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PSA - Cemu - combine and compress Wii U game + updates + DLC into a single file (.wua)


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Recently the Cemu developers implemented a feature in the latest (experimental) Cemu builds to combine and compress Wii U games + their updates and DLC into a single file with a .wua (Wii U Archive) extension. This file format can be run directly from your Wii U roms folder and updates and DLC no longer have to be installed into Cemu 's virtual file system. Not only does this save some space, but managing your Wii U games becomes a lot easier with a single file per game instead of thousands in a folder structure. Coincidentally this makes importing your Wii U games into LaunchBox a lot easier too. No longer do you need to manually add the game 's executable (.rpx) to LaunchBox or use a LaunchBox Wii U importer plugin as importing single file games is as easy as it gets.

Before you start, backup your current Cemu install. When combining and compressing your games into single files your old games won't be deleted. So you can experiment and delete them afterwards.

- Download the latest Cemu build here. I started with a fresh install.

- Open Cemu and point Cemu to your Wii U games folder.

- Go to Tools --> Title Manager. Then sort by Type --> base.

- Right click your game --> Convert to compressed Wii U archive .wua

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As I did a fresh Cemu install, after compressing my games into single files, I copied Cemu's controllerProfiles / gameProfiles / sdcard / shaderCache folders from my old Cemu folder into my new Cemu folder. Then I copied my old savegame folder (cemu\mlc01\usr\save) to the correct folder in my new Cemu install.

Of course you don't need to start with a new Cemu install, but remember, with the new file format you don't need to install game updates and DLC's into Cemu's virtual file system. So you can remove (please backup) the cemu\mlc01\usr\title folder. With the 22 Wii U games that I have, that saved 22 GB of space in the Cemu folder alone.

In LaunchBox you can edit your Wii U games to point to the newly created .wua files or just re-import your Wii U games folder. Maybe check if your emulator paths are still correct in the LaunchBox emulator settings.

Lastly a rediit thread with some additional info.

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2 hours ago, Suhrvivor said:

This is amazing! I hate not having 1 file per console game.

I'm not wasting my time converting my games though (mainly because of having to verify integrity), I'll just wait for an Archive.org link 😎

Yep, exactly this 😄

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6 hours ago, zugswang said:

If you have the whole set, get ready to spend days and days converting them, because unless i am not seeing it you can only do one conversion at a time as there is no bulk convert.

They've released a stand alone tool that can be used to do it in bulk called ZArchive. They have a link to it in their changelog that mentions this change.

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  • 4 months later...
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On 9/10/2022 at 8:56 PM, Ʉ₦₳VØ₩ɆĐ said:

this only packs\unpacks, does not convert to wua

This. The tool converts to the compression format that WUA uses. However, it does not know how to organize the files appropriately nor does it understand how to batch through the files either or most importantly identify one game from another for that matter. Ultimately, bulk support will need to be done upstream in Cemu since that is only what has the necessary bits for the archive file organization and metadata. ZArchive exists because they invented a new compression format that is insanely fast at finding and decompressing a single file at a moment's notice from a pool of tens of thousands of files (hence the billed support for "random-access reads"). It is able to instantaneously decompress a file without having to decompress the entire archive contents, making it much faster than traditional methods like .ZIP or .RAR given the high file counts of some games. Therefore, it is purpose built for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that is a game with tens of thousands of files that can't easily live and run out of a slowly decompressed zip file.

Edited by Hifihedgehog
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On 10/18/2022 at 4:36 AM, teamgt19 said:

Days to convert a whole set?!

I Started on October 9th , It took took me a 6 days to decrypt and extract the folders for WUA compression. Another 3 days to Save each title by hand.  (I was also decrypting PSVita games for a NoNpDRM release.) Currently i Have the 138 titles (I think I'm missing around 30) from the USA Disc set with Updates and DLC (813 GB) and 297 eShop titles with Updates and DLC (140GB). 

Since no-one seems to want to do it I have uploaded it to archive.org.

If you can identify any of the missing games please let me know so i can add them.

 

Started uploading on October 18th,  I finished on November 6th.  All in 28 days...

https://archive.org/details/nintendo-wii-u-eshop-usa-full-set-wua-format-embedded-dlc-updates 

https://archive.org/download/nintendo-wii-u-usa-full-set-wua-format-embedded-dlc-updates  

Also my PS Vita Archive

https://archive.org/details/sony-playstation-vita-usa-full-set-nonpdrm-format 

https://archive.org/details/sony-playstation-vita-usa-full-set-nonpdrm-format-dlc-updates -

Thank you SO much for this!  It must have been a massive undertaking but I, at least, really appreciate it!

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I wonder if I can be a real pain and ask for some assistance?

 

I started with .wux files that I downloaded off the internet but when I tried to run the .wux file I get an error saying it's encrypted and needs the key.

 

So I downloaded your .wua files and tried with those but I get the error message saying that CEMU doesn't recognise them.  Can you help me at all?

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3 hours ago, norwichred said:

I wonder if I can be a real pain and ask for some assistance?

 

I started with .wux files that I downloaded off the internet but when I tried to run the .wux file I get an error saying it's encrypted and needs the key.

 

So I downloaded your .wua files and tried with those but I get the error message saying that CEMU doesn't recognise them.  Can you help me at all? 

what version of cemu? drop this in the root of cemu. wua support is only in newer versions of cemu try updating to a recent version https://cemu.info/changelog.html

 

 

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On 11/17/2022 at 1:57 PM, Flames said:

I use the CEMU's option to convert game into .wua format, but it seems very big, like 20 Gb per game. Am I doing something wrong?

it depends on the game some use alot of assets that do not compress as much as others. games will range from 100 mb or so all the way to 25gb or so.  check the size vs the original folders if its smaller and works then odds are you did it right.

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On 12/15/2022 at 4:39 PM, teamgt19 said:

it depends on the game some use alot of assets that do not compress as much as others. games will range from 100 mb or so all the way to 25gb or so.  check the size vs the original folders if its smaller and works then odds are you did it right.

Most of them or are smaller, or at least the same size. Many thanks.

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41 minutes ago, Flames said:

Most of them or are smaller, or at least the same size. Many thanks.

It can't be compressed too high.  The format was designed so that you could have all of the files in one file with some compression but allow for random read access to all the files in the archive.  It's a compressed archive that you can actually run the game without decompressing the entire archive. Fair trade for the ability to have everything in one compressed file.

Edited by teamgt19
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