custom-install/README.md

custom-install

Installs a title directly to an SD card for the Nintendo 3DS. Originally created late June 2019.

Summary

Windows standalone

1. Dump boot9.bin and movable.sed from a 3DS system.
2. Download the latest releases.
3. Extract and run ci-gui. Read windows-quickstart.txt.

With installed Python

Note

Windows users: Enabling "Add Python 3.X to PATH" is NOT required! Python is installed with the py launcher by default.

1. Dump boot9.bin and movable.sed from a 3DS system.
2. Install the packages:

• Windows: py -3 -m pip install --user --upgrade https://github.com/ihaveamac/custom-install/archive/refs/heads/python-package.zip
• macOS/Linux: python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade https://github.com/ihaveamac/custom-install/archive/refs/heads/python-package.zip

To run the GUI:

• Windows: py -3 -m custominstall.gui
• macOS/Linux: python3 -m custominstall.gui

To run the command line version:

• Windows: py -3 -m custominstall
• macOS/Linux: python3 -m custominstall

Setup

Linux users must build wwylele/save3ds and place save3ds_fuse in one of these places:

• A directory in PATH
• In custominstall/bin/linux
• Set the environment variable CUSTOM_INSTALL_SAVE3DS_PATH to the save3ds_fuse binary

movable.sed is required and can be provided with -m or --movable.

boot9 is needed:

• -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

A SeedDB is needed for newer games (2015+) that use seeds.
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

custom-install-finalize

custom-install-finalize installs a ticket, plus a seed if required. This is required for the title to appear and function.

This can be built as most 3DS homebrew projects with devkitARM.

Usage

Use -h to view arguments.

Examples:

py -3 -m custominstall -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd E:\ file.cia file2.cia
python3 -m custominstall -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd /Volumes/GM9SD file.cia file2.cia
python3 -m custominstall -b boot9.bin -m movable.sed --sd /media/GM9SD file.cia file2.cia

GUI

A GUI is provided to make the process easier.

GUI Setup

Linux users may need to install a Tk package:

• Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install python3-tk
• Arch: sudo pacman -S tk

Development

Building Windows standalone

Warning

This section is OUTDATED and currently does not work with the Python package setup.

License/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.