Homebrew Tutorial - Converting ROMs for Citra without a 3DS!

EdwardElric

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
150
Trophies
0
Age
28
XP
128
Country
United States
Welcome to my tutorial on converting .cia roms to .3ds to run in Citra 3DS Emulator! If you have any problems please do not hesitate to PM me or post a reply on this thread for some assistance, Enjoy!

Part 1 - Tools
To convert your ROM for the Citra Emulator, you will need some tools. Below, you will find the tools needed for ROM conversion.
Part 2 - Lets get started! - Now that we are onto the second part, we can now start decrypting 3DS games!

Part 2: Step 1 "Python" - If you do not already have Python 2.7, Download and install it (Link in Part 1). (If already installed, you may skip this step)

Part 2: Step 2 "Almost ready!" - Now that you have Python 2.7 installed, you need to extract the "3DS to CIA Converter v4.1.rar" with an extractor that extracts RAR files (WinRAR recommended)

Part 3 - Preparing .CIA for Convert - Now that you have the 3DS to CIA Converter extracted, take your CIA file, and put it in the same folder as the "3DS to CIA Converter.bat" file and name it something simple like for example, Mario Kart 7 could be renamed to MarioKart.cia.
One.PNG


Part 4 - Converting the ROM - Now it is finally time to convert the ROM! Open up "3DS to CIA Converter.bat" and you will see some options going from one to six. Type 3 and press enter.
Options.PNG


Once you are in the converters menu, you will see 9 options. Type 6 and press enter. Now that you're in the "CIA to 3DS Convert" option, enter the name of the CIA file and press enter.
MK.PNG


Be patient and just wait for the ROM to convert. Once the ROM is converted, it will say "Congratulations You're Done!".

Part 5 - Running the file on Citra - Once you are finished in the 3DS to CIA Converter, go back to your folder and you will see something like this
done.PNG

Now take the .3ds file and launch it in Citra (if it doesnt work, try the -alt file) and it should run as planned.

Part 6 - Proof that it works - And now we see it in Citra! (You may need extra files dumped from 3DS to run certain games on Citra, though.)
citra.PNG
 
Last edited by EdwardElric,

WOOO1234

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Messages
219
Trophies
0
Age
33
XP
317
Country
United States
I know this is an old thread,but curious

what you guys mean by files dumped from 3ds?

How come when doing conversion it says files not found? (Because of 3ds dump files,not having them?)

Last thing can someone help do this correctly and tell me what I am missing. Thank you

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Nvm got to make sure ur file has an extra . when u put in command.
I put Mariokart.cia and is said no file found

but actually when you put Mariokart.cia.
It finds it

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

It says it could not read exheader file???

It made a mariokart.cia.cci file but no 3ds file

HELP!!!
 

Giodude

GBAtemp's official rock
Member
Joined
May 17, 2015
Messages
5,094
Trophies
1
Age
23
Location
New York
XP
2,761
Country
United States
I know this is an old thread,but curious

what you guys mean by files dumped from 3ds?

How come when doing conversion it says files not found? (Because of 3ds dump files,not having them?)

Last thing can someone help do this correctly and tell me what I am missing. Thank you

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Nvm got to make sure ur file has an extra . when u put in command.
I put Mariokart.cia and is said no file found

but actually when you put Mariokart.cia.
It finds it

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

It says it could not read exheader file???

It made a mariokart.cia.cci file but no 3ds file

HELP!!!
gud necrobump. The thread is a person who doesnt understand what decrypt means. Dont worry about this.
 

SubLoverD

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
96
Trophies
0
Age
32
XP
295
Country
the code execution cannot proceed further because MSVCR71.dll was not found. reinstalling the program may fix this problem

What have i done wrong?
 

Dragen

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 4, 2017
Messages
1
Trophies
0
Age
25
XP
42
Country
France
How can I convert a 3ds file to a 3ds file descrypted for Citra please ? I have try this tutoriel but it need the 3ds file in ".cia" ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mored1984

Madsumi

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
22
XP
42
Country
Indonesia
I did everything he said. But it didn't work. I don't understand what's wrong. I press 3. Then press 6. Then I type the cia in the folder. Then I press enter. About a second later, a congratulation word appeared. When I look in the folder, nothing's chaged at all from before I tried to changed the cia. Please someone explain what wrong.
 

Madsumi

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
22
XP
42
Country
Indonesia
Mine didn't work. After I type the cia and press enter, a second later it appeared "Congratulations You're Done Press any key to continue . . . ". I don't know what's wrong. Could someone explaind it to me?
 

TheDevil

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Feb 4, 2020
Messages
2
Trophies
0
Age
37
XP
48
Country
United States
I'm aware that this topic is old but I'm having trouble here. This doesn't work on my file. I receive two consecutive errors.
CIA Converter Error 1.PNG
CIA Converter Error 2.PNG

I don't know what any of this means. Did I perhaps install the wrong Python? There are at least 4 different 2.7's (i.e 2.7.15, 2.7.16, 2.7.17 etc) and then that in itself had like 10 different download files. So I just picked one.
I'm not savvy with this type of thing and would appreciate it if someone could please specify the Python need. I don't even understand what the thing is.
 
Last edited by TheDevil,
  • Like
Reactions: Natural

SamyKn

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
58
Trophies
0
Age
43
XP
260
Country
Australia
I have the same issue , dll not found.
But when i check it's Visual studio DLL but all possible versions are currently installed in my PC :unsure:
Any idea
 

SamyKn

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
58
Trophies
0
Age
43
XP
260
Country
Australia
download the attachment i sent

@Stealphie
Thanks alot mate (Muy obrigado :) ) , i ran the decryption tool and the log file says decryption completed success fully.

The decrypted file size is exactly the same as the encrypted file : (pls check below)
upload_2020-6-7_12-6-42.png


But when I try to run the decrypted file via retroarch i get the below error:
(As far as I understand CCI and 3ds are nearly the same and name is interchangeable if you change the extension , i tried both and no luck :huh:)

Can you pls help? any idea?

upload_2020-6-7_12-6-10.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stealphie

Stealphie

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2019
Messages
1,551
Trophies
1
XP
5,683
Country
Brazil
@Stealphie
Thanks alot mate (Muy obrigado :) ) , i ran the decryption tool and the log file says decryption completed success fully.

The decrypted file size is exactly the same as the encrypted file : (pls check below)
View attachment 212259

But when I try to run the decrypted file via retroarch i get the below error:
(As far as I understand CCI and 3ds are nearly the same and name is interchangeable if you change the extension , i tried both and no luck :huh:)

Can you pls help? any idea?

View attachment 212258
I don't know. Might be Retroarch. It worked fine on Citra (switch retroarch core). The size being the same is normal. Try seeing if you can run literally any other 3DS game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SamyKn

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    SylverReZ @ SylverReZ: @salazarcosplay, Morning