Hacking 3DS Flashcarts - News, Updates, and Support Thread

[bkifft]

What about plain UDF file system? They are not limited to just optical medias.

sure, should also work. although i believe udf has quite a bit more overhead than would be needed for a non optical storage media (don't know for sure though, never really looked into it. and could well be that the whole "scratched thus unreadable sector" error correction is closer to the physical layer).

I'd just prefer a plug and play solution which doesn't require splitting or the usage of a special file system modification tool (like with WBFS).

NTFS would be best suited from a user pov, as it's quite easy to get NTFS write support on non Windows but hard to get extX on Windows.


Anyway, for now pure speculation, as there aren't any 8GiB games yet (if there ever will be any).

 

[RandomUser]

Doh' I forgot that earlier versions of Windows does not support UDF without some third party software, but if you're running Windows 7 or higher, then you do not need a 3rd party utility to create such file system. Windows 7 and higher can natively create the file system, but is a hidden feature from within Windows and involve using command prompt like "format D: /FS:UDF /Q". Heck you can even specify what UDF version you want with /R command. The nice thing is that the file system supports files larger then 4GB, but the downside could be like you have mentioned.
Come to think of it, NTFS would be better suited from a user point of view, due to lot of users uses Windows, and very few uses Linux or MacOS X and Windows generally default to NTFS, and users generally go with the defaulted settings. Also too what you have stated about getting NTFS drivers for other OS for read/write access.
I agree that it is pure speculation about the 8GiB games, and I too find it inconvenience that 3rd party tools is required to do certain things, but it happens. At least we be able to do something instead of nothing at all .
So for now all we can do is either split or use a trimmer tool to reduce the Size of a 4GiB game to fit completely in the FAT32 file system.
A question of my own, what happens if I wanted to use a 64GB MicroSD card that uses extFAT file system? I imagine that it will be incompatible for two reasons:
1. The file system is extFAT and has to be FAT32
2. The MicroSD is in the line of of SDXC and no flashcard support SDXC as it only support SDHC.
Did anyone ever tried formatting their SDXC card as FAT32 and use it in their own flashcard?

 

[osirisjem]

Here is my comparison:

*not for sale en mass, information about it too limited to review.

 

[bkifft]

A question of my own, what happens if I wanted to use a 64GB MicroSD card that uses extFAT file system? I imagine that it will be incompatible for two reasons:
1. The file system is extFAT and has to be FAT32
2. The MicroSD is in the line of of SDXC and no flashcard support SDXC as it only support SDHC.
Did anyone ever tried formatting their SDXC card as FAT32 and use it in their own flashcard?

unknown as of yet, as at the moment the red cart doesn't use any filesystem. Heck, for all we know they might go for NTFS from the beginning (although NTFS access is quite a bit harder to code than FAT32).

 

[justinkb]

Gateway team could implement a table that would contain a mapping from headers of 4GB roms to final byte. Then people could trim the last byte off, put it into the fat32 partition and the FPGA would map the last byte in place. Would be fairly trivial since they are likely already mapping stuff to make multirom work.

 

[bkifft]

Gateway team could implement a table that would contain a mapping from headers of 4GB roms to final byte. Then people could trim the last byte off, put it into the fat32 partition and the FPGA would map the last byte in place. Would be fairly trivial since they are likely already mapping stuff to make multirom work.

nice idea, but would still require a tool, so you could as well just do a full trim (update data and filler fluff) and save quite more space

 

[mr. fancypants]

Here is my comparison:

*not for sale en mass, information about it too limited to review.

aah the "beautyfull gatewayfanboyism"

but may i remind you that the blue gateway makes use of the a R4I card?

and that the FPGA is updateble, and in another way as gateway so they didnt copy it 1:1

and the bricking is just a pinch higher than gateway (the gateway causes also bricks)

o yes the asic chip is better

 

[justinkb]

nice idea, but would still require a tool, so you could as well just do a full trim (update data and filler fluff) and save quite more space

can all 4GB roms released so far be trimmed and still work? if so, great. could an upcoming 4GB rom potentially be untrimmable?

 

[bkifft]

can all 4GB roms released so far be trimmed and still work? if so, great. could an upcoming 4GB rom potentially be untrimmable?

Yes, so far all roms can be safely trimmed. and as long as the games will continue to contain update data there will always be data which can be removed, even if they would manage to fill the whole rom on the gamecartridge.


will there ever be untrimmable roms? could be. for example if they checked from the running game if the update data is there and intact. or if they sign the games including the padding. as long as those potential checks aren't patched out they wouldn't work anymore.

 

[osirisjem]

aah the "beautyfull gatewayfanboyism"

I'm not a Gateway fan, I just think the other options are considerably worse.
I don't have a 3DS Card.

but may i remind you that the blue gateway makes use of the a R4I card?

Interesting.
I would like to know more about that.

 

[SpaceJump]

Can someone define "early days of 2014"? Serious question since my native language isn't English.

 

[bkifft]

Can someone define "early days of 2014"? Serious question since my native language isn't English.

"at the beginning of 2014", "first days of 2014'". Just as unspecified as blizzards soon:

Soon: Copyright 2004-2014 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. "Soon" does not imply any particular date, time, decade, century, or millennia in the past, present, and certainly not the future. "Soon" shall make no contract or warranty between Blizzard Entertainment and the end user. "Soon" will arrive some day, Blizzard does guarantee that "soon" will be here before the end of time. Maybe. Do not make plans based on "soon" as Blizzard will not be liable for any misuse, use, or even casual glancing at "soon."

