THE BORE

General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Eel O'Brian on September 07, 2008, 06:53:37 PM

Title: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 07, 2008, 06:53:37 PM
I'm impressed.  I was checking out the browser where you can download games/utilities/etc, and downloaded the Quake port.  Whoever did that conversion is pretty good, the response time on the wagglestick was excellent.

Seems to be a lot of stuff available - media players especially, but some of it seems sketchy enough that it might crash the system.  Does anyone have any favorite emulators?

Leave it to the hackers to make the Wii a useful system.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on September 07, 2008, 06:56:12 PM
I think the NES emulator is pretty good because it has an aspect ratio fix for wide screen mode so I don't need to get out my old remote.  I don't remember what it was called, but I think there is only that one emulator.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 07, 2008, 06:58:40 PM
these use the same type of roms as pc/psp/etc, right?  So I could just transfer some of the roms I play on my psp emulators straight over?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on September 07, 2008, 07:05:36 PM
Yeah, but I don't know if your saves will also transfer or not.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 07, 2008, 07:07:48 PM
that's fine, i just want to mess around a bit with them

haha, there's like five different nes emulators available on the browser now
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 07, 2008, 07:10:51 PM
Saves are compatible with all emulators, along with ROMs, they share the same file format

I'm probably gonna DL that Groovin Blocks WiiWare that comes out this week... seems cool
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 07, 2008, 07:16:27 PM
when you delete those wiiware and vc channels/games from your wii, you do it like you normally would, right?  I have this app called wad manager that installs/uninstalls wads, but i don't want to jack anything up if i delete this stuff through the wii itself
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on September 07, 2008, 07:16:39 PM
I'm out of touch with this stuff then.  One day when I'm lazy and don't feel like playing an emulator on my PC I will update them on my Wii.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 07, 2008, 07:17:14 PM
when you delete those wiiware and vc channels/games from your wii, you do it like you normally would, right?  I have this app called wad manager that installs/uninstalls wads, but i don't want to jack anything up if i delete this stuff through the wii itself

Use the Wad Manager to uninstall them, dont do it through the Wii
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 07, 2008, 07:22:11 PM
gotcha, thanks
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 07, 2008, 07:27:07 PM
The reason for this is because when you install stuff, legit or not, it leaves a "ticket" which is some stupid thing that says you bought something (maybe it goes beyond that), and if you uninstall stuff via the Wii, you leave behind these bastard tickets (unlike the legit ones you would leave when you DL'd something legit) and if you try to install stuff over it then your tickets will be all clogged then you run into issues and other shit.

I think
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 08, 2008, 09:11:24 PM
I played that Groovin Blocks... how the hell do you screw up Lumines
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on September 08, 2008, 10:27:57 PM
put it on the wii
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 08, 2008, 11:02:34 PM
have you got a link to a good tutorial? and can i still do homebrew if i installed a firmware update circa smash brothers or something? i've got a modded xbox that's better for emulation, but i might as well get some use out of the pee oh ess
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 08, 2008, 11:07:30 PM
Yeah man, it's easy and can be installed as of current firmware

Here's what you need

LEGEND OF ZELDA TWILIGHT PRINCESS

TWILIGHT HACK -- http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Twilight_Hack

Follow the instructions, download the file that applies to you, it's easy to do

THE HOMEBREW CHANNEL -- http://hbc.hackmii.com/

Copy the boot.elf file to the root of your SD card (everything else is fluff and not required), then run the twilight hack, install Channel and you are done!

