Hacking Need Help understanding downgrade from 9.9.0-26U on a n3ds XL

[easyonme]

Hello,

I hope one (or some) of you guys can help me sort out a few doubts and concerns I have before I embark on the process.

Before I continue, I'd like to mention that I don't have any game or flash cart of any kind (nor I would really like to get any either now or in the future - if possible). I'm trying to accomplish the whole process with just the main unit and SDcards.

So, I just received my new New 3ds xl yesterday, but I have been reading Plailect's guide for quite some time (and many, many times), and even got to the point of being comfortable with the idea of hardmodding the unit (when I started reading the guide, a month ago, it seemed impossible to find a new unit with a firmware lower than 11.0.0-33U). Anyhow, as I managed to find a new New 3ds XL on 9.9.0-26U, it would seem I dodged that bullet (or did I??).

So now, I went a few more times through the guide "with a different eye" to account for the fact that I don't need to start the process by hardmodding, and here is where a few doubts arise:

1) Follow this step in the guide as written (as my firmware falls with the range 9.9.0 - 10.6.0) to load Homebrew Launcher and install menuhax_manager.

This seems pretty straight forward, but since my unit is brand new, should I just format it again and right off the bat during the out of the box setup, set date and time to 01-01-2000 and 00:00?(should I, at the same time, format the SD using this, on my PC?) I ask this because the next step calls for a preemptive format of the system to avoid brick after downgrade to 9.2.0-20U.
​

2) Follow this step in the guide to downgrade to 9.2.0-20U (Hopefully successfully).

As stated above, this step of the guide warns about a potential brick, possibly (if not certainly - and this is definitely one of the not-so-clear points for me) avoidable if the system has been formatted first. When doing so, I'm assuming you are effectively undoing everything done in 1), so the only logical conclusion (to me, that is), is that the formatting should be done BEFORE installing menuhax_manager (right??). If downgrading results in a brick, I get that I can, hopefully, update via recovery to 11.1.0-34U and then hardmod to downgrade, then hax with a cart; though, if I were to hardmod and dump my nand as the very first step instead, I'd be able to restore my untouched 9.9.0-26U, in the event of a failed downgrade and retry, instead of being stuck on 11.1 without options of running software-only exploits. Is that correct? I'm asking because if I'm going to end up needing to hardmod anyway, i might as well do it at a stage that can provide some benefits (like dump and restore a version of the firmware that can still be exploited without any cartridges), rather then as a last resort, which still forces me to go out and buy an exploitable game.
​

3) Follow this step in the guide to downgrade to 2.1.0-4U.

This also seems relative straight forward except for a few things: It's unclear to me if "moveable.sed and SecureInfo_A" need to be supplied/extracted by me, or that's happening in the background as part of the process (though it still seems that at no point I'm left with said files to archive for safe-keeping/later use). Talking about saving files for safekeeping, I've seen various video tutorials that involve extracting xorpads using Decrypt9WIP while on 9.2.0-20U: is this step (not mentioned on Plailect's guide from what I can see) no longer need, or not needed to complete the process, though still useful to perform, for whatever reason? I seem to understand that Decrypt9WIP only works with 9.2.0, so I'd imagine that when fully updated at the end of the process, I wouldn't have a chance to retrieve the xorpads, and something tells me I'd want to have them instead. Am I wrong? What other useful dump of files for safekeep should I want to create, if any?​

4) Follow this step in the guide to install arm9loaderhax/Luma3DS/Restore the System/Inject FBI/Finalize setup.

This ALSO seems pretty straightforward except: After I restore the system integrating A9LH(at point 10), I'm told to update (and to not ask if it is safe!), but it's completely unclear to me if after this update (from the net, so it will be to 11.1.0-34U) I will be able to run HBL etc, without an exploited game or flash cart (this is truly the MAJOR thing I have yet to understand). I'm REALLY confused by the commotion surrounding last-week loss of menuhax_manager support on the latest firmware, as, it would seem that once you are in a position to install .cia files, you would no longer need entrypoints and such as you are already in, right?
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I guess one of the major bottom line thing to understand for me is: once the system is hacked, do I still care if hax/exploit xyz is being maintained, updated, etc, or does my interaction with any and all of them starts and ends after I reach the stage where I can install .cia files? Should I, for example, while on 9.2.0, install steelhax by using ctr-httpwn, since on 11.1.0-34 I won't have any primary exploit available to do so? Reading about secondary exploits, how they require a primary exploit to be installed, but work on their own afterwards, it would appear that I would somehow want to use an exploit after I'm on CFW, but WHY???


