What is the homebrew channel?

[elvis]

this is very confusing indeed
use tp hack to run homebrew channel to run non-region and backup copies
yet nintendo updates can harm your system

if you install modchip, the nintendo update will also harm your system

people do a lot of those chips and tp hacks,
the modchip guys say so the update won't hurt their system(what about the modchip?)
the tp guys say so they don't have to damage their console by installation of extra equipement, yet tp system will also be hurt by the updates

The Homebrew Channel allows you to install a special bit of software that will block all Nintendo updates (including ones while the Wii is sleeping, and ones that are "forced" by some games).

The people selling modchips claim updates won't hurt your Wii, but they can't see the future. Nobody knows for certain what future updates will do. If you do mod your Wii (either hardware via a modchip, or software via the TP hack), it's advised to block all updates.

So far the updates pushed by Nintendo have not offered anything wonderful. The last two in fact were primarily aimed at killing off soft mods. Nintendo have huge potential to leverage online content with the Wii, yet their offerings to date have been lacklustre to say the least.

btw, Why did the guy say the emulators from homebrew are better than VC?

Many of the homebrew emulators are much better optimised and thus faster (SNES emulation via VC is notoriously poor). Also you have far more options: more save states (VC only gives you one save state, and it only works on older systems - N64 titles on VC don't support save states at all), the ability to share game saves, etc.

[Curlypaul]

So far the TP and HBC have only been effected by updates on new installs, once installed the nintendo updates have so far not effected the HBC other than making it more difficult to install.

The updates will never harm the wii although they may eventually stop the HBC from working altogether. If nintendo ever does release an update that cripples a wii with HBC or any other loader installed, it will be very easy just to remove it.

The emulators that you can run on from the HBC are ports of emulators that have been around for years and as such run much better than nintendos own attempts do at the minute. weird I know

[LivingtheDream]

btw, Why did the guy say the emulators from homebrew are better than VC?

I've played the Virtual Console games, that's why.

Even the NES games have some horrible emulation. Mega Man running via VC is just awful and anyone that played the NES version will be able to tell it isn't right after only a few seconds of play time.

There is also the big issue of the screen begin stretched. If your Wii is in 16:9 mode all VC games are stretched to fit the screen which can really throw off the game play for you. The third party emulators come with options that all you to play in 4:3 mode.

Also third party emulators store their roms on the SD-card while VC games are stored on 512MB internal memory. In other words VC games take up a lot of limited space that can be used for other things (like new WiiWare games).

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On the issue of updates:
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The last two major firmware updates attempted to close off the bug that allows us to softmod the Wii. So far the scene has been able to find work arounds but that might not always happen in the future.

For now you are advised not to update if you've installed the twilight hack. You should turn off WiiConnect24. You should always read Wiibrew for news able the latest updates.

As far as Wii games that require updates there are work arounds for that. First thing you need to do is to install GeckoOS, which is a homebrew channel for the Wii that allows you to boot Wii games like the Disc Channel. The reason you need it is it will ignore updates to the firmware that are on the Disc. For example I recently picked up the new Super Smash Brothers which will not boot via Disc Channel on my Wii...if I load it through GeckoOS it boots fine.

If you want to continue to use the shop channel you'll have to keep up to date with what is going on in the scene. Last time a major firmware update came out I had to install a .wad file through WAD Manager to continue to use the shop channel. I also had to install some custom IOS files to play some of the newer games.

As far as backups go it is not as simple as "backup/download and burn" if you aren't running a modchip. You'll have to download some Windows applications and patch the .iso files.

You'll need to do three things to each iso:

1) Run Wii update remover/brick blocker. This will remove any forced firmware update in the .iso file.
2) Run "WiiFrii" to patch the game to your region/local language
3) Sometimes you'll have to run IOSpatcher. This program will allow the game to run on a Wii with a third party IOS update installed.

I *think* all that is correct. I'm still doing research on the subject so I may be mistaken about a few things.

[SpaceBooger]

I plan on renting twilight princess this weekend.
if i read correctly the homebrew channel will work with the most recent updates, right? http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/23_Oct_Updates
Next... for the emulators, do I just install roms or do i have to get the premade inject kind?

[elvis]

There is also the big issue of the screen begin stretched. If your Wii is in 16:9 mode all VC games are stretched to fit the screen which can really throw off the game play for you. The third party emulators come with options that all you to play in 4:3 mode.

Yes, it's utterly ridiculous that Nintendo haven't offered the option to correct the aspect ratio when playing VC games.

Nintendo have this thing where if 80% of the population are too stupid to notice, then the other 20% can suffer missing out on the option in the name of "simplicity". It's highly annoying to be a Wii owner and constantly treated like a moron.