This is a complete tutorial on how to get the Homebrew channel installed on your wii with Backup loader Gamma v0.3
*IMPORTANT: Once you modded your wii using this tutorial you shouldn’t update your wii anymore, because this might damage your wii or your homebrew channel may not function anymore. Only install updates from the Homebrew channel itself.
Also don’t update to a higher version to follow the tutorial; Just stick to the version you have now.*
Before we start, you should check your current firmware version of your wii,
Do this by following the next steps:
- Start your wii.
- At the bottom left, you see a button with “wii” on it, press it.
- Go to wii settings
- Top right on your screen you should see your firmware version.
What will you need?
- An internet connection on your wii.
- A copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- A SD-card not bigger then 2GB (Non-SDHC).
- A filepack containing all the required files.
The filepack download contains:
- Homebrew channel
- Backup Loader 0.3 gamma
- PC Program: IMGBurn
- PC Program: Wii game Patcher(decrypter)
- PC Program: Wii brickblocker “update blocker”
- All the files for your SD Card.
Ok, that’s all that you need. Next step is the homebrew channel.
Installing the homebrew channel
After you downloaded the required files, unrar wii softmod, and open the SD card formatter. Format your SD Card with the following options:
- Format Type: Full (Erase ON)
- Format Size Adjustment: OFF
Now place all the files from location “wii_softmod/Wii_progandfiles_v3.x/sdcardfiles for v3.x” to the root of your SD Card. Your SD Card should look like this:
SDCARD
-Apps
-Private
-wad
-boot.dol
-boot.elf (boot.elf is only for wii users with firmware version 3.2)
Now, insert the SD card into your wii, go to the Wii button bottom left:
- Press Data management
- Press Save data
- Press Wii.
- Find your current Zelda savegame, and delete it.
Now press your SD Card and you will see the Twilight hack.
- Copy it to your Wii system.
- Start Zelda ASAP and load your savegame.
- Run towards the guy when your save is loaded, and talk to him.
Now you have to follow the on-screen instructions to install the homebrew channel. At the end the wii reboots and you will see your Homebrew channel!
You are now past the hard part now. Let’s continue with the installation of the Backup loader.
Installing the Backup Loader
This is where the tutorial splits into 3 parts. You will have to follow your firmware version.
We will start with users with firmware version 3.2:
Make sure Internet is configured correctly on your wii, but NEVER Patch when nintendo asks you to.
- Start the homebrew channel.
- Select in Wad manager 3 : “CIOS36_rev5-64-v1042.wad” And press + on your wiimote. If wad manager v1.3 doesn’t work, try version v1.2 or version v1.1
- After the installation, reboot your wii.
- Go to the homebrew channel and select dvdxinstaller.
- Go to Advanced and select IOS 249
- Reboot your wii after the installation.
- Go to the homebrew channel and select Cios installer.
- Reboot your wii after the installation.
Once more, go to the homebrew channel and open wad manager v1.3 (or lower)Select “4 – Autoboot-0.3g-forsaekn.wad” and press + on your wiimote.
Now the Back loader Gamma channel should be installed on your wii!
Users with firmware version 3.3
Make sure Internet is configured correctly on your wii, but NEVER Patch when nintendo asks you to.
- Start the homebrew channel.
- Start wad manager v1.3 and install “1 – IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad”
- After installing reboot your wii and return to the Homebrew channel.
- Now start the wad manager for cIOS_fix and install “2 – cios_fix.wad”
- Reboot the wii and return to the Homebrew channel
- Start IOS DOWNGRADER V1.1, follow the on-screen instructions and reboot your wii after everything is ready.
- Go to the homebrew channel and press dvdxinstaller
- Go to advanced and select IOS 249
- Reboot your wii after installing, and go back to the homebrew channel.
- Press CIOS Installer and follow on-screen instructions
- After installing reboot your wii and return to the homebrew channel.
- Open Wad manager, and install “4 – Autoboot-0.3g-forsaekn.wad”
Now the Back loader Gamma channel should be installed on your wii!
Users with firmware version 3.4
Make sure Internet is configured correctly on your wii, but NEVER Patch when nintendo asks you to.
- Start the homebrew channel.
- Start wad manager v1.3 and install “1 – IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad”
- After installing, reboot your wii and return to the homebrew channel.
