Hardware Is save recovery possible after NNID only transfer?

[NotQuiteNormal]

Hi all, newbie looking for some help!
I've recently had to get a replacement original 3DS console as my last one died on me.
I got Nintendo to disassociate my old NNID, and I logged in with it on my replacement console. All my downloaded games are available for re-download from the e-shop as expected.

What I was hoping to do was to put in my SD card from my broken console so I could carry on as much as possible from where I left off with saves, street passes, etc.

This did not work.

I know, I know, it's not supposed to work. Everything everyone says, and Nintendo themselves confirm this.

BUT

I have been through something similar about 3 years ago. That time my 3DS had been stolen, and once I bought a replacement I was able to send that console to Nintendo, and they transferred my NNID for me (as doing it remotely was not an option back then). When I got that back, I found out by accident a few months later that I could actually put in my old SD card, and that read the data from around the time I had my old machine stolen. (I had that data as I'd recently upgraded my memory card to a larger size, so still had the back-up on my laptop). All my SD card saves were accessible again!

What's different this time?

After a bit more research it seems like it might be that when Nintendo had my console last time they may have moved encryption keys, or something. Plus this was back before they had NNIDs, so the process has changed for them. After talking to Nintendo (they called me after I kept bugging them via e-mail), they said that what I wanted (which I was telling them all along), might have been possible if the NNID hadn't been moved, but now the process has gone too far.

I'm still trying to find out if this is really it, or if there are other ways around it. I've tried to see if I can move certain files, (I've made copies of the new SD card contents at various stages to try and see differences after I install a new piece of SW, and new save games), then replaced with the equivalents from my old SD. Unsurprisingly I haven't got this to work.

Lost cause?

Thanks

 

[GothicIII]

BTW this is the wrong subforum because it has nothing (ok it has but whatever) to do with hardware.

First you need to understand how encryption work for the 3DS so you can understand what problem you have. I don't know how techy you are but I try to explain what happened.

Forget the SD-Card your problem is the NAND (Chip where the Firmware from 3DS is stored). When Nintendo moved first your account from your stolen 3DS to the new one not only settings where transfered but also the encryption keys which reside inside your NAND. There is extra storage on it to save such things like NNID settings, keys for encryption, Streetpass saves (this is special) etc. That encryption key is tied to the NNID you use AND the 3DS you use. If you change either of them, a new encryption key will be created thus the previous content on the SD card is not available anymore even when you try the same 3DS and the NNID again.

There are several ways to restore that encryption but they are technically all the same.

The "official" one: It's not restoring but transferring. The transfer utility moves all those NAND settings to a new 3DS so the content can be accessed from the new one. This is normally the way to go when you purchase a new (N)3DS.

The unoffcial ones: For this to work, you need some hacks like ninjahax and a 3DS firmware which is below 10.2. The procedure is pretty much very complicated and nothing for standard user. I found a tutorial for this here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-manual-system-transfer-for-saves-content.388033/
It works like this: You need to dump the XOR-Pads with decrypt9 from your 3DS where the saves are working. XOR-Pads is a console-unique encryption key to decrypt the content of the NAND. (Short way: Or you dump the unencrypted NAND with decrypt9 or godmode9). But for either way you need the 3DS working. These XOR-Pads are always the same and don't change even when you format the system. But the only way to obtain them is dumping them on a non-broken 3DS.

When you've got them you can either dump the encrypted contents of the NAND with decrypt9 or make a hardmod when the 3DS doesn't work anymore and dump the NAND directly. Decrypt the dump with the XOR-Pads on your computer. So you have the clean NAND files where also the encryption keys for the SD are stored. When you have it you need to inject some of them on a 2nd 3DS. (Look at that tutorial) After that the 3DS appears just as you have transferred your NNID with the official way.
Never restore a NAND dump onto a different 3DS directly! Because it is console-unique encrypted with XOR-PADs the 3DS will brick and only a backup AND a hardmod would help out!

Maybe decrypt9 can directly encrypt/decrypt the SD card contents but it also needs a functional 3DS and a firmware around 9.x.

If you need your saves badly you must get your old 3DS working first and get an entry point to get homebrew to work. You don't have any other way.

 

[NotQuiteNormal]

Firstly thanks for the response.

Looks like this might be a lost cause then, as I can't power on the old 3DS (I believe it's the ribbon connecting top and bottom, causing it to "pop" off. It sometimes nearly worked if I opened at certain angles, but that stopped working ages ago), and my replacement console has the latest firmware.

If by some magic I can get the old one to switch on again (note: likely impossible), do you think the old transfer method could still work for what I wanted, or is the fact I've already moved my nnid mean that's out of the question as well?

Obviously I'm clutching at straws here, but I want to get a better understanding of the (im)possibilities.

Thanks again

 

[GothicIII]

NNID can only be tied to one console. So if you somehow managed to convince nintendo to "move" your NNID to a new console, then the transferring won't work. It will error out on the old console when connecting to the internet.

In your case I would bury the idea restoring the saves. Just begin from new and don't break your console again

 

[NotQuiteNormal]

Yeah, it's what I thought I was going to be told really.

Nintendo remotely disassociated my NNID, and I attached it to my replacement console. It was only after that they admitted they could have done it all for me, even though it was clearly what I was asking for ALL ALONG! At that point they told me from their POV the process had gone too far to reverse any stage.

Which is why I just wanted to see what the modding community had to say, as you often have brilliant - if "unorthodox" - ways to do the impossible. Which is why I love ya!

But thanks for trying though.