Hacking [Guide] Change emuNAND Region

[DarkKaine]

Hey everyone,

I recently successfully changed my emuNAND region from 9.2.0-20J to 9.5.0-23E on a New Nintendo 3DS.
It was a struggle finding all the relevant information, especially considering many tools and instructions that were scattered around the temp were outdated or no longer relevant. So after I was done I decided to make things a little easier for people that want to attempt this and while it isn't perfect it gets the job done.

Why change region?

Pros:

• The System Menu will be of the desired language, greatly beneficial to those who imported Japanese systems.
• Some games in CIA format (especially first party titles) tend to use the system language when started regardless of the game's region, causing them to display in a language you might not prefer. This fixes all of that.

Cons:

• You will not be able to access the eShop without a valid dump of the SecureInfo_A file from a 3DS that has never connected to the internet. I personally don't care and just install CIA's. It is possible to use a SecureInfo_A file from a 3DS on a N3DS and vice versa. Playing games online is still possible tho.

Disclaimer

As with everything I'm not responsible if you somehow brick your (N)3DS, which shouldn't happen because you only mess with emuNAND, but you never know.. Be extra careful when doing this with CFW, I have heard some horror stories about accidental writes to NAND. Use Gateway if you can! Without further ado, here's the guide.

Requirements

• (N)3DS on 9.0 - 9.2
• If using a N3DS: a copy of Cubic Ninja. Sorry guys, there's currently no other way.
• Gateway 3DS (or if using CFW, any emuNAND with a way to install CIA files will work)
• Region Change Toolkit. Download here: http://109.163.233.168/RegionChangeKit.rar
  
• "SecureInfo_A" file for the desired region. Either dump it from another (N)3DS or find a "donor" file online (google). Make sure it is the right region or it will not work!
• Gateway Launcher v3.2.2 (google).
• DevMenu v6.2 (google).
• WinHex (not sure if the free version works for our purposes, mine is licensed. Not like that will stop you google it).

Step 1 - Generating the NAND Fat16 Xorpad.

O3DS (Cubic Ninja method):

Spoiler

1. Copy the boot.3dsx file and the 3ds folder from the "FILES FOR 3DS ONLY" folder to the root of your SD card and insert it into your 3DS.
2. Go to http://smealum.net/ninjhax/ and follow steps 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. If you already have a QR code for booting gateway you can delete it by holding L+R+X+Y in the main menu for 5 seconds.
3. Start Decrypt9 from the homebrew launcher and run the NAND Padgen.

O3DS (Browser method):

Spoiler

1. Copy the Launcher.dat file from the "FILES FOR 3DS ONLY" folder to the root of your SD card and insert it into your 3DS.
2. Start the Internet Browser and navigate to http://dukesrg.no-ip.org/3ds/go
3. Decrypt9 should now load. Run the NAND Padgen.

N3DS (Cubic Ninja method):

Spoiler

1. Copy the boot.3dsx file and the 3ds folder from the "FILES FOR N3DS ONLY" folder to the root of your SD card and insert it into your 3DS.
2. Go to http://smealum.net/ninjhax/ and follow steps 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. If you already have a QR code for booting gateway you can delete it by holding L+R+X+Y in the main menu for 5 seconds.
3. Start Decrypt9 from the homebrew launcher and run the NAND Padgen.

After it's done, turn off your (N)3DS, insert the SD card in your card reader and move the nand.fat16.xorpad file into the "Tools" folder.

Step 2 - Updating emuNAND.

1. Copy Launcher.dat from the Gateway v3.2.2 archive to the root of your SD card and insert it into your (N)3DS. Overwrite if prompted.
2. Copy DevMenu v6.2 to the root of the microSD that goes inside your Gateway red card. If you are using CFW you should already have it because it's transferred from sysNAND and you can skip this step.
3. Use the DS Profile, Internet Browser, Ocarina of Time or Cubic Ninja exploit to start the Gateway Launcher. If you previously used Cubic Ninja for the homebrew launcher and want to use it on the N3DS, simply delete the savedata by holding L+R+X+Y at the main menu and scan the new QR code from Gateway's web site.
4. Format emuNAND using the Gateway Launcher. When it's done, boot emuNAND and check if everything is working.
5. Power off your (N)3DS and insert the SD card in your card reader again.
6. From the Tools folder, open up 3DNUS. For Title ID enter the latest safe version. At the time of writing this is 9.8.0-25 for 3DS and 9.5.0-23 for N3DS. For version, enter the region that you want to switch to (JAP/USA/EUR). Tick either the Old 3ds or New 3ds option and also tick "pack as .CIA". Press the Download button.
7. After 3DNUS is done downloading all the files there should be a new folder created inside the 3DNUS folder with all your CIA files (f.e 9.5.0-23). Move that folder to the root of your SD card.
   
