UPDATE: The following tutorial is extremely old and no longer should be used. Please refer to the latest Nintendo Wii Backup tutorials here. But if you're interested to see how it was done back in the day, then continue reading.. :)


Caution: Updating to 4.2 could brick your Wii.

Ever wish you could backup your Wii games to keep the original in safe and secure place? There are ways to do this by modifying the Wii hardware which could potentially ruin your Wii and all you'd have left is a paperweight. Recently the Wii scene has made some huge advancements with the Wii Softmod. The softmod is a program that you can install on your Wii to backup and run your backup games without having to modify your Wii! In this article we'll explain what you'll need and how to do this.

Here's a list of the things you'll need:

1. Nintendo Wii
2. SD card - a 2gb or 4gb will work fine. Also make sure you have a SD card reader - most SD cards will come with a reader or your computer might already have a SD reader built in.
3. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Get Zelda in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany or Canada)
4. DVD-R discs - We've used the Maxell 16x DVD-Rs and they worked perfect!

Ok, now that you've got the checklist, the first thing to do is to install the Homebrew Channel onto your Wii. The Homebrew Channel is what makes everything else happen. You'll be able to install homebrew and commercial .wads and also install the Backup Launcher which will allow you to play backup games (both homebrew and commercial).

Look on the back of your Legend of Zelda DVD to see which version you have. This is important as it will tell you which hacked save to load. For example, if you have RVL-RZDE-0A-2, then you would load the TwlightHack2 save from within the Zelda game. So if your Zelda region code ends in "0" then load the TwlightHack0 save and if your Zelda region code ends in "2", then load the TwlightHack2 save - simple enough.

Installing the Homebrew Channel on a Wii with the 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 firmware:

Okay, now that you know which version of Legend of Zelda you have, it's time to see what firmware your Wii is running. To do this, go to your Wii Setup and look @ the upper right hand corner for either "Ver 3.2U", "Ver 3.3U" or "Ver 3.4U". (the U is for USA, E is for Europe etc - this hack works for all region Wiis)

Download the files that corresponds to your Wii's firmware and uncomapress the files and copy them onto your SD card:

Files needed for Wiis with 3.2 firmware:

• Wii softmod stuff pt 1 by Reaper0294.rar

Files needed for Wiis with 3.3 firmware:

• twilight-hack-v0.1-beta1.zip
• the_homebrew_channel-1.0.1.tar.gz

Files needed for Wiis with 3.4 firmware

• twilight-hack-v0.1-beta2.zip
• the_homebrew_channel-1.0.1.tar.gz

For the 3.2 files, the directory will already be built for you. For 3.3 and 3.4, you will need to copy the directories and files from both .zip and .gz and make sure they're copy onto your SD card like this:

+ private
+ wiiload
   boot.elf (3.2) or boot.dol (if you have 3.3 or 3.4) Note: you only need either the boot.elf or boot.dol depending on your firmware version and NOT both.

• Copy all of those files and directories onto your SD card and then put the SD into your Wii.
• Boot up the Wii and go to "Wii Options" (lower left), then "Data Management", then Wii.
• Click on the "SD Card" tab and Copy the Twilight Hack save onto your Wii. If you have a USA one, copy the USA save. If you have a Japanese Wii, the copy the Jap save and if you're in Europe, copy the EUR save.
• Now boot up Legend of Zelda, and load up the save that corresponds to your copy of Legend of Zelda (example, if you have RVL-RZDE-0A-0, then load the TwlightHack0 save and if you have the RVL-RZDE-0A-2, then load the TwlightHack2 save. Click Start.
• Now the game will start. Using the directional, move Zelda back a few steps and the hack will start to install (pretty nifty, eh?!).
• Follow the on-screen instructions to install and next time to reboot your Wii, you'll see the new Homebrew Channel

You should now have the Homebrew Channel.

Here's a video tutorial on how to install the Homebrew Channel on your Wii:

Installing the WiiGator Backup Launcher 0.3 Gamma with 002 fix:

Now that you have your Homebrew Channel installed, you'll want to try out the latest "Backup Launcher 0.3 Gamma with 002 fix" (Requires 3.2 firmware - if you don't have this, scroll down to the comment section to see how to downgrade your firmware). The Backup Launcher will allow you to play Wii Backups from DVD-R.

Get all the files for backup loader here: 002fixGammaLoader.zip (File removed per request of it's author)

After you have the Homebrew Channel installed, you can delete all of the files on your SD card. Unzip the 002fixGammerLoader.zip file and copy everything to your SD card. Put the SD card in your Wii, start the Homebrew Channel and run the "cIOS Installer" -- you will need this before the Backup Launcher will work. Follow the onscreen instructions and then when its done, go back to the Homebrew channel and install the "Backup Launcher". After that's done, you will see a new channel called "Backup Launcher" with a picture of Zelda. You can now play Wii backup DVD-Rs.

Backup Launcher 0.3 Gamma with 002 fix

http://www.iol.ie/~taz/wii/WiiHowToGamma.html

Backing up your Original Wii Games:

• Go to the Homebrew Channel with your SD card in the Wii
• Find the WAD Manager and Load it
• Once the WAD Manager boots up, go to the "Wii Dumper" and install it. Follow the on-screen instructions
• Once that's done, your Wii will reboot and you'll see a new "Wii Dumper" channel with a dump truck icon. Load the Wii Dumper
• There are two ways to dump original Wii games, one is via WiFi and the other is SD card. I've used both and there doesn't seem to be a speed difference. I prefer the Wifi as you can just set it and forget it. Leave for about 3-4 hours and when you return your ISO should be waiting for you on your PC or MAC.