How to Add Mods to Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In this guide I will explain how to set up modded versions of Brawl like Project M and Brawl Minus, as well as how to add your own mods to those.

Setting Up Modded Games

Most modded games usually have two versions you can download, a “Hackless” version and a “Homebrew” version. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

The Hackless Method

The hackless version is run by tricking the Wii into running a program from the SD card when Stage Builder is selected. It is called hackless because it does not require any modification of your Wii.

Advantages:

Does not require you to install the Homebrew Channel on your Wii.
Can be run on any Wii as long as there are no custom stages in Brawl’s saved file.
Easier and faster to set up.

Disadvantages:

SD card size is limited to 2GB. (SD cards this small are harder to find nowadays)
Slower startup time. (Brawl needs to boot up twice)
You have to delete all of your stage builder stages.

The Homebrew Method

This hack is run through the Homebrew Channel.

Advantages:

You can use SD cards larger than 2GB.
The game can start up faster since Brawl only needs to load once.

Disadvantages:

You have to install the Homebrew Channel on your Wii.

How to Install

Both of these methods require a Nintendo Wii and a copy of Super Smash Bros Brawl. (We do not support the use of emulators for such a readily available game)

For the images in these examples I am using Project M.

Hackless Method

STEP 1: FIND AN APPROPRIATE SD CARD

For this version you will need a 2GB SD card. It will not work with a Micro SD or an SDHC card. These can be a bit hard to find since 64GB is the norm nowadays. (If you’re desperate you can use the one that comes inside the 3DS.)

STEP 2: DELETE ALL YOUR CUSTOM STAGES

If you have any Custom Stages made in Stage Builder you will need to delete them. This is because the game needs to default to the SD card.

STEP 3: PUT THE FILES ON YOUR SD CARD

Paste the mod you intend to download onto the SD card. The root directory should look similar to the image below:

STEP 4: PLAY THE GAME

To play the game insert the SD card into the Wii and start up Super Smash Bros Brawl.

To activate the mod, go to the Stage Builder page. Once you’re there don’t press anything.

If it boots correctly the screen will appear to glitch out then display some text before the mod’s menu opens or the game starts.

If it stays on the the stage builder screen for more than a few seconds then the mod failed to load. If this happens and the Wii is frozen (music is playing but none of the buttons work) just restart the Wii and try again. This happens occasionally even if you haven’t done anything wrong. If the game is not frozen and you are able to use the stage builder it means there is a problem with your SD card.

Homebrew Method

STEP 1: INSTALL THE HOMEBREW CHANNEL

The Homebrew Channel is a Wii channel used for running mods or user written programs. It is not made or recognized by Nintendo so it cannot be found in the Wii Shop Channel. The only way to download it is to exploit flaws in the Wii’s security.

Information on the Homebrew Channel and how to install it can be found here. Try the LetterBomb method first. If it doesn’t work try the BannerBomb method.

STEP 2: PUT THE FILES ON YOUR SD CARD

Once Homebrew has been installed delete the files used to install it from your SD card so you can use it for your mods.

Paste the modded game’s files onto the SD card. The root directory should something look like this:

STEP 3: PLAY THE GAME

Turn on your Wii and insert the SD card and Brawl disk. Launch the Homebrew Channel. Select your mod and click play. The modded version of Brawl should now boot up.

How to Add Individual Mods

You can install the individual mods such as those found in Brawl Vault by placing the files onto the SD card in the correct locations. Some files are stored within .PAC files which can be opened using BrawlBox.

Brawl hacks work by making it so that whenever the Wii tries to load a file it will first check the SD card for the file and will default to the file on the disk if it doesn’t find it on the card. This means you can revert characters and stages back to their Brawl versions individually by deleting the modded files from the SD card.

Certain files may have strange names. This is because the files use the Japanese names for characters, stages, and items. Koopa is Bowser, Purin is Jigglypuff, pokeZenigame is Squirtle, pokeFushigisou is Ivysaur, and pokeLizardon is Charizard.

The location and name of this main folder on the SD card is different in each mod. You will need to find the directory that looks like this:

Stages

Modded stages are always made to replace a specific stage and will only work when overriding the stage it was intended for. It is possible to extend the stage roster to fit multiple mods of the same stage, but that is a topic for another day.

