Tutorial  Updated

Gateway CTRBootManager Setup - Auto Boot

(Sorry about the delay in getting this guide up, work has been killing me and i havent had much time. I appreciate the patience :) )

NOTE: This is only possible on firmwares 9.0-9.2 sysnand at the moment. This is due to the fact that 9.2 is the highest GW supported version, and 9.0 is the minimum version if you are on a non japan 3ds as themes were introduced in 8.1.

As a baseline for each of the tutorials, you need to have a running copy of the homebrew launcher running in some way. This could be done by the web browser, cubic ninja, or whatever other entry point available. A full list can be found here: http://smealum.github.io/3ds/

This guide will assume you have the following files on your SD card and up to date with the latest homebrew starter kit available at http://smealum.github.io/3ds/ . It will also assume you have Gateway already running and working. This is not a support thread for ether of these. There are plenty of guides around on how to setup gateway as well as the homebrew launcher. If you have both of these running and working you are good to go.

YOUR EMUNAND AND SYSNAND SHOULD BE UNLINKED AND YOU NEED TO BE RUNNING THE HOMEBREW LAUNCHER FROM SYSNAND.


1. Homemenuhax Installation

You need homemenuhax for this to work, its a entry point for the homebrew launcher that runs whenever you boot your 3ds.

To install it, you need to use the entry point you normally use to get into the homebrew launcher. Once in you want to use the piece of homebrew that comes with the starter kit called "menuhax_manager". Use the install option and go through the prompts to install the hack. After, go to the configure option. This will determine when the hack boots into the homebrew launcher and when it wont. I prefer using type 2 and using the L button. This means when you hold the L button on boot, it will kick you to sysnand. And when you dont, it will boot into the homebrew launcher. Or in our case, it will be CTRBootManager which will automatically boot into emunand. Take your choice and then move onto the next section.

At this point you should be able to restart your 3DS and if you used the type and button i did for homemenuhax it should automatically boot into the homebrew launcher when not holding the button and kick you into sysnand when you are. If not, retry and make sure your setup is correct before moving onto the next step.

2. Gateway Homebrew Launcher

The first gateway release to have the gateway homebrew entry point is 3.6.1. The files are only available starting in this version.

In the release there is a zip file called GW_3dsx.zip Open it and copy the 3ds folder to the root of your 3DS SD card. Now boot your 3DS back into the homebrew launcher, you should see the gateway option in the list now. Try using it, if it boots you into emunand you are good to go.

3. CTRBootManager Setup

At this point your 3DS should automatically boot into the homebrew launcher and you have a gateway item in the homebrew list that boots you into emunand. If this is not so, go back and get that working before moving on.

Put your SD back into your computer and you should have the following files on your SD card

/3ds/GW/GW.3dsx - Gateway Homebrew
/3ds/GW/GW.smdh - Gateway Homebrew
/Launcher.dat - Gateway Launcher
/boot.3dsx - The Homebrew Launcher

So do the following in this order:
1. Rename /boot.3dsx to homebrew.3dsx
2. Download and extract CTRBootManager to the root of your SD. All files in the zip should be copied https://gbatemp.net/threads/ctrbootmanager-3ds-boot-manager-loader-homemenuhax.398383/
3. Copy the following into the boot.cfg file on the root of the SD. Replace everything in the file!

Code:
boot_config :
{
  timeout = 0;
  autobootfix = 2;
  recovery = 8;
  default = 0;
  entries = (
    {
      title = "Gateway";
      path = "/3ds/GW/GW.3dsx";
    },
    {
      title = "Homebrew";
      path = "/homebrew.3dsx";
    } );
};

The "timeout = 0;" can be changed to specify the amount of time before it automatically boots the default item. In this case it is 0 to specify that it should boot automatically,
The "autobootfix = 2;" Is a fix for auto booting when timeout is 0. I am on a N3DS and 2 seems to work best for me, play around with it and see what works best for you. 8 was the recommended value for O3DS and 3 for N3DS.
The "recovery = 8;" is the button used when you want to get to the boot menu while booting if you have timeout set to 0. 8 is the R button, so holding R will take you into the boot menu when booting. A list of keycodes that can be used can be found here: https://goo.gl/4XLDIL
The "default = 0;" is the index of the item to boot to by default. It starts at 0 with the first item in the list being 0, then 1, etc.
The entries section contains the list of boot items. My default config contains a entry for Gateway and one for the homebrew launcher. This can be customized but needs to have the same format. You can add items from the boot menu on the 3DS if you dont feel comfortable editing it by hand.

