This FAQ is a reference for how to Softmod a Wii.
NEVER DELETE AN IOS LOWER THAN 200!
Where Do I Start?
Q: I stumbled across this site and want to unlock my Wii to its ultimate potential, how do i do it?
A: The easiest way is to follow this guides.Softmod for Wii's on 4.2 system menu
Q: I heard my Wii cannot be softmodded, will those guides work on my LU64+ or Equivalent Wii?
A: Yes They will
Q: Are you sure?
A: Yes
Q: So i just do this and it works?
A: YES³
Q: I read a guide where I have to downgrade my Wii....
A: There is no need to downgrade your Wii. The guide you read is outdated and there are ways to mod your Wii without having to downgrade. Also downgrading newer Wii's can lead to severe issues including a full unrecoverable brick.
NEVER downgrade your wii.
Q: Can I play online games with a softmod?
A: Nintendo really does not have a way of checking if your system is modded or not. As of this writing there is not risk/harm in playing any game online. It will not brick you or ban you.
Q: What methods are there to get my Wii Softmodded?
A: As of right now there are 4 exploits to run homebrew code. They are Twilight Hack, Bannerbomb, Stack Smash, and Indiana Pwns.Each one works on different System menus
Exploits for Homebrew
Twilight Hack
Q: What is the Twilight Hack?
A: The Twilight Hack is the original safe, public way to enable homebrew on a Wii without hardware modification. The Twilight Hack is achieved by playing a hacked game save for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which executes a homebrew application from an external SD card. Examples of such homebrew .elf or .dol files can be found on the Homebrew applications page. The Twilight Hack was created by Team Twiizers.
Twilight Hack 0.1beta1 is compatible with System Menu up to 3.3, 0.1beta2 is compatible with System Menu 3.4. The twilight hack is not and never will be compatible with System Menu 4.0 and up.
Q: How do I use this method?
A: For more information on this exploit go here.
Bannerbomb Exploit
Q: What is Bannerbomb?
A: Bannerbomb is an exploit capable of launching homebrew from any version of the System Menu. It was created to replace the Twilight Hack, which does not work on System Menu 4.0.
The exploit works by using a malformed banner to crash the Wii and run code to load the boot.dol placed in the root of the SD card. It can be used to install the Homebrew Channel, DVDx and the BootMii public beta via the HackMii Installer
Q: How do I use this exploit?
A: You can find more info about bannerbomb going here.
Comex's Stack Smash
Q: What is Stack Smash?
A: Stack Smash is an exploit Comex found in the level creator for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Loading a custom level file will allow you to run hombrew code on your Wii.
Q: How do I use this exploit?
A: You can find more about this exploit here.
Indiana Pwns
Q: What is the Indiana Pwns exploit?
A: The Indiana Pwns exploit is in the same vein as the Twilight Hack. It was released 09/23/2009. It involves a hacked save game for LEGO Indiana Jones, that when you go to the art room and look at the second character it causes a buffer overflow allowing one to run unsigned code.
Q: How do I use this exploit?
A: You can find more about this exploit here. and you can Download the save games files here.
HackMii Installer
Q: What is the HackMii Installer?
A:The HackMii Installer is a package of applications one would use after they use one of the above exploits. HackMii Installer consists of 3 applications, BootMii, DVDX, and The HomebrewChannel. This installer is an all in one sort of package for Team Twiizers work. The first screen that comes up for it will basically just tell you what can and cannot be installed on your Wii. Generally it will say something like:
The Homebrew Channel: Can be installed.
dvdx: Can be installed.
bootmii: Can be installed. OR Can only be installed as one variant.
The message that appears for bootmii there is dependent on whether or not a bug in boot1 was fixed on your Wii which is generally the case with boot2v3 and boot2v4 Wii's. I will get into in the bootmii subsection shortly.
Q: What Does "no vulnerable IOS found, can not install" mean?
A: In most cases this means you have installed some sort of "mod pack" which leaves your system in a damaged state that interferes with HackMii's system scan. In particular, "cIOSCORP" is known to be problematic because some idiot decided it would be smart to take some old version of IOS, change the version number, and overwrite all other IOSes.
