Skip to content

README.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
92 lines (62 loc) · 4.01 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

92 lines (62 loc) · 4.01 KB
Raw

CIA Build Tooling

Tools for building installable .cia files. The main app build (make or build.bat release at repo root) produces .3dsx for Homebrew Launcher only.

No git submodules required. Prebuilt Windows binaries and assets are included in this repo.

Quick start (Windows)

From the repo root:

build.bat banners
build_cia.bat

For a release, bump VERSION first, then run build.bat banners so meta/cia-banner.png includes the new version label. See VERSIONING.md.

build_cia.bat runs make → bannertool → makerom and writes dist/3DS-Random-Game-Launcher-v<VERSION>.cia. It does not regenerate banner PNGs — it reads whatever is already in meta/.

What each step uses

Step Command Banner-related inputs
Homebrew only make / build.bat release icon.png only (.3dsx SMDH). No meta/banner*.png.
Regenerate artwork build.bat banners / ./build.sh banners Writes meta/banner.png, meta/cia-banner.png, meta/banner-large.png from meta/banner-src/
CIA package build_cia.bat meta/cia-banner.png, meta/audio.wav, icon.png → embedded in .cia

Regenerate banners: build.bat banners (Windows) or ./build.sh banners (Linux/Mac). Requires Python 3 + Pillow (pip install -r requirements-dev.txt).

Layout

Path Purpose
build_cia.bat One-step CIA build script (repo root)
tools/bin/bannertool.exe Creates .bnr banner and .icn icon files (v1.2.0)
tools/bin/makerom.exe CTR makerom — packages ELF into .cia
tools/bin/ctrtool.exe Inspect NCCH/CIA (optional)
tools/3DS-Random-Game-Launcher.rsf RSF metadata for this title

Banner, icon, and audio sources are documented in ../meta/README.md.

Intermediate files (build/banner.bnr, build/icon.icn) go in build/ (gitignored).

Prerequisites

Requirement Notes
devkitPro + devkitARM For make → .elf (same as .3dsx build)
Windows Prebuilt tools/bin/*.exe are Windows binaries
CFW on 3DS CIAs install via FBI, Universal Updater, etc.

Manual workflow

If you prefer to run steps yourself:

  1. Build the ELF: make (or build.bat release)
  2. Create banner and icon:
tools\bin\bannertool.exe makebanner -i meta\cia-banner.png -a meta\audio.wav -o build\banner.bnr
tools\bin\bannertool.exe makesmdh -s "3DS Random Game Launcher" -l "3DS Random Game Launcher" -p "selloa" -i icon.png -o build\icon.icn
  1. Package with makerom:
tools\bin\makerom.exe -f cia -o dist\3DS-Random-Game-Launcher-v0.1.9.cia ^
  -rsf tools\3DS-Random-Game-Launcher.rsf -target t ^
  -elf 3DS-Random-Game-Launcher.elf ^
  -icon build\icon.icn -banner build\banner.bnr

Adjust the output filename to match VERSION. See the makerom README for full options.

Updating tools

bannertool — download v1.2.0 and copy windows-x86_64/bannertool.exe to tools/bin/.

makerom — download a release from 3DSGuy/Project_CTR (makerom-v* tags) and copy makerom.exe to tools/bin/.

External references

Notes

  • CIA build outputs (.cia, .cxi) go in dist/ (gitignored)
  • Tracked CIA archives live in releases/archive/ for reference builds
  • The RSF references a romfs/ directory; create it only if the app needs embedded files
  • Most users should use the .3dsx from Homebrew Launcher; CIA is for Home Menu installation