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Id like to chip my Wii, but my soldering skills are less than ideal.
Has anyone ever done this or are there chipless alternatives? If yes or no what are the best chips around to use?
Also has anyone used a service to have this done for them?
Cheers and thanks for any input.
Here's a list of a couple of them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_drivechips
I believe that quite a few of them come with solderless designs as well, if you're afraid of messing with your wii.
Personally though softmodding is a much better route to go. It's rather quick and easy to do, you can load games from a portable hard drive rather than messing with the discs, and the games will actually load more quickly than if you just used the original version. You also get homebrew for installing wii channels, hacks, VC games, etc. when you softmod.
Hardmods also have some rather annoying issues with disc reading errors, especially with dual layer games. It's just a lot more of a hassle.
Here's one of the best soft mod guides, in my opinion:
http://gbatemp.net/t171901-modify-any-wii-4-2-below
When you're softmodding, you should most definitely make a copy of your Wii NAND with bootmii before proceeding. And if you can install bootmii in boot2, than priiloader is completely optional, as some people don't really like it (most of these terms will make more sense when you're done with the guide).
For a USB loader, I would recommend USB Loader GX. You'll also need a WBFS Manager to format your harddrive and load game isos on there.
Awesome, thanks for the response.
Actually though one thing I forgot to mention that hardmodding has going for it, is that you can update your wii's firmware without any hassles. Updates won't break hardmodding.
Wii updates will completely destroy any softmods you have installed. However, pretty much all USB HD loading programs will block disc updates, and the majority of Wii System Updates are relatively optional anyway. If you want to update it, usually a week or two later someone will release a "safe" updating program that includes all the essential updates while leaving your mods intact. It's a little bit more of a hassle though, and something to keep in mind.
I just soft modded a wii today....
Beyond easy... I am able to load wii iso files directly off a 500 gb external HD right to my wii...
I am on wii firmware 4.2 also (newest firmware as of today).
http://usbloadergx.koureio.net/help/readmii
*looks like alot, but once you read it... you just realize that it's very descriptive on its steps...
Takes around 30-45 minutes to read through and take your time carefully. Probably 5-10 minutes if you are a wild man lol.
I would be willing to help you over teamviewer if you need assistance.... just shoot me over a pm