Hacking New 3DS - Gateway to A9LH Question

[GeBeCluck23]

I have a New 3DS on SysNAND firmware 9.0.0-20U. With my current setup, I use MenuHax and CtrBootManager to autoboot into my Gateway EmuNAND which is on the latest firmware (10.7.0-32U). I just recently heard about A9LH, and I thought I'd give it a shot on my friend's Old 3DS. It worked perfectly, but now I want to try it on my personal New 3DS.
I used this guide: https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki which assumes that you're homebrewing a fresh 3DS. It even has you backup all of your SysNAND data multiple times to make sure that you don't lose any saves. The trouble is, all of my data is on my EmuNAND; including all of my saves, .CIAs, NNID, ect. Is there any way that I could start the journey of setting up my New 3DS with A9LH without losing everything?
For example, would transferring my current EmuNAND (or even a recent backup of my EmuNAND) to my SysNAND first, and then following that guide I linked be a good idea? Or would that brick my system?

 

[jerrmy12]

Read the guide again and you'll find out

 

[sweatbox]

Hi GeBe,

you can use for getting the OTP-File a fresh unused SD-Card and install there a new emunand.
And after getting the OTP-File and recovery of your original Sysnandbackup you can swap to the 'good' sd with your right emunand.

!BUT! Gateway has atm no a9lh support. So under normal / fully following the Guide you will end up with an updated Sysnand, loaded by luma or cake with no Gateway functionality.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Oh! I didn't think about using a fresh SD Card! That's...pretty obvious actually, in hindsight...
The only thing is, I kind of want to replace Gateway with A9LH. I mean, it sounds like it's superior anyways. Is there even any advantages of using Gateway over A9LH? It especially pertains to me, because as an ambassador 3DS user, I haven't been able to play my GBA games since I've originally homebrewed my 3DS, and I've heard that A9LH supports GBA games. Besides, it sounds like Gateway is gonna support A9LH (relatively) soon anyways, so it sounds like A9LH is the way to go. I've been using Gateway for a while now, but the last year, (give or take) I primarily use .CIA files and the homebrew launcher, (for homebrew games and some emulators) both of which A9LH can do.

So is there any way that I can install A9LH and still keep my saves, CIAs, Nintendo Network ID, ect.? My initial idea was to restore my Gateway EmuNAND into my current SysNAND, and then follow that linked guide as if that was my initial SysNAND.

(EDIT: Oh shoot! I completely forgot to mention! I'm not sure if this is relevant, but way back when, I System Transferred my Old 3DS EmuNAND to my New 3DS EmuNAND, [which of course was a backup of the New 3DS's SysNAND, as all EmuNANDs are] and that's the current EmuNAND I'm using on my New 3DS to this day. Hence why I have the Ambassador games. Not sure if that will contribute to it bricking or something if I restore it to SysNAND.)

EDIT: Come to think of it, could I use OTPHelper to clone my current Gateway EmuNAND onto my SysNAND? Or is Gateway's EmuNAND different from the RedNAND that the guide asks you to use?

 

[GothicIII]

I did this a while ago before the guide was even called 'safe'. For me it's working pretty good.

When you have everything running with a9lh, you need to restore your GW emunand and your current 9.x sysnand. Everything else remain the same. You load sysnand with luma/cakesfw with 9.x firmware.bin and run menuhax through them to load GW.

Currently there is no faster way to load GW with a9lh. The Launcher.dat depends on 9.x system services of the 3ds which clearly don't run before loading the firmware when on a9lh.

 

[sweatbox]

Not sure at what point you are now.
I think you have done nothing in the way of a9lh right?

Well when you follow the guide, it says, that you have to do a hole backup of your SD-Card contend and backup of your SysNand and EmuNand.
If you do this, all can be restored as it was.

The GW EmuNand is ok for that. I did the dump with three o3ds units and it worked well with the GW EmuNand.

But please dont perform a EmuNand to SysNand transfere before you have setup the (hole) a9lh installation. That will otherwise brick your 3DS.

 

[Ar5chK3ks]

I would assume there is no difference between a RedNAND Backup and a Gateway EmuNAND Backup which leads xou to the possibility to just backup your gateway EmuNAND, backup whole SD card, format to get rid of the Gateway EmuNAND and create a RedNAND on it. After that you can restore that Gateway EmuNAND Backup and proceed the guide in Part IV. Since you Gateway EmuNAND was your SysNAND at the beginning and was copied, you won't lose any saves or CIAs because that is the goal of the guide and it should work similar this way. It could be that the CIAs are not showing on the homemenu after the Guide but you can fix that by starting the install process again. FBI will then tell you that the game already exist and asks to proceed. Abort and go back to homemenu. The game should appear again and have every save from before.