- Now start Wad manager for cIOS_fix and install the wad “2 – cios_fix.wad”
- Start IOS DOWNGRADER V1.1, follow the on-screen instructions and reboot your wii after everything is ready.
- Go to the homebrew channel and press dvdxinstaller
- Go to advanced and select IOS 249
- Reboot your wii after installing, and go back to the homebrew channel.
- Press CIOS Installer and follow on-screen instructions
- After installing reboot your wii and return to the homebrew channel.
- Open Wad manager, and install “4 – Autoboot-0.3g-forsaekn.wad”
Now the Back loader Gamma channel should be installed on your wii!
Getting ISO’s ready for burning:
Allright! you got past the most tricky part of the entire tutorial.
If you are planning on downloading games for you wii, you should keep the following information in mind.
First of all you should check out this site. You have to check 2 things before you download your iso:
- Does result say Working?
- Does 1:1 say Yes or No?
Any game that says working, should actually work. When 1:1 Says Yes, it means you don’t need to patch it; When 1:1 says NO you will have to Patch it. If it says Yes/no Then you can choose.
If 1:1 Says no, you should patch your ISO with “isopatch” included in the rar. Otherwise, just leave the iso.
After downloading your Wii ISO, you have to check if it is completely in order.
- UnRAR wiu1.rar from the pack, and open it. You will have the “w.i.u 1.1″ opened.
- Press “OPEN WII ISO” And locate your iso file.
Next there are 3 things to check:
- Filesize should be displayed GREEN
- Update should be displayed GREEN (If not -> Press Brick blocker Patch update.)
- Region should be NTSC or PAL (NTSC= USA, Pal=Europe) [ If not your region, press the patch button with your region on it.]
When this is done, you are ready to burn your ISO! Here is how to do that:
- Unrar “imgburn” and Install it.
- After installing start the program and select “write image file to disc”
- Insert your empty DVD-R ( Important that it is DVD-R because there are read problems with DVD+R and DVD+RW)
- Where it says source, select your Wii ISO file.
- Press Verify so that it’s enabled
- Your write speed should be set to anything lower then 4x, but we recommend doing it at 1x write speed.
When the burning is complete, insert your dvd into your wii, and launch the Backup Loader. The game will automatically start.
Enjoy!
BONUS:
Starfall Brick blocking application Installation
So if you’re scared your Wii might brick by you soft-modding it, then follow the next steps to install a brick blocking application, making your Wii safer:
You’ll need the following to install Starfall:
- Wii with update 3.2 (If it’s not 3.2 you’re SOL.)
- SD card reader for you’re PC
- SD card (Wii compatible)
- Starfall files
- The Homebrew channel
Firstly download this zip. It contains the Starfall files you will need. Next follow these instructions:
- Extract the Zip file.
- Open up the Drive you’re SD card is in.(In my case it’s Removable Disk K
- Drag and drop the “Starfall” folder into the “apps” folder on the root of the SD card.
- Turn on you’re Wii and boot up homebrew channel.
- Open Starfall.
- You’ll now get a black screen with writing on it. read Carefully. Then press B+1 at the same time. It might take a few tries but it’ll load up a screen with a bunch of options.
- To install any files simply select the ones you want press A and it should say install on the far right of the selection.
- When you’ve selected everything you want to install press 2 button and it should install everything
- Press the A button to reboot your Wii.
There you go. You’re Wii now has Starfall! Are you confident now? If so scooter to the top of this post and start modding!
Have fun & leave us a line if this works out for you 
By Vienna, March 7, 2009 at 3:27 pm
:tup: Thank you Thank you Thank you SOOOO MUCH !!!
Love it !!! :luv:
I’ve been buisy all day long trying 2 softmod hack my wii and everything on all those websites was really confusing with all the different info and downloads everywhere, but with this help I got it right in 30 minutes max.!
This is a real good and easy to follow instruction with perfect downloads, everything you can possibly need!!! U can’t imagine how happy I am with this! Thnx again 4 all your good work…
By Walker, March 9, 2009 at 11:17 pm
:tup: :tup: :tup: :tup: :tup:
Great! I will hack after I rent a Twilight.
Thanks.
