HackMii

Update: I’ve just uploaded v0.7b of the installer. The only change is a small bugfix in the installer itself, and only very few people ran into this. If you could successfully install either The Homebrew Channel or BootMii, there is no need to reinstall again, both are unchanged compared to v0.7. If you had problems before, please try again with this version. The download links and the integrated update feature in HBC itself have been updated for this bugfix.

After more than four weeks we believe we’ve finally reached the point for the next public release of the HackMii Installer: v0.7.

A lot of changes and improvements went into this release. After quite some headaches and a few puzzles (thanks Erant!) we stockpiled over 250 commits since v0.6, increasing the compatibility with even more Wiis.

The installer now works completely differently, The Homebrew Channel got a few new features and a new look, and BootMii received a fair amount of minor improvements too.

Next to the usual minor fixes, these are the changes worth mentioning:

HackMii Installer (v0.7)

• New exploit to enable (un-) installation of all components on fully updated Wiis (up to, and including System Menu v4.3).
• Proper support for all regions, including KOR.
• General overhaul: the installer now requires BootMii/IOS to function. It will automatically be installed upon startup – either if BootMii/IOS is not installed or if it is older than the version this release comes with.
• DVDX died a horrible death. Rumor has it that someone dropped a snapple bottle on its head.
• Additional installer binary bootmini.elf, see the included README.txt for more infos.

BootMii beta 5 (v1.2):

• Compatible with more SD cards.
• New font, borrowed from the deceased Twilight Hack.
• The button combination when restoring a NAND backup with only BootMii/IOS was impossible to perform with some pads. It has been changed to the Konami Code.

The Homebrew Channel (v1.0.7):

• New title id to circumvent its deletion by System Menu v4.3.
• New look from our favorite pixel artist drmr.
• Both views now show five rows of application entries.
• On-NAND settings.
  The selected device, sort order, view and application are saved. Settings are restored when reentering HBC.
  The settings can be deleted via the System Menu’s Data Management.
• HBC now has the HW_AHBPROT flags set for direct hardware access, thus replacing DVDX.
• Ability to not reload IOS when launching an application.
  This effectively means that loaded applications inherit the title id, gaining direct hardware access via HW_AHBPROT.
  To use this feature, add  <no_ios_reload/> to the <app> node in your meta.xml file.
  wiiloaded binaries automatically gain direct hardware access.
  libogc SVN (starting with r4166) has been extended for this feature. DI_Init() will detect if an application has been launched this way, and DVD access should just work without any changes to your code.
• USB access is more stable, thanks to tueidj
• Fixed the retry mechanism for the network initialization.
• Fixed some rare hangs upon launch and exit (Hopefully all of them).
• A little surprise, to be announced soon. Refrain from bugging us about it, you’ll know soon enough

If you have installed HBC v1.0.7, it is safe to update your Wii to System Menu v4.3.

Please note that HBC’s update check now contains data in the referrer string unique to each Wii. Its sole purpose is for anonymous usage statistics.

Before asking questions, please read the included README files. You will also find information about how to report problems and encountered bugs.

Thanks to all the beta testers, it’s been a long ride.

Either grab the new installer here, or use the HBC online update (a confirmation dialog should pop up when launching an older version of HBC).

As always: Please link to this post instead of mirroring the binary, thanks.

Enjoy.

It’s been a quiet few months around here — Nintendo seems to have been neglecting the Wii. We expected to see a firmware update bundled with Super Mario Galaxy 2, but found no such thing — however, a few weeks later, we have ourselves a brand new 4.3 update. As usual, Nintendo describes the update as:

June 21, 2010

Wii Menu 4.3

Unauthorized Modifications

Because unauthorized channels or firmware may impair game play or the Wii console, updating to Wii Menu version 4.3 will check for and automatically remove such unauthorized files. In addition, there are some behind the scenes enhancements that do not affect any prominently-used features or menus but will improve system performance.

If you are seeing “Error:004,” please click here.

What a disappointment… this is just a rehash of, well … every update in the past 2 years, except for the 4.0 update (which actually added some features). The only thing that will drive people to install this update will be the broken Shopping channel and hypothetical future games which will come with this update on disc.

Anyway, here’s the technical changelog — much of this can be seen in the last few Wiimpersonator reports.

IOS

• Fixes in all versions — the 2 exploits we were using in the HackMii Installer, as well as the /tmp bug that has existed forever and a half and been used by everyone else to downgrade IOS. Updated existing IOSes (9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 21, 22, 28, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 53, 55, 56, 57, 61)
• Added two new IOSes — IOS80 and IOS58. IOS80 continues the trend of a new IOSx0 for each system menu, and IOS70 was stubbed out. IOS58 was previously only found on one disc, and is interesting because it contains an EHCI (USB2.0)
• Added a stub IOS that will finally overwrite BootMii/IOS with a higher version number.

System Menu

• Updated to block title IDs — HAXX, JODI, DISC, DISK
• Updated to *really* block Bannerbomb – shows Error 004 now

So there’s nothing interesting at all in this update. Just the usual bugfixes. They do get credit this time to actually block exploits. The Bannerbomb block seems to be stable this time and they didn’t leave our privilege escalation exploit unfixed like in the last update.

We’re currently working on new exploits and a new release of the HackMii installer but we’ll spend some more time to obfuscate our exploits this time to make it harder for ninty to find and fix them. It might therefore take some more time until our next release.
Just don’t update – there’s nothing interesting in this update anyway.

Matthew Braga’s article article prompted our good friend Nate to post some thoughts about how homebrew developers might be able to foil piracy on our favorite platforms. I had a few things to say on this subject — some of which I’ve gone over here in the past and a little bit of which I haven’t bothered to mention. It got to be pretty long and Nate suggested that I post it here instead of as a comment on his blog, so here we go.

(tl;dr version: We tried to avoid helping pirates on the Wii, we had varying degrees of success. In the end, it doesn’t really seem to have mattered and with the way that Nintendo has treated us, I don’t have a lot of interest in trying anymore.)
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