I have yet to see any tutorials on the topic yet, and since I have the know-how I thought I would do the honors of informing the public.
This guide assumes you are using a Windows PC.
As some of you may know, Nintendo re-released some retail Wii games digitally on the Wii U eShop under the Virtual Console section, each game costs 20 USD last time I checked (plus any applicable taxes) and is downloaded directly onto the system. For some games this is actually the cheapest way to obtain them (Metroid Prime Trilogy is a good example of this, used copies sell for WAY more than what the game is on the eShop).
But as some of you also may know, these games are a pain to dump (DDD crashes and the FTP method can't read the files) but for the lucky few that actually got it to work you may have noticed the game files are stored in this weird ".NFS" format, this format is similar to WBFS, in that it contains multiple parts of the game data in separate files, but Dolphin can't read the NFS format nativity.
Currently there are only two ways of obtaining the game files from your own console, a full MLC dump with Dumpling, or using Cemu's new title manager in conjunction with dumped system and account files.
Note: If you go the Dumpling route you'll need an SD card or USB storage device with at least 16GB or 32GB of free space depending on which model of the Wii U you have (16 for the original white Wii U, 32 for the black "deluxe" model).
Dumpling method: You will need to perform a full MLC dump, as Dumpling does not support dumping these titles individually. Once that's done you'll need to locate the game files, it'll be obvious once you've found them if the folder is filled with .nfs files.
Cemu method: Cemu recently overhauled their title manager with the ability to download any of your owned games from Nintendo's servers using a dumped NNID, this is legal because you are using your own tickets from your purchase. To do this, follow the online play guide to dump all of the system and user files you'll need found here. After your account settings are configured correctly, open up the title manager window under the Tools tab, then select the download manager tab, from there hit connect to list everything linked to your account, find your game, right click on it and hit download. Once the download is complete close the menu and the game should now be listed in your list of runnable applications within Cemu, right click on the game and select "game directory", this will take you to the "code" folder of the games files, go back one folder and select the "content" folder, the .nfs files will be contained in that folder.
Now that you have the .nfs files, you'll have to convert them into an ISO image for Dolphin to be able to run the dump.
This is possible using a tool known as nfs2iso2nfs. Just note this tool is ONLY for Windows, but it might be possible to make it work on other OS'es with manual tinkering.
The tool is pretty self-explanatory, it allows you to decrypt the .nfs files back into an ISO image, the only problem is, the program requires the Wii Common Key (not the Wii U Common Key). I cannot tell you where to obtain this (other than from your own console) as sharing it is illegal.
But once you have it, place the executable in the same folder as the .nfs files and create a new text document and name it "wii_common_key" (without the quotation marks) and paste the key's value into the file, then save it as a .bin file.
nfs2iso2nfs is a command-line program and must be run from either Command Prompt or Power Shell, once you have the executable and key file in place open up a command window of your choice and navigate to the folder everything is in (
Now run the program and it should start doing it's thing, this might take a while depending on the size of the game. At the end, you'll end up with a file named "game.iso". Congratulations, you have successfully converted the game into a format Dolphin can understand.
Side-note, these versions of the games have the Update partition removed from them since they are redundant (due to the Wii U shipping with the latest firmware for Wii mode), so Dolphin will complain about that in the Verify tab, but this won't effect anything.
Have fun!
This guide assumes you are using a Windows PC.
As some of you may know, Nintendo re-released some retail Wii games digitally on the Wii U eShop under the Virtual Console section, each game costs 20 USD last time I checked (plus any applicable taxes) and is downloaded directly onto the system. For some games this is actually the cheapest way to obtain them (Metroid Prime Trilogy is a good example of this, used copies sell for WAY more than what the game is on the eShop).
But as some of you also may know, these games are a pain to dump (DDD crashes and the FTP method can't read the files) but for the lucky few that actually got it to work you may have noticed the game files are stored in this weird ".NFS" format, this format is similar to WBFS, in that it contains multiple parts of the game data in separate files, but Dolphin can't read the NFS format nativity.
Currently there are only two ways of obtaining the game files from your own console, a full MLC dump with Dumpling, or using Cemu's new title manager in conjunction with dumped system and account files.
Note: If you go the Dumpling route you'll need an SD card or USB storage device with at least 16GB or 32GB of free space depending on which model of the Wii U you have (16 for the original white Wii U, 32 for the black "deluxe" model).
Dumpling method: You will need to perform a full MLC dump, as Dumpling does not support dumping these titles individually. Once that's done you'll need to locate the game files, it'll be obvious once you've found them if the folder is filled with .nfs files.
Cemu method: Cemu recently overhauled their title manager with the ability to download any of your owned games from Nintendo's servers using a dumped NNID, this is legal because you are using your own tickets from your purchase. To do this, follow the online play guide to dump all of the system and user files you'll need found here. After your account settings are configured correctly, open up the title manager window under the Tools tab, then select the download manager tab, from there hit connect to list everything linked to your account, find your game, right click on it and hit download. Once the download is complete close the menu and the game should now be listed in your list of runnable applications within Cemu, right click on the game and select "game directory", this will take you to the "code" folder of the games files, go back one folder and select the "content" folder, the .nfs files will be contained in that folder.
Now that you have the .nfs files, you'll have to convert them into an ISO image for Dolphin to be able to run the dump.
This is possible using a tool known as nfs2iso2nfs. Just note this tool is ONLY for Windows, but it might be possible to make it work on other OS'es with manual tinkering.
The tool is pretty self-explanatory, it allows you to decrypt the .nfs files back into an ISO image, the only problem is, the program requires the Wii Common Key (not the Wii U Common Key). I cannot tell you where to obtain this (other than from your own console) as sharing it is illegal.
But once you have it, place the executable in the same folder as the .nfs files and create a new text document and name it "wii_common_key" (without the quotation marks) and paste the key's value into the file, then save it as a .bin file.
nfs2iso2nfs is a command-line program and must be run from either Command Prompt or Power Shell, once you have the executable and key file in place open up a command window of your choice and navigate to the folder everything is in (
cd "path" for those who have never used a command line before) and run the following command: nfs2iso2nfs -dec -wiikey wii_common_key.binNow run the program and it should start doing it's thing, this might take a while depending on the size of the game. At the end, you'll end up with a file named "game.iso". Congratulations, you have successfully converted the game into a format Dolphin can understand.
Side-note, these versions of the games have the Update partition removed from them since they are redundant (due to the Wii U shipping with the latest firmware for Wii mode), so Dolphin will complain about that in the Verify tab, but this won't effect anything.
Have fun!
