Hacking SKY 3ds blue button

[dawnbomb]

So how does the diskwriter know whether you have a blue button cart or a red button cart to change the EEPROM if you're only writing to the MicroSD?

i was thinking about that before, as far as i can tell of of what the sky3ds site itself says, once it goes onto the cart, its the cart that changes the template in the setup folder, and does so before running the game. (even if eeprom = yes, a YES slot is not taken until the game if first saved on the cart, so this makes sense)

all i know is that the sky3ds team themselfs confirmed its happens automatically via the cart, as to how that actually happens is only my speculation.

 

[cracker]

I didn't know that saves were never backed up to the microSD. This would still limit people to 10 games max in the end if they wanted to keep their saves (RPG fans especially). Even if you didn't want to keep all your saves it would be a PITA to figure out which slots were safe to use for new game saves.

 

[NaviInside]

About the saves ( for 10++ games), how to manually save it to sd card? Because it is kinda bad if U cannot backup it for future use.
My plan is to buy one, and only insert it with 3/5 games at same time, then change it later on after I got boring / finish the game.
And there is possibility that I want to play old games, that's why I need rewrite function and those save file

And after some thought, the "blue" one basically still have the limitation of 10 games. But based on your experience so far Dawnbomb,
how's the update from sky3ds team? For example : game A with EEPROM No, is not working with older template. Is there any chance
they will update it so we can play game A with EEPROM No? If yes, then I will still happy with it. So far, the game that I want to play
right now is only Fantasy Life, Persona Q, Poke ORAS and prof layton ( also MH4 in the future ).

Thanks in advanced Dawnbomb!

EDIT :
I heard it is not working with games larger than 2 GB? Can U give me example game with more than 2 GB? and how is the average of game size? Because I want to buy the sd card for sky3ds, but I dont know which one is better, 8 GB or 16 GB

 

[da1e85]

sorry i was asleep.

anyway, yup. the blue button models do not auto save, i found this out when my reseller warned me when i asked if i could switch from red button to blue button. she also gave me a link to their site.

blue button
+no scrolling bug
+less hassle
+- EEPROM is automatically taken care of.
-no Auto saving, requires a trick

red button
+auto saving, never lose your save files
+far more reliable way to backup your saves
+- EEPROM manualy taken care of.
-scrolling bug (a minor annoyance)
-more hassle when adding games.

they both rely on the same templates, so compatibility should be the same. there are reports blue is far more compatable, but this is a illusion. this is because it sets its first 10 games as eeprom yes and then the rest as eeprom no.

EEPROM yes and no have diffrent compatibility lists. for example, eeprom yes FF thearhythm curtain call works fine, but for eeprom no, its currently still not working. however with each update the compatibility is getting better. the update today from their site OVERWROTE the old update, likely because of serious flaws, like say, how new super mario bros 2 would REFORMAT the micro sd card if eeprom was no with the new update, the game works fine.

also, you may notice i put EEPROM manual as +- in both red and blue, thats because its arguable. the convenience of blue is great, and the annoyance for reds to do it manually is obvious, however a red user can save their 10 YES eeprom slots for specific games. for example, today i used a YES slot on kdid icarus, cause i really wanted to play it. where as for blue users, untill the compatibility chart gets better, past their first YES EEPROM games, they will never be able to play kid icarus unless sky3ds site released new updates to make it compatible.

so, eeprom manual is a hastle, but it can also be used like a emergency miracle fix 10 times only for red users, for the games they want nomatter what.

The first 10 games arnt set to eeprom yes I have 22 games saved on my blue button sky3ds 2 of mine changed to erprom no Pokemon y and animal crossing the rest are eeprom yes. All the saves back up and restore all 22 can auto save all 22 can save and all 22 work. Whoever your reseller is needs to know their facts a little bit better. I was sceptical when I bought this sky3ds blue but having had it for a couple of days now I think it's a spot on purchase simple and effective which is all I wanted maybe if a homebrew method comes out for newer fw versions I'll think of a gateway but for now sky3ds covers my needs. So to all this misinformed experts on here don't knock it until you try it.

