Hacking [IDEA] Launch a minimal CFW (like SaltFW) if no arm9loaderhax binary is found on SD

[gamesquest1]

His method, if I'm not mistaken, aims to more or less be a variant of this, except stage 2 is the CFW. If we can figure out how to mount the NAND properly during stage 2, it'd be a lot safer to instead pull in the CFW from there like how Luma loads FIRM from NAND as well, since you can always use Godmode9 or FBI to change your CFW out or update it. If your CFW is in stage 2 like ShadowNAND or this, you have to reinstall A9LH every time there's any sort of an update, and that goes without saying that there's some risk involved. I know Salt and other minimal CFWs aren't updated much, but there's always a chance they might need future updates if Nintendo throws us a curve-ball, so making the CFW itself easily updateable should be a primary goal if this idea is to work out, if you ask me.

But wasn't the point of this only to act as a fallback minimal cfw, meaning under normal circumstances it would load arm9loader.bin from the sd, but only if that is not found would it continue to boot into "safe mode" so the only time a9lh would need to be updated would be if safe mode compatibility was broken by a future fw, under normal circumstances it would just be updating the arm9loaderhax from the sd like normal

Edit:Ninja'd XD

 

[RednaxelaNnamtra]

maybe you could use one of the alternativ and locations for the cfw payload, this way you would have a bit more space available, since the size available for the payloads is limited.

 

[Cuphat]

So long as you don't lose any flexibility from having the bin on the SD card, this is a great idea.

 

[Halvorsen]

Interesting idea. Maybe this could fix people's irrational fear of not being able to run their system without an SD card (even though it still won't be very usable because of lack of storage...)

I also forgot cartridge games and NAND apps exist.

 

[dubbz82]

Have fun playing face raiders then, I guess. As for legit carts, even there you're sorta in a bind, as some of them do indeed have rather large title updates (smash and any Pokemon game out there come to mind).

 

[gamesquest1]

Simply....why the hell not, if its technically possible to do imho there is no real reason not to, its like arguuing that someone shouldnt clip their toe nails because nobody see's them.....it still nice to have everything polished, right now a9lh has 1 or 2 remaining chinks in its armour
1:- the still unexplained random bricks that some people had (although i guess its possible they were user/hardware error
2:- its total reliance on having a sd inserted

 

[Pokéidiot]

My stage2 source, along with a precompiled binary.
If I was you, I wouldn't test without a hardmod.

https://mega.nz/#!sA0WASBT!4gBHxtCaXR4ZCYhJ2Wqgz3S8-4m5sdN8EgI_6ksvAIc

 

[Redferne]

1- This has nothing to do with A9HL but with the process to get the opt to use in the installation of A9HL. As far as I know A9HL hasn't brick anyone.
2- That "issue" still remain I agree.

One solution (the way a guy barely able to code sees it) would be to boot on sysNAND if arm9loaderhax.bin is not found, with a FIRM protection in case there is an update.
That way A9HL is protected whatever happens and there is no need to find a clever way to put a complete, even if minimal, CFW in sysNAND partitions.

Well.. just an idea. I might be completely wrong.
And now I wish my coding skill were A LOT better

 

[Pokéidiot]

1- This has nothing to do with A9HL but with the process to get the opt to use in the installation of A9HL. As far as I know A9HL hasn't brick anyone.
2- That "issue" still remain I agree.

One solution (the way a guy barely able to code sees it) would be to boot on sysNAND if arm9loaderhax.bin is not found, with a FIRM protection in case there is an update.
That way A9HL is protected whatever happens and there is no need to find a clever way to put a complete, even if minimal, CFW in sysNAND partitions.

Well.. just an idea. I might be completely wrong.
And now I wish my coding skill were A LOT better

Load a preety damn a lot minimal custom firmware that has only FIRM protection? Not even signature patches?
With that the user would have a retail 3DS with an useless mod on it when the SD is removed.

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

Did you tested my stage2, by the way?

 

[Redferne]

Load a preety damn a lot minimal custom firmware that has only FIRM protection? Not even signature patches?
With that the user would have a retail 3DS with an useless mod on it when the SD is removed.

Well I asked myself why can I do with my 3DS without a SD card that would require a CFW?
Signature patch? No SD no install, so what's the point?

 

[Davidosky99]

Well I asked myself why can I do with my 3DS without a SD card that would require a CFW?
Signature patch? No SD no install, so what's the point?

let's say your sd card slot is broken and you had a9lh installed. you can pretty much say RIP to your 3ds without a frankenfirmware. This way you can have a cfw in the nand, in case of the sd card slot goes broken, you can always have dsi and sky3ds

 

[daxtsu]

Signature patch? No SD no install, so what's the point?

If you've installed anything without a proper signature to the NAND (for example, a translated Home Menu, or a custom SecureInfo_A that someone edited, instead of using a clean one), it's possible the system won't boot, depending on what it is, without having signature checks patched out.

 

[Redferne]

If you've installed anything without a proper signature to the NAND (for example, a translated Home Menu, or a custom SecureInfo_A that someone edited, instead of using a clean one), it's possible the system won't boot, depending on what it is, without having signature checks patched out.

Yes, I thought about that after posting.

let's say your sd card slot is broken and you had a9lh installed. you can pretty much say RIP to your 3ds without a frankenfirmware. This way you can have a cfw in the nand, in case of the sd card slot goes broken, you can always have dsi and sky3ds

Indeed.
But should it be the role of CFW to make up for a hardware failure?

My idea was also to prevent as much as possible the need to update the A9HL payload on the NAND. The less stuff we (I mean you smart guys) put in it, less likely an update will be required.

 

[Zan']

Yes, I thought about that after posting.

Indeed.
But should it be the role of CFW to make up for a hardware failure?

My idea was also to prevent as much as possible the need to update the A9HL payload on the NAND. The less stuff we (I mean you smart guys) put in it, less likely an update will be required.

Mind explaining how software entirely reliant on the hardware can make up for hardware failure?

 

[Pokéidiot]

Did someone tested my stage2?

 

[Redferne]

Mind explaining how software entirely reliant on the hardware can make up for hardware failure?

Read the quote?
I was just wondering if it was the role of CFW to handle the case of a broken SD card slot. I meant "make up" as in "make the 3DS still usable" as Davidosky99 explained, not as in "fixed" obviously.

Did someone tested my stage2?

No sorry, I don't have a hardmod.

 

[Davidosky99]

Did someone tested my stage2?

i would but I don't have a hardmod

 

[Pokéidiot]

Some users say that has no problems with having A9LH limitations with SD card (because you always need it).
Imagine if you took your 3DS to school and forgot the SD card in your laptop (or computer, etc) sending a game to it. But you took with you a flashcard in this case. Then you shutdown your 3DS (to save battery or for whatever reason) and the SD card isn't in it. And it doesn't boot.

 

[timmie897]

This would be nice to have for when you need to send a broken 3DS with a9lh to Nintendo for repairs.
It only needs firm protection for when they try to update it.

 

[DjoeN]

Not tested, but isn't there a limmit to the size of the payload?

- Left windows is the A9LH folder for my O3DS to use with SafeA9LHInstaller
- Right windows is a test A9LH folder for my O3DS to use with SafeA9LHInstaller

(This is just done, to show the size difference and to ask if it wouldn't be a problem)
(No i'm not gonna try that, since my test system is in repair for a hardmod and nand recovery)