Hacking [QUESTION] Change the title ID of a game

lordelan · Feb 1, 2023

I want to install multiple copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and BOTW simultaneously on my Switch, as I wanna have separate games for different mod (packs).
I'm well aware of LayeredFS and that I don't have to but want it anyway. Also want different save games on each so I'd say it's a legit request.
I've dumped main game, update and DLC of my MK8D and ended up with three NSPs.

So my questions are:

Which tool do I need to "unpack" the NSP in order to alter files? Is it HacTool?
Which file(s?) would I need to edit in order to change the title ID?
Is there any reason why I wouldn't be able to copy mod files directly into the unpacked NSP before repacking it so the installed game comes already shipped with the mod included (without the need of LayeredFS)?
Which tool do I need to repack my altered files to NSP again? Also HacTool?
Important question: How would I edit the update and DLC file to belong to my newly created base game NSP with an altered title ID?
Or can I just unpack those two and include it into the base game files as well before repacking to have one single "All-in-One-NSP" that I install?
Bonus question: Is there any convention or pattern I should rely on when giving my games new title IDs?

binkinator · Feb 1, 2023

I’m curious about this too. A useful idea if there’s a way to pull it off.

My hunch would be that the titleID will be sprinkled throughout the game so it may or may not function at all under a made up title ID.
source: my pink nether regions.

I’ll shutup now to allow someone with actual knowledge to chime it.

lordelan · Feb 1, 2023

We need to figure it out.
Pretty sure people like @SciresM know it.
I'll gladly provide a well written tutorial here on gbatemp for both (title ID changing and including mods/update+dlc directly into NSP) once my question got answered and I got that running.

masagrator · Feb 1, 2023

SciresM won't provide solution, for NSP this requires repacking game, and repacking game makes validation checks invalid, thus game like that is considered as pirated content.

It would be easier to implement mod separation for different profiles to Atmosphere, but I doubt SciresM will want to implement such niche feature as already has doubts in implementing mod separation for emummc and sysmmc which I guess is more valid request.

lordelan · Feb 1, 2023

masagrator said:
SciresM won't provide solution, for NSP this requires repacking game, and repacking game makes validation checks invalid, thus game like that is considered as pirated content.

While I don't care for that (as what I'm planning to do is legit anyway as long as I bring my own MK8D game to the party) and should be fine with signature patches, I wonder if it's even possible to repack NCAs or romFS back into NSP/XCI. I looked at HacTool, HacToolGUI (abandoned) and HACGUI and it appears that it's "only" possible to extract Switch games but not repack them.

The official gbatemp thread of HacTool claims it can repack NSPs but there's literally zero documentation about this tool and I can't seem to find it among all possible CLI arguments within the GitHub readme.

binkinator · Feb 1, 2023

lordelan said:
While I don't care for that (as what I'm planning to do is legit anyway as long as I bring my own MK8D game to the party) and should be fine with signature patches, I wonder if it's even possible to repack NCAs or romFS back into NSP/XCI. I looked at HacTool, HacToolGUI (abandoned) and HACGUI and it appears that it's "only" possible to extract Switch games but not repack them.

The official gbatemp thread of HacTool claims it can repack NSPs but there's literally zero documentation about this tool and I can't seem to find it among all possible CLI arguments within the GitHub readme.

I‘m pretty sure hacBrewPack will put NSPs back together again. Might be just for homebrew though. :-(

Imancol · Feb 1, 2023

Has anyone managed to pack/Create Multi title games?

Draxzelex · Feb 1, 2023

binkinator said:
I‘m pretty sure hacBrewPack will put NSPs back together again. Might be just for homebrew though. :-(

Same person also made hacPack which is more geared towards repacking Nintendo Switch games. Maybe this is what you guys are looking for?

binkinator · Feb 1, 2023

Draxzelex said:
Same person also made hacPack which is more geared towards repacking Nintendo Switch games. Maybe this is what you guys are looking for?

Good call! Seems @DarkMatterCore ’s rendition is most up to date.

https://github.com/DarkMatterCore/hacPack

Going to see if it builds w/ latest from DevKitPro.

e: closing the loop here. Not only does it build w/ latest, the 2019 releases from @The-4n still run on Windows just fine.

I’ve not mucked with anything end-to-end and I don’t know if there will be any issues w/ keys or anything. It shouldn’t matter but don’t know for sure, yet. Going to look for a good tut and see if I can make a custom SMO or something basic as a test.

Unity150_magickavoxel · Feb 2, 2023

hactool to unpack nsp and extract program nca that will give exefs and romfs and also extract control nca if you want to change the icon. Also need to change the titleid in main.npdm. Repack the nca using hacpack and also need to make a meta nca
then make nsp using those nca's using hacpack. As for titleid you should just use titleids from other games that you won't ever play.

masagrator · Feb 2, 2023

lordelan said:
Bonus question: Is there any convention or pattern I should rely on when giving my games new title IDs?

game titleid must be higher than 0100000000010000 and lower than 01FFFFFFFFFFE000
it must be divisible by 0x2000

update must have: titleid of base game titleid + 0x800
DLC titleid must have: titleid of base game + 0x1000 + DLC ID (1 or 2 or 3, etc)

lordelan · Feb 2, 2023

Unity150_magickavoxel said:
hactool to unpack nsp and extract program nca that will give exefs and romfs and also extract control nca if you want to change the icon. Also need to change the titleid in main.npdm. Repack the nca using hacpack and also need to make a meta nca
then make nsp using those nca's using hacpack. As for titleid you should just use titleids from other games that you won't ever play.