 

[da1e85]

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[da1e85]

Hey Dawn!
Can you please check to see if Metal Gear 3D is working on your bluebutton card?
And, are you using a special program to turn eeprom off/on?

Thanks

Blue button can have and save more than 10 games it's the template what changes eeprom to yes or no on the blue cart I have 22 games on mine 2 are eeprom no check my above post And yes metal gear solid is working and saving fine on my cart which is blue and one of my 22 games

 

[dawnbomb]

I didn't know that saves were never backed up to the microSD. This would still limit people to 10 games max in the end if they wanted to keep their saves (RPG fans especially). Even if you didn't want to keep all your saves it would be a PITA to figure out which slots were safe to use for new game saves.

...what? as long as eeprom = no the saves are saved into the rom on the micro SD, so you can just backup the entire game. the writer tool allows you to do this. then you just 'write' the entire game. but...there is no way to backup the saves of any game where eeprom = yes. on the other hand, nothing bad will ever happen to them

About the saves ( for 10++ games), how to manually save it to sd card? Because it is kinda bad if U cannot backup it for future use.
My plan is to buy one, and only insert it with 3/5 games at same time, then change it later on after I got boring / finish the game.
And there is possibility that I want to play old games, that's why I need rewrite function and those save file

And after some thought, the "blue" one basically still have the limitation of 10 games. But based on your experience so far Dawnbomb,
how's the update from sky3ds team? For example : game A with EEPROM No, is not working with older template. Is there any chance
they will update it so we can play game A with EEPROM No? If yes, then I will still happy with it. So far, the game that I want to play
right now is only Fantasy Life, Persona Q, Poke ORAS and prof layton ( also MH4 in the future ).

Thanks in advanced Dawnbomb!

hey, complex to answer so gimme some leeway here

the only limit on any cart, is the limit of non scroll bugged games on red cart. and thats not any real limit anyway. so basically there is no limit. however, its only possible to backup saves of games where EEPROM = NO. again this is because when EEPROM = no the save is saved into the rom itself, so you just backup the entire rom, and the save comes with it. i tested it myself with two micro SD cards, works like a card.

now, you asked about them updating compatability. when EEPROM = no on either red or blue cart, it has the compatability listed here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZUSaCSxa8M-wPfvHtnlnJGAqjRsxkPa4hsuNCIjkLOE/edit#gid=0

i made that chart myself. as for updates, they are indeed updating compatability. as of yesterday's new template, (v1216) persona q no longer causes 0mb bug. and its playable. i havn't tested saving, but i got no errors when running it. i won't be testing saving for it either, as i have it on my 3ds system downloaded in, and i don't know about the effects of saving with games that use duel save feature. (persona Q's map is saved seperately to the system, i don't want to test Pq if i overwrite my map on the main game)

also, new super mario bros 2 no longer reformats the micro sd, so yes they are updating things. i have tested pokemon saphire, fantasy life,PQ, and monster hunter 3U myself, and they all work fine as you can see in the chart.

unfortunately if your a blue button user, you cannot control when EEPROM is yes or no, so once it uses all 10 of your EEPROM slots, all future games will be FORCED to abide by this compatibility list. mind you it gets updates relatively fast, but i'm glad i have YES slots left so i can instantly get some future releases on a YES slot on release day if i really want to play them on release day. or don't want to wait for them to be compatable.

because of the way the blue card works, you cannot always believe the disk writer when it says EEPROM =yes/no. easiest is to just think first 10 is yes, and everything after is no. also, even if you change micro sd cards, your first 10 are still your first 10. so if you put 10 games on card 1, then 2 games on card two, even tho card two has never been used before, even if you use a diffrent disk writer, they are STILL games 11 and 12, with eeprom no.