At this point your 3DS SD Card Should Have The Following

/3ds/GW/GW.3dsx - Gateway Homebrew
/3ds/GW/GW.smdh - Gateway Homebrew
/Launcher.dat - Gateway Launcher
/boot.3dsx - CTRBootManager
/boot.cfg - CTRBootManager Config File
/homebrew.3dsx - The Homebrew Launcher


If all of this is good, you should be able to put it back into your 3DS and boot it.

With my default configuration the following happens:
No buttons held: Will automatically boot into emunand
L button held: Will boot into sysnand.
R button held: will boot into the CTRBootManager menu with options to boot into gateway and the homebrew launcher.

This is a initial version of my guide and i may have missed things or messed something, if you find anything wrong please feel free to let me know so i can fix it.

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE REPORTING ISSUES OR ASKING QUESTIONS!
 
Last edited by VeryCrushed,

callmebob

The Grandpa of Awe!
Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
756
Trophies
1
Age
57
Location
Bitburger Brewery (a lot)
XP
2,682
Country
Germany
Thanks. Took me a while, but got something very similar running. Was running Ninjhax, but no homebrew seemed to work.

Turns out I was running an outdated version of Ninjhax. Updated to the lastest and presto, everything worked just like you have written here.

Just wanted to point this out, I think there were one or two others having similar problems.

Nice work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VeryCrushed

VeryCrushed

Devious Prorammer
OP
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
451
Trophies
0
Location
The Programmers Den
XP
453
Country
United States
Thanks. Took me a while, but got something very similar running. Was running Ninjhax, but no homebrew seemed to work.

Turns out I was running an outdated version of Ninjhax. Updated to the lastest and presto, everything worked just like you have written here.

Just wanted to point this out, I think there were one or two others having similar problems.

Nice work.

Awesome, glad i could help. I threw a post into each forum that i made mention of a tutorial. So hopefully anyone that needs it comes here. :)
 

LameNobody

Weighted Companion Cube Enthusiast
Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2015
Messages
466
Trophies
0
Location
127.0.0.1
XP
469
Country
Canada
Using "L" to boot to sysnand seems stupid, as the GW launcher also uses "L" to boot to the launcher menu..

Also, You set the font to black... which is hard to read if users are using the forum there "tempstyle Dark"
 

VeryCrushed

Devious Prorammer
OP
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
451
Trophies
0
Location
The Programmers Den
XP
453
Country
United States
Using "L" to boot to sysnand seems stupid, as the GW launcher also uses "L" to boot to the launcher menu..

Also, You set the font to black... which is hard to read if users are using the forum there "tempstyle Dark"
Considering you have to hold L as soon as it boots before the menuhax screen pops up to get into sysnand, and just hold it once the image pops up to get into the gateway menu. There's plenty of time. You could also take out the red card before booting to get to the gateway menu. This was just my setup, you can change it however you wish. It's why I went into detail about everything.

Edit: Ill also see about fixing the font.
Edit 2: Font should be fixed now
 
Last edited by VeryCrushed,
  • Like
Reactions: LameNobody

petspeed

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
1,128
Trophies
1
Age
49
XP
1,733
Country
Denmark
Thanks for this tutorial.
Is the gw.3dsx method stable? I am on sysnand 4.4 and I consider upgrading to 9.2 to be ale to autoboot into Gateway mode, but I need to be sure that this is stable so I don't regret the upgrade.
Another thing. I would like to be able to use Yellow8's Homebrew Launcher Loader to access homebrew launcher in emunand but I guess that is not possible because boot.3dsx is not the Homebrew Launcher?
 

VeryCrushed

Devious Prorammer
OP
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
451
Trophies
0
Location
The Programmers Den
XP
453
Country
United States
Thanks for this tutorial.
Is the gw.3dsx method stable? I am on sysnand 4.4 and I consider upgrading to 9.2 to be ale to autoboot into Gateway mode, but I need to be sure that this is stable so I don't regret the upgrade.
Another thing. I would like to be able to use Yellow8's Homebrew Launcher Loader to access homebrew launcher in emunand but I guess that is not possible because boot.3dsx is not the Homebrew Launcher?

The method is stable, I have had a high success rate on boots. I haven't had a single failed boot all day on my N3DS config I put in the tutorial.

As for downgrading, nice part is you could also downgrade again if you really wanted to. It's available as an option in the gateway menu.

The homebrew launcher does work, and I use it in my emunand. You just have to hold the button specified in the config when using it. The default button is R. It will take you into the CTRBootManager menu where you can select the homebrew option. I'm still figuring out a better and more elegant solution for this. If anyone knows of one do let me know. I may build a custom version of that CIA that boots homebrew.3dsx instead.
 
