Soft Modding the Wii and Using a USB Loader 4.3U (Guide)

[KDub]

After getting a new set of component cables for my Wii I decided since the Wii was essentially EOL it was time to soft mod it. This has breathed some new life into my Wii and has been an interesting experience. But after getting it all to happen I learned something important, there is almost no instructions out there on how to get all of this to work correctly. The little instructions there are seems to be outdated or written to be as vague as possible. So here is my attempt to help anyone who wants to soft mod their Wii and as a bonus how to rip and load games via a USB drive.

Part 1: Exploit for 4.3U

You are going to want to use the LetterBomb exploit which is for the newest Wii Menu 4.3U(E/J/K) and luckily the easiest exploit I have ever seen for the Wii.

You are going to want to go to here http://hackmii.com/2011/08/letterbomb/
This is the easiest way to do the exploit as well, there are other instructions out there but this works with little to no hassle.

Read up about the exploit first, just to get an over view of what you are doing.
Now go to http://please.hackmii.com

Turn on your Wii and go to your system settings and grab your MAC address and type it into the boxes. Also make sure the "Bundle the HackMii installer for me!" is selected. Now I have no idea what the difference is between cutting the red or blue wire is (maybe I missed that instruction but I doubt it) but lets just do what I did, fill in the Captcha and click Cut the Red Wire and your download will begin.

Now all you will need to do is unzip this archive and move the contents over to your Wii SD card root. If you are worried about damaging your Wii Save files and other information I'd suggest backing up the entire SD card or placing this exploit on a different FAT formatted SD card and then moving the files installed after the exploit is finished to your original Wii SD card.

Ok put the SD card into the Wii and turn it on like normal. Go to the message board and go back to the previous days until you see the red letter (probably will just be going back one day) and then click on it. This will reboot your Wii and begin the exploit and install process.

You are going to want to follow the instructions on the screen. Make sure you install both the Homebrew Channel and the HackMii installer. Once you have done both of those you will have no more options then to close the installer and restart your Wii.

Once you reboot you should be met with the BootMii loader which gives you the options of booting your Wii, going straight to the Homebrew Channel, exploring the SD card or setting some options. Play around with this if you want (You'll need a Gamecube controller to explore the menu) but make sure you boot to the Wii menu and check that the Homebrew channel installed properly to your Wii Menu.

If all of this is ok, the congrats your Wii was soft modded properly! it is suggested that you go to your Wii settings and turn off WiiConnect24 to avoid any accidental updates that could undue all of this.

Prior to the next step you can back up your Wii NAND in case you brick your Wii by doing the steps wrong or just something accidentally goes wrong. To do this go back to the BootMii menu (either by a reboot or by clicking the Home button in Homebrew Channel), then scroll over the the Settings (the two cogs). Then select the icon with the SD card and Green arrow; this will download your NAND to your SD card (provided you have room).

Part 2: Installing USB Loader GX and Getting it to Work

Finding information about a proper USB loader is like searching for BigFoot. Finding out what you need to do to get it work after you install one is even harder!

I chose to use USB Loader GX, it had good reviews and what I saw of it I liked the most.

To get USB loader on your Wii you'll need to grab the proper files of course. So go here http://usbloadergx.koureio.net/downloads and download the Easy Installer for Windows. If you don't have windows you'll need to grab one of the all in one packages, click on that link and grab the one for ios249.

If you have the easy installer, just put your SD card in your computer and follow the instructions. Don't select to install the Channel files or the cheats files, hit next and once it is done you're good to go.

Next you'll need to download and install the cIOS d2x files to your SD card. These files will allow you to flash new IOS information to your Wii NAND that allows the USB loader to run and for games to boot up. Go to this link http://www.mediafire.com/?2zlbu5h2ejw6aag download, unzip, move to the SD card apps folder. The apps folder should of been made when you installed the USB Loader GX.

Ok, insert the SD card back into the Wii and and go to the homebrew channel. Click on the d2x Ios Installer and lets begin that. You should be running ios58 and it will select that for you. You will now begin to select each numbered slot and install into the proper base. Make sure you have d2x-V7-final selected for each install

Follow this chart in order!
version: d2x-v7-final
base: 37
slot: 245
Press A and wait for it to complete, then select the select the next slot, press A again to continue.

version: d2x-v7-final
base: 38
slot: 246
Press A and wait for it to complete, select slot then Press A again to continue.
version: d2x-v7-final
base: 53
slot: 247
Press A and wait for it to complete, then Press A again to continue.

version: d2x-v7-final
base: 55
slot: 248
Press A and wait for it to complete, select slot then Press A again to continue.

version: d2x-v7-final
base: 56
slot: 249
Press A and wait for it to complete, select slot then Press A again to continue.

version: d2x-v7-final
base: 57
slot: 250
Press A and wait for it to complete, then Press A again to continue.

version: d2x-v7-final
base: 58
slot: 251

Press B to exit once you are done with this one!

