Hacking N3DS XL - Beginning the adventure (and some Q&A)

[Knaledge]

Hey there! It's been a long while since the AKAIO days, though lurking is a habit.

As many threads that have been poured over and FAQs combed through, questions have come up and this thread will hopefully help with that.

Already obtained

• New 3DS XL (9.0.0-20U) (N3DS)
• Cubic Ninja (US) (retail)
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf (US) (retail; for private header)
• UPDATE: Gateway 3DS

Still needed

• Gateway 3DS (genuine)
  • Purchased from Modchipsdirect.com
• 32GB+ SDHC/SDXC

Questions

1. What is the best place to purchase a genuineGateway 3DS?
   • yeahgeek.com seems to be preferred for international orders
   • Modchipsdirect.comseems to be preferred for US orders
     • For either one, no mention of how frequent a genuine card is received
2. Is there any point in purchasing an SDHC/SDXC with capacity greater than 32GB?
3. Any general community preference or issues regarding SDHC vs. SDXC?
4. Is there any truth to the following...?
   • Card overheating?
   • Increased battery drain? (allegedly due to combination of GW/Sky3DS card + game type/extension, like .3DS on a GW)
5. In what scenarios does the exploit have to be performed again?
   • Confusion seems to stem from sleep mode vs. power cycle (if that's even a factor)
   • Coming from AKAIO days on DS, it was incredibly easy...
     • Card in the slot? Boot to "CFW"/system software
     • Card not in the slot? Boot to genuine firmware/system software
6. What is the day-to-day like in terms of ROMs (3DS, DS) and emulators? How "plug and play" is all of this?
   • There is a lot of talk about save files, patches, headers, etc.
7. Post-CFW/GW, out of the box: will emuNAND on 9.6 (while sysNAND is 9.0) effectively mean the N3DS is able to be used like a genuine firmware N3DS on 9.6?
   • Using NNID, purchasing from eShop, etc

 

[Ronhero]

First you can use cubuc ninja as your private header if you want.

1 - I ordered mine from mod chip direct like 18 months ago and had no problems
2 - More memory = more games
3 - Not that I know of, just make sure to format to exfat for larger games
4 - The card can get warm but I wouldn't say overheat. Yes the gw card does drain the battery a little faster, for best battery life install cia files
5 - Every time you power down your 3ds you need to run the cubic ninja exploit. Once in the gw menu you put in the red card and then boot into gw mode to play roms or classic mode for retail carts.
6 - If you want to play online you must first add a header and make it a .3dz extension, there are a few emulators that work on the n3ds but I have found nothing works better then a dstwo imop
7 - emunand 9.6 is not supported yet but will be soon(tm) you can use 3dnus to update to 9.5 and once 9.6 is supported you will have access to NNID and eshop with no problem. In the mean time you can install updates via a cia file to play online

 

[Adeka]

Hey there! It's been a long while since the AKAIO days, though lurking is a habit.

As many threads that have been poured over and FAQs combed through, questions have come up and this thread will hopefully help with that.

Already obtained

• New 3DS XL (9.0.0-20U) (N3DS)
• Cubic Ninja (US) (retail)
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf (US) (retail; for private header)

Still needed

• Gateway 3DS (genuine)
• 32GB+ SDHC/SDXC

Questions

1. What is the best place to purchase a genuineGateway 3DS?
   • yeahgeek.com seems to be preferred for international orders
   • Modchipsdirect.comseems to be preferred for US orders
     • For either one, no mention of how frequent a genuine card is received
2. Is there any point in purchasing an SDHC/SDXC with capacity greater than 32GB?
3. Any general community preference or issues regarding SDHC vs. SDXC?
4. Is there any truth to the following...?
   • Card overheating?
   • Increased battery drain? (allegedly due to combination of GW/Sky3DS card + game type/extension, like .3DS on a GW)
5. In what scenarios does the exploit have to be performed again?
   • Confusion seems to stem from sleep mode vs. power cycle (if that's even a factor)
   • Coming from AKAIO days on DS, it was incredibly easy...
     • Card in the slot? Boot to "CFW"/system software
     • Card not in the slot? Boot to genuine firmware/system software
6. What is the day-to-day like in terms of ROMs (3DS, DS) and emulators? How "plug and play" is all of this?
   • There is a lot of talk about save files, patches, headers, etc.
7. Post-CFW/GW, out of the box: will emuNAND on 9.6 (while sysNAND is 9.0) effectively mean the N3DS is able to be used like a genuine firmware N3DS on 9.6?
   • Using NNID, purchasing from eShop, etc

