Hardware NKit :: Recover to Redump Images :: Shrink and Preserve Wii and GameCube Disc Images as Playable

[GinoBeats]

Search Reddit for NKIT Fully Loaded

Worked for me instantly and I was able to play Mario Galaxy without issues aside from apparently all my nun chucks are jacked up lol

 

[Dodgexander]

Does anyone know the correct process to convert a nkit.gcz to nkit.iso?

When I input a nkit.gcz file and set preferences to output nkit.iso (or in GUI set nkit.iso as output) the process fails the verification (md5?) check.

I have to convert back to vanilla .iso and then back again to nkit.iso.

Background because this info seems so hard to find:

Reason I'm doing this is because Nintendont on the Wii doesn't support the compressed .gcz Nkit format, but does support the non-compressed .iso Nkit format.

.iso Nkit is a stripped down version of the proper .iso files.

Most downloads seem to come in the compressed .gcz format, so the conversion is required to nkit.iso but not vanilla .iso.

 

[SaulFabre]

Does anyone know the correct process to convert a nkit.gcz to nkit.iso?

When I input a nkit.gcz file and set preferences to output nkit.iso (or in GUI set nkit.iso as output) the process fails the verification (md5?) check.

I have to convert back to vanilla .iso and then back again to nkit.iso.

Background because this info seems so hard to find:

Reason I'm doing this is because Nintendont on the Wii doesn't support the compressed .gcz Nkit format, but does support the non-compressed .iso Nkit format.

.iso Nkit is a stripped down version of the proper .iso files.

Most downloads seem to come in the compressed .gcz format, so the conversion is required to nkit.iso but not vanilla .iso.

Try using my version of NKit Fully Loaded, it doesn't have any copyrighted files but it has all the latest databases and its size is so very small (1,7 MB).
I will attach it in this quote from this thread:

I got all latest Redump dat files and also all database files from Redump and GameTDB WiiTDB and others and I've packed a zip with the latest version of the tool NKit which includes these databases, ready for use.

I will attach it here:

NKit Tool v1.4 with all latest dat files by saulfabreg.zip

Greetings

Greetings

PD: Converting from GCZ to standard/vanilla ISO requires the latest versions of the Dolphin Emulator

 

[Exidous]

Does anyone know the correct process to convert a nkit.gcz to nkit.iso?

When I input a nkit.gcz file and set preferences to output nkit.iso (or in GUI set nkit.iso as output) the process fails the verification (md5?) check.

I have to convert back to vanilla .iso and then back again to nkit.iso.

Background because this info seems so hard to find:

Reason I'm doing this is because Nintendont on the Wii doesn't support the compressed .gcz Nkit format, but does support the non-compressed .iso Nkit format.

.iso Nkit is a stripped down version of the proper .iso files.

Most downloads seem to come in the compressed .gcz format, so the conversion is required to nkit.iso but not vanilla .iso.

That's "convert" to nkit.iso in the Nkit Processing App GUI. I just tested it, it's one step from nkit.gcz to nkit.iso. The "convert to ISO" exe in the directory seems to recover the full size ISO instead of making a nkit.iso, so just use the GUI "convert to nkit.iso" option.

And uh, to make it easier, some places offer a nkit.iso format download.

If that's what you're using and its not working, just make sure you have the GC database files alongside Nkit. @SaulFabre 's version should have it.

Converting from GCZ to standard/vanilla ISO requires the latest versions of the Dolphin Emulator

Nah, NKit can do it on its own.

The only thing I've needed Dolphin for (in a Wii setup) is importing Gamecube save files into RAW files for Nintendont.

 

[Anuskuss]

@nanook Any updates?

 

[mccorkled]

I am trying to convert my NASOS to a recovered ISO and it seems to be working okay. The one issue I am running into is that the icons (that display in Dolphin) do not seem to be restoring. Any tips?

 

[Kayot]

I've found that it's best to convert to nkit.iso and then hit it with 7zip for max compression. I get better results than gcz.

I made a reddit post on it, but I'll summarize it here.

Example;

FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].iso - 4,699,979,776B

As a nkit.iso
FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].nkit.gcz - 3,679,289,344B

As an nkit.gcz
FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].nkit.gcz - 3,336,933,167B

7z a -t7z -bsp2 -m0=LZMA2:d512m:fb273 -mx9 -myx=9 -mtc=off -mtm=off
Note: This requires 32GB of ram on a Windows 10 PC. Debian 11 seems to use far less for what ever reason. It's also possible to drop the d and fb and use less ram while still getting pretty good results.
FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].nkit.7z - 1,466,933,668

I also tried using the full iso with RVZ;

RVZ Block Size: 2 MiB, Compression LZMA2, Compression Level 9
FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].rvz - 2,428,823,700B

RVZ Block Size: 2 MiB, Compression Zstandard, Compression Level 19
FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].rvz - 2,472,948,544B

And for fun, I tried using Brotili;

Brotili Compression Level 9, C# Stream. Figured, why not try it? It takes longer to (de)compress than 7zip.
FIFA 08 - World Class Soccer (Japan) [RF8J13].nkit.iso.br - 2,039,133,864B

I don't care for FIFA. It's just where I was in my archiving when I decided to write the reddit post.

Edit:

So I found out I can make an uncompressed RVZ file, and then compress that. I get roughly the same results as with a nkit.iso with less overhead work.

 

[Exidous]

I've found that it's best to convert to nkit.iso and then hit it with 7zip for max compression. I get better results than gcz.

