Wii soft modding

[Bernie]

SO, yeah.  I have been messing with my Wii lately, seeing as how I will be getting a Wii U soon.  I soft modded it yesterday, and installed a bunch of apps.  Emulation on this thing is awesome.  WiiMednafen is bad ass.  Who else here has done this?  Any tips for a newbie to this?    I gotta head to work, but I will update more as I play with it more. 

[bob]

I love my Wii emulation.  I mean, how else can I play Stadium Events???   

Seriously though, i have a wii that is solely for emulation.  I didn't want any new games to wipe out the homebrew channel with system updates.

[Bernie]

Its pretty sweet.  I'm running in the latest firmware, 4.3.  I can't wait to get home so I can mess with it more.

[Opethian]

I havent mess with the homebrew channel since SSBB came out. Maybe I should update and check out the new emulators. Back then only the gamecube controller worked for most of the emulators.

[Burnt Lasagna]

The Wii has an outstanding homebrew scene! I'd go as far as saying it's the reason to own a Wii.
Seeing as how you already have WiiMednafen, I'd recommend...


Genesis Plus GX

http://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/

This is an enhanced port of Genesis Plus. It's capable of emulating the Genesis / Mega Drive, Sega/Mega CD, Master System, Game Gear & SG-1000 (including all unlicensed or pirate known dumps), also supporting backwards compatibility modes when available.

It is, quite frankly, the most accurate 8-16bit Sega emulator ever written.

Snes9x GX

http://code.google.com/p/snes9x-gx/

A Super Nintendo emulator based on Snes9x, ported to the Wii and GameCube. The GUI is powered by libwiigui.

FCE Ultra GX

FCE Ultra GX is an NES emulator based on FCEUX. With it you can play NES games on your Wii/GameCube. The GUI is powered by libwiigui.

RetroArch Wii


http://wiibrew.org/wiki/RetroArch_Wii

RetroArch is a modular multi-system emulator system that is designed to be fast, lightweight and portable. This Wii port can run cores for a large number of systems, including CPS1, CPS2, and NEOGEO.
The following emulators/games have been ported to RetroArch and are included in the Wii release of RetroArch:

    Final Burn Alpha Cores (CPS1 - CPS2 - NeoGeo) [version 0.2.97.26]
    FCEUmm (Nintendo Entertainment System) [recent SVN version]
    Gambatte (Game Boy | Super Game Boy | Game Boy Color) [version 0.5.0 WIP]
    Genesis Plus GX (Sega SG-1000 | Master System | Game Gear | Genesis/Mega Drive | Sega CD) [version 1.7.0]
    SNES9x Next (Super Nintendo/Super Famicom)
    VBA Next (Game Boy Advance)
    Prboom (for playing Doom 1/Doom 2/Ultimate Doom/Final Doom)
    Mednafen PCE Fast (PC Engine/PC Engine CD/Turbografx 16)
    Mednafen Wonderswan (WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color/WonderSwan Crystal)

Aside from emulation, I'd recommend installing a CIOS for running Wii games off a USB HDD,
d2x-cios

http://code.google.com/p/d2x-cios/

This is a custom IOS for the Wii console, i.e. an IOS modified to add some new features not available in the official IOS.
This custom IOS has been made to be used ONLY with homebrew software.
The d2x cIOS is an enhanced version of the cIOSX rev21 by Waninkoko.

Also a Custom MIOS for running Gamecube games off a USB HDD,
DIOS MIOS

http://code.google.com/p/diosmios/

DIOS MIOS (Lite) - Play your Nintendo GameCube games on Wii from an USB device or SD card

and finally a loader for actoully loading the Wii/GC games.
USB Loader GX

http://code.google.com/p/usbloader-gui/

This is a program to be loaded on a Wii console. The main purpose of this program is to load Wii games from a USB hard drive, but it includes much more than that.

Make sure you know what your doing first before installing CIOS/DIOS MIOS, since you could brick the Wii if you're stupid about it.

[Bernie]

Thanks BL!  I have a few of those emulators, but I'll grab the others.  I don't think I'll be playing from the hard drive.  Wii games are cheap enough that I can just buy em, and I have a GameCube.  Emulation was my main goal. 

[Burnt Lasagna]

I don't think I'll be playing from the hard drive.  Wii games are cheap enough that I can just buy em, and I have a GameCube.  Emulation was my main goal. 

I wasn't recommending piracy.
I use it because it's a nice means of backing up your collection onto one drive and it's very convenient. 

[storino03]

I soft-modded my wii as well. I'm finally using it again. Playing Xenoblade Chronicles on a flash drive (I have the game sealed).

[magnuslee]

Thanks burnt lasagna. I wanted to learn more about soft modding a wii. Those links you suggested seem like good starting off points.

[Bernie]

https://sites.google.com/site/completesg/

Use this for the initial soft modding to get the homebrew channel and a couple other things.  Its pretty straight forward.  I did it in about 15 minutes the first time I tried.  I also have some app packs I can share if yA want.  Once you install the HB channel, the apps are pretty easy.  Homebrew browser is an awesome one to install as well.

[roflmao]

Thanks for that site, Bernie.  Now I have a reason to pick up a Wii.

[Jibbajaba]

I actually just soft-modded mine last night.  It's OK. I prefer my modded Xbox as it looks better on an HDTV.  The fact that the Wii only outputs 480p is a real downer.

Chris

[ProfessorProfessorson]

How fast are the emus running on this Bernie? Fast enough that it would be worth ditching my Mame/Nebula box in favor of a Wii? HD TV ability is not important, as I use my emu box on my SD CRT tv anyway, so if this could surpass my current box I may be interested in doing this too.

[Bernie]

How fast are the emus running on this Bernie? Fast enough that it would be worth ditching my Mame/Nebula box in favor of a Wii? HD TV ability is not important, as I use my emu box on my SD CRT tv anyway, so if this could surpass my current box I may be interested in doing this too.

Everything I have ran, including CD games for the Turbo, have ran at full speed with zero issues. 

[Burnt Lasagna]

Fast enough that it would be worth ditching my Mame/Nebula box in favor of a Wii?

MAME is definitely not one of the Wii's strong point's.
8-16bit hardware is the most bullet proof on the Wii (especially Genesis Plus GX and Wiimednafen).
The Wii can also still output in 240p component video, which looks fantastic on a CRT TV.