Modding the Wii. Mine has go-faster stripes and a massive spoiler
 

So there are a few chips out there, which one is considered best? I'm planning on getting mine modded one of these days. Think of the same it is for me to have an unmodded console next to a modded PS2, a modded Xbox and the Dreamcast which doesn't need to be modded to begin with.

Wiikey

I agree, Wiikey is by far the best mod chip out there, Although the delayed updates leaves plenty to be desired.

Personally I wouldn't bother getting one just yet. Your console is still under warranty and there isn't any region specific games that you're going to want to play. The Japanese Wii games aren't as desirable as the hot imports for DS, like Ouendan, Taiko no Tatsujin, etc.


...maybe at the end of the year. In any case Wiikey is probably the best, since I keep hearing things about it. Apparently it only has partial support for games though (but GC games work fine).

Elixir, did you know: modded consoles can be used to play pirated games.

Aardark, did you know: there isn't a large amount of worthwhile games on the Wii worth pirating, to justify modding it, nor is there a large amount of imports to justify it either. And when the good games roll out (at this rate it's few and far between) I'd just buy them.

It's like the Gamecube. Who actually MODDED a freaking Gamecube? When the good games came out, people just bought them.

Still wouldn't recommend it to people with consoles under warranties. It isn't so much the fact that Wiis have a tiny failure rate or anything (even though there's overheating and green pixel issues, they're rare) I'd still take precautions and get the full price of what I paid for out of the console.

Or perhaps the fact that the firmware updates are removing functionality of things like the Freeloader and that you'll end up wasting money on the chip.

Have they done that yet? I heard about them killing the Freeloader, but not modchips for the Wii. Apparently the Wiikey can be updated via burned dvds, to counter stuff like this, according to their description of the thing on their site.

What? No one even mentioned Freeloader. Chips can be updated.

Elixir, what.

First of all, I can guarantee you that Grawl wants a modded console to play games for free, not to import witch rape simulators from Japan.

Secondly, 'there isn't a large enough amount of games to justify modding' is complete nonsense. As far as I know, a chip costs about the same as one game, so unless you plan on buying only one game ever, modding is worth it (in the sense of saving money). Moral issues aside, the only problem is the loss of warranty, but Wii is no 360; it's statistically very unlikely that it will just explode one day.

Thirdly, people didn't mod GameCube because chips weren't widely available, and it used wacky-ass minidiscs. With Wii, it's only a question of ordering a chip, installing it, and burning DVDs.

Also, you like to take precautions, huh? Didn't you destroy someone else's console a while ago in the process of taking precautions?

What.

There's absolutely no point in modding a Wii if there's no good games to pirate.

And the good games should be bought (of course) but since the Wii is so new it doesn't have much on offer. Also, with the Wii you can't rent a game and copy the information to drive and burn it, unless you have a specific dvd burner. I think only certain LG dvd burners work.

Personally I don't want to void my warranty because my country doesn't have a Nintendo base here. It goes through a piss useless secondary company. I'm also not too keen on modding the first version of a console (I modded my PS2, which is SCPH-30001R, and even that's old).

I would mod my Wii and 360 if I knew it was future proof. But seeing as how these consoles are capable of going online, it's a little different. I still say - wait it out. The Wii will get good games, newer modchips will become available, and newer Wii models will become available. It depends on whether you have the following:

- Cash to buy a specific DVD burner and
- Know-how of installing it or
- High speed internet to download games
- Cash for modchip
- Know-how for modding the Wii, or
- Cash to have it installed for you
- Lack of care for warranty

This doesn't kill the whole "Wii not having very many games on offer" thing, but if all these things fit you , then sure, you might as well go for it.

3000get

The only reason I would modify my Wii is for the following reason

To be able to play actual roms on it.

But then again, thats what a modded XBOX is for

Doesn't it only make more sense to pirate a system if there's lots of mediocre games coming out? You know, ones that aren't worth the full sticker price but you want to play them more than you'd be able to with just a rental?

For me, a lot of the wii games have been hit or miss.

Wow, a whole discussion when I didn't realise it.

Anywii, I had my Wii modded last week with a WiiKey. I'm glad I did, so I can enjoy the NTSC version (patched to PAL) of Super Paper Mario, and play Kororinpa. Burned around 10 games or so, and I'm sure it'll be nice to have it modded when games like Metroid 3 or Mario Galaxy get released.

edit: I'm missing one very vital piece of argumentation here - I can now also pirate GC games. There even is a tool to put multiple games on one disc.

