makeWad.exe

Location

$REVOLUTION_SDK_ROOT/X86/bin/

Overview

This is a tool used to create WAD files (.wad) for importing applications to Wii console NAND memory.

Description

Creates WAD files for applications and data titles.

Applications contain a DOL file as well as content files. The DOL file can be created from an ELF file using makedol. Content files must be archive files created with the darch.exe archiver included in the SDK.

Data titles do not contain programs (DOL files). For more information about data titles, see NADK Introduction.

Options

`-n <name>`

Specifies the output WAD file name.

`-l <file 1, file 2, ...>`

Lowercase L ("l"). Specifies the files you want to package in the WAD file. When specifying the executable file (DOL file) and the content files (archive files), delimit them with commas.

`-I <game version>`

Uppercase L. Specifies the game version of the application. The specification is either the major and minor version in x.x format or a number in hexadecimal or decimal notation. The default game version is 0.0 (alternatively, 0x0000 or 0). Values range from 0.0 to 255.255 (alternatively, 0xFFFF or 65535). Set 0x0 (alternatively, 0x0000 or 0) as the game version for the first master data submission for WiiWare or Virtual Console.

`-g <company code>`

Specifies the company code (2-byte ASCII). Obtain the company code in advance from Nintendo. Can be specified using either hexadecimal or a text string. In either case, it specifies a 16-bit value. The default is "ZZ" (0x5a5a).

`-gc <game code>`

Specifies the game code of the application (4-byte ASCII). Obtain the game code in advance from Nintendo. Can be specified using either hexadecimal or a text string. In either case, it specifies a 32-bit value. The default is "RABA" (0x5a2414241).
Be aware that an application's game code must use uppercase alphabetic characters. If the game code includes lowercase characters, it will be identified as a data title and will not be displayed on the Wii Menu.

`-T <shared content specification>`

Specifies the shared content attribute. Specify 0 to define the file as a normal content file, or specify 1 to add the shared content attribute to the content.
The method of specification is a little unusual, so refer to the shared content section on the Intro page.

`-m <banner file>`

Specifies the banner file to be displayed in the channel menu.

`-f`

An option for data titles. Creates the WAD file for Add-on Content. Be sure to specify this option when creating Add-on Content.

`-E <game code of the application using the data title>`

An option for data titles. Specifies the game code (4-byte ASCII) of the application that will use the data title. Data titles can only be used from applications with the specified game codes.
When creating a data title, you must use this option and the following -e option to specify the application(s) that can use it. Failure to give a specification results in an error.

`-e <bitmask to ignore for the game codes of applications that use a data title>`

An option for data titles. Specify this 32-bit value if you want to allow multiple applications, such as series and sequels, to access a data title.The specified bits will not be used when applying access restrictions. Refer to the bottom of the page for a specific example of access restrictions.

`-z`

Displays the version number of makeWad.

`-h`

Displays the tool help. There are other options, but they cannot be used with this development tool at this point.

Note: The -N option has been eliminated due to changes in the way the country identifier codes and Parental Controls information are configured.

Example of WAD File Creation

A procedure for creating a WAD file of the following configuration will be shown as an example.

Game Code RABA
Company Code ZZ
Game Version 1
WAD Filename SampleApp.wad
Content Files [DOL file], test1.arc, test2.arc, shared.arc
Banner File title.met
Shared Content shared.arc

Country Identifier Code jp

Parental Controls Information CERO A (All ages)

Game Code	RABA
Company Code	ZZ
Game Version	1
WAD Filename	SampleApp.wad
Content Files	[DOL file], test1.arc, test2.arc, shared.arc
Banner File	title.met
Shared Content	shared.arc
Country Identifier Code	jp
Parental Controls Information	CERO A (All ages)

% setncountrycode jp

Running setncountrycode will set the country code used for both disc applications and NAND applications.
% setnparentalcontrol CERO_ALL

Running setnparentalcontrol will set the Parental Controls information. The settings up through this point will be applied automatically when makeWad is run.
% makedol -f [ELF file] -d [DOL file]

When makedol is executed, an executable DOL file will be created from the ELF file.
% makeWad -n SampleApp -l [DOL file],test1.arc,test2.arc,shared.arc -m title.met -gc RABA -g ZZ -T 0,0,0,1 -I 1

Specify the arguments for each item and execute makeWad. A WAD file called SampleApp.wad will now be created.

Precautions When Creating Data Titles

Note the following options for data titles when creating the WAD file.

