Gaming Hacking Homebrew 3DS MH4U and other games crash. Expanded Memory?

[Badjustice]

Hey all,

I am fairly newb to this scene. A friend helped modded CFW on my New 3DS XL 5 years ago and I recently picked up my 3DS again to play some MH4U (purchased legitimately back then).

However, MH4U along with some other games (Mario 3D Land, Rune Factory 4 - all legit copies from the eshop) seem to crash on boot. I have already followed steps on a subreddit and updated my Luma to V.11 along with bootloader, Godmode9 etc.

Console FW is now 11.15.0-47U

My MH4U used to run even with older CFW but now crashes with the error as seen in the picture

Through my research online, I find threads saying something about Expanded memory games have this issue. What are the steps I can take to fix this?

I have also tested the free space on my SD (4GB/32GB) with h2testw/f3 and it came back normal.

If a formatting of my SD is required, what steps do I take to preserve my save data?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[CoolMe]

Over time after CFW it started to crash more and more consistently, and now it crashes on boot.

I thought you said here that it gave you Arm11 errors on boot before accessing the home menu. Instead, what you meant is on boot of the game (like MH4U)..

To clarify, it is always a ARM11 problem for MH4U every single time.
My 3DS does not crash in any other way, asides from booting MH4U or certain other games (Badge Arcade).

The only other area I run into an ARM11 issue is when I try to download MH4U or even MH3U from the Freeshop, but I only did that as a test. The ARM11 issue is also different in the freeshop,

Ok. I would suggest looking for a seed online for your specific version (look up its title id in fbi), there's a seed database somewhere on the internet, if you find it, create a directory like this sd:/fbi/seed/and put seed file here. Ok?

 

[Sypherone]

Im also not sure what causes the Problem and how to solve. Maybe there are somewhere old or corrupted data stored of the game, in nand or SDCard.
You copyed your backuped files back to your freshly formated SDCard. Maybe try a empty SDCard, let the 3ds create the 3ds folder wich it does on new Cards. Then install MH4U as cia or from the shop.
Just as notice, i am my self running MH4U on my new3DS XL with latest b9s and luma build, without any issues. But iam using a installed cia from a cartridge dump, not a legit with original key from eshop.

EDIT: FBI automatically imports title seeds on installation of a game, either from the Internet or the SD card. And the import error comes up because there is no seed for MH4U, related to this seedDB-list.

EDIT^2: Delete all data that belongs to the game like exdata and also savegames (with checkpoint you can restore them later). If i remember correct, there are cases where someone had same issue because of corrupt save game.

 

[Badjustice]

I thought you said here that it gave you Arm11 errors on boot before accessing the home menu. Instead, what you meant is on boot of the game (like MH4U)..


Ok. I would suggest looking for a seed online for your specific version (look up its title id in fbi), there's a seed database somewhere on the internet, if you find it, create a directory like this sd:/fbi/seed/and put seed file here. Ok?

Oh no no my 3DS works fine in pretty much every way. The only instance of crash is trying to boot the game.

I will look into this and report back when I can.

Im also not sure what causes the Problem and how to solve. Maybe there are somewhere old or corrupted data stored of the game, in nand or SDCard.
You copyed your backuped files back to your freshly formated SDCard. Maybe try a empty SDCard, let the 3ds create the 3ds folder wich it does on new Cards. Then install MH4U as cia or from the shop.
Just as notice, i am my self running MH4U on my new3DS XL with latest b9s and luma build, without any issues. But iam using a installed cia from a cartridge dump, not a legit with original key from eshop.

EDIT: FBI automatically imports title seeds on installation of a game, either from the Internet or the SD card. And the import error comes up because there is no seed for MH4U, related to this seedDB-list.

I was looking into seeds after your post and couldn't find any. I read online that apparently the eshop page would also generate the seed itself so idk why my legit copy would not work.

I just ordered a new 64GB card. I will format it and test it before I use it. I understand that I can just copy and paste the contents of my current SD to the new one and it should work, is that all the steps? Would you guys recommend that I remove the MH4U game file before recopying to the new card?

 

[Sypherone]

Ya i read that too, that by getting into eshop the seed would be generated. But its recommend if seed is needed.

Just format the new card, run a test and copy all over. And yes remove everything of MH4U.

