Hacking Questions about buying a new 3DS which I plan to hack later

[Berabouman]

My family is going to buy me a 3DS for my birthday (yay!) however, I know that it's not hackable as of yet. I also a bit about Nintendo's control of their firmware and updates. I've read the FAQs but I still have some questions, namely :

1. How do I know which games will update my firmware, and which version will they update it to?

2. If I never go online, Nintendo can't remotely update my firmware right?

Basically I just want to buy a couple of games to play while waiting for a reliable hack to come out, but I don't want to update my firmware past the point in which hacks won't work anymore. I'm not quite sure how things are like in the 3DS scene...I'm basing my experience on how it was with the PS3.

 

[Rydian]

1 - As far as I know there's no concrete list out there. You can just shut the system down before the update starts though, since it brings up a confirmation screen when you try to play the game (and until you hit A or whatever the update hasn't started).

2 - Streetpass/spotpass can download updates as well, so turn those off too.

 

[Berabouman]

Thanks for the reply!

> You can just shut the system down before the update starts though, since it brings up a confirmation screen when you try to play the game (and until
> you hit A or whatever the update hasn't started).

Does it say what version it will update it to? Is there a latest "safe" version one can update the 3DS to?

 

[Rydian]

The latest safe version depends on the flash cart. Supported carts usually work on the latest firmware, but most carts are unsupported (and people will often directly ignore our advice and buy cheap clones that have no support) and the firmware they work on varies highly.

As far as 3DS softmods... those aren't out yet, we have no clue.

 

[Berabouman]

Hmm, so to be on the safe side, should I only play games that were released in the first year of the 3DS? Or maybe the first 2 years?

I know there are no definite answers for a lot of hacking-related issues right now. I'm grateful for all the information!

 

[Rydian]

A 3DS will not come with 1.0 of the software anymore, they'd updated at the factory every so often, so yours will likely come with 4.x or even 5.x already installed (and no there is no downgrade). So the games you can play without an update depend on what it comes with.

 

[Berabouman]

Hmm, that's not good news...so is it possible that I'm already locked out of existing hacks without even playing a single game?

But from what I've heard so far, some 3DS hacks are hardware specific and don't require a certain firmware. Is this true? Or just far too early to tell?

 

[Rydian]

Hmm, that's not good news...so is it possible that I'm already locked out of existing hacks without even playing a single game?

But from what I've heard so far, some 3DS hacks are hardware specific and don't require a certain firmware. Is this true? Or just far too early to tell?

There's no existing 3DS hacks that allow you to play any sort of games at this time. Anything you find on Youtube is fake, etc. There is one group working on the 3DS, but nothing they have is anywhere near the point of homebrew and/or ROM loading like you may expect from other hacks.

As far as flash carts to play DS games...
http://gbatemp.net/threads/why-was-my-cart-blocked-how-do-i-unblock-it-firmware-update.315784/
This explains what's up.

 

[Berabouman]

Thanks, that clears up a lot of issues! Yeah I know that the 3DS has no working hacks right now, just want to prepare for the future. Hopefully the Gateway will work as advertised.

So just to be sure, basically as long as I always update from carts, never from games and Internet connections, I will be safe?

 

[Rydian]

Always update the flash cart and never update the 3DS (unless it's to a version less than the flash cart is updated for) and you should be fine.

 

[Berabouman]

Alright, I will do that. (and wait for the Gateway to see how it is)

Last question (I hope!) Is it ok if I don't buy a flashcart and just use the games themselves to update? Or will Nintendo force me to go online to download the latest update?

 

[Rydian]

The games themselves will have specific updates and won't use the internet.

 

[Berabouman]

So I just don't play any games that updates past, let's say, firmware version 5?

But I guess if there is no list of what games have what firmware, that would make it kinda hard to buy games.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

That isn't a part of any 3DS rom list atm. Currently that type of information is in bits and pieces across multiple sources atm.

 

[Berabouman]

How about if I actually load the game onto my 3DS? Will it prompt me with the firmware version? Or will it just say "updating with firmware yes/no?"

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Unless you got an old 3DS with a really old firmware, your not going to be able to know that answer.

 

[Berabouman]

What do you mean? That the games display the firmware they are updating to, or they don't? I'm confused.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Even though we got rom dumps floating around, we still can't tell what firmware update comes with that rom atm, very few sites will bring that up. Games with a firmware payload will only tell you it needs to update, it doesn't tell you what version it will update to. The majority of the games out there have been identified with what firmware payload they carry, but that information is what is scattered. If an online update of the 3DS firmware is done, it will always update to the latest version.

You can goto sites like http://3ds.essh.co/ but they don't list what 3DS firmware comes with certain games. The last time someone asked about firmware updates coming with the game was back in 2011, when no games at that time had a firmware update with it.

 

[Berabouman]

I guess that no one wants to know because it's not really that important or relevant to most people's use of flashcarts now? That seems to be the case anyway.

Thanks for answering all my questions though.

 

[Rydian]

Well, most people have moved to a flash cart that actually still gets support by now, instead of using one of the hundreds of clones like R4-SDHC and such.