How-To: Install Homebrew Channel & Backup Launcher on Wii Firmware v3.4
by Omni on Mar.17, 2009, under How-To Guides
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–
- Install the Home Brew Channel (HBC) via Twilight Hack v0.1 beta2. Links: Guide and Official Download
- 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)
- Download 3in1SoftMod_REV3. This pack contains several .wad files that will be used in the next few steps
- 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)
- Launch HBC and install the IOS16 Wad with Wad Manager 1.3
- In the /apps/ directory of the SD card, create a new directory called WadManagerIOS16
- 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.
- 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)
- 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)
- 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
- I tested a backup launched directly from the backup launcher (didn’t reboot with hooks) and there were no issues.
—————————————————————————————————
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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March 19th, 2009 on 11:51 am
I followed all the steps you posted, but can’t get anything to work. Homebrew channel was installed, nothing else I put on the sdcard shows up. Is there something I missed? Did you leave “noob” steps out? Everything is on my sd card but when I put in in my wii and go to homebrew channel the things there are what was installed when the channel installed.
March 19th, 2009 on 2:29 pm
after messing around for a bit I got everything on except backup launcher, no matter what I do it doesnt show up
March 19th, 2009 on 3:44 pm
the cios249 keeps getting error 2011 I cant seem to, and that boot.mod file…is it suposed to show up as a “video” icon?
March 19th, 2009 on 3:53 pm
Dert:
Is the boot.mod you’re talking about the one from the 3in1SoftMod_REV3? If so, are you sure you took the boot.mod and renamed it to boot.dol? Also, the cios249 should only get errors if you try to use the wadmanager1.3, it should work fine using the wadmanagerIOS16. however, if you didn’t do the whole boot.mod->boot.dol thing correctly, then chances are that the wadmanagerIOS16 didn’t work correctly either, which could be your problem.
March 19th, 2009 on 4:31 pm
yes I changed boot.mod and changed it to boot.dol, do i put it back into the wadmanagerIOS16 folder? The boot.mod that I switched to boot.dos is and avi file? cuz thats how it is showing up on mine
March 19th, 2009 on 4:33 pm
thanx 4 ur help by the way
March 19th, 2009 on 4:46 pm
I cant seem to get the wadmanagerIOS16 with the boot.dol I created to show up. I am obviously not doing something right, this is the only part I can’t get to work, any ideas is appreciated, sorry for being a noob/pain in the ass, i’m new to this stuff as it is obvious lol
March 19th, 2009 on 4:48 pm
you should put the renamed boot.dol (originally boot.mod) file onto your SD card in the wadmanagerIOS16 folder. don’t worry if it comes up as a video file on your computer, it shouldn’t matter. as long as the file extension is correct, it should be fine.
no problem about helping, help me out by subscribing to the RSS (or email) up top, visiting back often, and telling your friends about hacksar!
March 19th, 2009 on 4:56 pm
so the renamed boot.dol will be the only thing in my wadmanagerIOS16 folder…cuz as of now it is, what does it show up as on the homebrew channel? cuz i’m not seeing it, everything else works fine except this….its frusterating
March 19th, 2009 on 8:34 pm
are you sure that you actually changed the filename? occasionally windows has problems renaming file extensions.
i updated the post, check the step where you’re having trouble and read the Note.
March 20th, 2009 on 1:59 am
windows can’t find program to open ur link lol…this is hopless, I’m almost ready to give up lol
March 20th, 2009 on 2:11 am
BOOYA!!!!never mind last post, cap’n noobie figured it out on his own, thanx a TONNE bro you have no idea! mad props and respect! sending a couple buds to ur page to do theirs next! It’s patient people like you puttin up with clueless fools such as myself and answerin dumb questions that makes sites like this sucseed, thanx again!-Dert
March 20th, 2009 on 10:02 am
glad it finally worked out. please, tell your friends and subscribe to hacksar’s posts, they only get better!
March 21st, 2009 on 8:58 pm
I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.
March 25th, 2009 on 5:04 pm
Nice this worked perfect!!! tnx!