8. Place the SD card back into your (N)3DS and boot emuNAND either using the Gateway launcher or CFW. Make absolutely sure you are on emuNAND!
9. Press select, mount DevMenu 6.22 and start it. When using CFW, simply start DevMenu directly from the home menu.
10. In DevMenu, open the folder that you previously generated with 3DNUS. Hit L+R+A to install all files in the directory. Some will fail, don't worry. It's because the titles are already installed. DevMenu 6.2 will continue installing the rest of the files regardless (the old version doesn't). After installation is finished, close DevMenu and shut down your (N)3DS. Don't bother trying to boot emuNAND again, it won't work. We're gonna fix that now Place the SD card back into your card reader.

Step 3 - Extracting, modifying and rebuilding emuNAND.

1. From the "Tools" folder start emuNANDTool. Click "Extract EmuNAND" and save it inside the "Tools" folder. Name it emuNAND.bin.
2. After it's finished, drag the emuNAND.bin file on 1.dragNandDumpForFat16.bat and let it finish. This creates emuNAND.fat16.bin.
3. Double click 2.xor-emunand-fat16.bat. This will generate emuNAND.fat16.bin.out.
4. Now start WinImage. Hit File -> Open and select the emuNAND.fat16.bin.out file. It will ask you which partition to open, just hit OK. If it opens without any problems you did everything right up until this point
5. In WinImage, navigate to the rw/sys folder. Now drag and drop your NEW SecureInfo_A file into this directory, it will ask you if you want to overwrite the existing file. Hit OK and then hit File -> Save. Close WinImage.
6. Double click 3.xor-new-emunand-fat16.bat. This will generate emuNAND.fat16.bin.out.out.
7. Start WinHex and open both emuNAND.fat16.bin.out.out and emuNAND.bin.
8. In the emuNAND.fat16.bin.out.out tab, press Ctrl+A and then Ctrl+C to copy the whole file into your clipboard.
9. Switch to emuNAND.bin. Press Alt+G and enter B930000. It will take you right to that offset. Now hit Ctrl+B. Just hit OK on every prompt that follows. This might take some time. When it's done hit Ctrl+S to save your file and close WinHex.
10. Start emuNANDTool again and hit "Inject NAND to emuNAND". Select the emuNAND.bin file that we just modified. When finished put the SD card back into your (N)3DS and use the Gateway Launcher or CFW to boot it. It might take a couple tries the first time for some reason. If everything went right you will be presented with a loading screen. You just changed your region. Congratulations!

Step 4 - Cleaning up leftover titles.

1. In emuNAND, go to your System Settings and hit "Format System Memory". This will clean up some garbage that was left behind, but sadly not everything. Reboot emuNAND and configure your new settings.
2. Take out your SD card and put it back into the card reader. Copy fbi.cia to the root of your SD card.
3. Put your SD card back into your (N)3DS, boot emuNAND. Start DevMenu and install fbi.cia.
4. From here on out you have two options. You can either use cearp's tool to figure out which titles you can delete which can be found here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/release...is-safe-to-delete-after-region-change.383796/ or you can do it manually by looking up the System Titles on 3dbrew. I had to go with the latter because sadly there is no CSV for 9.2.0-20J on New3DS. I used these titles for reference:
   Spoiler

   '0004001000021000', '0004001000021100', '0004001000021200', '0004001000021300', '0004001000021400', '0004001000021500', '0004001000021700', '0004001000021800', '0004001000021900', '0004001000021A00', '0004001000021B00', '0004001000021D00', '0004001000021E00', '0004001000021F00', '0004001000024000', '000400100002C000', '0004003000008B02', '0004003000008F02', '0004003000009002', '0004003000009202', '0004003000009302', '0004003000009402', '0004003000009602', '0004003000009702', '000400300000BD02', '000400300000C802', '000400300000C803', '000400300000C902', '000400300000CB02', '000400300000CC02', '000400300000CE02', '0004009B00011402', '0004009B00011602', '0004009B00011D02', '0004009B00011E02', '0004009B00012302', '0004009B00013302', '0004009B00015302', '000400DB00016302', '000400DB00017302'
   Note that these are US titles, I simply checked 3dbrew to see what the Japanese equivalent of these titles are and deleted them. Use FBI, hit L until it says NAND, then hit R until it says "Delete Title". From there, delete the (now obsolete) titles that do not match your region.
5. After all of this, reboot emuNAND. You might notice that a lot of icons are missing. Personally, I left out most of them because they are irrelevant to me, but in the same fashion as you deleted the duplicate titles you can install the missing ones. The only thing I installed was Mii Maker.
6. If for some reason the mset exploit stops functioning after setting up your new emuNAND, it's because of the country settings of the new emuNAND messing up NVRAM. I believe this only happens on EUR. You can fix this by formatting sysNAND.