Everything Homebrew Channel
Q: What is the Hombrew Channel a.k.a. HBC?
A:The Homebrew Channel is a self-updating homebrew application loader by Team Twiizers which allows users to load homebrew applications without having to run an exploit every time. Once installed, users can access the channel from the Wii System Menu just like any other Wii channel. It can launch homebrew applications from an SD or SDHC card. You can install the Homebrew Channel as part of the HackMii Installer using any of the suggested exploits listed above.
Q: How do I find homebrew apps?
A: The easiest way to find apps for the homebrew channel is by going to Wiibrew.org's homebrew applications list or by running the homebrew browser on your wii.
Q: I have downloaded an app, now what?
A:After you download a homebrew application from the internet to your PC you need to put that app on your SD card. Be sure to put it in a subdirectory of your SD card. It should look like this "SD:\apps\homebrew_app_name" (where hombrew_app_name would be the name of the application). Inside the directory should be a file named "boot.dol" which is the executable file for the application (the only necessary) , a *.png file which is the icon you see in the HBC and other stuff needed for different applications.
Q: I did all of that and it is not showing up on the Hombrew Channel, now what?
A:This generally means you did not rename the applications .dol file. The homebrew channel can only run apps that are named boot.dol or boot.elf. Not all homebrew apps you download will be named boot.dol/boot.elf.
Brick Protection
BootMii
Q: What is BootMii?
A:BootMii is a system designed by Team Twiizers to enable complete low-level control of the Wii. It allows the Wii to be controlled mere moments after the On button has been pressed, before any IOS has been loaded and before the NAND filesystem has been read.
Q: Should I install BootMii?
A: Yes you should install BootMii
Q: Should I install BootMii as boot2 or IOS
A: BootMii as boot2 is preferred. Having BootMii as boot2 will make your Wii virtually unbrickable. It is also the best way to make and restore a backup of your NAND. Newer Wii's will not allow to install BootMii as boot2 because of a patched boot1 (BootMii is smart enough to tell you this). If that is the case do install it as an IOS. Although not recommended, during a brick if you can get in to the Homebrew Channel (HBC) and have a Gamecube controller you can use the BootMii IOS to restore your NAND.
Q: What does "The installed boot1 version prevents a boot2 install (-2) mean?
A: Installing as boot2 is the most useful way to install BootMii, but it requires an exploit in a part of the system that can not be changed under any circumstances. Nintendo finally fixed this bug in new Wiis that were released sometime mid to late 2008. Team Twiizers have looked for a suitable replacement for this exploit, but have not found one, and it does not seem likely that anyone ever will.¹
Preloader
Q: What is preloader?
A: Preloader is a program that will popup when you boot your wii. It is used for a lot of hacks, such as disable disc updates, play out of region games, disable system menu background music. It is very useful and recommended to install if you cannot install BootMii as boot2, because it will allow you to boot in to the HBC. This is important in case you banner brick or corrupt your system menu files.
Q: If I have BootMii as boot2 should I install Preloader?
A: This should be left to your personal preference. It is not needed. If you want the patches/hacks it offers you can always use Starfall (system menu 3.2) or StartPatch (system menu 4.x). I personally have BootMii as boot2 and IOS and preloader installed.
Q: Does preloader make my Wii unbrickable?
A: No it does not. Preloader attaches itself to an IOS. If you modify that IOS intentionally or not you lose preloader. So say you installed a system menu and you used the incorrect region, not only will you be bricked because system files are corrupted but you have lost preloader.
What Causes a Brick?
Q: What can cause a brick?
A: Many things can cause your system to brick. The most common one as of late is people uninstalling IOS60 (for system menu 4/4.1) or ios70 (for system menu 4.2). Other ways bricks are caused are by installing a system menu that is not for your wii's region, installing a bad wad (a.k.a. banner brick) and changing your system menu theme.