When installed:

* Make folder called apps

* Put apps in different folders - e.g. f:/apps/wadmanager/

WAD MANAGER -- http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Homebrew_apps/WAD_Manager

* Make folder in root called wads - e.g. f:/wads/

Put .wad files (wiiware, VC games) in this directory

Run WAD Manager, and follow instructions in the README (seriously read it)


That's all you need
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 08, 2008, 11:12:47 PM
nice -- thanks dude. i'll have to go rent twilight princess
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 08, 2008, 11:15:43 PM
I cant point you in any direction of good homebrew and stuff, but I am sure wiibrew would have some nice details. Eel would be able to help too. I just DL WiiWare games... or, a game every 3 months, lol
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 09, 2008, 01:20:55 AM
You can download emulators straight off the homebrew channel, I have tried the NES, SNES, and Genesis ones (there are about a half-dozen NES and SNES emus and I suppose they're all about the same) and they work really well, with decent options for control and such.

I haven't much use for the wii as any kind of media player, so I can't help you there.  I don't even know why anyone would want to play DVDs or media files through the Wii.

The Quake portover you can download off the homebrew channel is awesome and works really well using the waggle as a pointer, but you need to copy the pak1.pak over from the full version of Quake to play the whole game - the downloadable version is just the shareware levels.

WiiDoom is buggy, and doesn't seem to work with any of the Doom wads I installed.  The guy is still working on it, though.

I've only downloaded one homebrew game so far, BARRAGE, and I was bored with it after 30 seconds.  I'll try some of the target-shooting games next.

I'm still messing around with the emulators, gonna try the N64 and Sega Saturn ones next, will let you know how they work.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 09, 2008, 01:51:27 AM
How do you DL from the Channel itself? I only just installed HBC tonight when I was putting on Groovin Blocks, so my experience is limited
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 09, 2008, 02:02:21 AM
nice nice. a couple of my favorite games don't work right in xbox emus, and i've got some imported gc games i wouldn't mind playing on my wii. i'll try out some homebrew stuff while i'm at it.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 09, 2008, 02:06:28 AM
I dont think you can play region-free GC/Wii legit games with HBC... maybe you can, I'm not familiar
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 09, 2008, 02:17:44 AM
How do you DL from the Channel itself? I only just installed HBC tonight when I was putting on Groovin Blocks, so my experience is limited

just click the download tab on the icons, i guess they have servers or something, or it links to the author's site
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 09, 2008, 02:18:17 AM
there is an app for booting gamecube games, but i'm not sure what that means
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 09, 2008, 02:50:42 AM
this sounds like it lets you play wii/gc games from any region: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Menu_Loader
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Tundra on September 09, 2008, 03:32:34 AM
I know one of the guys working on the Homebrewchannel personally, and it's funny how he completely locks the fact out of his mind that people use the HBC for pirating at least 95 percent of the time.



Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 09, 2008, 03:32:41 AM
installed the homebrew channel and a couple apps, booted a japanese gamecube game for kicks, aaaand...can't think of much else to do with it just now. most fun i've had with my wii all year!
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Tundra on September 09, 2008, 03:38:33 AM
installed the homebrew channel and a couple apps, booted a japanese gamecube game for kicks, aaaand...can't think of much else to do with it just now. most fun i've had with my wii all year!

Try Zack & Wiki.... It's honestly quite good (bought it a few days ago). And i think you will like it, as much as i have read out of your gaming preferences so far..
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 09, 2008, 03:42:49 AM
installed the homebrew channel and a couple apps, booted a japanese gamecube game for kicks, aaaand...can't think of much else to do with it just now. most fun i've had with my wii all year!

wow so you can run regionfree? thats pretty sweet. cant really say thats worth rushing out to buy imports for but its good to know
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 09, 2008, 03:43:24 AM
i rented zack and wiki last year, thought it was ok...ish. i like puzzle games of that kind, but the combination of waggle and trial and error put me off
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 09, 2008, 05:07:45 AM
the snes and genny emus are excellent, surprisingly -- i guess i expect everything on wii to suck. i'd probably get a lot of mileage out of this if i didn't have that modded xbox
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Tundra on September 09, 2008, 07:36:50 AM
I may get some flak now, but i wish that somebody would sit down and adds some classic controller support for the SNES Emu (and other ones as well). I hate the GC controller so much, i don't have words to express it.  :maf
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 09, 2008, 07:47:16 AM
the emus i tried have got classic controller support -- get genesis plus and the 1.5 version of snes9x from that wiibrew site demi linked to
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Tundra on September 09, 2008, 08:22:06 AM
the emus i tried have got classic controller support -- get genesis plus and the 1.5 version of snes9x from that wiibrew site demi linked to

That's some good news. Last time i tried them, it was clear that they were barely ported from the GC, but if the Classic Controller works now i will give them another try...