That's all. You have now successfully changed your emuNAND region I tried to write this tutorial as newbie friendly as possible and I'm sure there's room for improvement, especially regarding the cleanup of titles. If anyone has suggestions or if there are any mistakes let me know and I'll edit this post.

Have fun!

Credits

• Katsuhiko - for guiding me through the whole process and inspiring me to share the knowledge with the rest of forum.
• smea - Ninjhax.
  
• archshift - Decrypt9
  
• Shadowtrance - Decrypt9 for Ninjhax.
• xerpi - padxorer.
• n1ghty - emuNAND Tool.
• ground - 3DNUS.
• cearp - Tons of useful information and tools.
• Everyone else that contributed to the above tools or helped researching changing regions. If I forgot you, shoot me a PM and I'll add you here

 

[djalmafreestyler]

Does it work with old 3DS and XL?

 

[VerseHell]

Why don't you just read the OP to find out?

 

[RainThunder]

Good tutorial.

Could you add rxTools method for SecureInfo injection and Riku's tool to your Step 3? Those tools make things far more simple.

 

[Melon__Bread]

Does it work with old 3DS and XL?

Yeah if you are not willing to read the whole first post you might as well not bother trying. Converting regions involves a lot of reading and being just careful in general

 

[Xanek]

Okay, reading through the first part, I just need a confirmation as it usually takes me a few times to read it correctly to make sure i'm doing it correctly.
So for Step 2, 2. If I have a emuNAND installed from rxTools, then I don't need devmenu?
Step 2, 4. This is booting the emuNAND via gateway launcher correct?

 

[VerseHell]

- You need to have devmenu (or BigBlueMenu) installed on your emunand
- No, if you don't have a gatweay card you need to use rxTools. (you will need to reinject FBI)

 

[Xanek]

- You need to have devmenu (or BigBlueMenu) installed on your emunand
- No, if you don't have a gatweay card you need to use rxTools. (you will need to reinject FBI)

So how exactly will the steps change since i'm using rxTools & bigbluemenu?

 

[VerseHell]

It's exactly the same, just use BBM instead of devmenu, and use rxTools to boot into your emunand.

 

[Xanek]

It's exactly the same, just use BBM instead of devmenu, and use rxTools to boot into your emunand.

Oh right, and guessing the fbi.cia will use the rxtool's fbi_inject.app and fbi_inject.tmd of the appropriate version & region?

 

[VerseHell]

Yes, you can use the FBI you injected.

 

[Xanek]

Yes, you can use the FBI you injected.

Thanks for the help! I'll be sure to actually try this by the end of the week, busy with other stuff.

 

[RainThunder]

So how exactly will the steps change since i'm using rxTools & bigbluemenu?

You can use rxTools to inject SecureInfo_A directly to your emuNAND. That simplified OP's step 3.

 

[Xanek]

You can use rxTools to inject SecureInfo_A directly to your emuNAND. That simplified OP's step 3.

How exactly? Sorry, i'm still new to this.

 

[RainThunder]

How exactly? Sorry, i'm still new to this.

- Copy your NEW SecureInfo_A file to rxTools folder in your SD card.
- Boot into rxTools. Hold R button to enter rxTools menu.
- Choose Injection Options -> Inject NAND Files -> EmuNAND (press Y button) -> SecureInfo_A.

 

[Xanek]

- Copy your NEW SecureInfo_A file to rxTools folder in your SD card.
- Boot into rxTools. Hold R button to enter rxTools menu.
- Choose Injection Options -> Inject NAND Files -> EmuNAND (press Y button) -> SecureInfo_A.

So step 3 is irrelevant if we have rxTools and just follow this step? Also guessing the secureinfo_a doesn't matter what 3ds/firmware it came from as long as it's the right region?

 

[RainThunder]

So step 3 is irrelevant if we have rxTools and just follow this step? Also guessing the secureinfo_a doesn't matter what 3ds/firmware it came from as long as it's the right region?

That's right.

 

[VerseHell]

Cons:

• You will not be able to access the eShop without a valid dump of the SecureInfo_A file from a 3DS that has never connected to the internet. I personally don't care and just install CIA's. It is possible to use a SecureInfo_A file from a 3DS on a N3DS and vice versa. Playing games online is still possible tho.

Also, this is false, there is a trick to use the eshop on a region changed emunand.

 

[Asia81]

Step 2 - Updating emuNAND.

6 - From the Tools folder, open up 3DNUS. For Title ID enter the latest safe version. At the time of writing this is 9.8.0-25 for 3DS and 9.5.0-23 for N3DS. For version, enter the region that you want to switch to (JAP/USA/EUR).


It's not JAP but JPN

 

[Asia81]

Anyone know why i have this error?
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/27/1436111913-regionchangeerror.png