ninutils

A binutils-like C++ library/CLI introspection tool for nintendo GameCube and Wii binary formats (DOL and REL).

Abstract

Projects that handle DOL/REL files frequently reinvent the wheel by implementing their own tools from near scratch. This project attempts to cover most generic binary manipulation needs or at least provide a solid baseline for developing custom tools. It also offers nice CLI utilities that don't suffer from the information loss from modeling in an existing binary manipulation library (e.g. BFD/radare2).

To achieve such thing, this project aims to:

• offer as simple and flexible interfaces as possible. Devs should be able to skim the header files and get a good idea on how to achieve what they want.
• cover most common operations on DOL/REL binaries anyone would want. (please contribute issues/code if you know any!)
• have a CLI that resembles the generally familiar binutils.
• be very fast and make close to zero performance compromises. This prevents people from considering their own tools for performance reasons.

Building/Installation

cmake -B build
cmake --build build -j
cmake --install build

You may need to adjust your PATH/LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the path of the installed executables/libraries.

Tools/Libraries

libdolrel

C++ library for manipulating DOL/REL files. Quickstart:

Dol dol(dolpath);
Rel rel(relpath);
SymbolTable symtab(rel);
dol.print(std::out);                         // Print DOL info to std::out
rel.print(std::out, true, true, true, true); // Print all REL info to std::out
symtab.print(std::out);                      // Print symbols inferred from REL relocs to std::out

readdol

CLI introspection tool for DOLs. Inspired by readelf.

Usage: readdol <option(s)> dol_file
 Display information about the contents of DOL files
 Options are:
        -w  Print in raw format, aka as is from the file

readrel

CLI introspection tool for RELs. Inspired by readelf.

Usage: readrel <option(s)> rel_file
 Display information about the contents of REL files
 Options are:
        -h           Print REL header
        -S           Print REL section table
        -i           Print REL imp table
        -r           Print REL relocations
        -s           Print REL inferred symbols
        -w           Print in raw format, aka as is from the file
        -p <preset>  Specify a preset to get game-specific info (e.g. VMAs of REL symbols)
Available presets:
mkw-pal     Mario Kart Wii PAL

External information

Aside from the binaries themselves, external information about the context that the binaries are loaded can be provided with the class ExtraInfo, to enable functionality that requires them. The library also contains presets of the objects that can be passed to the CLI tools that can enrich/extend their output. To add a preset for your game of interest to this library, simply add an else if statement to the ExtraInfo constructor at src/extra_info.cpp

Documentation

Currently in progress. The header files are relatively small for now and contain plenty of comments.

Roadmap

• Support for providing symbol names.
• reldump/doldump tools.
• Disassembly and disas CLI tool.
• python bindings

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Seeky, terorie, riidefi, Chadderz, wiki tockdom contributors and all others that helped me understand how these formats work.