Kororinpa has been out in Europe for over 6 months, in fact, it arrived there before America. >_>

Nice. I'm thinking of modding it too, but then again, I wouldn't be able to bring it to my Uni which starts in a few weeks, unless I sneak it out. But just curious, how much did it cost? Did you buy it online and install it yourself?

What's your point? It's just not good enough to buy, but certainly good enough to pirate.

I think he thought you modded in order to play it. He must have misunderstood your post.

edit: With a mod chip, can you emulate games that are available in the VC?

There is a guy in a town nearby (half an hour by train, and we both live near the central stations) that modded the Wii of a housemate and some of his friends. I went there. I had to pay 60 Euros (he gave me a discount of 5 Euros, because I mentioned the guys that pointed me towards him), which leaves me with a one-year warranty only on the chip. He was really professional and quick though. He first tested if my Wii worked to begin with, then he scanned the barcode of my Wii for his database, he installed the chip and showed me the Wii still worked.

So for the price of a game, he installed a chip for me, and I had 10 games burned the day after.

Yes, which pretty much defeats the entire fucking purpose of VC, lol

There's this Gamecube disc with a bunch of SNES roms and an emulator, so basically, if a Wii can read that it can play SNES games. They've also managed to rip the information of actual VC games but there's no way to use them so far. I suppose there will be some way of doing so with SD media in the future.

If you're in a region that usescraiglist you can just do a quick search for "nintendo" or something like that. In my region, there are more than a handful of people who offer modding services for modest prices. The good ones will usually allow you to purchase a mod chip from them, allow you to watch them while they perform the work, and offer a warranty of some kind (one of the listings I saw for my region had something like "if I brick your Wii, you can take mine").

By VC, I'm mostly thinking of N64. Is that possible?

And great site! Someone can do it for $80 and he's practically my neighbour.

~ http://modgameconsole.go.51.net/wii.htm

What?

N64 isn't possible yet properly, I think.

Also, the guy probably means you need a GC memorycard to save GC games. But then again, I bought a 64MB one for 10 Euros.

I love wiikey, It seems the update will come out in a few weeks.

Only few GC games are compatible for wiikey (Games with streaming sound such as Ikaruga)

Grawl, if i were you i'd burn 1 GC game = 1 DVD, that multigame disc, can crap up once in a while, and you wont be able to use it on those two disc games, such as Tales of Symphonia.

As for burning, i dont know if this has been mentioned or not, use IMGburn.

Yea, wasn't able to load the images without it anyway (Nero would load, but fuck up... I had no clue DVD Decrypter was called ImgBurn, I used it for PS2 ISOs).

I found out --or perhaps it was coincidence-- that when I used 16x (MAX) to burn a DVD, it'd crap out. I loaded it, played it, wanted to play it again, it didn't work. Tried another copy (made one for a housemate) and that still worked. I was almost afraid my Wii gave up on me the day after I had it modded, but I found out the DVD was the cause. Can the burning speed affect this?

Anyway, I think I'll stick to one game a disc anyway. It seems more authentic that way.

Additional Spam:
I feel the need to go into detail here. This post is just bullshit.

It's exactly the point.

I found out it had more to offer, just because I was able to try games I'd never buy.

Who rips their games anyway? I learned to use BitTorrent a few years ago.

Mine does. Warranty still broken.

I bought a modded PS2 that's a phat model and I used it ever since to play and finish Kingdom Hearts 2, test around 70 games I burned and will never play, and play quite some hours in Final Fantasy XII. Plus we use it as a DVD-player. And we have our odd game of Buzz, Tekken, Guilty Gear etc. First models are the best, basically.

The thing is, only Donnie Darko does.

The Wii doesn't auto-update like your Vista-system does. It will send you a message, which makes the DVD-drive glow in blue, telling you there is a update, and you're free to install it. Meanwhile I check WiiSO to see if it's safe. If it's not, I won't use it. If a game isn't safe, I won't use it. This isn't Microsoft, it's Nintendo!

Newer models mean more problems. The WiiKey works fine the way it is right now. Just make sure an update is fine. It's not fine? Just make sure the game won't update. A simple tool will do this. Free, easy, effective. Already.

Nah.

Nah... I call it high-speed when I'm at my parent's place, uploading around 1.4 MB/s. I can live with 10 kb/s upload, really. And yet I download games.

I'm not sure if you work at all, but that's just a matter of hours (at most).

See previous point.

What if I have the chip removed?

