Homebrew RELEASE Legal NSP splitter for FAT32

[Zumoly]

Is it me or the installation/copy speed on FAT32 is slower?

 

[Mysuke]

Doesn't work for me. Can't remember the error message, but I had to reinstall the games.

Can't help you without an error message but it worked for me, no reinstall required.

 

[AlternativeZero]

Works perfectly, I'm happy I can finally stop using exfat as I kept losing saves with the emulators when I did exited the homebrew correctly.

So far fat32 is working great, although I'm not particularly sure if it installs slower or it just feels like it.

 

[chrisrlink]

has anyone figured out a way to set archive flag on macos w/o it erasing the flag once copied to fat32?

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edit found my answer (even if it says filename it may work on folders too i also included other useful commands/explanations of them this is taken from the apple support forum

Under OS X, the FAT/FAT32 file system Readonly attribute is set when a file is locked. When a file is viewed in the Finder application, a small lock will appear on the file icon. This Readonly attribute can be set or unset by highlighting the file and then selecting "File->Get Info" from the menu bar. The Readonly attribute can then be modified by checking or unchecking the box labeled "Locked".

This also can be done from the command line. First, to view the attributes use the command below.

ls -lO <filename>

To set the Readonly attribute use the following command.

chflags uchg <filename>

To reset the Readonly attribute use the following command.

chflags nochg <filename>

To set the Hidden attribute use the following command.

chflags hidden <filename>

To reset the Hidden attribute use the following command.

chflags nohidden <filename>


To set the Archive attribute use the following command. Note: this command is the opposite of what one would expect to enter."

chflags noarch <filename> <-----command to set archive bit in OSX will try it on a folder I'll let you know if it erases

btw if you formatted your fat32 in windows it wont mount on mac natively/automaticly to do this
1) in terminal use mkdir in volumes (you need sudo since it's a system folder)
ex: sudo mkdir /volumes/switch

2) mount device with the -type flag set as "msdos"

ex: sudo mount -t msdos /dev/diskXs1 (X being the disk # of your sd card find it using diskutil --list or the disk utility gui) /volumes/switch
it should mount with RW attribute now

 

[chrisrlink]

btw @AnalogMan splitnsp.py on mac made 00 too large (fire emblem warriors converted to nsp about 290MB too much so it won't fit on the fat32 card) (says file is too large for format)

 

[Cmurda187]

Just wanted to say thanks for this very useful tool. Works great and is fast.

 

[DocKlokMan]

btw @AnalogMan splitnsp.py on mac made 00 too large (fire emblem warriors converted to nsp about 290MB too much so it won't fit on the fat32 card) (says file is too large for format)

Odd, I made it on Mac. What macOS you running? Can you check how many bytes the file is? (Not MB, but actual bytes).

 

[Zumoly]

I give up! Fat32 is not for me.
I've been getting too many not recognized SD card messages with ReiNX lately from my 128 GB card.
Installation/copy speeds also turned into nightmares. Oh well I tried.

 

[notimp]

File systems should not impact transfer speeds, at least not significantly.

SD Card not recognized issues also should not be caused by the file system (i.e. fat32 in general shouldnt be the issue here).

But hey - one person says something - another one picks it up - and voila, you have a trend going...

Concerning copying speeds, I'm actually curious what could cause that. Only association that comes to mind is, that MS borked the file transfer engine in Win7, but should have fixed it by now... There are other file copy "engines" (programs) for Windows available, If anyone wants to try them out. Some of them come with options to skip verification steps, and all sorts of granular stuff.

See f.e.
https://alternativeto.net/software/teracopy/


edit: Proof for the fat32 isnt slower statement:
https://www.flexense.com/fat32_exfat_ntfs_usb3_performance_comparison.html

 

[Zumoly]

File systems should not impact transfer speeds, at least not significantly.

SD Card not recognized issues also should not be caused by the file system (i.e. fat32 in general shouldnt be the issue here).

But hey - one person says something - another one picks it up - and voila, you have a trend going...

Concerning copying speeds, I'm actually curious what could cause that. Only association that comes to mind is, that MS borked the file transfer engine in Win7, but should have fixed it by now... There are other file copy "engines" (programs) for Windows available, If anyone wants to try them out. Some of them come with options to skip verification steps, and all sorts of granular stuff.