By dicknballs, March 9, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Hello, this was the most clear and concise explanation on how to softmod your Wii – I was up and running in no time flat. One thing though, I have 3.4U FW and had to download a later version of the Homebrew Channel from the original website and copy that ‘/private’ folder to the SD card instead of the one from the .zip file on this site. Everything else worked like a champ however, thanks!
-dnb
By Pay, March 10, 2009 at 12:58 am
Great tutorial – best i’ve seen on the web
THANKS a lot
solved all my problems with 3.4
take care,
A
By bnb2, March 14, 2009 at 1:47 am
Worked like a charm!!!
As dicknballs said. I had version 3.4u as well and I went ahead and took his advice and downloaded the latest homebrew channel.
Everything worked out perfect!!!
Thank you very very much!!!
:tup:
By Kikko, March 15, 2009 at 3:21 am
First, thanks for the tutorial. I had no problem softmodding my wii.
I only have 1 problem, Copied game on DVD-r based on your instructions and it’s not working. When i clicked on start in Backup Loader, the nintendo safety message (fasten remote) shows up then it shows the BLACK screen of death. I have version 3.4e.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
By joenels, March 16, 2009 at 2:40 am
Hi…I have failed.I have fw 3.4u and installed HBC fine,went to wad manager and installed IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad with no errors and rebooted,went to custom WM and ran cios_fix.wad with no errors and rebooted.when I go to IOS DOWNGRADER V1.1,I press load and it goes to black screen and locks up.I also now gte the black screen lockup on wad manager.I am able to run custom wad manager but uninstalls of anything give me a error 1017 although reinstalls of cios fix and ios16 run fine with no errors.I have attempted to use anytitle deleter to delete ios249 but i get an error on startup of anytitle deleter also 1017.games still play fine on thewii but I cant go forward or back on the downgrade.any ideas?
By Man nage, March 16, 2009 at 5:30 am
hey jonels after you run IOS16-64-v257-prod.wad run IOS36-64-v1042.wad then do your cios_fix. now just finish the tut…… You might wanna get a app called Gamma002fix_r2 it will let you play some of the new game like sonic and the black knight. you can download IOS51 too.
By joenels, March 16, 2009 at 7:59 am
I’m getting black screen/lockup in wad manager…are you saying run IOS36-64-v1042.wad then do cios_fix both from custom wad manager?I think I have already tried that…
By joenels, March 16, 2009 at 7:53 pm
that didnt work…if I run the ios36 it installs but then I get a error 1035 trying to run cios_fix.
By joenels, March 16, 2009 at 7:56 pm
installin ios36 didnt work…if I run the ios36 it installs but then I get a error 1035 trying to run cios_fix.I cant get into wad manager at all nor ios downgrader or cios downgader.anytitle errors trying to dlete 249 and I can get cios uninstaller to even show up in hbc…I feel like an idiot.
By joenels, March 17, 2009 at 6:23 pm
fail.all applications in homebrew other than custom wad manager give me black screen lockup including cios uninstaller.not sure where I went wrong but have no idea how to start over if it wont let me run any homebrew apps.
By mm, March 17, 2009 at 8:00 pm
i agree with everyone else, these instructions are by far the most comprehensive that i’ve ever found. everything worked perfectly, with one exception that i’m hoping someone might be able to help me with:
i followed the instructions to burn an iso to a disk, but when it played in the launcher, i got a scrolling screen – i could see the game starting up, but only with this scrolling screen and only in b&w. any thoughts? should i try a better quality DVD-R, perhaps?
By Dogbot, March 22, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hi all, great tutorial, by far the best i have found. I have one question i hope someone can answer. my fw is 3.1e would it be a better idea to upgrade the fw to latest and then softmod???? or can i just leave it at 3.1e and stop updates on disk and console. Many thanks in advance.
By Kman, March 25, 2009 at 4:31 am
I have some questions before I dare to start doing this.
First, is it possible to brick the machine doing this, and can it be fixed if so happens? (I have firmware 3.4e).
Second, even if it would work, can I uninstall everything later if I want to?
Third, Do the sd card need to be in the machine after all is installed? Can I just borrow the card I have in my camera for a little while, or should I get a new one?
Thanks.
By thorndruid, March 25, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Great work guys, followed the instuctions to a T and it worked flawlessly, you guys rock
By Kamakaze, March 27, 2009 at 5:55 pm
GREAT GUIDE. Very detailed and leaves nothing to guess work. Thank you very much for your effort.
