Homebrew [Question] How do I install multiple .cia themes?

[CrazySquid]

Hello, my issue is that I have some .cia themes that works fine on my console, but I can only install one at the time, and they are all .cia files.
So, when I install another .cia theme, the old one gets rewritten, and if I install one .cia theme alongside some paid themes from the theme shop, I either get an error code (that's easy to fix, I just need to delete the data on dara management) or the themes gets erased or something like that (It's a bit confusing).
So... what can I do here? I saw an app called Howling Theme Tool which I thought it could work to create a big .cia file with all my themes on it, but then I realised that the tool is not actually compatible with .cia files... what are my options? Thanks in advance!

 

[placebo_yue]

cia themes? what's that? why don't you use anemone?

 

[Shadow#1]

Hello, my issue is that I have some .cia themes that works fine on my console, but I can only install one at the time, and they are all .cia files.
So, when I install another .cia theme, the old one gets rewritten, and if I install one .cia theme alongside some paid themes from the theme shop, I either get an error code (that's easy to fix, I just need to delete the data on dara management) or the themes gets erased or something like that (It's a bit confusing).
So... what can I do here? I saw an app called Howling Theme Tool which I thought it could work to create a big .cia file with all my themes on it, but then I realised that the tool is not actually compatible with .cia files... what are my options? Thanks in advance!

Don't use .cia themes use Anemone to inject themes

 

[CrazySquid]

cia themes? what's that? why don't you use anemone?

Because it's not compatible with the .cia files, the official themes I downloaded are .cia

Don't use .cia themes use Anemone to inject themes

All right, but how do I convert then my themes from .cia to a format compatible with anemone? Because it's not reading my .cia files

Thanks!

 

[Shadow#1]

Because it's not compatible with the .cia files, the official themes I downloaded are .cia


All right, but how do I convert then my themes from .cia to a format compatible with anemone? Because it's not reading my .cia files

Thanks!

Find the same theme not in .cia format

 

[CrazySquid]

Find the same theme not in .cia format

Ah... it was already a pain finding it on .cia format lol, I also tried this to see if I could extract the .cia to "convert" it to the Anemone format but I didn't have luck.
Assuming that I cannot find the non-cia version then it means I can't do anything else?

 

[E1ite007]

To use Howling Theme Tool, you should have your themes in the same format as the one used for Anemone.
If you want to use .cia themes, that's fine, but you cannot install more than one from different .cias, 'cause all of 'em (the pirated ones) use the same title ID, and when you install another .cia, although it's a different theme, for the system is kind like the same .cia, so that's why you have to pack them with Howling Theme Tool.
Are the ones you're trying to install official themes or custom made?

 

[CrazySquid]

To use Howling Theme Tool, you should have your themes in the same format as the one used for Anemone.
If you want to use .cia themes, that's fine, but you cannot install more than one from different .cias, 'cause all of 'em (the pirated ones) use the same title ID, and when you install another .cia, although it's a different theme, for the system is kind like the same .cia, so that's why you have to pack them with Howling Theme Tool.
Are the ones you're trying to install official themes or custom made?

Thank you! Yep, they are official, ussually I found custom themes in the "correct" format (Anemone) in a site that's called ThemePlaza I think.
My current idea is to extract the files and "convert" it to Anemone, but not sure if that's possible.

 

[E1ite007]

Thank you! Yep, they are official, ussually I found custom themes in the "correct" format (Anemone) in a site that's called ThemePlaza I think.
My current idea is to extract the files and "convert" it to Anemone, but not sure if that's possible.

Mmmmm... I don't know if you can extract themes from .cias.
Once upon a time (I'm telling you, around 2017) in Reddit was an index with all themes from the US, JPN and EUR eShops, and you could download those from MEGA or Google Drive, and they're on Anemone format.
I've searched and all links are down, so... I'm gonna search if how could you extract the themes... and good luck trying to find 'em for the meantime.

 

[CrazySquid]

Mmmmm... I don't know if you can extract themes from .cias.
Once upon a time (I'm telling you, around 2017) in Reddit was an index with all themes from the US, JPN and EUR eShops, and you could download those from MEGA or Google Drive, and they're on Anemone format.
I've searched and all links are down, so... I'm gonna search if how could you extract the themes... and good luck trying to find 'em for the meantime.