1. Modchipsdirect should be good
2. Holds more games?
3. No.
4. No. Use cia if your really worried about battery life.
5. If you leave smash or mh4u without entering another application first, leave the settings menu, or power off the 3ds completely (sleep mode is fine).
6. Fully plug and play once you enter gateway mode (don't power of the console)
7. Your emunand will be your sysnand version. It must be updated. 9.6 is currently not supported. Hold up while entering gateway mode to spoof firmware (lets you play 9.3+ games without updating emunand). Emunand must be updated all the way to use eshop. All files from the shop can be found online and installed as cia files.

Ninja'd

 

[Ronhero]

5. If you leave smash or mh4u without entering another application first, leave the settings menu, or power off the 3ds completely (sleep mode is fine).

That only applies to the old 3ds

7. Your emunand will be your sysnand version. It must be updated. 9.6 is currently not supported. Hold up while entering gateway mode to spoof firmware (lets you play 9.3+ games without updating emunand). Emunand must be updated all the way to use eshop. All files from the shop can be found online and installed as cia files.

Holding up initiates the update via cart / rom. By default gateway is spoofed without any additional button pushing

 

[zoogie]

1. • Modchipsdirect.com seems to be preferred for US orders
2. Is there any point in purchasing an SDHC/SDXC with capacity greater than 32GB? NO. 3ds games average only about 1GB and you can place them on the flashcart sd or n3ds internal sd.
3. Any general community preference or issues regarding SDHC vs. SDXC? SDXC leads to infertility.
4. Is there any truth to the following...?
   • Card overheating? No
   • Increased battery drain? (allegedly due to combination of GW/Sky3DS card + game type/extension, like .3DS on a GW) It's a factor but not a major one, maybe 10% extra drain
5. In what scenarios does the exploit have to be performed again? If you turn the system off or back out of system settings, the exploit must be redone.
6. What is the day-to-day like in terms of ROMs (3DS, DS) and emulators? emulation scene is not great but it's there. SNES and NES is decent, Virtual Boy terrible.
7. Post-CFW/GW, out of the box: will emuNAND on 9.6 (while sysNAND is 9.0) effectively mean the N3DS is able to be used like a genuine firmware N3DS on 9.6? Emunand 9.6 will likely not be possible for a long time on N3DS. The AP is rough.

 

[Knaledge]

That only applies to the old 3ds

Would you mind elaborating on this? So far, the feedback has been "power off = start over with exploit"

And in terms of the power-off=start exploit over again stuff...

• Does this mean up-to-and-including launcher file, modifying contents of the onboard SD card, Cubic Ninja, etc. etc. ?

 

[zoogie]

Would you mind elaborating on this? So far, the feedback has been "power off = start over with exploit"

And in terms of the power-off=start exploit over again stuff...

• Does this mean up-to-and-including launcher file, modifying contents of the onboard SD card, Cubic Ninja, etc. etc. ?

No you just re-run the game and everything is restored.

 

[Knaledge]

Is there any discussion surrounding .3DS vs. .CIA in terms of battery life? Why does that occur?

Also - purchased from Modchipsdirect. Thanks!

 

[Ronhero]

Would you mind elaborating on this? So far, the feedback has been "power off = start over with exploit"

And in terms of the power-off=start exploit over again stuff...

• Does this mean up-to-and-including launcher file, modifying contents of the onboard SD card, Cubic Ninja, etc. etc. ?

The old 3ds use to have limited ram when playing never games like ssb or mh4 that when you would close out of the software it would boot you back to system nand. The n3ds doesn't have this problem

Every time you shut down and turn your 3ds back on you must run cubic ninja and use the exploit to get to the gw menu. The first time you need to be online and scan the qr tag, the second time on its stored and will automatically load.

