Hacking WIA = Wii ISO Archive

[Foxi4]

I fail to see how this format improves storage or images in any way - disc images should be stored in an unspoiled 1:1 image format with no scrubbing or trimming involved, preferably compressed into .ZIP or .RAR archives to ensure that they are proper - that's how game archiving works.

Your format alters the original image, and by proxy, screws up the entire purpose of archiving the image in the first place.

Regardless of whether you are ripping "0's" or actual game data, you are altering the original image file, and seeing that your format is dedicated and not wide-spread, it makes even less sense to use it, as the accessability of the archive is greatly dependant on whether or not your application is going to work properly on a given system.

...just my two cents.

 

[Wiimm]

All about WIA: http://wit.wiimm.de/info/wia.html
And if adding --raw, no scrubbing is done.

But it make no sense to copy the unused blocks. It's more like a USB stick or a hard drive: You always copy only the file, not the holes between the files.

 

[ArmandoR]

I don't reallyunderstand everything about WIA files, but this is what i've got:
-> Is a SUPER compressed wii iso.
if it's compressed, then we need a program to uncompress it and use it, right?
let's say that i want to run it on an emulator (Dolphin) Do i have to convert it to ISO?
If so, can you recomend me a tool to do so?

 

[Zhelkus]

Most of Wiim's formats are unsupported by many applications, which is a real shame because they're all really useful and interesting. I myself backed up all my Wii games with CleanRip and stored them as WIA.

You can't use your games if they're in WIA format because the compression is too heavy. You'd have to convert them to any format you prefer and that the emulator also supports. I know that Dolphin supports WBFS so you won't have the excess empty space in file size when using ISO.

 

[flamepanther]

I think there's a distinct philosophical difference between "preservation" type archival and "personal backup" type archival. If you're keeping the game for your own use rather than preserving it for all mankind, then there's nothing wrong with tossing out the unused "data" which is not even real data at all.

And yes, I know I'm responding to an old post

 

[Flame]

how the hell do a play a WIA file on my harddrive?

Ive been trying to find out but no luck.

 

[daxtsu]

You don't. None of the USB loaders or Dolphin support it. That's not to say that somebody couldn't add support, it's just that nobody ever did as far as I know.

 

[Flame]

You don't. None of the USB loaders or Dolphin support it. That's not to say that somebody couldn't add support, it's just that nobody ever did as far as I know.

damn man..thanks.... than how do i convert it back to an ISO file?

 

[daxtsu]

You'd probably need to use his WIT tool (or one of its GUI counterparts) to move it back to an ISO.

http://wit.wiimm.de/wit/

To be honest, I've never messed with WIA files or his tool, so this is about as much as I can help.

 

[Zhelkus]

The WIA format developed by Wiim is probably the most underestimated Wii format. It is the ultimate storage solution for backing up your games and doesn't require extraction to access the disc image's contents. And contrary to what Foxi4 said here you can choose if you want to make an intact backup or not.
I converted ISO -> WIA -> ISO and got the same file checksum on every (1:1) backup I made.

Anyway, to address your problem here are two quick alternatives.
If you want to make a copy of your disc to ISO:

wit.exe copy "wii disc image.wia" "wii disc image.iso" -P

If you want to convert your disc to ISO and no longer have it in WIA:

wit.exe convert "wii disc image.wia" --iso -P

I assume you know how to handle batch files and run the command line.

 

[Vegeta]

When trying to convert directly from WIA to GCZ, I get this error:

Exception: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION at eip=0043E074
eax=00022E77 ebx=800A1800 ecx=00045CEF edx=00000001 esi=FFE40008 edi=00046090
ebp=800F7048 esp=00287080 program=G:\wit-v2.29a-r5186-cygwin\bin\wit.exe, pid 12328, thread main
cs=0023 ds=002B es=002B fs=0053 gs=002B ss=002B
Stack trace:
Frame    Function  Args
End of stack trace

 

[Wiimm]

That doesn't tell me anything

 

[Goatsie666]

I cant use that format with cfg usb loader? I thought u could...