Octolings In The Wild (This Is Bad)

It's not anticipated for this to be an incredibly widespread issue, but one or two Squidboards users have already encountered this problem, and we wanted to make sure to alert everyone.

A kernel exploit for the Wii U has now been made public for Wii U's on an older firmware version. The simple and relevant explanation of what this means is that it is now much easier for unscrupulous folks to modify their Splatoon save files.

The very negative side effect of this, is it means a person could potentially modify their save file to change their character ID from 0 or 1 (Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl respectively) to 2, which represents Octolings.

Playing as Octolings would be super cool! ...but only when the game is made for it to happen...
​

If you encounter a player that has done this, you need to make sure to stay in the lobby until they leave it, and then play one more match. This should ensure the game doesn't put their hacked Octoling character into your Inkopolis Plaza. The Plaza is not programmed to handle Octolings, and so if one is placed into it, your game will crash whenever it tries to load them. This includes the title screen, which means your save file is effectively 'soft-locked' and cannot be used until either Nintendo patches this issue, or your plaza is cleared by the beginning of a Splatfest.

It is possible to back up any of your Wii U save files to a flash drive, and we'd recommend doing so if you wish to be absolutely safe.

 

It's not anticipated for this to be an incredibly widespread issue, but one or two Squidboards users have already encountered this problem, and we wanted to make sure to alert everyone.

A kernel exploit for the Wii U has now been made public for Wii U's on an older firmware version. The simple and relevant explanation of what this means is that it is now much easier for unscrupulous folks to modify their Splatoon save files.

The very negative side effect of this, is it means a person could potentially modify their save file to change their character ID from 0 or 1 (Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl respectively) to 2, which represents Octolings.

Playing as Octolings would be super cool! ...but only when the game is made for it to happen...
​

If you encounter a player that has done this, you need to make sure to stay in the lobby until they leave it, and then play one more match. This should ensure the game doesn't put their hacked Octoling character into your Inkopolis Plaza. The Plaza is not programmed to handle Octolings, and so if one is placed into it, your game will crash whenever it tries to load them. This includes the title screen, which means your save file is effectively 'soft-locked' and cannot be used until either Nintendo patches this issue, or your plaza is cleared by the beginning of a Splatfest.

It is possible to back up any of your Wii U save files to a flash drive, and we'd recommend doing so if you wish to be absolutely safe.

How do I back up my game? With a flash drive? What's the process?

 

How do I back up my game? With a flash drive? What's the process?

1) Insert a USB Flash Drive into one of your Wii U's four USB slots (2 in the front, 2 in the back). Make sure you do this while the console is powered off.
NOTE: If your Flash Drive has been used for something other than the Wii U, the system will ask you to format the drive in order to be able to use it. Doing this will delete ALL data on the drive, so it's best to use one with no data on it in the first place.

2) Open System Settings -> Data Management -> Copy/Move/Delete Data -> System Memory

3) Press X, select Splatoon, and Press Y to Copy. All your Splatoon data will then be copied to the USB Drive.
NOTE: When the Wii U has access to two save files of the same game on two different devices, it will save to the one on the flash drive. This means that the Splatoon save file in System Memory will be used as your backup in case something goes wrong.

4) If your save file DOES get corrupted, repeat steps 2 and 3 to revert to your backup save.

Hope this helps :)

 

Is it confirmed that the method actually works?

 

1) Insert a USB Flash Drive into one of your Wii U's four USB slots (2 in the front, 2 in the back). Make sure you do this while the console is powered off.
NOTE: If your Flash Drive has been used for something other than the Wii U, the system will ask you to format the drive in order to be able to use it. Doing this will delete ALL data on the drive, so it's best to use one with no data on it in the first place.

2) Open System Settings -> Data Management -> Copy/Move/Delete Data -> System Memory

3) Press X, select Splatoon, and Press Y to Copy. All your Splatoon data will then be copied to the USB Drive.
NOTE: When the Wii U has access to two save files of the same game on two different devices, it will save to the one on the flash drive. This means that the Splatoon save file in System Memory will be used as your backup in case something goes wrong.

