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How to Put Your Own Emulation Games on a Wii

Loading emulation games onto a Wii console isn't hard, but it does require downloading software that may void your Wii warranty. Most video game consoles have hardware that is similar to a computer, but more restricted. This hardware can be manipulated through downloadable programs or mod chips. Playing emulation software on your Wii does not require a mod chip, and in most cases the Wii console should continue to function normally.

Things You'll Need

SD Card
Computer
Internet Connection

Instructions

Adding Homebrew
- 1
  Download a loader and a boot program for the Nintendo Wii. You can find both of these at the WiiBrew website. Navigate your browser to the BootMii website downloads section and click the text link labeled "HackMii Installer v0.8" to download the boot program. Save the file to the desired location on your hard drive. There are several different loader programs available, each with different options depending on the version of your Wii System Menu.
- 2
  Unpackage the HackMii download and locate the boot.dol file.
- 3
  Insert your SD Card into your computer. You can do this via an SD Card reader. The SD Card requires a FAT 16 or FAT 32 file format and must be larger than 256mb.
- 4
  Copy the "boot.dol" file from the HackMii file into the SD Card's root file. The root file is the file that loads when you right click the SD Card from "My Computer" and click "Browse". The boot.dol file should not be in any files or folders on the SD Card. You must also copy the data for the chosen loader program to the SD Card's root file as well.
- 5
  Insert the SD Card, with the boot program and the loader program on it, into your Wii. Turn on the Wii. Navigate your Wii to the SD Card management program. For older versions, this is in the "Wii Options," "Data Management," "Channels" and then, "SD Card". Newer versions allow the user to select "SD Card Menu" from the "System Menu" screen.
- 6
  Click "Yes" when the pop-up appears on the screen. If the system freezes, repeat the process. If it freezes or fails to work a second time, attempt the process again with a different loader program.
Playing Emulations
- 7
  Download the desired emulator from the WiiBrew website. You can find emulators by navigating to the "Applications" link of the right side of the screen and clicking "Emulators" from the menu across the middle of the screen.
- 8
  Insert the SD Card used in Section 1 into your computer. In the root file, create a folder labeled "apps" in all lowercase letters.
- 9
  Download the emulator of your choice. Unpackage the emulator. Locate the the application file, which should is in "apps" in the unpackaged emulator file. Move this file to the "apps" file you created in the root of your SD Card. There should only be one "apps" file in the root of your SD Card; however, you can place multiple applications inside the "apps" folder.
- 10
  Place ROM files in a folder labeled "roms." This folder should be within another emulator titled folder for simple access. For example, if you are downloading the FCE Ultra GX NES emulator, the file with the "roms" should be within a folder labeled "fceugx" in the root directory. You can also load your ROMs from a DVD with the ROM files burned onto it.
- 11
  Insert the SD Card with the emulator into your Wii. Turn on the Wii and launch the emulator application from the Wii loader that you chose to download. You can access this from the Wii System Menu.

Nintendo Wii