Discussion Wii Software Initiative (We need help!)

[ShockSlayer]

Upon trimming the Wii, several challenges have arisen; one of them being the fact that some sort of DVD drive/replacement is required in order for game loading to work from SD/USB. Without anything connected, the Wii errors out, likely due to some required check or authentication not being met.

There are currently two different ways being looked at to solve this issue:

1. Hardware
The less attractive option. The most logical thing in this case would be to just reconnect a trimmed stock DD or WASP. Those seem to completely solve the problems, and it's unlikely that any alternative hardware solutions would be smaller or require less hardware than a WASP. The nice thing about this option is that it's basically mapped out already, short of figuring out which parts of the stock Wii DD do what and how far we can trim it.

2. Software
The ideal solution. There are a lot of theories on what's causing the error, and if it's possible to patch an IOS to disable signature checks or drive checks then that's the lightest option for board trimming. Very little is known to be certain, but the prevailing theory is that while a game(either VC or other methods) is running, the Wii loads an IOS that by default checks to see if the disc drive is present, and upon finding that it isn't, errors out the Wii, in a similar fashion the Gamecube does when there's no DD connected.

This error apparently doesn't happen when a GC game is being played through Nintendont. That alone warrants further investigation, if it's possible to understand how this one case doesn't arise, then it may be possible to adapt a solution from that.

Several, relatively unsuccessful attempts have been made to reach out to people in the Wii scene for consultation on this problem, however it's mostly a matter of being unable to pinpoint exactly what needs to be discussed.

Solving this problem would nail the final problem plaguing the completion of maximum Wii trimming.

 

[Shank]

ShockSlayer has provided the guidance and connections to continue to point Wii moding where it needs to go.
I documented the Wii revisions, circuitry, refused to take no's as answers, and showed the potential the Wii has.
Gman has been actively pushing the limits of how small the board can be cut, bringing what was just a ambitious hypothesis to life.
Cheese has analyzed the data communications and booted the console without the MX chip, proving that nothing is impossible.

We are on the verge of some huge Wii breakthroughs that could change portablizing. The Wii is going to be TINY. But we have encountered some issues we need to discuss, and we need help solving.

Currently, the Wii requires 3 daughterboards in order to properly function:

1. Disc Drive Board
2. WiFi Module
3. Bluetooth Module

This is a problem because
1: The daughter boards themselves take up space and power, and some portables don't need these features.
2: The daughter boards are difficuilt to relocate and rewire
3: We cannot cut the motherboard as small, because we need to leave points to relocate the daughterboards.

How the fuck do we get rid of these things?

I'm almost absolutely sure this can be done through software. The Wii IOS systems have been modified so heavily that I truely believe this is possible.
We can't just pull them off. Removing them causes some rather large issues:
Wifi- removal prevents booting and freezes under all conditions
Bluetooth- removal prevents booting and freezes under most conditions
Disc drive- Wii, stock mios, and virtual console games return an error when no drive is detected.

Priorities
The disc drive is the number one priority. It is the largest, least needed and most difficuilt to relocate component of the three. SD and USB loading should make this board obsolete. Removing the disc drive would be incredible, and a soft mod no portable would go without.
WiFi is priority number 2. It is difficuilt to rewire, and almost completely useless now that Nintendo has shut down online support for the Wii. Aside from a few homebrew apps, most shouldn't notice it's absense.
Bluetooth is the least important. It is still useful for playing games that don't use gamecube controllers, and isn't that difficult to relocate. Only some will want to disable this.

 

[LOCtroviser]

Yeah I can say that the software side of things will be more complicated that it looks. I have had contact with the original creator of Wiiflow and the disc checks that are in place are embedded deep within the code. He was not bothered to change it as it would require allot of recoding.

The creator of Nintendont coded the program so that it emulates disc checks. That is why it works without a disc drive. I highly doubt that replacing an ios would make much different otherwise someone would have already done it. Doesn't mean to say it is not possible. Just from the contact I had with experienced wii coders they said it will be highly unprobable that it would happen.

 

[ShockSlayer]

The biggest thing is there's been no need within the regular Wii scene to make things work without a DVD drive. Every Wii comes with one, and the only time they're ever dealt with is things like drivechips/passthroughs/etc, which usually don't remove it either. It's mostly uncharted territory simply out of a lack of necessity. And we've not really presented enough evidence that such a thing would be worth investing the time into for those legendary dudes who can make these things happen.

Looking back, there have been a few times where the console modding/homebrew scenes out there have been improved by challenges that only portablizing has faced. One of the best examples is the WKF and how it's been standard issue in the GC scene. Ashen brought people together and made that happen because he wanted to eliminate the GC's DD. Then before you know it Swiss can be flashed to it, the megadrives come out, etc. I'm hoping that history can repeat itself in that way.

Still, we're pretty brick-walled here in terms of available options. I'd like to think if it's possible to emulate disc checks for the GC, then it can be done for the rest of the console too. I think the biggest first step is figuring out who's still interested in working on the Wii scene.

 

[LOCtroviser]

Oh don't get me wrong. It is definitely possible. However we need some code junkies to go at it

 

[Shank]

The biggest thing is there's been no need within the regular Wii scene to make things work without a DVD drive.

This. Nobody has done it because nobody has needed it done before now. Why would someone write code to remove something if nobody wants to remove it?

 

[Ampz]

So to summarize all of this, we need to spoof the daughters boards code-wise?

 

[Shank]

So to summarize all of this, we need to spoof the daughters boards code-wise?

Yes. We need to spoof the boards, or remove the calls all together.

 

[ShockSlayer]

There's a limited amount of IOS's that can be called. There may be value in identifying and starting a list of which ones those are. The code that actually does the calls may be a 1:1 snippet in each one that could be removed or something.

 

[Shank]

I was able to get a hold of user Henker37 on the wiidev IRC. He was able to provide some useful information.
Update: here is an extended conversation that includes crediar and fix94, amongst others.

 

[LOCtroviser]

Ah yes fix96!! That was the guy I was taking with a while back. I also spoke of removing the wifi and disc checks. He told me most of the code was closed and that there wasn't any interest in changing anything so he didn't want to bother.

Hopefully someone will be able to help.....

 

[Shank]

So the software guys have recommended I check out sneek+di. I have looked into it, and it appears to be some kind of emunand that emulates the disc drive. Someone less challenged with software than me should run some tests to see how this all runs and how useful this software could be for us. I think it does have support for wiiflow integration, but Im not sure