The tutorial seems to have some conflicting information regarding the installation of BootMii. On the BootMii installation tutorial it says that there is no reason to install it as both Boot2 and IOS, but on the tutorial for IOS 249 it says that you need to install BootMii as an IOS before running it, even if you already have it installed as Boot2. Can someone clarify this? I want to install IOS 249 so I can use FTPii to transfer stuff to my Wii wirelessly.
Ah yes, thanks. I'll fix the BootMii page as there is now a reason to have both. Also note that you only need BootMii as an IOS if you didn't install IOS249 before the update.

Oh, BTW, I just realised I forgot to put the information about copying the real BootMii back to the SD card afterwards. That'll change in a sec too.

Edit: Changes have been made. Also, I just sent you a PM, nincompoop.

Edit: Note to anyone using the tutorial since I added the 4.2 instructions: there was a minor mistake. I accidentally added the step to install BootMii as an IOS to the wrong installation section when writing the 4.2 instructions (I put it in the 3.1-4.0 section instead). The problem is now fixed.
 
crazy monkey said:
home brew browser does not work now. I stopped during the update 3.6 . now It says its not valid wii application. I guess I will have to install it again.
Yeah, I had the same problem (and solution) some other time when it froze halfway during an update.
 
I recently had the wacky idea to buy a second Wii.. One goes with my HDTV. Wii may be SD but it has widescreen support, progressive scan and it's still nice to play with friends on a big modern monitor. Wii might have its ugly moments in HD, but I do feel like I'm missing out on some aspect of it's presentation in SD.

The other Wii goes with my smaller SD Crt, which I own for retrogames. WII has VC games, emulation for English patched fan games, and retro revivals like Megaman 9. Putting it next to my old consoles as a compliment makes sense too.

So I'm wondering if BootMii or some other method will allow me to mirror the contents of both Wiis. Wiiware is the main thing here. I don't know if that's considered piracy but I'm not asking where to get games.. Only wondering if backing up my NAND from one console to another would achieve this effect? In that sense it's as much piracy as patching and reburning your Japanese copy of Policenauts to English, or ripping Wii games to a hard drive.

Talking about Wad installers and such.. Well that starts to sound like piracy. I don't want to do that with Wiiware titles. I'm just interested in having two Wiis act like one Wii with the same games.

Or are there any other solutions for owning two Wiis without sacrificing content on one or the other?
 
Should I worry about Nintendo Channel data sharing if I've been using the Homebrew Channel? I noticed it doesn't appear in my history on the Wii Message Board. I turned it off as a precaution when I first installed HC but I had to turn it back on just now to see what DS demos went up this week.
 
BocoDragon said:
I recently had the wacky idea to buy a second Wii.. One goes with my HDTV. Wii may be SD but it has widescreen support, progressive scan and it's still nice to play with friends on a big modern monitor. Wii might have its ugly moments in HD, but I do feel like I'm missing out on some aspect of it's presentation in SD.

The other Wii goes with my smaller SD Crt, which I own for retrogames. WII has VC games, emulation for English patched fan games, and retro revivals like Megaman 9. Putting it next to my old consoles as a compliment makes sense too.

So I'm wondering if BootMii or some other method will allow me to mirror the contents of both Wiis. Wiiware is the main thing here. I don't know if that's considered piracy but I'm not asking where to get games.. Only wondering if backing up my NAND from one console to another would achieve this effect? In that sense it's as much piracy as patching and reburning your Japanese copy of Policenauts to English, or ripping Wii games to a hard drive.

Talking about Wad installers and such.. Well that starts to sound like piracy. I don't want to do that with Wiiware titles. I'm just interested in having two Wiis act like one Wii with the same games.

Or are there any other solutions for owning two Wiis without sacrificing content on one or the other?
You can't use any NAND on any console. It has to be for the console you backed it for, so you can't mirror your other Wii.

nincompoop said:
Should I worry about Nintendo Channel data sharing if I've been using the Homebrew Channel? I noticed it doesn't appear in my history on the Wii Message Board. I turned it off as a precaution when I first installed HC but I had to turn it back on just now to see what DS demos went up this week.
No you shouldn't worry, nothing will happen.
 
Mejilan said:
For the most part, only those too silly to update to a better firmware earlier have to use Wanin's updaters. It's really on them for waiting so long in the first place.

