Fox8091: Correct terminology used to describe Game Gear VC patches

2025-05-06T21:26:29Z

Correct terminology used to describe Game Gear VC patches

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:26, 6 May 2025
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	SNES VCs are altered for more efficient playback in the Virtual Console, and if not restored after dumping the audio will be unusuable in other emulators. This guide walks through how to restore the ROM.		SNES VCs are altered for more efficient playback in the Virtual Console, and if not restored after dumping the audio will be unusuable in other emulators. This guide walks through how to restore the ROM.

	Game Gear VCs are compressed into a unique archive type, and sometimes their ROMs are directly patched. This guide walks through how to decompress the archive (WIP), but as the patches are ~~nondestructive~~ it ~~does not~~ revert them.		Game Gear VCs are compressed into a unique archive type, and sometimes their ROMs are directly patched. This guide walks through how to decompress the archive (WIP), but as the patches are destructive it cannot revert them.

	==Instructions==		==Instructions==

Ajl721: Somehow there's an o in dok3 in the GodMode9 URL instead of a 0...

2024-06-17T05:34:56Z

Somehow there's an o in dok3 in the GodMode9 URL instead of a 0...

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:34, 17 June 2024
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	===What You Need===		===What You Need===
	<ul>		<ul>
	<li>The latest release of {{GitHub\|~~dok3~~/GodMode9\|GodMode9}} (the GodMode9 <code>.zip</code> file)</li>		<li>The latest release of {{GitHub\|d0k3/GodMode9\|GodMode9}} (the GodMode9 <code>.zip</code> file)</li>
	<li>If extracting an NES game: [[Special:DownloadWithFilename/File:tnes2ines.txt/tnes2ines.gm9\|tnes2ines.gm9]]</li>		<li>If extracting an NES game: [[Special:DownloadWithFilename/File:tnes2ines.txt/tnes2ines.gm9\|tnes2ines.gm9]]</li>
	<li>If extracting a SNES game:		<li>If extracting a SNES game:

StarlitSkies: the tabber's lists refused to behave; now all the lists are HTML. also some info & style fixes

2023-10-06T04:13:35Z

the tabber's lists refused to behave; now all the lists are HTML. also some info & style fixes

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StarlitSkies: inspired by https://glazedbelmont.github.io/vcextract/ - info on game gear is pending indefinitely

2023-07-05T01:54:46Z

inspired by https://glazedbelmont.github.io/vcextract/ - info on game gear is pending indefinitely

New page

Virtual Console games are usually identical to the original game, as Nintendo tries to avoid modifying ROMs directly and instead uses patches. And even when modified, these modifications are usually somewhat easy to undo.
This means the original game can be extracted and used identically to one that came from a cartridge.

== Required Reading ==
This tutorial works for NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, and Game Gear (WIP) VCs.

Note that ROMs from three consoles are altered in VCs, as follows:

NES VC ROMs use a non-standard TNES header that only works in the Virtual Console, and must be converted back after dumping. This guide walks through how to convert the header.

SNES VC ROMs are altered for more efficient playback in the Virtual Console, and if not restored after dumping the audio will be unusuable in other emulators. This guide walks through how to restore the ROM.

Game Gear VC ROMs are compressed into a unique archive type, and may have patches directly added into the ROM itself. This guide will walk through how to decompress the archive once more info is collected, but as the patches are nondestructive it does not revert them.

==Instructions==

===What You Need===
* The latest release of {{GitHub|dok3/GodMode9|GodMode9}} (the GodMode9 <code>.zip</code> file)
* If extracting an NES game: [[Special:DownloadWithFilename/File:tnes2ines.txt/tnes2ines.gm9|tnes2ines.gm9]]
* If extracting a SNES game:
** The source code of {{GitHub|Plombo/vcromclaim|vcromclaim}} (obtainable by the Download ZIP option in the <big><span style="background:#008000">Code</span></big> button)
** [[Special:DownloadWithFilename/File:snesvcsplit.txt/snesvcsplit.py|snesvcsplit.py]]
** A version of [https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2718/ Python 2.7]
* If extracting a Game Gear game: MArchiveBatchTool, obtained from {{GitHub|farmerbb/RED-Project/releases/latest|here}}

=== Section I - Prep Work ===

In this section, you will set up the necessary files to extract a VC game.

# Power off your console
# Insert your SD card into your computer
# Copy <code>GodMode9.firm</code> from the GodMode9 <code>.zip</code> to the <code>luma/payloads</code> folder on your SD card
# Copy the <code>gm9</code> folder from the GodMode9 <code>.zip</code> to the root of your SD card
# If you are extracting an NES game, copy <code>tnes2ines.gm9</code> into the <code>gm9/scripts</code> folder on your SD card
# If you are extracting an SNES game, extract the vcromclaim <code>.zip</code> into a folder and place <code>snesvcsplit.py</code> into this folder
# If you are extracting a Game Gear game, extract the MArchiveBatchTool <code>.zip</code> into a folder
# Reinsert your SD card into your console

=== Section II - Accessing the Game Files ===

In this section, you will mount the VC game's internal files.

