Hacking Sky3ds 2.02 diskwriter f-up - what am I doing wrong?

[eeble]

So my sky3ds was working fine and in my infinite wisdom I decided to update to the new 2.02 diskwriter. Long story short it didn't work and I can't get the 1.06b5 diskwriter that I had used previously to work again either.
I have wiped it using sdformatter, and did what I normally do to write (select template, format and write) and also tried the same using a backup file. It "writes", but after writing the name changes from the retail release name to the title ID. If I leave the diskwriter and come back nothing is there. Nothing shows up on the 3ds and if I try again diskwriter tells me there is no more room.
Anyone run into this problem?
Also if anyone can tell me why I tried to fix something that was working I'd love to know lol.

 

[ofan]

2.0 introduced two game sections(there's only one before 2.0) and the file system structure has been changed, so you need to format your sd card and write your games again(not using backup).

 

[eeble]

I did the backup in 1.06 before I changed it. After giving up on 2.02, formatting and returning to 1.06 if i try to write a single game OR use the backup file the same result: while writing it shows the proper name, after image name and title ID are the same. If I close diskwriter and reopen it shows nothing and 0 Mb free space.

 

[ofan]

I did the backup in 1.06 before I changed it. After giving up on 2.02, formatting and returning to 1.06 if i try to write a single game OR use the backup file the same result: while writing it shows the proper name, after image name and title ID are the same. If I close diskwriter and reopen it shows nothing and 0 Mb free space.

That's the exact problem I had with my previous sd card, but that card was not working neither on 1.06 nor 2.02, then I bought a new sandisk sd card, it's working flawlessly now.

 

[Osmosis]

Don't forget to cycle through your entire list of games on Sky3DS to make sure all savedata has been written BEFORE you backup using 1.06b.

You made all your backups in 1.06? Make sure you backup the games individually and their savedata as well. Make sure you backed everything up.

Put it back into 1.06 and REFORMAT it back to working condition.

Open up EaseUS Partition Master. Select the mSD and DELETE ALL PARTITIONS. Rebuild MBR. Make sure it is using PRIMARY and not LOGICAL. Also make sure the mSD has (MBR) and not (FLOPPY DISK). If (FLOPPY DISK) put it back into Diskwriter and FORMAT>REFORMAT see if it goes back to normal working condition. Once you delete all partitions and rebuilt MBR, it should now be UNFORMATTED. Right click the drive in Windows and RESET TO DEFAULTS>QUICK FORMAT>OK. Now it should be "normal" again. Now it's ready for 2.02b1.

Now you wiped your mSD clean.

Get rid of 1.06 and delete the SETTINGS file as well.

Make sure you're using the new SETTINGS file that comes with the new TemplateXXXX.txt file. You must replace the SETTINGS for the new template to work in 2.02b1.

Go DL 2.02b1 and load that baby up. Use the SETTINGS that comes with new template. Ignore the default backup process. You're using a blank mSD.

FORMAT the mSD and CHANGE TEMPLATE to latest template. Now write your backup ROMs to Diskwriter. Try to RESTORE SAVEDATA, if it prompts that they are old, then you can't use them. That's why you need to backup the games individually.

Try to avoid a mass backup of all games. Many people tried and failed. Including me.

If your mSD "magically stops working" you're not formatting it properly. It's still good. No need to buy a new one. You might want to try a new mSD>USB adapter. But best bet is to properly wipe and format your mSD.

 

[eeble]

Might be a stupid question, but how does one use the settings file? Outside of the diskwriter? I only see the option for change the template within the writer.
Thank you for helping

 

[Osmosis]

Might be a stupid question, but how does one use the settings file? Outside of the diskwriter? I only see the option for change the template within the writer.
Thank you for helping

No such thing as a stupid question.

Go to the Sky3DS DOWNLOAD page and look for the latest template. Next to the link button for template it has SETTINGS.INI link. Click it.

You need to copy the new SETTINGS.INI to the folder where Diskwriter 2.02b1 is. It will replace the old settings.ini. Now the new template should work.

 

[eeble]

Tried all of the above (but when I used easeus it didn't have a delete all partitions options just a wipe, idk if thats what you meant) same result. It "writes", changes the name to the title ID when done and does not appear if I reopen diskwriter and SD card show as having "Total free is 0 Mb"
I am losing my mind with this.

 

[xile6]

Are you tunning it as admin?

