Modding Wii game by djneo at 8:27 PM EDT on August 24, 2016

Hi guys,

can anybody smarter teach me/ help me with this?

I would love to mod sounds of a Wii game using Dolphin.
Now my question is what tools do I need to get to the actual audio files in ISO?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

dj
by nobody1089 at 9:00 PM EDT on August 24, 2016
What game?

Dolphin can extract but not edit ISOs. It also has a hidden feature to play games from extracted folders, but it doesn't work very well. Out of my tests, Mario Kart Wii is the only working game. This breaks on all Gamecube games I tested, and Brawl because it has multiple partitions (or something).

Wiiscrubber may or may not extract files from ISOs. It can replace files in ISOs, but I don't know if it can insert files larger than the original.

Wit can extract and rebuild ISOs, including with larger files. It can also be command-line scripted. However, it takes around 1 minute or more to rebuild an ISO each time.

With Dolphin: Right-click game, Properties, tab Filesystem, then look around.

None of the above tools can patch Gamecube games properly. GC-Tool can patch Gamecube games. GC-Rebuilder can patch and rebuild Gamecube games. Both are GUIs with no command-line interface.
by djneo at 9:16 PM EDT on August 24, 2016

Hi, thanks for the response!

Its NHL 2k11.
I already working almost whole year on 4k textures and now its time for audio :)

The problem is that there are no audio files in ISO. Just some unknown (for me at least) files.

Again, once I get to the actual audio files I know what to do (working as a sound engineer). But there are just too huge files and some mess.

Apreciate your time and help.
by nobody1089 at 12:07 AM EDT on August 25, 2016
Are you using Windows?

If you haven't already, can you use Dolphin (or Wit if you have it) to extract all the files?

Then open Windows Explorer to the root folder, click the location bar, type "cmd"? Then type `dir /s > tree.txt` without the quotes, press Enter?

If you use OSX/Linux, open a terminal, type `find . -type f -exec ls -lh {} + > tree.txt` and press Enter.

Then upload "tree.txt" to a gist, so I can look at files and sizes.
----

Looking at http://vgost.wikia.com/wiki/NHL_2K11?useskin=monobook , it seems like this game uses prerecorded songs.

EDIT: I changed the commands to also print out file size. This should be useful for looking for fairly large files (megabyte-range) containing full audio recordings.

edited 12:13 AM EDT August 25, 2016

edited 12:14 AM EDT August 25, 2016

edited 12:46 AM EDT August 25, 2016
by djneo at 4:47 AM EDT on August 25, 2016
So I made the account on gist.
Looks like finally Im getting somewhere, thanks!

here is the link
https://gist.github.com/djneo/ddd97d9396f4c67d02292389681d427c


I will put you in the credits! :))

edited 4:48 AM EDT August 25, 2016

edited 4:55 AM EDT August 25, 2016
by nobody1089 at 6:31 AM EDT on August 25, 2016
Never mind, it seems like all data is stored in files 0A and 0B. I don't know how to extract them. All subfolders only contain Wiimote strap, home button, and MotionPlus video.

Can you try installing wszst and run `wszst extract 0A` If it succeeds, run `wszst extract 0B`?

Can you open 0A and 0B in a hex editor and give screenshots of the beginning of each file? (optional: end)


edited 6:34 AM EDT August 25, 2016
by djneo at 8:27 AM EDT on August 25, 2016

Sure!
Will do everything as soon as I get home from work, which will be at morning (16 hours from now)

Would it help if I rip the Iso from disk and send you link?

I would even buy you extra copy, if it helps. Its not very expensive already.

Just let me know.

Also here is my mail, if needed:
djneoofficial@gmail.com

by nobody1089 at 7:30 PM EDT on August 25, 2016
You're not supposed to send ISOs over the Internet. Worst case, I can download it myself. I think that having a disk/ISO will make it much faster for me to analyze stuff (as opposed to send instructions, wait 1 day, send more instructions...)

Don't buy another disk for me.

I only have a week or so of free time left to do miscellaneous stuff like this...

edited 7:30 PM EDT August 25, 2016
by djneo at 8:13 AM EDT on August 26, 2016

0A beginning

[IMG]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/TherealDJNEO/2K%20HOCKEY/0A%20beginning.jpg[/IMG]

0A end

[IMG]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/TherealDJNEO/2K%20HOCKEY/0A%20end.jpg[/IMG]

0B beginning

[IMG]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/TherealDJNEO/2K%20HOCKEY/0B%20beginnig.jpg[/IMG]

0B end

[IMG]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/TherealDJNEO/2K%20HOCKEY/0B%20end.jpg[/IMG]



edited 8:23 AM EDT August 26, 2016
by djneo at 8:28 AM EDT on August 26, 2016
Installed WSZST, but not sure exactly how to use it.

Its DOS app?

I took one day off from work, so Im here whole day/night! :)

Thanks again, appreciate your help.

If you need anything regarding sound/sound engineering or audio mastering in your future projects, Im here for ya :)

edited 8:29 AM EDT August 26, 2016
by nobody1089 at 9:04 AM EDT on August 26, 2016
Did you take time off from work just for this? You do realize I know nothing about NHL 2k11, only really know how to use pre-existing tools, and have never successfully reverse-engineered *anything* without a spec (trust me I've tried)?
----

It looks like 0A starts with some sort of header. 0A ends with random binary data, and 0B begins with similar data, suggesting the two files form a single unit, but were split near the 2GB boundary. 0B ends with null bytes (probably padding).

