Gecko OS 1.8

Gecko OS 1.8

April 15th, 2009, 20:56 Posted By: wraggster

brkirch has released Gecko OS 1.8 :

Gecko OS (formerly Gecko Region Free) by Nuke lets you load Wii games from other regions

Instructions
Load boot.elf from Chain Loader. Insert any Wii Game and press reset. Enjoy your region free gaming. As of beta 5, Gecko OS works correctly with the Homebrew Channel.

GeckoOS includes the latest version of the Region Free app, which works with the Homebrew Channel. The latest version has increased compatibility with more games supported and issues running US games on PAL consoles fixed.

Note that while GeckoOS will enable the US Rock Band to load on a non-US console the guitars and drum set will not work (no controller ID lights lit). To load Rock Band try Menu Loader instead.

Cool Additional Bonus (optional)
If you own a USB Gecko it will install a remote debugger and screenshot engine into memory and will hook. This means you can load Gecko Tool version included and grab screen shots and use the remote debugger in any Wii game. This is all done on the fly and silently. Users without a USB Gecko, the remote debugger and screenshot engine is just ignored and has no effect on your game play!.

Technical Jargon
Gecko OS/Gecko Region Free was created with the homebrew libogc library. No certs, TMD, Tik, keys or other Nintendo copyright material were used or attached in the file, making it a pure homebrew release. No Datel code was used either, so please don't call this a clone etc as this and Freeloader work in completely different ways.

The decryption is done by the hardware, not in software and the correct IOS version of the game booting is selected and used. This is done by reading the information off the DVD using the low level read commands and then passed back to the starlet.

My own apploader was written, and will completely ignore the update partition, no patching is done except a region flag which is required.

This of course only works with Wii games.

Ocarina
Ocarina is a cheat homebrew, now integrated in Gecko OS.

Ocarina checks the GAME ID like RZDP01 for Zelda Twilight Princess (PAL). Then it checks the inserted SD card whether it can find a cheat code file for that game: in this case it would have to be named [sd]:\codes\rzdp01.gct.

To create GCT files, a PC application (Code Manager) was bundled in the package and now is available from the Gecko OS forum : http://wiird.l0nk.org/forum/index.php?topic=597.0
This application is coming with 2 sample files : rsbe.txt and rsbp.txt (Smash Brothers NTSC-U and PAL respectively). Using the File menu you can open them and select the cheats you want.

Note that unlike an Action Replay, you can modify codes with XXXXXXXX inside them. It will always ask you to store modifications to its application memory.

Once you're done selecting codes: click on "Export to GCT" and the rest should be pretty straight forward! Codes can be found here : http://www.usbgecko.com/codes/

Changelog
GeckoOS 1.8
brkirch has released Gecko 1.8 the successor to the Gecko OS. This unofficial build has been approved by the people responsible for the USB Gecko Nintendo Wii hacking/cheat code device. It has a lot of new features and a new GUI.

The Gecko homebrew application can be used without the USB Gecko hardware, but you're limited to only using it's various non-integrated features. However, the features available are worth using including cheat code support, region free gaming and much more!

Multidol games work through Gecko's game loader, rebooter is no longer required for them
To ensure games are fully functional the game loader now uses the IOS requested by the game (as a result there is no 002 error, that error is due to game loaders booting a game with the wrong IOS)
If a game requests an IOS that you don't have, the game's update partition will be searched for the IOS and the option to install the IOS will be given if it is found (if you have a modchip, turn off update blocking!)
It is now possible to select not to load the debugger, which increases the number of code lines allowed by Ocarina
New hooks have been added so that most (if not all) Wii games can be hooked
Rebooter will use the hook selected on the config menu to hook games
Rebooter is now compatible with preloader
The menu interface has been improved, and you can load a custom background by creating a 640x480 PNG-24 file, naming it background.png, and putting it at the root of your SD card
The menu configuration can be saved, and the saved configuration will be loaded automatically when Gecko starts
A configuration file can be created for game specific settings like hook type
New code types are supported by the code handler
GPF (gecko patch file) support

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