That's not surprising, gcz is a Dolphin-playable format, it's not maximum compression.

 

[GDX]

Good conservation tools I hope it will have other updates

 

[rabbitsong]

That's "convert" to nkit.iso in the Nkit Processing App GUI. I just tested it, it's one step from nkit.gcz to nkit.iso. The "convert to ISO" exe in the directory seems to recover the full size ISO instead of making a nkit.iso, so just use the GUI "convert to nkit.iso" option.

And uh, to make it easier, some places offer a nkit.iso format download.

If that's what you're using and its not working, just make sure you have the GC database files alongside Nkit. @SaulFabre 's version should have it.


Nah, NKit can do it on its own.

The only thing I've needed Dolphin for (in a Wii setup) is importing Gamecube save files into RAW files for Nintendont.

Why did you need to import RAW save files to Nintendont, doesn't Nintendont create them itself?

 

[rabbitsong]

How to I use the Recover to ISO mode? I want to recover to the exact original ISO that matches Redump.

 

[ca032769]

How to I use the Recover to ISO mode? I want to recover to the exact original ISO that matches Redump.

I believe you can just drag the file onto the "Recover to ISO" exe, drop it there & the program will open up and start the process.

 

[Exidous]

Why did you need to import RAW save files to Nintendont, doesn't Nintendont create them itself?

For example, if you're converting your existing official Gamecube save files into Nintendont RAW save files.

 

[Naxil81]

There are two key uses of NKit:

• Recovery: Rebuild and repair images to match Redump verified images. This is aided by use of Recovery files that can be extracted from good sources. Recovery uses these files to rebuild the iso and repair modified disc headers, unscrub blocks, reinsert missing Wii partitions, move and reorder GameCube filesystems
• Convert: Converts anything as is. When converting to the NKit Format the source data is preserved so that it can be restored back to the source iso

Wiki & Download
https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/NKit

User Guide
https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/NKit/UserGuide

=============================================================
Version 1.4

• Fixed Hash Preservation for images with corrupt FSTs
• Fixed "Truncated RVT-R image detected..." message being shown incorrectly
• FST filenames are encoded are now correctly encoded with Shift-JIS

There should be no breaking changes or conversion difference for any previously successfully verified images. Please report any issues.

Version 1.3

• Added RVT-H Detection. This is not currently supported - An error is thrown and logged
• Fixed NkitReencode. It was always reencoding and not copying the NKit file when converting nkit.iso <-> nkit.gcz
• Fixed Verify not outputting any log detail messages e.g. When a removed Update Partition is required to verify and was not present - no message was output, it just failed
• Moved the SummaryLog to the Processed folder rather than the app folder to make it more obvious
• Added settings home support. ~ at the start of a Path will insert the user's home directory (all OSs)
• Revert To .Net 4.6.1 - mono wasn't handling 4.7.2 very well. The app well be ported to dotnet core 3 soon
• ProcessorApp: Added failure message to log errors (same as cmldline exe output)
• ProcessorApp: Disabled the checkbox for 'Remove and Preserve Wii Update Partitions' when Recovering or Converting to iso
• ProcessorApp: Fixed checkbox for 'Remove and Preserve Wii Update Partitions' not being set on app load
• ProcessorApp: Fixed progress .1.2.3... text alignment in the log output
• ProcessorApp: Fixed the output log being truncated when a partition ID contained a null char

There should be no breaking changes or conversion difference for any previously successfully verified images. Please report any issues.

Version 1.2

• Updated to .Net 4.7.2 (Preparation for long file name support)
• Added support for images that a file ends on a non 4 byte alignment (for 1 shrunk GC demo)
• Added support for images that have no Magic (default to GC - for 1 GC early system disc)
• Fixed the ExtractionApp GC Region always showing Japan
• Corrected NKitExtracted path in config
• Added missing Wii Jakers config entry
• Fixed Double "Truncated RVT-R" message
• Fixed ProcessorApp Gui Exception not being captured
• Fixed Drag Drop message being cleared when a non supported file is dropped
• Modified some public class accessibility to make them internal

There should be no breaking changes or conversion difference for any previously successfully verified images. Please report any issues.

Version 1.1

• NKit format fix: Fixed a bug when converting Wii to NKit. This was introduced during the last 2 days of development while adding support for a Customs preservation bug.
• Fixed a minor ProcessingApp bug where the output path wouldn't be used.

Any Converted NKit Wii images from v1.0 are not corrupt. Just not 100% correct to the format. Reconverting will correct the issue. Make sure NKitReencode is set to true if reconverting images that were made with v1.0.

Version 1.0
A lot of effort has gone in to ensuring this version is as stable and reliable as possible. The NKit Format is stable and reliable. Always use FullVerify as it's always accurate as are the Hashes when CalculateHashes is on. Please report any issues and ask any questions.

• Fixed a bug in the GC Format (This alters 12 of the GC Redump images - just reencode them if you verify against NKit dats)
• Added Wii NKit Format (100% Redump tested, Scrubbed & Custom Support)
• 2 Windows (Sorry Linux & Mac users) GUI Apps added, including file extraction

Version 0.5
First stable version

why wii loader not use this standard?

 

[stanwebber]

nkit is dead. i've moved on.

 

[Jaillait]

Need Help, I tried Proccesing a nkit.gcz It said "NkitSummary.txt Does not exist!" How do i fix that?

 

[Jaillait]

Searched for a solution. nothing worked.