Stages are stored in stages/melee folder as .PAC files. To replace a stage you just need to replace the corresponding .PAC file. There are a few stages that have multiple .PAC files because there are multiple versions of the stage that have a chance to load. For these stages you will need to replace each file.

Some stage hacks will come with a .REL file. These belong in the module folder. If the stage you are adding does not come with a .REL file, you must delete the .REL file that corresponds to the stage it replaces so the system will load the original from the disk. Incorrect .REL files will cause stages to crash or load incorrectly.

Characters

Each character has their own folder in the fighter folder that contains all their files.

Fit<character>.PAC contains the code for the character’s moveset, which can be edited using PSA, as well as models for certain effects like the Falcon Punch.

Fit<character>_##.PAC and .PCS (where ## is the color starting at 00) contain the model for each of the character’s color slots. The PAC file is the important one. The PCS file seems to contain the same information and is usually unnecessary except for characters that can transform. If a mod doesn’t come with a PCS file then you probably don’t need it.

Fit<character>MotionEct.PAC contains all the models for the character’s moves not in Fit<character>.PAC. This does not include Peach’s turnips, Link’s bombs, or Snake’s grenades because the game treats those as items.

Music

The music tracks are stored in sound/strm. The file names don’t tell you which song is which, so you will need to use this guide to tell which file name corresponds to which song.

To add your own song you will need to first convert it to Brawl’s special .BRSTM format. A converter program can be found on our resources page.

You can change the name of a song as it appears in the game by opening info2/info.PAC with BrawlBox and modifying the list of song names under MiscData[140].

Items

Items are a little more difficult to modify. Item data is stored in system/common3.PAC which can be opened in BrawlBox. (The main folder named item actually contains Pokemon and Assist Trophy characters) Inside common3.PAC item models are stored in ItmCommonBrres and the code for what the item does is under ItmCommonParam. To add item mods you will need to use BrawlBox to replace the individual ARC files for the item.

You can also adjust the spawn frequency for each item in common3.PAC/ItmCommonGen/ItemGeneration/Table[0]/Group[9]. Pokemon frequency is under Group[5] and Assist Trophy frequency is under Group[6]. Note that setting the frequency of a Pokemon to 0.00 does not cause it to never appear; it just makes it very rare. (Jirachi, Celebi, and Mew all have a frequency of 0.00)

Menu Images

When you replace a character’s model or a stage you may want to change the corresponding picture on the character / stage select screen. Many mods come with images you can use. The dimensions of these images must be the same as the originals or the game may crash. All of these require BrawlBox to edit as most of them are in common5.PAC. In Brawl Minus the contents of common5.pac are moved to the menu2 folder.

CHARACTER SELECTION PICTURES (CSP)

These are the images you see on the character select screen when you select or hover over a character. There is one for each color. The size for the image is 128 x 160. They can be found in common5.PAC. Each character has a MiscData folder containing each of their colors.

When importing CSP images in BrawlBox you may need to pay attention to the amount of space your images take up in the pac and select an appropriate encoding format to balance appearance with size. If common5.PAC becomes too large the game can crash on the character select screen. CMPR format is normally a good choice, but if it makes the image look ugly switch to CI8 format.

OTHER CHARACTER PICTURES

The stock icons for each color slot are in sc_selcharacter_en/MiscData[90].
The image of the characters’ names (only one per character) are in sc_selcharacter_en/MiscData[30].
The icons on the character select screen are in sc_selcharacter_en/MiscData[70].
The images of the characters’ faces on the damage meter in game are in info/portrite in individual BRRES files for each color slot.

STAGE SELECTION PICTURES

All the stage images are under common5.PAC/sc_selmap_en/MiscData[80]. ## in the file names below represents the index number of the stage.

MenSelmapIcon.## is the icon on the list of stages. (64 x 56)
MenSelmapPrevbase.## is the larger image that appears when you hover over the stage. (160 x 160)
MenSelmapFrontStname.## is the image of the stage’s name. (208×56)
MenSelmapMark.## is the logo of the game the stage is based on (120 x 56)