Taking a Wii from softmod to legit - can I keep save data?

[firstmarker]

So, a while back I softmodded my Wii out of pure boredom - to see if I could figure it out.

Since then, my fiancee has been playing Animal Crossing: City Folk on it.
However, I've decided I'd rather take it legit and stop messing around with the softmod, but the AC:CF save data is console-locked. Apparently all Nintendo titles with online play do this, and it's an insane policy.

How can I update the Wii to the latest, legit firmware without losing the AC data?

If I do a system update, will it merely overwrite the softmod stuff, and leave all save data in tact? Or will it be more like a total wipe of the console?

If I figure out one of the hacks that "unlocks" save data and back it up, will that save data work on an updated console? Or will it be locked to that "instance" of the firmware (in this case, softmodded).

[CRTGAMER]

I hate the online game saves that are locked to one console. Even my offline gameplay is locked from backing up to a SD card. Geometry Wars takes a while to get everything.

When I did a regular update on a non soft modded Wii all my saves were intact. Not sure on the Animal Crossing save since it was played on the soft modded console.

[DinnerX]

If you update your wii the save should be fine. I updated my wii when I had the homebrew channel installed and the saves were fine. If you have the latest version of the homebrew channel it won't get removed when you update your wii though.

All a system update should do is update the system menu and delete old versions of the homebrew channel and such. Occasionally the power goes off or something else weird happens and a Wii gets bricked from only partially installing an update, but that isn't the homebrew channels fault.

[flamepanther]

Like others said, the save should be fine if you're just running Nintendo's update. If you were to do a full NAND restore, not so much. What I would do is use a homebrew save manager to backup the saves first. That way, in the very unlikely event something does happen to your saves, you can restore it by booting the save manager directly from Smash Stack or a similar exploit.

[firstmarker]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try unlocking the save to back it up before doing the system update.

If I lose this Animal Crossing data, my head will be on a pike - which is why I'm being so cautious.

[flamepanther]

Why so urgent to remove the softmods anyhow?

[vlame]

Everywhere you softmod say DO NOT UPDATE THROUGH NINTENDO you may brick your wii. Update the cIOSs through wad installer. Why do you want to un-mod it? You already voided you warranty....

[flamepanther]

Everywhere you softmod say DO NOT UPDATE THROUGH NINTENDO you may brick your wii. Update the cIOSs through wad installer. Why do you want to un-mod it? You already voided you warranty....

Good point. If you installed some older, sloppier soft mod kits (namely DarkCorp or CIOSCorp) then, yes it's dangerous and you could brick your Wii. If you used the more common and more modern method of just HBC + Hermes and/or Waninkoko's CIOSes, then you won't brick your Wii, you'll just lose the HBC and maybe stub some IOSes that you won't be using anymore.

I still don't really see a point in losing the mods though.

[firstmarker]

Everywhere you softmod say DO NOT UPDATE THROUGH NINTENDO you may brick your wii. Update the cIOSs through wad installer. Why do you want to un-mod it? You already voided you warranty....

Good point. If you installed some older, sloppier soft mod kits (namely DarkCorp or CIOSCorp) then, yes it's dangerous and you could brick your Wii. If you used the more common and more modern method of just HBC + Hermes and/or Waninkoko's CIOSes, then you won't brick your Wii, you'll just lose the HBC and maybe stub some IOSes that you won't be using anymore.

I still don't really see a point in losing the mods though.

I bannerbombed it right after resetting the bios - so there are practically no channels installed - not even the shop channel. It's never been online.

I'm not concerned with homebrew or playing backups, so I'd really just like to reset it back to a factory condition, up-to-date Wii. I know how it must sound crazy to the softmod camp, but yeah - I just want it to be a Wii.

I'll work on backing up the AC save and doing the update this weekend - for science!

[vlame]

Everywhere you softmod say DO NOT UPDATE THROUGH NINTENDO you may brick your wii. Update the cIOSs through wad installer. Why do you want to un-mod it? You already voided you warranty....

Good point. If you installed some older, sloppier soft mod kits (namely DarkCorp or CIOSCorp) then, yes it's dangerous and you could brick your Wii. If you used the more common and more modern method of just HBC + Hermes and/or Waninkoko's CIOSes, then you won't brick your Wii, you'll just lose the HBC and maybe stub some IOSes that you won't be using anymore.

I still don't really see a point in losing the mods though.

I bannerbombed it right after resetting the bios - so there are practically no channels installed - not even the shop channel. It's never been online.

I'm not concerned with homebrew or playing backups, so I'd really just like to reset it back to a factory condition, up-to-date Wii. I know how it must sound crazy to the softmod camp, but yeah - I just want it to be a Wii.

I'll work on backing up the AC save and doing the update this weekend - for science!

you can install channels and upadate through the softmod. you can only get hurt with a softmod IF YOU UPDATE THROUGH NINTENDO. If you want to update, please update through Wad installer using CIOS and ISO packages.

http://wehackwii.pbworks.com/w/page/8844385/Channels

It seems to me you want to risk the save file for Animal Crossing on general principle, stop it, your Wii is softmodded and the file is locked. Don't use "My system is not updated" as an excuse. You can update through the softmod. If you are on 4.1u and want 4.3u there is nothing new but protecting against softmodding.