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Soup Up Your Homebrew-Hacked Wii
Posted by Adam Pash at 10:00 AM on August 25, 2008
You've hacked your Wii to run homebrew apps and play back DVDs without any difficult hardware hacking and now you want to dive into more of your homebrew options. Let's take a closer look at how to install new homebrew applications on your Wii through the homebrew channel, play back virtually any video or audio format, run old-school video game emulators, and more. Oh, and we'll play a little Doom, naturally.
Browse and Install Applications with the Homebrew Browser
There are a different ways you can go about finding and installing new apps on your Wii, but none are more simple than the Homebrew Browser. If you followed last week's guide to hacking your Wii for homebrew apps and DVD playback, you've already got the Homebrew Browser installed in the Homebrew Channel, so using it is dead simple. Power on your Wii, launch the Homebrew Channel, and then launch the Homebrew Browser.
The first time you run the Homebrew Browser, it'll take some time to download the information for all of the available apps in the repository. (You'll also need a network connection for this, so make sure that's already set up on your Wii if it isn't already.) Subsequent launches of the Homebrew Browser will only take a second, since it's only updating that information.
Once started, the Homebrew Browser is pretty self-explanatory. Homebrew applications are separated into five categories: Emulators, Games, Media, Utilities, and Demos. To donwload an app from the Homebrew Browser, just click the download button. The Homebrew Browser takes care of the rest, and even shows you when updates are available.
After an app has been downloaded through the Homebrew Browser, it'll automatically be available in the main menu of the Hombrew Channel.
Play Old-School Emulators on Your Wii
The emulators support playing ROMs from popular old-school gaming systems from NES and SNES to the Sega Genesis and Dreamcast (TK). You'll find more than one version of different systems, so a little research may be in order. I've been using michniewski's SNES emulator for games (that I legally own, of course), and it's pretty great. It supports virtually every controller type the Wii supports, including the Wiimote, nunchuk, and Wii classic controllers.
When most of the emulators install, they'll add a folder to the root of your SD card. Inside that folder, you'll see a ROMs folder. This is where you put ROMs of the games you want to play. If you don't know where to find a ROM, hit up Google—it's easy.
Play Back Any Video with MPlayer
I already showed you how to install MPlayer for DVD playback, but the same app you use to play DVDs can also handle virtually any video filetype you throw at it. To use it, I'd recommend creating a Movies folder on the root of your SD card and copying any videos you want to watch to it. Once you've done that, just fire up MPlayer in the Homebrew Channel, then navigate to Open... etc.
As far as I can tell you can't play back music over your home network yet, but one can only assume this is a planned feature.
Use Your Wii as a Jukebox with DMP
MPlayer is great for playing back videos, but it's not much right now for a jukebox (it works, but it's pretty light on features). Instead, check out the DragonMedia Player (DMP) app from the Homebrew Browser. It provides a barebones but very usable interface for pointing your Wii at a folder and playing back music. Like video playback with MPlayer, just fire up DMP and point it at a folder on your SD card or a USB drive that you've filled with music. DMP supports several keyboard shortcuts, and though the default interface is rather barebones, you can download and install themes by unzipping them to the /apps/dmp/themes folder. Next time you run DMP, pick your new theme by pressing the Home button and selecting the folder name of the theme you added. I'm using the XBMC theme in the screenshot above.
Like MPlayer, DMP doesn't yet support network playback.
Manually Install Applications on Your SD Card
If you happen to stumble onto an application that you can't yet install through the Homebrew Browser, installing it manually is a very simple matter. In fact, if you followed my instructions for installing MPlayer for DVD playback, you've already installed an app manually (though the DVD-supporting MPlayer is now available through the Homebrew Browser). Just download and copy any new homebrew app to the /apps folder of your SD card and consider that app installed and available through the Homebrew Channel.
Apps Worth Checking Out from the Homebrew Browser
There are tons of apps available through the Homebrew Browser, and apart from the apps I've highlighted above, you may also want to check out:
Doom
It's Doom. It works with your nunchuk. Nuff said.
Duck Hunt
Sure you can play it with an emulator, but this version lets you use your Wii remote and trigger just like the guns of old, where emulators can't take advantage of that aim-and-shoot technology your Wiimote has going for it.
Wii Physics
Physics-obeying playgrounds are all the rage these days (like previously mentioned Phun, for example), and Wii Physics brings those good times to your Wii; controlling the world is now available by simply pointing your Wiimote.
Wii Operation
Twist and turn your Wiimote to drag bones through mazes. With the buzzing vibration of the Wiimote, it's nearly as stressful as the classic board game.
