Usage - Nanook/NKit GitHub Wiki

NKit is primarily a library with many features and options with more to be added. The library uses a yaml config file to hold the various options. Applications using the library such as the nkit[.exe] can specify an alternative config if required.

This documentation is to reflect how the supplied command line app (nkit[.exe]) should function. Please raise an issue if the app does not conform to this documentation and it will be bug fixed or the documentation updated.

NKit is written in C# for dotnet6.0 (and .NetFramework4.8 for the Windows 7 version). Versions marked Standalone or UI have the dotnet runtime embedded and can be run without installing the dotnet runtime environment.

Versions not marked standalone require the host operating system to have the dotnet runtime environment installed. This can be downloaded here https://dotnet.microsoft.com. There are installers for Windows and Mac and many Linux distributions have it packaged. Without a distro specific package Linux is a bit more involved.

This page shows how to install on linux using the script. Summarised below:

Read the page for further instructions to permanently add the dotnet commands to your shell.

wget https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh
chmod +x dotnet-install.sh
./dotnet-install.sh -c 6.0
export DOTNET_ROOT=~/.dotnet
export PATH=$PATH:$DOTNET_ROOT

Running the nkit[.exe] app for the first time with the default config should print a basic usage message. This means it's working, however it needs input to process.

This is a list of all the input params supported by NKit 2. They can be set on the command line or read from a config file. By default nkit.yaml is loaded by the nkit app. Parameter values in the config can be overridden by specifying them on the command line.

in: path/filename.iso

in:
  -  path/.iso
  -  Path/.wbf?

See the Processing Tasks documentation for details.

Keywords can be used in path parameters. The default config yaml uses them to dynamically specify file locations while processing.

The config file specifies parameters and defaults all the current features nkit. It serves as a handy reference allowing the users to easily browse and edit settings without needing to consult documentation.

The configuration parameters are split in to types:

• Root level
• System level

System level params allow a parameter to have a different value per system. Meaning once nkit has identified the system type for the image being processed the value is read from the corresponding section. System level params override Root level parameters of the same name if present.

The params task, system, in, r, arc, logOut, logOutLevel, consoleLevel are root level only as they are applied before processing begins.

The default nkit.yaml can be overridden by the command line parameter cfg.

nkit -cfg other.yaml -task scan -in *.*

Clone the nkit[.exe] and have a matching named yaml to create your own apps that do specific things. rvzconvert and wuxconvert have been bundled with the release to demonstrate this. Dragging and dropping files on to these apps will convert between ISO and RVZ or WUD and WUX respectively.

rvzconvert *.iso
wuxconvert *.wud

The config can also be switched off via the command line or by removing the nkit.yaml or any yaml that matches the app name. See the command line section below for examples.

The NKit command line supplements the config file by allowing config yaml to be overridden. Command line parameter names match the parameter names listed above and are prefixed with - in the format -name value

Any parameters that are not in the -name value format are regarded as input (in) paths / masks. This allows for the default config to contain all the settings to perform a specific task. Then dropping files on to the nkit app will group and process them.

If you need to specify an input that starts with - you can prefix it with the -in parameter for each input that needs it. Alternatively specify the -- parameter as the last option on the command line and follow it with any inputs that should only be considered as input files / masks.

Params can be specified per system by prefixing them e.g. -wii:dat Wii*.dat -gamecube:dat GC*.dat allowing multiple values.

Load the default config and scan the current folder for iso files, scan images and set recursive search off

nkit -in *.iso -r n -task scan

Alternative way to specify in plus multiple paths

nkit *.iso *.gcm "..\other path\*.iso"

Override a parameter for one system only by prefixing the param with the system name. This allows all the other systems to convert to the values set in the config

nkit *.iso -task convert -wii:convert wbfs

Specify an alternate config - in this example the config would be set to task: convertSwap and sys\wii\convert: rvz:zstd:19:128k:16.

nkit -cfg rvzconvert.yaml *.iso

Rather than passing in -cfg rvzconvert.yaml in the above example the nkit app can be cloned to rvzconvert[.exe] and it will be loaded instead of the default nkit.yaml allowing it to be ran like this

rvzconvert *.iso

Force no config (also possible by deleting any config files) and perform a convert to wbfs on the iso (which is a wii iso in this example)

nkit -cfg ""   *.iso -task convert -convert wbfs      (for Windows and Linux)
nkit -cfg ''   *.iso -task convert -convert wbfs      (alternative for Linux)
nkit -cfg `"`" *.iso -task convert -convert wbfs      (for PowerShell)
nkit -cfg n    *.iso -task convert -convert wbfs      (simplified method to remove ambiguity)

When nkit closes and returns control back to the command line it will set its exit code to indicate the final status of the process. This can be very useful when writing a script that uses the nkit command line app.
The following exit codes are implemented: