Wii Menu

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Wii Menu
WiiSystemMenu.jpg
Type Pre-installed
Developer(s) Nintendo
Platform(s) Wii
Release date(s) NA November 19, 2006
JP December 2, 2006
AUS December 7, 2006
EU December 8, 2006
KO April 26, 2008
TW July 2, 2008
Genre(s) Utility
Input methods Wii Remote, USB Keyboard, Classic Controller
Compatibility 4Stars4.pngEdit rating: Wii Menu
Playable
See also...

Dolphin Forum thread
Open Issues
Search Google
Wikipedia page]

The Wii Menu, commonly known as the "System Menu", is the top-level menu interface of the Wii game console, allowing the player to navigate/launch channels, change settings, access the message board/address book, use the SD card, and load discs. The channels are displayed on a 4:3 grid with 4 pages, which the player navigates using the Wii Remote. The grid is customizable; users can move channels (except for the Disc Channel) amongst the menu's 47 customizable slots by pressing and holding the A and B button while hovering over the channel the user wants to move.

Dolphin does not include the Wii Menu by default, and it doesn't need it; it is able to launch games straight from the Dolphin GUI. However, the menu is fully functional; it can load channels and even discs. Starting with 5.0-4588, you can easily install the Wii Menu in Dolphin by going into Tools → "Perform Online System Update". Additionally, starting with Dolphin 5.0-5179, the Wii Menu can also be installed offline from a Wii disc containing an update partition by right-clicking the game on Dolphin's game list and selecting "Perform System Update". Once installed it can be launched from Tools → "Load Wii System Menu".

Emulation Information

Network Certificates Required

Wii Menu has functionalities that requires proper network certificates extracted from an IOS to work. Refer to the network guide for more information.

Alternate Region Titles

The Wii Menu will only load titles corresponding to its region. This region locking is enforced by the system menu. Use an appropriately aligned version or load alternate region titles via the Game List.

EULA for Online Services

Changing some settings in the Wii Menu will ask to accept the EULA again. If the hidden EULA channel isn't installed, it's impossible to accept it, and online features of some games won't work. To fix this, perform an online update through System Settings or go to File → Change Disc and select the ISO of a game which has an update partition, then go to the Disc Channel to perform the update. After doing so, the EULA can be accepted.

No Channels

The Wii Menu will initially appear without any channels, except for the Disc Channel. This is because Dolphin doesn't come with channels preinstalled as the Wii does; it's up to the user to install them, using the same process that was used to install the Wii Menu.

Wii Menu Crashes When Loading Forecast Channel's Banner

The import handling in Dolphin's IOS HLE was broken until 5.0-3147 and caused channels not to install properly. This causes the Wii Menu to crash in some cases when loading the Forecast Channel's banner. This affects all NANDs where the Forecast Channel was installed in Dolphin.

A workaround was to create the title data directory manually on the NAND. Now that 5.0-3147 allows installing the channel properly, the channel will remain broken until reinstalled.

Wiiware Games & WAD Files Instead Launch System Menu

Deleting the NANDBOOTINFO file in the following Documents location will resolve this: %userprofile%\documents\Dolphin Emulator\Wii\shared2\sys\

Error 101232 / Total breakage of internet within Wii Menu

Pretty likely to happen when trying to change the internet settings within the Wii Menu settings (Regardless of whether RiiConnect24, WiiLink, Wiimmfi, multiple, or none of those are enabled), at which point Wii Menu cannot use any online or RiiConnect24 connections due to network tests failing with Error 101232, and utility channels launched from Wii Menu will complain about a lack of network configurations.

The best-working fix is to, while Dolphin is not running, go to (…)\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\Wii\shared2\sys, and then delete the net folder. Wii Menu can then be run with normal internet functionality.

"This channel can't be used"

A fully possible outcome of changing between Wii Menu system updates from different regions, as it would often result in clone Forecast Channel and News Channel listings on the Wii Menu. The ones from the current region works normally, while the clones from other regions will instantly show a black screen with "This channel can't be used" and then hardlock.

As the clones don't show up in the Wii Menu settings' channel list, removing the clones outright requires the AnyTitle Deleter MOD homebrew app, and run its boot.dol with Dolphin. Its default Wii OS version (IOS249) can safely be picked regardless of a couple of error notes, leading to "Titles" → "System Channel Titles".

Crosschecking the 4-letter CODE values to find the exact clones is nice to do, but as a rule of thumb, codes ending with E are North America, P are PAL, J are Japan, and A are either region-free or contains files shared between the regions. Once you've narrowed down the clones, press A on them, and then A again to confirm the deletion.

"You tried to access the address marc:(…)" when opening settings

Caused by some kind of conflict with Internet Channel. If Internet Channel doesn't show up in the Dolphin game list, use the same AnyTitle Deleter MOD homebrew as above, go to "Titles" → "Installed Channel Titles", and uninstall those whose codes match the first 4 letters of the codes match the IDs of the Internet Channel (HADE, HADP, and/or HADJ).

Problems

Screen Position Setting

The Screen Position Setting in the System Preferences has no effect in Dolphin. On Console, it moves the Position of the Screen either to the left or right by pressing the arrows in the desired direction. Refer issue 10984.