I had a problem kinda like this when i first started using diskwriter.

 

[eeble]

Yeah, again I've successfully written to this same sd card before. It was working fine on 1.06. The attempt to go to 2.02 didn't work and trying to go back to 1.06 isn't working

 

[red215]

Did you ever solve this problem? The same thing is happening to me now and it's driving me mad

 

[WildMountainJew]

Cross-posted from another support thread here in the hopes that higher visibility may lead to a fix:

I may be having a related issue? I'm not sure. I'll lay out my symptoms, and hopefully someone much more clever than I will be able to address it.

Just to get the obligatory data out of the way, I'm on a New Nintendo 3DS XL US, running the latest (9.8.0-25U) firmware. I'm using a "Blue Button" Sky3DS (which I think shipped from China based on delivery time). I'm writing to a SanDisk Ultra Class 10 MicroSDHC 32GB card via a Targus-brand multi-card reader. EDIT: I'm also using Template0624. I was using an old "TransFlash" usb-to-microSD reader from my CycloDS days, and also tried with the T-Flash reader that shipped with an R4i-Gold 3DS flashcard, but those both appeared to be generating errors. Specifically, the CycloDS Transflash stick is no longer recognized by the computer at all (does not mount, basically) and the T-Flash unit generates a windows "USB Device Not Recognized" error (and also won't mount). These issues didn't start to appear until my attempts to correct my issue (described below) on Friday. It's possible I fried my cardreaders, which would be sad.

The actual issue is this: I switched from 1.06b5 to DiskWriter 2.02b1 on Friday. When I inserted the microSD chip and launched the new DW utility, I got the message that my chip was in an old format and I would need to upgrade. Okay, so I did. I followed the wizard and watched as it created a save-game backup file on my hard drive, formatted the card, then restored the backup. When I went to launch the games in my Sky3DS, I followed the on-screen instructions: Insert Sky3DS with button held down, eject, wait, reinsert, watch for blue light to flash very fast, eject, wait, reinsert and games should load. I did that, and got the fast light flash, then reinserted as instructed. Nothing.

I played around with various iterations of the above steps most of Friday and Saturday, which is what led to me getting a new card reader. This is even a brand new MicroSD card from a retail outlet (ie, known-not-counterfit). The current state of things is this: the card is formatted as FAT32, then formatted using the DW "Format" utility, games written to it, inserted into 3DS, get nothing. I can launch other (legit) 3DS games, and it will read my R4i NDS-flashcart and launch those games. If I insert the Sky3DS, I get nothing - no game loads, no flashing light. If I hold down the button while inserting, I get nothing. I eject and reinsert, I get the fast-flashing light. I eject, wait, reinsert, and get nothing.

AT this point, I think the card is working - I don'tk now that it is, but I think so. I don't know if the new DiskWriter is working, or if it's fucked up my Sky3DS to the point where it needs a new firmware flash (or if that's even possible). I've tried this with the old 1.6b5 DW as well, with no change.

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome. I'm at the point of negotiating with a local US retailer for an exchange or discount purchase of a new one. Help?

 

[DSpider]

Cross-posted from another support thread here in the hopes that higher visibility may lead to a fix:

I may be having a related issue? I'm not sure. I'll lay out my symptoms, and hopefully someone much more clever than I will be able to address it.

Just to get the obligatory data out of the way, I'm on a New Nintendo 3DS XL US, running the latest (9.8.0-25U) firmware. I'm using a "Blue Button" Sky3DS (which I think shipped from China based on delivery time). I'm writing to a SanDisk Ultra Class 10 MicroSDHC 32GB card via a Targus-brand multi-card reader. EDIT: I'm also using Template0624. I was using an old "TransFlash" usb-to-microSD reader from my CycloDS days, and also tried with the T-Flash reader that shipped with an R4i-Gold 3DS flashcard, but those both appeared to be generating errors. Specifically, the CycloDS Transflash stick is no longer recognized by the computer at all (does not mount, basically) and the T-Flash unit generates a windows "USB Device Not Recognized" error (and also won't mount). These issues didn't start to appear until my attempts to correct my issue (described below) on Friday. It's possible I fried my cardreaders, which would be sad.

