3DSkit

3DSkit is a tool to extract and repack many files formats found on the NDS, DSi, 3DS, Wii U and Switch.

What does 3DSkit do?

3DSkit can:

• Extract and convert many files formats found in NDS, 3DS, Wii U, Switch games
• Pack or repack them
• Decompress and compress these files to and from their original compression

Installation

Actually, some 3DSkit modules are based on libkit. This is a "virtual" module, which can be either c3DSkit, a C extension, or py3DSkit, its equivalent in pure Python. This means that you can use 3DSkit directly as is, without any setup: all 3DSkit modules can work without c3DSkit.

However, some formats are VERY, very slow to process in pure Python: for example, textures, fonts, audio... So if you can, build c3DSkit, that computes them much faster (sometimes 10000 times or more).

To build c3DSkit, run python3 setup.py build_ext --inplace. You need a working C compiler, numpy, and the Python includes (that should be included in your python installation) When you update it, it may be required to remove the build/ directory.

How to use

 usage: 3DSkit.py [-h] [-v] [-V] [-q] [-x | -p | -D | -C | -g PLUGIN] [-d]
    [-f FORMAT] [-l | -b] [-o OUT] [-c COMPRESSION]
    [--ckit | --pykit] [-O OPTIONS]
    [files [files ...]]

 Positional arguments:
 files                 Name of the file to convert or to pack into an archive

 Optional arguments:
 -h, --help            show this help message and exit
 -v, --verbose         Increases the verbosity of 3DSkit
 -V, --debug           Debugging mode, turns every 3DSkit error into Python
                       exceptions (only useful for debugging)
 -q, --quiet           Run without any terminal output
 -x, --extract         Extract files contained in the archive / decompress
                       the file if necessary and convert it to a readable
                       format. On a directory, recursively extracts all
                       contained files
 -p, --pack            Pack files into an archive, or convert it to a console
                       format
 -D, --decompress      Decompress the input files
 -C, --compress        Compress the input file
 -g PLUGIN, --plugin PLUGIN
                       Run a plugin
 -d, --dir             Use a directory to pack an archive. The root will be
                       the directory. Very recommended.
 -f FORMAT, --format FORMAT
                       Format to repack, or input format (to extract. See the
                       formats section of the help for more infos)
 -l, --little          Little endian (for 3DS / NDS files), default
 -b, --big             Big endian (for WiiU files)
 -o OUT, --out OUT     Output file name (only for repacking). If not given,
                       the output file name will be automatically determined
 -c COMPRESSION, --compression COMPRESSION
                       Output compression type
 --ckit                Force use of c3DSkit as libkit
 --pykit               Force use of py3DSkit as libkit
 -O OPTIONS, --options OPTIONS
                       Format-specific options, see below for details

Examples

Extract a DARC archive:

python3 3DSkit.py -x archive.darc

Recursively extract all the contents of a directory:

python3 3DSkit.py -x my-directory/

Extract a 3DS ROM (NCCH) without doing hash checks

python3 3DSkit.py -x -O dochecks=false my_ncch_partition.cxi

Convert a BFLIM image in verbose mode:

python3 3DSkit.py -xv myTexture.bflim

Convert into a BFLYT file with a custom output name:

python3 3DSkit.py -pf BFLYT -o myLayout.bflyt a-layout.tflyt

Pack a folder into a version 6 GARC archive in verbose mode

python3 3DSkit.py -pdvf GARC -O version=6 any-directory

Pack three files into an SARC file and compress it in LZ11

python3 3DSkit.py -pf SARC -c LZ11 file1 file2 file3

Pack a BFLIM texture for the WiiU (big endian):

python3 3DSkit.py -pbf BFLIM my_texture.png

Pack two BCSTM respectively with one and two tracks, the second with a loop.

python3 3DSkit.py -pf BCSTM -o oneTrackTest.bcstm track1.wav
python3 3DSkit.py -pf BCSTM -o twoTracksExample.bcstm -O loop=100000-2100000 track1.wav track2.wav

Compress a DARC file without any console output and with a specific output file name

python3 3DSkit.py -Cqc LZ11 -o archive_LZ.darc archive.darc

Decompress the previous DARC file

python3 3DSkit.py -D archive_LZ.darc

Format-specific options

Specify these options with the -O option. You can specify them with -O option1=value1 -O option2=value2 ...

Extraction options:

• NCCH/ExeFS:
  • dochecks: If false, don't check if the content hashes match. If you get a HashMismatchError, it's theorically right, so change this only if you're sure of the integrity of your file. Defaults to true.
  • dumpfs: If true, dumps the ExeFS and the RomFS images as exefs.bin and romfs.bin before extracting them. Defaults to false
• GARC:
  • skipdec: If true, force the module to not decompress the contained files. This may be useful if it detects a compression when there is not, but only in that case. Defaults to false
• BFFNT:
  • origin: Sets the original console from which the file comes. Can be set to CTR for 3DS, CAFE for WiiU or NX for Switch. Try this if you get errors or glitched output. If not specified, tries to auto-detect from the file's version.
  • reverse: If the sheets are upside down, set this to true to reverse them automatically. Don't forget to use it again when you repack the file!
• MSBT:
  • showescapes: If false, just erases undisplayed characters, else show them as \\uXXXX. Defaults to true