By tropexplorer, March 27, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I have a us version 3.4 and followed it to a T and everything installed with no problems. However the backup games my friend let me borrow does not load…just get a black screen and eventually errors out. The same disks work on his wii which a us version 3.2 that was modded.
By mm, March 29, 2009 at 1:37 pm
[Comment ID #86472 Will Be Quoted Here]
tropexplorer,
i had the same problem. i downgraded from 3.4u to 3.2u and now everything works well for the most part (except that any PAL games i download that i do the “region patch” on won’t work, so i have to download only NTSC games).
i got the downgrading instructions from this link:
http://www.wiihacks.com/other-.....guide.html
hope it helps!
By nick, April 7, 2009 at 6:23 pm
it says i must first play the game on my wii system to copy save data
By sockhead, April 9, 2009 at 10:54 am
Firmware: 3.4u
Serial: LU64*
Problem: Blank screen – requires hard-reset for WadManager, IOS Downgrader, etc. Some homebrew works, most don’t.
I’ve got IOS16 installed, and IOS249 installed. Not sure what to do now. Anyone know if a ‘fix’ exists for LU64 wiis?
By shrek, April 9, 2009 at 12:50 pm
will this hack work on 3.1 formwareand i need the wii connected to the internet am i right
By L33Buk, April 11, 2009 at 5:31 am
You are a star m8. thank you
By Adam, April 16, 2009 at 3:42 am
Firstly I must say that your instructions are very concise and easy to understand. There are many sites on the internet but none have taken the time to present it as well as you have.
I have a Wii with firmware version 3.1E. Do you have backup loader instructions for this firmware version or do I have to upgrade from 3.1E to 3.2 first ? Please advise. I really don’t want to mess it up. Thanks
Adam
By jean, April 16, 2009 at 12:16 pm
i have unfortunately updated to ver.4.ou before even knowing that it is possible tp hack a wii. could you please help?
By nancy, April 17, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I also updated to 4.0 and would like some help. Thanks!
By Paul, April 21, 2009 at 2:54 am
I am getting an error boot.dol not found then reading boot.elf then fail to read boot.elf.What am I doing wrong.I have a wiikey2 and 3.4U and a zelda disk usa 002.that was using the hack from the original site yours does not work. Very frustrating I tried this a month ago still no progress.Awesome job on the tut though
By Locoss, April 21, 2009 at 6:25 pm
[Comment ID #89555 Will Be Quoted Here]
joenels and sockhead I have a Wii 3.4U ser. LS64* and I did the same, and have the same all BLACK SCREENS for wad manager, ios downgrade, anytitle deleter error 1017, etc.
I seems the this LS64 have some problems… the wierd THING is, that the first time i tried the WAD MANAGER 1.3 for installing the IOS16 worked perfectly….
anyone with any idea???
By fatguy, April 25, 2009 at 11:10 am
oh men! i should`ve found this earlier before i went to a store and mod it! oh well, at least i did`nt have to work just to do this but i`ll still try to download the gamesfrom the internet
By Anon_Jon, May 4, 2009 at 11:14 pm
hi.. thanks for all the tips! these works great :tup:
If i ever want to revert to factory settings, what would be the easiest way to do it?? Would formatting the system memory be good enough?
By Timugen, May 30, 2009 at 11:12 am
will this work with firmware v2.0? (haven’t plugged my wii in in a couple years)
I’m at v2.0 and don’t want to update through nintendo because I have no idea what the current firmware version is.
By dopple, June 2, 2009 at 4:55 pm
When i try to copy the save data from my sd card to my wii, it says that “you must play the save game on your console first”. I made a twilight file, deleted it, but i still get this message. Sorry in advance if my question is stupid, I probably read the directions wrong.
By Ironman, June 21, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Modded two wiis today using these easy to follow instructions. Need the same format for the Hackmii installer so that people with firmware 4.0 can get up and running
Thanx
By nik666666, June 29, 2009 at 11:47 pm
i have version 4.0 !now my only option is to buy homebreware?cant i download it for free???
By pedro sanchez, July 2, 2009 at 7:49 pm
the best guide for 3.4u i love you this is the most easy to understtand the rest were complete bs but this is the best guide thank you and your programs hugs for everyone…
By chris, July 13, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I would like to echo an earlier question..
