How do i turn a .nds file into a .cia (2024)

Okay so i used this application i found on GBATemp which can be downloaded here: https://gbatemp.net/attachments/srl_scripts_dpad_5678-zip.93611/

The problem is...its meant to convert DSiWare into .nds and then .nds into .cia but i just want to take non-DSiWare meaning an actual DS game and turn it into a .cia for installation on my 3DS. One of my good friends told me that this tool can do that. But it keeps erroring.

Any help?

If you set up your 3DS according to https://3ds.hacks.guide/ you should have GM9 on your 3DS, which can do all of that for you. Here's the specific guide, too... https://3ds.hacks.guide/godmode9-usage.html

THAT tool can't and isn't meant to do that, so just use this: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/ This is the one that turns ROMs for NDS into CIAs.

Arecaidian Fox said:

If you set up your 3DS according to https://3ds.hacks.guide/ you should have GM9 on your 3DS, which can do all of that for you. Here's the specific guide, too... https://3ds.hacks.guide/godmode9-usage.html

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Oh yes i do have GM9. I mean...what 3DS CFW user doesn't?

TheTechWiz25 said:

Oh yes i do have GM9. I mean...what 3DS CFW user doesn't?

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Sorry, I misread your "DS" bit as "3DS." @ThoD has the right idea here.

ThoD said:

THAT tool can't and isn't meant to do that, so just use this: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/ This is the one that turns ROMs for NDS into CIAs.

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I was about to post this exactly. I don't know what they posted had to do with a ds game.

ThoD said:

THAT tool can't and isn't meant to do that, so just use this: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/ This is the one that turns ROMs for NDS into CIAs.

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Arecaidian Fox said:

Sorry, I misread your "DS" bit as "3DS." @ThoD has the right idea here.

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Thanks, i'll try it out now and report back

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Okay i just created the .cia file so this works pretty well. I'll be putting it on my 3DS and testing it out later and then you will get the clear response of if it worked or not.

JustinCredible said:

After you install the .cia reboot I never had that problem with 3ds .cias but with nds .cias using that forwarder I always had to reboot to get it to show up.

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Thanks for notifying me. I'm installing the CIA now so your help is useful.

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Okay so...i checked the chart to make sure my game was supported and it is. However apparently its a corrupt download. I thought something was off when it said it was 1 MB. But i installed it anyway and i have a white screen on the bottom. Everything seems to work though. I'm gonna have to redownload and reinstall the CIA and report back.

TheTechWiz25 said:

Thanks for notifying me. I'm installing the CIA now so your help is useful.

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Okay so...i checked the chart to make sure my game was supported and it is. However apparently its a corrupt download. I thought something was off when it said it was 1 MB. But i installed it anyway and i have a white screen on the bottom. Everything seems to work though. I'm gonna have to redownload and reinstall the CIA and report back.

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The reason it's just 1 mb is that's just a forwarder. You still need the nds game on your sd card. Make a folder called roms if you don't have one already and inside that folder make another folder called nds and put your ds game inside there. You'll have to put each ds game there you use the forwarder on.

JustinCredible said:

The reason it's just 1 mb is that's just a forwarder. You still need the nds game on your sd card. Make a folder called roms if you don't have one already and inside that folder make another folder called nds and put your ds game inside there. You'll have to put each ds game there you use the forwarder on.

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I'm saying the game was 1 MB which i thought was suspicious.

You're not understanding I know it's 1 mb but that's not a GAME that's a FORWARDER they're supposed to be 1 mb. Just do this.

Put the ds game where I said in roms/nds.
Redo the 3ds forwarder.jar and change the location to the rom on your sd card.
Then you'll get another cia and you need to install that one. You can delete the one you just installed in fbi by going to titles and find the game and delete cia.

JustinCredible said:

You're not understanding I know it's 1 mb but that's not a GAME that's a FORWARDER they're supposed to be 1 mb. Just do this.

Put the ds game where I said in roms/nds.
Redo the 3ds forwarder.jar and change the location to the rom on your sd card.
Then you'll get another cia and you need to install that one. You can delete the one you just installed in fbi then go to titles and find the game and delete cia.

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Thank you so much. I got so confused. Doing it now.

No worries I had the same thing happen to me. I didn't realize I had to put the ds game inside the sd card for it to work. It just makes a forwarder that forwards the ds game inside rom/nds to show up on your main 3ds screen.

You did follow all other instructions on this link ThoD gave correct? if so it should work https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/

You really just need to download this and add it to the root of your sd card https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5uaa4jzbtkgm0z/DS Game Forwarder pack (3DS SD Card).7z?dl=0

JustinCredible said:

No worries I had the same thing happen to me. I didn't realize I had to put the ds game inside the sd card for it to work. It just makes a forwarder that forwards the ds game inside rom/nds to show up on your main 3ds screen.

You did follow all other instructions on this link ThoD gave correct? if so it should work https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/

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I did. I am currently installing the new CIA.

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Okay so...i installed the new CIA and put the ROM on the SD Card and its not working.

JustinCredible said:

Did you delete the other one first, reboot, then install the new one? If not you're still probably trying the one that didn't work and don't realize it.

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I did

JustinCredible said:

I don't know why it's not working then. Give details, what game, are you still geting a white screen etc....? Some ds games require ap patches.

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Pokemon Platinum, bottom screen has white while top screen has nothing. Chart says it works. I am trying some additional things that were not checked before so give me 2 minutes.

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Okay so i checked some additional things that were not checked before and it still doesn't work

Just by googling it some people have problems with it running on newer versions of bootstrap and someone got it working on 11.2 bootstrap. Sometimes newer versions break games that worked on older versions of bootstrap.

Just get it here https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases and put it on your sd card and let it overwrite the bootstrap you have. You shouldn't have to redo the cia if it's a bootstrap issue just replace the version of bootstrap.

If that doesn't help I'm out of ideas you'll have to ask RobZ the creator of bootstrap in the bootstrap thread https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-bootstrap-loader-run-commercial-nds-backups-from-an-sd-card.454323/ just say you tried latest version of bootstrap and 11.2 and it still didn't work.

JustinCredible said:

Just by googling it some people have problems with it running on newer versions of bootstrap and someone got it working on 11.2 bootstrap.

Just get it here https://github.com/ahezard/nds-bootstrap/releases and put it on your sd card and let it overwrite the bootstrap you have. You shouldn't have to redo the cia if it's a bootstrap issue just replace the version of bootstrap.

If that doesn't help I'm out of ideas you'll have to ask RobZ the creator of bootstrap in the bootstrap thread https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-bootstrap-loader-run-commercial-nds-backups-from-an-sd-card.454323/ just say you tried latest version of bootstrap and 11.2 and it still didn't work.

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You know i'm on 11.9 right?