The actual issue is this: I switched from 1.06b5 to DiskWriter 2.02b1 on Friday. When I inserted the microSD chip and launched the new DW utility, I got the message that my chip was in an old format and I would need to upgrade. Okay, so I did. I followed the wizard and watched as it created a save-game backup file on my hard drive, formatted the card, then restored the backup. When I went to launch the games in my Sky3DS, I followed the on-screen instructions: Insert Sky3DS with button held down, eject, wait, reinsert, watch for blue light to flash very fast, eject, wait, reinsert and games should load. I did that, and got the fast light flash, then reinserted as instructed. Nothing.

I played around with various iterations of the above steps most of Friday and Saturday, which is what led to me getting a new card reader. This is even a brand new MicroSD card from a retail outlet (ie, known-not-counterfit). The current state of things is this: the card is formatted as FAT32, then formatted using the DW "Format" utility, games written to it, inserted into 3DS, get nothing. I can launch other (legit) 3DS games, and it will read my R4i NDS-flashcart and launch those games. If I insert the Sky3DS, I get nothing - no game loads, no flashing light. If I hold down the button while inserting, I get nothing. I eject and reinsert, I get the fast-flashing light. I eject, wait, reinsert, and get nothing.

AT this point, I think the card is working - I don'tk now that it is, but I think so. I don't know if the new DiskWriter is working, or if it's fucked up my Sky3DS to the point where it needs a new firmware flash (or if that's even possible). I've tried this with the old 1.6b5 DW as well, with no change.

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome. I'm at the point of negotiating with a local US retailer for an exchange or discount purchase of a new one. Help?

1. Format the mSD card with SDFormatter 4.0.
2. Download DiskWriter 1.6.
3. Make sure you have a recent template.txt and a settings.ini in the same folder where the DiskWriter .exe is.
4. Start DiskWriter 1.6.
5. Go to File -> Format.
6. Write your ROMs by dragging and dropping the .3ds files inside the DiskWriter 1.6 window.

Screw DiskWriter 2.02b1, man. It doesn't work for me either. Gives off to many .NET framework errors, while 1.6 works just fine.

 

[WildMountainJew]

2. Download DiskWriter 1.6.

Yeah, I have already attempted this with DW 1.06b5.
(NOTE: I've tried these steps with three known-valid retail-purchased MicroSD cards; one SanDisk Ultra 32Gb Class10, one SanDisk Ultra Plus 16Gb (not sure if this is class 10 or not), and one PNY 16Gb class10). To be clear, I fired up a third-party partition manager, deleted all the partitions on my SD card(s). I rebuilt the MBR, then created a blank / unformatted partition. I used the Windows formatting utility to reformat the card. After that, I launched a freshly downloaded version of DW 1.06b5 with Template0624 and the associated Settings.ini file. I formatted the card to DW's required format. I wrote some known-good roms (by which I mean that they were working three days ago) to the card, verified, success. Ejected and reinserted the MicroSD reader, verified that the file system is what it should be. When I put the MicroSD Card(s) into the Sky3DS and insert into the console, nothing happens. Then the above steps re: ejecting and reinserting the card into the console in every possible combination. No luck so far.

EDIT: Wahoo! Journal Entry 37! I've discovered the source of my stupidity! In a fit of paranoia, I used "Sky Army Knife 1.5.1" to create a new template file BASED on template0624 but with randomly generated private headers and auto-detected uniqueID's. THAT's the file I've been using! When I switched back to an actual stock Template0624, (and inserted the Sky3DS into the console with the button held down for a slow-count of 10, then rebooted the console with the card still in, then ejected, waited ten seconds, then reinserted) the issue is resolved. In the name of science, I tested this by re-writing the same two test games using a replacement template file made with Sky Army Knife, and found that I could reproduce the symptoms EXACTLY. I'm now in the process of writing a card with un-modified data from Template0624, and will test my "recovery" procedure.

 

[unrealbe]

ANyone else not able to download the latest template rar from the site?
http://sky3ds.com/download.html

I can download the second to last one just fine? Someone has a direct link for me?

 

[DSpider]

ANyone else not able to download the latest template rar from the site?
http://sky3ds.com/download.html

I can download the second to last one just fine? Someone has a direct link for me?

No, it doesn't work. Both the download link and the mirror point to a dummy "http://sky3ds.com/download.html#" address. The Sky3DS team needs to change the link (or it add back). But this is a totally different issue than the OP's.

 

[Sgoku]

Is there still no fix for the OP's problem? (same over here)