Thanks!

I'm about to try this probably this evening. And good point, I also want to change the icon.

masagrator said:
game titleid must be higher than 0100000000010000 and lower than 01FFFFFFFFFFE000
it must be divisible by 0x2000

update must have: titleid of base game titleid + 0x800
DLC titleid must have: titleid of base game + 0x1000 + DLC ID (1 or 2 or 3, etc)

That's very helpful, thanks.
I should probably be fine using any Title ID that (e.g.) nro2nsp generates randomly I guess. And I'm about to try to bundle update and DLCs into the base game before repacking it so I only need that one Title ID.

masagrator · Feb 2, 2023

lordelan said:
And I'm about to try to bundle update and DLCs into the base game before repacking it so I only need that one Title ID.

DLCs and updates even in aio still include informations about their own titleids to be properly detected.

lordelan · Feb 2, 2023

masagrator said:
still include informations

And do you know where exactly those informations are included? You mean, how and update "knows" to which base game title ID it "belongs"?

masagrator · Feb 2, 2023

lordelan said:
And do you know where exactly those informations are included? You mean, how and update "knows" to which base game title ID it "belongs"?

Metadata NCA contains information which NCAs are related to each other. There can be more than one in NSP/XCI

Clutz450 · Mar 26, 2024

@lordelan , Did you ever figure this out? The small community that I am a part of that is keeping Super Mario Bros. 35 alive is working on a mod to change all the levels to those from The Lost Levels (the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2). From what I understand right now, it's a pain to have to rename mod folders to turn on and off the mod (unless there a homebrew app that can easily do it). So I was thinking that we could install the game twice (one modded and one not modded) to have both versions of the game installed at once and we can select the one we want. What are your thoughts? Thank you.

lordelan · Mar 26, 2024

Clutz450 said:
Did you ever figure this out?

Hey buddy. Unfortunately not. And I dare to say I tried literally everything possible. Part of that has to do with the fact, that a few tools that could have helped with that, are super outdated at this point and won't work any with any firmwares and/or games from the recent 3 or 4 years.

Clutz450 said:
(unless there a homebrew app that can easily do it)

There is: https://github.com/nadrino/SimpleModManager
Might be enough for your needs.

Clutz450 said:
So I was thinking that we could install the game twice (one modded and one not modded) to have both versions of the game installed at once and we can select the one we want.

That was exactly what I was trying to do with BotW and MK8D. For the latter I wanted to have one MK8D there for SitBar's Mod pack while keeping the vanilla game to go with CTGP-Deluxe (whenever that comes out).
Having to rely on switching between mods (even with the rather comfortable homebrew app) is not satisfying at all. It's not elegant.
The same bugs me to death on the Wii U. At least I can install the US version next to the EU version for most of the games there but I still wonder, why no skilled dev takes on the task to provide a homebrew (or any other way) to easily alter a game's TID.
This was way better on the (v)Wii where I could have hundreds of MKWii and NSMBW versions next to each other.

Clutz450 said:
The small community that I am a part of that is keeping Super Mario Bros. 35 alive

Wait, are you telling me you can still play this online? Is there a hack to enable it for Switch LAN Play or how do u guys do it?
Also love the Lost Levels.

Feel free to invite me if you have a Discord or something like that.

TheStonedModder · Mar 26, 2024

lordelan said:
Hey buddy. Unfortunately not. And I dare to say I tried literally everything possible. Part of that has to do with the fact, that a few tools that could have helped with that, are super outdated at this point and won't work any with any firmwares and/or games from the recent 3 or 4 years.

There is: https://github.com/nadrino/SimpleModManager
Might be enough for your needs.

That was exactly what I was trying to do with BotW and MK8D. For the latter I wanted to have one MK8D there for SitBar's Mod pack while keeping the vanilla game to go with CTGP-Deluxe (whenever that comes out).
Having to rely on switching between mods (even with the rather comfortable homebrew app) is not satisfying at all. It's not elegant.
The same bugs me to death on the Wii U. At least I can install the US version next to the EU version for most of the games there but I still wonder, why no skilled dev takes on the task to provide a homebrew (or any other way) to easily alter a game's TID.
This was way better on the (v)Wii where I could have hundreds of MKWii and NSMBW versions next to each other.

Wait, are you telling me you can still play this online? Is there a hack to enable it for Switch LAN Play or how do u guys do it?
Also love the Lost Levels. Feel free to invite me if you have a Discord or something like that.

Wow the tools being old is a good point I didn’t consider

Maybe that’s also why I couldn’t get hacbuild or anything to actually build an XCI correctly

lordelan · Mar 27, 2024

lordelan said:
Wait, are you telling me you can still play this online? Is there a hack to enable it for Switch LAN Play or how do u guys do it?

To answer myself: https://smb35server.com/
Nothing to do with Switch LAN Play. It just patches the server url directly in the game files via LayeredFS (aka a game mod that can be used in Atmosphère or any emulator) and they re-built the server on their own basically.

@Clutz450 I'd still love to get in touch with that Lost Levels community for that so feel free to pull me into your Discord server if it exists (and you're accepting new faces).

Clutz450 · Mar 28, 2024

lordelan said:
@Clutz450 I'd still love to get in touch with that Lost Levels community for that so feel free to pull me into your Discord server if it exists (and you're accepting new faces).

This link should work. https://discord.gg/vjtVQHnGG9

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