Hacking why are flashcarts (gateway) based off exploit?

[cearp]

so, what confuses me is why we need a hack/exploit to be able to run roms.
why can rom loading not be done via a hardware emulator sort of thing, like an ode, etc, but not optical
i can imagine that if this was the case, we might not be able to have homebrew/custom code, and that the roms would probably have to be loaded how they are now with gateway (one game per sd card) - but surely you could implement a physical button on the cart that alternates which rom to load upon power up.
(years and years ago a friend gave me a 'fake' gameboy game, with 10 or so games on it, and there was a little rubber button that you pushed which cycled through the games)

i read that at least, even some snes games, had anti piracy protection, where they could try to detect if they are not being run on the original cartridge. if similar things are like this with 3ds, then in this case, yes maybe it is not easy to make a device that can emulate every 3ds cart, but, just how some ds roms had AP, they were fixed.
ps3 and wii ODEs do not rely on (software based) exploits and hacks right? i believe they just pretend to be the real disk. maybe i am wrong.

so why is this not done, or, why is this method not desirable and the best method to use kernal hacks. is it just a lot of work?

i appreciate the information, thanks

 

[Pong20302000]

because the 3DS has cart hardware checks
which is why

the hack that the gateway uses is to disable the checks

 

[Ryupower]

Nintendo did many things to stop ANY unauthorizes thing from running
like encryption and other thing

 

[Snailface]

Because software is cheaper than hardware. And a hell of a lot more versatile.

 

[DinohScene]

Cause you can't run arbitrary code on a unmodified console.

DS/DSi flashcards spoof their headers to appear as a legit game.
Wii 360 and PS3 ODDE's emulate the DVD drive so they appear as a legit drive.

If a 3DS flashcard comes out which completely emulates itself being a legit card then the amount of chips etc needed to achieve that won't fit on a small 3DS game PCB.
So that's why the Gateway team needed an exploit to run their card off off.

Atleast, that me logical and best guess.

 

[Jayro]

To me, the gateway is not a 1:1 hardware hack. A true hardware hack would be a cart with all the original hardware left in tact, except for the ROM chip. That would be the SD slot. And if the ROM was flashed correctly, the game should still boot without an exploit.

 

[cearp]

because the 3DS has cart hardware checks

which is why the hack that the gateway uses is to disable the checks

well as i said, even for snes there were hardware checks, but that doesn't mean you couldn't run roms etc.

Nintendo did many things to stop ANY unauthorizes thing from running like encryption and other thing

yes again, just like every console,

Because software is cheaper than hardware. And a hell of a lot more versatile.

Cause you can't run arbitrary code on a unmodified console.

DS/DSi flashcards spoof their headers to appear as a legit game.
Wii 360 and PS3 ODDE's emulate the DVD drive so they appear as a legit drive.
If a 3DS flashcard comes out which completely emulates itself being a legit card then the amount of chips etc needed to achieve that won't fit on a small 3DS game PCB.
So that's why the Gateway team needed an exploit to run their card off off.
Atleast, that me logical and best guess.

yeah i know the differences between flashcarts etc and odes, that is kind of what my question is about, why not have an ode.
but hmm ok price and size, so it would just be too expensive/too big, that makes sense i guess... but in theory if it was possible, surely it would be the method of choice... i reckon.

here is a picture of the cobra ode, ha ha yes it does look a lot more complicated that the gateway... so if the same technology was even capable of being condensed into a 3ds cart, then, sure it would be horribly expensive.

http://www.depot4u.com/images/cobra ode.jpg

thanks guys

-edit.

To me, the gateway is not a 1:1 hardware hack. A true hardware hack would be a cart with all the original hardware left in tact, except for the ROM chip. That would be the SD slot. And if the ROM was flashed correctly, the game should still boot without an exploit.

sure, it isn't a hardware hack, that is why we need to be on 4.5 at the moment

 

[DinohScene]

It's much more simpler to have an exploit to run 3DS games then have a fully fledged card that emulates itself being a 3DS card.

ODDE's in the 360/PS3 have a fully fledged linux kernel which requires a CPU and RAM.
You can stuff that on a 3DS card, but you also need an SD controller and other I/O chips.
Which on a small PCB, just isn't feasible to do so (as of today)

A small card which spoofs itself being a 3DS card which can only be ran on a exploited 3DS makes much more sense then having bulky hardware underneath it.
Since a lot of people will complain on how it's uncomfortable and ugly etc.

 

[KazoWAR]

It is alot less difficult to abuse an exploit to get it to work than it is to get the cart to emulator the 3ds came card perfectly enough so that the 3ds would accept it.

 

[chyyran]

It's much more simpler to have an exploit to run 3DS games then have a fully fledged card that emulates itself being a 3DS card.

ODDE's in the 360/PS3 have a fully fledged linux kernel which requires a CPU and RAM.
You can stuff that on a 3DS card, but you also need an SD controller and other I/O chips.
Which on a small PCB, just isn't feasible to do so (as of today)

A small card which spoofs itself being a 3DS card which can only be ran on a exploited 3DS makes much more sense then having bulky hardware underneath it.
Since a lot of people will complain on how it's uncomfortable and ugly etc.

If it's packaged nicely with a grip, perhaps like the CPP, I wouldn't mind that. Maybe someone can make a cartridge emulator with a Raspberry Pi-type of board.

 

[DinohScene]

If it's packaged nicely with a grip, perhaps like the CPP, I wouldn't mind that. Maybe someone can make a cartridge emulator with a Raspberry Pi-type of board.

Neither would I, Hell I used a Supercard SD with a PassKey 2 in me DSLite for a long long time.
Even when I had me first Slot-1 Flashcard.

I cba if there's bulky hardware sticking out, but as you know, the majority of flashcard users are dumb pirates that whine about it sticking out even a milimeter.

 

[cearp]

yeah i wouldn't mine something sticking out the back (to an extent), or it having to piggyback an real 3ds game. but the gateway is out, so, all is well...