You should now be ready to run USB loader GX.

But we have one more step before you should try.

Part 3: Formatting your USB hard drive

You will need WBFS Manager to do this, and it will come in handy later if you want to install ripped Wii game ios files from your computer. Go here http://wbfsmanager.codeplex.com/releases/view/26808 and download the proper 3.0.1 for either your x36 (the x86 files) or x64 system. This program does not work with Linux or MacOS so if you have those you'll need to have something like WINE running.

Install WBFS to your computer and then plug in your USB drive. First format your USB hard drive to FAT 32 to start with a clean slate. Once that is done, open up WBFS manager, make sure your USB drive is selected and format it again. This should take no time at all since the drive is already clear but it will now be ready to be read by your Wii and USB Loader GX and WBFS. It can not be used on your computer anymore without WBFS manager opened.

Now take that USB Hard Drive and plug it into the usb slot closest to you left side of your Wii. Boot up your wii, go to the homebree channel and you should be good to go. If USB Loader GX won't boot you did something wrong with the d2x files, if it doesn't recognize your USB Drive close the program, switch usb slots and try again. If it still doesn't work you should reformat it.

I'm assuming everything worked so with USB Loader GX open insert whatever game you want, you'll now see the on screen prompt to install the game. Select yes and wait for it to rip (shouldn't take too long, most games aren't actually near the 4.7 GB disk size they are burned on Animal Crossing Wii for example is 0.35 GB).

Once it is finished, you can now take out the disk and boot the game for the USB. Your disks and disk drive can now take a break from being used and abused!

Legal Junk:

This guide is for soft modding your Wii for your personal enjoyment. I take no responsibility if you brick your system. Be advised that soft modding your Wii does void your warranty. I also do not advocate piracy, this guide for USB Loader GX is for saving your game disks and disk drive not for getting free games on your system.

[fuctfuct]

Decent guide.. but .. Modmii is probably the easiest thing to use for the average joe that needs a guide

http://gbatemp.net/topic/207126-modmii-for-windows/

[KDub]

Eh to me that all looks ridiculously pointless. I could also see someone being confused on where to start with all of those options where this is a cut and dry get the two jobs done and maybe learn a little something about the inner working of all of this.

But not a bad option for someone, thanks for linking it.

[gtmtnbiker]

ModMii is the way to go. It asks you a few questions and then it downloads everything you need. It also creates a README that tells you what steps to do. It can't get any easier than that.

[d123456]

Thanks Kdub, even though I do not have a Wii, it was an interesting read. It might persuade me and others to get a Wii someday.
rep +

[Ziggy]

Thanks for the info on getting the hard drive working. I'm gonna have to get around to setting this up some day, my Wii drive is making noises again.

[KDub]

Glad it was useful to both of you.

I for sure suggest setting it up to load from the USB drive Ziggy. I have a launch Wii and have had a lot of the games just as long so it really protects them both from age. Plus the games just load a lot smoother of course and quicker.

[fuctfuct]

Eh to me that all looks ridiculously pointless. I could also see someone being confused on where to start with all of those options where this is a cut and dry get the two jobs done and maybe learn a little something about the inner working of all of this.

But not a bad option for someone, thanks for linking it.

Ridiculously pointless? Actually try it out, then say that.

If someone gets confused and cant use the very first option that literally says Start here to mod your Wii they should rethink undertaking the task.

You would learn just as much going with modmii. I used it the first time i modded a wii and learned a lot. It is also great for updating. When the new Zelda came out it wouldn't work. All i had to do was run syscheck on the wii and run the resulting file through modmii. It will only update the out of date files. Took less then 5 mins and i was playing Skyward Sword. It can also set up hard drive for you. And installs a backup manager on your computer.

It really is a great way to go. But.. so is doing it all yourself if you wana . I tried it that way a few times after. But having to do like 15 of my friends Wiis.. its just a no brainer.

P.S. Did you back u your original NAND? I scanned your guide but didnt see anything about it mentioned.

[KDub]

Well all of that isn't something that you need that specific program for and can do it straight from the Wii with various apps. So yeah to me, I don't see the point, not that there isn't a point to it. When it comes to formatting the Hard Drive straight in the Wii, if you want to pull the files from that hard drive or add another iso later, you'd still need WBFS (or something like it). So why mess with that?

I'm not saying it isn't for some people, just not for me. I also don't mean the first option would be confusing, just maybe what to do with everything else. Again, thanks for linking to it though. Auto Script programs are great for anyone unsure and want to just to do one thing to try it out. I like doing things at least semi manually I guess, just makes me feel better if something screws up I know where to go back and hopefully fix it.

[fuctfuct]

Fair enough man

I still strongly suggest you give it a go. Even just for shits n giggles. I think you'll find its is a much better option then your op.

You really should have backed up your original nand and keys though. You should add that step to your post in case someone follows it. Unless its is actually in there lol. I didn't have time to read word for word yet