Apologies if the post is a bit lengthy and maybe, at times, requiring you to read between the lines to actually understand the questions I'm asking :-P

I'll keep my eyes peeled for your comments!

Cheers,

 

[KunoichiZ]

1) Even if your system is new, go ahead and do a format anyways. Then follow that first step.
2) Format before setting up menuhax. Only soft bricks can be recovered with recovery mode. If you're feeling very paranoid, get the hardmod done first before you do anything and get the backup of your current NAND made.
3) Those files will be extracted as you go through the CTRtransfer process. You no longer need xorpads. We haven't needed those in awhile.
4) That guide will also tell you to install the Homebrew Launcher as a .cia, so that you no longer any other kind of entrypoint to access the Homebrew Launcher. If the HBL cia fails to download the payload that it needs, follow my instructions here.

 

[easyonme]

1) Even if your system is new, go ahead and do a format anyways. Then follow that first step.
2) Format before setting up menuhax. Only soft bricks can be recovered with recovery mode. If you're feeling very paranoid, get the hardmod done first before you do anything and get the backup of your current NAND made.
3) Those files will be extracted as you go through the CTRtransfer process. You no longer need xorpads. We haven't needed those in awhile.
4) That guide will also tell you to install the Homebrew Launcher as a .cia, so that you no longer any other kind of entrypoint to access the Homebrew Launcher. If the HBL cia fails to download the payload that it needs, follow my instructions here.

Thanks for your reply KunoichiZ!

So, generally speaking, you confirm it's correct that you will never ever need primary or secondary exploit once reached the ability to install .cia files (a.k.a. you have an already exploited system)? Except if another update kill the .cia installed (at which point i'll actually have a choice whether to update or not until a new cia installer is released)?

Also, you tell me to format no matter what at the beginning, then do "that first step", which is load HBL through the browser and install menuhax_manager (which is altogether what I got in "my" 1) point) , but then you say in 2) to "Format before setting up menuhax". As I said in my 2) point, isn't that equivalent to voiding 1)? sorry, but this was my first element of confusion. So the let me better understand, hopefully, once and for all, you are recommending me to:

A) Turn on the 3ds,
go to settings,
format,
reboot,
then complete the steps on this page

or

B) Turn on the 3ds,
go to settings,
format,
reboot,
then complete the steps on this page,
turn on the 3ds,
go to settings,
format,
reboot,
then complete the steps on this page

You see, I'm confused about how many times and when you are supposed to format, and if formatting the SD is also implied, or else, never needed.

And lastly, about xorpads: Even if they haven't been needed in a while, is there any reason why I would not want to even bother backing them up in the cloud? I mean, if for whatever reason (that I can't even imagine) I will need them in the future, will there be a way to retrieve them on whatever firmware I will be, or will I have to downgrade to 9.2.0 just to retrieve them?

Cheers,

 

[FakuMotaFaka]

Why would he need a hardmod first. Why woukd you even suggesting. He's not going to go with hardmod before first trying softmod. You sure have a lot of time on your hand to post a damn book on how to get thigs done.
There's many places where I can post a guide. This place doesn't seem to be it.

 

[KunoichiZ]

Why would he need a hardmod first. Why woukd you even suggesting. He's not going to go with hardmod before first trying softmod. You sure have a lot of time on your hand to post a damn book on how to get thigs done.
There's many places where I can post a guide. This place doesn't seem to be it.

You're right. This isn't the place to post it your guide. If you're gonna blame anyone for mentioning a hardmod, blame the OP because he mentioned it first. You need to keep your full of s*** head out of places it doesn't belong. Yes, I can write a damn book AND post it, because unlike your guide, my response actually helped the OP out.

@easyonme Ignore the poster above me please. It'll make your life easier.

As for your questions, ignore what you read about xorpads, you will not need them. The guide tells you what to backup in case something goes wrong.

When you install the HBL cia, you will not need another entrypoint unless a new update kills it and until there's a fix. You only format your system ONCE, and that's when you first take it out of the box. Do choice A.

