Gaming Check If Wii Game Dumps Are Clean?

[PityOnU]

I recently discovered the No-Intro databases for checking ROM dumps, and am really loving it! Being able to check if all of my backups are clean and original copies, as well as check what's missing, has given me hours of entertainment trying to complete my various collections.

However, there doesn't seem to be any ROM database for Wii games that I can use to check all of Wii backups. Further, I'm not even sure what constitutes a "clean" dump for Wii - I've seen a lot of games that claim to be "scrubbed" (not sure what that means). USB Loader GX also makes backups that end up being much smaller than a 4GB DVD ISO, and are ".wbfs" files when I pull them from my external hard disk. So is it even possible for my dumps via USB Loader to be clean?

So, I guess my two questions are:

1. Are there any Wii No-Intro style databases out there?

2. What makes a Wii dump "clean"?

EDIT - Just realized this is probably the wrong subforum for this. Sorry! Could a mod please relocate it? Thanks!

 

[tueidj]

Wii discs are cryptographically signed, there's no need for an online database when the required information is on the disc.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Also, for future reference, scrubbed Wii ISOs are ISOs which takes filler data (the stuff developers use to make every Wii game the same size) and changes it to 0x0 so when you compress the ISO it'll be a smaller size. For example, Wii Sports isn't actually 4.7gb, its more like 320mb.

EDIT: wbfs files will (usually, some games can be exactly or over 4gb) be smaller than the 4.7gb ISO as it only takes the actual game data and not any of the filler data.

 

[Bladexdsl]

if it works than it's clean

 

[PsyBlade]

Both wit and WBM have the ability to verify against the internal checksums

 

[PityOnU]

Wow, thanks for the fast response guys!

So what I'm hearing is (correct me if I'm wrong):

When you dump a Wii game as an ISO, you would get the whole 4.xGB image. However, large chunks of that image may just be random filler data used by developers to correctly size/position the data on the disc. So you can then remove all of the useless crud to shrink the image into just the actual usable information, which is called "scrubbing".

So I'm assuming that a .wbfs file is a "scrubbed" ISO image?

Also, does the game being cryptographically signed make it impossible to modify or patch? My main reason for using No-Intro is to make sure all of my backups are 1:1 original copies with no patches or, indeed, intros.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Wow, thanks for the fast response guys!

So what I'm hearing is (correct me if I'm wrong):

When you dump a Wii game as an ISO, you would get the whole 4.xGB image. However, large chunks of that image may just be random filler data used by developers to correctly size/position the data on the disc. So you can then remove all of the useless crud to shrink the image into just the actual usable information, which is called "scrubbing".

So I'm assuming that a .wbfs file is a "scrubbed" ISO image?

Also, does the game being cryptographically signed make it impossible to modify or patch? My main reason for using No-Intro is to make sure all of my backups are 1:1 original copies with no patches or, indeed, intros.

That's generally correct. You'll notice that the games (when they're .iso's) still remain to be 4.7gb, but when you compress them they'll shrink to their original size.

 

[PityOnU]

Both wit and WBM have the ability to verify against the internal checksums

Perfect!!! And thanks to everyone for the detailed explanations, it is incredibly useful to know how these things work and is very much appreciated. Reps/likes all around!