​

GaryOderNichts, a well known hacker and programmer in the Wii and Wii U Homebrew scene, with apps like Bloopair, Shipwright, Moonlight for Wii U and many others, has started work on Priiloader compatibility for vWii on Wii U.

For those unaware, vWii is the nomenclature given to the Wii enviroment found on the Wii U, also known as Virtual Wii. This specific version of the Wii's operating system for Wii U has modification to a lot of the system's IOS, which make original Wii hacks that rely on them somewhat unreliable and sometimes even risk a brick if ran on vWii. Priiloader itself is a modification of a previously developed software called "Preloader", and this application runs before the system menu of the Wii, which allows for a way to restore the system in case of an accidental brick (to a certain extend).

Currently, the code for Priiloader to run on vWii is on early stages, and Gary made a PoC video on his YouTube channel showcasing Priiloader running on a Wii U under its vWii. There's currently a pull request for this feature on DacoTaco's GitHub repository for Priiloader, in which Gary lists all of the things needed for the

This works by replacing the SM boot index with the BC-NAND Nand Loader, which is also a signed Ancast Image.
BC-NAND will then boot content 1, which will be replaced with Priiloader. The original content 1 will be placed at the end of the contents.
To boot the vWii SM Priiloader decrypts the ancast image and patches it to redirect content 1 to the end. It then boots the decrypted SM.
I've also added 2 vWii specific hacks. One always enables NET.WCFG, which usually gets disabled by SM, and the other one makes the Wii Options button open Wii System settings. All of the other hacks need to be verified and ported over.
This is still very experimental and hasn't been properly tested. There is also still some work left to do which is listed below.

TO-DO:​

• Port over all of the SM hacks and verify that existing ones work
• Testing, especially make sure the installer works properly
• Verify that this doesn't break anything on an original Wii
• Test on a JP vWii
• Unfortunately BC-NAND clears the boot state, which causes some issues. As a workaround I tried guessing the state based on the Y-component of the HW_VISOLID register which vWii SM also seems to check and then set.
• Edit: The above doesn't work in case standby mode is enabled, since the system returns to Priiloader on shutdown in that case.
• Make the installer check that BC-NAND is actually installed properly and parse its TMD.

GitHub Pull Request

 

[godreborn]

I'm starting a petition for @Maschell and @GaryOderNichts to be in the dev user group. if that doesn't happen, I'll get angry, and you won't like me when I'm angry.

 

[susbaconhairman]

Now if we could force WiiConnect24 to run by default on vWii it would be perfect.

I'm sure it's in the works

 

[huma_dawii]

Loving the support for the Wii U lately, guys you make me happy.

 

[ViTaLC0D3R]

As someone who is not big into the Wii Homebrew scene, what is Priiloader, and what can it do for the Wii U vWii that can't be done already? I have seen that you can access the settings in vWii, but I thought that could be done without Priiloader.

 

[mrmagicm]

This is one of my dreams for the WIIU!!!!
The other, is to have the same video signal and the gamepad and my Tv when my wiiU starts.....Like a wii.

ViTaLC0D3R for example, priiloader can remove the nintendo nag screen (the one you remove with A at startup when launching vwii), it can help to save nand easier and remove any region related pbs in vwii. It can save you wiiU by allowing to unbrick in many case also.​

 

[Aserl]

This is sick I'll make sure to check this out soon!

 

[MrNoobNub]

Now

​

GaryOderNichts, a well known hacker and programmer in the Wii and Wii U Homebrew scene, with apps like Bloopair, Shipwright, Moonlight for Wii U and many others, has started work on Priiloader compatibility for vWii on Wii U.

For those unaware, vWii is the nomenclature given to the Wii enviroment found on the Wii U, also known as Virtual Wii. This specific version of the Wii's operating system for Wii U has modification to a lot of the system's IOS, which make original Wii hacks that rely on them somewhat unreliable and sometimes even risk a brick if ran on vWii. Priiloader itself is a modification of a previously developed software called "Preloader", and this application runs before the system menu of the Wii, which allows for a way to restore the system in case of an accidental brick (to a certain extend).

Currently, the code for Priiloader to run on vWii is on early stages, and Gary made a PoC video on his YouTube channel showcasing Priiloader running on a Wii U under its vWii. There's currently a pull request for this feature on DacoTaco's GitHub repository for Priiloader, in which Gary lists all of the things needed for the



GitHub Pull Request

THIS is epic

 

[MikaDubbz]

Very nice, I look forward to removing the splash health and safety screen entirely on my vWii.

Post automatically merged: Dec 13, 2022

Loving the support for the Wii U lately, guys you make me happy.

It occurred to me the other day, that as long as decomps from games never before released on the Wii U or in need of enhancements on the Wii U keep coming, that the Wii U hacking scene should continue on for years to come, even if there are only a small handful of people actively working on new mods for the system, likewise for the Vita, in fact most games that get decomped and playable on the Vita, tend to go hand-in-hand with a Wii U port as well.

