Hacking 3DS .CIA Limit

[the MCDO]

So have a 128 gb sd card and have been converting and installing everything i can get a hold of and still have 20+ GB left when i noticed big blue menu and coin setter were no longer on my 3ds. they were still installed but icon was not available so use gateway .3ds file to get back in to big blue and deleted big blue .cia and coin setter and reinstalled them the icons were available again but noticed angry birds games were now gone SO came to the conclusion that the nand ??? may have a menu limit of games 333ish counted number programs in big blue menu just thought i would let you guys have this info Update: So when i went to delete some of the recent games i installed that didnt work my missing games (icons) showed back up as a gift box again. so i think the 3ds hits the limit for example icons are labeled a to z when limit is reached the next game replaces a as a1 b1 c1 ext. and a b c are replaced if a game is removed the missing game comes back the fill the gap hope that makes sense

 

[Sirius64]

Interesting! This is useful information.

I don't think I'd be able to hit that limit if I tried, but for those of us thinking of investing in a 256GB SD card... save your money.

 

[AmeenX]

have you tried to create a folder and gather few games there maybe they will appear at the very end spots?
maybe it's just spots limite?

 

[flabulousfreddy]

I think you can only install as many as you have space on the menu. I put all of mine into folders for organization, so I don't have that problem.

Just make one folder for each of the following

-CIA Full Games
-CIA 3DSWare(i.e. 3D Classics or anything that's ONLY on the eShop that's not Virtual Console)
-CIA Virtual Console
-CIA Developer's Tools(i.e. PlayCoinSetter, DevMenu, etc)

 

[fatboynate]

I already knew this, because i tried the same thing as the OP, i now use a 64gb as my 3ds sd and a 8gb for gateway

 

[I pwned U!]

I thought that the 3DS only supported SD cards up to 32 GB (or higher if they are formatted to FAT32).

Are you saying that if I were to buy a 64 GB SD card, then my 3DS will still let me use all 64 GB of memory?

 

[fatboynate]

i havent finished installing everything yet but its almost full i have most of the worthwhile games

 

[I pwned U!]

In that case, I guess that I will add a 64 GB SD card on my holiday wish list!

 

[fatboynate]

I thought that the 3DS only supported SD cards up to 32 GB (or higher if they are formatted to FAT32).

Are you saying that if I were to buy a 64 GB SD card, then my 3DS will still let me use all 64 GB of memory?

sorry for double post but you can format the 64gb SD to fat32 with a free program called MiniTool Partition Wizard. just format it to fat32 with 32kb units

 

[satel]

have you tried to create a folder and gather few games there maybe they will appear at the very end spots?
maybe it's just spots limite?

folders don't work with emunand,i have tried creating 3 folders & put few games inside each but when i rebooted the console & entered gateway mode the folders where still there but all the games where not in it the folders.they were back in their original places it's like a poltergeist thing living in the emunand.

 

[cearp]

try booting the game from devmenu, if you are really desperate to have more games than 'allowed'

 

[fatboynate]

folders don't work with emunand,i have tried creating 3 folders & put few games inside each but when i rebooted the console & entered gateway mode the folders where still there but all the games where not in it the folders.they were back in their original places it's like a poltergeist thing living in the emunand.

make the folders on sysnand then make them on emunand, i have several folders for games rpg, platformer ect

 

[gamesquest1]

from what i read, the issue of folders emptying can be resolved 1 of 2 ways, either
A) make sure your folders are on a space that is also "used" on sysnand....you *may* even be able to just fill up sysnand with folders so you don't run into issues
or
B) format emunand or sysnand (from in system settings of either) this will stop sysnand and emunand having conflicts and deleting stuff via sysnand data managment and stop the folder issue

 

[satel]

make the folders on sysnand then make them on emunand, i have several folders for games rpg, platformer ect

thanks for the tip i will do this on my n3ds if it has emunand support as i no longer have my 3ds xl to try it.

 

[the MCDO]

i have 26 or so different folders labeled from sports RPG Platformers to VC Games and NES/GBC Injects. the Injects is what put me into the limit 122+ had 128 gb to fill so didnt think space would be an issue. Had to rethink that deleted some of the injects to stay 40 clear of the limit so i could add more 3DS exclusive games probably use GBC NES and SNES Emulators instead of injects in the future FYI I have unlinked my Nands so i dont need to mess with System Nand folder Fix

 

[luney]

How do you "unlink" your nands?

 

[Nemix77]

New firmware upgrade from Nintendo should allow for more install spaces if Nintendo chooses to do so in the future when they feel they big SD cards are cheap enough, they have a lot of games out and selling a lot on the eShop or when users start complaining about not enough space to install their games collection to Nintendo directly.

But otherwise very good info here, what I'd do is get a 128GB SD for CIA installs and have another 128GB Micro SD in the GateWay or whatever Flash Card your using that should be plenty for even future titles unless your a completely greedy bastard that wants every single game that comes out even if you're not going to play it.

 

[Searinox]

Is that true? Can you simply format an SDXC card to FAT32 with third party tools and it'll see all the partitioned space?

 

[Duo8]

Is that true? Can you simply format an SDXC card to FAT32 with third party tools and it'll see all the partitioned space?

Yes.

from what i read, the issue of folders emptying can be resolved 1 of 2 ways, either
A) make sure your folders are on a space that is also "used" on sysnand....you *may* even be able to just fill up sysnand with folders so you don't run into issues
or
B) format emunand or sysnand (from in system settings of either) this will stop sysnand and emunand having conflicts and deleting stuff via sysnand data managment and stop the folder issue

So after making the emunand partition just go to emunand and format it?

 

[Nemix77]

So just to confirm the size limit CIA installs in about 330 channels correct?