Hacking Need help installing GBA games with CFW and FBI

[Zamzummin]

I'm sure this has been asked before but after digging through around 50 pages of forum posts I couldn't find an answer that solved my problem.

I have rxTools 3.0 running on a 4.2 sysNAND 3DSXL with emuNAND 9.9.0 installed. I followed this tutorial (https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-installing-rxtools-custom-firmware-3ds-and-2ds.390867) and while 3DS games work fine I am having trouble getting GBA games to load. I replaced the H&S app in both sysNAND and emuNAND and tried installing a .cia for Metroid Fusion using FBI injector, selecting NAND as the destination in both cases. In emuNAND I can unpack the cia package, but I get an error upon loading and have to power off the system. In sysNAND, the cia package doesn't show up on the home screen unless I boot rxTools and go Advanced -> Dev Mode. Then the cia package appears and I can unpack the game, but loading it in sysNAND still gives an error. Booting rxTools to sysNAND and loading the game doesn't work either.

Note, my NANDs are unlinked and I haven't used the AGB_FIRM patch since the tutorial specifically says "The patched AGB_FIRM is no longer needed" in the section regarding GBA games.

I'm at a loss for what I am missing. Could someone who has successfully gotten GBA games to load suggest something I could try? Thanks.

 

[honyo29]

.... i don't know what you are talking about.
but:
1. if you are using rxtools on o3ds, don't bother with manual agbfirm patching. rxtools patches them on the fly.
2. just get a working cia installer (fbi/bbm/devmen, whatever) to be used on both nands.
3. install gba vc you want on sysnand, and if you want it to work on unlinked emunand too, also install it on emunand.
4 the install destination for gba vc.cia must be to sd card. (if you are using fbi)

 

[wormdood]

I'm sure this has been asked before but after digging through around 50 pages of forum posts I couldn't find an answer that solved my problem.

I have rxTools 3.0 running on a 4.2 sysNAND 3DSXL with emuNAND 9.9.0 installed. I followed this tutorial (https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-installing-rxtools-custom-firmware-3ds-and-2ds.390867) and while 3DS games work fine I am having trouble getting GBA games to load. I replaced the H&S app in both sysNAND and emuNAND and tried installing a .cia for Metroid Fusion using FBI injector, selecting NAND as the destination in both cases. In emuNAND I can unpack the cia package, but I get an error upon loading and have to power off the system. In sysNAND, the cia package doesn't show up on the home screen unless I boot rxTools and go Advanced -> Dev Mode. Then the cia package appears and I can unpack the game, but loading it in sysNAND still gives an error. Booting rxTools to sysNAND and loading the game doesn't work either.

Note, my NANDs are unlinked and I haven't used the AGB_FIRM patch since the tutorial specifically says "The patched AGB_FIRM is no longer needed" in the section regarding GBA games.

I'm at a loss for what I am missing. Could someone who has successfully gotten GBA games to load suggest something I could try? Thanks.

if the above does not work then install patched agb firmware then try again

 

[Zamzummin]

.... i don't know what you are talking about.
but:
1. if you are using rxtools on o3ds, don't bother with manual agbfirm patching. rxtools patches them on the fly.
2. just get a working cia installer (fbi/bbm/devmen, whatever) to be used on both nands.
3. install gba vc you want on sysnand, and if you want it to work on unlinked emunand too, also install it on emunand.
4 the install destination for gba vc.cia must be to sd card. (if you are using fbi)

I am a bit confused by step #4 and that is probably where my problem lies. If I choose SD as the destination to install the .cia, isn't it installing it to the same place regardless of whether I launch FBI in sysNAND or emuNAND? According to this picture, choosing SD destination would install the .cia to the SD card's free partition regardless of which NAND I launch FBI. I guess I could try and see if it works but I don't understand why it would work?

 

[Deleted-236924]

Because both sysnand and emunand have their own folder in SD card, and their own "folder" in actual NAND space to hold applications.

Installing to NAND (which is mostly only really system titles and DSiWare) will install to internal memory (installed to the 3DS's NAND chip I believe, if installing on sysNAND, and in your emuNAND partition if installing in emuNAND)
Installing to SD card installs to sdmc:/Nintendo 3DS/[random string of numbers and letters]/, and if your NANDs are unlinked, they will both have their own folder in there. GBA games require you to install them at least to sysNAND in order to be run with AGB_FIRM. You can install them only on sysNAND and run them in rxMode or devmode/pasta mode (anything that patches sig checks), but if you want to run them directly from emuNAND without having to bother with switching between the two, you'll have to install it both on sysNAND and on emuNAND. Then they should be bootable straight from emuNAND and work properly.

If your NANDs were still linked, then yes, choosing destination-->SD would install them in the same place whether you did the installation on emuNAND or sysNAND. If that were the case, though, I think you might still need to manually install it again on sysNAND so that they would be added to your title.db (or something like that, and not entirely sure that is required.)