See f.e.
https://alternativeto.net/software/teracopy/


edit: Proof for the fat32 isnt slower statement:
https://www.flexense.com/fat32_exfat_ntfs_usb3_performance_comparison.html

I have actually been using teracopy and I can assure you that upon formatting to exFAT copy speed became faster.

 

[Jonesy123]

waiting on my jig and installer, but getting files ready. When using the cmd line, kept getting error. However if I drag and drop an nsp onto the splitnsp.py, it automatically opens up python and splits (doing Valkyria chronicles 4 into 3 parts). Any reason this version of the files would be different than opening the cmd file? can i delete the original 12gb nsp?

many thanks

 

[notimp]

Huh. Numbers? (7% in case of many tiny files - close to 0% with 1 GB and larger ones, according to the site above.)

If you also get card not recognized errors - hardware issue?

If its primarily install times, it could be the switches fat32 handling, but thats unlikely as well.. (If they sell their customers "buy digital games you store on sdcard" - they should care about read speeds at least. (Short for, Nintendo probably has tested this.)))

edit: Drag droping onto a python file - should also only do the command line execution, nothing else. Probably one of the parameters (python3 ?) not syslinked correctly (for Windows to do something if you write a parameter into a command line, this parameter has to be "registered" in a database file // probably not python 3 installed while typing python 3 - whats the error message? (I know - it always takes three back and fors and a free complimentary breakfast to get any actual information out of a mill... (stopping right there.. )).

"Can I delete original." When in doubt ask your sysadmin, or your mother.
If by forming that question you mean "will it automagically be stored in iCloud?" - no. (Simple answer being yes - I guess.. )

edit: Standard command to run python(3) on Windows in commandline is py (not python or python3) now. Apparently. Read this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49540425/symbolic-link-to-python3-doesnt-work-on-windows

 

[Zumoly]

waiting on my jig and installer, but getting files ready. When using the cmd line, kept getting error. However if I drag and drop an nsp onto the splitnsp.py, it automatically opens up python and splits (doing Valkyria chronicles 4 into 3 parts). Any reason this version of the files would be different than opening the cmd file? can i delete the original 12gb nsp?

many thanks

You shouldn't do that. You should rather delete the split folder once you install it. The Original you keep it for future use.

 

[Jonesy123]

You shouldn't do that. You should rather delete the split folder once you install it. The Original you keep it for future use.

sorry I meant delete the original unsplit NSP from my laptop, as I don't need 2 versions of the nsp. If the split one will work, I'll delete the downloaded unsplit nsp. I'm unable to put any nsp onto my switch until my jig arrives in the post.

 

[Zumoly]

sorry I meant delete the original unsplit NSP from my laptop, as I don't need 2 versions of the nsp. If the split one will work, I'll delete the downloaded unsplit nsp. I'm unable to put any nsp onto my switch until my jig arrives in the post.

That is exactly what I mean: not to delete the unsplit NSP because that one can be used by other programs unlike the split one. Heck it even does cause Tinfoil can now install over USB from the PC.

 

[Jonesy123]

oh I didn't realise tinfoil can install over usb. If that's the case I won't need to split any nsp's then?

 

[notimp]

"Slow fat32" is a cluster size issue most likely. See: https://gbatemp.net/threads/sx-os-slow-when-loading-games.511037/

When people tell you to use 32k, use 32k I guess.

 

[prodeuce]

@chrisrlink I tried using your method of setting the archive flag for bayo, but when i transferred the .nsp, it wouldn't show up on tinfoil. Have you had any issues like this? I used terminal to set the archive attribute (the command was chflags noarch filename) and i tried locking the folder through the get info menu.

 

[Zumoly]

"Slow fat32" is a cluster size issue most likely. See: https://gbatemp.net/threads/sx-os-slow-when-loading-games.511037/

When people tell you to use 32k, use 32k I guess.

Sadly that is information I didn't know. I just went ahead with what the program suggested. I guess I could try that with a new card. But for now it'll be ol'trusty exFAT for this card.

 

[FightingPolygon]

When the NSP is split the output is not in NSP format or in any format, just "File".

Do I just rename it with a ".nsp" to make them NSPs?