 

[FakuMotaFaka]

You're right. This isn't the place to post it your guide. If you're gonna blame anyone for mentioning a hardmod, blame the OP because he mentioned it first. You need to keep your full of s*** head out of places it doesn't belong. Yes, I can write a damn book AND post it, because unlike your guide, my response actually helped the OP out.

@easyonme Ignore the poster above me please. It'll make your life easier.

As for your questions, ignore what you read about xorpads, you will not need them. The guide tells you what to backup.

When you install the HBL cia, you will not need another entrypoint unless a new update kills it and until there's a fix. You only format your system ONCE, and that's when you first take it out of the box. Do choice A.

Hardmod is only necessary to restore your nand if it's hard bricked. It's not needed to backup your nand. You do that through Decrypt9

And don't tell people what or who they should listen to because of that post I made, people decided to bash without looking into the matter. I've helped people here too without any drama

 

[KunoichiZ]

Hardmod is only necessary to restore your nand if it's hard bricked. It's not needed to backup your nand. You do that through Decrypt9

Thanks for pointing that out. Wow. I did not know that. [/sarcasm] If he wants to get the hardmod in case something happens, let him. You can't run Decrypt9 on anything above 9.2, idiot. He wants to back up his 9.9 NAND, should anything go wrong.

 

[FakuMotaFaka]

Thanks for pointing that out. Wow. I did not know that. [/sarcasm] If he wants to get the hardmod in case something happens, let him. You can't run Decrypt9 on anything above 9.2, idiot.

Have you ever got one? No. Getting a hardmod for security reasons, you'll need to mod your 3ds casing, which developers do. Many people get a hardmod to recover from a hard brick. So that they can restore their nand. They'll have no functions to run their 3ds while their system is hardmodded, unless if they want to mod their case.
It's hard for an individual to do so them selves because they don't have the tools and it's also hard finding someone to do it for them.

 

[easyonme]

@KunoichiZ

Thanks for your support and clarifications! I feel more confident about my understanding of the whole process now.

@FakuMotaFaka

While I thank you for chiming in, I really can't tell that you contributed to the discussion (and honestly find your posts disproportionately aggressive, given the tone of the other posts). In my post I stated I am comfortable hardmodding my console, and I go on underlining why I wouldn't mind doing that right off the bat, even if not required, if I were to end up having to do it anyway; @KunoichiZ gets exactly why I would want to do that (and again, I had spelled it out myself), while you went spiraling based on the assumption that I have no idea about what's involved with hardmodding (and soldering, probably), and so I should automatically be stirred away from doing something that YOU decided I am not capable of doing.

Not cool man.

 

[FakuMotaFaka]

@KunoichiZ

Thanks for your support and clarifications! I feel more confident about my understanding of the whole process now.

@FakuMotaFaka

While I thank you for chiming in, I really can't tell that you contributed to the discussion (and honestly find your posts disproportionately aggressive, given the tone of the other posts). In my post I stated I am comfortable hardmodding my console, and I go on underlining why I wouldn't mind doing that right off the bat, even if not required, if I were to end up having to do it anyway; @KunoichiZ gets exactly why I would want to do that (and again, I had spelled it out myself), while you went spiraling based on the assumption that I have no idea about what's involved with hardmodding (and soldering, probably), and so I should automatically be stirred away from doing something that YOU decided I am not capable of doing.

Not cool man.

Not saying you can't do it. I was just speaking for people that might not be able to.
It shows some people like KunoichiZ coming into my thread and make assumptions which is totally not cool to do like how you are putting it as. And now they are trying to tell people to ignore me because of that one thread. Which is not cool either.

You can format your system before or after is up to you. If you format it first you'll have to redo the DNS step. Have you got the files together in step 2?
All the files and steps are in Plailect's guide. Follow it as it's written. You don't need to do more steps. The Xorpads steps is not needed for quite some time now. You've been following the guide for quite some time but the method of getting a9lh has matured more and more convenient for people to do. So there are fewer steps and faster to get done

 

[easyonme]

@FakuMotaFaka

Thanks for clearing that up, for a moment there I thought you were implying I was a noob!

I will sure end up being one if I brick though!

I'm in the process of gathering and organizing the payloads at this point.
The guide doesn't call for changing the DNS on 9.9.0, so I'll probably stick with that, as long as you don't mind

Time to pull the trigger!