As i also wrote in the EDIT^2 a moment ago. It could be the savegame is corrupt or the extradata. So backup them, remove them and try a clean install without any other data (tickets, seeds, whatever..) that could belong to the game. Maybe this 3DS-recovery-tool can help to erase extradata in nand if neccesary.

 

[Badjustice]

Ya i read that too, that by getting into eshop the seed would be generated. But its recommend if seed is needed.

Just format the new card, run a test and copy all over. And yes remove everything of MH4U.

As i also wrote in the EDIT^2 a moment ago. It could be the savegame is corrupt or the extradata. So remove them and try a clean install without any other data (tickets, seeds, whatever..) that could belong to the game

Yes that is what I will have to try. My new SD doesn't come until mid week so I will keep posted here.

I really do hope its not a savedata/extdata problem, since the whole incentive was to come back to my 500hour save file lol.

Thank you again for your prompt responses!

 

[Sypherone]

We will hope so. Backup everything to pc and clean up all MH4U belonging stuff from 3ds nand and SDcard. If the fresh installed game runs, you can reimport everyhing one by one. But prove by running the game after each file import.

 

[Badjustice]

Update:
So my brand new Sandisk SD card arrived and I have done the following:

1. Format 32k > Tested (no issues) > Format 32k
2. Deleted MH4U game + Save data on old SD card
3. Transferred my old 3DS contents to new SD card -> everything works fine
4. Redownloaded MH4U (legit copy) from eshop -> Arm11 (undefined instruction) error still occurs
5. Deleted and redownloaded MH4U .cia rom -> same Arm11 issue

I also tested by loading MH3U .cia rom, and it works perfectly fine. Also tested a lot of new games (thanks to newer SD) and all work perfectly fine.

It does not seem like its an SD issue anymore, and its an isolated problem with ONLY MH4U. I had also tried this with the save data/backup of MH4U deleted and same issue occurs, so Idk if this is a save data corruption problem.

That's where I am at now.

 

[Sypherone]

Thats really strange. But i would have tryed the empty card with nothing copied to it. To be really sure that there is no file on the sdcard that cause that error. Just the empty card in 3ds, let him create the 3ds folder, then only neccesarry stuff like Luma, homebrew launcher, fbi.

This would say there is something wrong on the Nand. A godemode9 CTRTransfer would be a try, normaly reflashing a nand backup from a previous time where the game worked would be a solution. I dont know how it was 5 years ago, maybe you have a Nandbackup from this time. Wich has hopely CFW on it.

 

[Badjustice]

Thats really strange. But i would have tryed the empty card with nothing copied to it. To be really sure that there is no file on the sdcard that cause that error. Just the empty card in 3ds, let him create the 3ds folder, then only neccesarry stuff like Luma, homebrew launcher, fbi.

This would say there is something wrong on the Nand. A godemode9 CTRTransfer would be a try, normaly reflashing a nand backup from a previous time where the game worked would be a solution. I dont know how it was 5 years ago, maybe you have a Nandbackup from this time. Wich has hopely CFW on it.

I definitely do not have any backup of any kind from back in the day.

At this time, my 3DS seems to run every cia I install flawlessly with the exception of my favorite game MH4U, my 3DS is even the MH4U special edition lol. Despite this, I think I am just going to consider this a loss at this time which is okay. I don't want to jeopardize my other games by doing anything too intrusive over one single game.

Thank you so much for your help thus far, you guys are all real IT troopers.

 

[TalentX]

Hhmm, that sounds very unfortunate.

Have you tried to get a CIA installer of MH4U from the internet (not freeshop) and tried installing that instead of downloading the game from eShop?
You can install CIAs using FBI.

Cheers
TalentX

 

[lone_wolf323]

Hhmm, that sounds very unfortunate.

Have you tried to get a CIA installer of MH4U from the internet (not freeshop) and tried installing that instead of downloading the game from eShop?
You can install CIAs using FBI.

Cheers
TalentX

If your still refering to the freeshop, that app was shut load years ago by nintendo.

 

[Badjustice]

Hhmm, that sounds very unfortunate.

Have you tried to get a CIA installer of MH4U from the internet (not freeshop) and tried installing that instead of downloading the game from eShop?
You can install CIAs using FBI.