I've found that Kororinpa is one of the only games actually worth owning on the system. :( Rayman, Monkey Ball, Sonic, Wing Island, all got returned. But Kororinpa! Stays a while, stays forever! Probably because I'm in love with the box.

But didn't your Wii turn itself into ashes or something?

Yeah it's fucked forever, waiting to be traded in towards something. Like a can of beans. But I can still stare at the Kororinpa box on my shelf!

That's because Kororinpa has the best damn boxart EVER. I also think it's the best game for Wii, especially when you use one of the skins, like the pig. *oink oink*
Eledees is pretty fun too, though.

Although I know that Freeloader can be nullified with firmware updates, I'm still looking out for a Wii Freeloader; I don't care much for burning but I'd like to play the American Trauma Centre my cousin got for me while overseas (and big games that come out earlier for US and Japan... WHEN'S MY SMASH BROS COMING OUT, Nintendo of Australia?). Any news on Freeloader Wii lately? Unless the Wii's starting to lose steam and Revolution 360 is announced, modchips are a no-go zone for me.

Shame about Freeloader GCN on the Wii, but that's what a Cube is for!

Only if your Cube lasts forever. I have a big collection of GCN imports, it's seriously bad news for me if Freeloader never becomes compatible with Wii again.

I wouldn't bother getting a Wii modchip either, to be honest. There aren't enough games whether good or bad to justify it. In another year, I might look at one, but who knows.

Look, I'm not the one pirating Wii games here. I would buy them when they came out. But right now I don't like a lot of the Wii games available. Nothing really sticks. It's called "good taste".

uh, lol what

"I have a larger styled PS2 console and it's modded, so the first models are the best" does not equal "I have a larger PS2 console which means it's the first model available."

There's a number of different models (model numbers, this should have been painfully obvious) for the larger PS2, as well as the slimline. They're constantly updating the console and releasing newer versions.

Same with the Wii, there's two versions. One which is the original, another which was released in June that cuts out the ability to mod to some extent.

I'm not in a position to be wasting bandwidth on games I'm only going to play once or twice. If you get an hours enjoyment out of burning a couple of mediocre Wii games, go for it. I still don't see the point. People are weird.

Coincidentally, the only Wii game I own is Kororinpa. PANDA BALL

The point behind piracy is getting something for nothing, or very little. In this case, Wii games. Is it really so hard to understand?

I don't know if you're trying to advocate buying the actual games or if you're just being ridiculously snobby regarding what people play.

Let's be honest here, there's what, about 5-10 Wii games which are actually worth playing, give or take a few? Honestly, there isn't a lot out there. The console is new. Being critical of releases, I'd only play Warioware, Super Paper Mario, and Kororinpa. Maybe Twilight Princess.

I don't see the point in getting a modchipped Wii to play a bunch of mediocre games when you could simply rent them for one or two weeks and be done with it. It's TOO EARLY, it would be like modding a PS3 if it were possible. Whether you're modding to import and buy games out of your own region, or whether you're going to pirate. Either way, not enough games.

And one year on the modchip means one year on the modchip, not the console. But since I haven't heard of Wiis kicking the bucket that probably isn't an issue. Can Nintendo tell if a console has been opened and tampered with (after a modchip has been removed)?

I don't see what your opinion on Wii games has anything to do with what modders want to download.

If you look at game tracker sites, you will notice torrents for the strangest and most godawful games still have a healthy amount of peers (depending on the tracker of course). Once people are allowed to get something for free, they'll pretty much take almost anything, whether to try it out of curiosity or just because they can.

This is for instance comparable to the amount of pining for free stuff (quite literally anything) by customers calling my work or at expos.

What's "worth playing" or not is entirely subjective, so I don't see why you even bring it up. Furthermore, the less a game costs, the more likely you might find yourself trying it out. If the game is effectively free (minus time and the cost of the blank disc) then you might find yourself trying out a whole lot of things! And if you gain enjoyment from said things, hooray, you've recovered the cost of the mod chip.

Renting games costs money! So does buying and installing a mod chip, you might argue. Pirate one or two Wii games that you like and you've recovered the cost. Plus, you still have the game. Rent one or two Wii games and you're out however much it cost to do so, and you have to return the game at some point.

Anyway, whatever. Your money, your Wii, you can do whatever you like. This isn't super serious business.

Indeed.

Yeah, you're right. I'll probably end up modchipping my Wii later in the year since I have a bunch of American Gamecube games I'd like to continue playing (Metroid Prime 1, F-Zero GX, etc). Now that the Freeloader doesn't work they're just going to sit there and collect dust. Plus, finding Gamecube component cables is damn near impossible.

