Hush's Tutorial for softmodding the Wii

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:25 am

EDIT: The below tutorial is somewhat outdated now and some of the newer games may not work. I haven't kept up with the latest advances because I have a WiiKey and they aren't really necessary for me. I suggest checking out gbatemp.net and wading through the forums there if you are considering modding/softmodding your Wii.

EDIT #2: Some of the members over at GBATemp put together a more comprehensive guide for modding a Wii with any version firmware: http://sites.google.com/site/completesg/

http://sites.google.com/site/softmodwii/ <--- This is my old guide which is now outdated.

I have a WiiKey in mine but I did this exact method for my sibling's Wii and it worked fine.

Yes you can play burned games w/o a modchip.

Let me know if you have questions and I can help.

The Phat Anorexic · Post by **The Phat Anorexic** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:13 pm

So I have to own or rent or borrow a copy of Zelda for this to work? No other options for this "soft mod"?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:26 pm

The Phat Anorexic wrote:So I have to own or rent or borrow a copy of Zelda for this to work? No other options for this "soft mod"?

Edit: You no longer need Zelda to perform a softmod.

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:35 pm

thanks a ton for this, looking forward to trying it out.

Do WiiWare games work, and if so, how do I go about playing them after I've downloaded them?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:24 am

Andvil wrote:thanks a ton for this, looking forward to trying it out.

Do WiiWare games work, and if so, how do I go about playing them after I've downloaded them?

I'm glad you asked! The files linked on my guide page include the "Wad Manager". Basically when you download WiiWare titles outside of the official Wii shop, the files will have the extension ".wad". You just create a folder on the root of the SD card named "wad" and put your wads in there

Then, run the "Wad Manager" from the Homebrew Channel and install them. After rebooting they will show up on the Wii menu!

The "Wad Manager" will show up on the Homebrew Channel already if you follow my guide.

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:31 pm

you are the fucking man.

I'm having one slight problem though.......on step 6, when I run Starfall and hit B+2 to continue, nothing happens, it just stays on that initial screen. Hitting the home button goes back to the homebrew channel, but I can't get past the first screen for starfall/boot.dol

edit: nevermind, I got it.......although, I followed all the steps, and there is no Wad Manager on the homebrew channel. Any help with that one?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:46 am

My apologies, I didn't include the Wad Manager in the zip file for some reason. Download it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4mr2nnyx22i

Extract and place the "wadmanager13" directory inside the "apps" dir on your SD card and the Homebrew Channel should see it.

p.s. Yeah, the B+2 thing got me the first time too

The Phat Anorexic · Post by **The Phat Anorexic** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:19 am

Is there a way to run ripped game files directly from the SD card after the Homebrew Channel is active?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:53 am

The Phat Anorexic wrote:Is there a way to run ripped game files directly from the SD card after the Homebrew Channel is active?

There might be a way, but the ripped game images are 4.3 GB each so you wouldn't be able to fit one on an SD card until they release that new technology that allows up to 2 TB, which I'm not sure the Wii will support. You can store emulators + roms on the SD card and run those though.

Andvil:

Did you get the Wad Manager to work?

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:14 am

I did, backups and WiiWare are working like a charm

thanks a ton, dude

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:07 pm

Andvil wrote:I did, backups and WiiWare are working like a charm

thanks a ton, dude

Not a problem, did you have to do anything besides what I told you to get the Wad Manager to work?

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:13 pm

nope, just dropped it into the apps folder and it showed up on the Homebrew Channel

theaggravatedjew · Post by **theaggravatedjew** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:33 am

I am current with all my updates does this work even if the most current updates have been done to a wii?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:39 am

theaggravatedjew wrote:I am current with all my updates does this work even if the most current updates have been done to a wii?

Yes it should work with the most current update but you'll actually be downgrading back to firmware version 3.2 if you follow my tut.

EDIT: For firmware 3.4 you will need Twilight Hack 0.1beta2 which is not included in my files. Google it and you'll find it.

There are tutorials at http://gbatemp.net for making it work with 3.4 (newest firmware) without downgrading, but you won't have all the benefits of homebrew, Wad Manager won't work, etc. Also your console won't be as safe from Nintendo's next update as with downgrading to 3.2 and installing the safeguards.

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:38 am

Have you guys played World of Goo? Its awesome, here's the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?tmutzyyz5qk

Smooth Lou · Post by **Smooth Lou** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:36 pm

Hush wrote:Have you guys played World of Goo? Its awesome, here's the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?tmutzyyz5qk

These dudes made this game with the hopes it would be bought. I mean, there was three people who made this game. That's unheard of in modern gamemaking. Having finally beaten the game yesterday, I can only tell you that it is truly, truly worth the purchase price.

Sincerely,

Debbie Downer

Seiko Flossberg · Post by **Seiko Flossberg** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:56 pm

Hush wrote:
The Phat Anorexic wrote:Is there a way to run ripped game files directly from the SD card after the Homebrew Channel is active?
There might be a way, but the ripped game images are 4.3 GB each so you wouldn't be able to fit one on an SD card until they release that new technology that allows up to 2 TB, which I'm not sure the Wii will support. You can store emulators + roms on the SD card and run those though.

