Hacking Any info on gateways bricking code?

[xdarkmario]

i was wondering if anyone knows anything about gateways bricking code. i have a N3ds with cfw running latest 10.6 FW in emunand. but i also have a supercard DS2+ that i use for debugging and testing my romhacks. before it wasn't a issue but now because if my updated emunand my supercard DStwo+ cant boot into gateway mode because of the outdated launcher.dat
now i know not to dare update that launcher.dat or run the risk of a brick. now as from what i read thats very far from a bluff as many people have been caught by it. besides my inability to not use my scds2 anyone know how their brick code actually works?

 

[Ryccardo]

There's a lack of documentation, especially for the anti-supercard part, because the last GW firmware where some interesting research happened was a 2.x one...

Not only launcher.dat is obfuscated, but now (which means, for over 7 months) every single feature of a Gateway can be done for free with CFW (and some work, like converting 3ds to cia) on every firmware Gateway runs on, there's an even smaller interest!

 

[xdarkmario]

Yea but testing a romhack (especially a failed one) is a bit of a hassle Converting from 3ds to CIA to install. Too bad the citra 3ds emulator is not 100% stable yet

 

[Ryccardo]

Well, having been through that personally, I would say converting an already decrypted 3ds to cia is the easiest (and quite fast, too) part!

 

[xdarkmario]

Yea I just bulk decrypt with my newly restored rxtools and decrypt

 

[CreativeMan]

I read on #Cakey their brick code was setting a password on the eMMC memory chip. Problem is, a bug made it impossible to recover the password lol. But they also said the code has slightly changed since then and - maybe- is harmless now...

 

[xdarkmario]

I read on #Cakey their brick code was setting a password on the eMMC memory chip. Problem is, a bug made it impossible to recover the password lol. But they also said the code has slightly changed since then and - maybe- is harmless now...

Mmh interesting. I wish I had a hardware restore device, I would love to go crazy with my n3ds without worry of bricking. Maybe I'll buy one. Whatever it is

 

[CreativeMan]

Mmh interesting. I wish I had a hardware restore device, I would love to go crazy with my n3ds without worry of bricking. Maybe I'll buy one. Whatever it is

Even with a hardmod, you couldn't recover it... Kind of permabrick lol

 

[gamesquest1]

i would suggest as a compromise (which in some cases is actually easier than building .3DS files even) would be to use the NTR layeredFS feature, cobined with the debugger it can make developing a rom hack much easier, it would really depend on the game and the mods being performed i guess but here is an example of how much it can speed things up

 

[xdarkmario]

Even with a hardmod, you couldn't recover it... Kind of permabrick lol

Well that sucks... And it's wrong. But I thought I saw a website let you buy a raspberry pi for gateway unbricking

 

[xdarkmario]

i would suggest as a compromise (which in some cases is actually easier than building .3DS files even) would be to use the NTR layeredFS feature, cobined with the debugger it can make developing a rom hack much easier, it would really depend on the game and the mods being performed i guess but here is an example of how much it can speed things up

I see your point but I don't like ntr AT ALL.
In fact I have been trying to find a way to port that layered fs to another cfw like rxtools

 

[gamesquest1]

even if you did use it GW now block the DSTwo from even functioning with their latest launcher, you could also boot into the latest emunand with CFW then use sysupdater to downgrade back to 10.3 or whatever it was DSTWO+ worked on

 

[xdarkmario]

even if you did use it GW now block the DSTwo from even functioning with their latest launcher, you could also boot into the latest emunand with CFW then use sysupdater to downgrade back to 10.3 or whatever it was DSTWO+ worked on

Well it's not that important to me. I actually have a fully working rxtools and I love it. I only brought the scds2+ because 1 no card switching. 2 because in ds mode it has more specs like RAM and CPU and 3 to test my romhacks before I final convert them to CIA.
I can live without using it for that. Although a bit inconvenient.

 

[gamesquest1]

Well it's not that important to me. I actually have a fully working rxtools and I love it. I only brought the scds2+ because 1 no card switching. 2 because in ds mode it has more specs like RAM and CPU and 3 to test my romhacks before I final convert them to CIA.
I can live without using it for that. Although a bit inconvenient.

yeah im just saying you can either
A) downgrade your emunand to a lower FW version to test you hacks in
B) run a second SD with a lower/no emunand on for just when your working on rom hacks
C) use the boot gateway sysnand mode option from the gw menu (i *think* this was already present in DSTWO compatible GW launchers but not 100% sure)

 

[lefthandsword]

yeah im just saying you can either
A) downgrade your emunand to a lower FW version to test you hacks in
B) run a second SD with a lower/no emunand on for just when your working on rom hacks
C) use the boot gateway sysnand mode option from the gw menu (i *think* this was already present in DSTWO compatible GW launchers but not 100% sure)

Can you load romhacks/homebrew with Sky3DS under CFW?

 

[Mazamin]

Can you load romhacks/homebrew with Sky3DS under CFW?

Yes you can

 

[CreativeMan]

Well that sucks... And it's wrong. But I thought I saw a website let you buy a raspberry pi for gateway unbricking

Raspberry was used to bruteforce the password as a common pattern was used, but chances are your console got the bug and is unrecoverable

 

[xdarkmario]

I see, thats messed up

 

[Ryccardo]

Yes and no: cracking the password is required to unlock without a backup, but if you have one you can just do a secure erase and reflash...

 

[3DSPoet]

Yes and no: cracking the password is required to unlock without a backup, but if you have one you can just do a secure erase and reflash...

My 2DS was Gateway bricked when I tried GW 3.61. I sent it off to one of the prominent gurus here and they were unable to restore it. Ended up sending them a new motherboard to just rebuild the thing (yeah, that means I lost everything I had on the 2DS, but at least I'll have a functioning unit again when I get it back!)

I sent him the unit AND my NAND backup and it couldn't be restored. It could be an isolated incident, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.