Can someone tell me if I'll have any issues running Super Paper Mario (original american copy) on a PAL Wii with Wiikey? I'm contemplating getting my Wii modded, mostly so that I don't have to worry about my Gamecube any more, but I'd also like to get SPM as well. I heard it's possible to brick the Wii. Any insight?

I'm also contemplating getting a modded Wii, but am still undecided. I would love to buy a US Wii because even if I were to buy all my Wii games from dvdvboxoffice, they'd still cost less than buying PAL games here.

I've found no useful info on what issues this brings with it. Voltage differences, whether VC and online play works at all, if the US Wii even gives out RGB (as I don't have a TV with component input) through scart etc.

This could be solved by getting a PAL Wii that's been modded, but I'm a little unclear on whether this brings more of its own issues with it (besides the whole "hopefully I can choose not to update when I want" thing).

Some games, mostly from Nintendo, has firmware update. So you will have to be careful because games like Super Paper Mario, Pokémon Battle Revolution, Big Brain Academe and Metroid Prime 3 (that's all I remember) will ask you to update in order to play the game. If you try updating a EU Wii with US firmware and vice versa, it will brick your Wii. Best way to avoid this is to use a program that removes the firmware but right now there's no way to remove the firmware update on MP3 (I heard you can go ahead and update it but you'll end up with two news and weather channel; those clone will be useless).

As for playing GCN games using Wiikey, you have to make sure you update your Wiikey firmware to the leaked 1.9b version in order to get most of your GCN games working without any audio issue. Note that with the latest Wii firmware 3.0 U/E/J, Nintendo had made a way to block startup of those boot/install disc but there is a work around.

I think that should answer some question. I'll edit my post when I find more information about it.

If you have to upgrade a game before playing it, how will the modchip counter it?

The Wii has an external power supply, so it SHOULD be able to run in any location with that location's power supply. My Japanese 360 came with a 110v power supply, but I use a 220v power supply which can be bought separately, and it runs fine. I'm pretty sure it applies to all other consoles so long as their power supplies are external.

The modchip doesn't counter it. All current Wii modchip are DVD drive modchip which just allow you to play "backup/burn" disc. I get most of my information from GBAtemp.net so maybe that site could help you or anyone else.

I was talking about using a foreign game on a modchipped PAL Wii. I want to know if I can play Super Paper Mario without anything fucking up.

I think you forgot to mention the sole purpose of this modchip: region free.

Then let me rephrase it: Current Wii modchip just allow you to play burn games from your region. If you want to play a game from other region you might need to patch it for it to work. Right now Wiikey had just release the new setup disc which you can turn on region override but it doesn't work for all games as some people reported.

Some games that I mention before, including US/NA version of Super Paper Mario contain firmware. You need to install it before you can play it. You can use a program to remove the firmware if you have a EU/JP Wii. If you try to install it on a non US Wii it will brick it.

So you should be fine playing SPM if you remove the firmware first... or download the EU version of SPM.

Actually I heard that if you already have the firmware installed, you won't need to worry about Super Paper Mario. As in, I saw someone mention that you should update first before inserting the game, and then you won't need to update at all.

Also, I highly doubt it's possible to use WiiBrickBlocker with a legit copy.

Ok, I just modded my Wii for lulz and because I'm bored and don't really have anything better to do right now.

Everything works so far. Well, sort of. I updated to the unofficial 1.9b firmware and then used the 1.3 config disc to set everything up accordingly - even saw Snes9x listed in there, too. So far I've tried the following Gamecube games, and they all work 100%:

Shikigami no Shiro II (JP)
Ikaruga (JP)
Chibi Robo (US)
F-Zero GX (US)
Metroid Prime 1 (US)

However, F-Zero GX froze at the character select screen before I did the updates. It loaded just like a normal game, but regardless of being in progressive scan mode or not, it still froze. I don't know which update fixed this.

I haven't tried any Wii games yet (haven't downloaded/imported any) but I'm sure they will be fine. In any case I've future-proofed myself in case there's awesome Japanese games which won't be released here but I'll want to play regardless.

It would really be nice to see some homebrew action on the Wii (not GameCube homebrew). I can't wait for them to completely tear a hole in the Wii. I'm getting fed up with the Virtual Console and there are some games I'd like to play but I'm not willing to pay full price for. Yeah and I have a few Japanese GameCube games I can't play with FreeLoader anymore. I think when they release the eventual Black Wii I'll modchip it with a more advanced chip.

