Table of Contents

Dumping Tears of the Kingdom


Prerequisites

  1. Tears of the Kingdom base game and update (1.1.0 or later) either installed digitally or as a cartridge.
  2. Lockpick_RCM (For dumping your keys)
  3. nxdumptool

Preparation

1. SD Card Setup

  • Install Lockpick by copying Lockpick_RCM.bin to the folder /bootloader/payloads on your SD card and overwrite it if already existing (if you already had Lockpick, you still need to download the latest version and replace it).
  • Install nxdumptool by copying nxdt_rw_poc.nro to the /switch folder in the SD card.

2. Determine if dumping is actually necessary

To determine where the base game and update data are installed, refer to Data Management > Manage Software > Tears of the Kingdom in the Switch's settings.

    Switch Data Management

If both Software and Update Data are listed under microSD Card, you do not need to dump the game, and all that is required is dumping the Switch's keys.

If you have the base game or update on system memory, it is recommended to transfer it to the SD card instead of dumping, otherwise you will end up with the game stored both on system memory and the SD card.

Otherwise, only parts not installed on the microSD Card need to be dumped. If your game is a cartridge, then dumping is mandatory to get through the TKMM-NX setup.

3. Dumping Keys

To dump the Switch's keys, open the Payloads section in Hekate and launch Lockpick_RCM.bin, then select either Dump from SysNAND if you play the game on SysMMC, or Dump from EmuNAND if you play the game on EmuMMC. (Use the power button to select and volume up/down to navigate.)

If you already dumped your keys prior to following this tutorial, you still need to redump them using the latest version of Lockpick.

If your Switch firmware receives a major update in the future (e.g. going from 21.x.x to 22.x.x), you will also need to redownload the newest version of Lockpick and redump the keys again.

Note

It is not necessary to do this step again if you already did when following the main TKMM-NX tutorial.


4. Dumping Tears of the Kingdom

This step is unnecessary if you moved the game from system memory to the SD card. It is still necessary for the Base Game if your copy is a physical cartridge.

Begin by running nxdumptool (nxdt_rw_poc) from the Homebrew Launcher.


Base Game

  • If the base game is a cartridge, ensure the cartridge is inserted into the console, then navigate to gamecard menu > dump gamecard image (xci). Select yes on the trim dump option, then navigate to start xci dump and press A.
  • If the base game is installed to system memory, open the user titles menu, select Tears of the Kingdom, navigate to nsp dump options > dump base application and finally select start nsp dump.

Update

  • If the update is installed to system memory, open the user titles menu, select Tears of the Kingdom, navigate to nsp dump options > dump update and finally select start nsp dump.

Join the nxdumptool Discord server for assistance on how to dump if needed.

Tip

TKMM can handle split files; combining them after dumping is not required.

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