Running games from extracted isos?

[Boondock Saint]

I just wanted to say this emulator is great but I have this problem, so if anyone can help out or point me to a solution that would be great. I'm a total noob when it comes to dolphin so go easy on me.

Ok here is the thing, I have a dumped iso of Sengoku Basara 3 Utage that I've been playing without a hitch on my dolphin 2.0 (I have to use the older version on my laptop because it's faster) for quite some time, but I want to know is there a way for me to extract the iso into "normal" folder structure because I don't want my pc to constantly access huge 4gb+ files. Now I know that dolphin has that extract iso option and I did that, and then I extracted that boot file as well, but when I try to open it nothing happens. Why am i doing this? Well I had a bad experience a couple of years ago with pcsx2 emulator where I also constantly accessed big image files and then my hard drive got all choppy and such, so I don't want this to happen again with dolphin now.

So the bottom line is: can someone walk me through the process of extracting isos and running games from a folder structure?

[Anti-Ultimate]

dolphin 2.0

Wow. Just wow. Please don't use that.


There's no benefit in doing what you're trying to do.

[Boondock Saint]

dolphin 2.0

Wow. Just wow. Please don't use that.


There's no benefit in doing what you're trying to do.

Well any newer version of the emulator works like crap on my pc, this is the only one that runs the game at full 60fps. That's not the issue here, it's the iso extracting, is there any guide I can check or something?

[410172]

Well, I don't know if it is possible to run games just from the folder structure but you can try converting them to .wbfs file format and see if that helps. The .wbfs files I have are way smaller than the normal 4.37 GB of a Wii iso. If the conversion does not work you could try extracting the iso and then pack the files again into a .wbfs file.

I use this program for extracting iso's and converting to .wbfs; it is quite straightforward.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wiibafu/

It can also pack folder structures to .iso files in case you want to play or create some hacks for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Galaxy. Very useful.

Let me know if it worked for you, ok?
410172_Chief

[LordVador]

The .wbfs files I have are way smaller than the normal 4.37 GB of a Wii iso

Actually it depends on the games. Some games may have a ridiculous size, sometimes less than 1.0 GB. But a lot of games may have a size around 4.0 GB, sometimes even more.

Btw the Dolphin format (.gcz) will give you the same result. There's almost no difference between .gcz and .wbfs files

[410172]

That's why I said the WBFS files I have are way smaller. ( So not all!! I hate to lie )
I have converted Wii Party to WBFS --> 1.0 GB; I patched Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii to WBFS --> 700 MB; Wii Sports Resort WBFS --> 700 MB but Epic Mickey 2 in WBFS was 4.2 GB. Yet I have never seen a WBFS file bigger than it's corresponding .iso file, converting therefore may give Boondock Saint better results.

410172_Chief

[neobrain]

because I don't want my pc to constantly access huge 4gb+ files

What reason would you have for not wanting that?

[Shonumi]

FYI Dolphin 2.0 is not supported here. Use 4.0.2 or newer if you wany our help. If you don't upgrade, we can't (and won't) provide you with any assistance.

[mbc07]

Just a heads up, with proper config, Dolphin can run games from folder structure but that feature is completely broken in older builds. 4.0 stable and newer works right, though...

[Boondock Saint]

Well as I said already, dolphin 4.0 runs games horribly slow on my pc, so I choosed the version that works best for me. Anyway @410172 I tried the program you gave me to try to convert my iso to wbfs but I only gained about 300mb less than the original size so it's not really worth it.