Hacking Unable to play self-created good/legit CIAs but spoofed RF CIAs and freeShop works

SomeKindOfUsername · Sep 25, 2017

First, some hopefully helpful info.
Model: new 3DS XL
B9S: 1.3
Luma: 8.1.1 and the only option enabled is "Show NAND or user string in System Settings"
Firmware: 11.6
Region: USA
FBI: 2.4.12
Other: Latest Funkeycia script + a certain .bin file as well as WiiU USB Helper
I should also mention that I have used Funkeycia in the past to make a few CIAs, even out of region ones, that did install and play without issue. I also launch FBI from Rosalina without any issue.

This all started when I used Funkeycia to generate a CIA for Samus Returns. Everything went smoothly, until I actually tried to launch the game from the home menu (I didn't try launching from FBI) which resulted in an ARM 11 "An exception had occurred" error. I uninstalled the game+ticket and tried generating a CIA with WiiU USB Helper. The checksum was different from the one created by Funkeycia so I hoped that was the problem. I even tested this copy with Citra and it worked just fine. Once again, everything went smoothly until I tried launching the game from the home menu and got the same error.

I was getting worried something may have been wrong, so I finally downloaded a CIA from that ISO site. Unlike the ones I generated, which were set to North America + Australia (I think), this CIA was modified to be region free. I uninstalled the game+ticket one more time and tried this one. This time, everything went smoothly and I could actually play it.
I feel like I should mention that when I installed this CIA I also had wireless enabled when in FBI - not sure if that makes any difference, but it's something I did do differently.

I thought this was weird, but figured maybe it had something to do with it being the latest Nintendo release and something outdated with Funkeycia/WiiU USB Helper.

Just the other day I again tried making a few CIAs with Funkeycia, this time with some EUR releases + two USA releases. All of them installed smoothly, but every single EUR region game returns the same ARM 11 error and one even consistently says that I removed the SD card(!). The two USA region games I downloaded do work though.
I thought that maybe this had something to do with out of region games, but I have a few JPN games that work flawlessly. I was worried that my SD card might be corrupted, so in a last ditch effort I tried making a CIA with ciangel which returned the same checksum as the one created from Funkeycia - I didn't bother installing it - before finally trying freeShop (I don't normally use freeShop, since downloading CIAs on my PC seems faster). The game, when downloaded from freeShop, works perfectly.

So, that's what's going on.
I guess what I'm asking here is why are supposedly good/legit CIAs not working while spoofed CIAs and freeShop seemingly do? And why did I have previous success with Funkeycia? Any insight would be appreciated.

fenderjaguar · Sep 25, 2017

Not all out of region games are guaranteed to work. I've installed japanese and american games on my euro 3DS, and whilst most work, some didn't. You're also saying .CIA's made with funkeycia are 'good/legit'....but why?

Just my opinion, I could be wrong; If you want the game, you should always download the american version from freeshop. If it isn't there, then download the euro version from freeshop. If that doesn't work, then download a clean USA .3DS rom and convert it yourself into a .CIA file with godmode9, then install it with FBI.

key1340 · Sep 25, 2017

@SomeKindOfUsername

FreeShop installs the cia + the title seed needed for the game to work. And cia from that iso site don't need a title seed.

U need to install the title seed manually with fbi for cia from FunKeyCIA.

SomeKindOfUsername · Sep 26, 2017

fenderjaguar said:
Not all out of region games are guaranteed to work. I've installed japanese and american games on my euro 3DS, and whilst most work, some didn't. You're also saying .CIA's made with funkeycia are 'good/legit'....but why?

Just my opinion, I could be wrong; If you want the game, you should always download the american version from freeshop. If it isn't there, then download the euro version from freeshop. If that doesn't work, then download a clean USA .3DS rom and convert it yourself into a .CIA file with godmode9, then install it with FBI.

Well, I'm just going by what cearp says

Interesting that some games work and some don't. I thought that was impossible because CFW was supposed to take care of region locking. Looking at my games I've realized just how many were modified to be RF (but some still aren't).

key1340 said:
@SomeKindOfUsername

FreeShop installs the cia + the title seed needed for the game to work. And cia from that iso site don't need a title seed.

U need to install the title seed manually with fbi for cia from FunKeyCIA.

