**WARNING: If you’re purchasing a Wii U console without a GamePad, and intend to configure the console with DRC Sim, then first, thoroughly read the section titled Factory Reset Console.

​

Nintendo designed their Wii U console, whereby you need the GamePad to configure required settings such as TV output and WiFi. Now, with DRC Sim, a PC, and a compliant WiFi adapter, you have the option to configure the settings of a Wii U console without a GamePad. Though, this might not be a good solution if you don’t already own a PC or laptop.

Is a Wii U worth it without the GamePad?

Well, that depends how much you like the Wii U library of games. You can play the Zelda Games without the GamePad, however, many other games require the GamePad to work, such as Mario Maker, Xenoblade, Splatoon, Paper Mario, and many more. DRC Sim can get GamePad titles working, and give you a limited ability to interface with them, though, you might find it a bit counterproductive using your PC as the GamePad interface. There is a DRC Sim tablet app for Android, which also works very well, but again, it's limited compared to an actual GamePad, and you still need DRC Sim server running on a PC to use the tablet app.

If you want the Wii U just for the Zelda series, and retro gaming (Wii, Gamecube, etc), then you’ll probably enjoy the Wii U without a Gamepad. Though, if you want to play most of the Wii U library, then settle on getting a GamePad.

One thing I’d suggest, is to get and hack the console to see how you like it. Use DRC Sim to try the GamePad required titles, and if you feel you’ll enjoy the GamePad titles, then get the GamePad later when you find a deal. However, keep in mind, you might find a good deal that includes the console and Gamepad together, opposed to having to buy them separately. The console could be bought for around $80, but the GamePad typically goes for $120 used, if you’re lucky.

Factory Reset Console.

DRC Sim has not been 100% confirmed regarding its capabilities to complete the initial setup of a Wii U console that has been factory reset.

I personally, have factory reset my Wii U, and successfully completed the entire initialization process. I can confirm that DRC Sim was successful completing the initial set up of a Wii U console after a factory reset, using the following configuration:

• Wii U 32GB North American Model Console
  
• Wii U Console Firmware 5.5.1
• DRC Sim 1.4
• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS OS Virtual Machine
• Panda N600 Dual Band USB Wireless WiFi Adapter

If a console was factory reset, you can connect the Wii U to a TV and get the pairing code required to pair DRC Sim with a console.

Please note, the Wii U will only output a TV signal on the video port it was configured for prior to a factory reset. For example, if the Wii U was factory reset while configured to output via a non-HDMI connection, then you will need the component or A/V cable to connect to your TV.

It’s crucially important for the Wii U to be connected to a TV in order to retrieve the code required to pair with DRC Sim.

Should you succeed completing the initialization of a Wii U after a factory reset, please post in this thread listing your specific gaming configuration, such as Wii U model country/firmware/size, plus WiFi adapter model/chipset, as well as any other specific details that may be useful to help community members complete their own setup.

NEVER FACTORY RESET A CONSOLE THAT HAS ANY TYPE OF HACKS INSTALLED, UNTIL YOU THOROUGHLY READ THE WARNINGS, AND PROPERLY UNINSTALL ANY INSTALLED HACK. FAILURE TO PROPERLY REMOVE A HACK PRIOR TO A FACTORY RESET CAN RESULT IN BRICKING YOUR CONSOLE!!​

Purchasing a Wii U console and its peripherals.

If you don’t already own a Wii U, you’ll need to spend approximately $160 for the console, SD Card, Wii U Pro controller, Wii Motion Controller, sensor bar, and WiFi adapter. That does not include the cost of an HDD and USB HDD enclosure, which are optional costs. DO NOT purchase 3rd party controllers, as they often do not work well with some or most hacks.

• Wii U console. Make sure the seller includes the power adapter. The power adapter can run you an extra $15. Don’t buy cheap 3rd party power adapters, they’re horrible, and dangerously constructed.

• Wii U Pro controller. This is needed to simply navigate the Wii U and play games that don’t require the GamePad.

• WiFi adapter for the PC, that meets these specs... 5GHZ, 802.11n compatible wireless networking interface, preferably with a rt2800usb chipset. This is necessary for DRC Sim to communicate and pair with the console. If you have a laptop with a WiFi card that meets the specs, it might work, otherwise you’ll need to have a dedicated WiFi adapter. For $20, I purchased a Panda N600 Dual Band USB WiFi adapter, which works flawlessly (click link for Amazon store page).