That It?
If you're familiar with everything you can do with a classic Xbox and Xbox Media Centre (XBMC) (or even with XMBC on a Mac or USB thumb drive), you may be underwhelmed. Keep in mind, though, that the homebrew scene for the Wii is very young, and there's a lot of potential for this little white box. And with a full operating system like Wii Linux already well underway, it's only a matter of time before the Wii becomes a killer homebrew device that anyone can easily make their own. In fact, with the speed at which the XMBC folks have been porting XBMC to every platform out there, who knows—it may only be a matter of time before your Wii can run XBMC.
In the meantime, the current homebrew scene will do, so share your favourite Wii homebrew apps and tricks in the comments.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Lochlan
Posted August 25, 2008 3:52 PM
XBM... Wii.
NeoNess
Posted 10:41 AM 25/8/08
@glaeven: Yes, but traces of the hack will still be on your Wii for those who are paranoid.
NeoNess
SonicJ
Posted 10:40 AM 25/8/08
That (hacked) music playing capability is one of the few reasons I would want a wii.
SonicJ
glaeven
Posted 10:35 AM 25/8/08
i just want to know: is it possible to remove all of this?
glaeven
Notsogr8one
Posted 10:34 AM 25/8/08
@FreeChaos: Agreed, that seems to be the best one for now. Plays tons of video and audio formats from an external hard drive with additional options for dealing with subtitles, multiple audio tracks, and all that good stuff.
Notsogr8one
FreeChaos
Posted 10:29 AM 25/8/08
You forgot about Geexbox, a great media center for the Wii.
FreeChaos
Yon2501
Posted 11:09 AM 25/8/08
Dooms great and all, but Quake is also available with terminal support if you have a usb keyboard.
Yon2501
sjones411
Posted 10:55 AM 25/8/08
Naughty naughty Lifehacker. Last time I checked you could only legally get Dr. Horrible from iTunes (with DRM that doesn't work with M Player), or with Hulu. Methinks that one of you guys enjoys T.P.B. ;D
sjones411
Adam Pash
Posted 11:37 AM 25/8/08
@FreeChaos/Notsogr8one: Awesome, thanks for the suggestion. I actually gave GeeXboX a try but had some trouble getting it to work correctly. Also, since I was already using MPlayer for DVD playback, it seemed like the natural choice. With your comments in mind, though, I'll have to give GeeXboX another serious look.
Adam Pash
Amarth
Posted 11:18 AM 25/8/08
And let's not forget ScummVM. First thing homebrew I did was loas Sam&Max on it. I enjoyed the cheesy retro ambience. I can also recommend MAsteriods, a multiplayer Asteriods game.
I've actually started study of how to develop homebrew. The basics are easy to grasp for someone with C++ experience, but documentation for the various libraries is hard to find and sometimes contradicting. But it's fun.
Any requests from this website? :)
Amarth
Natnie
Posted 11:57 AM 25/8/08
That would be so cool if I had a Wii.
I forwarded this to my brother-in-law who has one.
Natnie
glaeven
Posted 11:49 AM 25/8/08
@NeoNess: enough to brick it incase of an update?
glaeven
-emory-
Posted 12:14 PM 25/8/08
@Natnie: sames on that front, but my real comment is to the name of the article:
[en.wiktionary.org]
I always thought it was "Suped up" not "Souped Up"... I mean I would love to know how to make my wii feed me.. but still :P
-emory-
dombutchello
Posted 12:55 PM 25/8/08
I love the fact that you have Feels playing in the DMP photo.
dombutchello
amanatee
Posted 1:28 PM 25/8/08
A few of these things are seriously limited. For example, Duck Hunt is pretty lame. It has repeating music throughout the entire thing. I know it needs an update, but that's still pretty ridiculous. And the game just kind of keeps going. No real score or anything. Pretty worthless.
The DVD playback is horrible as well. For one, you're screwed if you have a wide screen as it cuts it down to normal size. Not that big of a deal, I know. But I actually have more problem with the sadly synced up sound (sometimes) and fast moving objects on the screen get 'jaggies' to borrow an ol' PlayStation term. Perhaps some of this could be fixed in the future as well, though. And I only tried it with the Tim and Eric Awesome Show dvd. That midget's head blurred while he spun to punch the old man in the balls. I can't even imagine trying it on a hyper-effect movie.
