Custom Install 3DS

custom-install is a Python 3.6+ tool that will install CIA files to a Nintendo 3DS SD card entirely on a PC. This completely bypasses the slow wireless and I/O speeds of the hardware.

It was initially created late June 2019 as an experimental script to automate the process of a manual title install for Nintendo 3DS.

Installation

Requirements

• seeddb.bin - Required for newer games (2015+) that use seeds.
• boot9.bin and moveable.sed - Dumped from a 3DS system.
• custom-install-standalone - For Windows user, it includes GUI for simpler process and custom-install-finalize.
• custom-install-module - For Windows/macOS/Linux user, to be used with Python (or setup your own GUI).
• custom-install-finalize - Installs a ticket, plus a seed if required. Provided as a separate download primarily for non-Windows users.

Setup for Linux

• Linux users must build wwylele/save3ds and place save3ds_fuse in bin/linux.
• Install rust using rustup, then compile with: cargo build. The compiled binary is located in target/debug/save3ds_fuse, copy it to bin/linux.
• (Optional) GUI setup.

Building standalone

• Using a 32-bit version of Python is recommended to build a version to be distributed. Please refer to the readme from repo.

User guide

Usage summary

• Use custom-insall on your laptop/pc and install titles onto the micro SD (with boot9+movable).
• After it's finished, re-insert to 3DS and run custom-install-finalize at the end to insert the ticket and seed for it to show on the homemenu.
• You can use the Windows standalone with GUI for simpler process, or setup your own enviroment (for Windows 32/Linux/macOS).

Windows standalone

• Extract custom-install and copy over custom-install-finalize.3dsx to the 3ds folder on your SD card.
• Run ci-gui to bring up the custom-install GUI.
• Select your SD card root, boot9, seeddb, and movable.sed files (in some cases these will be automatically selected for you).
• Add the CIA files and click Start install.
• Once it's finished, start up the homebrew launcher and run custom-install-finalize to finish the process.

With installed Python

• Download the repo and extract custom-install.
• Download custom-install-finalize.3dsx and copy over to the 3ds folder of your SD card.
• Put boot9.bin, seeddb.bin and movable.sed to the root of the custom-install folder (see also Additional notes).
• Paste the .cia files you want to install to the root of the custom-install folder.
• Install the packages:
  • For Windows, double-click windows-install-dependencies.py
  • Alternate manual method py -3 -m pip install --user -r requirements-win32.txt
  • For macOS/Linux, python3 -m pip install --user -r requirements.txt
• Run custominstall.py with boot9.bin, movable.sed, path to the SD root, and CIA files to install:
  • Use -h to view arguments. Insert the following code (with some examples below).
  • py -3 custom-install.py -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd *yoursdcarddiskletter:\* *yourgamename*.cia *yourgamename*.cia
  • py -3 custominstall.py -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd E:\ file.cia file2.cia
  • python3 custominstall.py -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd /Volumes/GM9SD file.cia file2.cia
  • python3 custominstall.py -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd /media/GM9SD file.cia file2.cia
• Wait for install. Once it's finished, start up the homebrew launcher and run custom-install-finalize to finish the process.

Additional notes

movable.sed can be provided with -m or --movable.

boot9 can be placed in one of the following places:

• -b or --boot9 argument (if set)
• BOOT9_PATH environment variable (if set)
• %APPDATA%\3ds\boot9.bin (Windows-specific)
• ~/Library/Application Support/3ds/boot9.bin (macOS-specific)
• ~/.3ds/boot9.bin
• ~/3ds/boot9.bin

SeedDB is checked in order of:

• -s or --seeddb argument (if set)
• SEEDDB_PATH environment variable (if set)
• %APPDATA%\3ds\seeddb.bin (Windows-specific)
• ~/Library/Application Support/3ds/seeddb.bin (macOS-specific)
• ~/.3ds/seeddb.bin
• ~/3ds/seeddb.bin

If you get an error during installation, you'll have to manually delete the partially installed title from the SD card (Nintendo 3DS -> {id0} -> {id1} -> title -> {first half of Title ID} -> {second half of Title ID}), or delete other things to make enough space, then try again.

Changelog

custom-install 2.1b4 & finalize 1.6 2021/07/08

custom-install 2.1b4:

• Show 300 application warning with the cli script.
• This fixes a minor issue with an exception being raised at the end (but it didn't actually affect anything) #42
• Auto-set boot9.bin and seeddb.bin if found in SD:/gm9/out (movable.sed was already detected this way) #43 Thanks @Jisxu.
• Force reading save3ds_fuse output as UTF-8 all the time.
• This should hopefully fix #41 but haven't been fully tested. In particular this seems to affect Windows systems set to Chinese.

custom-install-finalize 1.6:

• Skip installing tickets for titles that don't need it #46 #47 Thanks @TimmSkiller.

custom-install 2.1b3 2021/03/09

• Show a warning if more than 300 applications (not all titles, but executable ones) are detected.
• Create title.db and import.db if missing #40.
• Fix CDN content install.
• Require pyctr==0.4.6 and comtypes==1.1.8 (only relevant to non-standalone build users).

custom-install 2.1b2 2021/02/13

• Fix selected boot9 and seeddb not working for adding titles & require boot9 to be loaded before adding any titles.
• Show current status on each title's line.

custom-install 2.1b1 2021/02/10

custom-install 2.1b1:

• Installs are written to a visible temporary folder before being moved into place. If an install fails in the middle, it won't leave a half-written title buried in the Nintendo 3DS folder.
• CDN contents can be installed directly.
• Title contents are verified during install and an error is shown if verification fails.
• Titles that succeeded and failed to be installed are shown at the end.
• All titles are loaded and parsed at the beginning so a broken one won't stop the others.
• Certain kinds of titles such as DSiWare and duplicate files are blocked.
• This doesn't yet stop two files with the same Title ID however! This only stops adding the same file twice.
• Free space is checked to make sure all titles can be installed.
• cifinish.bin is loaded and checked for corruption early (if it exists), which can happen if an issue exists on the SD card filesystem.
• File list replaced with a column list that shows Title ID and title name, and is sorted alphabetically.

custom-install-finalize 1.5:

• Delete cifinish.bin if no errors occurred during ticket install.

Credits

• save3ds by wwylele is used to interact with the Title Database (details in bin/README).
• Thanks to nek0bit for redesigning custominstall.py to work as a module, and for implementing an earlier GUI.
• Thanks to LyfeOnEdge from the brewtools Discord for designing the second version of the GUI. Special thanks to CrafterPika and archbox for testing.
• Thanks to BpyH64 for researching how to generate the cmacs.

External links

• Author's website - https://ihaveahax.net
• Author's Discord - https://discord.gg/YVuFUrs
• GitHub - https://github.com/ihaveamac/custom-install
• GBAtemp - https://gbatemp.net/threads/custom-install-install-cias-to-a-nintendo-3ds-sd-card-entirely-on-pc.551496