March 25th, 2009 on 6:30 pm
great tutorial, very easy to follow. Just one small snag i ran into… Everything seemingly went well, except when i load the backup launcher there’s no interface. Just the logo towards the top and that green square towards the bottom left. It doesn’t give me any options it just sits there. And if i try to go back to the homebrew channel by clicking reset (on the console itself) it crashes and i see a bunch of lines of code. I would be forever indebted if someone could help me.
-steve
March 26th, 2009 on 3:34 am
I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.
March 26th, 2009 on 6:40 pm
nvm I fixed it. For some reason it wouldnt work if a gamecube memory card was in. But seriously, great job on this tutorial. It was by far the most easy to read and well organized. I recommended it to a few of my friends who all found it equally as enlightening. Mad props bro.
eternally greatful,
steve
March 26th, 2009 on 7:11 pm
Oh that’s a common problem (gamecube card), i totally forgot that even I had that problem when I did it the first time. Thanks for reminding me, i’ll add it.
March 26th, 2009 on 8:59 pm
no problem
March 31st, 2009 on 5:20 pm
great info dude, got my wii fully softmodded under 4.0 os
April 1st, 2009 on 9:41 am
i was wondering if you had any advice for this issue… i got everything installed and working great but when i try to run the backup launcher with my newly copied (from my original) zelda it just keeps makin weird clickin sounds like its trying to load idk what to do
April 1st, 2009 on 9:57 pm
how did you copy it? you can only copy games yourself if you either have one of 4 specific LG dvd drives, or if you use another program to get your wii to dump the disk over the network to your computer.
otherwise, the onyl way to use backup games is to download them and burn the ISO image files with somethign like ImageBurn.
April 2nd, 2009 on 4:48 pm
Thanks for all the work that must have gone into this! I’m still having trouble getting the whole process to work.
Question: step 5 should be done before step 6 and 9 before 10? I know how ridiculous that sounds but I don’t have an sd reader at home so I have to copy the files at work. So I did all of the coping steps at once, brought it home and when I started the HB channel it gives me IOS16 from which I can successfully load 07-cIOS249-v7_waninkokoFULL-nw7.wad but that’s where I’m stuck. No matter what I do I can’t see anything other than IOS16 when I go to the hb channel.
Is there a way to start over?
April 2nd, 2009 on 8:57 pm
i dont believe it should matter if you put all the files at once or not, but it DOES matter in which order you actually do the installations of the files.
make sure you loaded them in the right order, and if you didn’t… =\ most i can tell you is try to uninstall the WAD (read http://wii.ds-scene.net/?s=viewtopic&id=509) but i can’t give u any guarantees there, sorry.
April 3rd, 2009 on 7:40 pm
hi hacksar…. great tutorial really helped and well explained…
I quick question the back up ‘backup launcher 0.3′ you have provided the link for is it the one with the 002 fix???
April 4th, 2009 on 10:00 am
I do not believe the link I have includes the 002 fix, but there are only a few games that actually require it.
most games should continue working without the fix.
If you need the fix to play one of the games, try reading http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=123341
April 4th, 2009 on 12:40 pm
thanks for this. I finally got my 3.4 hacked
Do you know if there are any problems updating to IOS38, 53 or 55? Apparently one of these is needed for games like MLB 2k9
April 4th, 2009 on 10:03 pm
I’m not sure if there are any problems w/ updating, but just to be on the safe side (at least for me), i wouldn’t update. i’d much rather not play one certain game and keep my wii than try to play that one game, have my wii bricked, and not be able to play any game.
April 11th, 2009 on 5:03 pm
will this work on 3.3 with the animal crossing city folk on disc update
April 18th, 2009 on 10:46 am
Not sure what I did wrong I followed you instructions step by step but I can’t seem to get backup loader to work, when I run it all I get is black screen I have to hard reset my wii, any idea?
Thanks
April 23rd, 2009 on 5:40 pm
noodlord: i can’t say if it’ll work on 3.3, but it works on 3.4 – sorry.
Phong: Make sure that you have unplugged all gamecube items (memory cards, controllers) and restart the wii. try it then.