 

[easyonme]

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger!
I'm now on a partially downgraded 9.2.0. Using Downgrade check I got 3 mismatches:

0004013000001b02 (GPIO system-module)
0004013000001a02 (DSP system-module)
0004003000009E02 (USA amiibo settings)

These three .cia files are actually missing in the guide's package for the N3DS,
but I see they are available in the O3DS package instead.

Should I install the files provided for the O3DS, or is there a version of them for N3DS?

Help!

 

[KunoichiZ]

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger!
I'm now on a partially downgraded 9.2.0. Using Downgrade check I got 3 mismatches:

0004013000001b02 (GPIO system-module)
0004013000001a02 (DSP system-module)
0004003000009E02 (USA amiibo settings)

These three .cia files are actually missing in the guide's package for the N3DS,
but I see they are available in the O3DS package instead.

Should I install the files provided for the O3DS, or is there a version of them for N3DS?

Help!

Just get back into the Homebrew Launcher and redo the downgrade. That should fix the partial downgrade. DO NOT mix the CIAs. That could result in a BRICK.

 

[easyonme]

Just get back into the Homebrew Launcher and redo the downgrade. That should fix the partial downgrade. DO NOT mix the CIAs. That could result in a BRICK.

I've already run sysDowngrader multiple times. The very first time I got an error in the middle of the install telling to shutdown by holding the power button (scary, cause at reboot it didn't come up). After I cleared the home menu extdata and reinstalled menuhax, I checked with Downgrade check and it was missing a ton of them. So I rerun sysDowngrader and it actually installed all the missing ones in one shot, except these 3 I listed above. I rerun it again and it acted like it had nothing else "new" to install. I checked the file on the SD card, and downloaded all the mirrored packages on the guide for N3DS and the files are just not there, but like I said, they show in the O3DS packages.

So unless sysDowngrader is supposed to download them off a cdn, I honestly don't think that keep trying will make them appear inside the SD card. It maybe worth nothing that everytime I run sysDowngrader, it says it fails to acquire the am::u service, though it just zooms through it, it doesn't seem to be bothered. Could that be a source of problem?

 

[trinhno]

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger!
I'm now on a partially downgraded 9.2.0. Using Downgrade check I got 3 mismatches:

0004013000001b02 (GPIO system-module)
0004013000001a02 (DSP system-module)
0004003000009E02 (USA amiibo settings)

These three .cia files are actually missing in the guide's package for the N3DS,
but I see they are available in the O3DS package instead.

Should I install the files provided for the O3DS, or is there a version of them for N3DS?

Help!

If you can run Decrypt9 already (native firm downgraded), then I'd say there's no point finding those files as they are not essential and you will update again afterwards. Just proceed with CTR transfer.

 

[easyonme]

If you can run Decrypt9 already (native firm downgraded), then I'd say there's no point finding those files as they are not essential and you will update again afterwards. Just proceed with CTR transfer.

Are you sure? GPIO and DSP sound like things I wanna keep in tune with the rest. Is being able to run Decrypt9 synonym of not having a partial downgrade?

 

[trinhno]

Are you sure? GPIO and DSP sound like things I wanna keep in tune with the rest. Is being able to run Decrypt9 synonym of not having a partial downgrade?

Well, you ran sysdowngrader twice and the second time it finished without trouble then it's good. Usually it takes about 2 times. Native firm is always the last one to be downgraded. You can check the log.

The pack will always leave 3 titles, you can check around for that kind of reports.

 

[easyonme]

Well, you ran sysdowngrader twice and the second time it finished without trouble then it's good. Usually it takes about 2 times. Native firm is always the last one to be downgraded. You can check the log.

The pack will always leave 3 titles, you can check around for that kind of reports.

sysDowngrader did not generate any logs. I've only got logs for Decrypt9WIP and Downgrade check.
I've see that these three are missing for others too, but I've see as well guides to install them manually, inject them, and what have you. Anyway, I guess I'll just proceed...

 

[FakuMotaFaka]

sysDowngrader did not generate any logs. I've only got logs for Decrypt9WIP and Downgrade check.
I've see that these three are missing for others too, but I've see as well guides to install them manually, inject them, and what have you. Anyway, I guess I'll just proceed...

Yes just proceed to downgrade to 2.10 with Decrypt9. The files that are missing, they aren't needed.

 

[easyonme]

I'm all set and done! While I was at it, I also updated, henkakued and switched to retail mode a brand new PS Vita Demo unit.

Thank you all for your support!