 

[pedroren]

I guess you're asking something like I did days ago, to go from CFW to a9lh:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/switching-cfw-n3ds-with-10-7-emunand-to-arm9loaderhax.422105/

 

[zhdarkstar]

If you still want to use GW after making the switch to A9LH:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/guide-how-to-use-gw-luma3ds-a9lh.424117/

 

[GeBeCluck23]

I would assume there is no difference between a RedNAND Backup and a Gateway EmuNAND Backup which leads xou to the possibility to just backup your gateway EmuNAND, backup whole SD card, format to get rid of the Gateway EmuNAND and create a RedNAND on it. After that you can restore that Gateway EmuNAND Backup and proceed the guide in Part IV. Since you Gateway EmuNAND was your SysNAND at the beginning and was copied, you won't lose any saves or CIAs because that is the goal of the guide and it should work similar this way. It could be that the CIAs are not showing on the homemenu after the Guide but you can fix that by starting the install process again. FBI will then tell you that the game already exist and asks to proceed. Abort and go back to homemenu. The game should appear again and have every save from before.

Thanks for all of the replies! So essentially, for the sake of the A9LH guide anyways, there is no difference between RedNAND and EmuNAND? Following the guide as close as possible, I can basically just restore my own GW EmuNAND backup to SysNAND towards the end of the guide instead of using the previously created RedNAND, huh?

I guess you're asking something like I did days ago, to go from CFW to a9lh:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/switching-cfw-n3ds-with-10-7-emunand-to-arm9loaderhax.422105/

Thank you for this link pedroren, that answered a lot of my questions! Specifically about this comment that frosty5689 made:
"1. Backup EmuNAND using EmuNAND9 (latest ver)
2. Copy all content from SD Card (including the emunand.bin) to PC
3. Do a complete setup of RedNAND using EmuNAND9 (latest)
4. Restore RedNAND from emunand.bin"
I believe I will follow these steps during the process, that seems the most fail proof to me.

...Oh, come to think of it, would it be better if I used a separate Micro SD Card entirely as sweatbox recommended during the actual process of downgrading, getting the otp, ect., and then restoring my current EmuNAND to my (by then hacked) A9LH SysNAND? I will probably do all of this tomorrow, (or Friday, if I run out of time) does anyone have any other recommendations/warnings before I take the plunge? I know the guide is specific, I just want to keep my saves and everything, and I hope that I won't do anything stupid and irreversible by accident!

 

[Ar5chK3ks]

Well I would use this way:
1. Backup EmuNAND to EmuNAND.bin and then backup the whole SD card.
2. Format the whole SD card(including the hidden partition for the EmuNAND).
3. Copy the files from the SD card over again(without EmuNAND.bin because the following setup will format the SD card again and there is not point in copying it over)
4. Use latest EmuNAND9 Version to make a full RedNAND setup.
5. Copy all files over again(this time including the EmuNAND.bin).
6. Restore EmuNAND.bin to RedNAND through EmuNAND9.
7. Start Plailects Guide at Part IV and do it all the way through(https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/Part-4-(Getting-the-OTP)).

EDIT:If you have further questions or want me to guide you through the process, just pm me and I can join the 3ds-hacks IRC to help you out ^^

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Well I would use this way:
1. Backup EmuNAND to EmuNAND.bin and then backup the whole SD card.
2. Format the whole SD card(including the hidden partition for the EmuNAND).
3. Copy the files from the SD card over again(without EmuNAND.bin because the following setup will format the SD card again and there is not point in copying it over)
4. Use latest EmuNAND9 Version to make a full RedNAND setup.
5. Copy all files over again(this time including the EmuNAND.bin).
6. Restore EmuNAND.bin to RedNAND through EmuNAND9.
7. Start Plailects Guide at Part IV and do it all the way through(https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/Part-4-(Getting-the-OTP)).

EDIT:If you have further questions or want me to guide you through the process, just pm me and I can join the 3ds-hacks IRC to help you out ^^

Alright, thank you. I will follow your advice as soon as I can. And thank you for the IRC suggestion, but I think that I can handle it myself. Now that I understand it better, it's pretty straightforward.

EDIT: Alright, I did this technique exactly, (although I had to jump around in the guide somewhat. Mostly just to get some of the downloads from an earlier part of the guide) and it worked flawlessly! Thank you very much everyone!

...Oh...while I'm at it, this is somewhat off-topic, but hopefully not enough to warrant making a whole new thread. If so, I apologize. Anyways, I just remembered that I also have an Old 3DS of my own that I would like to put A9LH on, however it's still at good ol' SysNAND 4.5 Firmware from the "old" Gateway days. I still haven't updated it. Anyways, I imagine following these same steps to keep it's current EmuNAND data will work fine, so that's okay. My only concern is that the guide assumes that you're on SysNAND Firmware 9.0-9.2, or at least above that so that you could downgrade. So my question is, how do I get my 4.5 3DS to 9.0-9.2? Should I update it just to downgrade it again? Or should I use a retail cartridge? And if so, is there any games that have that firmware on them to update my 3DS TO 9.0-9.2? not past it?