The VG Resource

What you need:

• Dolphin emulator 32/64-bit: This plays GameCube and Wii games (ISOs). It has a lot of cool features and is the best Wii/GC emulator available
  

• An ISO of the game you wish to rip from: Type "*game name* ISOs" without the asterisks into Google to find these, not going share any for obvious reasons
  

• An archive extractor (optional): In the list of games that use .BRRES format models that I linked to below, some will be in compressed formats (such as .SZS, .ARC, .LZH8, etc.) and need to be extracted using the corresponding tool also listed in that link (however not all of those games' models can be decompressed so be sure to check the compression first to see if it's in a known format before you waste time and space downloading the ISO. If you're lucky, the models won't be compressed at all and you can open them in BRRES Viewer right away!)
  

Now onto the tutorial:

First, open Dolphin. You will see all the ISOs you have (as long as they're in the same folder as Dolphin, make sure they are). If for some reason the ISO you want isn't in the list, then go to "File > Browse for ISOs" and open the folder containing the game. It should appear then.

Next, right-click on the game you want to extract files from, and click Properties.

Now, you should see several tabs on top. There should be one at the end that says "Filesystem". Click on it.

You will now see a list of the game's files. You want to right-click on the file with a CD icon next to it named "Partition 1" and click "Extract All Files", then browse for the folder you want the extracted files to go (you can also click "Make New Folder" if you forgot to make one beforehand).

Now you've done the easy part. This next step will require patience. You will now need to sift through all the folders you just extracted in search of .BRRES files. These files are the models that can be opened in BRRES Viewer. If you're lucky, most of the models will be conveniently organized (a folder for enemies/bosses, one for weapons/items, one for the player, etc.). If not, then that's why you'll need patience. There will be times when you will have to open each model in BRRES Viewer just to see what it is (you may then rename them if you want), and some games even have most of them all in one folder, so it will be very tedious. If you come across such a case, try to re-organize some of the model files if you can, it will help you out immensely. Just don't give up if you can't find what you're looking for very soon. Your hard work and patience will more likely than not be rewarded.

And that's all for extracting models from games! You can now use your newly extracted BRRES models with my tutorial below.

First off, the Wii is the easiest because so many games use the same format and such. And second, the easiest thing to do first is by far .BRRES format models. Here's what you'll need:

1: BRRES Viewer (get it here, and you can find an updated list of games that use .BRRES format here)
2: Noesis (this is the easiest way, you don't have to mess with the model at all usually. Get it here)
3: A text editor (Notepad ++ is recommended because of all the great features it has, but you can just use Notepad if you like. Get Notepad ++ here)
4: Icon Maker V3b (for making icons and previews so that your model will be uploaded faster. Read further for usage help), you can get it here

And that's about it for equipment. Now onto instructions. It's quite easy after you've done a few of them.

Start off by opening BRRES Viewer and browse for the model you want and open it. Now you should see this tall window on the left, listing the model(s), textures, palettes, animations and etc.. This is called the file tree, and will be referred to as such from now on. You can press the enter key to center the model so it won't be on top, or use shift to move it back to its initial position. But for now you want to go to File > Export All Files. You will see a small window appear. Click the Textures dropdown and select PNG (you can also right-click on each texture individually and select Export (then choose the directory you want them to go) to make sure you get them all, but this is tedious). Leave the Models dropdown as it is, as you want to export all your models in .MD5 format.* You should click the Animations dropdown and select "(do not export)" if you don't want to include animations in your submission (you can include them if you want but most people don't and it isn't required). Very important: Make sure you check the "Create one folder for each brres file" box when exporting multiple files so that the files will not conflict and get mixed up with eachother. Now you have to go into the folder that had the BRRES file of the model you just exported. There will be a new folder named "exported". You can pull that out and put it somewhere else. You should now export each model again as a .OBJ. However, it seems that when you click "Export All Files" and choose to have your models exported as .OBJ, it does not export the .MTL file with it (which tells the model which textures go where), thus the model loses its texture mapping. The solution to this, is to double-click on the model (you must be actually viewing the model for the "Export" command to work) you want to export in the file tree, and then go to Model > Export > OBJ. Keep in mind that this will not export the textures with it, so if you don't already have them, go to Export All Files again, make sure the textures drop down is set to PNG, and pick "Do not export" for the other two (if you have multiple models loaded, don't forget to check "Create one folder for each BRRES file" or the textures will be all mixed up!). However since you already exported them as .MD5 first (or at least you should have), you should have them already.

*IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE .MD5 FORMAT: When exporting in .MD5, always check the export to see if it came out right when you open it in Noesis. I don't know if it's because Noesis doesn't always properly convert it, or BRRES Viewer does not always export .MD5 correctly, but sometimes the model will mess up. If the model does mess up, you should be able to see it in Noesis (remember, even if the model looks fine on the outside, the model's bones might have gotten mangled during the export, so click the red skeleton icon on the bottom to view the model skeleton. If the bones look okay to you then proceed to the next steps). This isn't really a common problem AFAIK, but if it happens, use .PSK.

For Blender users, there is a way to get a working .MTL file if you export to .OBJ with Noesis. Find out how here. However since it's better to export .OBJs from BRRES Viewer, this guide is somewhat obsolete. Only use this method if you are for some reason unable to export a .OBJ from BRRES Viewer.

Now open Noesis and load up your new MD5/PSK. It should appear like this. Now you go to File > Export, and you'll see a new window. In the "Main output type" dropdown, first select .DAE COLLADA. Now make sure you check "Flip UV's" on the right so that the textures will load properly in modeling programs like Blender (always do this for each and every export). Now just click OK, then when it's done click Done. I always export it again as .SMD format as well, so I'd suggest that, as it makes your submissions even more useful for the end users. (Also, as a note, if you happen to open your DAE or SMD in Noesis again after you export it you'll see that the textures look weird, but don't worry as that's just from Noesis having flipped the texture UV's and is perfectly normal.)

NOTE: Dazz wrote some VERY helpful instructions below regarding batch exporting + conversion and some very simple yet extremely time-saving tricks below that I somehow forgot to include in this guide. Here they are below:

(11-19-2011, 11:39 PM)Peardian Wrote: [ -> ]Very nice for your first rip! There's just one more thing you need to do to it before I upload it. You don't have to re-export it or anything, as it only requires a little bit of tweaking of the DAE with a text editor. I recommend Notepad++ because it's free and really nifty.

When you open up the DAE, you'll see a section like this near the very top:

Code:

<image id="Image">
      <init_from>../../Programs/Noesis/EmongaEyeNl</init_from>
    </image>
    <image id="Image1">
      <init_from>../../Programs/Noesis/EmongaBodyNl</init_from>
    </image>
    <image id="Image2">
      <init_from>../../Programs/Noesis/EmongaMouthNl</init_from>
    </image>
  </library_images>

This is what gives the locations of the textures for the loaded model. Unfortunately, Noesis doesn't really set these properly, so you have to tweak them yourself. You want it to look like this:

Code:

<image id="Image">
      <init_from>EmongaEyeNl.png</init_from>
    </image>
    <image id="Image1">
      <init_from>EmongaBodyNl.png</init_from>
    </image>
    <image id="Image2">
      <init_from>EmongaMouthNl.png</init_from>
    </image>
  </library_images>

The unnecessary folder paths were removed, and the file extension was added to the end. That way, the textures will load properly when you open the model.

You can find the preview image here (the JPG'd version has now been replaced with the original .PNG version). In BRRES Viewer, go to Model, and uncheck Axes (or hit F3) to remove those colored lines, and center the model if you haven't already (you can turn the model around with your mouse, and zoom in and out with the mouse wheel too). Also under Model is an option called "Color". If you uncheck this, the model will become brighter (this does not apply to all models, but it works for Brawl models. Try disabling it if the model looks significantly darker than it should). Now take a print screen of the model at an angle you like and copy and paste it onto the preview image (making sure it fits in decently enough. If the model ends up covering any part of the white border at all, paste the border overtop so it will cover whatever is sticking out. I recommend saving the border separately). It's also okay to save the preview images as .JPG if you like. .PNG isn't completely necessary unless you're funny about JPGs like I am. The icon however must be .PNG, as .JPG won't be accepted, so just remember that if you decide to make it manually.

(Note: The games that have links in them lead to their respective ripping project threads)

Bomberman Blast WiiWare
Dewy's Adventure
Kirby's Return to Dreamland
Mario Kart Wii (I currently have not finished extracting these from their .SZS archives, but I have most of them except for the vehicles done)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Pokémon Rumble
PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (I only have the Pokémon, and they've all been done)
PokéPark Wii 2: Wonders Beyond (same as above)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers