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A Dictionary of Terms

Here at r/wiihacks, we use some terminology when making posts and helping users out. While it’s usually not super important you know exactly what these terms mean and what some things stand for, I’m sure there are people out there who are interested in knowing what all this terminology actually means. So I present this glossary of basic Wii terminology.

Bannerbomb v1

  • An exploit involving the Wii’s SD Card Data Management screen and a malformed banner. Only works on System Menus 4.0 and 4.1

Bannerbomb v2

  • An exploit involving the Wii’s SD Card Menu and a malformed banner. Works on System Menus 4.0-4.2.

Bluebomb

  • An exploit involving the Wii’s Bluetooth stack. Is the only exploit that works on the Wii Mini, and is also the only exploit that can load the homebrew app through USB.

BIN

  • Stands for Binary File. It is the format used for Wii NAND dumps as well as savegames, likely other things as well.

Bollywood

  • A revision of the original Hollywood chip, released in around 2008ish. All Bollywoods have the boot1 vulnerability patched. Bollywoods are incapable of running older versions of IOS.

boot0

  • The first stage of the Wii’s boot process. It is stored on the Wii’s Starlet processor. It verifies the hash of boot1.

boot1

  • The second stage of the Wii’s boot process. It is stored at the beginning of the Wii’s NAND. It verifies the signature of the hash of boot2. Older versions of boot1 contain the strncmp vulnerability, which allows fakesigned boot2 images to run.

boot2

  • The third stage of the Wii’s boot process, and the first one that can be modified. It is stored after boot1, and there are 2 copies of it on the NAND, just in case. It initializes IOS.

BootMii

  • A software that runs on MINI and can control various aspects of the Wii. It can take NAND dumps and flash the NAND. It can always be installed as an IOS and on older Wiis can be installed as boot2. When installed as boot2, it provides the best current Wii brick protection, as it can fix the same bricks as Priiloader plus lower level bricks such as Semi-Bricks, Full Bricks, or System Menu bricks. When installed as an IOS, it is mostly useless, besides taking a NAND dump.

Broadway

  • The Wii’s primary processor (CPU). It is essentially a PowerPC chip.

cIOS

  • Stands for Custom IOS (see IOS entry for more info about IOS). It is simply a version of a standard IOS that is patched to add features. cIOS is most commonly used for backup loading, as it can be patched for USB 2.0 support and is capable of allowing USB or burned games to run. It is most commonly installed in IOS slots that are normally stubs.

DOL

  • One of the Wii’s executable types. It was previously used with the GameCube, but is compatible with the Wii. Stands for Dolphin, which was the GameCube’s codename. Commonly used for homebrew apps.

ELF

  • Another one of the Wii’s executable types. It is actually not exclusive to the Wii, it is commonly used in UNIX. Stands for Executable and Linkable Format. This, like DOL, is also used for homebrew apps.

Hollywood

  • The Wii’s GPU chip. It is an ATI GPU. It houses the Starlet processor. Very late model Hollywoods have the boot1 vulnerability patched.

Homebrew Channel, The

  • A channel that is usually installed onto the NAND by running the HackMii Installer through an exploit. It allows the user to have a “home base” where they can run homebrew without having to run an exploit each time.

HBC

  • Shorthand term for The Homebrew Channel.

IOS

  • Stands for IOP Operating System. As the name implies, IOS is to the Wii as Windows is to a computer. It’s the operating system. It forms the basis of pretty much everything that is done on the Wii.

IOS Base

  • The IOS to use as a base when installing cIOS.

IOS Slot

  • The specific folder on the Wii NAND’s filesystem that the IOS in question is installed in.

IOS Stub

  • An IOS installed in a slot that has no functionality. When the System Menu IOS is changed by Nintendo in an update, the previous one is changed to a stub.

IOS Revision

  • The version of the IOS being installed. For cIOS, this is generally set to 65535, as it is the latest version. This is to prevent the cIOS from being overwritten.

Letterbomb

  • An exploit to run homebrew on the Wii that takes advantage of the Wii Message Board.

LU64+

  • Another name for Wiis containing Bollywood chips. It is based on the first 4 characters of the Wii’s serial number. However, this is inaccurate as there are many serials before LU64 that are also Bollywoods.

MYM

  • Stands for MyMenu File. It is a file containing all the changes to the System Menu theme, and is used to make custom System Menu themes.

NAND

  • The Wii’s main storage medium. NAND is not an acronym, it stands for NOT AND, which is a type of logic gate. It is called this because at the circuit level NAND memory is very similar to the aforementioned logic gate. On the Wii, the NAND houses boot1, boot2, IOS, and much more.

Priiloader

  • A software that piggybacks off of the System Menu in the boot process and can fix bricks such as theme bricks, banner bricks, etc. It also allows some customization of System Menu functionality.

Smash Stack

  • An exploit involving Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Requires the game.

Starlet

  • The name given by the modding community to the ARM processor located inside the Wii’s Hollywood GPU. It is known officially by Nintendo as IOP (Input/Output Processor).

Twilight Hack

  • The first ever public Wii exploit involving the game Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. Has been patched and only works on System Menus older than 4.0.

vWii

  • Stands for Virtual Wii. It is used to refer to the Wii sandbox mode of the Wii U. vWii is not always compatible with Wii software. It is always a good idea to ask if a certain software works on vWii.

WAD

  • A wad of content (yes, the actual word wad). It is the file format used for all of the Wii’s channels with the exception of the Disc Channel. It is also used for things like IOS and the System Menu.

WBFS

  • Stands for Wii Backup File System. It is a format created by Waninkoko. It stores games on USB and SD devices for loading on the Wii. It is smaller than the ISO from the game disc as it does not include partitions such as the update partition. It only has the game itself.

Wiimmfi

  • The most commonly used replacement for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. It allows playing games online with others again. It is not used for games that have or had third-party servers.

Wilbrand

  • Same as Letterbomb, simply created by a different person.

Outro

This is by no means complete. Terms will be added over time, definitions may be changed as well.

If you feel there is anything incorrect in this post, please let me know.