 

[dawnbomb]

Blue button can have and save more than 10 games it's the template what changes eeprom to yes or no on the blue cart I have 22 games on mine 2 are eeprom no check my above post And yes metal gear solid is working and saving fine on my cart which is blue and one of my 22 games

i explained this a bunch already, but with what you just said, your word means nothing. also you are wrong. the template does NOT change eeprom status for blue cards, the blue button cart itself does it by force. even if you have 15 games that all say eeprom yes on the disk writer, there is still only 10 games that are REALLY yes to eeprom. the micro SD burns its own verson of the template, and when the blue button cart runs a game, it auto changes EEPROM to no if the run game is not on the CARTS list of first 10 run games. there is absolutely no way to change this.

if you don't believe me, feel free to prove it. just make a video reformatting your micro sd card, and showing that all your saves are still working EVEN AFTER you deleted them all.

the cart only stores 10 game saves.

PS this is 'proof' because for the 10 saves on EEPROM even if you reformat the micro sd or use a diffrent micro sd the saves are on the cart, but for games AFTER that when EEPROM is auto changed to no by the cart, they are saved on the micro SD, so they will get deleted if you nuke the micro sd.

 

[da1e85]

i explained this a bunch already, but with what you just said, your word means nothing. also you are wrong. the template does NOT change eeprom status for blue cards, the blue button cart itself does it by force. even if you have 15 games that all say eeprom yes on the disk writer, there is still only 10 games that are REALLY yes to eeprom. the micro SD burns its own verson of the template, and when the blue button cart runs a game, it auto changes EEPROM to no if the run game is not on the CARTS list of first 10 run games. there is absolutely no way to change this.
I'm not gonna reformat my card just to show this to you as it takes ages to put them all back on what I will do though is take a screenshot of the disk writer tool showing you which are eeprom yes and no that is all the proof you need

if you don't believe me, feel free to prove it. just make a video reformatting your micro sd card, and showing that all your saves are still working EVEN AFTER you deleted them all.

the cart only stores 10 game saves.

PS this is 'proof' because for the 10 saves on EEPROM even if you reformat the micro sd or use a diffrent micro sd the saves are on the cart, but for games AFTER that when EEPROM is auto changed to no by the cart, they are saved on the micro SD, so they will get deleted if you nuke the micro sd.

I'm not gonna reformat my card just to show this to you as it takes ages to put them all back on what I will do though is take a screenshot of the disk writer tool showing you which are eeprom yes and no that is all the proof you need

 

[dawnbomb]

I'm not gonna reformat my card just to show this to you as it takes ages to put them all back on what I will do though is take a screenshot of the disk writer tool showing you which are eeprom yes and no that is all the proof you need

how does that prove anything...? did you even read my post? the cart changes them temporarily when it runs the game if the game being run isn't on the YES EEPROM slots, and their isn't a free slot left. showing me the writer tool proves nothing.

 

[tibbs]

I had the issue with the" card cannot be read issue" I held in the button till the loading screen came up on the 3ds then my problematic games work great

 

[dawnbomb]

I had the issue with the" card cannot be read issue" I held in the button till the loading screen came up on the 3ds then my problematic games work great

wait, that still happens on the blue carts? i wonder why, there is literally no reason for it. that should only apply to your 11th+ roms on red cart. hmmm...i wonder why, seeing as i assumed that was CAUSED by the scroll bug. i didn't realize they were separate problems. but then what the hell, if you have to hold the button on blue carts anyway, is there even ANY advantage of blue cards? the scroll bug fix to make you not hold the button, but if you have to anyway thats so dumb.

 

[da1e85]

how does that prove anything...? did you even read my post? the cart changes them temporarily when it runs the game if the game being run isn't on the YES EEPROM slots, and their isn't a free slot left. showing me the writer tool proves nothing.

