Help:Dumping games

In order to get a copy of the content files and executable, you will need to dump the game from a console. This article provides instructions for Switch users.

Switch

The general process is:

1. Dump the base version NCA of the game.
2. Dump the update NCA.
3. Extract the romfs to get a copy of the content files.

Prerequisites

• hactool
• nxdumptool
• Keys (see below)
  1. Run LockpickRCM on your console in order to dump keys that are required to decrypt contents (or get a copy of the keys manually).
  2. Copy the keys file from your SD to $HOME/.switch/prod.keys.

In the instructions below, every time you are dumping a NSP, turn on the "Remove console specific data" and "Generate ticket-less dump" options. This is not a best practice but should make extraction easier.

Dumping the base NCA

Because of how updates work on Switch, the base NCA must be dumped even if you're only interested in a specific game update.

• On your Switch, open nxdumptool.
• If you have the game card: Select "Dump gamecard content".
• If you have the eShop version: Select "Dump SD card / eMMC content". Select the game.
• Select "NSP dump". If asked to, select "Dump base application NSP".
• Copy the NSP to a computer, then extract it by running the command hactool -t pfs0 [path to the NSP] --outdir [folder where to place the NCAs] ^[help]. The main NCA will be found in the folder you've told hactool to extract the files to.

Dumping the update

• On your Switch, open nxdumptool again.
• If you have a game card that does not include the latest update:
  • Select "Dump SD card / eMMC content".
  • Press Y to "dump installed content with missing base application".
  • Select 01006BB00C6F0800 (this is the update title).
  • Select "Start NSP dump process".
• If you have a game card that includes the latest update:
  • Select "Dump gamecard content".
  • Select "NSP dump", then select "Dump installed update NSP".
• If you have the eShop version:
  • Select "Dump SD card / eMMC content". Select the game.
  • Select "NSP dump", then select "Dump installed update NSP".
• Copy the NSP to a computer, then extract it by running the command hactool -t pfs0 [path to the NSP] --outdir [folder where to place the NCAs] ^[help]. You now have the update NCA (see Versions for NCA hashes).

Extracting the romfs

Now that you have the base NCA and the update NCA, you can extract the romfs (which contains all content files) by running the command ^[help]:

hactool -x -t nca path/to/update.nca  --basenca path/to/base.nca --romfsdir where/to/extract/the/romfs

To extract the exefs (which contains the executable and SDK libraries):

hactool -x -t nca path/to/update.nca  --basenca path/to/base.nca --exefsdir where/to/extract/the/exefs