Q: WiiTDB... what?
A: Wii DataBase, pronounced "wit DB" or "Wii-T D-B", a database of Nintendo Wii games.
Q: I have doubts, I'm a doubter, I am in doubt, is there a reason to this madness?
A: It's only natural, please read on.
Q: Why do I need this database of Wii games?
A: You don't need it, but you may want it for several reasons including certain Homebrew
programs on your Wii:
- display proper titles for your games ("Wii Sports" instead of "SPORTS PACK FOR
REVOLUTION"), without ever having to do the renaming yourself.
- display additional information about your games (players, online modes, accessories,
publisher, developer...)
- if you have a large library you could sort games, for example by number of players to
quickly group your multiplayer titles
- use a Parental block on games based on rating
- search for Wii games, by publisher, developer, matching a certain rating or released a
certain year.
Q: What are the advantages over the titles.txt format to display titles?
A: This database is the natural evolution of titles.txt, it had to change to allow for
more information to be displayed. Here are the advantages that concern titles:
- you can choose to display titles in your language if a game was translated.
- there is no need to maintain several lists to display European or Japanese game titles,
and no risk that someone changes an English title to a localized title.
Q: When will the game database be complete?
A: It depends on contributions, it could be complete and up to date in a very short time
if you add a few games. There are many games for the Nintendo Wii console, but that is a
really small number as soon as several people start working on it.
Q: I'm almost sold, can you give me a little motivation?
A: This database can be fully downloaded by anyone, so if you contribute to this project,
you really benefit from your work because you can download what you contributed as if it
were your own personal project. A group project is not a group project unless the sum of
all efforts is accessible to anyone, not just in the hands of the project's owner.
Contributing to this project is working for you and everybody else, contributing to a
locked project is just working for the owner.
Q: I am convinced, I'm in, count me in, how do I start?
A: It's only natural, please read on.
Q: How do I use it?
A: Most Wii Homebrew and PC softwares that support this database have an update option to
download it, else you can simply download the file from the link on the front page (only
for PC software)
Q: Should I unzip the file?
A: You don't need to unless it is specified by the software you use. For now all the Wii
Homebrew programs that support the file can open the .zip.
Q: What is a game ID?
A: The game ID is an identification code contained in all Wii games. It is 6 characters
long: name (3 characters), region (1 character, P for PAL, E for USA, J for Japan, K for
Korea, W for Taiwan), publisher (2 characters).
Q: Why is there a Publisher field, I thought the Publisher could be guessed from the game
ID?
A: All software that support the file should be able to guess the publisher from the game
ID and the included Company Codes list, but the publisher field should be used first as it
is more accurate, a publisher's name could change over the years.
Q: How do I add a game to the database?
A: Never modify the XML file itself. First, check if your Wii game is not in the database
by searching for its game ID using the Search feature, then use "Add Game" in the menu to
input the game ID and fill the form.
Q: How can I display the Japanese titles I see in the database?
A: The database file uses the UTF-8 encoding. If it displays correctly on your screen when
you edit a page on the site, it should display correctly in the software you use, if
unicode is supported and the software can use a Japanese font.
Q: How do I know the crc, md5 and sha1 checksums of a game I want to add?
A: The following list describes solutions based on your operating system:
Windows - You can get a list of checksums using this freeware: HashMyFiles
When you launch HashMyFiles, click File > Add Files. When it has finished, you can save
the list with Edit > Select All, then File > Save Selected Items
Mac OS X - You can generate checksum files using this freeware: checksum+
When you launch checksum+, click File > Open Explorer, check the boxes only for CRC32,
MD5, and SHA1, then drag and drop the game ISO file you want to check onto the green
arrow. The checksum numbers for each category will then appear. This may take a few
minutes to process.
Linux - Execute the following commands (for crc, md5, and sha1, in that order) from a
terminal, replacing the word file with the relative or absolute path to the game ISO.
The following also works from the Mac OS X Terminal app.
cksum -o3 file | perl -wane 'printf "%0x\n",@F'
openssl dgst -md5 file
openssl dgst -sha1 file
Q: How do I fix a mistake in the database?
A: You have to Sign Up, then go to a game's page and click "Edit". type your modifications
then click Save, that's it.
Q: Should I fix Capitalization in titles?
A: Please do, provided you don't capitalize all letters. (if unsure refer to Wikipedia)
Q: How do I remove a game from the database?
A: If you have made a mistake, or if you know very well all editions of a particular Wii
game and are sure that a game's entry is erroneous, you can create a new page with the
correct game ID if the game ID is wrong, or if you are authorized to do it simply edit the
bogus page and click "delete".