• A PC or laptop running the latest Ubuntu LTS operating System. I personally used my PC and created an Ubuntu virtual machine to install DRC Sim, which worked flawlessly.

• SD Card or a MicroSD Card with an SD Card adapter, your choice of size, preferably between 16GB - 128GB. I’d go with the largest size you can afford. Buy a quality card from a reputable seller. You’ll need the SD card to apply and install hacks. Also, you can play games that are stored on an SD card, or use the SD card to transfer games to the console or attached hard drive storage.

• Wii U Sensor bar and Wii Motion Controller (optional). You’ll need these if you want to configure Virtual Wii (Wii U predecessor), which will allow you to play original Wii games and GameCube games with Nintendont.

• Hard Drive with USB enclosure (optional). If you’re planning on building a library of games, you’ll want to add a Hard Drive to store your games for convenience. However, it’s not necessary, since you can play games off of an SD Card. You’ll need a USB Hard Drive enclosure so you can connect the Hard Drive to your Wii U. If the Hard Drive enclosure is not powered by a power adapter, you’ll need a USB-Y cable so the USB enclosure can draw power from the Wii-U to operate the Hard Drive. Make sure you thoroughly research the type of USB enclosure to purchase to ensure it works well with the Wii U.

DRC Sim installation and configuration.

Once you get everything together, your next step is to THOROUGHLY WATCH THE ENTIRE YouTube video linked below, which explains exactly how to set up DRC Sim. Once you get DRC Sim working, you can connect and configure the console settings such as WiFi and TV output. Also, read the description of the YouTube video, as it contains useful links.

Hacking your Wii U.

WiiU Hacking Guide (guide I personally used)

Additional hacking guides...
WiiUBrU Guide!
Felek's redNAND-free Wii U Hacking
Kafluke's Noob Guide to Wii U Hacking

Installing games.

Now that you have your console hacked, it’s time to install and get to know a program named WiiU USB Helper. It’s basically a one-stop solution to get you up and gaming.

WiiU USB Helper Program

Additional helpful links.

Nintendont, a hack to play GameCube games
Nintendont Controller config files
Wii U Utilities
DRC Sim Android client for tablet
DRC Sim Github
DRC Sim Client
Reddit WiiUHacks
DRC Sim compliant WiFi adapter
Ubuntu Desktop OS Download


All the resources I listed are exactly what got me up and running.

CREDITS AND THANKS GO TO ALL THOSE THAT DEVELOPED THE SOFTWARE TO MAKE HACKING POSSIBLE, AND THOSE THAT POSTED TUTORIALS TO MAKE IT EASILY UNDERSTOOD.​

 

[mive]

Thank you very much @Hillbilleh, it works for me (the dongle that I've used has this chipset: kernel: ieee80211 phy2: rt2x00_set_rt: Info - RT chipset 5592, rev 0222 detected). I've used the docker image from the github site because I dont have ubuntu/debian installed. Just compiled drc-sim-c and the needed "wpa tools" from drc-hostap. The two needed python packages were in distribution repository, so I could install them via package manager.

The only minor issue(s) I encountered:
- at first there was a weird firmware missing error in dmesg. removing and reloading the rt2800usb module fixed that error
- first I didn't get video/audio in drc-sim-client and noticed audio and video error messages (invalid length or something like that) and after a few retries I remembered about firewall rules (iptables) and after flushing them I got audio and video
- I also tried without docker image and with drc-sim python gui (just started with ./drc-sim-backend), but then wifi dongle didn't work (turned on, gui showed connected but immediately disconnected again), not sure whiy

Performance seems ok for me, but I don't use virtual machine (but cpu usage was quite high. ~116% [1 core was fully used])
I use systemd-networkd instead of NetworkManager and I didn't lose internet connection (on inbuilt wifi card)

Also, unlike in your Video, after successful connection I could not press ok on the first confirmation screen (tried with pc and android client), but after I confirmed that screen via controller I could interact with the gamepad screen in the android app (didn't test pc drc-sim-client but I'm pretty sure it would have worked also).

the long and short of it, thank you very much and also @rolandoislas (who probably doesn't read this, but nonetheless thank you rolandoislas).

sorry for bad english.

best regards,

edit:
my console was already "pre-setup", so cant say anything about usage after factory reset

 

[Brayton]

Is there a way to run it without gksu? I can't install gksu even as a .deb for some reason.

