European games on American Wii

I have an old American Wii (2006) with the latest system update (july 2011) from Nintendo. I was wondering if it's possible to play European games on my Wii?

a) If it is possible, beside the Homebrew Channel, which apps should I get?

b) I know about Gecko OS and TinyLoad, but which one is the best? is there another one out there (better)?

1) What are the PROS and CONS from each one?
2) Is it possible to play all retail European games with the 2 apps?
3) What "add-ons" should I get with each one of those (or any other) apps to load the games smoothly?
4) Do I have to downgrade my firmware for this?

The main reason for all these questions are 3 games that probably won't come to America: Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower... so I want to be prepared for those with the best "software configuration" on my Wii (minimum load times, less steps to load, no bugs, you know: the best solution).

Thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2011 08:41PM by serchbernal.

Simplest is TinyLoad. Just stick in the disc, load HBC and then load TinyLoad. It'll automatically boot the disc inserted. Gecko OS displays a menu first which takes longer, and it's a bit buggy from what I hear. Both should have near 100% compatibility.

The only other app I can think of which loads out of region discs is Riivolution, but its unnecessary to use an app so complex for such a trivial matter. Riivolution is an app to patch games (e.g. replacing models, textures, sounds, levels, script [i.e. translations]), and unless you actually want those, it is also going to take unnecessarily longer than TinyLoad.

So long story short: I advise using TinyLoad. You don't need to do anything other than install HBC and run the app each time you want to load an out of region game.Definitely no downgrading, that is to be avoided like the plague.

Thanks a lot!!

I wish I had seen this topic before!

I am also planning on importing the PAL version of Xenoblade. I have been using the HBC with bootmii/boot2 for a long time, but have never used any other sorts of hacks or loaders (and don't plan to).

I saw that priiloader could make my wii region free, so I installed it. I only own 1 japanese gamecube game, and it loaded perfectly so I assume the priiloader hack is working as it should. I used *region free EVERYTHING*.

What I'm wondering is if it will force NTSC mode correctly when I load the PAL Xenoblade disc. I use an HDTV with component cables. If not, is there another solution that does not require hardware mods and the like?

Thanks!

I don't think Priiloader forces the video mode, but you can use Gecko OS which has options for that. You have to load Gecko OS from the homebrew channel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2011 04:18AM by bg4545.

I have a question concerning playing PAL games on my American Wii. First, I have Gecko OS and StartPatch. These are the only things I have besides the Home Brew Channel. Anyway, I will be testing my first PAL game very soon. However, I am concerned about saving my progress. I have searched and searched, but I do not find any information concerning saving game progress from a PAL game onto a NTSC console. Is it possible to save a PAL game into the system memory of a NTSC console? I have the lastest StartPatch and did install Region Free Everything, Block Disc Updates, Block Online/Menu Updates etc. All I want to do is play my PAL games ( which I understand how to) and save my progress like any local game ( which I am unsure of). Thanks for any help! Really!

Yes you can have any region save on your Wii and it will work fine.

Wow! That is awesome! I was hoping that was the case. Thanks alot for the speedy reply. Keep up the good work. What about saving to SD cards? Would that be an issue?

You can't save to SD card, you can only save to System Memory. (In a very few games, you can save some things to SD, and this will work fine too). You can transfer saves back and forth between SD and System Memory, but you will only be able to actually use the ones stored on System Memory. Transferring between the two will work fine though.

Now I have Xenoblade Chronicles and it works great on my American Wii, I don't have to load any programs at all, it's like I'm playing with the American version of the game!

Great! Thanks alot SifJar.

I have a European Wii (4.3e, 240V, PAL) that Nintendo has offered to swap for a US NTSC Wii (for a fee of course) since I complained about the region restrictions. I have a number of UK games but no US games. The games will play on my NTSC TV but of course the picture is snowy black and white. I was thinking to swap my current console and then hack it to allow it to play the UK games. I'm not interested in playing homebrew, just normal, off-the-shelf games, both my existing, and new US ones. Does this make sense or is there a better option? Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Is there not a "force video mode" option in Gecko OS or something? That might let you play the games you currently have in NTSC witout having to switch your Wii. At the same time, they may refuse to do the swap if they detect you have used homebrew on it before sending it in. I am not completely sure either way, I have never played out of region games or games on a "wrong" signal TV.

