You can use DNS settings to block updates (and the eShop), but they should still allow you to connect to game servers to play online. At least Super Mario Maker and Smash work for me.
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Wii U HOMEBREW Discussion Thread [exploits/apps/games/stuff]
- Thread starter Robin64
- Start date
You can use DNS settings to block updates (and the eShop), but they should still allow you to connect to game servers to play online. At least Super Mario Maker and Smash work for me.
Skyfireblaze
Member
Well... If you're dumping your own games, they will come with the tickets themselves. I don't think the process is "morally iffier" than using USB Loader GX for Wii games or installing your games as CIAs on 3DS, but that's just me. You draw the line where you see fit
Oh so the tickets are on the disc? o.o That's interesting, I'll sleep over it
suikodan
Member
And is the homebrew permanent or I have to "activate it" each time at bootup?
Oh so the tickets are on the disc? o.o That's interesting, I'll sleep over it
Now that we can dump our own WUDs with Wudumper, we can get our own tickets and not rely on having to acquire them "somewhere else".
Mind you, Wii U tickets are not exactly the same as 3DS tickets. You don't need them to download content from Nintendo's servers, like you do on 3DS. You need them to validate the installation of a game onto the Home Menu: if they are completely valid, you don't need signature patching to play the games; if they are not valid ("fake"), you need signature patches to make the Wii U think they are legit (aka "CFW").
If you're using the USB method with "legit" games, you can install them with regular homebrew access through the web browser. If you want to install games or apps with fake tickets, you can use Haxchi to install a permanent, offline homebrew access point, to boot into a CFW or The Homebrew Launcher (or both... or whatever you want, really).
Just tried wuddump for CEMU purposes.
CEMU can't seem to open the encrypted WUDs without crashing.
but extracting the game WUD and loading the .rpx works fine though.
also dumping via USB is much faster than SD, well from what I can tell, lol.
took like 3hours instead of 5.
EDIT2: CEMU can open the WUDs fine. Don't add keys to .txt file while CEMU is open, lol.
CEMU can't seem to open the encrypted WUDs without crashing.
but extracting the game WUD and loading the .rpx works fine though.
also dumping via USB is much faster than SD, well from what I can tell, lol.
took like 3hours instead of 5.
EDIT2: CEMU can open the WUDs fine. Don't add keys to .txt file while CEMU is open, lol.
Pancakes R Us
Member
Thanks, that's good to know.
Do WUD dumps have to converted into the .app installable format?
So just to confirm, if I dump my own discs directly, I don't need to worry about tickets?Well... If you're dumping your own games, they will come with the tickets themselves. I don't think the process is "morally iffier" than using USB Loader GX for Wii games or installing your games as CIAs on 3DS, but that's just me. You draw the line where you see fit
Thanks.
With FIX94's Wudump and wud2app you have everything you need to dump your game and install it on your HDD
I *think* you still need to modify the ticket in order to install the game, though. It's a simple hex edit that bypasses the Wii U's checks while not breaking the "legitimacy" of the ticket. There is at least a tool to make this automatically once you have the ticket, if Wudump doesn't do it by itself.
With FIX94's Wudump and wud2app you have everything you need to dump your game and install it on your HDD
I *think* you still need to modify the ticket in order to install the game, though. It's a simple hex edit that bypasses the Wii U's checks while not breaking the "legitimacy" of the ticket. There is at least a tool to make this automatically once you have the ticket, if Wudump doesn't do it by itself.
You don't need to modify the tickets any more, it turned out that DiscU was saving the tickets incorrectly and the hex edits were just changing the ticket back to what it should be. The latest version saves them properly, but wud2app does the same thing and I found it worked on at least one game that DiscU couldn't handle, so it's probably better to use that.
Awesome. To be honest, I haven't tried using wud2app yet. I've only had experience with Crediar's DiscU when it was first released.
Muskieratboi
Member
Bucket-o-roadkill
Member
As someone who got Loadiine going a few months ago just fine, I find these new methods just baffling. I've gone through tutorial after tutorial and just can't get my head around this. Need to find literally a completely bare bones guide for idiots such as myself.
I love playing around with this kind of thing but draw the line at dabbling too much if I don't understand it somewhat. Loadiine was dead easy but would much prefer to use these later methods. I'll keep searching. I don't know if I'm just thick or if it's overly daunting or what.
