UPDATE: Regarding the recent 3DS banwave

fb-3ds-400x400.jpg

It appears that users are being banned from 3DS online services, en masse. There's no direct cause right now, and seemingly no linking factor. This post is meant as an announcement for users, to be wary, and that GBAtemp will keep you updated as soon as more info rolls in. If you have been banned, please post in the thread below, and we will try to keep tabs on the situation. To be extra sure, it can't hurt to turn off your 3DS's wireless capabilities, so you might as well do that for now.

Edit 1: it appears that e-Shop access isn't restricted if you are banned.

Edit 2: A caller to Nintendo reported that the company said this ban is due to "unauthorized software usage".

Edit 3: @LinkSoraZelda is collecting info. Contact him if you are banned.

Edit 4: Click and fill this out if you were BANNED.

Edit 5:
[11:28:19 PM] Clector: Curiously the page of that error in Nintendo Support website used to have this:Error Code: 002-0102 Situation: You receive the error code 002-0102 when attempting to connect online. What to Do: If you continue to experience this issue, please contact Nintendo by calling 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
[11:28:44 PM] Clector: Now it says this: What to Do: If you are experiencing this error code, your Nintendo 3DS family system has been banned due to unauthorized system modifications, play of unauthorized versions of one or more games, and/or connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service. This ban is effective immediately and requests to remove the ban will not be processed.
Thanks to @Joom

Edit 6: Aurora Wright is taking another poll here

Edit 7: Not a lot is known but

There are bans happening, they are happening in all regions.
All models in the 3ds family seem to be candidates for banning.
There is no indication they will be anything other than permanent.
A game or DLC may end up being a cause but there is no one game or DLC that ties banned users together.
The cause or causes are as yet unknown, though it does seem to be related to modifications. Reports of unmodified consoles being banned are as yet unproven.
The banning is tied to something you can modify, thus you can unban. Doing it while the causes are unknown is likely only going to burn a working token though.
There are semi public tokens out there, Nintendo knows how to browse a forum as well as you so don't be surprised if they also get banned.
It does not seem to be limited to a given base firmware version, it does not seem to be limited to any one custom firmware type. There is some speculation that older hacking methods are not being hit as hard but nothing to confirm this yet.
The data collection could have happened this morning, or it could have been months in the making.
A simple check to see is checking your friends list, by itself it will not ban you.
Some are turning their wifi off. It is doubtful this will be of much use and being banned does not seem to come with any downsides that wifi being off will not also mimic.
You may have escaped a ban thus far but it could happen at any point. It could be that they stop in the future, it has happened on other consoles, but you would be living in hope rather than any particularly well founded logic.
The bans are done on the side of Nintendo's servers rather than your 3ds so there is also that.

If you hack your devices/games then their online functionality may be troubled. This has been known for decades, Nintendo seems to have finally caught up with that.

Please continue to share information with the thread or the links in previous edits.

Update 5/30

HOW TO HELP AVOID BANS (we think)​

If I was to guess from the information we have gathered since the ban wave, it seems likely that they are looking for TitleIDs that don't exist. Homebrew shows up in the activity log as the Download Play app, and fake CIA's show up as just ??????. That last one is what I'm guessing they are looking for.

If you are not banned yet or before you unban yourself, go into your friends list, choose settings, and turn off the option to "show friends what game you are playing." This will prevent you from playing games online with friends, so turn it back on when you wanna game with someone, but ALWAYS keep it off when running custom CIAs. Next, go into system settings -> internet settings -> spotpass, and turn off BOTH options. One is auto download software, the other sends system information to Nintendo. Also, make sure you don't have your favorite title set to something stupid like FBI or any other non-Nintendo CIA.

Its VERY likely that these options are what tipped off Nintendo, but we aren't 100% certain yet. The amount of banned people that had one of these options turned on was over 80% for each. If I was to assume that some of those people overlap, its very possible (but not confirmed) that 100% of banned people in the survey had at least one of those options turned on. I personally had all of them off and I have TONS of reasons for Nintendo to ban me.... yet I am not banned (yet).