4) If your save file DOES get corrupted, repeat steps 2 and 3 to revert to your backup save.

Hope this helps :)

This really helps man thank you so much

 

Ugh, damn it. Just when I was finally going to be able to play Splatoon again, THIS happens. Hopefully this gets cleaned up soon.

 

Yeah, this whole thing's nothing but a big hoax. People need to stop getting so paranoid over it. -__-

 

Yeah, especially for people like myself. I tend to have the expression of my dog picture all too much.

It's going to take alot to convince me it's safe now, too. Maaaaaaybe i'll come back on when all the weapons that were leaked are out.

 

I doubt it's a huge issue. I've been playing consistently during this whole craze and nothing has happened to me or anyone I know of.

Also, if it did happen, couldn't you just disconnect from the internet for a bit, or would that not reset the plaza?

 

the dudes name is k95166

 

the dudes name is k95166

no it is not.

 

the dudes name is k95166

The guy's innocent, though.

 

Knowing my luck, I'll encounter one of the hackers, and then my mom will make me get off because she doesn't give a squid about my games. I guess I'm confined to private battles till Nintendo fixes this.

 

Knowing my luck, I'll encounter one of the hackers, and then my mom will make me get off because she doesn't give a squid about my games. I guess I'm confined to private battles till Nintendo fixes this.

I wouldn't worry about it. This whole thing's nothing but a 'boy who cried wolf' scenario, so you're fine playing the game still.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. This whole thing's nothing but a 'boy who cried wolf' scenario, so you're fine playing the game still.

That's a terrible analogy. The wolf turned out to be real, while you're saying this hacker doesn't exist. Also the boy was joking and laughing. I'm being completely serious here. So yeah, horrible analogy.

 

That's a terrible analogy. The wolf turned out to be real, while you're saying this hacker doesn't exist. Also the boy was joking and laughing. I'm being completely serious here. So yeah, horrible analogy.

regardless, there has been absolutely zero proof that there has been a hacker. Yes, nikki has actually played as an octoling, people cry of lost save data, and people can change their hair and eyes to look like octolings but other than that, not a single person has truly come up with proof. Not to mention only North american players have been squealing about this issue. If it were really true, foreign players, ESPECIALLY japanese players would have communicated about this issue as well. Who's to say the plaza can't load octolings either? I would like some proof on that one too. It was amusing while it lasted, but now we're just beating a dead squid at this point.

 

Lol i see what you did there XD

 

regardless, there has been absolutely zero proof that there has been a hacker. Yes, nikki has actually played as an octoling, people cry of lost save data, and people can change their hair and eyes to look like octolings but other than that, not a single person has truly come up with proof. Not to mention only North american players have been squealing about this issue. If it were really true, foreign players, ESPECIALLY japanese players would have communicated about this issue as well. Who's to say the plaza can't load octolings either? I would like some proof on that one too. It was amusing while it lasted, but now we're just beating a dead squid at this point.

^This. We just need to let this topic go already. I'm already getting tired of this. -__-

 

regardless, there has been absolutely zero proof that there has been a hacker. Yes, nikki has actually played as an octoling, people cry of lost save data, and people can change their hair and eyes to look like octolings but other than that, not a single person has truly come up with proof. Not to mention only North american players have been squealing about this issue. If it were really true, foreign players, ESPECIALLY japanese players would have communicated about this issue as well. Who's to say the plaza can't load octolings either? I would like some proof on that one too. It was amusing while it lasted, but now we're just beating a dead squid at this point. View attachment 1720

That's not the point. The point is it has been proven that hackers can play in public rooms and freeze people's plazas by using an Octoling. I would love to give you proof that my plaza froze, but I need to either find another hacker online or test it with Nikki. You can joke about this all you want, but its just going to get worse as time goes on.

 

T] You can joke about this all you want, but its just going to get worse as time goes on.

uh, what? How is this going to get worse? More people will get hacked? If anything this issue is getting patched soon. And what do you mean it has been proven that people's plazas have been frozen? I honestly want to know that proof you speak of but don't present to me.