Thread: How To: Setup Homebrew On Your Wii

Part One: Installing the Homebrew Channel

Homebrew applications, for the Wii, come in the form of a .dol file. Some Gamecube homebrew can be run on the Wii. The first way to run a homebrew application, would be the Twilight Hack.

The Twilight Hack is just a hacked Zelda: Twilight Princess save file. When you load the save file, within the game, it will look for a file called or boot.dol and launch it. The boot file must be placed on the root of the SD card. So, with the Twilight Hack you can only have one homebrew application on the SD card at a time and you have to switch out the boot file to run another. This is very inconvenient. So we use the Twilight Hack to run the Homebrew Channel Installer.

The Homebrew Channel Installer, installs a new channel on the Wii Menu, called the Homebrew Channel. The Homebrew Channel can launch Homebrew Applications, also, except you can have multiple applications on the SD card. You can scroll through a menu and choose the application that you want to run.

Install the Homebrew Channel on 3.x - 4.x (EASY WAY)
This is an alternative method for installing the homebrew channel on your wii, for 4.x:
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]


Install the Homebrew Channel on 3.x ONLY
FIRST: Any Zelda: Twilight Princess saves that you have on your Wii, and don't want to loose, you need to copy to the SD card. Then copy it over to your computer and delete it off of your Wii System Memory. *

STEP ONE:
Download and copy the [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register](according to your system menu version) to your SD Card (copy the folder named private to your SD card) ***
STEP TWO:
Download and copy the [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register], the boot.dol, and copy it to the root of your SD Card **
STEP THREE:
Place your SD Card in your Wii and copy the Twilight Hack save file to your Wii *
STEP FOUR:
Run the Zelda Twilight Princess Wii game and load the Twilight Hack save file
STEP FIVE:
When the game loads, walk backwards. The screen will go black and white text will appear follow the prompt and it will install.
STEP SIX:
When the setup is done it should reboot.
STEP SEVEN:
Look at your channels on the Wii Menu and you should see a new one: The Homebrew Channel
STEP EIGHT:
Now you can delete the Twilight Hack save file and the Homebrew Channel Installer, on your SD card. You can now copy your original Zelda: Twilight Princess save file back, if you had one.

* You can copy Wii Save files to and from your SD card under Data Management in the Wii Options menu.
** placing something on the root of your SD card means that you don't place it within any folders on the card.
*** to check your system menu version, turn on your Wii, go to Wii Option, then Wii Settings, then look in the top right corner.

Part Two: Adding Apps to the Homebrew Channel

ATTENTION: As of Homebrew Channel beta 9, .elf files will no longer be supported. If this becomes a problem see [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register].

As you know, homebrew apps have a .dol file extension. As the Twilight Hack could only recognize one app at a time, the Homebrew Channel can recognize many.

Adding an Application (list of apps [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register])
In order to make an application appear in the Homebrew Channel, the following steps must be taken:

STEP ONE:
Make a folder on the root of your SD card called apps.
STEP TWO:
In the apps folder create a folder for the application (for this example, [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] will be used).
STEP THREE:
Copy the files for the application into its folder (e.g. apps/scummvm/)
STEP FOUR:
Find the executable file .dol) and rename it to boot.dol if it is not already named that (e.g. apps/scummvm/boot.dol). If the app comes with these files, copy the icon.png and meta.xml files into this folder.
Now the application will appear in the Homebrew Channel. However, if the application did not come with icon.png or meta.xml, its appearance on the menu is ugly, and difficult to distinguish from other applications. To fix this, text and an image can be added.

Adding Text
To add text to an application in the Homebrew Channel, do the following:

STEP ONE:
Make a file in the folder of the application (e.g. apps/scummvm/) called meta.xml (e.g. apps/scummvm/meta.xml).
STEP TWO:
Open meta.xml in Notepad and add the following text as a template:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <app version="1">
    <name></name>
    <coder></coder>
    <version></version>
    <release_date></release_date>
    <short_description></short_description>
    <long_description></long_description>
  </app>

STEP THREE:
Add the appropriate information in between the relevant indicators. For example, the name of the application goes between <name> and </name>. The purpose of each field is as follows:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <app version="1">
    <name>The name of the application</name>
    <coder>The name of the person or group that wrote the code for the program.</coder>
    <version>The version of the application.</version>
    <release_date>The data the application was released.
    It has to be a timestamp using this format: YYYYmmddHHMMSS</release_date>
    <short_description>This is displayed on the main menu of the Homebrew Channel (before you select an application) and
    is used as a space to add a few words to describe the program.</short_description>
    <long_description>This is displayed once the application is chosen. It describes the program and its function in great
    detail, and can be used to elaborate on a program's controls.</long_description>
  </app>

