Ithian

Newly Released: How to Uninstall cIOSCORP from your Wii Console

Well we all know about this fun little bag of hurt. After reading through and responding to many cIOSCORP threads over the last few months, I decided to finally take the plunge and dive head-first into the crazy little world of cIOSCORP. I have a brand new spindle of Taiyo Yudens to mess with, and plenty of NAND backups sitting on my computer, so why not wade into the murky waters of Disc Channel gooeyness? Well both I, and my console, have lived to tell the tale of our run-in with The Corp. I'll try to keep this as objective as possible and, for those of you who actually make it to the end of this blog, I must give a hearty Kudos.

For those who aren't sure exactly what cIOSCORP does/is, and have accidentally stumbled their way into my little corner of the Wiihacks Blog-o-sphere, here's a brief run-down:

Code:

cIOSCORP is a package of customized IOS files whose primary purpose, when installed to the Wii console, is to enable 
the launching of backup game discs from the Disc Channel.  It does this by patching and modifying many of the original 
factory IOS with custom code taken in part from Waninkoko's DIP patch plugin and mixing some IOS slots around.

This is a very simplified description of the application, but it'll serve my purposes for this write-up.

If you already have a good understanding of what IOS files are, you'll know that installing customized IOS files is not too unusual - Waninkoko's cIOSX and Hermes cIOS222/223 are pretty common around these parts, and most of you probably have both of these installed to your systems. cIOSCORP takes customizing IOS files to the next level (and in this case many people feel that 'the next level' isn't always a good thing).

Within the core cIOSCORP package are 24 custom IOS WAD files that, when installed, replace the IOS files on the system. Wait, did I just say replace? That's right, they completely overwrite the corresponding, factory-shipped IOS files with modified ones. Not all of them, mind you, but most.

Now if you're somewhat familiar with many of the guides on this site, you've probably at some time or another stumbled upon a warning like this:

Never uninstall any IOS below 200!!

So you might ask yourself, "Why is it everybody tells us not to uninstall these IOS files (obviously they're important), but this package says it's okay to modify and overwrite all of them?" Well, it is and it isn't. It depends on your perspective, and just how badly you think you need those games to load from the Disc Channel. When you go and modify the core files that a system uses to operate, you better be doing it with some really well-written code. So does cIOSCORP deliver?

In my experience, it does.

The cIOSCORP package does do exactly what it promises. Of the games that I've burned, including some of the more problematic titles, not a single one has failed to load and each runs without issue. As a person who is not-at-all a fan of the Neogamma interface, the idea of launching my backups directly from the Disc Channel is quite an appealing one. And so now after experiencing it, I understand why it's such a popular and, as we'll see in a few moments, controversial subject.

So one of my impressions previously about cIOSCORP was that, once it's installed, other parts of my system would start acting crazy or malfunctioning. It does alter quite a bit of the core files, so I wouldn't have been terribly shocked if my USB loaders decided to blow up on-screen or my emulators just fizzled out into a haze of smoke. But none of that happened. In fact, my system after cIOSCORP acts exactly like it did before cIOSCORP. Games load from Wiiflow/USB Loader GX just fine, game forwarders still work fine, emulators are good, and homebrew's good. Even disc backups loading from GX and Neogamma still work the same as they did before.

Alright Ithian, so what's the big deal about this cIOSCORP thingie then? Here's my take:

I think the majority of errors with cIOSCORP occur when users, who have no idea what they're doing, try to make updates or changes to the system without acknowledging (to themselves or others) the state their console is in. In other words, many of the "cIOSCORP bricked me" threads I come across are there because someone who tried to update an important IOS, by installing one from NUS or DOP-IOS, did so without noting the fact that cIOSCORP was on the console. You can't do that with cIOSCORP!! It's an all-in kind of project. Once it's installed, if you need an update for a game you've got 2 choices: You wait for a new version of cIOSCORP to be released or you uninstall cIOSCORP. Don't be clever. Don't try to get around it. It is what it is, and you should've known that when you pressed the 'A' button on that Installer screen.

User inadequacies aside, my biggest disdain for cIOSCORP is with the uninstaller. Now, it's one thing to promise a set of files that offer a unique functionality to the console, and support those files with a relatively easy-to-use installer pack. But it's entirely another to turn around and offer an uninstaller with completely outdated files to "restore" the system with, leaving the potentially clueless user to figure out why all their games are black-screening. It also leaves your PAL/NTSC console with a bunch of completely useless Korean IOS. I'm very, very disappointed with this aspect of cIOSCORP.

Here's an interesting fact: Did you know the cIOSCORP uninstaller leaves 4.2 users (and everyone else) with a System IOS70-64-v6144? That version's not even included on the Nintendo server (NUS).

If it wasn't going to take so much time (and space) I would make a list of the revisions supplied in the uninstaller to place here. For now you'll have to take my word that, considering the frequency with which cIOSCORP is updated, the files included with the Uninstaller are far too out of date to be offered as a suitable restoration for the modern softmodded console.

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Conclusion
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I am still of the opinion that cIOSCORP is beyond the scope of the majority of users, and as such will do my part to ensure the users of this forum stay far away from it. But for those few who take the time to learn their material properly, have the necessary means and know-how to restore their console should the need arise, and are looking for an inexpensive method of running their backups through the Disc Channel, cIOSCORP is definitely the way to go. It does exactly what it promises, and from my experience, you'll see no loss of functionality in the other aspects of your softmod.

That said, the uninstaller is absolutely horrendous and I find it disgraceful and irresponsible that the designers of cIOSCORP have not bothered to update it. To put it from another perspective, if I had no NAND backup and "restored" my system using the cIOSCORP Uninstaller, I would have to update 19 IOS revisions and delete 6 Korean IOS to get my system current again. I think that speaks for itself.

All in all, I'm glad I tried cIOSCORP. It was definitely an educational experience, and it's a nice option to have.

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Wow, I can't believe you actually made it this far! Yep, this is the end of the blog. As a reward, here are some of the more popular images posted (cheers to Favs and Tealc) in cIOSCORP threads. Enjoy!