Wii Mod Situation?

[loz_the_guru]

Im looking at modding my wii, but cant seem to find out much in the way of info. The scene seems to be much smaller and more fragmented than the 360 mod scene. It all seems very confusing, with different chips, most of which seems to need to be unsoldered then connected to a pc to be updated, which seems to be neccesary fairly often. Ive also no idea how it affects online play, how disc compatability is, whether region free has been achieved yet, etc etc etc.



I know theres a couple of you on here running modded wii's so can anyone point me in the direction of a decent, in depth site that will give me all the knowledge I need?

 

[Mosch]

For region free gaming there's Datel's freeloader. Mine should arrive any day now, together with an American game to test it with.

As for chips, there is an open-source scene. If you solder a "cradle" to your pins and put the chip in you can easily remove it to reflash it, but as far as I know update discs are also common.
I am quite sure that Nintendo has already devised a kind of copy protection - several sources say that SSBB will not run with chips, not even if the disc is an original.
Online play, as far as I know, is not affected by Wii modchips. For compatibility... well, let's just say nobody is making any promises

 

[Javacat]

The community in it sucks, but you might want to check out http://www.gbatemp.net for the latest information on Wii hacks. There should be some info on there to help you decide on what modchip to get for your Wii and if you have any questions you should get some sort of answer by posting on it...
I believe that SSBB runs on modded Wii's now, although I think that you need to unpack the ISO, modify some of the game and then reencode into a new ISO, which you can then burn and run on the Wii. The same sort of hack can be used to modify other games contents aswell, such as enabling gore in Manhunt 2 and adding new tracks to Guitar Hero.
I wouldn't bother getting a freeloader as Wii firmware updates disable them.

Also, work on homebrew for non modded Wiis is progressing

 

[Mosch]

How can you be so sure that firmware updates would disable the freeloader? Datel said that this would not be possible. However, I have no idea how the freeloader works, so I can't judge this.

 

[Javacat]

Because it's happened before

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=81021

 

[Steve-O]

I use a WiiKey chip and it works fine for me. Updates from disc so no need in taking it out.

Oh check first what version wii you have as some are a bitch to mod (mostly the new ones)

 

[Ganepark32]

Well, what Datel have been saying is that when the freeloader disc is inserted into the Wii, it disables the firmware and emulates it so you can run the import game you want. Then, when finished all you do is put the freeloader disc back in to enable the firmware to resume running. This is how they were saying they were going to get round further updates of the firmware but I'm not sure if they did put that into the freeloader. I'm looking at getting one and a cheap import title to test it out. Don't wanna go and waste money on SSBB only to find it doesn't work.

 

[yoyoyoyoyoyoyo]

Just to tell all of you guys, there is no region-free for Wii games only for gamecube games.

 

[Mosch]

That's where you're wrong, yoyoyoyoandsoon. You simply did not keep up with the new products.

Javacat, you are linking to the Gamecube Freeloader. I hope they have improved their product now.

Ganepark32, thanks for the info. I have received my American game today (Dragon Blade) and am now awaiting the arrival of my freeloader. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[Javacat]

oops... My mistake. I'd read people complaining about freeloaders working on Wiis and had assumed they were using Wii versions. :unsure:

 

[CABBAGES]

get a wiikey it works great. Some other region games work fine or can be changed by using the region chnager thingy. But changing the region does not work on all games BUT one game that didnt work before "No More heros" Has been messed about with using somethin from that freeloader and now works fine on my pal wii

 

[loz_the_guru]

thanks for all the replies, looks like a wiikey is the way to go. Few questions if people dont mind obliging:

Does it work with SMG and SS:BB?
What sort of discs do you have to use? Is the wii fussy?
Anyone recommend a wiikey installer? Im in the midlands

 

[Mosch]

Got my freeloader today and tried it out. It works flawlessly with the one game I imported (Dragon Blade). The little instructions leaflet mentions that you should refrain from updating your firmware if possible and advises you to also start newer games from your region (those that might carry firmware updates) using the freeloader.
I did freak out a little at first sicne I put the freeloader in, started the Wii and it did not work. You do not actually load the freeloader like you did on the gamecube - you go into the disc channel and insert the freeloader. When the Wii reads the info, the screen goes funny (which is normal) and the disc shows up as "not recognized". Then you just insert the in my case NTSC game and it loads without any problems. You can also load the freeloader a second time to switch to a second loading mode if the first one does not work.
Looks pretty good so far.

 

[yoyoyoyoyoyoyo]

Just so you know the newest firmware is preparing to block the exploit the the freeloader uses. They are doing this because of the trucha signer. Which allows modified iso files to be signed. They both use the same exploit so it will not work soon. This will not affect the twilight hack in anyway so you can continue to use that. You can check on tehskeen.com if you dont know what it is.

 

[Nova]

I found this on a website called Duelling Analogs, and thought it would be worth posting here, so here goes:


I am definitely not anti-Nintendo. Besides the Virtual Boy, I own every system that Nintendo ever released in the US. And for all these Nintendo consoles, I roughly own 650+ games between them. But (bold text means its important), this whole Wii thing bothers me.

The system has been a hot commodity for over a year now. And with the Christmas season upon us again, its just as difficult now as it was last November to get your hands on one. The problem is, is that the people who are buying them are not actually getting them to game. True, they'll play their Wii Sports and Wii Play and own their own token game (probably created by Nintendo as well), but that's about it. Joystiq reported that the console to games sale ratio is lower with Nintendo than any of this gens consoles. So why even buy a system if you're not actually going to play it? Because its trendy, its cool to own one and since they're hard to come by everyone wants one... Tickle Me Elmo, anyone?

So I'm bothered by the fact that its trendy? Not really. My problem is that when the Wiis are no longer scarce, they'll then become less trendy, cool and desired. When this happens GameStop and eBay will be bombarded with used Wiis, no one will be buy new Wiis, Nintendo will take a major hit and game manufacturers will notice the sales declines lose confidence in creating games for the Wii. In turn hurting those people who actually bought a Wii to play it.

Now don't panic, there is a very simple solution. Nintendo must never make the Wii readily available... at least not until the Wii's successor is released. So far they've been doing a pretty good job at that.