I do know that this is some sort of virtual filesystem or data packing format.


Did you do your texture mods through Dolphin dump/load texture? I don't think direct ISO editing is possible with this current packing.
----

wszst is a command-line program. Run it the same way you ran "tree" earlier.

Open Windows Explorer to the root folder, click the location bar, type "cmd". Then run the wszst commands in the black box.

One thing you could do is email me a Dolphin savestate (my username at gmail dot com) on Drive/Mega/something. Use an encrypted 7z archive. But I don't know if that's exactly legal or not. Also I probably don't have the time to figure out how to decode savestates (https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/blob/master/Source/Core/Core/State.cpp looks important). Loading state without the right game causes Dolphin to crash immediately (last time I tried and failed to reverse-engineer stuff).

edited 9:05 AM EDT August 26, 2016

edited 9:06 AM EDT August 26, 2016
by djneo at 9:43 AM EDT on August 26, 2016


So I get this: "wszst" is not recognized as an internal or external command, speakable program or batch file
by djneo at 9:45 AM EDT on August 26, 2016
Yes, I do textures for that game, using Dolphin

edited 9:45 AM EDT August 26, 2016
by nobody1089 at 8:13 PM EDT on August 26, 2016
I assume you're running 64-bit Windows and Dolphin 5.
Try `path %path%;C:\Program Files (x86)\Wiimm\SZS`
don't close the cmd window, and repeat the szs extraction command.
by djneo at 2:27 AM EDT on August 27, 2016
I will!
Yes W8.1


Did you get email from me yesterday?

edited 2:28 AM EDT August 27, 2016
by nobody1089 at 2:49 AM EDT on August 27, 2016
got the email yes.
by djneo at 4:26 AM EDT on August 27, 2016

Great.
Im must be at work at weekend unfortunately.
But Ill be back on testing on Monday!

Ill be online even during the weekend tho, checking forums permanently :)

Thanks.
by djneo at 1:08 PM EDT on August 29, 2016

hi nobody1089,

have gave up?
by nobody1089 at 8:39 PM EDT on September 3, 2016
Well... I'm not really working on this right now. If you want, you can find someone else.

I could potentially look at the future, after I obtain the ISO somehow. Are you OK?

edited 9:25 PM EDT September 3, 2016
by djneo at 7:50 AM EDT on September 4, 2016
Hi man,

Im glad you are okay!


So I did many testing, but Im afraid Im just not good enough. I already asked few people, but no chance.

Looks like you are my last chance to make this happen :)

Of course I understand that you got some more important stuff to do too. So take your time and I'll be waiting for your news.
Just let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your time and help!




edited 7:51 AM EDT September 4, 2016
by djneo at 9:51 AM EDT on September 5, 2016
Hi mate,

so I learnt little about the save state feature in Dolphin. Very usefull thing indeed, especially for the texture creators. Wish I knew about it much much sooner haha:)

I put that in Hex and saw a lot of unseen interesting "sound" info. I just dont know what to do with it.

I also added the version (the latest at that time) of Dolphin where I made those saves.
I feel so excited with what you will discover!

Thank you!!

edit: I will send all to your mail..

here is some progress..
[IMG]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z330/TherealDJNEO/2K%20HOCKEY/SH3P54-6.png[/IMG]

edited 9:52 AM EDT September 5, 2016

edited 2:18 PM EDT September 5, 2016
by nobody1089 at 3:18 PM EDT on September 5, 2016
I think that savestates are LZO compressed...?

https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/blob/master/Source/Core/Core/State.cpp

Apparently there's this EnableCompression function which can be used to create uncompressed savestates... It's never called, and compression defaults to on.
by djneo at 6:20 PM EDT on September 5, 2016

I haven't compressed them.
I dont even know what LZO is :)

Well I used rar to make them smaller for uploading, if that's what you referring to?
by nobody1089 at 12:01 AM EDT on September 6, 2016
Dolphin compresses savestates while saving them and decompresses them when loading state. I suspect you won't get much out of them with just a hex editor.

I don't know if the whole thing is compressed or not. DId you manage to find valid information from savestates? Then that might because some parts are uncompressed and viewable (editable?).
by djneo at 4:23 AM EDT on September 6, 2016
Yes,

there were many "readable" stuff to find in Hex. For example word "stream" or "sound" several times.

Even the names of players and teams, but that's not what we need :)

edited 4:24 AM EDT September 6, 2016
by nobody1089 at 6:41 PM EDT on September 7, 2016
Maybe it isn't compressed at all...? I don't know... The code looks like savestates are compressed, but I might be wrong.
by djneo at 5:12 AM EDT on September 8, 2016

Ya,

and are those data useful for our thing?
by djneo at 5:57 PM EDT on October 12, 2016

Hi guys,

Im still not successful with this unfortunately :'(

Im not very rich, but I would love to offer to anybody who would be that kind and help me with it any game of your choice from Steam shop. I'll buy any game for you, if you find some time and help me with it.

Please write here or you can contact me via mail djneoofficial@gmail.com

Thanks a lot!


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