Q: How can I unbrick my system
A: The best way would be to have bootmii as boot2 and restoring your nand. The second best way would be if you can get in to the HBC and reinstalling a system menu. If you have none of these protections than you can try and order a mod chip that may help you or sending in your system to Nintendo for repairs. Nintendo will generally replace your system, if you are out of warranty Nintendo of America will charge at least $75 if not more and they can refuse to repair it.
Q: I just bricked my new Wii can't I just return it or exchange it?
A: You can try however some retailers have been advised by Nintendo to check for Homebrew apps mainly BootMii and preloader. Since installing Homebrew voids the warranty Nintendo has instructed the retailers to refuse to accept the return or exchange. Individual cases may vary, but do not be upset when you are left with a white paper weight.
Q: Where can I find more info on unbricking my wii?
A: Search this forum. Wiihacks has a lot of useful posts on how to unbrick your Wii. A good starting point would be to read this threadand this thread.
System Menu
Q: What is the best System Menu?
A: There is really no clear answer on this. Most hombrew works on System Menu 3.2 and above. With System Menu 4.0 you can load channels to your SD card and boot them from an SD Icon on your main menu. This gives you 20 more pages to add channels. If you like menu 3.2 you can use a homebrew app called Triforce (search our forums).
Q: What are the letters next to the System Menu version mean?
A: They are for determining what region Wii you have.
For USA: ***U
For JAP: ***J
For PAL: ***E
For KOR: ***K
Q: What is with System Menu 4.2?
A: System Menu 4.2 was the biggest update every pushed out by the big N for the Wii. I updated almost every single system file on the Wii, including the boot2. This means if you had BootMii installed and updated to 4.2 you had to reinstall it. It also got rid of the HBC.
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Q: So I shouldn't update to 4.2?
A: I safely updated my system to 4.2 but I also consider myself and advance Wii Soft Modder. I do not really see any benefits to installing it unless you want the latest and greatest. If you do decide to upgrade read the guides on this forum and make sure you understand them. If you don't ask questions. I rather you ask a stupid question then brick your wii.
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WADs
Q: What is a wad?
A: A .wad file is generally either an IOS, a VC/Wiiware game, or a channel for some other application that can also be run through the HBC. Another thing a wad can be is a .dol forwarder. The special thing about a .dol forwarder, is that it installs a channel that looks the same as any other wad channel would, but while direct wad's of applications can be run without needing the application on the SD card, a .dol forwarder requires the .dol of the application be in a specific folder that it is forwarding to. The reason you would want to use a forwarder over a direct channel is because with a forwarder channel, if a new revision of the application comes out, you can simply replace the .dol wil the updated .dol and your forwarder channel will now load the updated one instead, whereas if you install a direct wad of the application, you would need to uninstall the old wad and get another wad of that updated version and install that. Forwarder's are very useful for applications that update very frequently so use those instead for those type of applications if you want a channel of them.
Q: How do I install a .wad?
A: You can install wads using a homebrew app called Wad Manager
Q:Can installing .wad files brick my Wii?
A: Yes installing .wad files can brick your Wii. Use only trusted .wad files. Any channel wad that you install has the potential to brick you if it is not a properly formed wad. If the banner is not formed correctly, it will cause what's known as a banner brick. This will cause you to no longer be able to access your system menu so if you do not have preloader or bootmii installed to boot2, you will be in a very bad situation. If you DO have preloader or boot2 bootmii you can still use them to launch the HBC and then wad manager and just uninstall the bad wad you just installed. Doing this will fix your brick and you can go back about your business. Do NOT uninstall IOS wad's if you have a brick though. If for any reason you install some sort of system menu IOS wad like IOS60 on FW 4.0/4.1 while having preloader installed, it will cause a brick as well, but the way to fix this brick is to load preloader and the HBC and reinstall preloader, NOT uninstalling the IOS60 wad. By uninstalling that IOS wad, you will not only brick your Wii even harder, you will kill preloader as well and possibly your only chance and recovering from that brick. So be sure you always know what you are installing/uninstalling through Wad Manager. I'd rather not hear about your "accidents".
Q: Are .wad files region specific?
A: Yes they are. However some wad files have been made region free through "Free the Wads".
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