-f
Always specify this option when creating data titles.
-E <game code of the application using the data title>
Use this option when creating data titles to specify which application is permitted to use the data title. ELF and RPF files have a game code of "RABA" when they are run, so you must allow access from "RABA" for these programs to access data titles. Apply access restrictions to allow access from RABA using this option alone or together with the -e option mentioned below.
-e <bitmask to ignore for the game codes of applications that use a data title>
Specify the bits to ignore with this option if you want to allow multiple applications to use a data title.
-l File1[,File2,...]
Data titles do not include program files, so the first content file is not a program file.
-gc <game code>
The game code of a data title must begin with a lowercase alphabetic character. The default game code for data titles is a000.
-m <banner file>
Specifies the banner file to be displayed on the Save Data Management screen of the Wii Menu.Make sure to create the banner file with WiiSaveBanner.exe, not WiiMakeBanner.exe.

Example of Access Restriction Settings for Data Titles

To allow access from a specific application only

Use the -E option to specify the game code of the application from which access is allowed, and either leave the -e option unspecified or set it to 0x00000000.
The following specification allows access only from an application whose game code is "RABA".

% makeWad -f ... -E RABA

To allow access from applications with game codes that contain a specific character string

Use the -E option to specify the game code that will be used as a base for allowing access, and the -e option to specify bits that will be ignored.
The following -E and -e option specifications allow access from applications whose game code is RAB* (RAB0, RAB1, RABZ, and so on).

% makeWad -f ... -E RAB0 -e 0x000000ff

You can specify any character for a part of the game code specified by the -E option and ignored by the -e option. In this case, the same access restrictions are applied when -E RAB0 is specified as when -E RABA is specified.

To allow access from all applications

Specify all bits (0xffffffff) for the -e option. Specifying the -E option is optional (it will be set to 0x00000000).

% makeWad -f ... -e 0xffffffff

Example of Creating a Data Title with makeWad

A procedure for creating a data title (WAD file) of the following configuration will be shown as an example.

WAD Filename DataTitle
Game Code (of the data title) abcd
Content Files data1.arc, data2.arc
Game code of the application that uses the data title 0001
Banner File save.bnr

WAD Filename	DataTitle
Game Code (of the data title)	abcd
Content Files	data1.arc, data2.arc
Game code of the application that uses the data title	0001
Banner File	save.bnr

% makeWad -f -n DataTitle -l data1.arc,data2.arc -m save.bnr -gc abcd -E 0001

Specify the arguments for each item and run makeWad. A data title called DataTitle.wad will be created.

Tips

You can also use a text file similar to the following to manage content files.

$ cat filelist
contents/content2.arc
contents/content3.arc
contents/content4.arc
contents/content5.arc

In this case, you can run the following command to convert the aforementioned file list into the argument format passed to makeWad.
Suppress newline output with the -n option for echo, output a comma before each file, and redirect the results to a file.

$ for a in `cat filelist`; do echo -n ,$a; done > inputfiles

You can use the generated argument file as follows.

$ makeWad -n sampleApp -l sampleApp.dol`cat inputfiles`

It is also possible to include a DOL file in the argument file as follows.

$ echo -n sampleApp.dol > inputfiles
$ for a in `cat filelist`; do echo -n ,$a; done >> inputfiles
$ makeWad -n sampleApp -l `cat inputfiles`

Revision History

2009/01/15 Changed darchD to darch.
2009/01/14 Changed the default values for the game code and company code.
2008/05/28 Added notes concerning data title access from programs in the ELF and RPF file formats.
2008/05/23 Added tips on how to specify content files using a file list.
2008/03/27 Added a description of the -e option. Added examples of setting access restrictions for data titles.
2008/03/24 Added information on how to specify the game version. Revised the explanation of the version for the initial submission.
2008/02/16 Consolidated the description of data titles.
2008/02/13 Added a precaution regarding the game code of applications.
2008/01/15 setncountrycode has been integrated with setcountrycode.
2007/08/06 Added and changed the content of Example of WAD File Creation.
2007/07/11 Added text noting that the content file must be in the form of an archive file.
2007/05/08 Revised Example of WAD File Creation.
2007/05/02 Changed the option font.
2006/11/17 Unified the terminology regarding versions.
2006/10/25 Added descriptions of the -m and -z options.
2006/10/20 Added a description of the –T option. Deleted the description of the -N option and added a note about this fact.
2006/09/14 Added the -N option.
2006/08/15 Initial version.

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