It proves that the first 10 games arnt set to eeprom yes like you say they are so it proves that side of the argument at the end of the day I have no reason to lie the games what are set to eeprom no are the games which are of a higher save capacity ie animal crossing which is 10mb and Pokemon both these games are set to eeprom no by default and they save to a location which isn't in eeprom

 

[NaviInside]

hey, complex to answer so gimme some leeway here

the only limit on any cart, is the limit of non scroll bugged games on red cart. and thats not any real limit anyway. so basically there is no limit. however, its only possible to backup saves of games where EEPROM = NO. again this is because when EEPROM = no the save is saved into the rom itself, so you just backup the entire rom, and the save comes with it. i tested it myself with two micro SD cards, works like a card.

i made that chart myself. as for updates, they are indeed updating compatability. as of yesterday's new template, (v1216) persona q no longer causes 0mb bug. and its playable. i havn't tested saving, but i got no errors when running it. i won't be testing saving for it either, as i have it on my 3ds system downloaded in, and i don't know about the effects of saving with games that use duel save feature. (persona Q's map is saved seperately to the system, i don't want to test Pq if i overwrite my map on the main game)

I see, so

IF EEPROM = YES THEN
SAVE INTO ROM
ELSE
SAVE INTO SD card.

Ok, noted. As long as I can backup it, I am happy with it. but I think FantasyLIfe is the only exception right? Because I heard it is saved not into the cart, but into SD card ( for the original cart ).
Good to know they update it quick enough. Because I can say from people here that GW is already trusted, but we cannot say the same things for sky3ds. So that is really good if they can hear
our complain and update it frequently.

I heard it is not working with games larger than 2 GB? Can U give me example game with more than 2 GB? and how is the average of game size? Because I want to buy the sd card for sky3ds, but I dont know which one is better, 8 GB or 16 GB or maybe more?

Also, I think I read our words somewhere in this forum ( but CMIIW ), that first 10 games in sky3ds is Golden Games because it should be working fine. So hopefully we should use it for correct rom ( not buggy or trimmed or wrong header etc ). Can U give me where to find that kind of ROMs or how to detect the good ROMs ? I only heard one forum but I haven't checked it my self.

Thanks!

 

[dawnbomb]

It proves that the first 10 games arnt set to eeprom yes like you say they are so it proves that side of the argument at the end of the day I have no reason to lie the games what are set to eeprom no are the games which are of a higher save capacity ie animal crossing which is 10mb and Pokemon both these games are set to eeprom no by default and they save to a location which isn't in eeprom

if it says eeprom is no, it probibly is. but, THE DISK WRITING TOOL ITSELF saying eeprom is yes means nothing. because for BLUE CART users, it can be a lie. remember, the CART changes it automatically. so even if the disk writer writes 50 games to eeprom = yes, the cart will still change the games you run to not save to eeprom. the eeprom file isn't that big, and thats why games with big saves like pokemon X and animal crossing are no by default on the template. this is likly because these game are ACTUALLY like that by default, and those carts save their data to a small 11MBchip inside the game cart or something.

 

[dawnbomb]

I see, so

IF EEPROM = YES THEN
SAVE INTO ROM
ELSE
SAVE INTO SD card.

Ok, noted. As long as I can backup it, I am happy with it. but I think FantasyLIfe is the only exception right? Because I heard it is saved not into the cart, but into SD card ( for the original cart ).
Good to know they update it quick enough. Because I can say from people here that GW is already trusted, but we cannot say the same things for sky3ds. So that is really good if they can hear
our complain and update it frequently.

I heard it is not working with games larger than 2 GB? Can U give me example game with more than 2 GB? and how is the average of game size? Because I want to buy the sd card for sky3ds, but I dont know which one is better, 8 GB or 16 GB or maybe more?

Also, I think I read our words somewhere in this forum ( but CMIIW ), that first 10 games in sky3ds is Golden Games because it should be working fine. So hopefully we should use it for correct rom ( not buggy or trimmed or wrong header etc ). Can U give me where to find that kind of ROMs or how to detect the good ROMs ? I only heard one forum but I haven't checked it my self.

