Mod your Wii

[Brad]

Have a Wii with ver. 4.2E firmware?? Mod instructions found HERE.

I've not tried it out yet, but I will maybe tonight or tomorrow, and provide feedback on how the install goes.

Benefit appears at first glance to be playing backed up games, and ISOs.

[Bruce]

Cool... you might just turn it into a brick...

[Brad]

Cool... you might just turn it into a brick...

Nope... finished. Was a bit of an epic... mostly a steep learning curve.

Priority Nr. 1 with this process is to get the Homebrew channel installed, then install BootMii. The Homebrew channel allows you to do more things with the Wii, like use external binary code. The BootMii is the binary code you need to to backup the NAND binary (the Wii's OS).

Once you have a valid backup of the NAND, you need a way to re-install it if the Wii frags itself. So you need Priiloader, which will allow you to get into a basic IOS before the Wii loader... translation, it's a cool hack that lets you into the Wii before it starts up.

With Priiloader, it's possible to run BootMii to restore the NAND... be it for a warrantee return of the unit, or to recover the system. Priiloader also has an option to prevent restore tools that come built into some games from running.

After that, you want cool tools like the uLoader, so you can run games from USB... then you can run games from your backup ISO's without the need for discs. Nice if your children are as terrible at looking after discs as mine are.

In any case, the guide at the link works ok, but I had to do a bunch of reading to make sure I was getting a valid NAND backup first of all, and had a way of restoring the system.

I don't need bricks. The kids (Jane and Brayden) are playing Wii right now and it's working fine.

So in the end I have a valid backup of the OEM Nintendo NAND, a soft modded Wii and a backup of the soft mod. For the rest of the family, they see no change in it's operation... I've not run games from USB yet, but I will sometime this week.

[Brad]

Most of the good stuff I found was from this guy...

http://adewii.wordpress.com/

[mxsam34]

so what does all that mean? i got the boss a wii for xmas

[Bruce]

voids your warranty

[Brad]

Not if you do it right. If you do it right you can restore your old (original) NAND and make it all good. If the chip is so broken you can't restore your NAND, I doubt they'd ever find out anyway. Unlike hardware modding, softmodding doesn't require you to solder anything to the inside of the Wii. It's all done through software manipulation. The tools all exist on the web, you save them to an SD card, then insert the card into the Wii and execute the software tools. All the tools have options to remove them later. 99.9% warranty safe. In fact, there is even the likelyhood that these tools would allow you to fix a firmware problem and save you from sending the thing back in the first place.

What it means, though, is that I can now insert a game and dump the contents from the Wii to a USB hard drive, creating a backup. This means all the games will end up on HDD and I no longer have to endure the risk of the children scratching very expensive discs, then complaining the games don't work. Picking up a common theme here, Bruce? And imagine never having to insert/swap discs, instead changing games from the menu. Or if your Wii was out of warranty and had a drive failure...

What it also means, for people with low moral standards, is that you could feasibly hire a game from the video shop, dump it to the HDD and presto, games for just a couple of bucks. Alternatively, download a game ISO from the web and install that on the HDD using a tool like Wiithon on your computer, then plug the USB drive back into the Wii to play totally free games. But that's called piracy, and is wrong. If you want to think about it from a pirate's perspective... how much is a Wii console worth? How many free game would it take to make softmodding worth your warranty? Think about THAT Nintendo.

In any case, it's my belief that I've bought an expensive game and I *should* have the right to back it up. There are plenty of ways manufacturers of these systems *could* ensure we have complete access to backup and restore our very expensive games without the concern of piracy, but they just don't care enough to be bothered. Until they do, I'll do whatever I it takes to ensure I can back them up myself. Hell, half a dozen games are worth more than the console itself.

And it's only piracy if you copy something illegally, like for distribution. So as Bruce has so conveniently pointed out, the only thing I have really risked is my warranty, and even then not really.

[TrevlynJ]

What's a warranty?

[Bruce]

Just to point out the obvious, any tampering with a console voids its warranty. If you lose the ability to re-flash the firmware through hardware failure, you're going to be unable to make a warranty claim. Additionally, if there are any indications at all that you've modded, you'll lose your warranty.

If you're claiming it to be cause of the kids scratching discs, and you want a backup option, here's a safer solution:
If they damage the discs, tell them: TOO BAD! You won't be getting any new games. You're banned from the console for a week.

Or, let them grow up with no respect for any property... Your call...

However, if you're doing it because of the other reasons, fine, again your call... I modded the old X-Box series 1 I had... worked fine, never had an issue with it, put a 160GB HDD in it, hell it was even dual boot so you could go online to x-box-live, but M$ got smart, and started bricking the modded consoles. If the wii's need to go online for updates (I have no idea if they do or don't) then I sure as hell wouldn't be modding it...

[brentons_house]

After hardware modding and failing just didn't work but I didn't break the PS2 I used a swap disc in the PS2 to play games that were banned here. All because we don't have an R rating. Problem solved on PS3, the games work on all consoles there's no regioning.

You can clean discs up to eight times to get rid of scratches video shops do it. My bro bought games for the PS3 and got warrantee for the games to be replaced if they got scratched.

Someone was telling me they turned there Wii into a brick trying to mod it. He used a hairdryer to get it replaced under warrantee I don't know if it was a software or hardware mod he was doing.

[Brad]

Hey Bruce, thanks for the parenting tips, every parent loves being told they don't know how to raise their kid. I'm sure the soon-to-be 2yo should understand what a scratched disc is, and totally understand the consequences. I mean, he's pretty bright, he can drive the Wii on his own, is undefeated in sword play, goes to his room when I tell him to, says 'please dad' when he asks for something... I used to think he was well behaved, maybe I haven't been expecting enough from him.

I don't know if I have to remind you what I do for a living, but I fail to see how Nintendo could ever find out about a non-invasive system re-flash after I restore the chip with a low level restore via SD card...

BTW, your grandmother called, she needs egg sucking lessons.

[TrevlynJ]

[Bruce]

Hey Bruce, thanks for the parenting tips, every parent loves being told they don't know how to raise their kid. I'm sure the soon-to-be 2yo should understand what a scratched disc is, and totally understand the consequences. I mean, he's pretty bright, he can drive the Wii on his own, is undefeated in sword play, goes to his room when I tell him to, says 'please dad' when he asks for something... I used to think he was well behaved, maybe I haven't been expecting enough from him.

I don't know if I have to remind you what I do for a living, but I fail to see how Nintendo could ever find out about a non-invasive system re-flash after I restore the chip with a low level restore via SD card...

BTW, your grandmother called, she needs egg sucking lessons.

Ahh crap, on a re-read, I should have added at the end of my post this:

*snif, snif* Hmm smells like bait to me

Sorry Brad, no malice or anything like that intended mate...

Parenting tips... Hmm... Ok, here's one... Stick them in a cupboard, water them twice a day...

Did my grandma offer to take out her falsies for you?

I now know why the post came across poorly... I keep using bloody quick reply, which has no emoticon thingy's...

[TrevlynJ]

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