Wii Region hack status, AnyRegion Changer / Gecko OS / GC Booter / Starfall

[Papercut]

Anyone know if it is possible to (permanently) change the region on current Wii versions? (boot2v4/LU64+ machines).

[ezee ryder]

Probably a silly question but I am bit of a Gecko "noob" here. What are the best settings to use to play US and Japanese games on a PAL console? I see the menu has config setting and rebooter settings, what should those be set to?

[Papercut]

Anyone know if it is possible to (permanently) change the region on current Wii versions? (boot2v4/LU64+ machines).

To answer my own question - no not really, as you can't downgrade to 3.2 on the newer motherboard revisions, which is needed to safely run the region changer.

Next question - has anyone successfully used BootMii to backup the nand flash and recover a machine? What I'm thinking of here is backing a console in case it dies so that I can then recover to a different motherboard with the shop id/keys intact.

Also... when removing a shop account it asks for your serial number - is this a security measure only (verifies a real serial number to make sure you know what you are doing), or would a freshly created shop account need need to be linked to a correct region serial #?

[charlesr]

I can't remember the serial number bit, but I removed my shop account and diddled my region and changed the shop region ok. Lost all the purchases but put them back on anyway without feeling naughty.

[Papercut]

Also... when removing a shop account it asks for your serial number - is this a security measure only (verifies a real serial number to make sure you know what you are doing), or would a freshly created shop account need need to be linked to a correct region serial #?

To answer my own question again...

The shop account is tied to the serial number and encryption keys stored in a prom in the hollywood chip - and they can't be changed.

So you can convert a flash from one machine to another by decrypting and re-encrypting (depending on boot1 and boot2 revisions), but you lose your shop account no matter what. You'd need to create a new shop account with that machine's serial number instead.

I think.

What we need is for Nintendo to allow you to transfer shop accounts (or purchases) between machines, which they could easily do... that must be how they recover DLC on a replaced Wii themselves, using the serial number to identify a shop account, in fact.

Anyone know if they'll do this with a phone call maybe? Surely people going out to buy a shiny new black pal Wii would want to do this.

*edit* Not sure about the serial number actually, anyone know how that is actually used? Shop account might just be tied to the keys stored in the hollywood chip. On a totally dead Wii though, the serial number might be all that Nintendo have to work with.

[KIT786]

Not sure what the serial number is used for (probably to confirm the user knows what he is doing?), but to transfer purchases you have to send both the old and new console to Nintendo and they will transfer everything over. I emailed them just before the Black Wii was released in the UK and that was the reply I got

[Papercut]

Looks like the serial number is stored in the NAND flash, and so the shop account id might well be based on that and the keys stored in the Hollywood chip. I imagine this means Nintendo can id a shop account purely from the serial number, to recover purchases from a completely dead machine.

All of which means we need a Nintendo account web tool to transfer ownership plzkthx, although the Wii shop small print does say 'one console only, not transferable' so... never gonna happen.

Nintendo official repair lock in maybe? Screws over importers.

boo.

Case modders should make sure they keep hold of that serial number sticker!

[Square]

I have a (hopefully) simple question. I changed my Wii from JPN to USA region permanently, and deleted both the Homebrew channel and Twilight Hack save.

Is it still unsafe to try and update the system to the latest version, or would there still be some telltale sign of a soft mod on there?

Thanks

[smouty]

If you do the official update it will replace any softmods as you are probably using older IOSs that are replaced during the update. It is worth having Bootmii installed so you can backup the NAND as a fallback.
I recently updated to 4.2U from 3.2U using the safe updater app.

[Soundwave]

Hey guys,

Got a quick question for you all as I'm finally going to be firing the Wii up for the first time in probably about a year so just need to know how I go about updating to the latest Homebrew channel??

I have a US Wii that we installed the HBC on using the twilight hack but after that I got bored of the dire catalogue of games & havent touched it since but the missus has just decided she wants to play New SMB & I thought I'd get hold of the PAL version instead of importing so just want to make sure everything is bang up to date before I try to play some SMB & potentially brick anything with a forced update.

So whats the latest HBC Version & where can I get it from?

Thanks

Neil

[egparadigm]

Can someone tell me how to boot the preloader menu? I seem to recall you held the reset button, but I'm not sure.

Soundwave, the current version is listed 1.0.6: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Homebrew_Channel

When I booted the HBC today it automatically downloaded the update, so that should be easy. I read this morning that there is a somewhat dangerous update in NSMBW and that Gecko is one way to avoid it.

[smouty]

Holding reset does boot to preloader which if you have installed you can load the correct hacks.ini on the root of your SD card to block any future updates.
You can also acheive this with StartPatch.
Booting any game from the incorrect region that contains an update is potentially disastrous if you install it. The safe updater app installs the latest System menu for your region but doesn't affect your homebrew potential. I did have to re-install the HBC but USBloader worked straight off when I updated from 3.2U to 4.2U and now everything works again including Shop Channel.

Please be aware that region patching on 4.2 is still not 100%.
NSMBW ran fine from USB even on 3.2U so unless you need the update don't bother.

[egparadigm]

Thanks again, smouty. I just use Preloader for suppressing the health warning, turning off the BGM and avoiding disc updates. StartPatcher looks a bit better than Preloader. I've installed that instead.

[sj33]

I've only recently discovered StartPatch, and they've recently updated it to allow region free Wii and GC at the same time (the patches used to conflict). Didn't give it thorough testing, but it played every game I tried, including a UK Resi Darkside Chronicles on my US Wii.

[smouty]

I've only recently discovered StartPatch, and they've recently updated it to allow region free Wii and GC at the same time (the patches used to conflict). Didn't give it thorough testing, but it played every game I tried, including a UK Resi Darkside Chronicles on my US Wii.

What version is this Jake? Is it the one with region free patches 1-5?
What system menu version are you on as I have been very successful since updating to 4.2.