Cia files don't use the red card to play games hence the sightly better battery life

 

[Knaledge]

The old 3ds use to have limited ram when playing never games like ssb or mh4 that when you would close out of the software it would boot you back to system nand. The n3ds doesn't have this problem

Every time you shut down and turn your 3ds back on you must run cubic ninja and use the exploit to get to the gw menu. The first time you need to be online and scan the qr tag, the second time on its stored and will automatically load.

Cia files don't use the red card to play games hence the sightly better battery life

Ah - so that fills in the gap about Cubic Ninja and the QR code being saved.

For .CIA files:... because they are stored on the onboard SD card (instead of the red GW card)?

Also, despite what's out there mentioned anecdotally...

• What is the deal with GW and "auto-patching"? How does that work - or what is that helping to achieve?
• For "private headers" - is the header just stored centrally and then "patched in" as-needed? Or must each game be "patched" with the private header?

 

[Adeka]

If you don't want to worry about the entire headers thing at all then install all games your playing online as cias.

 

[Ronhero]

For .CIA files:... because they are stored on the onboard SD card (instead of the red GW card)?

Yes

• For "private headers" - is the header just stored centrally and then "patched in" as-needed? Or must each game be "patched" with the private header?

You need to download gateway rom patcher and first rip the header from your personal dump then inject it to your roms. Once injected change your extension to .3dz so gateway knows it's online enabled

• What is the deal with GW and "auto-patching"? How does that work - or what is that helping to achieve?

Even if the game requires a higher firmware gw will spoof it automatically. Currently every game will work on 9.0 emunand if you don't feel like updating with 3dnus

 

[Knaledge]

If you don't want to worry about the entire headers thing at all then install all games your playing online as cias.

What does that achieve specifically as a result? (in other words, why does that allow me to not worry about it anymore?)

 

[Ronhero]

What does that achieve specifically as a result? (in other words, why does that allow me to not worry about it anymore?)

cia files don't require headers to go online

 

[Adeka]

What does that achieve specifically as a result? (in other words, why does that allow me to not worry about it anymore?)

Currently Nintendo is checking for multiple of the same headers online at once to ban people. Games that are installed as cias don't require a header to play online.

 

[Knaledge]

Currently Nintendo is checking for multiple of the same headers online at once to ban people. Games that are installed as cias don't require a header to play online.

And they... don't check for that? The header is not a required element to connect to the online environment?

So, if Pokemon typically requires a header - but instead, someone manages to convert it to .CIA, they just get to play online, risk free, while others that don't know about this / can't do this run the risk of getting banned (unless they inject a truly private header)? (first world problem, I know)

 

[Adeka]

And they... don't check for that? The header is not a required element to connect to the online environment?

So, if Pokemon typically requires a header - but instead, someone manages to convert it to .CIA, they just get to play online, risk free, while others that don't know about this / can't do this run the risk of getting banned (unless they inject a truly private header)? (first world problem, I know)

cia files don't have headers. It's as simple as that.

 

[Knaledge]

Well, that seems odd but hey!

• Is there any workaround to... visiting "Data Management" deleting all CIA files on onboard SD?
  • I read a bit about unlinking emuNAND and sysNAND - but not quite sure what that means, why it is related, and why this even occurs

 

[Adeka]

Well, that seems odd but hey!

• Is there any workaround to... visiting "Data Management" deleting all CIA files on onboard SD?
  • I read a bit about unlinking emuNAND and sysNAND - but not quite sure what that means, why it is related, and why this even occurs

/
Just don't visit data management (how often do you even go there normally?)

You can unlink sysnand and emunand by formatting sysnand with your micro sd card removed. This should definitely be done because it fixes the gift wrap bug (gift wrap bug is all cia games are gift wrapped like a newly purchased eshop game every time you start gateway mode)

 

[bobtheglob101]

cia files don't have headers. It's as simple as that.

For clarification, .cia files use the consoles header instead, which is why a cartridge header of any sort isnt needed.