Gonna softmod a Wii

[HoboJoe]

Screw chips....you can do anything with softmodding basically, and its cheaper and safer.

[Breetai]

Screw chips....you can do anything with softmodding basically, and its cheaper and safer.

Agree 100%.

[GSZX1337]

Wii Key and Wii Clip > Soft Mod

[fast]

Its a straightforward process shouldnt take more than a couple hours, even with screwups. And once you have it up and running, you can finally play Contra on the system.

Suggested programs/wads:
FCEUltra - NES emulator with 4 player and lightgun support
SNES-9x - SNES emulator with 4 player, lightgun, and mouse support (Mario Paint wii)
Visual Boy - GBA emulator they are working on multiplayer support
Hugo GX - TG16 emulator with 4 player support (unless they have upped it recently).
7800wii - Atari 7800 emulator - Pole Position 2 and Ballblazer, nuff said.
2600wii - WARLORDS emulator
USB loader - Takes a bit to get a harddrive configured for it but it really helps
ISO dumper - Dump your Gamecube collection through your wifi to your pc, and burn backups on full sized dvds then load them through the:
Backup channel - Play your dumped isos on burned media - USB Loader is faster so I only use this for Cube games. Region free loading is available.

Ofcourse only emulate games not available on the system through the Virtual Console. And if you want to be disappointed in modern developers, the Wii port of Quake is more full featured than any other FPS on the console. Sure people know the code inside and out, but:

[RCBH928]

Sure homebrew channel is cool, it can be on chipped wii's.

But softmod has some games on gamecube not working as far as I understand. You can't updated your firmware. Installing is not really safe, clear instructions are not available . You might brick your Wii.

All this does not happen with a chipped Wii.

[Niode]

You can't updated your firmware. Installing is not really safe, clear instructions are not available . You might brick your Wii.

All this does not happen with a chipped Wii.

Not true. The process of installing a modchip can brick your wii. Plus it's non-reversible. Softmod is. Even if you fuck a softmod up (it's quite hard, unless you are a dumbass who doesn't read things at least twice before trying it out or get very unlucky and have a power cut midway through) you can still recover from errors and as a last resort you can still install a modchip and restore the firmware.

The only think a modchip has over a softmod is slightly better compatibility but I wouldn't really see it as that much of an issue. After all the softmod is free, whereas a chip will cost you money and then some more to fit it if you aren't competent. By all means try the softmod first. THEN consider a chip. If the softmod does everything you need then no harm done, you haven't lost anything. If the softmod goes bad or doesn't do what you need it to do (specific game compatibility etc) then buy a chip.

Also consider this. Just installing a modchip doesn't allow you to run homebrew from the Wii SD, you still have to softmod it to get the homebrew channel. Chips only allow you to run backups. Nothing more. It just patches the security code on the fly allowing the games to boot regardless of authenticity, it does nothing to the internal software of the Wii.

[RCBH928]

yea but I can update firmware can't I?

Softmod WOULD be better if there were clear files and instructions
I softmodded my Wii, but it was difficult with different file names and low support with different Wii version and firmwares. Its complex

[Niode]

I'm sorry Kingmohd. You need to do a little research before panning something you clearly know nothing about.

Bannerbomb works on all firmware versions and hardware revisions.

yea but I can update firmware can't I?

Softmod WOULD be better if there were clear files and instructions
I softmodded my Wii, but it was difficult with different file names and low support with different Wii version and firmwares. Its complex

Even if you chip, you still have the same problem with the homebrew channel. If you upgrade your firmware you will lose homebrew channel (if you had it installed previously). However since the devs seem to work pretty quickly in patching the HBC to work in later versions of the firmwares (an update for 4.0 that was compatible with HBC and custom IOS came out within a week).

You say you don't have issues with firmwares with a chip. That is true if you only use pirated games. If you want to use homebrew you are still in the same boat as the softmodders since a softmod is still involved in the process.

The way I see it is the Softmod can do pretty much everything a chip can do. I have quite a few games for my Wii and have never had any issue running any of my backups. I've yet to find any GC games that don't work with GC backup launcher (all the ones that are recommended on the site's articles, plus some others). You get good compatibility, the homebrew channel and the ability to run cracked VC titles (something a chip alone doesn't allow you to do). Best of all the softmod is free.

As for insufficient documentation, there's plenty of guides (video, picture or text whatever you fancy) on the internet, i've never had a problem performing any of the softmods on mine and my friend's Wiis. It's not hard if you follow the instructions exactly.

You're not gonna tell me pressing a few buttons as directed by a guide is harder than using a soldering iron to install the chip yourself.

[MrPopo]

Even if you chip, you still have the same problem with the homebrew channel. If you upgrade your firmware you will lose homebrew channel (if you had it installed previously).

Upgrading your Wii firmware doesn't remove the Homebrew Channel if it's already installed. There's just been a few firmware releases that blocked the installation, either by requiring a new installer or a new exploit entirely.

[Niode]

4.0 messed up the HBC if it was already installed. I would be very surprised if the next big update from Ninty doesn't disable it all together (and obviously require another exploit)