Hacking Any way to decrypt Wii Virtual Console ROMs for use in RetroArch?

[JarrahWhite]

I recently installed RetroArch on my PlayStation Vita, it works pretty well with the ROMs I tested. Now, I have quite a lot of Wii Virtual Console purchases from systems like the Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, NES, SNES, PC Engine and so on. Looking at the SD card, the games seem to be separate folders and the games themselves are all labeled "content.bin". I have no idea which game is which, and I couldn't get them to work in RetroArch.

Is there any way to convert those Virtual Console titles so that they'll work in the RetroArch on the Vita? I'd like to put my legally purchased games to use rather than download pirated copies of the ROMs.

Thanks.

 

[Shadow#1]

I recently installed RetroArch on my PlayStation Vita, it works pretty well with the ROMs I tested. Now, I have quite a lot of Wii Virtual Console purchases from systems like the Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, NES, SNES, PC Engine and so on. Looking at the SD card, the games seem to be separate folders and the games themselves are all labeled "content.bin". I have no idea which game is which, and I couldn't get them to work in RetroArch.

Is there any way to convert those Virtual Console titles so that they'll work in the RetroArch on the Vita? I'd like to put my legally purchased games to use rather than download pirated copies of the ROMs.

Thanks.

Just go download roms like everyone else

 

[FAST6191]

Is it pirating if you have byte for byte identical to what you would have and don't download a torrent of it (or some other p2p thing where you share as part of downloading)? As far as Nintendo and most companies are concerned you are scum of the universe either way, and frankly beyond redemption really for even knowing about emulators at all. Legally then one also does ask what harms are done if you own rights to use it at the time you downloaded it? No more harm is done Nintendo than you not buying a VC copy because you decided to bust out the NES and play your original cart on that instead.

Anyway I have not properly gone into Wii stuff -- sometimes "official" emulators use slightly different versions of ROMs than we see in flash cart and emulation world which then trouble flash carts and emulators. Sometimes this can be as simple as adding a header and other times it can be weird encryption, interleaved formats, chip level files (after all if you have the originals as they would have gone to the manufacturer in your vaults where everybody else dumps from the hardware...), audio tweaked (no point in leave 600 megs of uncompressed CD audio for a PS1 game when you can have MP3 or something at a fraction of the size) or simply compressed for some reason.
Plenty have fished out perfectly working ROMs from virtual console games, including those occasions where it might have got an official translation where before none existed or some bug fixes.

u8tool and various WAD unpackers ( libWiiSharp, showmiiwads and maybe wwpacker all being examples) being what you want.
Finding the ROM inside it tends to be easier if you know what you are looking for. However if you have another ROM then its header (though be sure it is not one added by dumpers, even if Nintendo did sometimes use such things) might be a good start. Depending upon the nature of the virtual console if you find out how one game does it then most will also do it similarly.

 

[SaulFabre]

You don't need to decrypt Wii Virtual Console ROMs for use them. But, since the VC games are dumped in WADs, you must extract the content of the WADs in order for get its original ROMs fro the WAD, using a WAD unpacker, such as wwPacker.

Here's the location of the ROMs located in WADs as shown:

• NES Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000001.app (but you need to extract the rom from here using the NES ROM Extractor tool by @DarkMatterCore: https://mega.co.nz/#!YIYWAShT!nwElJwqBt5iaq_uSrSR62mHrVVbbbwlBvHeBdm9GiE0
• SNES Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000005.app, extract the 5.app using an U8 tool (i use @HowardC's U8 Tool) and the file with extension *.rom is the rom file
  
• N64 Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000005.app, extract the 5.app using an U8 tool (i use @HowardC's U8 Tool) and the file called "rom" is the rom file
  
• SEGA Master System Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000005.app, extract the 5.app using an U8 tool (i use @HowardC's U8 Tool), then extract the data.ccf using @HowardC's CCF tool and the file with extension *.sms.zlib is the rom file, rename it to just [rom_file_name].sms (without adding the .zlib extension) and you get the rom
  
• SEGA Genesis / SEGA Mega Drive Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000005.app, extract the 5.app using an U8 tool (i use @HowardC's U8 Tool), then extract the data.ccf using @HowardC's CCF tool and the file with extension *.sgd.zlib is the rom file, rename it to just [rom_file_name].bin or [rom_file_name].smd (without adding the .zlib extension) and you get the rom
  
• TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine HuCARD Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000005.app, extract the 5.app using an U8 tool (i use @HowardC's U8 Tool) and the file with extension *.PCE is the rom file

Hope this help

@SaulFabre

 

[DarkMatterCore]

• N64 Wii VC WADs: the ROM is in 00000005.app, extract the 5.app using an U8 tool (i use @HowardC's U8 Tool) and the file called "rom" is the rom file

This is technically correct, but Nintendo 64 ROMs can also use "romc" compression (LZ77 + Huffman). These files can be decompressed using the romchu tool from hcs.

 

[SaulFabre]

This is technically correct, but Nintendo 64 ROMs can also use "romc" compression (LZ77 + Huffman). These files can be decompressed using the romchu tool from hcs.

Yeah @DarkMatterCore, but what type of Huffman code is used? Huffman4 or Huffman8?

 

[DarkMatterCore]

Yeah @DarkMatterCore, but what type of Huffman code is used? Huffman4 or Huffman8?

I'm almost sure it's Huffman8.

 

[Badfrank]

So you purchased the games and you want to dump it into roms so you don't have to download roms from someone who had the games and dumped then in the internet, if nintendo actually made a one of a kind special game just for you i would totally understand, but, if not, just don't even bother, they are all the same and as you said illegally downloaded roms work just fine and i promise not tell anyone if instead of playing a rom you dumped you play a rom some dude dumped instead, i mean you still own those games either way, no one is getting money from this "legally purchased games" the shop is closed and has been for a while, don't make obstacles for yourself and be happy my man (but if you still want to go throught the whole process to get your own files i guess it is fair game)

 

[_No_One_]

This is technically correct, but Nintendo 64 ROMs can also use "romc" compression (LZ77 + Huffman). These files can be decompressed using the romchu tool from hcs.

Did something happen to the Romchu site? I went to click on the link you left and a tab pops up for a split second, disappears, and then nothing happens.

 

[SaulFabre]

Did something happen to the Romchu site? I went to click on the link you left and a tab pops up for a split second, disappears, and then nothing happens.

it's still working, you just need to right click in the romchu link and then select "Save link as" and you can get he direct download for that file

 

[CMDreamer]

I've got a security warning from romchu's link kindly provided by @DarkMatterCore, stating a non HTTPS connection. All I did was adding an 's' to turn HTTP into HTTPS on the link's URL, and downloaded it without any issue.

Browsing the site, can provide many interesting stuff and knowledge.