That being said. A lot of the stuff is awesome. Quake rocks. I didn't realize Doom was there, though I was puzzled at first as to why it wasn't. Solitaire is perfection (except for a winning fun-fest animation). And that emulator featured here works wonderfully, actually. It feels great to play "Super Demo World - The Legend Continues" (a hacked version of SMW1) on the bigscreen. And they look pretty.
I was really sad to see how lacking Tetris was... considering ... I've posted way too much.
amanatee
Vertigo50
Posted 2:21 PM 25/8/08
@amanatee:
Sure, some of this stuff is rocky, but don't say worthless. People spent time on this stuff so that you could enjoy it effortlessly and then dismiss it.
Give this stuff some time. Like they said in the article, all of this is very new. I'm sure in a few months these apps will all be in a very different state.
Vertigo50
Merricat
Posted 3:45 PM 25/8/08
@glaeven: The apps themselves are installed on your SD Card. Removal is as simple as popping out the card. The HBC is treated as a normal channel by the Wii, so removal for it is as simple as removing any channel. I haven't yet had the time to install the DVD library, but it is suppose to be installed as a hidden channel, so my assumption is it'd work just as the HBC does.
What NeoNess meant was that the Wii keeps a log of games played (you've noticed it sends you a message with your game time logged?) and using the HBC will cause it to be tracked as in the same manner. Those logs stick around even when the channel is deleted.
Since it is NOT illegal to use the HBC, it is highly improbable that Nintendo would do something that seeks out those logs and 'bricks' a machine that has traces of HBC on it. That's class action lawsuit level stupid. And while Nintendo is known for it's arrogance, it's not that arrogant. They might try to start a Cold War and keep people from running unapproved code on the Wii, but they aren't stupid enough to actually try to penalize people.
That being said, there are apps out there that can break/brick your Wii. Since the Wii has no 'safe mode' like a Window's box. If something screws up your system menu to the point where you can't boot, you are pretty much up the creek. Primarily those are the ones that do things like install "Warez" or hack the system menu directly. In general it'd be highly unlikely for just a game or a media player app to be doing something like that.
There are methods of providing a certain level of 'pants and suspenders' level safety, even then. But it's the realm of the hardcore hacker who doesn't mind playing with the guts of their Wii.
Merricat
Phoenix Monakhos
Posted 6:03 PM 25/8/08
Here is a wii hack that might change the world:
[www.ted.com]
Phoenix Monakhos
Al Iguana
Posted 6:41 PM 25/8/08
@Phoenix Monakhos: that's not strictly a Wii hack, it's just using Wii controllers. Although that's even better, since you just have to buy a controller. Fantastic demo, I'm going to try that whiteboard one.
Al Iguana
qualia
Posted 12:44 AM 26/8/08
Animal Collective!!! nice!!! my favorite band.
qualia
Deadhacker
Posted 3:20 AM 26/8/08
GeexBox works fine with UPnP streaming media (video, audio, and Internet audio and video sources) over my home network. Will the Wii MPlayer do that?
Deadhacker
nunzio910
Posted 5:17 AM 26/8/08
This looks sweet, is it possiable to just rent zelda, or do you need it for each seaprate "load." I know iam cheap, but what are yoyu gonna do.
nunzio910
Vages
Posted 5:08 AM 26/8/08
Wow, nice article. I think I will try this, but I am just wondering if there's any possibility that a system update might screw up my whole Wii? I'm sharing it with two brothers, and they wouldn't be very happy if I managed to brick the entire thing. Could someone with experience tell me?
Vages
Vages
Posted 6:12 AM 26/8/08
@nunzio910: You don't have to use Zelda more than one time. Usually, to run homebrew apps you would have to use Zelda every time, but the homebrew channel skips this annoying step.
Vages
anthonylitz
Posted 8:48 AM 26/8/08
Thanks, I had been waiting for this to get easy. I am playing around right now downloading some games.
anthonylitz
JuniorAndTorrie
Posted 10:36 AM 26/8/08
I really wish somebody would make a VNC client for HBC.
JuniorAndTorrie
Whelkman
Posted 6:21 AM 27/8/08
Shame on you lifehacker for advocating emulation. Now how will bankrupt companies from 20 years ago get the profits they don't deserve and couldn't collect anyway?
Whelkman
koesac
Posted 10:01 PM 25/8/08
For those of you who are wanting some media player action, but don't want to worry about hacking your wii, you can use Wii Transfer
[www.riverfold.com]
This Mac program lets you share music straight from iTunes, photos from iPoto and videos that you transcode for the Wii.
All this is done by setting up a web server on your mac, and then accessing it from the internet channel on the Wii.
koesac