 

[mive]

try with sudo or if gui still wont work (because gtk wont run gui as root [see this: sorry i'm not allowed to post links here so you have to google something like "gtk gui root"]) you can always use without gui.

first get keys with
drc-sim-backend --verbose get_key Interface PinCode (e.g. drc-sim-backend --verbose get_key wlp0s29u1u2 1234) (pincode is shown on tv screen as card symbols and you have to convert them:
♠ (spade) = 0 ♥ (heart) = 1 ♦ (diamond) = 2 ♣ (clover) = 3
Example: ♣♠♥♦ (clover, spade, heart, diamond) would equal 3012)
--verbose shows more output in terminal, not necessary needed

after this succeeded:
drc-sim-backend --verbose run_server Interface OutInterface (e.g drc-sim-backend --verbose run_server wlp0s29u1u2 lo) (if you use lo as interface you can only connect locally from the same pc)
--verbose is same as above

edit:
terminal should show something like this:

### get_key (with --verbose):
...
2019-02-11 19:41:29,550 FINER:wpa CLI expect - scan results:
...
34:af:2c:a1:64:fa 5240 -56 [ESS] WiiU34af2ca164f34af2ca164fa_STA1
...
>
2019-02-11 19:41:29,551 INFO:cli Connection status changed to CONNECTING.
2019-02-11 19:41:29,602 DEBUG:wpa CLI expect waiting for wps_pin input confirmation
2019-02-11 19:41:29,604 DEBUG:wpa CLI expect waiting for authentication
2019-02-11 19:41:31,170 DEBUG:wpa PSK obtained
2019-02-11 19:41:31,346 DEBUG:wpa Saving connection config
2019-02-11 19:41:31,347 INFO:wpa Authenticated with the Wii U
2019-02-11 19:41:31,347 INFO:cli Connection status changed to DISCONNECTED.
2019-02-11 19:41:31,347 INFO:cli Successfully received PSK from the Wii U.
2019-02-11 19:41:31,347 INFO:cli Stopping
2019-02-11 19:41:31,347 EXTRA:drcsim Attempting to execute command ['killall', 'dhclient']
2019-02-11 19:41:31,349 EXTRA:drcsim Failed to execute command "['killall', 'dhclient']" and got output "dhclient: no process found"
2019-02-11 19:41:31,350 VERBOSE:drcsim Command "['killall', 'dhclient']" output dhclient: no process found

2019-02-11 19:41:31,350 DEBUG:wpa Stopping psk pexpect spawn
2019-02-11 19:41:31,501 DEBUG:wpa Stopping wpa process
2019-02-11 19:41:31,502 EXTRA:drcsim Attempting to execute command ['killall', 'wpa_supplicant_drc']
2019-02-11 19:41:31,507 VERBOSE:drcsim Command "['killall', 'wpa_supplicant_drc']" output
2019-02-11 19:41:31,508 DEBUG:wpa Wpa stopped
2019-02-11 19:41:32,016 INFO:drcsim Exiting


### run_server (without --verbose):
2019-02-11 19:41:32,964 INFO:drcsim Initializing drc-sim-backend version 2.0
2019-02-11 19:41:32,964 INFO:drcsim Using "/root/.drc-sim/" as home folder.
2019-02-11 19:41:32,964 INFO:drcsim Enabling CLI
2019-02-11 19:41:32,964 INFO:cli Starting server
2019-02-11 19:41:33,990 INFO:cli Connection status changed to SCANNING.
2019-02-11 19:41:41,068 INFO:cli Connection status changed to CONNECTED.

 

[AlinaDoesStuff]

I can confirm that a Factory Reset Wii U can indeed be activated using DRC SIM
I used a Broadcom BCM 4321 Chipset (mPCIE) it's an Apple Airport Extreme from an old iMac
A Dual Core C2D is apprantly also enough to smoothly keep a connection, so good news!!!!

 

[RuiONE]

Hello.

Does anyone have the video?
I really want to get DRC running on my phone...