Hacking N3DS <9.2 on it's way...now what?

[riggs]

Is there a noob guide/wiki anywhere that'll tell me exactly what I can and can't do with a N3DS system? I've potentially got a 9.0 machine on its way to me, but after reading a load of posts here, watching YouTube vids and some general Googling I'm still a tad confused as to what's possible.

Gateway/ninjhax/pasta...what's the best method right now to allow me to play roms and install cias? Ideally, I'd like a CFW that boots automatically and allows me to install everything to the internal memory, but I understand this isn't possible at the moment.

 

[cheesylard]

You basically have 3 avenues you can go down. Ninjhax, Gateway, and Sky3DS.

Sky3DS
Basically a "true" flash card, in that you can load whatever roms you want on it and click a button to cycle between them. You can even put Cubic Ninja as a rom on it and get Ninjhax, so in a sense it's superior to Ninjhax.

Ninjhax (Cubic Ninja)
Community supported. Everything that comes with Ninjhax comes from the community, so you tend to have to wait for it, but the perk is that everything is usually free/open source, so support will basically be indefinite.

Gateway
Money supported. The creators make money off of the sales of the flash cart. What this means is that features generally come out for this faster than Ninjhax because they have a money incentive to make these features. One feature that is amazing is emuNAND, which basically allows you to sideload a newer firmware so you can play newer games without having to update your system firmware (sysNAND). Other things include save states and shit like that.

_____

Generally speaking I'd choose either Sky3DS or Cubic Ninja, as they have much more potential than Gateway. Also... Ninjhax has only been out since January, and we already are able to install and run unofficial CIAs with Pasta CFW. emuNAND is probably inevitable, the trick is you just gotta be patient.

 

[samiam144]

Is there a noob guide/wiki anywhere that'll tell me exactly what I can and can't do with a N3DS system? I've potentially got a 9.0 machine on its way to me, but after reading a load of posts here, watching YouTube vids and some general Googling I'm still a tad confused as to what's possible.

Gateway/ninjhax/pasta...what's the best method right now to allow me to play roms and install cias? Ideally, I'd like a CFW that boots automatically and allows me to install everything to the internal memory, but I understand this isn't possible at the moment.

Gateway for Emunand (at the moment), cias, eshop spoofing, firm spoofing, etc.
Pasta for basically what gateway can do: cias, eshop spoofing, firm spoofing, etc. but no emunand
Ninjhax for homebrew (and for booting Pasta)

Gateway, Pasta, and Ninjhax require the game Cubic Ninja.

Eventually rxTools 3.0 will release. The team (which is actually the Pasta Team + all contributors) are working on N3DS support for emunand. It will be like a free alternative to gateway for N3DS users with pretty much all the features.

Kinda Ninja'd

 

[riggs]

Ok, thanks for the help guys. So Ninjhax & Pasta will allow me to run roms and cias? Other than emuNAND, is there anything that Gateway can do that CFW can't?

My only concern at the moment is the emuNAND situation. While I've done hacking/modding in the past (NDS, PSP, PS3 etc), this 3DS stuff is all new to me and I obviously don't want to screw anything up. I can still make a NAND backup using Ninjhax/Pasta, right? Just incase...

 

[cheesylard]

Gateway, Pasta, and Ninjhax require the game Cubic Ninja.

Oh wow, didn't realize that Gateway still needed Cubic Ninja to function. Soon there will be no point in getting a Gateway...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

My only concern at the moment is the emuNAND situation. While I've done hacking/modding in the past (NDS, PSP, PS3 etc), this 3DS stuff is all new to me and I obviously don't want to screw anything up. I can still make a NAND backup using Ninjhax/Pasta, right? Just incase...

https://gbatemp.net/threads/howto-b...p-roms-from-retail-carts-on-o3ds-n3ds.390043/

 

[riggs]

https://gbatemp.net/threads/howto-b...p-roms-from-retail-carts-on-o3ds-n3ds.390043/

Thanks

 

[samiam144]

Ok, thanks for the help guys. So Ninjhax & Pasta will allow me to run roms and cias? Other than emuNAND, is there anything that Gateway can do that CFW can't?

My only concern at the moment is the emuNAND situation. While I've done hacking/modding in the past (NDS, PSP, PS3 etc), this 3DS stuff is all new to me and I obviously don't want to screw anything up. I can still make a NAND backup using Ninjhax/Pasta, right? Just incase...

You can use Gateway's nand backup feature without the actual GW card, so you should be fine! As long as you only install games (which install to the sd card), then you have very, very little risk of bricking.

Oh wow, didn't realize that Gateway still needed Cubic Ninja to function. Soon there will be no point in getting a Gateway...

Yeah, you need either Cubic Ninja or Ocarina of Time at least once, then you can use the mset exploit. But it could be a hassle even getting one of those games if you don't have one already..

 

[hashcheck1]

You can't do mset with Zelda as there is no why to install the mset.cia included to downgrade it. Ninja is really the only way or gateway, sky3ds. I'm also at that stage and don't want to spend $$ to get gateway or sky3ds if possible

 

[NaviLoz101]

Is there a noob guide/wiki anywhere that'll tell me exactly what I can and can't do with a N3DS system? I've potentially got a 9.0 machine on its way to me, but after reading a load of posts here, watching YouTube vids and some general Googling I'm still a tad confused as to what's possible.

Gateway/ninjhax/pasta...what's the best method right now to allow me to play roms and install cias? Ideally, I'd like a CFW that boots automatically and allows me to install everything to the internal memory, but I understand this isn't possible at the moment.

ReiNand CFW will be supporting n3ds very soon

 

[riggs]

Ok, so Cubic Ninja finally arrived (£35 from CeX - check out the one and only user review!), tested Ninjhac just to make sure it works and voila, Homebrew Launcher. So, I've deleted my save, loaded up the GW exploit and my NAND is currently backing up. Once I've got Ninjhax re-installed and booted Pasta, is there anything else I need to do? Just wanting to have a tinker and see what's possible, but need to know what safe to do (i.e., any apps/homebrew I shouldn't be messing with?).

Got a few .cia files I'm looking to get running also, but how do I install them? Is there something bundled with Pasta that allows this?
Figured this one out; FBI/BigBlueBox

I'm under the assumption that game .cias are fine (as are retail dumps converted to .cia), but what about other stuff? Are eShop titles ok (like 3D Classics and Virtual Console games)? How about user created VC games (ROM injected)?
Again, after some reading found out these are ok.

Finally, are themes ok to install, or are they a bit of a no go at the moment?

Lot's of noob questions here, but just want to make sure.