I love playing around with this kind of thing but draw the line at dabbling too much if I don't understand it somewhat. Loadiine was dead easy but would much prefer to use these later methods. I'll keep searching. I don't know if I'm just thick or if it's overly daunting or what.
What is exactly what's giving you so much trouble? Point me at a specific problem and I'll try to help you
For the record, I think Loadiine is far more complicated than the USB method. It's much more fickle and has far less compatibility, I think.
Bucket-o-roadkill
Member
What is exactly what's giving you so much trouble? Point me at a specific problem and I'll try to help you
For the record, I think Loadiine is far more complicated than the USB method. It's much more fickle and has far less compatibility, I think.
Really? Well ok, for a start with Haxchi: This is interesting as it stops the web stuff. Although not THAT much of a big deal for me as I had a way around this anyway - I used my pc running a web exploit server incase it ever disappeared from the web. I'm interested in Retroarch - Can that be run without having to do any Haxchi stuff and just using the access method I have to the homebrew channel already?
Anyway - So I'll have to get a DS game, so I'll have to unblock all my dns settings. Once I've got a DS game and started the Haxchi install process, it seems to modify the rom to launch a fw.img file. There is no fw.img in any Haxchi zips I've downloaded..? What? Will I risk bricking the system doing this without a fw.img? Where could i grab a safe fw.img?
This is before I've even thought about replacing all my back up loadiine enabled games with ones with 'tickets', etc, which I understand is a slow process to get from my disks? Pretty annoying when I have them there on SD already, just to get them all on a much bigger USB storage solution (which would be great long term I admit!)
Forgive me, I'm confused as to why the Loadiine method is more complicated than this? The only added bonus for myself I can see is the extra storage of using a USB device to hold my disk games. I just don't want to spend literally days to end up in a situation not too different than what I have now...
Well, first of all, yes, RetroArch can be used without Haxchi, just with the regular web exploit. But Haxchi has its own set of advantages that make it the superior option (IMO). For starters, you can boot into a signature patched Home Menu, which allows you to install The Homebrew Launcher as a system title, meaning you can boot it directly without having to go through the web exploit. Granted, the only scenario that takes full advantage of this is if you're coldbooting into patched sysNAND.
RPX RetroArch has better compatibility than the ELF versions, though. I think you need a patched sysNAND to use them, but I may be mistaken.
Unfortunately, fw.img has to be compiled by the user, since it contains copyrighted data. But luckily, Dimok has created a completely copyright-content-free signature patcher that can be used instead of the fw.img. When you make you configuration for your Haxchi install, make it point by default to that file instead of the fw.img and it should boot automatically into it.
You have two options to "transform" your physical games into digital versions. The first one is to dump your games with Wudump, turn them into .app installable files with wud2app and then install them with Wudinstaller Y Mod. You don't need to modify your tickets for this to work, since Wudump does it automatically. The (shadier) alternative is to use a tool like Wii U USB Helper to download the files from Nintendo's servers, which is more of a grey moral area but a much faster method for getting your games into a digital format.
Easy of use and access is one of the main advantages, if you ask me. Once you have the games installed on your HDD, they behave the same as any game downloaded from the eShop. You don't need to boot the Homebrew Launcher and then another app to play them. Morever, compatibility is 100% perfect, while Loadiine is slow to load, very fickle about the names of the folders and not fully compatible with every game.
Think of the two methods like this: the USB method is like having a shortcut to a game on your desktop. Loadiine is like having to first boot up Steam and then boot up Steam Big Picture to be able to load your game
Bucket-o-roadkill
Member
Honestly, there are so many different variables here. Before you told me users had to compile their own fw.img files, I had no idea. No tutorials I found mentioned anything about that. Surely that could be a way of bricking your machine if you get that wrong? Sysnand and rednand also make my head spin, I read somewhere rednand is safer because if you fuck it up, the sysnand is fine, I then read that the actual process of setting up a rednand can brick your machine!
Same with a couple of different versions of Retroarch, had no idea.
Again, signature patching, downloading straight from Nintendo itself (can they not trace this? I mean wow!)