BIGcn401 i have some questions

Today i bought Japanese modded Wii.
I bought mainly for two games, MP3 and RE Umbrella Chronicles(REUC).

I use to check games on shop before buying and didnt know anything about modding/firmwaring of Wii.

So i tried MetroidPrime3 it showed DVD icon but no icon of MP3 i clicked it and it started updating, which actually took longer than 360 update.
Then it showed MP3 icon i pressed it and MP3 started , i played it till you get to talk to charatcers in 1st tutorial level.
That was it, my test run was over.
Now its still packed and i am wondering if i have to worry about something?
Like bricking and shit?

Also now u know that i have used update and it works, i need to know the real other reason REUC, will it work smoothly without any tension or should i take care.
I am waiting REUC to hit torrents/net , will dload it ,burn it and play it, so will it work?
Do jap games work normally with no bricking tension on Jap modded Wii?
What if REUC will contain update , should i use the update or not?

After finishing REUC , i will eventually sell Wii back.

And yeah I also tried RE remake original GC , it also worked fine.

Wait, let me get this straight -- you have a japanese NTSC Wii, you inserted Metroid Prime 3 (NTSC US), and installed the (US) firmware update? And your Wii still works?

Normally speaking, you should only install firmware updates that actually correspond to your Wii origin. If you have a japanese Wii, only use japanese firmware. If you have an US Wii, only update with US firmware.

Or did you mean you had a US Wii modded to play japanese games? That does make more sense..

No i have japanese Wii modded.
I have MP3 NTSC/UC version.
I used the update from the MP3DVD(mp3 was downloaded burned and sold in markets ,maybe the pirate MP3 comes comes with all region patch or something?).

Thats the reason i test run games on the shop.
So i installed it there played it and then purchased.


Again what i want to know if Jap REUC will have update should i go ahead and update?

Now i am at 1st planet level in the game.

This is what I heard:
- If you have the latest firmware 3.0E/J and update with MP3 = Two News and Weather Channel which the clone channel will render useless and cannot be deleted.
- If you have firmware 2.2E/J and update with MP3 = BRICK!

And I don't know if REUC will have a firmware update. It's usually games from Nintendo that has firmware.

Basically don't update the Wii firmware via any game. Connect to wifi, and update that way. But first, I'd check around different forums (I can't think of any that I'd bother with aside from blackcats) to see if there's any bricking due to an update. There's always going to be a message pop up asking you if you wish to download the latest update, so that's when you need to be cautious.

Here is a compatbility list, that also lists possible bricking games. But then again, there is some free tool to patch and ISO, so it won't update.

WiiBrickBlocker? I searched around for that but all the download links were dead. Anywho yeah I've heard about it. It won't be too useful on legitimate games though.

Visit WiiSO for all your further modding needs.

Done, but I still can't find the answer I'm looking for. I have a PAL Wii and I recently burned MP3 to a disc. On my Wii, it wants to update. I already have 3.0E though. So the question is, what next? Someone on that forum you linked me to said that they've updated with a PAL console before, but that's just one person. Since you've probably done it before, I need your advice.

Also, sources are telling me that there's no way you can play MP3 properly if you're applying BrickBlocker to it, because it messes up the binary data figure.

In order to play MP3 you HAVE to install the firmware. At GBAtemp.net someone found a way to avoid having the dual News and Weather channel but this involes having the ISO of the game and making two burned copies.

Bah, I'll just have duplicate Weather channels then. I don't care.

I might have got 'No Access' to channels, but i didn't buy Wii for channels or any VC stuff.
Being playing MP3 now at 2nd planet.
Some one ponted out game being hanging after PED suit, but it didn't hang on me.

After reading all above posts and links, i guess i am lucky to play MP3, it seems modding is mess.

I am dloading REUC right now released by dreamz group, the poster said about SMG patch in the game.

Does it work on my system or need an other fix?

I'm about to mod my Wii and I was wondering if this was a decent deal.

My wii is "legless", and I think I'll be getting the Wiikey. So it'll be about 60-70 CAD. Is that around the usual price? Also, looking around, there are different chips that are almost double this price of the Wiikey, what's the benefits from getting such an expensive chip (Wasabi $80) when I just want the basic function (playing backups)? Or does it depend on if my Wii can just use the chip or not.

Also, I heard a while ago that the retail Brawl didn't work with the Wiikey. Is that fixed?

Thanks a lot!