Another bit of advice: Only run custom CIAs when offline, and after you close them, run a "legit" game like Smash Bros. or something before shutting down or going back online. This way your most recent title won't show up as a fake CIA

Current Theories as to what causes a ban
* SpotPass Settings: 8 users out of 46 users that were banned have SpotPass completely shut off, or SpotPass only (no friends list visibility)
* Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): Literally all reports ranged from 10.2+, I can get exact numbers for this if you'd like, but all firmwares were affected.
* Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): 44 of the 126 B9S users that answered were banned, pattern was mirrored for A9LH users as well.
* Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and freeShop: Literally about 98% of users both banned and unbanned had some combination of these applications installed. However the common ones were: FBI, HBL, LumaUpdater and NTR.
* Save Modification: Equal amounts of users on both sides have reported save modification in some form, either with PKSM or another save editor
* System Transfers: 188 users said that they had not previously system transfered, 61 of those users were banned; 16 users said they transferred from a hacked console, only three of them received a ban; 13 said they transferred from a stock system and likewise were banned. The rest of our sample did not answer this question.
* Activity Log Information: A majority of those who have not been banned have said they had NOT cleaned their activity logs. I can get exact numbers for this too on request.

This information is just what I've found. Like I said, there could be variables or things we haven't even checked for yet. But these are things that I feel should be disproven, at least with the current dataset we have.

  • From the information that we've gathered from some people that have used a packet sniffer such as WireShark, the following data is sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers as soon as the 3DS connects to the internet:
    • Amount of time spent online (timer stops when either the system is disconnected from the internet, or connection drops out, then starts the timer again in a new session when it reconnects to the internet).
    • The game being played and amount of time spent on it during that session.
    • The console's unique hexadecimal ID used in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB, along with it's RSA-signed signature.
    • The console's serial number in which is broadcasted from the SoC and is hard coded in the SoC.
    • Friend Code generated on the Nintendo 3DS system, if one has been generated.
    • Internet connection status (either online or offline).
    • The Nintendo Network ID, if there is one linked to it.
    • Even if the sending of SpotPass Information is switched off, or even hiding your currently playing games. It does not prevent the system from sending currently playing information to Nintendo's online gaming servers, it only hides it from your friends in your friend list (like being invisible on the forum, while mods and admins can still see you). Why? Because even people without a Friend Code on their system have been getting banned too!

  • The following data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers:
    • The data from the Nintendo 3DS's Activity Log. Oddly enough, while Nintendo does explicitly state that they collect Activity Log data, they're actually referring to their own server's Activity Log, which always tracks every console's online activity, and keeps a record of them that is stored forever. And is only collected in increments of data through a timer and a currently playing list.
    • Games or apps that have not been played, regardless if they're legitimate or not. You only get tracked when you're online and using that game or app.
    • Using games or apps while offline. Even though it is stored on the 3DS console's Activity Log, that data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers.
    • Custom Firmware. Though we can't rule out the possibility of them releasing a 3DS update in the future that adds such function to collect MD5 hashes of files and FIRM data and send them to Nintendo online gaming servers (which would also be updated in a maintenance).

  • Things that people think what happens with consoles, but really doesn't:
    • "LocalFriendCodeSeedB is transferred to the system upon doing a system transfer". This is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB remains on the system and does not move to another system.
    • "The console generates a LocalFriendCodeSeedB upon first startup". Again, this is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is made during the manufacturing process at Foxconn. It is generated at the factory, flashed to the NAND flash memory storage, then created as an account on Nintendo's online gaming server and Nintendo eShop server immediately when being manufactured. It is absolutely impossible to generate a LocalFriendCodeSeedB and be able to connect to Nintendo's online gaming server and/or Nintendo eShop server, even if you knew the RSA generation key for it. You'd end up with Error Code 002-0102 "This console's online services have been restricted by Nintendo" if you even tried (the error can either mean two things: The hexadecimal ID doesn't exist on the server, or the request to access the hexadecimal ID has been denied which in other words... banned). So a LocalFriendCodeSeedB generator will NEVER happen! Because it's not worth doing, if it can't connect.
    • Switching off "Currently Playing" information. Once again, this does not hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only hides it from your friends.
    • Switching off SpotPass. Nope, this too doesn't hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only opts-out of receiving SpotPass data, sorry.

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

Thanks to @Platinum Lucario @MadMageKefka and @ShadowEO !
 

Fsm51

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So, how difficult is it to modify secureinfo_a, and what pitfalls exist? I'm most interested in changing the serial number in case mine got hit (though I haven't even had it on for a while; only to upgrade to B9S recently). I have a couple stock 3DS serials available to me, and am interested in using those should I have been hit.
(Using GodMode9)
Go to SYSNAND CTRNAND > rw > sys.

There you'll find your SecureInfo_A (or it could be named SecureInfo_B, they're the same) at this point you may proceed to edit your original file or make a copy of it and name it SecureInfo_C, Luma would use a SecureInfo_C over SecureInfo_A/B if found.

