I was going to make my own thread asking about Wiimmfi... but since it's being talked about, I'll do it here instead.

I know what Wiimmfi is for and what it's supposed to do. I was debating on using it, but don't know how. Besides, I have some questions:

1) Is it legal? I'd like to use it in Cit Folk, but I don't think I would be comfortable using something that wasn't legal.

2) How does it work and how do you use it?

3) Is it safe? Meaning, would it corrupt anything?

1) Is it legal? I'd like to use it in City Folk, but I don't think I would be comfortable using something that wasn't legal.

If you bought the game in any way (in the store, eBay, used market, etc.) then it's perfectly legal.  There's nothing Nintendo can do about you playing a game you legit bought.  And your Wii is your Wii.  Nintendo can complain about soft-modding or the hacking scene, but they can't do anything to you about you doing whatever you want with your console.  Besides, Nintendo has dropped any and all support for the Wii a long time ago anyway, so why should they care?  If you're not selling boot-legs of their games, there's nothing they can do to you.

2) How does it work and how do you use it?

Wiimmfi is a custom server set up by fans of these old Nintendo consoles and the great games that were released for it as a way to continue to play on-line using the "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection" features built into some of those games.  All of the connections had to be reverse-engineered from captured data packets both coming and going from peoples' game systems.  This was done for a few years before Nintendo actually shut down the Wi-Fi services because GameSpy, the company that actually ran the servers, went out of business.

The PROBLEM with Wiimmfi - or ANY 3rd party replacement service for on-line play on the Wii, is that they do not and cannot have the security encryption keys that Nintendo's original servers had, so games on the Wii all attempt to authenticate Nintendo using their half of the security key built into the games.  And since Wiimmfi and all others cannot respond with the proper hash (because we don't know it), the games will refuse to connect to any on-line service.

So, how does Wiimmfi get around this?  To be perfectly honest, they hacked the game code.  They either use a run-time patch ran before you execute the game that steps in an disables the security hash check so the game will be able to play on their network or they let you patch the actual game image file if you rip your games to a thumb drive or USB hard drive and play from there using a USB boot loader - which requires you to soft-mod your Wii to even be able to do ANY of that.

Having said ALL of the above - we can talk about it, but we can't tell you how to do any of it, as the mods on this website have deemed all of this "hacking" (which for the Wii, actually kind of IS) and is against the rules.  We can tell you it needs to be hacked, but we can't tell you how to do it.  Like, ANY of it.  Any posts like that will be deleted and repeated attempts to post how-tos for it will get you banned.

3) Is it safe? Meaning, would it corrupt anything?

There's always a chance you could brick your Wii doing the soft-modding and patching of the internal IOS of the Wii's firmware, but if you actually follow the steps exactly (using guides you can find online, just not here), I've modded 2 Wiis successfully so far with no issues.  In fact, YESTERDAY I got to visit my first Animal Crossing: City Folk friend as she had a turnip price over 100 and I had a ton to sell.  I had to dump my Wii's IP address into a DMZ on my router for it to connect because I don't know exactly which ports to open directly to it on my router, but I was able to connect and sell my turnips and drop some tools and bells for her.  And we both use a game image I patched myself and run off of a USB stick in the back of the console to play the game.  We enjoy quicker load times than the original game disc had and we don't have to deal with patches ever again to play this game on-line.  Once the Wii has been successfully modded, you shouldn't have to deal with any of it ever again.

And as a side note, there's also RiiConnect24, which is a replacement for the old "WiiConnect24" services.  Doing THAT to your console will get your NEWS, WEATHER, Everybody Votes, and other original channels working again.  I mean, I don't really use the NEWS app because of where they get their news from, but it's a cool feature.  The weather app is easy enough to check before going to work in the morning.  And sometimes it's fun to derp around with the Everybody Votes channel from time to time.

To answer the question posed by the title of this post, I use wiimfi on my Wii but I've never actually been on another person's town. I'll send you an FCR

Good call.  I also play City Folk, but I've actually been to someone else's town.  It turns out, I had to put my Wii's IP address in the DMZ of my router for it to connect properly, but it did.  I don't know which patches would need to be opened specifically for City Folk or other Nintendo Wi-Fi games so I could just to a port redirect instead of sticking the whole thing into the DMZ, but maybe down the road I'll figure it all out.

A quick note about Wiimmfi is that it is based in Germany, and the law there basically allows for replacement online services to be set up if the original has been shut down. This means that Wiimmfi is 100% legal.

Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that in THIS forum, we're not allowed to discuss details of how to modify your console outside of the manufacturer's allowed configurations (such as putting in your own DNS address).  This means you can't actually use any 3rd-party replacement service without modifying the code running on your console, which the mods here deem (accurately) as hacking and will delete any post talking about how to do it and will also ban you if you keep posting them repeatedly.  Even though it would be a good way to get City Folk players back to playing with each other again - which was the WHOLE PURPOSE of this board existing in the first place...

It's my opinion that EVERYONE should modify their Wiis to work with Wiimmfi and RiiConnect24, even if they don't play games online, as it restores the functions of a number of normal Wii Channels such as News, Weather, and Everybody Votes, as well as giving you access to emulators for tons of other games and consoles.  Now, I do not condone pirating games, but I also don't bat an eye when it happens on consoles that Nintendo has abandoned, no longer does repairs on, no longer sells games for, and will not release those games on their modern console.  As far as I'm concerned, everything from the Wii backwards in time to the NES is now officially "Abandonware" and, in my opinion, fair game.

For example, I JUST YESTERDAY got NES and SNES game emulation working properly on my Wii, but what I really am proud of doing is installing game box covers on my SD card so that the emulator menus show the proper game box when a game is highlighted - the way the SNES Classic and NES Classic do in their game menus.  And I thought I was going to have to spend money getting a Classic Controller for the Wii, but as it turns out, the emulators let me use a Gamecube controller - which I have.  And even though the NES Emulator puts out a 240p signal over my Component cables on my Wii and my capture device on my PC won't accept that signal and I thought I wouldn't be able to do NES Emulation as a result, I was able to change the Emulator to 480p output and everything's gravy now.

I’m still playing City Folk on Wiimmfi. My friend code info—Town: Buckeye, Player Name: Ito, Friend Code: *Friend Code Detected*. Go ahead and add me to visit.

I use wiimmfi I do want to play with new people let me know how we will talk

I play ACCF on wiimmfi
Friend Code: *Friend Code Detected*
Town:Isle
Player Name:Jay

"I play ACCF on wiimmfi
Friend Code: *Friend Code Detected*
Town:Isle
Player Name:Jay"

Can't put FCs in the forums here- add yours to the FC registry instead.

I understand that we can't share how to set up Wiimmfi, but I wish I could get it working on my WiiU because that's where I'm doing my current CF playthrough
I do have it on my Wii, but I'm not sure if I should keep the current town on it or reset it... I haven't been to that one in ages. Regardless, both consoles work with my capture card great, so it makes it easier to play on my PC and browse the internet at the same time lol
If I do decide to play off of my Wii, I'll be sure to update my characters so I can play with other people!