I'm so friggin' happy and glad that updating-wise I was doing everything you were at that point
:D

Thanks again :)
 
Linkhero1 said:
You can't use any NAND on any console. It has to be for the console you backed it for, so you can't mirror your other Wii.
Ok I guess I'll just give up that dream then...
 
Hmmm, the HBC doesn't load anymore when I launch it from bootmii... can it be because I updated the HBC and not BM ? (I wanted to do it later, but the system doesn't ask anymore)
 
I've been doing a little research and I'm beginning to think Waninkoko's updaters aren't as sinister as I first thought. Several places note the need to reapply Trucha hacks after updating with them. Hence, it seems they may not auto-patch anything after all. However, it is still not the same as a real update. A real update would also update all the other system IOSes to patch out security holes in the old releases.

Having said all that, it is still recommended that you just stay on whatever firmware you are on unless you really need those SD card features and WSR bug fix (and if you do, why didn't you update earlier?).

G.O.O. said:
Hmmm, the HBC doesn't load anymore when I launch it from bootmii... can it be because I updated the HBC and not BM ? (I wanted to do it later, but the system doesn't ask anymore)
Yes, that's the reason. If you want to update BootMii so it does work, the tutorial has you covered.
 
bmf said:
Is Nintendo repairing consoles bricked by 4.2? Mine may be on it's last legs, and this may be my chance for a free repair if 4.2 bricks it.
Yes they are, if there is no trace of homebrew. However, the chances of it bricking during the update are extremely slim.
 
Clipper said:
Yes they are, if there is no trace of homebrew. However, the chances of it bricking during the update are extremely slim.
I would have done the homebrew thing, but I've paid for a bunch of VC, so I didn't want to get on the Big N's bad side, and risk possibly losing it. I was going to buy Tales of Monkey Island Ep2 last night, but didn't want to update and risk the brick. Tonight I'll update and see what happens, but I think I'll back up my saves first.
 
Dash Kappei said:
I'm so friggin' happy and glad that updating-wise I was doing everything you were at that point
:D

Thanks again :)

;)

I'm rarely the first to take the jump and update to the newest thing, but I've never noticed any benefit to being the last. Or, for that matter, too late.
 
Clipper said:
Yes they are, if there is no trace of homebrew. However, the chances of it bricking during the update are extremely slim.
How about killing the power while it's updating? :D
 
Fuzzy said:
How about killing the power while it's updating? :D
Well, that will brick your console if you do it at the right time, so maybe it would work. Downside is you will have to outright lie (they will ask you if you switched off power during the update).
 
So, thanks to Clipper's idiot-proof tutorials, my Wii is up-to-date homebrew wise. However, it's still running 3.2E. What happens if I buy WSR? It seems I need 4.1 to enjoy the game without problem, yet I believe it only comes with 4.1! Am I missing something here? Thanks.
 
crispyben said:
So, thanks to Clipper's idiot-proof tutorials, my Wii is up-to-date homebrew wise. However, it's still running 3.2E. What happens if I buy WSR? It seems I need 4.1 to enjoy the game without problem, yet I believe it only comes with 4.1! Am I missing something here? Thanks.
Nope. As Clipper has stated before, no game has come firmware update on it for a long time. There's no game with 4.0 or 4.1 update. Best thing to do was to update when it was confirmed safe to update to the firmware.
 
Linkhero1 said:
Nope. As Clipper has stated before, no game has come firmware update on it for a long time. There's no game with 4.0 or 4.1 update. Best thing to do was to update when it was confirmed safe to update to the firmware.
OK. I didn't have my Wii with me at the time, so I guess I'm shit out of luck on this one. Still, what will happen if I buy WSR and try to play it on 3.2?
 
crispyben said:
OK. I didn't have my Wii with me at the time, so I guess I'm shit out of luck on this one. Still, what will happen if I buy WSR and try to play it on 3.2?
I believe it will only update the IOS needed to play the game.
 
crispyben said:
OK. I will try to get it to 4.1 anyway, since Clipper's tutorial ALSO includes that possibility (stupid me). :D
Actually, don't do it yet. I've had a hand in creating a proper, safe, 4.2 updater (that avoids boot2 and the cIOS stubs but installs everything else without patches). If you can wait a week, that would be better off than using Waninkoko's updater.

