Hacking Gateway, Installed NVRAM without backing up sysNAND

steve1316 · Jul 2, 2015

Hello everyone. First time Gateway user here. I have a question.

I was following the instructions for Gateway 3.2 Ultra for my N3DSXL in order to allow booting to Gateway mode via the system settings without me using my cubic ninja all the time. But I forgot to backup my sysNAND and went ahead and followed step 5 which is to install NVRAM. I have stopped there after I read more and found out at the bottom of the instructions that I should backup my sysNAND and setup emuNAND before doing anything. How screwed am I?

N3DSXL 9.0.0-20U

-steve1316

Quantumcat · Jul 2, 2015

As long as your system is not bricked, you will be fine. Just back it up and copy it somewhere safe as soon as you can.

zoogie · Jul 2, 2015

steve1316 said:
Hello everyone. First time Gateway user here. I have a question.

I was following the instructions for Gateway 3.2 Ultra for my N3DSXL in order to allow booting to Gateway mode via the system settings without me using my cubic ninja all the time. But I forgot to backup my sysNAND and went ahead and followed step 5 which is to install NVRAM. I have stopped there after I read more and found out at the bottom of the instructions that I should backup my sysNAND and setup emuNAND before doing anything. How screwed am I?

N3DSXL 9.0.0-20U

-steve1316

Honestly downgrading your System Settings is a far more drastic mod that the nvram installation. nvram is nothing.
Even the downgrade can be reverted though.

Jaitsu · Jul 2, 2015

"NVRAM installation" is just mset, is it not? If so, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. That can be reverted with either a system format or just running an old NDS game with WFC capabilities.

steve1316 · Jul 2, 2015

Yeah, I just got my Gateway a few hours ago. The only thing I did with it was install NVRAM. After reading your guy's reponses, I backed up my sysnand just to be safe. But if I want a truly clean sysnand backup, I can just format my system, use my cubic ninja, and make sysnand backup right?

Jaitsu · Jul 2, 2015

steve1316 said:
Yeah, I just got my Gateway a few hours ago. The only thing I did with it was install NVRAM. After reading your guy's reponses, I backed up my sysnand just to be safe. But if I want a truly clean sysnand backup, I can just format my system, use my cubic ninja, and make sysnand backup right?

As long as you haven't modified any system titles (such as through FBI, or an "Mset downgrade" etc.) then a system format will give you a totally clean system. But honestly, it really isn't necessary. Also, keep in mind that formatting sysnand will unlink your emuNAND, if you've already made one.

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

Alright, I have formatted my n3dsxl and proceeded to make a clean backup of sysnand. I then proceeded to create emunand so now I have 9.5 emunand. I went back to sysnand and booted to gateway via cubic ninja. I then installed NVRAM and pressed boot to gateway. Now, I have a black screen and I can't boot to Gateway mode anymore. I can still boot up to the gateway menu but booting to Gateway mode leads to a black screen. I'm still on 9.0.0-20U sysnand. Please help.

I have not booted up devmenu.3ds or done anything with mset yet because I can't boot to Gateway Mode.

weatMod · Jul 3, 2015

steve1316 said:
Alright, I have formatted my n3dsxl and proceeded to make a clean backup of sysnand. I then proceeded to create emunand so now I have 9.5 emunand. I went back to sysnand and booted to gateway via cubic ninja. I then installed NVRAM and pressed boot to gateway. Now, I have a black screen and I can't boot to Gateway mode anymore. I can still boot up to the gateway menu but booting to Gateway mode leads to a black screen. I'm still on 9.0.0-20U sysnand. Please help.

I have not booted up devmenu.3ds or done anything with mset yet because I can't boot to Gateway Mode.

wait how did you get 9.5 emunand?
did you use a game update?

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

I followed the instructions on the Gateway official english manual on their website. Actually, I cant remember whether Im on 9.5 or higher because I cant check. I cant boot to Gateway.

weatMod · Jul 3, 2015

did

steve1316 said:
I followed the instructions on the Gateway official english manual on their website. Actually, I cant remember whether Im on 9.5 or higher because I cant check. I cant boot to Gateway.

you have a new 3ds and the current OTA update is 9.8 sooooo
emunand only works up to 9.5 on N3ds if you updated your emunand via settings then you updated to 9.8
unless you updated with a game then you on 9.8 ,

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

Okay I have managed to reformat my emunand so now im on 9.0 emunand. I want to update to 9.5 emunand so that I can play Fire Emblem IF cia file. Reading the posts of this forum tells me something about using 3DNUS to download the 9.5.0-23U cia file to install while on my emunand. Will that fix my booting to Gateway mode black screen issue?

weatMod · Jul 3, 2015

steve1316 said:
Okay I have managed to reformat my emunand so now im on 9.0 emunand. I want to update to 9.5 emunand so that I can play Fire Emblem IF cia file. Reading the posts of this forum tells me something about using 3DNUS to download the 9.5.0-23U cia file to install while on my emunand. Will that fix my booting to Gateway mode black screen issue?

that is risky i would just try to find a game with the 9.5 Fw update to update your emunand
see procedure for updating emunand and look on 3dsessh to find a game,

Typhin · Jul 3, 2015

steve1316 said:
Okay I have managed to reformat my emunand so now im on 9.0 emunand. I want to update to 9.5 emunand so that I can play Fire Emblem IF cia file. Reading the posts of this forum tells me something about using 3DNUS to download the 9.5.0-23U cia file to install while on my emunand. Will that fix my booting to Gateway mode black screen issue?