Thanks for the info...
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 09, 2008, 08:44:56 AM
what's the largest sd card the wii will support?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: DJ_Tet on September 09, 2008, 09:41:42 AM
I'm trying to Twilight Hack my Wii but it always says "You must play this save on your System at least once" when I try to copy it over from the SD card.

I'm missing a step, what step am I missing?  Do I need to take a real Zelda save onto the SD card and modify that on my PC?

Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 09, 2008, 12:23:41 PM
1.  Play TP at least once, make a save file

2.  format your sd card to FAT

3.  Download this - http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_Brew_SD_Installer - and follow the instructions on the page
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: DJ_Tet on September 09, 2008, 01:18:59 PM
Thanks I'll give it a shot when I get home :arr
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 10, 2008, 08:19:58 PM
[youtube=425,350]HlLctPk9NTc[/youtube]

This is the Homebrew Browser, which is used to DL stuff directly from your Wii toyour SD Card

Very nice... new version out

http://www.codemii.com/wiihomebrew/homebrew_browser_v0.2.2.zip
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: DJ_Tet on September 10, 2008, 10:45:52 PM
That looks sweet as hell.  Unfortunately my wireless router is at my gf's house with her laptop for the time being.  I'll have to take my newly hacked wii over there and load up sometime.  Thanks for the links guys :arr
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: MCD on September 10, 2008, 10:55:26 PM
what's the largest sd card the wii will support?
2gigs.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 11, 2008, 12:28:17 PM
Are any of you running the latest update for Wii?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: hyp on September 11, 2008, 12:31:54 PM
hell no.  im running on some old ass shit ever since i got the twilight hack working.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 11, 2008, 12:36:03 PM
mine is 3.1, don't know if that's the latest
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 11, 2008, 12:36:54 PM
Latest is 3.3
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 11, 2008, 12:44:42 PM
apparently you can still work around 3.3 with the installer i linked to earlier, 3.3 update just affects earlier versions of the twilight hack

nintendo will put the boots to it sooner or later, though
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 11, 2008, 07:32:31 PM
after i install the hombrew channel i can just delete those twilight princess saves, right?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 11, 2008, 07:32:59 PM
Yea
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 11, 2008, 07:35:46 PM
there is a small program out for making wads region-free

i tried it on super mario all-stars and it didn't work (it won't fuck up your wii, just blank-screen it until you reset), so i'm holding off suggesting it until i try it on something else

what's a good non-us wad i can try it on
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: DJ_Tet on September 12, 2008, 10:37:18 AM
I dunno but I hope you find one cause I assumed my pal wads would work fine, but they don't.

Or I don't know how to load them.

Or both.  :'(
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Tundra on September 12, 2008, 02:50:19 PM
Just tried out a few of the emus, really impressive, and quite comfortable as well...
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on September 12, 2008, 10:58:28 PM
Apparently there is a Wii Homebrew 'back up' loader coming soon.  Pirates will save their $23.95 a year.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 12, 2008, 11:11:18 PM
pirates are already saving their money... who wants to pirate wii games?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on September 12, 2008, 11:14:50 PM
People who are too cheap to go out and buy Link's Crossbow Training for $3.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 19, 2008, 01:38:43 AM
somebody on gaf says that the backup loader has leaked -- though i've got no idea where to find it

are there any wii games worth a dvd-r? nothing immediately occurs to me

:piss wii :piss2
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 01:40:12 AM
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=3298