Also, the WSR bug can only affect people on firmware 4.0, so if that's the only reason you want to update, there's no point.
 
We got an official quote from Nintendo of America RE: the bricking issues:

n-sider.com said:
Nintendo of America's consumer service department has received less than 200 inquiries regarding system menu update (SMU) 4.2 since it launched on September 28, 2009.

This is from a U.S. installed base of over 21,000,000 Wii consoles. A significant number of these inquiries were resolved quickly and easily right over the phone. For the remaining inquiries we have advised consumers that the symptoms described usually occur when a Wii console has been modified.

Anyone who owns Wii hardware with unauthorized technical modifications may face hardware inoperability after downloading SMU 4.2. As always, if anyone is experiencing problems with their Wii console after downloading any SMU please contact Nintendo consumer service at 1-800-255-3700.

I think we can consider this epidemic over?
 
In any case, if you are still worried, I have updated the Wiki with what I hope is a safe 4.2 updater app. This is a hack of the Wii Shop installers to update all the same IOSes that Nintendo updates. It does not add trucha patches like Waninkoko's updater and should give everything the official update does except the stuff that affects homebrew (stubbed IOSes, boot2 update, etc.).
 
So updated to 1.05 HBC/Bootmii and I think it broke my usbloader in terms of getting Prime Trilogy to run. It was already weird enough with the alternative .DOLs. Now when I try loading it gives me errors about inserting the disk. Any ideas or just screw it considering it was bad enough as it is.
 
It's time, so:
For all your homebrew and upgrading questions (including safely upgrading to 4.2), check this first:


kiryogi said:
So updated to 1.05 HBC/Bootmii and I think it broke my usbloader in terms of getting Prime Trilogy to run. It was already weird enough with the alternative .DOLs. Now when I try loading it gives me errors about inserting the disk. Any ideas or just screw it considering it was bad enough as it is.
Insert any disc and it will usually fix that problem. However, an HBC/BootMii upgrade shouldn't have caused this to start happening.
 
DrEvil said:
We got an official quote from Nintendo of America RE: the bricking issues:

Nintendo said:
Nintendo of America's consumer service department has received less than 200 inquiries regarding system menu update (SMU) 4.2 since it launched on September 28, 2009.

This is from a U.S. installed base of over 21,000,000 Wii consoles. A significant number of these inquiries were resolved quickly and easily right over the phone. For the remaining inquiries we have advised consumers that the symptoms described usually occur when a Wii console has been modified.

Anyone who owns Wii hardware with unauthorized technical modifications may face hardware inoperability after downloading SMU 4.2. As always, if anyone is experiencing problems with their Wii console after downloading any SMU please contact Nintendo consumer service at 1-800-255-3700.

I think we can consider this epidemic over?

Well, aside from the fact that they said 'less' when they meant 'fewer' in that response, yes it's pretty obvious this was blown out of proportion on the theoretical hazards and the incredible self-righteousness of the ever superior homebrew community. Ah, the power of the blog.
 
Clipper said:
In any case, if you are still worried, I have updated the Wiki with what I hope is a safe 4.2 updater app. This is a hack of the Wii Shop installers to update all the same IOSes that Nintendo updates. It does not add trucha patches like Waninkoko's updater and should give everything the official update does except the stuff that affects homebrew (stubbed IOSes, boot2 update, etc.).

You rock. Yay no more Waninkoko!
 
swerve said:
Well, aside from the fact that they said 'less' when they meant 'fewer' in that response, yes it's pretty obvious this was blown out of proportion on the theoretical hazards and the incredible self-righteousness of the ever superior homebrew community. Ah, the power of the blog.
Or, Nintendo is covering their tracks and deliberately twisting the numbers (they don't say what time period the requests covered). Team Twiizers know what the are on about when it comes to updating boot2. Their explanations appear to make it clear that non-homebrew Wiis have just as much chance of getting bricked as hacked ones (with respect to the boot2 update). I will believe the statement from Nintendo when Team Twiizers acknowledges that it is safe to update again.
 
DrEvil said:
We got an official quote from Nintendo of America RE: the bricking issues:

I think we can consider this epidemic over?

Well, yes, you'd assume so, but this is Nintendo vs. the Hacker.

Have we had any verified cases of folks who had 4.2 "brick" their non-modified Wii system? That is, has any GAFfer had that happen to them?

