I've read through alot of the threads & don't know where to start. I think it needs to be updated in a new thread for people just getting a Wii. Starting from how to back up games, if they can be put on an SD card or hard drive, need a mod chip or soft mod? All this in one place would be the best for those of us just starting with the Wii.
I went through the same thing with my PS2 so many threads telling me I had to be a computer programmer to figure out how to play backup games. When it was done it was so easy , buy hd advance & a hard drive and go. Does anyone know the easiest least steps to play games on the Wii? thanks
Is something like this what you were looking for? My general info post answers most of the newbie questions and points you to the information for anything else.
My generic copypaste newbie answer
Hardmodding, or installing a modchip:
Before choosing a modchip it is important to know what chipset your wii is. Entering your wii's serial number here http://www.wiidrives.com/list will give you a pretty good idea what chipset you have. If you cannot do this for some reason then there are a handful of chips that support all chipsets.
If you have an earlier wii, then a wiikey is probably the way to go. But the Wiikey only works on DMS, D2A and D2B chipsets. If you have a D2C, D2C2 or a D2E then you need a different modchip. D2Pro 9 wire, wiikey2 and the newest wasabi version support all current chipsets. Also, if you have a D2C or later you don't have to worry about cut pins. Only some D2B chipsets had cut legs. Cut lets made it more difficult to mod the console.
If you are bad at soldering then something to keep in mind is a wii-clip. Solder the clip to your modchip and then you wont have to solder anything to the console. It makes an install MUCH easier, though does have the drawbacks of coming loose and being generally less reliable.
Advantages to softmodding are that you dont need to buy anything (aside from an SD card and zelda twilight princess to run the twilight hack) and you dont have to open up the wii to do it.
Disadvantages are that game compatibility is not perfect with the backup loader and load times are longer than with a chip.
Other mod methods:
There is a new method that will be coming out called the flatmii. Not much is known about this yet as it has not been released yet, but it claims to be a replacment for the wii's DVD drive that allows you to stream game ISOs directly to the wii from your PC via USB. Discussion thread and info here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/735297
At the current time THERE ARE NO WII FIRMWARE UPDATES THAT CAN DETECT MODCHIPS. This may change in the future but for the time being it stands. Some newer games can detect some older modchips (giving error 001) but this can be fixed on some modchips by updating the chip's firmware.
You can safely allow the console to do updates from a game so long and ONLY SO LONG as the game you are updating is from the same region as your console. Updating with a firmware from a different region can brick or semi-brick your console and should never be attempted.
A semi-bricked console can be fixed by running a later update than the one that bricked the console from the proper region. Example: You have a NTSC console at firmware 3.1 and update it with the PAL version of 3.2. The console is now semi-bricked. Games still play but the wii settings cannot be accessed. If you run the NTSC 3.3 firmware it will fix the console.
There are also homebrew programs that can fix a semi-bricked wii. But if you do not already have the homebrew channel installed before the semi-brick occured it is rather difficult to install it.
Questions on firmware 3.3 and 3.4:
Wii firmware 3.3 wet briefly blocked the twilight hack (not gonna explain what that is here, if you don't know search for it) but the hack has been fixed now and will work again. And it blocks truncha signed disks. Truncha disks can still be run by loading them through the gecko OS on the homebrew channel. Scrubbed and brickblocked disks still work. If you want more info on truncha and scrubbed disks search for them. As was said earlier, NO FIRMWARE UPDATES CAN DETECT MODCHIPS, AND THIS INCLUDES FIRMWARE 3.3.
Firmware 3.4 again blocked the twilight hack and blocked the installation of wads. The twilight hack was again fixed and wad installers are fixed by installing IOS16, a speical wad patch that can still be installed on 3.4. Also, the twilight hack version for 3.4 is specific to that firmware and cannot be used on earlier versions.
Online play:
Online play with a modchip and a backup copy of a game works exactly the same as it does on an unmodded console with an original copy of the game. It works just fine and you won't get banned.
Gamecube game backups can be safely run from any region without fear of bricking because none of them have updates. They can also be burned on normal sized DVDs, and more than 1 can be burned to a single disk using GCOS.
Updating the modchip:
Not all modchips can be updated. There is a very nice for updating the wiikey here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/597460 but some D2C chips cannot be updated. Others lack the ability to update from a DVD and instead use a USB ribbon cable that connects to the PC. Not going to go into all the details here. Again, if you need the info try searching for it.