# Hold the {{B|START}} button and power on to open GodMode9
# Press the {{B|HOME}} button, then press {{B|A}} on the '''Title manager''' option
# Press {{B|A}} on <code>[A:] SD CARD</code> and wait for the search to complete
# Once it completes, all titles that you have installed will appear
# Find the VC that you wish to extract a ROM from and press {{B|A}} on that title, then choose to '''Open title folder'''
# Press {{B|A}} on the main game file - usually named <code>00000000.app</code> - then choose '''NCCH image options...''', then '''Mount image to drive''' and press {{B|A}} again to confirm
# The internal files of the chosen game will appear

=== Section III - Dumping the ROM ===

In this section, you will copy the ROM out of the VC, and fix its structure if it is an NES/SNES game.

What console does the chosen game originally come from?
<tabber>
|-|NES=
# Go into the folder <code>romfs/rom</code>
# Press {{B|A}} to select the file that appears, then choose <code>Copy to 0:/gm9/out</code>
# Press {{B|HOME}}, then go into <code>Scripts...</code> -> <code>tnes2ines</code>
# Select the copied file and choose a mirroring if it asks, then let the script run
# Rename the ROM so its file extension is <code>.nes</code>
{{success|text=Your ROM is now extracted and can be used in an emulator.}}

|-|SNES=
{{info|If you are on Linux, replace <code>py -2</code> with <code>python2</code> in the commands.}}
# Go into the folder <code>romfs</code>
# Press {{B|A}} to select the file <code>data.bin</code>, then choose <code>Copy to 0:/gm9/out</code>
# Press {{B|R}}+{{B|START}} to power off the console
# Take the SD card out of your 3DS and put it into your PC
# Copy <code>data.bin</code> into the vcromclaim folder
# Right-click anywhere in the empty space inside this folder and click on the option that opens Command Prompt, PowerShell, or the terminal
#* If no such option appears, open this window manually and use <code>cd</code> or similar commands to move the terminal into this folder
# Run the following two commands one at a time:
#* <code>py -2 snesvcsplit.py data.bin</code>
#* <code>py -2 snesrestore.py game.rom game.pcm output.smc</code>
# If desired, change <code>output.smc</code>'s filename to a name of your choice
{{success|Your ROM is now extracted and can be used in an emulator.}}

|-|GB/GBC=
# Go into the folder <code>romfs/rom</code>
# Press {{B|A}} to select the file that appears, then choose <code>Copy to 0:/gm9/out</code>
# Press {{B|B}} until you return to the drive list, then go into <code>[0:] SDCARD/gm9/out</code>
# Place the cursor on the copied ROM, press {{B|R}}+{{B|X}}, and change the file extension to match the console it came from: <code>.gb</code> for Gameboy, <code>.gbc</code> for Gameboy Color
# If desired, also change the ROM's filename to a name of your choice
{{success|Your ROM is now extracted and can be used in an emulator.}}

|-|GBA=
# Go into the folder <code>exefs</code>
# Press {{B|A}} to select the <code>.code</code> file, then choose <code>Copy to 0:/gm9/out</code>
# Press {{B|B}} until you return to the drive list, then go into <code>[0:] SDCARD/gm9/out</code>
# Press {{B|A}} on the <code>.code</code> file, choose '''GBA image options...''', then choose '''Rename file''' and press {{B|A}} to confirm
{{success|Your ROM is now extracted and can be used in an emulator.}}

|-|Game Gear=
{{warning|These ROMs can only be fully extracted on Windows or Linux. If you do not have access to a PC that runs either of these operating systems, stop after copying the ROM into <code>gm9/out</code> and wait until you have access.}}
{{Section WIP|notes=Figure out how to determine the seed and codec for any given game. Can't give a specific command for extracting without that info.}}
# Go into the folder <code>romfs/system/roms</code>
# Press {{B|A}} to select the file that appears, then choose <code>Copy to 0:/gm9/out</code>
# Press {{B|R}}+{{B|START}} to power off the console
# Take the SD card out of your 3DS and put it into your PC
# Copy the ROM from <code>gm9/out</code> into the MArchiveBatchTool folder
# Right-click anywhere in the empty space inside this folder and click on the option that opens Command Prompt, PowerShell, or the terminal
#* If no such option appears, open this window manually and use <code>cd</code> or similar commands to move the terminal into this folder
# WIP

</tabber>

[[Category:Nintendo 3DS guides]]

3DS:Virtual Console/Extraction - Revision history

Fox8091: Correct terminology used to describe Game Gear VC patches

Ajl721: Somehow there's an o in dok3 in the GodMode9 URL instead of a 0...

StarlitSkies: the tabber's lists refused to behave; now all the lists are HTML. also some info & style fixes

StarlitSkies: inspired by https://glazedbelmont.github.io/vcextract/ - info on game gear is pending indefinitely