  • Like
Reactions: petspeed

artur3004

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
Messages
486
Trophies
0
Age
28
XP
339
Country
Gambia, The
In my opinion, it's better to rename the string "boot.3dsx" in the ropbinpayload_menuhax_(region)xxxxx_old/new3ds.bin with a hexeditor to something else, like "b00t.3dsx" (same amount of chars) and place ctr boot manager in sdcard root named b00t.3dsx and let the homebrew launcher stay named "boot.3dsx".

Benefits: menuhax will still load ctrboot manager, but all other hax/ hbl launcher cia by yellows8 will start homebrew launcher normally
 
  • Like
Reactions: samiam144

VeryCrushed

Devious Prorammer
OP
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
451
Trophies
0
Location
The Programmers Den
XP
453
Country
United States
In my opinion, it's better to rename the string "boot.3dsx" in the ropbinpayload_menuhax_(region)xxxxx_old/new3ds.bin with a hexeditor to something else, like "b00t.3dsx" (same amount of chars) and place ctr boot manager in sdcard root named b00t.3dsx and let the homebrew launcher stay named "boot.3dsx".

Benefits: menuhax will still load ctrboot manager, but all other hax/ hbl launcher cia by yellows8 will start homebrew launcher normally
One of the biggest points of this guide was to make it easy to do. Avoiding hex editors was one of my biggest goals to simplify it for people. I could also do all the payloads for everyone but that's a lot of them to do.
 
Last edited by VeryCrushed,

artur3004

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
Messages
486
Trophies
0
Age
28
XP
339
Country
Gambia, The
well in the world of hex editing files - this is the simpliest hex manipulation ever. a video on yt is even more effective (and simplier to make than writing it)
 

naddel81

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
2,549
Trophies
1
XP
3,777
Country
United States
at the moment I am directly booting via ctrbootmanager to the rxtools CFW. what advantages does this gateway launcher have and can it still brick my 3DS (I remember the flashcart brickway scandal a few years ago).
 

VeryCrushed

Devious Prorammer
OP
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
451
Trophies
0
Location
The Programmers Den
XP
453
Country
United States
at the moment I am directly booting via ctrbootmanager to the rxtools CFW. what advantages does this gateway launcher have and can it still brick my 3DS (I remember the flashcart brickway scandal a few years ago).
Haven't ever used rxtools so I couldn't tell you, I haven't heard of bricks since that incident besides people using a dstwo emulation plugin but that's not a actual gateway.

As for hex editing, people are helpless even at the simplest of things.
 

petspeed

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
1,128
Trophies
1
Age
49
XP
1,733
Country
Denmark
In my opinion, it's better to rename the string "boot.3dsx" in the ropbinpayload_menuhax_(region)xxxxx_old/new3ds.bin with a hexeditor to something else, like "b00t.3dsx" (same amount of chars) and place ctr boot manager in sdcard root named b00t.3dsx and let the homebrew launcher stay named "boot.3dsx".

Benefits: menuhax will still load ctrboot manager, but all other hax/ hbl launcher cia by yellows8 will start homebrew launcher normally
That's also what I am thinking, however if I were to do that I can't see any reason for CTRBootManager. I would just hex edit the payload file to boot gw.3dsx (renamed to four characters) because the only options I need is to boot the Gateway or boot to normal sysnand (by holding L to avoid homemenuhax).
Like in this tutorial: http://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial...l-access-to-homebrew-launcher-on-n3ds.407278/
 

Deleted member 333767

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2013
Messages
1,932
Trophies
2
XP
1,473
Thank heaps for this, I got it working in about an hour since I am a dirty pirate and never used any of the *hax before. With the OP's config file I'm getting 100% successful boot rate. So amazing :D
 

artur3004

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
Messages
486
Trophies
0
Age
28
XP
339
Country
Gambia, The
if you only want to use gw and nothing else, then it is the best solution. In may case, I also use rxtools, which why ctr boot manager is placing between menuhax and a cfw loader is better for me
 

samiam144

Régulier
Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2007
Messages
2,875
Trophies
0
XP
1,742
Country
Canada
That's also what I am thinking, however if I were to do that I can't see any reason for CTRBootManager. I would just hex edit the payload file to boot gw.3dsx (renamed to four characters) because the only options I need is to boot the Gateway or boot to normal sysnand (by holding L to avoid homemenuhax).
Like in this tutorial: http://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial...l-access-to-homebrew-launcher-on-n3ds.407278/
I did the exact same thing as artur3004 (except changed it to ctrb.3dsx), and I also configured CTRBootManager to boot rxtools when holding A, the HBL (boot.3dsx) when holding B, and the CTRBootManager menu when holding L (since every CFW requires you to hold L to boot into the menu). Holding R brings me to sysnand.

Tldr it's good if you want to boot other stuff as well.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo: https://www.youtube.com/@legolambs