Hacking How do you burn WII Games?

[shtonkalot]

I keep reading something about that the Wii games must be burned as booktype dvd_rom. What is that and how do I know if my burner can burn such?

The booktype is what a DVD reports itself as to devices capable of reading DVDs. Not all DVD readers will read the booktype though.
The main reason for changing booktype is to increase compatibility with readers, I believe this helped alot of older DVD-Video players to play the newer (back then) DVD+R discs.
There are three basic booktypes being DVD-ROM for pressed media and DVD-R or DVD+R for writable media.
DVD+R media has the ability to have it's booktype changed to DVD-ROM (also known as bit setting) via the DVD burner drive itself. It is not a function of burning software and some burners do not have the ability to change the booktype. Some burning software can interface with certain DVD burners and tell them to switch the booktype, depending on your burner (including ones with bit setting ability) and it's firmware, this may or may not actually change the medias booktype.
Some drives will automatically change +R medias booktype to DVD-ROM too. Again this is dependent on the drive and firmware.

To tell if your DVD burner has bit setting ability can be tough. You can try burn a disc with a program that lets you enable booktype changing, I.E ImgBurn and then after you have set it to burn with the new booktype and then burned a disc you can load up ImgBurn again with the same disc in your drive. This will give you information on the discs original and newly recorded booktype.
You can of course RTFM but it doesn't always make it clear.
To make things even more difficult there are drives that support booktype changing only for +R Dual Layer media and then there are drives that you can change the booktype only with special software. Different firmware can change all that too!

Hope that helps and is not too confusing.

 

[ds_barf]

I keep reading something about that the Wii games must be burned as booktype dvd_rom. What is that and how do I know if my burner can burn such?The booktype is what a DVD reports itself as to devices capable of reading DVDs. Not all DVD readers will read the booktype though.
The main reason for changing booktype is to increase compatibility with readers, I believe this helped alot of older DVD-Video players to play the newer (back then) DVD+R discs.
There are three basic booktypes being DVD-ROM for pressed media and DVD-R or DVD+R for writable media.
DVD+R media has the ability to have it's booktype changed to DVD-ROM (also known as bit setting) via the DVD burner drive itself. It is not a function of burning software and some burners do not have the ability to change the booktype. Some burning software can interface with certain DVD burners and tell them to switch the booktype, depending on your burner (including ones with bit setting ability) and it's firmware, this may or may not actually change the medias booktype.
Some drives will automatically change +R medias booktype to DVD-ROM too. Again this is dependent on the drive and firmware.

To tell if your DVD burner has bit setting ability can be tough. You can try burn a disc with a program that lets you enable booktype changing, I.E ImgBurn and then after you have set it to burn with the new booktype and then burned a disc you can load up ImgBurn again with the same disc in your drive. This will give you information on the discs original and newly recorded booktype.
You can of course RTFM but it doesn't always make it clear.
To make things even more difficult there are drives that support booktype changing only for +R Dual Layer media and then there are drives that you can change the booktype only with special software. Different firmware can change all that too!

Hope that helps and is not too confusing.

thanks for the clear info

But in the gbatemp review they stated that dvd-r per definition is better to use for the wii, does the dvd-rom story also apply tot the -r's?

 

[shtonkalot]

thanks for the clear info

But in the gbatemp review they stated that dvd-r per definition is better to use for the wii, does the dvd-rom story also apply tot the -r's?

No DVD-R cannot have it's booktype changed but it doesn't need to have.
+R recordable media was not part of the original DVD standards whilst -R was.

I think it's a very broad statement that -R or +R is clear cut better for any device that can read both as there are so many variables.
Good quality media and good quality burns are most important, as long as the device can read them.
Trial and error is the best method for most as there are so many different combinations of media, burner and firmware that it's hard to have the same result as someone else.

The review also states "It is well known that the slower you burn, the more reliable!" but again this is a generalization and is not necessarily true for your setup. I know I have media and burners that have and do burn better at higher speeds.
Anyway blank discs are cheap and so are new burners. I believe if you are worried about quality buy a few different types of disc. If you know they should be good media and your burns are crap then buy a new burner.

 

[ds_barf]

ok thanks, I'm burning some of my iso's on different types of discs so when i get my wiinja (tuesday? please please

) than i can be sure which option is best for me

so far i have a copy of the same game on Samsung Pleomax +R, Pleomax -R, +R copied to -R and A Verbatim +R Lightscribe, can't wait to test them all

 

[SpaceJump]

shtonkalot, thanks for your answers. You are very helpful

I have TDK -R recordables, so I will just burn the isos with ImgBurn. Hopefully they will work when I get my Wiinja (two more weeks...).

Edit: One more question. When I load a Wii iso in ImgBurn, it says the following:

Label: Unknown
Imp ID: Unknown
File Sys: None

Is there something wrong or can I just burn the iso?