I think I may just carry on with loadiine until things stop progressing so much and a more established 'one common way' of doing things comes about, I'm sure it's not as complicated as I'm making it in my mind, but I cannot see how this is more simple than using the loadiine method, lol!
edit - I want to thank Joey Ravn for your help and links, incredibly valuable! I'll have a sit down over weekend and try and get my head around it when my heads a bit clearer!
Same with a couple of different versions of Retroarch, had no idea.
Again, signature patching, downloading straight from Nintendo itself (can they not trace this? I mean wow!)
I think I may just carry on with loadiine until things stop progressing so much and a more established 'one common way' of doing things comes about, I'm sure it's not as complicated as I'm making it in my mind, but I cannot see how this is more simple than using the loadiine method, lol!
edit - I want to thank Joey Ravn for your help and links, incredibly valuable! I'll have a sit down over weekend and try and get my head around it when my heads a bit clearer!
Well, you only need to use a custom fw.img if you're planning on running a signature-patched sysNAND or a RedNAND. If you're simply using legit games with the USB method, it's not needed.
AFAIK, the method used for creating a RedNAND can't brick your console. Using a fw.img can't either, unless you are coldbooting and don't have the setup properly configured (but that's more on the coldboot itself rather on the fw.img). I've been used a patched sysNAND for weeks now and as long as you don't try to install any system application, the chances of you bricking are very, very slim.
RPX is the native application format used by the Wii U OS. RPX RetroArch has better compatibility, but it's in a very experimental phase right now.
I don't think Nintendo can do anything except blocking access to the NUS, since you're using a PC to download the content.
D
Deleted member 126221
Unconfirmed Member
Not yet to my knowledge.
Elaugaufein
Member
Is it possible to inject Wii games into the Wii U VC thing ala Xenoblade Chronicles ?
Read some of my posts above. I go into detail about the differences between the current methods and Loadiine. In a nutshell, RetroArch can be used with the gamepad. You can load it either via the browser exploit or installing Haxchi, which exploit a vulnerability in the DS Virtual Console to load unsigned content.
Nope. Not yet, at least.
Yeah, I used some of your info and found some Youtube videos and am currently jumping on with Haxchi.
Thanks
I made these custom icons to use with RetroArch cores, just replace the ugly icon inside each core: icon.png :3
RetroArch_custom_icons pack
RetroArch_custom_icons pack
There's a proof of concept PSX core, but it's pretty pretty slow, running on interpreter mode, so yeah more a future proof thing.
FIX94 has just released Coldboot Haxchi (CBHC). It's a VERY easy way to setup a coldboot IOSU exploit using Haxchi. You don't even need to compile a fw.img. Just install Haxchi, then install CBHC and, after rebooting, select "Autoboot: System Menu" and you're done.
MilkLizard
Member
Sorry for the dumb question but I'm a bit out of the loop with the WiiU.
That big IOSU exploit everyone seems to be talking about for months is not out yet, right? Or is there already a noob friendly way to hack you WiiU?
Again sorry for dumb questions.
That big IOSU exploit everyone seems to be talking about for months is not out yet, right? Or is there already a noob friendly way to hack you WiiU?
Again sorry for dumb questions.
The IOSU exploit has been "out" for a month or so, actually. Easiest way to hack your Wii U right now, for homebrew at least, is to use FIX94's Haxchi. The most current version at the time of writing is 2.3. You need a DS Virtual Console game. You put the files on your SD and boot the installer through the Homebrew Launcher (using the browser is the easiest way if you don't have any other hack set up). The installer will take care of everything on its own. That will give you a quick, offline and stable way to access the Homebrew Launcher without having to rely on the web browser. You can configure other shortcuts (for example, pressing A, B or any other button) so you can use it to launch other apps as well.
If you want to run backups, then there are other things you can do, though not as easy as Haxchi.
bloody amazing, thank you sir!
MilkLizard
Member
Thanks a lot for this. Guess I know what I'll do when I get home.
I don't care for backups at the moment but emulators would be nice.
I want to try this out soon, but I was curious about something. Right now I've got a 100GB or something external HD plugged into my Wii U with a couple games installed. Can I use this same external HD for game backups to run via homebrew?
I wanna buy a big proper HD at some point if I get this set up, but I can't afford it right NOW, which is why I'm asking if I can use the one ive got now.