An example of a completed meta.xml for [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] is provided below:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
  <app version="1">
    <name>ScummVM</name>
    <coder>dhewg</coder>
    <version>rev32231</version>
    <release_date>200805230000</release_date>
    <short_description>Point &amp; Click Adventures</short_description>
    <long_description>ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure
    games,
    provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped
    with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed! Some of the adventures
    ScummVM
    supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and
    Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood
    Studios'
    The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system
    such as
    Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more.</long_description>
  </app>

Alternatively, you can use [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]'s Java-based [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] program.

Adding an Icon
In order to make icons for the Homebrew Channel show up, they must be in .png format with dimensions of 128x48 pixels. The full alpha channel can be used. Copy it into the folder of the application under the name icon.png (e.g. apps/scummvm/icon.png).

The File Structure On the SD Card

Code:

THE SD CARD
       |
       |-----apps
               |----- scummvm
               |          |----- boot.dol
               |          |----- meta.xml (optional)
               |          |----- icon.png (optional)
               |
               |----- snes9x
                          |----- boot.dol
                          |----- meta.xml (optional)
                          |----- icon.png (optional)

Part Three: Emulation
I will now show you how to get NES, SNES, and GB, GBC, and GBA games to run on your Wii. The N64 emulator is on its way but at the moment it is unplayable.

Terminology
emulator - it basically mimics the hardware within a Game System(or other) to allow the games to run on other systems running different hardware
rom - this is a dump of the game, a SNES rom = a SNES game

, ,

NES Emulator
STEP ONE:
download [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] and add the emulator app to the HC
STEP TWO:
you will need: boot.dol, icon.png, meta.xml, settings.xml
STEP THREE:
on the root of your SD card copy the folder named fceugx
STEP FOUR:
place NES roms and save files in this folder

SNES Emulator
STEP ONE:
download [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] and add the emulator app to the HC
STEP TWO:
you will need: boot.dol, icon.png, meta.xml, settings.xml
STEP THREE:
on the root of your SD card copy the folder named snes9x
STEP FOUR:
place NES roms, save files and cheats in this folder

GB, GBC, GBA Emulator
STEP ONE:
download [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] and add the emulator app to the HC
STEP TWO:
you will need: boot.dol, icon.png, meta.xml, settings.xml
STEP THREE:
on the root of your SD card copy the folder named vbagx
STEP FOUR:
place NES roms and save files in this folder

other emulators can be found [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register].

Part Four: WiiWare and Virtual Console Backups

Now lets get some WiiW and VC backups installed. These backups have the .wad extension.

STEP ONE:
download [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] (alt [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]) and add it to the HC
STEP TWO:
you will need: boot.dol, icon.png, meta.xml
STEP THREE:
on the root of your SD card create a folder named wad
STEP FOUR:
download and place the .wad files in there
STEP FIVE:
run Wad Manager on the HC
STEP SIX:
press up and down to highlight the .wad files
STEP SEVEN:
press + to install a wad, press - to uninstall a wad
STEP EIGHT:
do what it says and it will install, wait and when it's done, do what it says.
STEP NINE:
the Wii will reset and a new channel should be on you Wii Menu, either WiiW or VC

Part Five: Downgrading Your System Menu

System Menu 3.2 is recommended for the use of homebrew. Once you downgrade the so called features Nintendo has presented for the latest version can be installed alternatively. Do NOT update through Nintendo. Waninoko has released an updater that will update your System Menu to 4.0 without restricting functionality for certain homebrew. Download [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register].

If you have 4.x refer here: (never downgrade you 4.x wii)
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]

Downgrading From 3.x
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]

Other Useful Links

Media:
GeeXbox - great media player
Dragon Media Player - good for playing music
MPlayer Wii - plays different types of media files
MPlayer DVDx - plays DVDs (DVDx required)

External Links:
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]

Roms:
Rom Freaks - http://www.rom-freaks.net/home.html - one pop-up
Ron Central - http://www.romscentral.com/gbasha008.htm - pop-ups
Romulation - http://www.romulation.net/downloads.php

Wads:
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]
[Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]

Source: [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register] -- Guide Created by Jiiprah -- jiiprahmail at gmail dot com

Originally Posted by admiral victorinox [Only Registered Members May View Links| Click here to register]

please update your guide =P, some things are out of date, or wont help people

what is out of date?