Guide To: Hacking ACNL + Needed Tools (Downloads Included)

If you haven’t heard yet, yes, last month the 3DS was finally cracked to enable editing game files through a browser exploit – and two weeks ago progress began on hacking ACNL. Since then myself and other contributors have been working on hex editing the game, and more options for customizing your town become available every day as we continue to document the hex bytes.

Some tools were released to enable non-hexers to do some customization (with the tools doing the actual hex editing for the users), but some changes remain only editable manually through the hex code itself and requires advanced knowledge and a hex editing program.



Below I’ll detail the tools, provide download links, and provide an on-going FAQ. I’ll be making regular updates, so everything’s been put behind a Read More so everyone who re-blogs is getting the most up-to-date information when checking this page.

Formerly “Delia’s Guide to Hacking ACNL”!

ALL TOOLS REQUIRE SYSTEM MENU VERSION 9.5.0-22 OR LOWER. IF YOU HAVE UPGRADED TO 9.5.0-23 OR HIGHER, YOU CANNOT USE THESE TOOLS. Sorry, there is no way around this.

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE, you must understand that using these tools or editing the hex code of your game performs modifications the game developers did not intend possible and opens you to potentially corrupting your save. SAVE A BACKUP. KEEP IT SAFE. You can save backups using the tools below, or you can use Powersaves to save your backup.

I am not – nor are any of the other hacking contributors – responsible for any damage you do to your town or your cartridge using this guide or the tools outlined below.



If you plan on doing any hex editing and have never done it before, Google a hex editing guide and LEARN IT before trying to “just do it”. I know hacking your town is an exciting prospect, and I want you guys to have fun with your games, but you must learn how to hex edit and understand how exactly it works before attempting to actually do it. Hex editing functions by certain rules, and you need to know those rules.

Alright, that said… on to the tools!

LEAFTOOLS by NeoKamek

Download link: [click here]

Project page: [click here]

Project status: updated occasionally as creator’s time permits, open source code released to community updated occasionally as creator’s time permits, open source code released to community

Available Functions:

Save backup

Save restore

Unlock all PWPs

Unbox a villager trying to move

Kick out unwanted villagers

Max out bank account

Max out island medals



Rig the Stalk Market

Dupe items

Automatic weed pulling and flower watering

Grass seeder

Grass remover

Remove all town boulders

Create new town boulders

99k bell bag spawner (uses locker space)

Advanced function: item generator

item generator Advanced function: create, destroy, and move existing buildings

How To Use:

Download the .rar file from the above link. It contains all of the LeafTools .bin files. These files are required to use the tools.



Remove your SD card from your 3DS, plug your SD card into your computer, and copy all of the files to your SD card. Do not put them into any folders on the SD card. Copy them directly to the SD card itself.

You can now plug your SD card back into your 3DS. Run ACNL, and start the game with your mayor character.

Once you can move around, hit your HOME button and then press both your LB and RB buttons to activate your 3DS Camera. You will see a small press-able icon of a QR code. Press this. It will switch the camera’s interface so that you can now scan QRs.

Scan the QR code of the tool you want to run. The QR codes can be found on the tool’s project page (link above). Each QR will open your internet browser to access one of the .bin files you copied to your SD card earlier and run the commands within.

Once you scan a QR code and the tool runs, it will typically turn your lower screen bright green (for success) before the browser crashes.

Your 3DS will give you an error message. This is NORMAL. It means the tool has completed running. Hit OK. Resume your game from the HOME screen.

You may see changes immediately, or may be required to enter and exit a building before you see changes take effect. It depends on which tool you are using.

Each tool has individual instructions found on the project page, check there for further details.



If the changes are to your liking, save and quit. If not, exit without saving and repeat.

ACNL RAM EDITOR by marc_max

Download link: [click here]

Tool link: [click here]

Project page: [click here]

Project status: ongoing updates as creator’s time permits ongoing updates as creator’s time permits

Available Functions:

Generate items using the tool’s map interface to place items in-game on the ground for you to pick up



Edit trees, flowers, rocks, and weeds on your town map

Mass edit the layout of your ground patterns all at once

Easily place or remove ground patterns at will

Edit player characters’ pocket inventories and locker inventories



Edit player characters’ badges

Edit island trees, and island box storage

Place items on the island

Change your existing villagers

Relocate buildings and PWPs

How To Use:

Download the .rar file from the above download link. It contains both RAM Editor .bin files for the DUMP and INJECT functions. These files are required to use the tool.

