Hacking PSA: Nintendo blocked the Sky3DS (partially) through new anti-piracy checks in their upcoming games

[mrolive]

Fire Emblem IF and the new Animal Crossing both have new anti-piracy checks that make it impossible for them to be played on the Sky3DS. Any game out right now will work on the Sky3DS but it's a safe bet that all new 3DS games will have these anti-piracy checks implemented in them.



No official response from the Sky team yet.

 

[TecXero]

Weird, I figured Nintendo would have just released a firmware update for the 3DS to block it. I wonder why they went this route.

 

[Joe88]

im guessing it was affecting legit users (if they were testing to block it via firmware that is)
Is the ap affecting gateway also?

 

[Ryu Kenshin]

Fire Emblem IF and the new Animal Crossing both have new anti-piracy checks that make it impossible for them to be played on the Sky3DS. Any game out right now will work on the Sky3DS but it's a safe bet that all new 3DS games will have these anti-piracy checks implemented in them.



No official response from the Sky team yet.

I don't think this will completely block Sky3DS, it's a matter of time before dev team figure out the new encryption key.

 

[Xenon Hacks]

I don't think this will completely block Sky3DS, it's a matter of time before dev team figure out the new encryption key.

Thats not the problem this has nothing to do with keys.

 

[Ryu Kenshin]

Thats not the problem this has nothing to do with keys.

Sorry, it's real gamecard checksum in header, not key

 

[mrolive]

Sorry, it's real gamecard checksum in header, not key

I'd keep an eye out for a Sky3DS green button

 

[VinsCool]

I'd keep an eye out for a Sky3DS green button

 

[mrolive]

Also, I sent them an email regarding the issue. Hopefully they respond.

 

[Bug_Checker_]

New games use new antipiracy checks which all sky3ds carts cannot (and will never) pass. These are enabled by the flags at 0x1FE in the NCSD header. FE:IF and the new Animal Crossing both use these new checks, but whoever dumped AC did a shit job by actually zeroing those bits (and consequently invalidating the entire NCSD header, smh.)

I haven't looked into it as far as I'd like to yet, but I'm under the impression these checks come from brand new hardware responses. Think AP2.5 on 360, except a bit tougher since carts are pretty much a black box compared to DVD drives. Sky3ds only ever existed because the protocol on 3DS carts is so simple and has relatively minimal security. Protocol-level (i.e. not just crypto) cart security like this should keep these cart emulator devices away from new games for a good while, thankfully.

This topic is already being discussed in this thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/so-what...nd-fire-emblem-potential-future-games.394216/

 

[mrolive]

This topic is already being discussed in this thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/so-what...nd-fire-emblem-potential-future-games.394216/

I know, I just wanted to change the title since the post you quoted was a little unclear.

 

[Neru]

I just bought an Sky3ds... does that mean a new sky3ds cartridge needs to be made or is based on the template?

 

[Xenon Hacks]

I just bought an Sky3ds... does that mean a new sky3ds cartridge needs to be made or is based on the template?

A new card will be needed to play newer games and thats is IF they break this new security measure

 

[Ryu Kenshin]

A new card will be needed to play newer games and thats is IF they break this new security measure

Red, Blue, maybe Green, maybe rainbow color in the future

 

[lisreal2401]

We're not completely positive if it's AP or not. Animal Crossing doesn't work with CFW, either. But Fire Emblem does. So it's kinda not time for a PSA.

 

[Neru]

A new card will be needed to play newer games and thats is IF they break this new security measure

Oh ok, what if nintendo trolls and puts a new key then another? The sky3ds should make a goddamn flashcart that can be updated sheesh. *Bunch of money whores*

 

[DarkFlare69]

Is the ap affecting gateway also?

^ I'd like to know too. Sky3DS can kiss my ass, I sold mine, but Gateway is what I care about

 

[Hopeful Death]

We're not completely positive if it's AP or not. Animal Crossing doesn't work with CFW, either. But Fire Emblem does. So it's kinda not time for a PSA.

Wouldn't that be because

whoever dumped AC did a shit job by actually zeroing those bits (and consequently invalidating the entire NCSD header, smh.)

So AC not working is just because of a botched dump.

 

[Zidapi]

We're not completely positive if it's AP or not. Animal Crossing doesn't work with CFW, either. But Fire Emblem does. So it's kinda not time for a PSA.

Yeah we are.

New games use new antipiracy checks which all sky3ds carts cannot (and will never) pass. These are enabled by the flags at 0x1FE in the NCSD header. FE:IF and the new Animal Crossing both use these new checks, but whoever dumped AC did a shit job by actually zeroing those bits (and consequently invalidating the entire NCSD header, smh.)

I haven't looked into it as far as I'd like to yet, but I'm under the impression these checks come from brand new hardware responses. Think AP2.5 on 360, except a bit tougher since carts are pretty much a black box compared to DVD drives. Sky3ds only ever existed because the protocol on 3DS carts is so simple and has relatively minimal security. Protocol-level (i.e. not just crypto) cart security like this should keep these cart emulator devices away from new games for a good while, thankfully.

 

[lisreal2401]

Yeah we are.

Oh wow. Sorry for that post then. I forgot about reading the 0x1FE flag stuff the other day, indeed it is AP. Don't bite me too hard. And the header stuff explains why the game is seemingly unbootable for most people right now.

AP25 comparison is pretty spot on. But exactly - with the Xbox 360 you could at least tamper with the DVD firmware and hence bypass it. On the 3DS side you really can't do anything like that.