# Nintendo Switch Tool (NSTool) ![DeviceTag](https://img.shields.io/badge/Device-SWITCH-e60012.svg) General purpose reading/extraction tool for Nintendo Switch file formats. ## Supported File Formats * PartitionFs (`PFS0`) (.pfs0) * Sha256PartitionFs (`HFS0`) (.hfs0) * RomFs (.romfs) * Nintendo Content Archive (.nca) * Nintendo Submission Package (.nsp) * NX GameCard Image (.xci) * Meta (`META`) (.npdm) * Nintendo Application Control Property (.nacp) * Content Metadata (.cnmt) * ES Certificate (.cert) * ES Ticket (v2 only) (.tik) * Nintendo Shared Object (`NSO0`) (.nso) * Nintendo Relocatable Object (`NRO0`) (.nro) * Initial Program Bundle (`INI1`) (.ini) * Initial Program (`KIP1`) (.kip) # Usage ## General usage The default mode of NSTool is to show general information about a file. To display general information the usage is as follows: ``` nstool some_file.bin ``` However not all information is shown in this mode; file-layout, key data and properties set to default values are omitted. ## Alternative output modes To output file-layout information, use the `--showlayout` option: ``` nstool --showlayout some_file.bin ``` To output key data generation and selection, use the `--showkeys` option: ``` nstool --showkeys some_file.bin ``` To output all information, enable the verbose output mode with the `-v` or `--verbose` option: ``` nstool -v some_file.bin ``` ## Specify File Type NSTool will in most cases correctly identify the file type. However you can override this and manually specify the file type with the `-t` or `--intype` option: ``` nstool -t cnmt some_file.bin ``` In that example `cnmt` was selected, NSTool would process the file as `Content Metadata`. See below for a list of supported file type codes: | Code | Description | | ----------- | --------------- | | gc, xci | NX GameCard Image | | nsp | Nintendo Submission Package | | pfs | PartitionFs | | hfs | Sha256PartitionFs | | romfs | RomFs | | nca | Nintendo Content Archive | | meta, npdm | Meta (.npdm) | | cnmt | Content Metadata | | nso | Nintendo Shared Object | | nro | Nintendo Relocatable Object | | ini | Initial Program Bundle | | kip | Initial Program | | nacp | Nintendo Application Control Property | | cert | ES Certificate | | tik | ES Ticket | | aset, asset | Homebrew NRO Asset Binary | ## Validate Input File Some file types have signatures/hashes/fields that can be validated by NSTool, but this mode isn't enabled by default. To validate files with NSTool, enable the verify mode with the `-y` or `--verify` option: ``` nstool -y some_file.bin ``` See the below table for file types that support optional validation: | File Type | Validation | Comments | | --------- | ---------- | -------- | | ES Certificate | Signature | If certificate is part of a certificate chain it will validate it as part of that chain. `Root` signed certificates are verified with user supplied `Root` public key. | | ES Ticket | Signature | If the user specifies a certificate chain with `--cert` option, the ticket will be verified against that certificate chain. | | NX GameCard Image | XCI Header Signature, HFS0 Hashes | XCI header signature is verified with user supplied `XCI Header` public key. | | META | AccessControlInfo fields, AccessControlInfoDesc signature | AccessControlInfo fields are validated against the AccessControlInfoDesc. AccessControlInfoDesc signature is verfied with the appropriate user supplied `ACID` public key. | | NCA | Header Signature[0], Header Signature[1] | Header Signature[0] is verified with the appropriate user supplied `NCA Header` public key. Header Signature[1] is verified only in Program titles, by retrieving the with public key from the AccessControlInfoDesc stored in the `code` partition. | * As of Nintendo Switch Firmware 9.0.0, Nintendo retroactively added key generations for some public keys, including `NCA Header` and `ACID` public keys, so the various generations for these public keys will have to be supplied by the user. * As of NSTool v1.6.0 the public key(s) for `Root Certificate`, `XCI Header`, `ACID` and `NCA Header` are built-in, and will be used if the user does not supply the public key in a key file. ## DevKit Mode Files generated for `Production` use different (for the most part) encryption/signing keys than files generated for `Development`. NSTool will select `Production` encryption/signing keys by default. When handling files intended for developer consoles (e.g. systemupdaters, devtools, test builds, etc), you should enable developer mode with the `-d`, `--dev` option: ``` nstool -d some_file.bin ``` ## Extract Files Some file types have an internal file system. This can be displayed and extracted. To display the file system tree, use the file tree option `--fstree`: ``` nstool --fstree some_file.bin ``` To extract the file system, use the extract option `-x`, `--extract`. Which has four modes. 1) Extract the entire file system. This extracts the contents of the entire file system to `./extract_dir/`. `extract_dir` will be created if it doesn't exist. ``` nstool -x ./extract_dir/ some_file.bin ``` 2) Extract a sub directory. This extracts the contents of `/a/sub/directory/` to `./extract_dir/`. `extract_dir` will be created if it doesn't exist. ``` nstool -x /a/sub/directory/ ./extract_dir/ some_file.bin ``` 3) Extract a specific file to a directory. This extracts `/path/to/a/file.bin` to `./extract_dir/file.bin`. ``` nstool -x /path/to/a/file.bin ./extract_dir/ some_file.bin ``` 4) Extract a specific file with a custom name. This extracts `/path/to/a/file.bin` to `./extract_dir/different_name.bin`. ``` nstool -x /path/to/a/file.bin ./extract_dir/different_name.bin some_file.bin ``` ### Supported File Types * PartitionFs * Sha256PartitionFs * RomFs (including RomFs embedded in Homebrew NRO) * NCA * NSP * XCI ## Encrypted Files Some Nintendo Switch files are partially or completely encrypted. These require the user to supply the encryption keys to NSTool so that it can process them. See [SWITCH_KEYS.md](/SWITCH_KEYS.md) for more info. # External Keys NSTool doesn't embed any keys that are copyright protected. However keys can be imported via various keyset files. See [SWITCH_KEYS.md](/SWITCH_KEYS.md) for more info. # Building See [BUILDING.md](/BUILDING.md).