 

[wormdood]

your 3ds normally saves the 3ds game file to the sd card
the picture is just to show what emunand is and where installed files end up in relation to the install what you should be looking at is this section

Dsi/GBA/NES/etc. support

The patched AGB_FIRM is no longer needed (but if you already have it, you can keep it, doesn't matter)

DSi games can be ran through sysNand, and reportedly emuNand as well. Install to sysNand to play them in sysNand; install to emuNand AND sysNand if you want to play them in emuNand. DSi cias must be installed to NAND destination (if using FBI).

GBA games can be ran through emunand, or sysnand. They still have to be installed to both emunand and sysnand if your nands are unlinked! GBA games should be installed to SD (if using FBI).
Personally I just install them to Sysnand and play them from there.

also i want to note with BigBlueMenu (BBM) you do not need to select the nand or sd destination it simply installs the .cia to the correct location
& you can find BBM on google

 

[Zamzummin]

Because both sysnand and emunand have their own folder in SD card, and their own "folder" in actual NAND space to hold applications.

Installing to NAND (which is mostly only really system titles and DSiWare) will install to internal memory (installed to the 3DS's NAND chip I believe, if installing on sysNAND, and in your emuNAND partition if installing in emuNAND)
Installing to SD card installs to sdmc:/Nintendo 3DS/[random string of numbers and letters]/, and if your NANDs are unlinked, they will both have their own folder in there. GBA games require you to install them at least to sysNAND in order to be run with AGB_FIRM. You can install them only on sysNAND and run them in rxMode or devmode/pasta mode (anything that patches sig checks), but if you want to run them directly from emuNAND without having to bother with switching between the two, you'll have to install it both on sysNAND and on emuNAND. Then they should be bootable straight from emuNAND and work properly.

If your NANDs were still linked, then yes, choosing destination-->SD would install them in the same place whether you did the installation on emuNAND or sysNAND. If that were the case, though, I think you might still need to manually install it again on sysNAND so that they would be added to your title.db (or something like that, and not entirely sure that is required.)

Thank you for the detailed reply. I guess my assumption to install to NAND instead of SD was wrong. It works fine now.

Does anyone know how to delete files installed to NAND? I only installed about 15 MB of GBA games to sysNAND and emuNAND which is no big deal but I'd like to delete them to get rid of icons from the home screen.

 

[raystriker]

Installing the GBA VCs should be done through the sysnand FBI right?

 

[djalmafreestyler]

My nands are linked, I install gba cias through bbm in emunand only and they work fine.

 

[wormdood]

Thank you for the detailed reply. I guess my assumption to install to NAND instead of SD was wrong. It works fine now.

Does anyone know how to delete files installed to NAND? I only installed about 15 MB of GBA games to sysNAND and emuNAND which is no big deal but I'd like to delete them to get rid of icons from the home screen.

yes i do if installed correctly then you can use the settings app like any real eshop game but if they are improperly installed like your gba cias in location nand then you cant use settings but i got two options for you

BigBuleMenu as i mentioned before is the answer on top of automaticly selecting the correct location for .cias
but also when deleting installed apps it will only show you a list of user installed files

or

if you insist on using fbi instead of bbm then use this website to identify games by title id 3DS Releases
and use this website to identify system fw titles by title id that belong in location nand Title list - 3dbrew
and be extremely careful deleting a system fw title will cause a full or partial brick

i obviously recommend bbm for this process and future installs as well
also i am not the op of that guide but i am pretty sure that the guide does not mention other cia installers for two reasons
1. most cia installers like roms are/have copyrighted files that exist in them so the guide cant (directly) share the file with you (like bbm . . . google it)
2. fbi can be injected (at the time of the guides conception it was the only cia installer that you could inject) so as most users will have injected fbi as part of the process & there is good chance the op was only trying to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) all the noobs

 

[wormdood]

Installing the GBA VCs should be done through the sysnand FBI right?

it was answered 2x already on this one page thread but
you are close you forgot to mention(?)
the detonation must be sd (not nand) if using fbi,
but otherwise you are correct you install them with a cia installer in sysnand

Edit: sorry i did the double posting thingy

 

[Deleted-236924]

If you insist on using FBI to delete them, I believe GBA VC games show up as their serial number in the list (their product code.)
So for example, AGB-AZLE-USA if you had installed Legend of Zelda ALttP&FS

 

[Zamzummin]

if you insist on using fbi instead of bbm then use this website to identify games by title id 3DS Releases
and use this website to identify system fw titles by title id that belong in location nand Title list - 3dbrew
and be extremely careful deleting a system fw title will cause a full or partial brick

I found the correct files by using FBI and scrolling through the list of NAND files to look for any that said "Category: Apps"