 

[fvig2001]

hope it opens up region changing on vwii since I have a spare Japanese Wii U

 

[urbanman2004]

Kudos @GaryOderNichts Trill OG

Post automatically merged: Dec 13, 2022

Very nice, I look forward to removing the splash health and safety screen entirely on my vWii.
......

Agreed... I did that to my Wii.

Post automatically merged: Dec 13, 2022

I'm starting a petition for @Maschell and @GaryOderNichts to be in the dev user group. if that doesn't happen, I'll get angry, and you won't like me when I'm angry.

You're not yourself when you're angry. Eat a Snickers, lmao

 

[PopcornSweetie]

don't need gamepad for vwii hold down a and b on the mote on powerup and it boots straight into vwii

Damn, I totally forgot about that feature (because i used it like once XD)

 

[jeannotte]

Hello,

excellent work @GaryOderNichts

many people were looking forward to it to have strong security on the wii U (vwii mode).

thanks again for your hard work

 

[2DSGamerdude]

um, nice hope this beocmes stable & safe for wii u users to have on vwii,
should be helpfull for brick protection of vwii part?

since wii u doesn't have access to bootmii like on og wii system.

can't wait to see what comes from this! .

 

[HarveyHouston]

There's currently a pull request for this feature on DacoTaco's GitHub repository for Priiloader, in which Gary lists all of the things needed for the

...Whoops.

 

[turbotronic]

Maybe booting vWii in 480p will be possible now? (without setting the WiiU to 480p)

 

[Clector]

hope it opens up region changing on vwii since I have a spare Japanese Wii U

It's already possible to change the system menu region of the Wii mode.

um, nice hope this beocmes stable & safe for wii u users to have on vwii,
should be helpfull for brick protection of vwii part?

since wii u doesn't have access to bootmii like on og wii system.

can't wait to see what comes from this! .

There's already brick protection nowdays, since a brick from it won't brick the Wii U side and there's code execution on the Wii U side nowdays, the Wii mode can be fixed from the Wii U mode.

Maybe booting vWii in 480p will be possible now? (without setting the WiiU to 480p)

Can I ask why people like to set the Wii U to 480p for Wii games?

The Wii U is still scaling the image of the Wii mode output with the 480p and 480i output options (as well as 576i), so there isn't much gain either. The Wii U's Wii mode video output is a mess all around in any mode and way.

 

[SaulFabre]

@GaryOderNichts AWESOME work you are doing right now...

Coming soon will see a Priiloader that actually works on the Wii U vWii...

cant wait for the release, but take your time for finish it

 

[NinStar]

The Wii U is still scaling the image of the Wii mode output with the 480p and 480i output options (as well as 576i), so there isn't much gain either. The Wii U's Wii mode video output is a mess all around in any mode and way.

The Wii U is scaling 480p to 480p? What?

 

[Clector]

The Wii U is scaling 480p to 480p? What?

It doesn't make sense to scale the output of games that were intended for a 480p window (and may already do a bit of scale on its own) on a 480p window, but that's what Nintendo decided to do. Downscaling PAL games makes more sense considering the console can't switch its output to 576i on the fly like the original Wii, and even so I'm not sure if it can handle it on progressive.

Spoiler: Wii U: Wii Mode - 480p (Worst Chroma Shift):

-Full Gallery:

Spoiler: Wii U: Wii Mode - 480p (Less Worse Chroma Shift)

-Full Gallery:

Spoiler: Wii - 480p (Proper Output)

-Full Gallery:

Chroma shift is something always present on the Wii U's Wii mode, but it can be an alright level or a pretty bad level according to how the software may set the VI, usually most homebrew will have the worst level, but some normal games do too as shown. The game used on the examples above doesn't use deflicker and outputs 1:1 pixels by default, so the less of that from each console could be shown.

The chroma shift is more obvious on 720p and 1080p as that settings on the Wii U preserve the details better, also the Wii U doesn't seem to properly tell the display the color range it should use either, so if not setting it manually colors could be very bad on both modes (Wii U or vWii), even so the Wii mode colors are always somewhat muted.
And I just noticed, but in the worst chroma shift level the Wii U seems to cut a bit of the software's output frame on the right vertical side...

Scaling the output in 480p as well means that there's usually more detail loss in the 480p setting than in 720p and 1080p as said:

Spoiler: Wii

Spoiler: Wii U (480p)

 

[NinStar]

Ah, you were talking chroma shift, if you mentioned it on your first post it would make more sense. But setting vWii to 720p or higher looks considerable blurry (plus the more noticeable chroma shift) when compared to manually upscaling it by other means, a lot of TVs does a way better job than the Wii U on that.

So yes, that is the main reason people prefer to set it to 480p, doesn't sound unreasonable to me.