This page describes the format of the icon stored at CXI ExeFS:/icon and CIA icons. The size of icons is 0x36c0 bytes. The CXI icon is displayed by Home Menu and System Settings(3DS Software Management), while CIA icons are dummies and not yet utilised by Dev 3DS' (at rev 40909).
Format
| OFFSET | SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 0x04 | Magic 'SMDH' |
| 0x04 | 0x04 | Reserved |
| 0x8 | 0x1600 | 11 application titles structs, each 0x200 bytes |
| 0x1608 | 0xA00 | Reserved |
| 0x2008 | 0x30 | Flags |
| 0x2038 | 0x8 | Reserved |
| 0x2040 | 0x1680 | Icon graphics |
Application Titles
| START | SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 0x80 | Short Description |
| 0x80 | 0x100 | Long Description |
| 0x180 | 0x80 | Publisher |
All encoded in UTF-16. There are 11 app title structs, each one for separate languages.
The languages by order of appearance:
- 1st: Japanese title name
- 2nd: English title name
- 3rd: French title name
- 4th: German title name
- 5th: Italian title name
- 6th: Spanish title name
- 7th: Chinese title name
- 8th: Korean title name
- 9th: Dutch title name
- 10th: Portuguese title name
- 11th: Russian title name
Flags
This is where the application Home Menu flags exist. It is important to note, only the Home Menu uses these flags
| START | SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 0x2008 | 0xA | Region Specific Game Ratings (For use with Parental Controls) |
| 0x2018 | 0x4 | BNR Region (Used For Region Locking) |
| 0x201C | 0xC | Match Maker IDs (Online Play) |
| 0x2028 | 0x1 | Combined Flag (Various Flags) |
| 0x2032 | 0x2 | 'Optimal Animation Default Frame' (for BNR) |
| 0x2034 | 0x4 | CEC (StreetPass) ID (So the Home Menu knows which application icon to show the 'Green' CEC notification for) |
Region Specific Game Age Ratings
These flags tell the 3DS the 'Age Rating' of the software for the below regions:
| START | SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 0x2008 | 0x1 | CERO (Japan) |
| 0x2009 | 0x1 | ESRB (USA) |
| 0x200B | 0x1 | USK (German) |
| 0x200C | 0x1 | PEGI GEN (Europe) |
| 0x200E | 0x1 | PEGI PRT (Portugal) |
| 0x200F | 0x1 | PEGI BBFC (England) |
| 0x2010 | 0x1 | COB (Australia) |
| 0x2011 | 0x1 | Unknown/Unused |
These flags are generated by converting the age rating to a hex value and then adding it to '80'. For example if '7 years' was the rating, then the flag would be '87'(this is a hex value). The unknown/unused rating is only has a value when the BNR is for 'All Regions'. Also if Game Ratings are not used, when selecting a region for the BNR, it generates random Game Age Ratings for all regions.
BNR Region
This flag is what the Home Menu uses in order to determine the Region Lockout of a title.
| REGION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| All Regions (No region restrictions) | 7F FF FF FF |
| Japan | 00 00 00 01 |
| North America | 00 00 00 02 |
| Europe | 00 00 00 0C |
| Korea | 00 00 00 20 |
| Taiwan | 00 00 00 40 |
| China | 00 00 00 50 |
Match Maker IDs
These IDs are an application's online gaming IDs.
| START | SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 0x201C | 0x4 | Match Maker ID |
| 0x2020 | 0x8 | Match Maker BIT ID |
For example, if the Match Maker ID was '12345678' and the Match Maker BIT ID was '1234567891234567', the flags would be '78 56 34 12' and '67 45 23 91 78 56 34 12' respectively
Bit Flags
This flag has multiple flags, packed into one byte. By use of addition the flags are combined:
| FLAG | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Visibility Flag (always present) | 01 |
| Auto-boot this title? (Game Card titles only?) | 02 |
| Allow use of 3D? (For use with parental Controls. An application can use the 3D affect, even when this flag isn't set) | 04 |
| Require accepting CTR EULA? | 08 |
| Autosave on exit? | 10 |
| Uses an extended Banner? | 20 |
| Region game rating required? | 40 |
| Uses save data? | 80 |
For example, if we wanted an application to use the 3D effect, autosave on exit and use save data. The combined flag would be '95' (01+04+10+80) (This is a hex value)
'Optimal Animation Default Frame' (for BNR)
Purpose of this flag: If using an animated BNR, it's the most representative frame for the animation.
| OPTIMAL ANIMATION DEFAULT FRAME | VALUE |
|---|---|
| 0 | 00 00 |
| 1 | 3F 80 |
| 2 | 40 00 |
| 3 | 40 40 |
| 4 | 40 80 |
| 5 | 40 A0 |
| 6 | 40 C0 |
Flag Pattern:Ā ???
CEC (StreetPass) ID
With a size of 4 bytes this represents the applications CEC ID. For example if the ID was '12345678' the flag would be '78 56 34 12'
Icon graphics
At offset 0x2040, there are two icons:
| START | SIZE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 0x2040 | 0x480 | Small - 24x24 (shown on top screen when pausing the app) |
| 0x24C0 | 0x1200 | Large - 48x48 icon (the general icon) |
Both of the icons are encoded in RGB565 meaning 16bpp. Although both icons are known to be RGB565, developers have the option of encoding icons (and banners) with the following encodingsĀ :
- RGBA8
- RGB8
- RGBA5551
- RGB565
- RGBA4
- LA8
- HILO8
- L8
- A8
- LA4
- L4
- ETC1
- ETC1A4
This does not necessarily mean the other encodings will be used, it is just that those are the options when compiling. Like we've seen with Super Mario 3D Land Nintendo has changed save file encryption, and likewise they can encode icons and banners differently should they choose to. Currently we've seen just RGB565 so don't be fooled if an icon doesn't show up right! It is probably one of these formats above. Although we will probably not see other formats used for a while it's nice to know they have an opportunity to change.
There's a header of 0x40 bytes and then comes the raw data.
The data is encoded in tiles (starting from size 8x8, continuing recursively).
If the buffer is like this:
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|
Then the image would look like this:
| x=0 | x=1 | x=2 | x=3 | x=4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | ... |
| 8 | 9 | 12 | 13 | |
| 10 | 11 | 14 | 15 |