May 7th, 2009 on 4:58 pm
Everythin installed but when I click on launch game i get DVD read err 324 no cios
May 7th, 2009 on 6:06 pm
Excellent Dad: that could be just because of a badly burned image. try reburning the ISO of the game, and if it still doesnt work, try downloading a different game. also, make sure you’re using dvd-r.
May 7th, 2009 on 6:16 pm
The dvd works well on my daughter’s machine. I copied the dvd from hers which was a copy of the original. I used dvd-r and burned at a slow speed. Do I need to install cios which came with backup launcher?
May 8th, 2009 on 3:35 pm
if by machine you mean computer, keep in mind that something readable by computers is not necessarily readable by other hardware. (too often have i had scratched dvds absolutely refuse to play in a regular dvd player but work perfectly in my computers dvd drive.)
also, if you copied the dvd from the original, bear in mind that there are only 4 models (certain makes of LG, i don’t know off the top of my head) of dvd drives that can actually make copies of wii games (unless you do network dumps with the wii itself, but that’s a whole other can of worms.
try downloading a torrent of a wii game image and see if that works.
May 16th, 2009 on 4:31 pm
Hey, I’m hitting a slight hiccup at the part where you install IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad… Wad Manager 1.3 returns the error (ret = -1035). Do you know what this means? I’m running 4.0 but Faalzin (commenter above) seemed to be able to do it on 4.0? Any suggestions?
May 18th, 2009 on 10:34 am
Followed your steps on my 3.4u. Worked great. I can now play backup games.
Anyone knows how to install and run USB ISO loader?
May 18th, 2009 on 3:40 pm
Surlent: That error generally is when you try to install it on an unsupported version firmware. I have no idea about anything for 4.0, so I’m afraid I can’t help. My only suggestion would be to try and downgrade your firmware (google it).
Astaire: AFAIK, there isn’t an official release for the USB ISO loader yet – the source for the loader was leaked, but it seems like it needs a cIOS which hasn’t been released (or something of the sort).
May 26th, 2009 on 5:25 pm
i to get stuck on the same part as Surlent although from what i’ve heard “downgrading” you wii just screws with the code so that it only “thinks” it is downgraded and that it should be avoided at all costs.
so if anyone gets it working then please let me know.
thanks
June 11th, 2009 on 10:21 pm
My SD slot is done(not working), can this be done via the USB?
June 23rd, 2009 on 9:46 am
my games are working on dvd-r’s but i need to get them working on a dvd-rw.please anybody tell me how 2 do this.im asking this bcoz i got a usb loader installed on my wii but to load games into the usb flash drive u hav 2 have it on a disk.so there is no point of keeping a copy on disks and flash drive and i cant waste money on buying only dvd-r’s
PLEASE ANYONE HELP……………
i can help in anything else too.
July 10th, 2009 on 12:07 am
After about 6 hours of non-stop net searching, this is the only guide that worked. Nice job bro, much appreciated!
July 10th, 2009 on 12:55 am
Glad it worked for everyone. If anybody has any further guide requests, feel free to email ma at admin@hacksar.com and I’ll see what I can do.
August 5th, 2009 on 5:03 pm
I need some help my wii is fw 4.0u with homebrew I have backup loader 0.3 gamma and I burn bleach versus crusade twice and I got error 324 no cios what to do I tried everything I could think of.
August 9th, 2009 on 4:09 pm
You couldt just make a youtube guide or something? Then we didnt need to ask you so many thing… i dont get how to install the wad manager…=(
August 29th, 2009 on 10:09 am
im having the same problem as ichigo im now on version 4.1e i keep on getting error 324 no cios. need some help!!!
August 29th, 2009 on 10:35 am
im not well versed with the newer firmware versions, i would suggest searching for methods of downgrading your firmware – this guide is only for what it’s written for (v3.4). sorry.
September 5th, 2009 on 7:12 pm
I already installed bannerbomb and created a homebrew channel.
Can I still use this or do I have to install the twilight hack?
September 5th, 2009 on 7:18 pm
btw i have version 3.4