Ah, so there was a step I was missing! That could explain it, although I'm still not sure how or why I was able to successfully install a few CIAs from FunKeyCIA when I didn't do anything with title seeds.

Quantumcat · Sep 26, 2017

SomeKindOfUsername said:
I'm still not sure how or why I was able to successfully install a few CIAs from FunKeyCIA when I didn't do anything with title seeds.

It's only games that require higher firmwares than 9.5 that require seeds I believe.

fenderjaguar · Sep 26, 2017

SomeKindOfUsername said:
Interesting that some games work and some don't. I thought that was impossible because CFW was supposed to take care of region locking. Looking at my games I've realized just how many were modified to be RF (but some still aren't).

I think if the region free luma thing was so perfect, there wouldn't be an option for "game patching" in the luma options menu, which describes "overriding the region and language configuration and the usage of patched code binaries" etc. That also seems to require putting some lines into a config file as well.

Also, I don't trust that iso site, I think a lot of the .cia have been messed around with. I'm not saying it's dodgy or anything, just that it might have been converted from one thing to the next, so we don't know where we are with it. I'd rather make my own .cia out of a .3ds rom I took from a real cart with godmode9

SomeKindOfUsername · Sep 26, 2017

fenderjaguar said:
I think if the region free luma thing was so perfect, there wouldn't be an option for "game patching" in the luma options menu, which describes "overriding the region and language configuration and the usage of patched code binaries" etc. That also seems to require putting some lines into a config file as well.

Also, I don't trust that iso site, I think a lot of the .cia have been messed around with. I'm not saying it's dodgy or anything, just that it might have been converted from one thing to the next, so we don't know where we are with it. I'd rather make my own .cia out of a .3ds rom I took from a real cart with godmode9

Huh, I thought the game patching option was mostly about mods. And yeah, that's another reason why I thought to use something like FunKeyCIA, so I know it'll be "clean."

Quantumcat said:
It's only games that require higher firmwares than 9.5 that require seeds I believe.

Aha, so that explains it.
Thanks for the help everyone!

sasha_spb_ru · Sep 26, 2017

I'm also unable to play latest EU Metroid under Luma - infinite loading.
Tried A9LH with Luma 7.0.5, then upgraded to B9S with Luma 8.1.1 - nothing changed.
Tried CIA from FunkyCIA , tried FBI install from CDN (everything with seed import, of course) - no difference.
But what strange - same installed CIA works perfectly under Gateway mode.
So, maybe this is Luma problem.
Have old EU 3DS with 11.2 Sysnand only.

Majickhat55 · Sep 26, 2017

sasha_spb_ru said:
I'm also unable to play latest EU Metroid under Luma - infinite loading.
Tried A9LH with Luma 7.0.5, then upgraded to B9S with Luma 8.1.1 - nothing changed.
Tried CIA from FunkyCIA , tried FBI install from CDN (everything with seed import, of course) - no difference.
But what strange - same installed CIA works perfectly under Gateway mode.
So, maybe this is Luma problem.
Have old EU 3DS with 11.2 Sysnand only.

You need to update to at least 11.3. I'll never understand why so many of you remain on outdated firmware...... That should be your first troubleshooting step; make sure all entry points, firms and apps are up to date unless instructed otherwise. Saves you from trouble like this later...

Quantumcat · Sep 27, 2017

Majickhat55 said:
You need to update to at least 11.3. I'll never understand why so many of you remain on outdated firmware...... That should be your first troubleshooting step; make sure all entry points, firms and apps are up to date unless instructed otherwise. Saves you from trouble like this later...

Metroid runs on 11.2 actually. And didn't you notice he said it runs on Gateway mode.

Majickhat55 · Sep 27, 2017

Quantumcat said:
Metroid runs on 11.2 actually. And didn't you notice he said it runs on Gateway mode.

I wasn't 100% sure. I saw a thread earlier where people were on 11.2 and were just getting the boot loop. I totally missed the Gateway part.

Quantumcat · Sep 27, 2017

Majickhat55 said:
I wasn't 100% sure. I saw a thread earlier where people were on 11.2 and were just getting the boot loop. I totally missed the Gateway part.

I have no idea why it wouldn't be working in Luma though. Pretty weird!

Hacking Unable to play self-created good/legit CIAs but spoofed RF CIAs and freeShop works

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