Running your own Wii Forecast Channel: Difference between revisions

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The '''Wii Forecast Channel''' was a channel available to WiiConnect24 users. It launched in November of 2006 and closed in 2013.
 
With services like RiiConnect24 and WiiLink, you can revive this channel and use it just like before, but if you're a nerd like me and want to add your own locations, you'll need to do some hacking. Fortunately it's pretty easy so long as youryou're a little tech savysavvy.
 
== What do we need? ==
You will need:
* Sharpii
* Some sort of hex editor
* A web server that can serve files
* The latest dev build of the Dolphin emulator or a WAD installer if you're on an actual Wii
 
== Patching the WAD ==
Get the latest release of Sharpii here: https://github.com/mogzol/sharpii/releases and extract it somewhere.
 
[[File:WiiForecast Tutorial 1.png|700px]]
 
We need to replace this with our web server. It can be any URL - an IP, a website, etc. Thankfully the Forecast Channel doesn't mind if itsit's been tampered with, so we don't have to do any additional modification. I replaced the url with <code>http://computernewb.com/pad/</code>:
 
[[File:WiiForecast Tutorial 2.png|700px]]
To install the System Menu go to Tools -> Perform System Online Update -> Current Region.
 
== Generating the files ==
Ok, now that we've patched the WAD, we now need to get some files to actually serve the Forecast Channel. The easiest tool I've found for this is WiiLink's [https://github.com/WiiLink24/ForecastChannel ForecastChannel] generator. It requires Go and an Accuweather API key. So the first thing is to download Go and add it to your PATH. Then clone the repository and run the following command:
 
<code>go mod download</code>
...and then copy your respective <code><country></code> tag from the backed up file, as well as the <code><international></code> and <code><conditions></code> tags. This will GREATLY speed up the process and will reduce the amount of API calls you use.
 
To add a location, itsit's pretty easy. Just copy and paste the <code><city></code> tag and fill out the information. If you put it in the international category, you won't be able to get the UV index or 5-day forecast for the location due to a limitation in the software.
 
Example of adding the The South Pole in Antarctica:
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<international>