Oh damn, that's a shame, because the theme also conflicts with my paid ones from the theme shop, it's either having one of those themes or my other old themes.
Oh well, I will keep looking, thanks for the help!

 

[TurdPooCharger]

You can dump individual themes with CHMM2. You might have better luck saving time finding collections of official themes already dumped in the extracted format usable by homebrew theme managers.

 

[CrazySquid]

You can dump individual themes with CHMM2. You might have better luck saving time finding collections of official themes already dumped in the extracted format usable by homebrew theme managers.

Wait, let's say that I'm using a .cia theme and I run that app, can I extract the files of the themes with it? I'm a noob on the 3DS Scene tbh, thanks!

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Wait, let's say that I'm using a .cia theme and I run that app, can I extract the files of the themes with it? I'm a noob on the 3DS Scene tbh, thanks!

CHMM2 can extract official themes from the theme DLC *.cia, but the process is painstakingly slow. It'll be easier to google-fu those leaked dumps out there on the Internet (no asking here; look on your own).

 

[E1ite007]

You can dump individual themes with CHMM2. You might have better luck saving time finding collections of official themes already dumped in the extracted format usable by homebrew theme managers.

I've found all links for those collections dead Turd. More than 2,000 themes gone for good as far as I've found.

 

[CrazySquid]

CHMM2 can extract official themes from the theme DLC *.cia, but the process is painstakingly slow. It'll be easier to google-fu those leaked dumps out there on the Internet (no asking here; look on your own).

Still it's worth a shot, like E1ite said, it seems that all the themes are gone for good, I failed to found the Anemone format for the themes, so I guess I will try dumping them using CHMM2, I will play a bit with the app and come back here if I get some news!

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I've found all links for those collections dead Turd. More than 2,000 themes gone for good as far as I've found.

There is a guy around here on GBAtemp who knows about those themes, but I'm afraid in ringing him. Most of you who have been to the (now defunct) 3dsiso.com probably seen this guy before.

Other than Theme Plaza, you guys can trade your self created themes at r/3DSThemeSwap.

 

[CrazySquid]

All right guys! Here's how I mostly fixed my issue.
The idea changed to install the .cia theme and then dumping it, I installed CHMM2 to do this, but I didn't understand the interface and the app was really unstable (it crashed like 2 times in a row and also it gets super laggy if you press Y to scan the SD), so I ditched it, if someone can teach me on how to use it and dump themes with it I will be grateful!.
So, I found another app called "Themely" and I dumped the themes using that, and it worked perfectly fine!
Except for one thing, Themely doesn't dump the icon of the theme, but that's just a minor flaw that doesn't really affect this, the overall theme works fine.
So, after this I used the dumped files with Howling Theme Tool and boom, created a .cia with all my themes, I installed that .cia and worked fine.
It's not really straighforward, but this fixed my issue.
Does CHMM2 dump the icon of the themes? Thanks!

 

[Shadow#1]

All right guys! Here's how I mostly fixed my issue.
The idea changed to install the .cia theme and then dumping it, I installed CHMM2 to do this, but I didn't understand the interface and the app was really unstable (it crashed like 2 times in a row and also it gets super laggy if you press Y to scan the SD), so I ditched it, if someone can teach me on how to use it and dump themes with it I will be grateful!.
So, I found another app called "Themely" and I dumped the themes using that, and it worked perfectly fine!
Except for one thing, Themely doesn't dump the icon of the theme, but that's just a minor flaw that doesn't really affect this, the overall theme works fine.
So, after this I used the dumped files with Howling Theme Tool and boom, created a .cia with all my themes, I installed that .cia and worked fine.
It's not really straighforward, but this fixed my issue.
Does CHMM2 dump the icon of the themes? Thanks!

U don't want .cia themes

 

[CrazySquid]

U don't want .cia themes

Hm... you suggest it's just better to stick with the dumped format then? (Now that I think... it wasn't really necessary to reapack them as one .cia)

 

[E1ite007]

U don't want .cia themes

Just asking... why not?