Remove your SD card from your 3DS, plug your SD card into your computer, and copy all of the files to your SD card. Do not put them into any folders on the SD card. Copy them directly to the SD card itself.

You can now plug your SD card back into your 3DS.

Run ACNL, and start the game with your mayor character.



Once you can move around, hit your HOME button and then go to your Internet Browser. Type in this address: http://bit.ly/acnl_dump



http://bit.ly/acnl_dump Doing so accesses the DUMP function, which will copy your current game’s RAM to your SD card as a file named acnlram.bin .

. The tool will run, the browser will crash, and you will get an error message. This is normal. Hit OK on the error message.

You can now either simply power down your 3DS, or go back to your game and save and quit before powering down. Either is fine. Depends on if you want the “you forgot to save your game” message / Resetti.

Remove your SD card, and plug it into your computer.

Now, you will need to access the tool’s interace, which is a webpage found here: http://usuaris.tinet.cat/mark/acnl_editor/ (link also above)

(link also above) Use the interface to Choose File and navigate to your SD card to select your acnlram.bin file.

file. File must be named acnlram.bin to use tool.

to use tool. Once you select your file and upload it, the page should take you to a new page where a grid of your map is laid out, and there are additional tabs for “Dresser”, “Villagers”, “Buildings” etc.

Make the edits you desire. When moving buildings, feel free to use my chart below to help guide you in building placement, since the map on the interface does not have the coordinates marked.

Once you’re done with your edits, hit SAVE.

It will save a NEW copy of your acnlram.bin, so if it is saving in the same folder as your old file, the new one will become acnlram (1).bin. You MUST rename it to acnlram.bin again either before or after copying it to your SD card. You won’t be able to inject your changes if it’s not named acnlram.bin.

You won’t be able to inject your changes if it’s not named acnlram.bin. Copy the new acnlram.bin file to your SD card, replacing the old file. If you want to keep the old file too, rename it to something else.

file to your SD card, replacing the old file. If you want to keep the old file too, rename it to something else. Now you can plug your SD card back into your 3DS and start ACNL with your mayor character.

Once you can move around, press your HOME button to take you to the home screen and then go to your Internet Browser. Type in this address: http://bit.ly/acnl_inject

Doing so accesses the INJECT function, which will read your current acnlram.bin file on your SD card and then apply the updates it finds to your game. The tool will run, the browser will crash, and you will get an error message. This is normal. Hit OK on the error message.



file on your SD card and then apply the updates it finds to your game. The tool will run, the browser will crash, and you will get an error message. This is normal. Hit OK on the error message. Some changes will be visible immediately, but you will still need to “refresh” your game if you will by going inside a building and then exiting again. All changes will show up once you do that.

More coming soon

Delia’s SUPER SWAGGY AXIS CHART for map editing comrades:

ACNL MAP EDITOR by froggestspirit

Download link: [click here]

Project page: [click here]

Project status: complete, occasional aesthetic / functional updates complete, occasional aesthetic / functional updates

Available Functions:

Edit the ground layout of your town map, with some conditions:

You cannot switch your map orientation from left to right (if your cliff is on the left and beach is on the right, it must always be this way)

You must have at least one beach ramp tile present, but…

You cannot have more than two ramps leading to the beach

have more than two ramps leading to the beach All in-game events are tied to the event plaza cobblestone tile, you cannot remove the plaza cobblestone or have a town without plaza cobblestone to experience holidays or villager games like hide-and-seek

More conditions to be added (most likely)

Not meeting the above conditions will cause your game to crash and can potentially corrupt your save file completely, forcing you to restore from backup.