 

[Huntereb]

Interesting.
I would like to know more about that.

Take a look at the review of the Gateway card somewhere here on GBATemp, it talks about that.

 

[Xzi]

and the bricking is just a pinch higher than gateway (the gateway causes also bricks

That one at least is completely untrue. The reports of only official Gateway hardware/firmware bricking consoles is a fraction of the reports from other flash carts bricking consoles, if existent for the same reasons at all.

 

[postcert]

and that the FPGA is updateble, and in another way as gateway so they didnt copy it 1:1
o yes the asic chip is better

So they soldered the fpga on differently. What does it matter? They stole the code that the fpga runs and also set up the pins so that extra hardware is needed to update it.

Also asics are not reprogrammable. They are built for one specific instruction set and that is it.

 

[dagro]

I'm not a Gateway fan, I just think the other options are considerably worse.
I don't have a 3DS Card.



Interesting.
I would like to know more about that.

it is r4i gold and they aren't going to depths to hide it just open up any version of gateway (the folder) and you should see "Blue Card(R4i)"

 

[kyogre123]

Help! :/

I'm having problems with my SD (MicroSD actually) with emuNAND.

I would like a little info about the dummy section of the emuNAND because I'm suspecting this could be the reason of the problem

Recently I changed my old MicroSD and I went from 4GB to 32GB. I already had an emuNAND partition so what I have been doing is this:

Backup the regular files somewhere...
Backup the SD image and then hex edit to leave the emuNAND only.
Use the "NAND formatter" of Gateway in the 32GB MicroSD.
Write the emuNAND image created on the 4GB SD to the 32GB SD; take in account that everything after the emuNAND remains intact.

Now I determined the last offset of the emuNAND as 1073741824 (dec) since the rest of the bytes can be read when I open the SD with a hex editor.

My SD is becoming corrupted after using it with the 3DS; it works in the 3DS but I can't copy the largest folder of the SD. When I use programs to "recover" the files, they are reading the card as if it was only 2.63, which is the same size that my 4GB SD had with the emuNAND partition.

What should I do?

 

[Huntereb]

kyogre123 You might have to reset your emunand and restart everything. Have you tried backing up your old emunand, then installing it using the "format" option on the Gateway menu? Is this even possible?

 

[kbreado]

Hi People, I have a 3DS with firm 4.3 and a R4i 3DS gold deluxe, I already patched my 3ds using the blue R4 card and I do the STARTER MODE every time to run my 3ds games with the gold R4 card, I have downloaded two different Zelda ROMs and after writing them to a 2Gb microcard, neither will start up. After I have gone into NDS Profile and started the STARTER MODE exploit, the game cart shows that is there and the music is playing but when I tap on the game icon, a black screen appears saying the 'game card has been removed'. This happens only to this game since MK7, Fire emblem, mario games work 100% no saving problems, I wonder if this happens because the game needs 6.xx version system to work, but I have the latest R4 firmware 3.3 which says that it supports v7.0 games via emunand, I am confused as to what I can do to fix this issue.

Details you may need to know:
-3DS xl firm 4.3
-R4i 3DS gold deluxe
-R4 latest 3.3b version ( "supports games 7.0v via emunand")
-This is the FIRST version I installed on it (3.3b) so, I did every step ok, I have NOT replaced any files or changed/ upgrade firmware version of the R4 card, so there are NO old files in the SD card, only the files, the guide made me put in.

 

[kyogre123]

kyogre123 You might have to reset your emunand and restart everything. Have you tried backing up your old emunand, then installing it using the "format" option on the Gateway menu? Is this even possible?

I managed to fix this using the method I have been promoting when users ask about what I wanted to do (the irony of me not following my own advice).

A proper back up of the emuNAND is possible to do with the "EmuNAND Tool"; no need to mess with hex files.

I just did the Format again with GW's launcher for the 32GB SD, then reinjected the emuNAND with the EmuNAND Tool and finally just pasted the regular files and now everything is working properly.

Hi People, I have a 3DS with firm 4.3 and a R4i 3DS gold deluxe, I already patched my 3ds using the blue R4 card and I do the STARTER MODE every time to run my 3ds games with the gold R4 card, I have downloaded two different Zelda ROMs and after writing them to a 2Gb microcard, neither will start up. After I have gone into NDS Profile and started the STARTER MODE exploit, the game cart shows that is there and the music is playing but when I tap on the game icon, a black screen appears saying the 'game card has been removed'. This happens only to this game since MK7, Fire emblem, mario games work 100% no saving problems, I wonder if this happens because the game needs 6.xx version system to work, but I have the latest R4 firmware 3.3 which says that it supports v7.0 games via emunand, I am confused as to what I can do to fix this issue.

Details you may need to know:
-3DS xl firm 4.3
-R4i 3DS gold deluxe
-R4 latest 3.3b version ( "supports games 7.0v via emunand")
-This is the FIRST version I installed on it (3.3b) so, I did every step ok, I have NOT replaced any files or changed/ upgrade firmware version of the R4 card, so there are NO old files in the SD card, only the files, the guide made me put in.

Yup. Zelda "A Link Between Worlds" won't work; it's not supported in 3.3b so you have to wait until R4i fixes his launcher.