Accidental Temporary Region Change

Under very rare and convoluted circumstances that can be easily avoided, it is possible for Wii Menu to temporarily think it's in a different region, despite still having the original region's system menu files.

The process is unclear. The closest guess is that if both "This channel can't be used" and "You tried to access the address marc:(…)" mentioned above happen during a short time period, Wii Menu can begin struggling to tell which region it's in, and which system update it has.

If a disc from another region is mounted into Wii Menu at that point in time (e.g. Mario Super Sluggers for PAL, Monster Hunter G for NA), Disc Channel can possibly show a "Wii System Update" prompt. If Disc Channel is clicked on and the prompt is accepted, an update bar will be shown and possibly succeed.

After that process, upon returning to Wii Menu, some of the channels will act a bit weird. Not only Forecast Channel and News Channel, but also Everybody Votes Channel, can lead to "This channel can't be used", and the time format will have changed between 12- and 24-hour formats. Restarting the emulation session, and/or using the AnyTitle Deleter MOD fixes mentioned above, will fix the problem and return Wii Menu to its original region.

Error 109144 ("Unable to connect to the Internet.")

Certain Wii apps that depend on Region Select, will instantly produce this error message when trying to connect to them online. While the cause of the error is debated, the error code is intended to mean "WC24 account not registered", potentially related to how all default-NAND Dolphin configurations have the Wii number (a.k.a. Friend Code) 0000 0000 0000 0000 by default. Fixing the error would potentially require changing the number, which likely requires a NAND dump; as of February 2024, third-party apps to change subregions did not work in Dolphin.

For Wii Menu, this primarily concerns the mail functionality, specifically the envelope option and the "Register" button in the Address Book.

Failure to Reconnect Wii Remote When Returning to Wii Menu

When moving from a game, app, or homebrew app, into Wii Menu, the Wii Remote will turn off the connection, and then fail to re-connect on its own when the menu has loaded. On real hardware, the Wii Remote re-connects after around 2 seconds.

Keyboard Is Not Completely Displayed

The keyboard that appears when the user wants to give his Wii a nickname is not fully displayed if "Fast Depth Calculation" is enabled. To display the keyboard correctly, disable the option. This is fixed since at least 5.0-10516.

Channel Management (Wii Menu 2.x)

Deleting channels works, but will leave Wii Menu corrupted. To fix this, manually locate and remove title.tmd from the deleted channel or update the Wii Menu to version 3.0 or newer. Fixed in 5.0-2660.

Cheats, Savestates Not Working

Dolphin only recognizes the first thing loaded as the game that is being played. For example, if Super Smash Bros. Brawl is loaded from the Game List, and use the home menu to go to the Wii Menu, then change disc and load Xenoblade Chronicles, the game cheats, and even any savestates made will be for Brawl and not Xenoblade.

Fixed in 5.0-2712, which introduces proper title tracking. Savestates, screenshots, cheats, custom textures, etc. should all work.

Copying/Moving Channels to SD Card

Copying/moving channels to SD Card will always fail. Fixed in 5.0-2666.

Format Wii Memory

Using "Format Wii Memory" option works but Dolphin will keep complaining about missing entries in SYSCONF after doing that. The workaround is disabling Panic Handlers or deleting User\Wii\shared2\sys\SYSCONF, letting Dolphin generate a new one. Fixed in 5.0-4416.

Message Board

Messages cannot be sent/received. Playtime is correctly registered only if a game is loaded through the Wii Menu/Disc Channel and the Wii Menu is returned to after playing. Fixed in 5.0-775.

Persistent Game Settings (GameINI) on Next Game Load

Because of the state of Dolphin's current config system, GameINI will not reload on next game load. This will be solved in the future with the new config system. Fixed in 5.0-4896.

Startup Disc Menu Fails to Load

Due to the IOS emulation changes, and the fact that the Startup Disc menu uses the currently unemulated IOS4, it will not boot as of the current revision. Fixed in 5.0-4647.

System Update

Performing a System Update will end with an error 32004 or 32017. Fixed in 5.0-2752. Note: the System Menu requires the System Menu IOS to be installed.

Update Partitions Are Not Detected

No game update partitions are detected because of a bug in IOS HLE. Fixed in 5.0-2712.

Configuration

No configuration changes are known to affect compatibility for this title.

Version Compatibility

The graph below charts the compatibility with Wii Menu since Dolphin's 2.0 release, listing revisions only where a compatibility change occurred.

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5.0-21222 (current)
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Δ
Δ
Δ
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2.0 (r5384)
Compatibility can be assumed to align with the indicated revisions. However, compatibility may extend to prior revisions or compatibility gaps may exist within ranges indicated as compatible due to limited testing. Please update as appropriate.

Testing

This title has been tested on the environments listed below:

Test Entries
Revision OS CPU GPU Result Tester
5.0-14197 Windows 10 Intel Core i5-4200U @ 1.6 GHz Intel HD Graphics 4400 Playable. Jack
5.0-21088 Windows 11 AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 3.6 GHz NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Core functions (Game/app launching, almost all settings, SD card menus) work pretty much spot on. Network settings are very fragile and should never be changed. Wii Mail envelope didn't work; likely requires NAND. Fails to load titles from other regions even with Priiloader. DandelionSprout

Gameplay Videos