Thanks!

you got it...wrong.
IF EEPROM = YES THEN SAVE INTO SKY3DS CART (this cannot be accessed by us, at all, short of taking apart the sky3ds cart and getting a eeprom reader)
IF EEPROM = NO then it saves onto the ROM. the rom however is on the micro sd card, so it does technically save to the micro sd card.

also, fantasy life uses normal saving. you can treat it like a normal 2GB 3ds game. (most 3ds games a 2GB or lower, even monster hunter)

next, you get a MICRO sd card, not a sd card. they are very small. usually wherever you buy them from will also give you a micro sd converter for free. by default they give you one that convers into a sd card to put into your PC, but i prefer a micro sd to USB converter, as not all PC's have a SD card slot, and i just prefer USB overall.

as for space, get ATLEAST the 8 GB, it would only have very few games tho, like 2-3. the 16GB would be alot better, holding about 7. 32 would be best, but they tend to be pricey, still they would hold everything you want. personally i'd say TWO 16GB micro sd cards, but if you never had a micro sd card before, one would be better, as with two its easy to lose one of them on axident (they are really fuckin tiny)

last, your first 10 EEPROM = YES roms will save onto the sky3ds cart. neither the red or blue button have more then 10 YES EEPROM save slots. the blue button will auto change EEPROM YES to EEPROM NO by itself, so its less work for the user, the red button does not.

for ALL carts, red or blue, whenever your using eeprom=no, here is the compatibility chart i made so far. the compatibility is based on the template, and the sky3ds team releases new templates every few days with bug fixes. adding more and more compatible games. an example is two days ago persona Q and the harvest moon games were added as playable, except for one of them. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZUSaCSxa8M-wPfvHtnlnJGAqjRsxkPa4hsuNCIjkLOE/edit#gid=0

PS: 4GB roms can work fine, however some require RED button users to change the template a different way then they normally would. however for blue button users, because the cart auto changes the eeprom status for you from yes to no after the cart runs out of save slots, BLUE button users do not need to worry about this. either way, 4GB roms work fine on red or blue.

 

[da1e85]

you got it...wrong.
IF EEPROM = YES THEN SAVE INTO SKY3DS CART (this cannot be accessed by us, at all, short of taking apart the sky3ds cart and getting a eeprom reader)
IF EEPROM = NO then it saves onto the ROM. the rom however is on the micro sd card, so it does technically save to the micro sd card.

also, fantasy life uses normal saving. you can treat it like a normal 2GB 3ds game. (most 3ds games a 2GB or lower, even monster hunter)

next, you get a MICRO sd card, not a sd card. they are very small. usually wherever you buy them from will also give you a micro sd converter for free. by default they give you one that convers into a sd card to put into your PC, but i prefer a micro sd to USB converter, as not all PC's have a SD card slot, and i just prefer USB overall.

as for space, get ATLEAST the 8 GB, it would only have very few games tho, like 2-3. the 16GB would be alot better, holding about 7. 32 would be best, but they tend to be pricey, still they would hold everything you want. personally i'd say TWO 16GB micro sd cards, but if you never had a micro sd card before, one would be better, as with two its easy to lose one of them on axident (they are really fuckin tiny)

last, your first 10 EEPROM = YES roms will save onto the sky3ds cart. neither the red or blue button have more then 10 YES EEPROM save slots. the blue button will auto change EEPROM YES to EEPROM NO by itself, so its less work for the user, the red button does not.

for ALL carts, red or blue, whenever your using eeprom=no, here is the compatibility chart i made so far. the compatibility is based on the template, and the sky3ds team releases new templates every few days with bug fixes. adding more and more compatible games. an example is two days ago persona Q and the harvest moon games were added as playable, except for one of them. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZUSaCSxa8M-wPfvHtnlnJGAqjRsxkPa4hsuNCIjkLOE/edit#gid=0

PS: 4GB roms can work fine, however some require RED button users to change the template a different way then they normally would. however for blue button users, because the cart auto changes the eeprom status for you from yes to no after the cart runs out of save slots, BLUE button users do not need to worry about this. either way, 4GB roms work fine on red or blue.

