This guide is for Rom Hacking any game on any 3ds without LumaCFW that can boot into the Homebrew Launcher (Check to see if you can get CFW Here). At Least 2 GB free on your sd Card is recommended (sometimes required)

(Step 0?: Have Access to Homebrew with title selector. Also, have a functioning brain, won't work without it)

Step 1: Download and Extract the Braindump folder from the .7z to the "3ds" folder on the SD Card

Step 2: Boot your 3ds into The Homebrew Launcher, using your method of choice and choose the Braindump application, then choose the game which you would like to hack

Step 3: Wait. Go watch some Netflix while the game dumps. It could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on what game was dumped and what model of 3ds you have)

Step 4: Once the game has dumped, a folder (or File) with a bunch of random numbers and letters will be on the SD Card. You will need Ctrtool in the same folder as the file(s) to extract it

Step 4.25: Move the Folder/File to your Computer

Step 4.5: Only if you have a .cxi and can VISUALLY SEE .cxi in the name:
Rename the file to "game.cxi" (without the quotes)
If you CANNOT see .cxi; just change the name to "game" (without the quotes)

Step 4.75: If you do have a file and you renamed it to "game" or "game.cxi", Download this zip, extract it to the folder, run "1.bat",give it about 5 minutes

Step 5: Should now have "Romfs.bin" and "Exefs.bin"
Run "2.bat", wait. Then run "3.bat", this one should take around 10 minutes.

Step 6: You should now have a romfs folder and an exefs folder. Apply any changes to the files inside the directories and prepare for rebuilding

Step 7: Download RomfsBuilder and open the program. Then choose the romfs folder that was edited, and hit go (not literally) and when the program is finished, save the file of the last 8 digits of the Game ID and .romfs (Example: 00000000.romfs)

Step 8: Move the romfs file to the "hans" folder on your sd card (Not '/3ds/hans' just 'Hans' or it won't work) and boot HANS through the homebrew launcher. (Make sure the romfs setting is enabled) and hopefully (if you did everything right) Rom hack!!!
What did you do? Maybe a cool sound mod? Couple texture hacks? Or a rework of a game completely?

Step 9: ENJOY

 

[MassExplosion213]

Not to be rude, but this is pretty much useless with Luma 8. It has LayeredFS, far superior to HANS. Also, braindump does not generate clean dumps, making it pretty useless now as well.

 

[Deleted member 402717]

Not to be rude, but this is pretty much useless with Luma 8. It has LayeredFS, far superior to HANS. Also, braindump does not generate clean dumps, making it pretty useless now as well.

Yeah... I kinda made this for people without LumaCFW, and (Just Curious) when did Braindump not make clean dumps?

 

[MassExplosion213]

Yeah... I kinda made this for people without LumaCFW, and (Just Curious) when did Braindump not make clean dumps?

Always. It has no way of dumping the ExHeader or per-cart data and so it just inserts junk there.

 

[Majickhat55]

Which is why you can only use HANS with the files dumped from Braindump. Definitely can't build a .CIA with random garbage. Still a good tut, just tell people to use Decrypt9/Godmode9 (pretty sure there are .3dsx versions) to dump their game to use for HANS and regular HomeBrew. Or they can extract the RomFS/ExeFS directly to their SD card with Godmode9, that's like skipping two steps Lol.

 

[KunoichiZ]

Which is why you can only use HANS with the files dumped from Braindump. Definitely can't build a .CIA with random garbage. Still a good tut, just tell people to use Decrypt9/Godmode9 (pretty sure there are .3dsx versions) to dump their game to use for HANS and regular HomeBrew. Or they can extract the RomFS/ExeFS directly to their SD card with Godmode9, that's like skipping two steps Lol.

.3dsx versions of D9/GM9 either require firmware 9.2.0 or Luma's patch arm9 access setting enabled on higher firmwares. Unless they have either of those things, they are stuck using HANS+braindump. And if they have Luma, they're better off using the .firm versions of D9/GM9 instead of braindump and the layeredfs feature instead of HANS.

 

[Majickhat55]

Yeah I thought it required extras, I just remember loading it as a .3dsx with udesploit or whatever. Hell TBH the easiest way is to just download a ROM somewhere and use some PC script tools for extraction Lol if you don't have CFW.

 

[suzsuzuki]

I can't see HANS on Luma 8.1, just in Luma 7.1. Why?

 

[Deleted member 402717]

I can't see HANS on Luma 8.1, just in Luma 7.1. Why?

If you have Luma 8.1/8.0/7.1, please use layeredfs as your ROM hacking method. This guide is for people without LumaCFW.

 

[Byonic]

Will be useful once I mod my 3DS

 

[Deleted User]

Is there a guide to rom hacking with saltysd or layeredfs? I'm a total noob when it comes to 3ds texture modding.

 

[MrMcTiller]

Do I need to FULL romfs to build the .romfs? Or can I just create a .romfs with just the edited romfs?

 

[KunoichiZ]

Do I need to FULL romfs to build the .romfs? Or can I just create a .romfs with just the edited romfs?

You need the full romfs. But you have CFW so you should not be using HANS but instead Luma's layeredfs as HANS is horribly outdated and should only be used by Homebrew users ONLY.

 

[Majickhat55]

I don't even think HANS works with Rosalina..... Most older HomeBrew use an ancient version of lib that isn't supported by Rosalina. The same goes for almost all homebrew that haven't seen an update since the 10.7 firmware.

 

[MrMcTiller]

I don't even think HANS works with Rosalina..... Most older HomeBrew use an ancient version of lib that isn't supported by Rosalina. The same goes for almost all homebrew that haven't seen an update since the 10.7 firmware.

You need the full romfs. But you have CFW so you should not be using HANS but instead Luma's layeredfs as HANS is horribly outdated and should only be used by Homebrew users ONLY.

OK, I was just asking for a friend... I have Luma 8.1.1

 

[Eddypikachu]

You need the full romfs. But you have CFW so you should not be using HANS but instead Luma's layeredfs as HANS is horribly outdated and should only be used by Homebrew users ONLY.

I'm trying to edit puyo chronicles using lumas layeredFS but Im stuck on trying to get the code.bin from this cia, do you happen to know how to extract it? I read it was in the exeFS.bin but decrypting that I only get three files that are .code, banner, and icon. is the .code file the code.bin?

 

[KunoichiZ]

I'm trying to edit puyo chronicles using lumas layeredFS but Im stuck on trying to get the code.bin from this cia, do you happen to know how to extract it? I read it was in the exeFS.bin but decrypting that I only get three files that are .code, banner, and icon. is the .code file the code.bin?

It should be or you could find another way to extract it and obtain the proper code.bin.

 

[Eddypikachu]

It should be or you could find another way to extract it and obtain the proper code.bin.

should I rename .code to *inserttitleID*.bin then? I used godmode9 to get it, I first selected the cia then I mounted it to the drive then it had the romfs and exefs folders already exctracted

 

[KunoichiZ]

should I rename .code to *inserttitleID*.bin then? I used godmode9 to get it, I first selected the cia then I mounted it to the drive then it had the romfs and exefs folders already exctracted

You could try that. or you could extract the CIA on your computer and see if you get the code.bin if that doesn't work.

 

[Eddypikachu]

You could try that. or you could extract the CIA on your computer and see if you get the code.bin if that doesn't work.

aww it didnt work, I'm stuck now I already tried extracting the cia on my computer using Asia81's tool but it only gave me the romfs and exefs bins and not the folders :/ All I need is this dang code.bin I've looked everywhere even on /that/ site to learn how to do it but I cant find any clear instructions