 

[Hooya]

You should get those unknowns with a Wii disk. You won't be able to read the disk contents in Windows after burning it either.

 

[Special2k]

Is it normal that i can't read out a burned wii image with Rawdump?
I have a compatible LG Drive and can dump original wii discs without problems.
But when i trie to dump a already burned image (i know that these makes no sense) Rawdump doesn't even get the disc name.
Can anyone confirm this result?

Special2k

 

[JonoX]

Nope - that means it IS scrambled, so you need to go about unscrambling it (as you've already attempted to do).

The only thing that I can think of that would give you that sort of error message is a corrupt file. Try running it through the Rawdump 2.0 app instead.

I meant to type scrambled, I was drunk when I wrote that post

I'm using a Mac, so no Rawdump, but I'll try to see if I can figure it out.

Has anyone been able to successfully unscramble the Pi release of Trauma Center? Maybe the compile of unscrambler .4 I did for OS X isn't working correctly.

 

[Hooya]

Is it normal that i can't read out a burned wii image with Rawdump?
I have a compatible LG Drive and can dump original wii discs without problems.
But when i trie to dump a already burned image (i know that these makes no sense) Rawdump doesn't even get the disc name.
Can anyone confirm this result?

Special2k

I don't know from first hand experience, but it would make sense that you would get this result. The program is, after all, attempting to read a genuine disk which is slightly different than the burned ISO. Even though Windows (or any other OS) can't read the disk contents because the file system is proprietary, Windows does show that a burned disk is at least there. With a genuine disk it doesn't even think a disk is in the drive. That's what the program expects to see, so when it doesn't it gives an error.

You can re-dump a burnt game with any ISO making software (nero, etc) and re-burn that image with no special extra steps. You just can't actually see what the data on the disk actually is.

 

[Special2k]

Ok, i thought something like that.

Thank you

Special2k

 

[fsimonp]

how can i change the booktype in imgburn?
ive got a HP burner but in the programm when i go for "change booktype" thers no Hp.
can i just take another like samsung or benq?

 

[Scorpei]

how can i change the booktype in imgburn?
ive got a HP burner but in the programm when i go for "change booktype" thers no Hp.
can i just take another like samsung or benq?

Seriously, do a google;
http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/set...burn_page1.html

 

[g.crow]

so i ripped some games by myself with rawdump.
rawdump tells me the name of my game, ie. "zelda twilight princess" (wii play is "party pack for revolution" btw.

)

then i burn the .iso with nero with default settings.

when i re.insert the disc, rawdump tells me its a wii disc, but does not display the name right. just 2 unreadable letters. for all games. also for the games i didnt rip by myself.

can anyone confirm this?

my chip didnt arrive yet, so i cant test if my games will work.

could anyone please check this out for me?

thanks, mars

 

[Dirtie]

That's because it's been unscrambled.
What Rawdump does is dump the first block, unscramble it, then read the title from the header. Since it's already unscrambled on your disc, it's trying to unscramble something that's already unscrambled. If you want to make an image of a disc you've already burnt (if you lose the original image say), you have to use something like imgburn or alcohol.
Rawdump is for dumping original Wii discs and unscrambling only.

For those who can't change their booktype in imgburn, you can always try Nero CD/DVD Speed (under Extra > Bitsetting), some brands of drive should also have a standalone piece of software to allow you to do it also.

Edit: There's a nice page here: http://www.booktypefaq.com/

 

[macismonchen]

Would be very nice if anyone could give some advice which DVD-burners are clearly recommend to burn Wii-DVDs

 

[Hooya]

Would be very nice if anyone could give some advice which DVD-burners are clearly recommend to burn Wii-DVDs

A good one with the latest firmware for that drive.

Really, who has more than maybe two different DVD burners to even test? Ultimately if your burner is in good shape and you find a media that responds well you will be fine. Some combinations of burner, media, software work, some combinations don't.

I've been using my Sony DRU-810A to burn my ISOs, but I won't be able to test them for at least two months.

 

[source]

so basically:

- to rip a game, you need that pioneer or other named dvd drive

- to burn an already unscrambled game, you can use just any dvd writer and good quality blank disc + slowest (4x) burning speed

- when the size of the .iso is just less then 4.7Go its ready to be burned and used


is that correct?

 

[NoNameFace]

- to burn an already unscrambled game, you can use just any dvd writer and good quality blank disc + slowest (4x) burning speed

Burning Wii game on a dvd+, you also need to change the booktype to dvd-rom.

 

[SpaceJump]

Is it confirmed that when you burn an iso to a recordable, you can make an iso out of the recorded disc? Which program would you recommend for that?

 

[AustinS]

wrote a burning tutorial a few days ago


http://www.wiiville.net/modding/dumping-yo...p-and-nero.html