I mean, I respect the homebrew hackers out there, but I find it hard to believe this isn't being blown out of proportion out of some sort of "righteous indignation" towards Nintendo for trying to block homebrew and/or software pirates.

(Keep in mind that I have SEVERAL complaints with Nintendo regarding the Wii, system bugs, and NOA/NCL's inability to properly transfer saved data from one Wii to another.)
 
Clipper said:
In any case, if you are still worried, I have updated the Wiki with what I hope is a safe 4.2 updater app. This is a hack of the Wii Shop installers to update all the same IOSes that Nintendo updates. It does not add trucha patches like Waninkoko's updater and should give everything the official update does except the stuff that affects homebrew (stubbed IOSes, boot2 update, etc.).

Do you have to update to 4.0 and 4.1 before using this 4.2 updater?
 
The HBC has been updated to fix the freezing that occurs after a few minutes of inactivity. If your Wii is connected to the Internet, it should auto-detect and run it for you. Otherwise, just check the tutorial for the installation method.
 
Clipper said:
Or, Nintendo is covering their tracks and deliberately twisting the numbers (they don't say what time period the requests covered). Team Twiizers know what the are on about when it comes to updating boot2. Their explanations appear to make it clear that non-homebrew Wiis have just as much chance of getting bricked as hacked ones (with respect to the boot2 update). I will believe the statement from Nintendo when Team Twiizers acknowledges that it is safe to update again.

So you're saying that you're happier to believe that Nintendo are killing loads of innocent Wiis, are aware of the problem, and have still not removed the update from their system. I'm not denying the general danger of updating boot sectors, but there appears to be no greater risk *in practice* with this update than any other firmware.

Or maybe those saintly homebrewers did such a good job of publicizing the huge danger of 4.2, that no one updated! That explains the low number!
 
swerve said:
So you're saying that you're happier to believe that Nintendo are killing loads of innocent Wiis, are aware of the problem, and have still not removed the update from their system. I'm not denying the general danger of updating boot sectors, but there appears to be no greater risk *in practice* with this update than any other firmware.

Or maybe those saintly homebrewers did such a good job of publicizing the huge danger of 4.2, that no one updated! That explains the low number!
When a company can officially deny they have any plans to release a new model of a handheld less than 24 hours before a revision of the handheld is announced, then yes, I do not believe they aren't twisting the truth with that statement. We don't know when the statement was written, and it would surely have taken some time to filter through the legal checks that need to be performed, so it might only cover the period for the day after the update or something.

I agree the numbers of people getting bricked are small and possibly insignificant. There is proof that there are bugs which could cause bricks in Nintendo's code. The extent of those bugs might not be enough to warrant another update right now. Let's just see what happens with 4.3. If they fix the boot2 update code so that is safe in 4.3, I certainly won't bother with another safe updater app.
 
A new modification of the Trucha Bug Restorer has been released that works on 4.2, apparently.

I've updated the guide for virgin 4.2 Wiis to use it. This eliminates the need for cboot2 and, given the safe 4.2 updater, the tutorial is clean of hackish code again, yay!
 
Just did the safe 4.2 update to my Wii. It took longer than I expected, but everything worked with no problems. Thanks for all the hard work.

Also, I just noticed there is a new HBC update (1.0.6). Should I update again?
 
Tenbatsu said:
Anyone any idea why I always got download error when I tried to update my homebrew channel? ><
The HBC mustn't like your Internet connection. Use the offline update method instead.

Porthos said:
Also, I just noticed there is a new HBC update (1.0.6). Should I update again?
Read four posts above yours.
 
Edit: massive fail on me, I jumped the gun. boot2 is still being updated, but not if you reinstall or something.

Man, I keep making double posts, but this one is pretty big:

It appears Nintendo has changed the code for the 4.2 update. It no longer updates boot2.

This removes the bricking potential. The official update is safe again. It does still make it a little more annoying to install homebrew, though.
 
I used that safe 4.2 updater. Is it supposed to say 4.2 under Wii Settings? Mine still says 4.0.


Stumpokapow said:
Well Sony basically has the perfect storm there. A disc medium that costs $25 a disc to burn and hundreds for a burner, disc drives that aren't off the shelf so there's no drive firmware hacking efforts, a hypervisor, lots of operating system level checks, and a custom processor :p


I think Nintendo's working on something like that...
 