Actually, most Wii games are a lot smaller than 4.3GB. I don't know if they'll boot off of a memory card, but you can get rid of the junk data with WiiScrubber.

service · Post by **service** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:57 pm

Smooth Lou wrote:
Hush wrote:Have you guys played World of Goo? Its awesome, here's the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?tmutzyyz5qk

These dudes made this game with the hopes it would be bought. I mean, there was three people who made this game. That's unheard of in modern gamemaking. Having finally beaten the game yesterday, I can only tell you that it is truly, truly worth the purchase price.

Sincerely,

Debbie Downer

give me a break

theaggravatedjew · Post by **theaggravatedjew** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:29 pm

Hush wrote:
The Phat Anorexic wrote:So I have to own or rent or borrow a copy of Zelda for this to work? No other options for this "soft mod"?
Correct.

Any chance I will need zelda at a later date to update/change the mod? Is it likely that I'd need the same copy?

A couple more questions, I googled it but I didnt see any info about downloadable content for rock band 2 being affected or rendered unavailable after a soft mod... anyone know?

Also is fat16 the default for sd cards or do you need a converter program?

HomeSkillet · Post by **HomeSkillet** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:03 pm

when you say "break" the soft mod all I will have to do is re install it on my girl's wii right? its not gonna fuck up the box is it?

Or is it just impossible to do a system update after this point?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:53 am

HomeSkillet wrote:when you say "break" the soft mod all I will have to do is re install it on my girl's wii right? its not gonna fuck up the box is it?

Or is it just impossible to do a system update after this point?

Nah, it shouldn't render the Wii useless but updating after installing the mod may or may not mess up the ability to play backups, etc.

AJ,

There's a slim chance you might need Zelda again if you installed a bad Wad or something (you would need to run it again to uninstall the bad Wad because you wouldn't be able to get to the system menu to do it). As long as you have the Homebrew Channel you should be fine though. Also, its a good idea to leave the Twilight Hack zelda save file on your Wii just in case.

I've downloaded stuff for Rock Band 2 as well as played the PAL version of Mario Kart on my USA Wii online and I haven't had any problems with it being modded. This could change in the future but I wouldn't sweat it too much as long as you're not cheating online or anything.

Thanks for stickying this!

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:15 pm

If you followed my guide and GC games no longer work on your Wii, you need to run Starfall again and remove the hack for region free GC games. I've edited the guide with this change. Something I found out on the forums over at GBAtemp.net. I personally don't play any GC games on my Wii.

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:02 am

Seiko Flossberg wrote:
Hush wrote:
The Phat Anorexic wrote:Is there a way to run ripped game files directly from the SD card after the Homebrew Channel is active?
There might be a way, but the ripped game images are 4.3 GB each so you wouldn't be able to fit one on an SD card until they release that new technology that allows up to 2 TB, which I'm not sure the Wii will support. You can store emulators + roms on the SD card and run those though.
Actually, most Wii games are a lot smaller than 4.3GB. I don't know if they'll boot off of a memory card, but you can get rid of the junk data with WiiScrubber.

You can get rid of junk data with Wii Scrubber, but the file will still show in Windows as 4.3 GB until after you compress it with Winrar (the junk data gets compressed). I think it would be pretty tough to run a game from a compressed state.

theaggravatedjew · Post by **theaggravatedjew** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:40 pm

Thanks Hush, Im definately going to go through with this now that I know I can dl songs for rock band still.

I appreciate all the help. I'm going to have a guy that is a regular on that gba site do it to help troubleshoot ant potential issues. Thanks for all the info.

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:31 pm

theaggravatedjew wrote:Thanks Hush, Im definately going to go through with this now that I know I can dl songs for rock band still.

I appreciate all the help. I'm going to have a guy that is a regular on that gba site do it to help troubleshoot ant potential issues. Thanks for all the info.

No problem, if you're having a dude from GBAtemp do it, I would trust that you won't have any problems.

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:39 pm

There is another method out now that allows booting backup discs directly from the regular disc channel (try it at your own risk):

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=130939

Click the link at the very bottom of the first post to get the files.

Of course, if you're not that picky, my method will still work fine.

Cantin · Post by **Cantin** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:05 pm

OHHH, im gonnahave to go rent that zelda game and do this. Thanks, and thanks to everyone who posted. If i run into some of the same problems u did, i already have the answer. I'll let you know when i do this

theaggravatedjew · Post by **theaggravatedjew** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:28 pm

Thanks Hush, I modded it myself after all.

I have yet to experiment with non ntsc games.

I would like to get Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Lets Tap.

Do you have any experience or tips for getting/playing japanese games?

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:04 pm

Sweet dude, glad you could get it going. I have not played any Japanese games on my Wii. The only other region games I have played are PAL (europe) which are basically the same as their American counterparts except sometimes they just have more seeders when torrenting. In the case of Mario Kart, it came out 2 wks earlier in europe so I got it before it hit stores in the U.S. There are also a bunch of custom versions of Guitar Hero you should check out (basically GH3 with the songs swapped out).

Sigma · Post by **Sigma** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:29 am

Nice info man, thanks. I assume the files you've linked to are specifically for NTSC-U Wiis, is that right? If so, do you have the files I could use to do this on a PAL Wii please?