Homebrew .3ds, .3dz, CIA and 3dx...Oo

Amapola62 · Oct 25, 2015

What is the difference between all these formats...with as little technical vocabulary as possible...please...

From what i gathered .3ds files are 3ds roms taken directly, they have to be rename to .3dz if they have a private header but I don't know why...CIA files are files/games used in a CFW but I don't know why they can't be in .3ds or .3dz format...and .3dx is the format used by the homebrew launcher...

daxtsu · Oct 25, 2015

.3ds files are ripped directly from cartridges usually (there's more to it than that, but for simplicity, just go with this), and are used with Gateway/Sky3DS, but CFWs don't support loading these right now.
.3dz is the same as .3ds, except you have a private/public header injected, meaning you can play online.
.cia files are installed directly to your 3DS's SD card (not sure what you mean by "I don't know why they can't be in 3ds/3dz format", when they can, most scene retail rips start off as .3ds, and you can "rip" .3ds files from CIAs).
.3dsx is purely for homebrew (but homebrew can come in .3ds and .cia formats too).

Amapola62 · Oct 25, 2015

I read one could only use .cia files if they have a CFW...and i wondered if it was true and the reason for that...

daxtsu · Oct 25, 2015

For the most part, yes, CIA games can only be used with CFW, but there is a small handful of games that work without CFW, because they came bundled on special 3DSes (and people managed to rip them off those 3DSes, so they work on any). It's hard to explain why without getting technical, but basically, most CIA games are made from modified .3ds files, and the 3DS won't accept those files without CFW, because they're not from Nintendo.

DarkFlare69 · Oct 26, 2015

The reason for only being able to use CIAs is somewhat simple. .3DS are cartridges, .cia is software. There's no cartridge for CFW. You can use .3dsx with *hax.

DarkFlare69 · Oct 26, 2015

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Homebrew .3ds, .3dz, CIA and 3dx...Oo

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