How To Use:

Download the .rar and launch ACNL Map Editor.exe

Once you acknowledge froggestspirit’s disclaimer that using this tool can corrupt your save, the program will automatically prompt you to open a file – you must select your acnlram.bin file to use this program

Use your keyboard arrow keys to navigate between the tiles

Tiles can be swapped using the “Z” and “X” keyboard keys (”Z” goes backwards, “X” goes forwards)

PROGRAM SAVES MAP CONFIGURATION AUTOMATICALLY UPON EXIT AND OVERWRITES YOUR ORIGINAL FILE. You should probably keep copies of your originals when editing if you’re going to make major changes to your map layout, if you plan on wanting to be able to revert back to the original layout if something goes wrong.

You should probably keep copies of your originals when editing if you’re going to make major changes to your map layout, if you plan on wanting to be able to revert back to the original layout if something goes wrong. Please note that the Map Editor only moves the GROUND, and won’t move buildings. You must move buildings separately using LeafTools or the RAM Editor. If you move the tile where your Town Hall cobblestone is, you still need to move your Town Hall.

The game has preset tiles; you cannot create custom tiles. Typically, there are three options per tile (so three options for Town Hall tile, three options for Town Plaza tile, etc). I noticed a few that didn’t have three options but there weren’t many.

It is possible to create “islands” and such within your map, but please understand the game has preset river flows, so creating islands will give you a river that has a split flow down the middle and flows both ways from there.

Addendum to river flows: the game has preset tiles for the different flows as mentioned above, generally three of each tile. So, for the horizontal river connectors, you’ll find six – three will have rivers flowing EAST, the other three will have rivers flowing WEST. Keep this in mind when rearranging your river if you want your river to always flow in the same direction. There is NO way to change the flow of the river tiles.

ACNL HEX EDITING by ACNL hexer community

Project page: [click here]

Project status: community project, ongoing, new updates daily

community project, ongoing, new updates daily

Hex editing grants you editing access to the game’s entire RAM file, which means you can change the values of whatever is stored in said RAM file, but all changes must be made manually by you with full knowledge of what field to edit and what value to put in said field.

This is important currently because it allows you to manually change things that have not yet had automatic tools created for them. If you want to make a change that hasn’t been implemented in a tool, but cannot hex edit, be patient. These abilities will most likely be added to the tools soon and then you can make the changes without having to learn how to hex edit yourself.



Changes you have access to are only limited by the game’s functionality, and includes things like your mayor’s face, your town’s native fruit, your villager’s shirts, so on and so forth.

Currently Documented Functions:

Change your town’s name



Change your town’s native fruit

Change your town’s tree size



Change your town’s grass shape

Change your town hall color (currently buggy)

Change your train station color (currently buggy)

Change your Main Street upgrades (in progress)

Change player characters’ names



Change player characters’ tans (correct your skin color)

Change player characters’ hairstyles and hair colors

Change player characters’ eye styles and eye colors

Change player characters’ badges

Change player characters’ house exteriors

Change your villagers

Change your villagers’ personalities

Change villagers’ catchphrases

Change villagers’ shirts

Change moved-out villagers (villagers who show up on Main Street)

How To Use:

Firstly, if you plan on hex editing and have never done it before, go here. Read that entire guide (you can start with #4 and read from there) before you proceed any further. This will give you a basic understanding of how hex editing works.



Read that entire guide (you can start with #4 and read from there) before you proceed any further. This will give you a basic understanding of how hex editing works. If you cannot make sense of the above guide, I suggest you DO NOT proceed further, or at least proceed with HEAVY CAUTION, or you are likely to mess up your game simply from not knowing what you are doing.

Code is not forgiving; if you are off by even one line when making edits, or forget to include something, you can crash the entire game. You’ve been warned.

Once you are familiar with the basics of hex editing, you will need a hex editing program. You can download Cygnus from the guide above, or you can also download HxD here. It’s a matter of personal preference. Both are free to download and use.

Since detailing ACNL’s hex values and where to change them requires a post all of its own, please to refer to my associated guide found here:

Major Hex Contributors:

NeoKamek



marc_max

froggestspirit

Sopheroo (sopheroo.tumblr.com)

MasterLel



Cey (delia-song.tumblr.com)

Skoruppi



Totally Tim

SciresM



ayaya

Frequently Asked Questions

For my full hacking FAQ, please [click here]! Thank you!

( skull divider by gasara @ deviantART )