Emulation HELP: How to Use/Convert CDN files? [3DS (Digital) (CDN)]

rave420 · 2024-11-22T05:49:01+0000

Titlekey, tickets, this or that I really missed the boat when all of this was happening. That's why I have to make up for lost time now and build my own "virtual archive". I'm glad the tools to do this from CDN content exist, it means there's that much more potential content available for me (and all of us) to use.

4d1xlaan said:
shared title keys are useless now, the algorithm is known so you can generate title keys for any title you want now. which is probably how your ntool does it

Huh, I had no idea, show how much I know about the topic. I can't say one way or the other how ntool is able to create installable CIAs from CDN content, but my 3DS doesn't complain when I install them through FBI and they play fine, and that is all which really matters to me.

I'm fairly familiar with Switch hacking and feel like I'm on solid footing if I run into trouble, the same can not be said about my 3DS knowledge. I got by using some guide that thankfully worked for all 3 of my 3DS devices, but I haven't really wrapped my head around the custom firmware part of it. For example, if I wanted to replace a 32gb SD card for a 128gb SD card, I wouldn't know where to start. On my Switch it's not as straightforward as simply copying over the files. I got to look into the procedure for transferring SD cards on my 3DS, I got a feeling it's a simple as copying the contents and I'm overthinking it.

Thanks for all of the advice.

The Real Jdbye · 2024-11-22T10:10:20+0000

rave420 said:
Gotcha, I found the place you are referring to in my search earlier. 964 tickets or so, that sound about right? I was under the impression those were primarily for Wii titles.

Either way, by using ntool I am able to build CIA's out of CDN files, without using a ticket (ntool creates a fake ticket in place). Those CIAs install fine on real 3DS modded hardware for the most part, unless I install an update without having the base game or something. Pretty cool, that's all I really wanted to do. I'll keep the title key vault archived as well, never know when one might need these for something. Thanks for all of the answers.

Oh, whoops. I looked more closely and those are just Wii U title keys, the 3DS title keys have long since been deleted (the number should've been around 3500 with 3DS+Wii U so 964 definitely didn't seem right)
But it seems you don't need them anyway so all is good

4d1xlaan · 2024-11-22T19:09:45+0000

cearp said:
Very cool stuff! Completely missed that, 4 years ago

Thanks, and I just found where ntool does it - https://github.com/xprism1/ntool/blob/2a34e6e4adbd608b00652fa807633c5f460c6e7d/lib/ctr_cdn.py#L18

Me too, I thought it was just switch that had auth when downloading content from cdn - but apparently 3DS on/after fw 11.8 needed it too!
And that came out a few years ago. Sorry, you're right!

yes, it allowed decrypting content that was never officially public too. like the mew distribution vc for pokémon, the title id was known and the contents were downloaded from cdn as soon as we knew the title id, but we couldn't do anything with it because no one had the title key

also, the authentication is way weaker on 3ds than on switch. on 3ds it only checks if the ticket is legit signed, on switch it needs to authenticate the whole console unique info (certs mostly, but maybe prodinfo in general)

so if you enter the in-game dlc shop for a game, you get given... a legit ticket, with 0 dlc owned on the ticket. but the ticket is a legit ticket, so you can use that ticket to download every dlc off the cdn and make a cia out of it

rave420 · 2024-11-22T22:53:48+0000

4d1xlaan said:
like the mew distribution vc for pokémon, the title id was known and the contents were downloaded from cdn as soon as we knew the title id, but we couldn't do anything with it because no one had the title key

I vaguely remember this. What a blast from the past to be honest.

This is perhaps one of the biggest barriers I'm facing when trying to catch up on the 3DS scene. Every post with the relevant information i am looking for is half a decade plus old, with some info going straight back to like 2014ish. Never mind most of the external links to tools and such being posted being long since dead. Thankfully the stuff hosted here on GBATemp hasn't disappeared (though moved around in some instances). Another post I was reading claimed CDN content downloads were useless since we would need the titlekey or something to that extent. Turns out that was just old and outdated information, and by now there's tools out there that can turn these downloads into installable CIAs. I'm sure that was not the case at the time of posting, a few years later and people figured it out. Amazing.

Personally, I have half a mind of picking up a few more used N3DSXL consoles from ebay for cheap, as far as handheld entertainment systems go (and the variety of content that can be played on it) seems hard to beat. I also don't think the Switch counts as a proper handheld gaming device in the same league as the 3DS. Sure the Switch is "portable", but I wouldn't just want to toss it into my backpack or try and fit it into a pocket. I am of the opinion that the 3DS is the peak handheld gaming experience, and Nintendo won't do any better with whatever console is being released after the Switch. Rant over.

4d1xlaan · 2024-11-23T01:52:46+0000

rave420 said:
Personally, I have half a mind of picking up a few more used N3DSXL consoles from ebay for cheap, as far as handheld entertainment systems go (and the variety of content that can be played on it) seems hard to beat. I also don't think the Switch counts as a proper handheld gaming device in the same league as the 3DS. Sure the Switch is "portable", but I wouldn't just want to toss it into my backpack or try and fit it into a pocket. I am of the opinion that the 3DS is the peak handheld gaming experience, and Nintendo won't do any better with whatever console is being released after the Switch. Rant over.

yeah the n3ds is pretty cool, doing all the handhelds up to 3ds, and nes + snes pretty well too

even regular 3ds isnt too bad, you're just missing snes. there are unofficial emulators that can kinda do snes on original 3ds, but not as well as snes vc

though the caveat is that snes vc can't do games with special chips and such. so a few games get left out. but handheld is mostly for handheld games anyway, console games is just an extra. the wii u is there for the console side

Emulation HELP: How to Use/Convert CDN files? [3DS (Digital) (CDN)]

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