How to run TADs on a retail DSi

TADs are a format used to install DSiWare titles onto Nintendo DSi development units (see: TwlNmenu). The format is nearly identical to the WAD on Wii. Sadly nearly all TADs are made exclusively for developers and won't install on normal consoles...

Thankfully we have decryption tools! Just use these to turn your TADs into normal DSi ROMs (.nds, .srl, .dsi).

decrypt_tad.py

An unofficial program but supports development, retail, and update encrypted TADs. This is made for Python v3 only!

USAGE: python decrypt_tad.py TADFILE

• decrypt_tad.py

split_tad_console.exe

This is the official Nintendo tool for extracting TADs. This is made for Windows only!

USAGE: split_tad_console.exe TADFILE

• split_tad_console-20090401.exe

Once your DSi ROMs have been extracted, run them in an emulator or on real hardware like normal!