EDIT: I did a little research and I think what you need to do is load up Gecko OS and go to "Config Options..." and then set "Force NTSC" to "YES", then return to the main menu and choose "Launch Game". Again, I am not 100% sure this will fix your problem, but I believe it should.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2011 07:41PM by SifJar.

Thanks for the quick reply. I haven't installed Gecko or HBC. I'm trying to decide the best way forward for minimal cost/effort with best likelihood for success. You're right, if I install HBC or Gecko, or brick it, Nintendo won't touch it. So I'm trying to decide best options first.

I installed HBC, Gecko OS, and StartPatch just fine. I have a US console (NTSC version 4.3U). I am currently waiting for my copy of Xenoblade from the UK. As soon as I get it, I will be testing it out so I can let you know how it works out in about a week (or two) hopefully. Gecko does have a "force" option that works fine for other people. I think it is just a matter of toggling for TV picture compatibility which Gecko allows you to do. In my case, I am hoping StartPatch will just load it from the disc channel. Otherwise, I will load it through Gecko. I guess you could say this is the minimalist way of approaching region locking seeing as it is free, but there is always a risk. Anyway, I will update my post to let you know how it goes and what I did.

Alright! I just got the PAL versions of Disaster: Day of Crisis and Xenoblade Chronicles. Both seem to be working flawlessly using StartPatch. After "Region free everything" patch is installed, I can load these games from the disc channel. I haven't tried using Gecko OS yet. Even though I have it, StartPatch does just what I need it to do, and there is no need to load the games through an application. Awesome!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2011 12:53AM by Toodles.

Hi, thx for the update Toodles. The problem is that I am now more confused than ever. You say you've got HBC, StartPatch and Gecko all installed, along with "Region Free Everything" and that you used StartPatch. All I want to do is play UK (PAL) games on a US (NTSC) Wii on a US TV; I'm not really interested in installing and using the HBC or downloading games (yet). Can someone please tell me the simplest way to achieve this and where I can find the download? Should I use Gecko, StartPatch, TinyLoad, "Region Free Everything"....????
Thx for any help.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2011 04:39PM by dfgtxkf.

OK, I can understand your confusion. What I am doing is playing PAL games on a US console. What I did is I installed the Homebrew Channel. The above mentioned are just the applications that can be run through the Homebrew Channel. I have a few different apps. but I am only using one for PAL disc loading. That would be StartPatch. "Region Free Everything" is just one of the patches that comes with StartPatch. There are a few others for blocking updates that are useful too. Anyway, I am not sure how or if you could go about this without the HBC. HBC is easy to install and running StartPatch through the HBC is relatively easy. The thing that StartPatch does is place these patches in the system menu allowing you to bypass region blocking. Therefore, after you install the patches you need by the click of a button, you will not need to touch it or load anything afterwards. You just put your disc in and play it as if it was an NTSC disc. You would never need to even open the HBC again unless you were interested in other things. This is really simpler than it may seem, but it is just really about how you would like to go about it. If you decide to go this route, I will help you in the process of it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2011 03:46AM by Toodles.

Fantastic, thx T. I hope you don't mind if I PM you for advice. From what I can see, letterbomb seems to be the preferred installation method for 4.3. I'm a bit paranoid about bricking the wii!

Yeah, Letterbomb is the preferred method since you already have the 4.3 update. It is also the easiest as before, you would have been required to jump through some hoops with a game disc. With Letterbomb, it is just a matter of extracting files onto your SD card, inserting into your Wii, look for the letter in your Wii message box and install. It is that simple. I know an easy to follow tutorial website that I used along with Wiibrew for references. If the tutorial is followed, I wouldn't worry so much about bricking, but I know the feeling you have. I don't mind PMs and would like to use it, but I was having trouble with it earlier. If it works, then we can give it a try. Do you have Yahoo Messenger?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2011 05:12AM by Toodles.

No, I don't use it. What's the website you used for the tutorial? I've found a few but they're all windows based and I'd prefer to find a Mac example. You're right, PM isnt working.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2011 05:19AM by dfgtxkf.