I wanna buy a big proper HD at some point if I get this set up, but I can't afford it right NOW, which is why I'm asking if I can use the one ive got now.
Yes, although you don't need homebrew to use backups (unless you're talking about Loadiine). The USB method (aka the "Brazilian method") doesn't require the use of IOSU exploits. It actually predates the release of RedNAND by a couple days.
As I said before, you can use Wudumper to dump your games into WUD files and then convert them into installable files with wud2app, or use a tool like Wii U USB Helper to download the games from the NUS directly as .app files.
Gotcha, thanks! I DO need RedNAND in order to use Wii U USB Helper though, correct?
Nope. You only need a signature-patched NAND (either Red or sys) if you're going to use games that don't have both an eShop and a physical release, i.e. VC games, eShop-only titles or games not found on the NUS.
The "USB method" doesn't require any hack, besides being able to boot into the Homebrew Launcher to install the games with Wupinstaller. And dump them with Wudump, if you're going that route. Take a look here.
Mithos
Member
Do you need to think about anything if you say want to install a game that you already have played and have savegame/updates already installed for it?
Currently ex, Wind Waker HD savegame and "install/update" on WiiU flash, thinking about hooking up a HDD and have all gamedata on that.
Ahhh, gotcha. So if I wanted to mess with VC titles, or Japanese titles, I'd need to set up a CFW?
I appreciate all the answers a lot, by the way. This whole process seemed pretty simple to me at first, but now there's all this new CFW stuff going on and it seems a bit more complicated to me than the homebrew stuff in the first post on this thread.
Just make sure to have the save data on the USB before installing the games. If you move it after the game is installed, it will overwrite the installation and you'll have to install the whole game again.
Yeah, those need CFW. But with CBHC it's easier than ever to set up a coldboot signature-patched CFW
Bucket-o-roadkill
Member
Me again.. Lol. A quick question regarding this, what's the deal with updates? If I dump my disk, do I just not update it? I saw a tutorial where a guy shows the process of dumping disk, creating the app, then installing onto the wii u, he then starts installing an update afterwards, I didn't see any part of that being dumped?
I guess I'm asking how to the updates get dumped and installed, and do you have to them in them incremental order or just the latest one?
Honestly, I don't know if updates get dumped. I wouldn't think so, since Wudumper dumps discs, and discs don't contain updates. When can just download the update from the eShop as you normally do with any game on disc, though.
I made these custom icons to use with RetroArch cores, just replace the ugly icon inside each core: icon.png :3
RetroArch_custom_icons pack
Thanks for all of these! Hopefully they figure out how to get a 2nd controller working, would love to play some 2 player games.
Pancakes R Us
Member
Thanks for this, as always, Joey. That Haxchi link says the following:
CBHC sounds a little scary for me because of this. Is it needed to dump / play your own disc dumps?
stan423321
Member
I may be wrong, but the idea is that coldboot haxchi is only needed if you want, well, a coldboot. If you are fine with manually launching an exploit, waiting some time after launching your Wii U (and I think in case of dimok's branch of stuff not even too long of a time), and sacrificing some space on SD card, you get all the functionality with almost none of the risk. And disc dumps in particular seem to have a major screw up that may work without even all that past install anyway.
No. In order to dump your discs you just need access to an entrypoint for the exploit, which can be easily done with the browser and the Homebrew Launcher.
CBHC is working perfectly fine for me, though. I'll wait a bit to see how Mocha turns out, especially everything related to the redirection of the SEEPROM.
What's new about this one?
Well, for starters, you can dump your OTP and SEEPROM to an SD card and redirect them from there. Meaning RedNAND may actually be useful now if Nintendo issues an update. The way the Wii U works is that it needs to update both the firmware and the SEEPROM, or else you get a brick. If you updated RedNAND without updating the SEEPROM, you'd brick your RedNAND.
I'm sticking with CBHC for the time being, though. It's quick, easy and does everything I need it to do.
Pancakes R Us
Member
Thanks again. I'm still a little worried about it all. May make some time after Christmas but first I'll need to do a lot more research and list out the ways I'm gonna do this.
We totally need an idiot's guide like the OG Wii Homebrew guide.
Mithos
Member
Thanks, will scribble that down so I wont do any mistakes.
This guide is as newbie-friendly as it gets right now
Could be a good idea to add it to the OP, too.