[Tutorial] Ripping NDS Models with rigging.

[Hallow]

I'm not the best at explaining things but here we go, I also like to use images.

Grab apicula Pre-built binary in the read me. It's been a year since this great tool released and it seems it's existence has been ignored by most people in favor of the already established DS ripping method.
Tinke Tinke is pretty easy to learn by just tinking around with it.
You might also need a ds emulator that can dump ram.

First off the formats you'll need to look out for are:
.nsbmd (Model) BMD0 Header
.nsbtx (Textures) BTX0 Header

.nsbmd usually hold textures as well, but sometimes they are a separate file.

Make sure to check the headers of files that don't have these extensions as they could still be the various ones.

1. Exporting Models, And Textures

Place the apicula inside the same folder as the formats above, click folder address bar and type cmd, you should see a command prompt window open up, then type in the window "apicula convert NameOfNSBMD.Extension --output NameOfFolder"  without quotations (Example: apicula convert mon_000.nsbmd --output Kappa) this will convert mon_000.nsbmd to mon_000.dae with textures if the files has them and create a folder with the name "Kappa"
I have a BAT file to do this as quickly as possible

image + BAT

Code:

for %%z in (*.nsbmd) do (
apicula convert %%z --output a%%z
)
pause

Save the code above in a text file and rename it to .bat and stick it in the same folder as apicula and the nsbmd files then double click to run it

Sometimes textures will be stored separate from the model and stored elsewhere. *cough* GAMEFREAK *cough*
Open CMD again, or if you're already in CMD type "apicula convert NameOfTexture.nsbtx --more-textures -output Kappa" (apicula convert building1.nsbtx --more-textures --output Kappa)
bat file for this as well

Code:

for %%z in (*.nsbtx) do (
apicula convert %%z --more-textures -a%%z
)
pause

You could also just extract the textures with MKDS course editor or Every File Explorer(EFE)

2. Archives

Some games may store their files in a compressed archive Tinke can usually decompress these most of the time, but sometimes developers use their own special archives which would require someone to reverse engineer them, so ask someone in the community who can write QuickBMS scripts, Xentax/Zenhax, or do a few ram dumps in parts of the game with the model you want to rip is loaded; from your emulator of choice.

If Tinke can't open the archive, export it and open it in a hex editor and search for the headers seen at the top of the page, then follow the steps below.

Apicula has an option to parse ram dumps and the rom itself for any nsbmd/nsbtx/nsbca files it can find. Follow the first step in step 1 but instead of convert do "apicula extract NameOfRamDump.Extension --output Kappa" (Example: apicula extract RanchRaining.bin --output Kappa) this will place the files it finds in "RanchRaining.bin" or "RomName.nds" into a folder that it creates called "Kappa"
I also have a BAT file for this which is nice for multiple ram dumps.

Code:

for %%z in (*.*) do (
apicula extract %%z --output a%%z
)
pause

Follow the same code in step 1 to use.

____________________________________

Scurest has a tutorial on how to use it as well if you find this one to be utter trash.

But Hallow, why not just use MKDS Course Editor like everybody else?

A. It can't get rigging.
B. It edits the UVs and Textures, as most DS games use a legit technique to save space / save on memory called "Mirroring", mkds attempts to "Fix" that which doesn't need to be.

Congrats! Now you (Hopefully) know how to rip Nintendo DS models with rigging!