Hacking Upgrading 2 2DS with different settings

[vinz262002]

Good morning,

First of all, a big thanks to all the developpers and this community for their works.

Let me state that the last time I had to configure a CFW on a 2DS was almost a year ago, so you can consider me a noob since luma3ds, A9HL and so on are all new to me... I did tried to read as much as I could but I still have many doubts.

Here's the situation: I would like to upgrade the configuration of my kids' 2DS but each one comes with its own particular setup (due to the available tools at the time of purchase, and my lazyness when it comes to upgrade something that basically works...). Both kids have the same requirements: !!!Do not loose my save games in the process!!!

Now to the setup of each model:
Kid #1: Nintendo 2DS, using RXTools, Sysnand 9.2, Emunand 10.3 and Menuhax as entry point. Everything works so far (at least with the games my kid is playing, but the upcoming Pokemon is having me afraid)

Kid #2: Nintendo 2ds, using GATEWAY 3DS flashcart, sysnand 9.2, emunand 10.3, and a kid asking me to "activate" its console every time he wants to play using 3DS X-loader on my android phone. Not practical at all...



If I understand well, my options are:
Kid #1: An easy route, setting up Luma3DS (basically copying files), and continue with its actual emunand which I'll be able to upgrade to its latest version without any problem.
Or a more "secure/proof" route, setting up A9HL to prevent accidental sysnand upgrade forever. But what happens to my Emunand in this case ? and of course, can I do it keeping all the games installed already and their saves without to much hassle ?

Kid #2: This one has me totally lost... Here, the saves game issue is he most important. My kid is OK to continue using its flashcart in order to not loose anything, but I would like to be able to install future games as CIA instead of .3ds
Is there any way to have both worlds working together ? I mean Luma3DS or A9HL AND Gateway 3DS at the same time, allowing both .3ds (already installed games) and .cia (future installs)


As you can see, I'm lost... ;-)

I should also specify that, even thou I know there are applications to retrieve saves game from Gateway and to inject them into .CIAs, I'm not willing to do so for a simple reason: At home, we only have access to a very old Macintosh (OSX 10.6.8) and most of these tools are Windows oriented, or Mac using OSX versions not available for my hardware...


Thanks for reading me. Any answers, advices, suggestions is more than welcomed. Also, if you need more details on the setups in order to offer some solutions, I'll be pleased to answer.

Have a great day.

 

[Quantumcat]

For both you can set up a9lh. For the Gateway one, you can follow a guide to be able to boot into it with a9lh.

So follow https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki for both then follow https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-using-luma3ds-with-gateway-on-v2-a9lh.431691/ for the Gateway one (if you want to keep using the Gateway card).

 

[Hayleia]

Or a more "secure/proof" route, setting up A9HL to prevent accidental sysnand upgrade forever. But what happens to my Emunand in this case ? and of course, can I do it keeping all the games installed already and their saves without to much hassle ?

What happens with your emuNAND is whatever you want. You can keep it or send it to sysNAND (but don't overwrite a9lh!) and you'll keep everything.
Basically the only reason to keep an emuNAND is to have Gateway work without making problems (because they don't like sysNAND-only setups)... but the only reason to keep a Gateway is cheats
So your choice here.

Kid #2: This one has me totally lost... Here, the saves game issue is he most important. My kid is OK to continue using its flashcart in order to not loose anything, but I would like to be able to install future games as CIA instead of .3ds
Is there any way to have both worlds working together ? I mean Luma3DS or A9HL AND Gateway 3DS at the same time, allowing both .3ds (already installed games) and .cia (future installs)

See above post. And at least, even if you don't install a9lh, at least install menuhax because having to use a phone to boot is indeed not practical at all
Note that Gateway CFW supports cia files so he can already use cia files.

 

[Ar5chK3ks]

I agree with Quantumcat. The best would be to Setup a9lh for both and also Setup Gateway for the second one.
About the saves:
The second one is no Problem. The saves are on Gateway like you stated and therefore you don't need to do anything.
For the other one, do a backup of the EmuNAND before you start the guide and just restore the backup after installing a9lh with the keep a9lh function of hourglass9. This way you should be on the save route, but you can also use any homebrew savemanager beforehand(no need for a computer or other Hardware) and restore the saves afterwards if something gone wrong.

Good luck

 

[vinz262002]

Thanks to all for your inputs. Will start reading all the guides suggested.
Another doubt is rising... I don't remember if my nands were linked or not in both setups, I would say kid#1 are unlinked, and kid#2 are linked but would have to check if it's important (not at home right now to look at it).
Is this something I have to be worried about ?

 

[Ar5chK3ks]

If SysNAND and EmuNAND have different Firmware Version they should be unlink if I remember correctly.
Therefore both should be unlinked ... Can somebody pls confirm this?

 

[Quantumcat]

Thanks to all for your inputs. Will start reading all the guides suggested.
Another doubt is rising... I don't remember if my nands were linked or not in both setups, I would say kid#1 are unlinked, and kid#2 are linked but would have to check if it's important (not at home right now to look at it).
Is this something I have to be worried about ?

For kid#1 it will not matter because near the end of the guide you will flash the emuNAND to the sysNAND. Not a good idea to have them linked for kid#2 (best to keep using emuNAND for Gateway because updating sysNAND in Gateway mode will either brick or remove a9lh), since updating a linked emuNAND could possibly update sysNAND.

 

[Hayleia]

If SysNAND and EmuNAND have different Firmware Version they should be unlink if I remember correctly.
Therefore both should be unlinked ... Can somebody pls confirm this?

Nope, this has nothing to do with firmware version.

 

[Ar5chK3ks]

Nope, this has nothing to do with firmware version.

I just remeber that it was needed to unlink EmuNAND and SysNAND before updating EmuNAND wgen I first set up my 3DS before a9lh became this easy

 

[vinz262002]

Thanks guys !
I've been reading all the guide for A9HL installation and I can see it will be quite a time-consuming process... I guess I'll have some work over the week-end ;-)

 

[Hayleia]

I just remeber that it was needed to unlink EmuNAND and SysNAND before updating EmuNAND wgen I first set up my 3DS before a9lh became this easy

Ah, then yes, from that point of view, different firmware versions mean that unlinking happened too.
But in absolutes, you can perfectly have two linked NANDs with different versions, that's what I meant. So having different versions doesn't imply having unlinked NANDs.