Help With Using Wii Homebrew Channel

I want to be able to remove the copy pretection flag on my Wii saved games, however I am having extreme difficulty finding a site that simply gives instructions. I Already have the Homebrew channel installed on my wii. However, I have read through literally every page in this site and many others and I am still having trouble figuring out what to do next. ]: I just need someone to simply tell me what programs/files I need to download and where to put them. Any help would be greatly appreciated [:

The rebooter feature in Gecko OS can temporarily patch the system menu to allow you to copy copy protected save to the SD card. When using this feature in recent versions of Gecko OS, the no copy flag will be removed from the save. Therefore, it can be copied back to a wii without using the rebooter again.

Unfortunately, some games check whether their save has the no copy flag. If it does not, these games will state that the save is corrupted and refuse to use it. Therefore, it is better to copy saves in a way that does not remove the no copy flag.

To copy saves without removing the no copy flag, use Gecko OS 1.0.7a, Savegame Manager MOD, or patch the system menu with Starfall, Startpatch, or Priiloader patches.

If you want to permanently remove the NoCopy flag (i.e. so they can be copied to any Wii, without the Wii needing to use any homebrew method), you need to have the Trucha Bug and ES_DiVerify in IOS36 (I think) and then use Gecko OS and select "Reboot with Hooks" or "Rebooter" in the menu (not sure exactly what its called, never actually used Gecko OS). You can use dop-Mii to get Trucha Bug and ES_DiVerify in IOS36 (at the IOS selection menu, select "Install an IOS that accepts fake signatures for me", or the option along those lines), then simply run Gecko OS, goto the rebooter and select the "Remove NoCopy Protection" hook, then select the reboot option.

However, actually removing the flag can cause some games to reject the save (only one I know of is COD:MWR, older games are fine, there may be some others that don't like it though), in which case you should use something like Banana Patcher (again, needs IOS36 with Trucha Bug and ES_DiVerify) to enable copying NoCopy saves, which will keep the flag intact, but will require the destination Wii to use the same or similar software to reinstall it.

Your last option is Savegame Manager Mod, which will dump decrypted saves to SD and reinstall them, and yet again needs IOS36 with Trucha Bug and ES_DiVerify (well, actually, it can be any IOS, not necessarily 36), and needs the same program to reinstall them.

Note that with the first two options, you will be sent back to the System Menu, where you will then be able to copy the saves, but the "Copy" button will still appear to be greyed out, however it will still work if you press it.

Thanks for the help [: I have Gecko 1.9.3.1 on my Homebrew Channel, however it doesn't have the reboot menu as an optional funtion. I've seen so many videos of people using it so I know it sure does exist, and I've downloaded an tried dozens of them but none have worked thus far. Would you happen to know of a version that does have the reboot option and where I could download it? Or is it just that I am missing some things that would prevent the option from installing/showing up? I would be willing to try some other programs, but I'm not very experienced and the more things I do to my wii the more I fear bricking it.. (I have no other modifications on my wii other than the HBC and the few things that install with it)

The rebooter option only appears if you have the trucha bug and ES_Identify (or ES_DiVerify, they are the same thing) in IOS 36. As SifJar explained, use DOP-Mii to patch IOS 36.

Alrighty! Thank you both very much [:

Sorry for leeching this topic, but since TC solved his questions already, I'd like to know more about "hooks". What is exactly this? I used Ocarina with my No More Heroes 2 game and noticed my game wouldn't boot with the "no hooks" option enabled, it worked using "VBI" hook instead. Is it the same kind of hook you were talking about? What does it do?

I believe a "hook" is basically a command placed in memory which will make it jump to a different place at certain times.

e.g. For the Bypass NoCopy Protection hook, a piece of code is added/replaced in the System Menu in the section where it should check for NoCopy flag to jump to another location in memory, which is usually empty, but instead has had custom code placed in it by Gecko OS. This code removes the flag, then jumps back to right after where it should check, so the check isn't done, and the flag has been removed.

This is probably not completely accurate, but that's my understanding from what I've read places.

As for Gecko OS game hooks, I believe that's where it places a hook to reload the codes. Usually I think this is in the screen refresh code, somewhere in there the system is told to jump to a usually free part of memory where Gecko OS has placed code to reload the codes applied, then it jumps back and finishes the screen refresh. If this is indeed correct, presumably with "No hooks", the codes are only applied once? I dunno if that'd work/what difference it'd make, but that's all I can think of right now.

Thanks for explaining, SifJar. But since you're not sure, we'd better wait to see if someone knows exactly what a hook is, in both cases.