Backing Up Games:
First off is downloading or backing up your games. If you choose to download one you will most likely get a collection of rar files. There's a guide on what to do with them to get the iso file here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/555919
Backing up your games is a little more complex, but there are 3 ways to go about doing it.
First off remember that most DVD drives cannot read wii disks. In fact, only 4 models of DVD drive can read them, and they can be somewhat hard to track down. If you do get one though, you can dump the wii game to an iso using rawdump2.0 or friidump.
The second option is to use an SD Gecko, its a gamecube memory card with an SD slot. If you have a modded console you can run a homebrew program that will dump an iso of the game in your wii console to the SD card in the Gecko.
Finally there is a program run through the homebrew channel that can dump games from the wii directly to your PC via wifi. Guide to using this program is found here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/701082
Burning Games.
Once you have your iso image the process of burning the game is simpler. Any DVD burner will work for burning wii games. Simply load up imgburn or nero and burn your iso file. I recommend burning at 4x to reduce errors. The brand of the disk used is also important. Verbatum DVD-R is preferred by most, but +R is fine as well. Don't bother with the off-brand disks as you'll probably end up with a bunch of coasters.
Thanks for a quick response. Is the softmod the way to go in? Like I said before I just want to play backups. Do you have to have the LG drive or a certain media for backups? thanks again
Originally posted by paz21paz: Thanks for a quick response. Is the softmod the way to go in? Like I said before I just want to play backups. Do you have to have the LG drive or a certain media for backups? thanks again
I already answered both of those questions.
Originally posted by penguin98: Backing Up Games:
First off is downloading or backing up your games. If you choose to download one you will most likely get a collection of rar files. There's a guide on what to do with them to get the iso file here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/555919
Backing up your games is a little more complex, but there are 3 ways to go about doing it.
First off remember that most DVD drives cannot read wii disks. In fact, only 4 models of DVD drive can read them, and they can be somewhat hard to track down. If you do get one though, you can dump the wii game to an iso using rawdump2.0 or friidump.
The second option is to use an SD Gecko, its a gamecube memory card with an SD slot. If you have a modded console you can run a homebrew program that will dump an iso of the game in your wii console to the SD card in the Gecko.
Finally there is a program run through the homebrew channel that can dump games from the wii directly to your PC via wifi. Guide to using this program is found here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/701082
Burning Games.
Once you have your iso image the process of burning the game is simpler. Any DVD burner will work for burning wii games. Simply load up imgburn or nero and burn your iso file. I recommend burning at 4x to reduce errors. The brand of the disk used is also important. Verbatum DVD-R is preferred by most, but +R is fine as well. Don't bother with the off-brand disks as you'll probably end up with a bunch of coasters.
Thats what i mean its so hard to find info. Why does everyone just keep quoting a thread from over a year ago and not answer a simple question. The reason I ask is because in the OVER 100 page thread they talk about not having to have the LG drive anymore. Sorry if I sound rude I'm not trying to be just tired of everyone acting like quoting that thread is gona make it easier to understand since I have read the thread just wanting to clarify. thanks
Originally posted by penguin98: First off remember that most DVD drives cannot read wii disks. In fact, only 4 models of DVD drive can read them, and they can be somewhat hard to track down. If you do get one though, you can dump the wii game to an iso using rawdump2.0 or friidump.
The second option is to use an SD Gecko, its a gamecube memory card with an SD slot. If you have a modded console you can run a homebrew program that will dump an iso of the game in your wii console to the SD card in the Gecko.
Finally there is a program run through the homebrew channel that can dump games from the wii directly to your PC via wifi. Guide to using this program is found here http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/701082
And since you probably arent going to read it, I'll break it down real simply.
Those are 3 different ways to back up wii games. If you want to do the first method then you're going to need the LG drive. If you do either of the other methods then you dont need it.
If you'd read and think about what I already said that would be very clear.
And for the record, I didn't reference a year old thread. I update my generic newbie answer all the time. And the thread in that link to back up the wii game via wifi is only from September and still very current.
I know I did get rather snippy but you obviously did not read very well. The question on the media was very clearly answered. And you also did not follow the links I gave you before reasking the questions either because they answer your questions as well.
I dont mean to turn you away from the forums. We ask questions and thats how we learn. But we also have to pay attention when we get an answer. I know that trying to read a 100+ page thread is a very frustrating experience, and I've been there. But that is why I keep my newbie answer up to date and reference only recent threads when possible.
If you have any further questions feel free to ask, just take it slow and really read things. When someone says that the answer is there it usually is.
