Hacking R4i Deluxe/3DSLink Firmware V. 3.x release thread

[zerofalcon]

News

3DSLink firmware V3.3 is released - 09.01.2014​

1.Fixeds saving issues caused by V3.2
2.increase the stability
Attention: multi-rom will be supported in Ver4.0

http://www.3dslink.com/download/

Edit: Version 3.3 is very buggy, better downgrade to previous (and more stable) 3.2 firmware.

*removed illegal file links*

 

[RenegadeKid]

News

​

Attention: multi-rom will be supported in Ver4.0​

http://www.3dslink.com/download/

Yes, they will release it when Gateway updates their firmware

 

[tofast4u]

Wait wasn't 3.2 supposed to fix the saving issues? Did anyone experience any saving issues back on 3.2 as we did before on 3.1? I don't know whether to upgrade or not.

 

[jajasilver]

No thanks.
All my saves work fine on 3.2 NOT RISKING LOSING MY SAVES AGAIN!

It does seem like a move to show that they are doing some "work of their own".

 

[hiron]

You could backup your saves then try it. Also its more stable so if you have lockups or whatever then its worth a shot.

 

[vlemos]

R4ids has released it to. Obviously they are the same team, just with different name.
Hope this will fix freeze's problem.

 

[Riku]

Attention: multi-rom will be supported in Ver4.0

That's good thing to know.. Because Gateway stated they going update FPGA firmware, and all speculations about clones can't be updated floating around.. along gossips about team behind MT-card being the same as 3DSLink/R4i Gold..

 

[jajasilver]

You could backup your saves then try it. Also its more stable so if you have lockups or whatever then its worth a shot.

I couldn’t resist to try 3.3 even though 3.2 seemed to be a good fit for me… I honestly do not know who does their testing at R4/3Dslink, I get white stripes when trying to boot it!
After managing to boot it it got worse, thank god I saved my game save before testing, as it got f*?$*!k when i tried to load it.

Now I went back to 3.2 and it works fine again.

3.3 IS BROKEN.

 

[hiron]

That's good thing to know.. Because Gateway stated they going update FPGA firmware, and all speculations about clones can't be updated floating around.. along gossips about team behind MT-card being the same as 3DSLink/R4i Gold..

We will see once R4i brings us the multirom update. Then we will see whether Gateway is lying for more sales.

 

[kyogre123]

That's good thing to know.. Because Gateway stated they going update FPGA firmware, and all speculations about clones can't be updated floating around.. along gossips about team behind MT-card being the same as 3DSLink/R4i Gold..

The inability of the clones to be updated is not a speculation. The reason for this is that their cart wasn't planned for reprogramming, you would need a special hardware programmer for this, which still involves opening the cart.

 

[gamesquest1]

yeah but "if" they are indeed the same team behind the MT card they may just be dropping support in favor of "trying" to look like they are the leading card.

i would imagine they might just send a programmer out to resellers, and a nice lil "V2" sticker forcing people who want updates to have to buy a replacement card

 

[Riku]

The inability of the clones to be updated is not a speculation. The reason for this is that their cart wasn't planned for reprogramming, you would need a special hardware programmer for this, which still involves opening the cart.

And how exactly you come to this conclusion? Because it have JTAG pins traced? That's doesn't mean this is the only option. It may have bootloader looking for updates as well.

 

[gamesquest1]

And how exactly you come to this conclusion? Because it have JTAG pins traced? That's doesn't mean this is the only option. It may have bootloader looking for updates as well.

do they seem like the kind of team to do some of their own work?

 

[kyogre123]

And how exactly you come to this conclusion? Because it have JTAG pins traced? That's doesn't mean this is the only option. It may have bootloader looking for updates as well.

Because the 3DS pins don't match/reach the pins that are indicated in the configuration to reprogramme the chip they are using.

About the second, I don't understand what you mean by that.

 

[Riku]

Because the 3DS pins don't match/reach the pins that are indicated in the configuration to reprogramme the chip they are using.

About the second, I don't understand what you mean by that.

Pins you are referring to (JTAG) most likely used during production for easy programming. There's no possible way 3DS can JTAG program any device, you need special programmer for that. Gateway doesn't have traced JTAG pins at all. Updating may be done by FPGA itself: it loads bootloader first, bootloader first looks for updates on sd card and if finds reprogram flash memory, and if there's no updates it loads firmware normally. DSTWO works this way, it only needs power from cartridge slot and all updating done by fpga itself (same proasic3, btw), you just need to insert card and wait few mins.

 

[Elusivo]

Hi. Does the 3dslink have nand dump function like the gateway has?

 

[gamesquest1]

they HAVE gateways nand dump function lol

 

[hiron]

After reading Riku post it means everything is still possible. So we just have to wait for the next update. So far R4i hasnt failed keeping up with Gateway update. Yes they stole gw firmware blabla...whatever. My point still stands, R4i is up to date with gw features and I dont care how they do it.

 

[Riku]

I'm not protecting clones or something, I just want to point out that it's still possible. SPI flash memory on board is Winbond W25Q32FV. It's 4MB in size, considering 3DS game saves use ~512KB there's still a lot of space available. Developers not forced to use only FPGA internal memory, it may contain only bootloader and load actual code from external SPI flash. If so, there's no need to reprogram FPGA at all, only firmware stored on SPI flash.

 

[Huntereb]

I'm not protecting clones or something, I just want to point out that it's still possible. SPI flash memory on board is Winbond W25Q32FV. It's 4MB in size, considering 3DS game saves use ~512KB there's still a lot of space available. Developers not forced to use only FPGA internal memory, it may contain only bootloader and load actual code from external SPI flash. If so, there's no need to reprogram FPGA at all, only firmware stored on SPI flash.

2 much Gateway circlejerk.

I'm using 3.3 now, and the only difference I see is that when booting up Gateway mode I get the lines across my screen like the old firmware versions, instead of a black screen. Meh, it works, not complaining.

EDIT: Probably should have tested playing a game in Gateway mode before assuming it works.

THIS FIRMWARE IS BROKEN, DO NOT UPDATE TO IT. It will not allow you to launch games using the Starter cart, from a different region at least, and who knows what else might be broken. If you guys wanna test a game in your region on this and see how it works, post your findings, I'm too lazy to check right now.