HOW to backup WII GAMES

This article is aimed at someone that has not followed the modding scene for the Nintendo Wii and wants to be caught up in one fast de-briefing. The contents of this file could become outdated very quickly because the modding scene is exploding accurate now. I will do my best to keep it updated so if you see the date is really mature shoot me an email and I will update it or at least say that nothing really revolutionary has happened in the modding scene. Click below to access the tutorial on backing up your Wii ad Gamecube discs. Recollect that to play the backups you will need a modchip! The modchip is rapidly changing and I will be outlining this in my next article which is due sometime later this week.

First step in copying your games for backup purposes is to get the accurate software and hardware. You will need one of the following DVD drives to imitate games(no others will work). I received a pm that some people were having trouble locating the drives. Newegg no longer sell these drives for some excuse.
For more information on ordering these drives follow this link: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/563020
* LG-8164b
* LG-8163b
* LG-8162b
* LG-8161b

Personally I have the 8164b and have had zero problems. I’m certain the others are fine also.
Once you install this drive into your computer you will need to download a few applications.

*Raw dump 2.0

.net Framework 2.0

* Software to unzip the Raw Dump files.Winrar

Once you download the files above then correct-click on the rawdump2.0.rar and pick “Extract to rawdump2.0″
this will make a folder on your desktop called rawdump2.0.

Now insert your Wii or Gamecube game into the LG drive that you have ordered and installed. Then open the rawdump2.0 folder and double click on the rawdump2.0.exe file.

After doing this you will be presented with the following interface. If your wondering what all the buttons are next to me close and play down buttons it is a program called UltraMon for multiple monitor setups. Just avoid this. I am also running the Zune Windows XP Theme.

The next step is to just click “Begin Dump.” On my computer this process took just about 2.5 hours. When it is complete you will be greeted with a sweet finished message. The file it creates will be in the same directory as the rawdump.exe file. It should be called “Game Name.iso.” This ISO is an image of the actual game and is ready to be burned. You can burn this image with many different applications, but I will be providing screenshots for Nero Burning Rom.

This step is very critical. You need to check your file and see how many KB enormous it is. To do this Correct-Click on your iso(this is in your rawdump directory) and pick properties. It should say,

Nintendo Wii ISO size: 4.37 GB (4,699,979,776 bytes).

Nintendo Gamecube ISO size: 1.35 GB (1,459,978,240 bytes)

All Nintendo Wii and Gamecube images will be this exact byte size. If your Wii image is off by any then you have a evil dump and need to attempt again.

So next step is to open Nero.

The first step once nero opens it to just cancel out of the create new dvd/cd/etc dialog. Once you have exited from this dialog you go to Recorder->Burn Image.

After making it this distant you are nearly done. When you click burn image you will be asked to locate the image. The image will be located in your Rawdump2.0 folder. For me, this is on the desktop.

Choose the game that you have dumped with rawdump and click open. You will then be presented with the below dialog. Make certain to pick a relatively slow burn speed at first to try to prevent DRE’s(Disc Read Errors). These appear to be common among people that do not use high quality dvd’s. For a thread dealing with media check here.

I hope this mini-guide helps you. If you have any questions or I said something mistaken please post a remark below. Also stay tuned because as soon as my tri-wing driver arrives I will have a detailed modding tutorial using the Cyclowiz modchip.