Yes. The black screen happens because Gateway cannot support past 9.5 emuNand on New 3DS. When you updated it to 9.8, it rendered it unbootable. As long as you don't go past 9.5, your emuNand will boot just fine.

When you use 3DNUS, you'll get a set of CIA files, just install all of them to emuNand to update. You may want to use EmuNand Tool to make a backup of your emuNand before doing so, just so you don't have to go through all the hassle of reformatting and stuff. If it breaks, just use the Tool to restore your partition.

weatMod · Jul 3, 2015

steve1316 said:
Okay I have managed to reformat my emunand so now im on 9.0 emunand. I want to update to 9.5 emunand so that I can play Fire Emblem IF cia file. Reading the posts of this forum tells me something about using 3DNUS to download the 9.5.0-23U cia file to install while on my emunand. Will that fix my booting to Gateway mode black screen issue?

just get yourself the puzzle and dragons SMB edition abstrakt US rom
then hold up on the D pad when you boot GW menu update emunand to 9.5

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

weatMod said:
just get yourself the puzzle and dragons SMB edition abstrakt US rom
then hold up on the D pad when you boot GW menu update emunand to 9.5

Ima try Typhin's method first to see if that works for me. I didn't realize that N3dsXL is only up to 9.5 emunand which explains everything. Also, since I'm on 9.0 emunand, doesn't starting puzzle and dragons SMB edition via the Gateway menu by pressing Select prompt me to update? Or should I just simply hold up on the D Pad as the Gateway menu is booting up? Which icon should I be on when I do that? The "Format Emunand" icon? Thank you for your reponses everyone!

Just3DS · Jul 3, 2015

Simply try loading the game in GW mode (in emuNAND). If you have latest launcher.dat then it should be able to boot the game anyway (because the launcher.dat file includes the latest fw support, so even though it shows you have 9.0 emuNAND it might be able to boot upto 9.5 games on N3DS). However if it uses features like NFC and stuff might be limited, though can't confirm that.

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

One more thing, I'm trying to figure out how to install all of these cia files for 9.5 emunand that I downloaded from 3DNUS. I'm watching a video and remember several posts telling me that after I format emunand (9.0 emunand right now), I should confirm that I'm on emunand mode at the moment and power down the system, take out the internal sd card, power the system back on and proceed to format the system so I can "unlink the nands". I have no idea what these mean and I need clarification. Thanks in advance

Jaitsu · Jul 3, 2015

steve1316 said:
One more thing, I'm trying to figure out how to install all of these cia files for 9.5 emunand that I downloaded from 3DNUS. I'm watching a video and remember several posts telling me that after I format emunand (9.0 emunand right now), I should confirm that I'm on emunand mode at the moment and power down the system, take out the internal sd card, power the system back on and proceed to format the system so I can "unlink the nands". I have no idea what these mean and I need clarification. Thanks in advance

If you ask me, unlinking your NAND is totally unnecessary, since it's never caused issues for me. But a basic explanation is: Your 3DS generates a random "key" for its installed software, which you can see in the folder names in your "Nintendo 3DS" folder. When you create an emuNAND, it doesn't generate a new key; the emuNAND is a 100% clone of your system NAND. Because of this, software installed on the emuNAND is accessible on the system NAND, and vice versa (as long as a ticket is installed - just tell FBI to install it again; it won't, but it'll create the ticket). This can cause minor issues such as folders not behaving properly, and titles moving around (sysNAND can't see emuNAND's system titles and vice versa, so where they overlap on the home menu you have issues)

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

Okay, I tried to install all the .cia files for 9.5 emunand using devmenu, powered off and then on the system and the setup homescreen popup did not show up so I must have done something wrong. I'm still on 9.0 emunand so Ima reformat the emunand and try again with devmenu and if that doesn't work, ima try big blue manager.

steve1316 · Jul 3, 2015

Wow, I finally did it! I was able to successfully update to 9.5 emunand using 3DNUS and was able to play Fire Emblem IF. Thank you to everyone who helped me make my Gateway experience a good one! Quick question before I go, is it okay for me to update roms on emunand by going to eShop? Or is updating via .cia better? My games besides fire emblem if are in .3ds format.

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