Gonna try it...
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: drohne on September 19, 2008, 01:41:30 AM
:bow demi :bow2
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 01:44:23 AM
I'm getting Force Unleashed Wii to test... gonna take a bit so hopefully this is proven fake or virus before it finishes
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: pilonv1 on September 19, 2008, 01:51:33 AM
if its true i may not sell my wii
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 01:52:49 AM
It's definitely true from impressions I'm seeing, but its not PERFECT... some people reporting weird issues, but it works

You have to install a Custom IOS (Wii's firmware), which I'm kinda iffy about...
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 02:23:27 AM
It's looking like this will only work with PAL games... NTSC apparently making things black and white, etc

Longer load times
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: MCD on September 19, 2008, 02:28:22 AM
we are one step closer...
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 02:31:03 AM
these arent really worth DVD-Rs though... i cant be bothered to DL this shit.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 11:54:09 AM
LOTS OF DRAMA

Waninkoko is giving up on it cause he was deceived and wah wah wah

lol
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: MCD on September 19, 2008, 11:58:31 AM
waaaaah why my shit got leaked waaaah
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 19, 2008, 12:51:42 PM
there are so few wii games i want to own i'm not going to bother

homebrew channel and emulators are good enough for me

seriously, if you guys haven't tried that quake hack give it a shot, if only to experience the spot-on controls

it's amazing to me that devs can't get their shit straight on fps wii games controls, and some dude nailed it on the first try with a 12 year old pc game

microsoft will be the savior of waggle fps games once they launch that xaggle
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 12:53:26 PM
Haha, I cancelled my download... fuck waiting to play a Wii game
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 19, 2008, 12:54:18 PM
did you install that ios thing
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 01:01:49 PM
Nah, I'm iffy on that too

I barely touch my Wii as it is (DL'd and played Strong Bad Ep 2 last night) so I dont really want to go reworking the insides of it
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Crushed on September 19, 2008, 01:14:32 PM
So how do I download from the channel itself?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 19, 2008, 01:16:57 PM
homebrew browser, i linked a package installer earlier in the thread
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Crushed on September 19, 2008, 01:22:41 PM
yay i got it

a thousand thanks
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 19, 2008, 01:39:56 PM
no prob, try quake
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Crushed on September 19, 2008, 02:16:55 PM
Pretty good, but a hacked version of Quake is definitely not the best environment to test controls this sensitive.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 19, 2008, 03:55:40 PM
Mega Man 9 WiiWare next week. Awesome. Love free stuff
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 19, 2008, 04:00:44 PM
more like friiware, amirite
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Eel O'Brian on September 19, 2008, 04:02:13 PM
Pretty good, but a hacked version of Quake is definitely not the best environment to test controls this sensitive.

play around with the control sensitivity in the options, i bet you'll hit a sweet spot

also, that is just the freeware version of quake, but you can put the full version's wad files in the folder
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: radioheadrule83 on September 21, 2008, 01:52:42 AM
I added the WAD files from the full version of quake today, with the clear-water patch applied. Its fucking awesome. I hope they can get some networking going... Quake has dated visually, but its still pretty fucking awesome when it comes to framerate and gameplay.

It's definitely true from impressions I'm seeing, but its not PERFECT... some people reporting weird issues, but it works

You have to install a Custom IOS (Wii's firmware), which I'm kinda iffy about...

Ok, I tried this tonight. Just out of curiosity mainly. And I can clarify something for you here...

Your wii has tonnes of IOS firmwares on it, just sitting on the NAND memory... they're all numbered and when an application / game runs, it requests an IOS to run it against. The CIOS you install is numbered with some ludicrous number like 249, whereas official ones released have numbered 20s through 30s currently. So in truth, it just sits there, neither the system menu or any channels / games will ever try to call it... its just for the benefit of homebrew apps I think.

