Breaking open an ISO

The .iso contains all of the mkdd files. You need to break it open to access these files. Getting an .iso is up to you.

Method 1: Using Dolphin - best method for playing on Dolphin
Video tutorial from Yoshi2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUi3Ak-B98

A note about Dolphin Versions: I use the latest dev version of Dolphin to test out my mods. This section assumes that you are using the latest dev version of Dolphin as well. I have found that, as a general rule, if a mod does not crash on the latest dev version of Dolphin, it will not crash on Nintendont, even if there are differences in gameplay. There are some crashes that will only happen on Nintendont. Other versions of Dolphin such as Faster Melee will not crash for stuff that will crash on Nintendont / The latest dev version of dolphin.

To extract: Right click on a vanilla .iso in Dolphin. Go to Properties -> Filesystem, Right click on “Disc” and extract everything. Go to your Dolphin game directory, and create a new folder Select the folder that you just created From that folder, you can change out files at will

Once extracted, refresh Dolphin and a .dol should appear. That .dol runs from the files that you just extracted.

Note that .iso root folders extracted using this method cannot be recompiled into .isos using Gcrebuilder, shown in the next method.

Method 2: Decompiling / Recompiling an .iso - for Nintendont
Video tutorial from GoombaNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOORFRgjdyU&t=107s

Gcrebuilder can also be used to break up an .iso. Use this is if you want to edit the non-grayed out boxes in the image below, like short name, description, basically the editable boxes on the left side of the image below, or if you need a .iso file to play on Nintendont.

How to use gcrebuilder: Image of GCRebuilder with the root files loaded:

Starting from an iso: Image -> Open -> select the .iso On the right, you should see a folder diagram. In the directory to the right, right click on root -> Export -> save to wherever

To recompile an .iso: Options -> Check “Do not use game.toc” Root (top left corner) -> Open -> select the root folder File -> Save -> choose a location and name (hopefully not over your vanilla .iso) File -> Rebuild

If you want to make the folder for the Dolphin extraction / the root for gcr to be the same, decompile an .iso using gcr, then copy the &&SystemData folder into the “files” folder with the extraction. Then, delete the gcr-extracted files.

Shrinking .iso size - GCMUtility : (info provided by yosh) As mentioned, this is not very necessary. Download link: https://gbatemp.net/threads/gcmutility.530300/ This thing as well: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HPqsyGWV08e7P7VaMKvq60VckOtl12JY/view

Method 3: How to patch a .iso
Program: MKDD Track Patcher

This is for installing course mods that other people have made; if you want to access / modify / test individual course files, do one of the methods above.

See How to play Custom Tracks for details.