Hacking NCA and XCI ?

[MonMonz]

i already searched and all i found is that there is two type of backup extension what is the deference between them? sciresm say "NCA is Nintendo Content Archive" -- you can think of it as like an NCCH for the 3DS" what does NCCH means?
and which one of them hold the specific unique information of the gamecard
thanks for advance

 

[reminon]

When you decrypt XCI's you get access to the NCA's inside. XCI's are cartridge images. A 1-for-1 copy of the actual cart. NCA's are archives that store content.

 

[Falo]

3DS file formats:
.CSU = .3DS = NCSD Game Cartridge
.CIA = Installer (Citrus Installer Archive)
.CFA / .CFX = Content File Archive / Content File Executable Partition (NCCH)
if you unpack a NCSD or CIA, you get multiple CFA and 1 CFX, these are the game files
if you unpack a CFA/CFX you get romfs/exefs/manual/...

Switch file formats:
.XCI = PFS0 Game Cartridge
.NSP = PFS0 Installer (Nintendo Submission Package)
.NCA = Nintendo Content Archive (NCA2 / NCA3)
if you unpack a XCI or NSP you get multiple NCA, these are the game files
if you unpack a NCA you get romfs(istorage)/exefs/manual/...

 

[BelmontSlayer]

NCA and XCI are containers for Switch game dumps, similar to .3DS or .CIA on the 3DS. XCI is the newer container everyone is dumping in now, apparently it has some parts that NCA dumps left out. NCCH is also a container format but for the 3DS, you can read about it here:
https://www.3dbrew.org/wiki/NCCH

 

[adrifcastr]

3DS file formats:
.CIA = Installer (Citrus Installer Archive)

CTR Importable Archive

 

[MonMonz]

oh okey great i now understand thank you all for your reply

 

[SimonMKWii]

Switch file formats:
.XCI = PFS0 Game Cartridge
.NSP = PFS0 Installer (Nintendo Submission Package)
.NCA = Nintendo Content Archive (NCA2 / NCA3)
if you unpack a XCI or NSP you get multiple NCA, these are the game files
if you unpack a NCA you get romfs(istorage)/exefs/manual/...

That's filled with misinformation.
.XCI = 1:1 image of the game cart's eMMC chip / NX Cart Image.
.NSP = What devs submit to Nintendo when they're ready to release a game: the "master ROM", it contains the game NCA, meta, description, NACP, various documents, the unique ticket and the cert.
.NCA = Nintendo Content Archive, can contain RomFS, ExeFS and PFS0 partitions. All NCAs must contain either a RomFS or PFS0 partition with at least one file, so if a title is ExeFS only, a RomFS or PFS0 partition needs to be added.
For example, all the necessary files for FLOG, the NES Golf emulator were contained in the executable, so Nintendo added a RomFS partition with a null file called "AtLeastOneFile", amusingly.
Similarly, Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion contains a null file called "aoc_data.dat", presumably a purchase verification method to unlock internal files, or a placeholder for an AOC revision.

 

[SilverfalconLP]

Question .xci have prívate header similar to .3ds files?

 

[MHDestination]

Question .xci have prívate header similar to .3ds files?

Yes, they have

 

[SilverfalconLP]

Yes, they have

Any info of xci header ? For look offsets and extrack of my one gamecard (for im save prívate header if i need in other moments for inject on other xci...?

 

[MHDestination]

Any info of xci header ? For look offsets and extrack of my one gamecard (for im save prívate header if i need in other moments for inject on other xci...?

Here:
http://switchbrew.org/index.php?title=Gamecard_Format

It's not header that's unique. The cert is what you need.

The backups will still run with a wrong cert (or even entirely removed, like BBB did),
but i don't think that exchanging the cert with one of a different game will make your dump "stealth".
It's likely that nintendo will know that the cert doesn't belong to that game.
Because they included several checksums.

 

[foreveralive]

Wonder if there's tool to unpack and repack games?

 

[Nincompoopdo]

Wonder if there's tool to unpack and repack games?

There is a trimming tool:

https://github.com/Destiny1984/XCI-Cutter

 

[afi2003]

Is the procedure for installing .nca the same as .nsp?
(I have SX OS 1.3 Xecuter, I use DEVMENU to install .nsp but did not test with .nca for fear of brick)

 

[Draxzelex]

Is the procedure for installing .nca the same as .nsp?
(I have SX OS 1.3 Xecuter, I use DEVMENU to install .nsp but did not test with .nca for fear of brick)

We cannot install .NCAs at the moment. We may never be able to install them as .NSP is the supported file format for installations.

 

[afi2003]

We cannot install .NCAs at the moment. We may never be able to install them as .NSP is the supported file format for installations.

Is that I downloaded Splatoon and an .nca file came along, what do I do with it?

 

[Draxzelex]

Is that I downloaded Splatoon and an .nca file came along, what do I do with it?

You try converting them with this tool but it may or may not work after conversion: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nspbuild-build-nsp-files.509816/

Also, you mentioned you downloaded them. Did you download them from a CDN or warez site? If the latter, those files should be in .NSP format somewhere either on the site or elsewhere on the Internet.

 

[evan_nandes]

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