Install the custom IOS with DVDX installer, have the Backup Loader beta in your Homebrew Channel folder(s), patch your ISO with the exe file, and burn it with imgburn (some other burn programs like gburner, etc don' work) ... load the game via the launcher in your homebrew channel, and voila, it works.

I've only tested The Force Unleashed (which having looked at reviews for all versions I never would have bought), but it works well. The DVD drive is restricted to 4x speed, so load times are longer. Thats not overly annoying in this game, but might be a pain in the arse for games that load regularly or stream content.

I've heard that some videos play choppy or videos have graphical glitches... this extends to video-textures like those used for the crowds in Mario Strikers. In the Force Unleashed, the LucasArts logo and what cinemas there are don't seem to suffer this problem. How you experience those problems probably depends on the game and the media you've burned on. I used a Verbatim DVD-R for TFU, and its flawless aside from slightly longer load times. I played through the first few levels and had a duel or two with my brother, and I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the PS3 demo.

I read that waninkoko is going to release the source, even if he's sworn off completing the project himself... something to do with GNU licensing or some shit?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 21, 2008, 02:13:14 AM
Yah, GPL, so he doesnt get sued to fuck lol
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: bork on September 23, 2008, 03:17:19 PM
So is Zelda the ONLY way to install the homebrew channel?  And I can I do this with a Japanese Zelda and Japanese Wii?
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on September 23, 2008, 03:19:52 PM
Yes, Yes, Yes
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: radioheadrule83 on October 25, 2008, 05:21:10 PM
I don't know if you guys have been following, but there's a new backup loader out now...

This is WiiGator's backup launcher (0.3 public beta) -- it loads and runs wayyy better than waninkoko's loader. Although Waninkoko did help him get the build this far. Here's the thing. You no longer need to patch ISOs. It runs your old patched ISOs, but this one runs 1:1 copies of encrypted games. And although the drive is still only running at 3x, this one runs videos perfectly stable. It also has a basic GUI so you can set it to force PAL60, or NTSC things like that...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OLZZUJSJ

To use it:
Its easiest if you have the homebrew channel installed. Throw the cIOS installer and backup loader folders in your apps folder, run the cIOS installer first and then you can use the loader.

If you already used Waninkoko's backup loader or a prior version of this one, you might get an error using the cIOS installer. If you do, run this cIOS uninstaller - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B3O2TFV0 - then try again.

I just tried the NTSC Wii Music, on a PAL console, using the Force NTSC option and it worked perfect. Even the custom jam option, which I hear crashes some peoples' machines.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: CurseoftheGods on October 25, 2008, 05:45:34 PM
So I can just download and play Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom when it comes out?

:hump
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: radioheadrule83 on October 25, 2008, 05:50:44 PM
Excite Truck's title screen stuttered under the old loader - I suspect it was actually a video background, that works smoothly now.
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles streams levels much better, and videos actually run smoothly.
I'm digging around trying to find Wario Land Shake Dimension so I can test that... the videos were 1fps on the old loader! I couldn't even be bothered getting into a level.

edit: the videos run better in Wario Land, but still not perfect. Might try tweaking around with the loaders config menu see if i can get it any better, but its a big enough improvement on the last loader.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: cool breeze on November 18, 2008, 06:44:10 AM
DO NOT UPDATE YOUR WII

New firmware update removes Homebrew channel, and unlike old updates, this time it automatically downloads.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: Crushed on November 18, 2008, 07:55:06 AM
People on GAF are saying that HBC is still working post-update.
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on November 18, 2008, 08:00:04 AM
People on GAF are saying that HBC is still working post-update.

It only wipes your Wii if it detects the TP hack
Title: Re: Wii Homebrew Channel
Post by: demi on November 18, 2008, 08:07:13 AM
In other sad news, Chrono Trigga DS Japa is out, and it runs in English, but it has some sort of protection on it.

Am cry (for now)  :'(