Hacksar

The homebrew scene with Wii has grown tremendously over the years, and with every firmware update Nintendo releases, homebrew developers fight back with their own updates. A homebrewed Wii has the ability to run custom applications, and these applications range from DVD players, to internet browsers, to (the most important) game backup launchers. A backup launcher allows you to play burned Wii games, which means that you can basically torrent any game’s ISO (image file) using BitTorrent, burn it to a DVD, and play it on your Wii.

However, if you haven’t homebrewed your Wii yet and want to, but made the mistake of upgrading to Wii System Menu 3.4, you may think that you’re out of luck. Almost every guide that you may find requires you to downgrade your firmware by using some additional hacks, but those are all very dangerous as they can “brick” (render useless) your Wii. Thankfully, after hours of scrounging the internet, I found this guide that works while keeping the v3.4 firmware. I successfully was able to homebrew my Wii on the first try and it works perfectly.

Note that there is always the risk of partially or completely breaking your Wii while doing anything related to homebrew, so proceed with caution only if you are certain you wish to take the risk. Hacksar is not responsible for any damage that your Wii may sustain, even though the risk is extremely low. Keep reading for the guide.

–For Wii System Menu 3.4–

1. Install the Home Brew Channel (HBC) via Twilight Hack v0.1 beta2. Links: Guide and Official Download
2. Download Wad Manager 1.3 and place it on your SD card in the /apps/ directory ( I placed mine in /apps/WadManager13/ in the root of the SD card)
3. Download 3in1SoftMod_REV3. This pack contains several .wad files that will be used in the next few steps
4. Download IOS16 !!WAD!! file IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad and put IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad in the SD card’s wad folder (/wad/ in root of the SD card)
5. Launch HBC and install the IOS16 Wad with Wad Manager 1.3
6. In the /apps/ directory of the SD card, create a new directory called WadManagerIOS16
7. In the 3in1SoftMod_REV3 pack there is a Wii_SD_Card directory. Copy the boot.MOD file (**NOT BOOT.DOL***) to the /apps/WadManagerIOS16 directory on your SD Card. Rename it to boot.dol. NOTE: For those of you having difficulties getting this to work, here is the boot.dol file already renamed from boot.mod. Sometimes, Windows has trouble renaming file extensions.
8. Copy 07-cIOS249-v7_waninkokoFULL-nw7.wad from the 3in1SoftMod_REV3/Wii_SD_Card/ directory to your WAD directory on the SD Card ( /wad/ in the root SD card folder)
9. Launch HBC and install 07-cIOS249-v7_waninkokoFULL-nw7.wad using WadManagerIOS16 (if you try to install it via Wad Manager 1.3 it will return an error)
10. Download Backup Launcher 0.3gamma and place it in the /apps/ directory on the SD Card. Run Backup Launcher from the HBC and you should be good to go! This worked with no issues on my 3.4 Wii. HBC, cIOS249 and Backup Launcher 0.3g were never installed on this system prior to upgrading to 3.4
11. I tested a backup launched directly from the backup launcher (didn’t reboot with hooks) and there were no issues.

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Note: Here is what your SD should look like after downloading the new files.

I am assuming you have already installed HBC via twilight hack 0.1beta2

- F:\ will be used as the SD card

• F:\apps\Backup_Launcher\boot.dol
• F:\apps\Backup_Launcher\icon.png
• F:\apps\Backup_Launcher\meta.xml
• F:\apps\WadManager13\boot.dol
• F:\apps\WadManagerIOS16\boot.dol
• F:\private <– twilight hack
• F:\wad\07-cIOS249-v7_waninkokoFULL-nw7.wad
• F:\wad\IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad

Source: TehSkeen Forums Poster: bandguy (with some edits/fixes by me)

Assuming all of this went smoothly, you can now play downloaded/burned games. Just make sure you get the right region when you download the torrent (NTSC for USA and PAL for others) and that you use DVD-R when burning. (Others such as DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW don’t always work.) Also, when burning games, burn them at the slowest speed (1x-2x). It may take longer, but it will prevent some write errors. You can also delete all the files on your SD card except for the Backup Launcher folder, as they are no longer necessary.

To actually play a burned game, simply go to the Homebrew Channel, load Backup Launcher, put in your game, and press A to Load Game. Rebooting with hooks for some reason does not work, but that is not necessary. You can still play original games using the regular Disk Channel.

If you still can’t get Backup Launcher to work, make sure that you have disconnected all GameCube controllers as well as removed any GameCube memory cards. For some reason, they stop it from working.

Disclaimer: Pirating of games is illegal and is not condoned by Hacksar. Playing burned copies of games is illegal unless you own the actual game.

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