Packing options:

• BFLIM:
  • format: Specify the color format. Can be: RGBA8, RGBA4, RGB8, RGB565, RGBA5551, LA8, LA4, L8, L4, A8, A4. Note that this will have an effect on color quality and file size, but not on the functionality of the game, you can repack in a different format from the original without any problem, for example for ETC1, which is not supported for packing. Defaults to RGBA8
  • swizzle: Specify the texture swizzling (see console output at extraction). Can be 0 (none), 4 (90º rotation) or 8 (transposition). Defaults to 0.
• GARC:
  • version: Specify the version of the output file. Can be 4 or 6, look at the console output during the extraction. Defaults to 6.
• mini:
  • type: Specify the file type (2 chars magic number) to use for the output file. Look at the console output during the extraction. If you don't use the right magic, it can prevent the game to load the packed file. Defaults to BL.
• BCSTM:
  • format: Specify the audio format. Can be DSP-ADPCM, IMA-ADPCM, PCM16 or PCM8 (currently only DSP-ADPCM is supported). Defaults to DSP-ADPCM
  • loop: Makes a looping BCSTM. Must be of the form <start>-<end> (eg. 688123-2976543). If not given, the packed BCSTM won't loop at all.
  • writetracks: If a BCSTM contains only 1 track, sometimes the track is explicitly written in the file, and sometimes not. If you want to pack only one track, you can set it to false to not write the track info. Defaults to true, change only if default don't work. Note that a track is theorically a standalone stream, it's different than a channel

Supported formats

Info on the table:

• X (Extract): 3DSkit can extract these files
• P (Pack): 3DSkit can create and pack these files from scratch
• R (Repack): 3DSkit can only repack files which have been extracted by 3DSkit
• Extensions: Frequent file extensions or names for this format (all formats can sometimes have the .bin extension)

Crosses:

• x: full support
• e: experimental
• p: partial support
• blank: no support

Output: Output format of the unpacker. As explained previously, modules which use libkit may be very slow in pure Python and much faster if you have c3DSkit installed

Format	X	P	R	Extensions	Output	Uses libkit
ALYT	x		x	.alyt	files
BCGRP	x			.bcgrp	files
BCSAR	e			.bcsar	files
BCSTM	x	x		.bcstm	WAV	Yes
BCWAR	x			.bcwar	files
BCWAV	x			.bcwav	WAV	Yes
BFFNT	p			.bffnt	PNG+JSON	Yes
BFLAN	p			.bflan	JSON
BFLIM	x	x		.bflim	PNG	Yes
BFLYT	x		x	.bflyt	JSON
BNTX	x		p	.bntx	PNG+JSON	Yes
CBMD	e			.bnr banner[.bin]	files
DARC	x	e		.arc .bcma (...)	files
GARC	x		x	.garc (none)	files
GFA	x			.gfa	files
mini	x		x	.mini .bl .wd (none)	files
MSBT	x			.msbt	TX
NARC	p			.narc	files
NCCH	x			.app .cxi .cfa	sections
NDS	x			.nds	files
SARC	x	x		.sarc .arc .szs	files

There is also:

• unpack.ExtHeader:
  • Unpacks NCCH extended headers (automatic when unpacking an NCCH partition). Needs a specific file name (exheader.bin, extheader.bin or DecryptedExtHeader.bin) to be recognized. Outputs as a TXTree
• unpack.ExeFS:
  • Unpacks ExeFS images (automatic when unpacking an NCCH partition). The file must have the .exefs extension or be "exefs.bin" or "DecryptedExeFS.bin" to be recognized
• unpack.RomFS:
  • Unpacks RomFS images (automatic when unpacking an NCCH partition). The file must have the .romfs extension or be "romfs.bin" or "DecryptedRomFS.bin" to be recognized

Compressions:

• D: Decompressible
• C: Compressible

Compression	D	C	Extensions	Uses libkit
LZ10	x	x	(none) .cmp .l *_LZ.bin .LZ
LZ11	x	x	(none) .cmp .l *_LZ.bin .LZ	Yes
LZH8	x		.cx
Yaz0	x		.szs
ETC1	x		Texture compression in BFLIM

Dependencies

To access all 3DSkit functionalities, you need:

• Python 3.5+
• Numpy (use sudo apt-get install python3-numpy or pip3 install numpy)
• Pillow (use sudo apt-get install python3-pil or pip3 install pillow)

Pillow is only needed for textures and images (BFLIM, BFFNT). If you don't have it, other modules will work as well.

Contributing

Before submitting an issue, take a look at the program's help (-H option), your problem may have an easy fix, or already explained there. Don't forget to check if the issue has already been reported, or fixed (check also in the closed issues tab). Check if you have the latest commit. After all that, if you've actually found a new issue, you should state:

• Your Python version
• The console output (in verbose mode, -v option)
• Attach the file being used and also a screenshot of the problem in the game file if it is relevant and/or possible to do so.