Cheers
TalentX

I have tried both the cia installed version via FBI as well as the eshop. Both are the same result

Thank you!

 

[Sypherone]

You say its a 3DS MH4U special edition, so the 3DS came preinstalled with the game for the region of the 3DS. Is the preinstalled game bound to your NNID? Iam not sure how far this can effect the problem if not.

If you signed into or created a NNID on that device, the game will become owned by the NNID. Formatting the console will remove the NNID, and thereby the game along with it, since the game license is no longer tied to the console. If the system never touched a NNID, the game will belong to the system's built-in eshop account, and the person can redownload the game from the eshop for free.

Because all other games run fine. Just try a M4HU Demo or the game from another region with a different ticket then the preinstalled has.

EDIT: Just some questions/troubleshootings:
- Did you also updated the boot9strap (bootrom exploid)? Latest is 1.4.
- Did u turn on in luma settings NEW CPU options? Turn them off. Also disable game patching.
- Is the 3DS Region changed? Because this will break extended memory function for this games:
• Pokemon (Ultra) Sun & Moon
• Super Smash Bros
• Hyrule Warriors?
• Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
• Toad Treasure Tracker
• Super Mario Maker
- You say, you use a bootloader (fastboot3DS)? Disable/remove it and use luma normal.
- Did you tryed a update over 3ds recovery menu? Hold A+R+L+Up(DPad) at boot.
Else try system format. It is safe to format the 3DS. B9S and Luma3DS will be preserved. But remove the SDCard before.

 

[Badjustice]

Hello,

Sorry to revive an old thread but I have made some breakthrough recently.
I purchased a used copy of MH4U and loaded my save file via checkpoint.

The cartridge works! BUT only without my SD card.
Running the cartridge again with the SD card results in the same ARM11 error (even after wiping the MH4U data through system settings).

As per my previous posts, I purchased this SD card brand new and have formatted/tested it to be no issue.
I always just copy and paste the contents before/after the format.

Now it seems there is some data on the SD card that is specifically related to MH4U is messing it up.

Is there a way for me to ensure and delete ONLY MH4U content on the SD card?
If not, how should I proceed with the SD card? I don't want to lose all of the things I have on it already as it runs everything else fine.

Thanks

edit:
Also just realized that I can't load my ext data on checkpoint (ext data contains the registered sets/item box information). I have a raw backup of all ext data, on PC and decrypted ones on Checkpoint but for some reason Checkpoint does not recognize the ext data for MH4U?

 

[Badjustice]

EDIT: RESOLVED! Sort of..

So this will be my final post and update in case anyone in the distant future stumbles across a similar issue.

After getting my cartridge to at least boot, it seems that the ext data was corrupted. While I had MH4U cart booted without my SD card, I was able to trigger the option to proceed without ext on the SD.

This somehow allowed my system to wipe out the corrupted ext data from within the game. Now I have tested and both cia and cart is able to run WITH my SD card intact.

I have to compromise by losing my ext data (mainly my guildcards over the years, and my item box settings including armor sets etc) but that can be rebuilt.

This was the only way to have MH4U working again on my 3DS with my save file mostly retained.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far. Cheers!

Second edit:
Luckily I backed up my ext data on Checkpoint a while back before all this trial and error and I was able to restore that as well via Checkpoint. Everything has been fixed!

 

[Sypherone]

Normaly, If there isnt to much stuff on the SD-Card, the easiest way would be clearing the hole SD-card. Letting the 3DS create a new Nintendo 3DS folder, recreate or copy back the homebrew stuff and reinstall the games, dlc`s and updates.

Else:
All original stuff of Nintendo is in the Nintendo 3DS Folder of the SD Card. And pictures are in the DCMI Folder (some of MH4U?). Everything else is homebrew stuff.

For details see SD Filesystem
Details for ext data

You can use FBI to remove game related stuff like the hole title and ext Save Data. By pressing select you can choose to only show stuff on the SD Card. Also possible with godemode9.
Or you can remove the stuff manually in the specific game ID path (and restore).

To reimport saves and ext data, best first create with Checkpoint a backup to have the correct folder for them. /3ds/Checkpoint/extdata/[Game Name]/[Folder create by backup]. Then change the new data with your backup (or add it). You can check this Tutorial to dump ext save data.

EDIT: Nice you solved it. Have fun and enjoy !