Hacking Analysis on the Gateway 3DS blue cart (updateable??)

piratesephiroth

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Explain the fact that after using the software games that had issues tend to work, I figure because the Full(OverWrite) option is actually a zero-out option. I know of 2 games that are affected by this but each game is affected only on a specific file system size.
Windows drive format tool allows you to pick the cluster size as well.
 

Acidflare

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Windows drive format tool allows you to pick the cluster size as well.
Meh the Windows format tool is still to low in features, you can't even rebuild the MBR of a drive with it or any internal windows tools. my main point is that the panasonic tool does something right for DS mode Flash carts when the Full(OverWrite) option is selected.
 

zoogie

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Windows drive format tool allows you to pick the cluster size as well.
Windows formatter only reformats the logical drive though. Say you have a 4gb card on a new3ds and have 2gb left after the emunand. If you want that space back, you need sd formmatter.
 

FR0ZN

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no one tried to update the bootstrap with ace3ds_fix_all?

I did, gets you nowhere, because this fix is meant for old ace3ds cards which are actually updateable via software.
On newer ace3ds cards you just get an error (same goes for the blue card), because the bootstrap is written ONCE during manufacturing and then locked for further updates.
If you look at the ace3ds page, you can see that this makes sense from a financial point of view, they released new cards for every 3DS FW which locked out the previous bootstrap, thats why they could sell them so cheap ... because people apperantly were ok with 5$ once the cards got locked out, instead of spending "proper" money on flashcarts which are updateable (even tho they are cheap as well these days).
 
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Technicmaster0

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If you look at the ace3ds page, you can see that this makes sense from a financial point of view, they released new cards for every 3DS FW which locked out the previous bootstrap, thats why they could sell them so cheap ... because people apperantly were ok with 5$ once the cards got locked out, instead of spending "proper" money on flashcarts which are updateable (even tho they are cheap as well these days).
Another reason for that might be that Wood actually bricks some cards that use a hacked firmware. This might be to avoid that the card can be bricked.
 

Myria

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I don't really like that I'm committing thread necromancy, but something has come up that makes me want to resurrect this thread.

ntrboothax for the 3DS is based upon putting a custom DS ROM onto a flash cart. The bootstrap ROM, ordinarily containing part of a commercial DS game, is what needs to be reflashed in order to work as ntrboothax.

Is it possible to change the bootstrap ROM on a Brickway blue cart?

Flash carts often have multiple bootstrap ROMs so that they can show a custom logo when run from an original DS/DSlite, because these systems don't have a whitelist, yet still work when plugged into a DSi or 3DS. Which bootstrap among these needs to be updated varies, depending on the cartridge's internal system detection logic. Naturally, we'd want to change the bootstrap that the cartridge happens to give to the 3DS boot9 when doing ntrboothax.

For some flash cartridges - Acekard 2i comes to mind - you retain most DS flash cart features with ntrboothax installed, because a different bootstrap is given to boot9 versus the Home Menu. It might break original DS, though.
 

FR0ZN

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We never went further than all you can find in this thread.

Changing the bootstrap was one of the goals back then when higher 3DS FWs blocked this cart ... and then the whitelist title hack thingy happend where it didn't matter anymore what bootstrap is on there and that's pretty much the end of the story :/

I believe that the bootstrap can be rewritten via hardware, there are a few testpins on above the mSD slot ... but for the software side of things I don't beleive that anything can be dont like for the other compatible carts.

But I still hope that you guys give it a shot, this cart or the Ace3DS are basically the same thing.
 
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yacepi15

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Mine has a X-C1 mark. It is still a Ace3DS+, right? I'm curious about if this thing is compatible with NTRBOOT...

img-20170818-014628-1767303.jpg
 

FR0ZN

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My best guess is, that it isn't comaptible to NTR boothax .... non of the Ace3DS carts and their clones.

There were Ace3DS carts once that could be updated, these days they make money by releasing new carts for every 3DS FW that blocked the previous one.
 

yacepi15

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My best guess is, that it isn't comaptible to NTR boothax .... non of the Ace3DS carts and their clones.

There were Ace3DS carts once that could be updated, these days they make money by releasing new carts for every 3DS FW that blocked the previous one.
Via software, that's the case, but... Whats the reason behind the testpads in the mSD reader?
 

FR0ZN

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No way to re-use them, right?

I can only do assumptions, someone with the right equipment would have to test it.
If you are lucky you can read the ROM, that's a 50:50 chance ... writing to it is against the rules of a ROM :)
Dunno if one can remove the epoxy from the chip and erase it with UV light, I never looked underneath these things.
 

Technicmaster0

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I'm pretty sure that Ace3DS still uses flash storages and no ROM.

I looked at my Ace3DS+ (and clones):
Gateway blue card (X-B): "test points" are connected to the SD slot, not to the Flash. The traces from the SD slot go to the black dot, probably a FPGA. Maybe there are some hidden commands to flash the card with an external device or something, but nothing goes directly to the flash.

MT blue card (X-D1): The pins are labeled: "VCC, GND, TCK, TDO, TDI, TMS". The pins connect to the MicroSD like with the blue card. Can't access the flash pins. Pin names seem to be for hardware tests: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_scan

Ace3DS plus (ACE): Same as the gateway card.

One could try to reverse the previous updater and port it to the newer cards, but that would probably result in bricked cards (if it works).
 

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Bumping this to remind you that the 'game.dldi' driver that comes in that GW blue card's kernel is useless.
You need to use the dldi driver from EX4DS or any homebrew that needs patching won't run.
I know that the use of an alternate dldi driver with the GW blue card is old news for many of you, but I have a question. I read here and here about how unofficial mods of GW hardware/software can cause bricks of the console, but would swapping the original "game.dldi" driver in the blue card for the one in EX4DS be enough to trigger a brick?
 

DeadSkullzJr

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I know that the use of an alternate dldi driver with the GW blue card is old news for many of you, but I have a question. I read here and here about how unofficial mods of GW hardware/software can cause bricks of the console, but would swapping the original "game.dldi" driver in the blue card for the one in EX4DS be enough to trigger a brick?
I think people are misunderstanding the differences between a kernel and a flashcart firmware. The firmware is just the flashcart boot ROM, without it you can't boot flashcarts in general, the flashcart kernel is the software that runs on the flashcart so you can play your various games, homebrew, media, etc. Running a flashcart kernel like Wood R4 wouldn't brick this flashcart, in fact I actually run the Wood v1.62 kernel on mine and it's just fine (I got the kernel some place else), NEVER have I experienced any bricking with it. If the flashcart was a clone however and using the corrupted boot ROM then yes there would be some issues, but mine is legitimate.
 
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Princess21

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I think people are misunderstanding the differences between a kernel and a flashcart firmware. The firmware is just the flashcart boot ROM, without it you can't boot flashcarts in general, the flashcart kernel is the software that runs on the flashcart so you can play your various games, homebrew, media, etc. Running a flashcart kernel like Wood R4 wouldn't brick this flashcart, in fact I actually run the Wood v1.62 kernel on mine and it's just fine (I got the kernel some place else), NEVER have I experienced any bricking with it. If the flashcart was a clone however and using the corrupted boot ROM then yes there would be some issues, but mine is legitimate.
It seemed weird to me too. The warning thread only referred to flashcart clones and Launcher.dat modifications, so I wasn't sure how it was applicable to software on the official blue card or why this page linked to it in the first place. I thought it best to check just in case.
Thanks heaps for the info! I'll be updating to v1.62 asap :yay3ds:
 

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