Gozan said:
I used that safe 4.2 updater. Is it supposed to say 4.2 under Wii Settings? Mine still says 4.0.
It should say 4.2. I don't know how the tool could have run to completion and left you on 4.0.

Get Title Lister and check what the versions of your IOSes are. Is IOS9 at v778, IOS15 at v523 and the System Menu at v480,v481,v482 or v486 (for Japan, US, PAL and Korean systems respectively)?
 
Now that a new Preloader is out, I'll probably use the safe updater to move up to 4.2. This weekend, anyway.
 
Just curious, but what does Preloader do besides load up the HBC instead of the Wii Menu? Doesn't bootmii already have this option?
 
Porthos said:
Just curious, but what does Preloader do besides load up the HBC instead of the Wii Menu? Doesn't bootmii already have this option?
It can load up any .dol at startup (e.g., your USB Loader's forwarder). It also has several 'hacks' that you can perform to change operation of the system menu like removing warning messages and so on.

I'm happy to just stick with BootMii's auto-boot to HBC myself (one of the reasons why the tutorial doesn't cover it, the other being danger). It also seems like a bit of a chore to keep waiting for new hacks with the release of each new system menu version.
 
Porthos said:
Just curious, but what does Preloader do besides load up the HBC instead of the Wii Menu? Doesn't bootmii already have this option?

http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/Preloader

Disable HAXX,DVDX,RZDx checks
Prevents deletion of The Homebrew Channel, DVDX and Zelda savegames (Twilight Hack?), which was introduced in System Menu 4.2. Therefore the hack is only existant for 4.2.

Replace Healthwarning with Backmenu
No longer displays black/white health warning screen, so no need to press A, it will go straight to the channels screen.

No health check
Same as "Replace Healthwarning with Backmenu".

Skip disc update check
A game will no longer check what version of the system menu you have installed. Useful for staying on 3.2x, 4.1x or 4.2x and playing the most recent games without having to update.

No sound at all
Mutes the System Menu completely. No background music or sounds.

No Menu BGM
Disables the soft background music the System Menu plays.

No Menu BGM Startpatch version
Disables the soft background music the System Menu plays. Additional it mutes the jingle from the Menu's start.

Move Disc Channel
With this hack you can move the disc channel around like any other channel by holding A+B. It's no longer stuck in the top left.

IOS Reload
Reloads a specific IOS for every game, no matter what IOS the game uses by default.

Region free channels_1
Allows you to boot channels from an outer region. So if you have a PAL Wii, you might be able to access NTSC channels installed.

Region free channels_2
Same as above.

Remove diag disc check
Allows you to boot a regular game through the recovery menu.

Autoboot Game press RIGHT on gc pad in 4th port
Instead of the System Menu the game disc will be booted, when you hold Right on the D-PAD of a GC-Pad, plugged in port 4. This allows fast access to the game inserted.

Disc auto start when right pressed
Same as above.

Autoboot Game
Instead of the System Menu the game disc will be booted. Contrary to "Autoboot Game press RIGHT on gc pad in 4th port" you don't need to press any button.

Disc autostart
Same as above.

Region free channels-SD card menu
Allows you to boot channels from outer region from the SD card menu.

Region Free Wii Discs
Removes the integrated region check. You'll be able to play imports this way.

Region free Wii games_1
Same as "Region Free Wii Discs".

Region free Wii games_2
Same as "Region Free Wii Discs".

Region free GC Games
Removes the integrated region check for Gamecube games.

Force Disc Region_1
This forces the game disc to run at the Wii's native settings. So NTSC games won't turn black and white on PAL TVs.

Force Disc Region_2
This forces the game disc to run at the Wii's native settings. So NTSC games won't turn black and white on PAL TVs

Remove NoCopy Protection
Allows you to copy any save file, whereas some were protected by default

Error cannot load channel
Hack prohibits starting any channel. I guess this could be handy to lock your Wii so the kids and family can't break it!

Blackscreen at Wii system menu Startup!
Self explanatory, I guess this could be handy to lock your Wii so the kids and family can't break it!

Lock out System Menu with Blackscreen
Same as "Blackscreen at Wii system menu Startup!"

DSI Error code at Wii system menu Startup!
Self explanatory, I guess this could be handy to lock your Wii so the kids and family can't break it!
 
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