First, is it possible to brick the machine doing this, and can it be fixed if so happens? (I have firmware 3.4e).
Second, even if it would work, can I uninstall everything later if I want to?
Third, Does the sd card need to be in the machine after all is installed?
Cheers
By chris, July 20, 2009 at 5:01 pm
also just because i’m impatient, i bought tiger 10 with the motion plus and it has an update, not firmware as even after the update was complete my version stayed at 3.4e, but it updates something and says if you’ve modded your wii in any way it may become unusable. does anyone know anything about this update? and if it now means i am unable to soft mod my wii??
By gabe, July 23, 2009 at 11:28 pm
hey ther but can any one tell me if this softmod works on wii with serial#LU64 thanks 4 your help
By tania, August 2, 2009 at 3:26 pm
so i am not very computer literate. i have version 3.4u. i followed the instruction to delete save Zelda game. but the next instruction says to play your load your savegame. My question is if i deleted it already then where am i getting the savegame? I went ahead and recreate another file. What am i not understanding? I kept playing the Zelda game but not getting any on screen instruction.
By 1994MGoBlue, August 10, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Chris (and all struggling with Twilight hack):
First, you should NEVER EVER PAY for this hack! I see links in prior postings that charge for the code – that’s a scam – stay away! (June 3 & June 22)
There is a newer hack that no longer requires Zelda – I used it and it worked extremely slick. It works on 3.x and 4.x firmware. The site http://wiiguide.co.cc/ has by far the best “Dummies” guide (click Download AIO Kit toward the top for a great PDF guide and all the files you need for your SD card).
Do you need to leave the SD card in?
Basically, Yes – the Homebrew channel executable live on that SD card, as does your other homebrew programs & cover art. Obviously Wii works normally without the SD card, but you won’t be able to run Homebrew.
A VERY cool feature not covered here in-depth is the USB Loader. With this program on your Wii, plus an external USB harddrive (I bought a USB-powered 2.5in external drive for around $65) you can rip your Wii game DVD’s to the hard drive. From then on, you can launch any of your games (much quicker, btw) using the image on your hard drive, not the DVD. No more lost or scratched DVDs and you need not leave the comfort of your sofa to change between games!! A good article on that can be located here: http://www.mikeandheth.com/gam.....drive.html
By Captain Cracker, August 24, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Hey, I just recently learned about the whole wii homebrew and whatnot, and I currently have the usb (fat32) 4g, the bannerbomb and wii apps installed into it, and all that’s left is to install the homebrew onto my wii. however i noticed that im already at the 4.1 software update, so the question is…how do i UN-install updates so as to be able to use the wiibrew? my wii is from the early days (2-3 years now i believe?) and im dying to get my hands on the japanese MH3 through this rather than wait till March here in the USA (yes im lazy, but fanboys have needs too
)
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By Namilia, September 30, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Thank you!!! The directions are very easy to follow, but I have a little problem running the latest games in the Backup Channel. It gives the error 002 and considering how this topic is started in March I believe it is because the files are outdated. Can you please put up new instructions and files so that people are able to play the latest games? Thanks again for all the hard work! ^_^
By micah, October 2, 2009 at 1:47 pm
how do i get the game covers to to show up on the usb loader screen?
By Taylor, October 8, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I can’t install homebrew on my wii I am able to downgrade but cannot load BOOT2.dol it freezes mt wad manager everytime, any help would be great
By Mikey, December 11, 2009 at 3:08 pm
will this work on a 3.4E wii????? or is it just for USA wiis
By shanks, December 16, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I’ve Wii 3.4 U LU60 and I am getting error (ret = -2011) when I try to install WAD. What do I do?? Please help!
By shanks, December 16, 2009 at 9:17 pm
On the side note, I didn’t have to use Twilight hack to get Homebrew….it worked like a charm there…and I am also able to download games from internet….so why this is giving so much problem…
By shanks, December 16, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Well I am past all installations on 3.4U LU60..now I need to download some ISOs and see if it actually works…the link in the article is not working…any clue?
By Ryan, December 26, 2009 at 8:34 am
Ive got verson 4.2U will it even work with that? i realy dont wanna have to downgrade as today was my first time touching a wii so i know nothing about it.
Anyways if anyone has a ps3 and wants to walk me threw it that would be sweet. psn is topdawg1982
thanks