To edit it, press A on it and then "Show in Hexditor" (A to continue), press A again to enter edit mode (it will ask for a confirmation, press A again) now it'll promt you to input some buttons, after you're done with that go to 0x00000104, press A on the byte you want to edit.

If you find using GodMode9 kind of hard you can extract the file with Decrypt 9 (SysNAND Options > System File Dump... > Dump SecureInfo_A), edit it on PC with the Hex editor of your choice and then inject it back (SysNAND Options > System File Inject... > Inject SecureInfo_A).

But i don't think that would help you avoid the ban.

Always keep a backup of the original file if you happen to edit it directly (instead of using a SecureInfo_C)

I don't think it has any pitfalls, I haven't found one yet (changed mine back in 2015).
 
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zombigrn

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Has anyone tried leaving a game on for the day? Not a legit game.. Like a cia install or a freeshop install. Although maybe nintendo finally figured out how freeshop works and is trolling people?
 

ItShoto

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Glad to hear that I helped! And it's an EULA that isn't legally binding, not so sure about a ToS.
But sadly, even if a ToS isn't legally binding, we agreed to the terms when setting up the Online Services for our 3DS. Upon agreeing to the written agreement, we're bound by it, so they can enforce it however they want within their power (this case, a ban). Ignorance of the terms due to not actually reading the terms isn't a valid excuse. Think of the ToS as a set of written rules that we agree to, it's not a contract, it's us literally agreeing to follow their written set of rules and agreeing that they are allowed to do whatever they choose to prevent us from accessing their network if we should break them.

Now that makes sense. I guess it's a privilege, not a right. Also, Nintendo doesn't have to provide us with an E-Shop, a server, and the ability to play with friends. I remember when I had a DS Lite, and I had to go to my friend's house, a 1-hour drive just to send him some Pokemon or battle. I'm not taking sides whether we deserve this ban or not, but I'm putting it out there that this doesn't need to be supplied.
 
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A Plus Ric

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I'm not so much arguing, as pointing out why nobody cares about you trying to shoehorn in a new survey.
I didn't try to make a new survey, I said what would make u pin point it out. But hey, keep thinking people are being honest, when we have seen a few try to claim clean 3ds are banned, then videos show otherwise. But hey, saying let's not all discuss productive to figure it out, let's talk about ways to stop it without knowing what they detect......
 

ShadowEO

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I keep reading. I'm still thinking it's Cia with invalid tickets or hacked save files/ gamessage played online.
If it's invalid tickets, wouldn't everyone who has content from "that shop" be hit? I see that some who haven't been hit have been users of "that shop", myself included.
 

MollyChan

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I'm sorry to let you down, but whatever we try, smart or not, is useless right now, as the banwave already hit countless people, and it's still hitting more as we speak... nothing we do right now is "SAFE", until we find out what EXACTLY it is that is setting off the flag, again, anything we do right now, is useless, you need to be patient now, and provide info, that's the only way to help the rest.
Okay, so I'll do what I was originally doing
I guess I'll re-post some info I mentioned earlier (like, 50 pages ago, haha)

I had the spotpass features (both options) set to ON until I found out about this ban last night
I have basically spent all the time since getting CFW about a month ago with my 3DS on (since I got into a bad habit of doing that, oops)
I have Luma3DS v7.0.4 (found out which version I had) and al9h. As far as I know, I do not have any of those new options that v7 of Luma3DS enabled
I have FBI, Homebrew Launcher, CHMM, PKSM, a Doom port, GYTB (both GYTB and PKSM have not been opened yet), a bunch of Retroarch emulators (which I play A LOT), GameYob, and two Japan only Puyo games I installed via CIAs (so I could play some Puyo while waiting to get a Switch and Puyo Puyo Tetris)
I have NEVER used Freeshop, or that DoodleBomb thing (whatever THAT is)
I have NOT played any games online since about last February, before I got CFW
I have NOT been banned yet (at least as of last checking earlier today)

Since I only had CFW for a month, it could be possible that if Nintendo is banning people based on data they collected before that, then I could be safe? At least for now...

It could also be possible that I haven't been banned yet because I'm in Canada? My friend who has CFW hasn't been banned yet either, and as far as I know, no other Canadian users on here have said their consoles got banned...
 

A Plus Ric

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If it's invalid tickets, wouldn't everyone who has content from "that shop" be hit? I see that some who haven't been hit have been users of "that shop", myself included.
Depends on how they detect it. If they only detect if u try to play online or not could be issues, or have been detecting online play for a few mos. That's why the backlog would be important.
 