Well like I said all my games work fine and save fine so this argument is invalid

 

[dawnbomb]

Well like I said all my games work fine and save fine so this argument is invalid

..what? of corse they all work and save fine. the first 10 games would all be perfect, and save to the EEPROM slots, and everything else would run EEPROM no, but work anyway because the vast majority of games are already compatible with EEPROM NO with the current template.

the point is, your going around saying, 'YEAH THESE GAMES WORK GREAT' when actually, they might not. any game with EEPROM YES would work fine. but when EEPROM is NO, thats not guarnteed. its likly, but not for sure. so your giving a possible false positive. the fact that your even arguing this, and saying things like 'i'll just show off my disk writer!!! its proof!!!' when it literally shows nothing, just shows it. please don't say things like that unless you know what your talking about.

i have PERSONALLY tested what i am saying, i KNOW for a FACT the diffrence between saves on EEPROM and saves on the micro sd rom. for example, i saved, and backed up pokemon alpha saphire on one micro SD, then ran it with another, and the save was there. but if i ran it with a normal not backed up alpha saphire, the save was not there, proving EEPROM NO saves to the rom in the micro sd.

for kid icarus uprising, i set EEPROM to yes, and completed the first chapter of the game and saves. then i wrote the rom to another sd, not getting any saves, or even touching the first micro SD at all, and the save showed up when i ran the game on the second micro SD, because when EEPROM = YES it saves to the cart's 10 save slots.

your just telling incorrect info, and getting confused because the blue button auto changes eeprom status for you when you run the games.

i'm not suprised you won't reformat your micro SD to prove your point. even if you were right, its a pain in the ass, but the matter of the fact is that you are wrong on how you think the sky3ds works.

i'm just trying to help you understand, and to help other users from misunderstand thanks to what your saying, please don't get mad, just learn. i don't want to start a war.

 

[NaviInside]

you got it...wrong.
IF EEPROM = YES THEN SAVE INTO SKY3DS CART (this cannot be accessed by us, at all, short of taking apart the sky3ds cart and getting a eeprom reader)
IF EEPROM = NO then it saves onto the ROM. the rom however is on the micro sd card, so it does technically save to the micro sd card.

PS: 4GB roms can work fine, however some require RED button users to change the template a different way then they normally would. however for blue button users, because the cart auto changes the eeprom status for you from yes to no after the cart runs out of save slots, BLUE button users do not need to worry about this. either way, 4GB roms work fine on red or blue.

Thanks! Sorry for my silly mistake. I will try to find cheap and good 16 / 32 GB micro SD card nearby then. After heard your explanation, I think
I will go with sky3ds then, because that would be nice if I have more games for this Christmas holiday and I think GW team maybe cannot finished
it to support FW 9.2 before Christmas.

Also is it possible if I asked you where is to download the trusted ROMs? And CMIIW, but is the first roms is the one who decide the region
of sky3ds?

Oh, and the last things, ( it is only minor things ) but I think it would be awesome if Sky3ds can support Powersaves, but well that's not really
important haha.

 

[dawnbomb]

Thanks! Sorry for my silly mistake. I will try to find cheap and good 16 / 32 GB micro SD card nearby then. After heard your explanation, I think
I will go with sky3ds then, because that would be nice if I have more games for this Christmas holiday and I think GW team maybe cannot finished
it to support FW 9.2 before Christmas.

Also is it possible if I asked you where is to download the trusted ROMs? And CMIIW, but is the first roms is the one who decide the region
of sky3ds?

Oh, and the last things, ( it is only minor things ) but I think it would be awesome if Sky3ds can support Powersaves, but well that's not really
important haha.

the region, is your DS's region. the three regions that exist, are NA, EU, and JP. your 3ds must be one of those 3. my compatibility chart is for NA roms.

i cannot liny you to roms...i don't think.