Funkymon

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I didn't try to make a new survey, I said what would make u pin point it out. But hey, keep thinking people are being honest, when we have seen a few try to claim clean 3ds are banned, then videos show otherwise. But hey, saying let's not all discuss productive to figure it out, let's talk about ways to stop it without knowing what they detect......

Maybe this thread isn't productive because this problem won't be solved by people like you? And we won't know anything until actual devs monitoring traffic weigh in?
 

TinchoX

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Hey guys, new here but I've been reading this post for some time. Just now took the courage to turn my O3DS on and see if I was banned or not, and kinda glad I'm not (for now). So, my situation is as follows:

- Bought it used, some eight months ago, with RXTools and updated to arm9loaderhax and luma when the 11.3 came out and just couldn't play anymore;
- Updated to 11.4 some two weeks ago, but didn't download any game in the last two months or so;
- Opened lots of homebrew from the home menu, played pokemon moon before the release (didn't went online though), edited pokemons through homebrew, edited the themes, downloaded a lot of games with that you-know-which-store, used save managers, but never cheated online or dumped games;
- Played only MK7 (last time was some three months ago) and pokemon games online;
- Found out I was sending data through Spotpass, but turned it off as soon as I saw it;
- Just in case, I decided to enter online through my pokemon moon cartridge and not from the home menu; after that, went to see my friends list and was ok;
- Because of academic obligations, it was about five days since I last turned it on.

My question is: there was some case in which someone went online, found it wasn't banned and, later, going again, was banned? Kinda thinking if I could have just sent something like a "Hi, please ban me!" message to Nintendo going online, triggering something there. I read people saying it was related to theirs servers, so the "ban list" was already there to begin with, but we never know (and in this situation, less than ever it seems).
Yes it feels like Nintendo got some really bored people checking for illegitimate usage of their consoles, system by system using some sort of automated process, when they gathered enough data from hundred if not thousands of consoles, they press the big red button and massacre people with bans. Bans for day, bans everywhere~
 
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ShadowEO

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Depends on how they detect it. If they only detect if u try to play online or not could be issues, or have been detecting online play for a few mos. That's why the backlog would be important.

Ah, true enough. I just assumed that they'd check a list of all installed tickets at one time if they were to check it at all. I hadn't thought that they would be lax enough to only check a single ticket at a time.
 

ItShoto

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So the only big thing that Nintendo has stopped is online play and friends. That doesn't seem like a big deal to a player like me who has no friends -sad violin music- On top of that, I play a game for the story, so Fire Emblem and Pokemon is all I really got. Who does this really affect?
 

Veranek

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I've been paying attention to the thread...have you? That's why I said they are lying, or leaving stuff out. (Maybe to not lose their forum status or not). I've watched and given theories from watching and reading. You just wanna argue now, too.

No dude, you're the one that's confused, all of what he states has been proven true, at least anecdotally. You've watched theories with no logic or background behind them and started to believe them.
 
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TinchoX

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Okay, so I'll do what I was originally doing
I guess I'll re-post some info I mentioned earlier (like, 50 pages ago, haha)

I had the spotpass features (both options) set to ON until I found out about this ban last night
I have basically spent all the time since getting CFW about a month ago with my 3DS on (since I got into a bad habit of doing that, oops)
I have Luma3DS v7.0.4 (found out which version I had) and al9h. As far as I know, I do not have any of those new options that v7 of Luma3DS enabled
I have FBI, Homebrew Launcher, CHMM, PKSM, a Doom port, GYTB (both GYTB and PKSM have not been opened yet), a bunch of Retroarch emulators (which I play A LOT), GameYob, and two Japan only Puyo games I installed via CIAs (so I could play some Puyo while waiting to get a Switch and Puyo Puyo Tetris)
I have NEVER used Freeshop, or that DoodleBomb thing (whatever THAT is)
I have NOT played any games online since about last February, before I got CFW
I have NOT been banned yet (at least as of last checking earlier today)

Since I only had CFW for a month, it could be possible that if Nintendo is banning people based on data they collected before that, then I could be safe? At least for now...

It could also be possible that I haven't been banned yet because I'm in Canada? My friend who has CFW hasn't been banned yet either, and as far as I know, no other Canadian users on here have said their consoles got banned...
Maybe the ban extends from Japan (or asia), to Europe, then the USA, and finally other smaller "Regions" but I think they hit more important regions first.
I'm from argentina but I got hit anyways, both my consoles are set as US consoles anyways, why? Because if I use South America, 50% of the online services and games give me an error message saying that their services are not available in my country :<
 

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