ROM Hack Please help, messed up hacking the O3DS

[markdavid99]

I recently bought a second hand O3DS. It is a japanese version and uses FW 11.2.0-35J. I tried to hack it following this guide "https://3ds.guide/homebrew-launcher-(soundhax)" which says that it applies to my 3DS using FW from 9.0.0 to 11.2. I was at the second last step of injecting my FBI when something went wrong. It didn't work. I followed their troubleshooting guide using GodMode9. It said that I should have 2 sets of .app and .tmd files, one uppercase and one lowercase, whereas I only had one set of lowercase. I then tried to start reinstalling arm9loaderhax again and it sort of stopped working. After messing with it for a while. I restored my SysNand(but not my emunand) using Hourglass9 from the "NANDmin.bin" file. I also formatted my SD card. I tried to put the empty SD card back into the O3DS but the 3DS won't turn on. The blue light at the bottom flashes and nothing happens.

I really need help fixing this, and if anyone could provide/link a good guide for hacking a O3DS with Fw 11.2, or what i did wrong following the guide I mentioned, that would be much appreciated.

I am new to 3DS hacking and I do not understand the Terminology very well although I know that they are different and I can recognize the names. I have some experience jailbreaking some of the old Iphones, so I am not completely incompetent.

 

[Havok10]

It sounds like A9LH is installed properly. Make sure armloaderhax.bin is on your SD card or you will get what you described.

 

[markdavid99]

It sounds like A9LH is installed properly. Make sure armloaderhax.bin is on your SD card or you will get what you described.

Yeah I read the same things on some other forums, but I don't know where to pick up, since I formatted my SD card, it has no files on it at all. Apart from the arm9loaderhax.bin, I don't know what other files to put on the card

 

[Havok10]

1. Copy arm9loaderhax.bin from the Luma3DS .7z to the root of your SD card, overwrite existing files
2. Create a folder named luma on the root of your SD card
3. Create a folder named payloads in the luma folder on your SD card
4. Copy Hourglass9.bin from the Hourglass9 .zip to the /luma/payloads/ folder on your SD card and rename Hourglass9.bin to start_Hourglass9.bin

 

[markdavid99]

That isn't all the files I need though right? I mean the SD card has literally no files at all. Isn't there other files for the stock firmware that I also need?

 

[Boogieboo6]

That isn't all the files I need though right? I mean the SD card has literally no files at all. Isn't there other files for the stock firmware that I also need?

Arm9loaderhax.bin makes the console work. The luma folder is for payloads so you can boot into something other than the home menu.

 

[AntiMach]

That isn't all the files I need though right? I mean the SD card has literally no files at all. Isn't there other files for the stock firmware that I also need?

Nope. You technically need only the "arm9loaderhax.bin" file on the root of your SD card. That's all.

 

[markdavid99]

I put in all the files which the guide tells me to put in to the SD card(including arm9loaderhax.bin) and the O3DS turns on again. But it is running the same stock japanese firmware"11.2.0-35J". Since I restored my SysNand, doesn't that mean that arm9loaderhax was "deleted"?

 

[AntiMach]

I put in all the files which the guide tells me to put in to the SD card(including arm9loaderhax.bin) and the O3DS turns on again. But it is running the same stock japanese firmware"11.2.0-35J". Since I restored my SysNand, doesn't that mean that arm9loaderhax was "deleted"?

If you restored with Hourglass9, then you probably selected the "Restore NAND backup (keep a9lh)" option.

 

[Boogieboo6]

If you restored with Hourglass9, then you probably selected the "Restore NAND backup (keep a9lh)" option.

Hourglass9 doesn't even give you the option to overwrite A9LH, just Decrypt9 does. A9LH is definitely still there.

 

[markdavid99]

I chose "SysNAND Backup/Restore...", then "SysNAND Restore (keep a91h)". I assume this means that arm9loaderhax is still installed on my SysNAND, which is kind of the goal. But when I turn on my O3DS, it is still on the Japanese Firmware, so does that mean that I need to re-flash my console's CTRNAND partition? https://3ds.guide/2.1.0-ctrtransfer

 

[GerbilSoft]

I'm not sure what the issue is. The system was originally on 11.2.0-35J. It's on 11.2.0-35J now.

arm9loaderhax doesn't replace the 3DS firmware; it hijacks the boot process and allows a CFW like Luma3DS to patch out signature checks and other things.

 

[IcySon55]

I chose "SysNAND Backup/Restore...", then "SysNAND Restore (keep a91h)". I assume this means that arm9loaderhax is still installed on my SysNAND, which is kind of the goal. But when I turn on my O3DS, it is still on the Japanese Firmware, so does that mean that I need to re-flash my console's CTRNAND partition? https://3ds.guide/2.1.0-ctrtransfer

If you have A9LH installed, then you're done. The hacking is complete. What it sounds like you want to do is a region swap. That is here: https://3ds.guide/region-changing

 

[markdavid99]

Ahh i see, I was confused because when it was working properly(up until I tried to inject my FBI), when I went on the settings page, it would say 2.1.0..., which was the premade ctrtransfer image that I flashed. During that time, the language was in English, so I thought I needed to get back to that step.

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Thinking about it now, homebrew launcher can play out of region games too right? And its in English so it works fine for me. I think I just need to inject my FBI or some other cia manager to start playing games. If i go on Hourglass9, I can inject the japanese FBI, but I don't know if that affects what games I can play? For example, can I still play USA games through homebrew launcher, if i have a japanese FBI injected?

 

[AntiMach]

Thinking about it now, homebrew launcher can play out of region games too right? And its in English so it works fine for me. I think I just need to inject my FBI or some other cia manager to start playing games. If i go on Hourglass9, I can inject the japanese FBI, but I don't know if that affects what games I can play? For example, can I still play USA games through homebrew launcher, if i have a japanese FBI injected?

You technically don't need Homebrew, as Luma3DS let's you run out of region games already

 

[markdavid99]

Oh so If i put in a USA game chip into my O3DS, it should play fine and in English because I already have arm9loaderhax installed?

 

[AntiMach]

Oh so If i put in a USA game chip into my O3DS, it should play fine and in English because I already have arm9loaderhax installed?

Yeah.

 

[markdavid99]

Ohhh, that clears some things up. I was also wondering about ROMs on 3ds r4 cards? If I just put a 3ds ROM on the 3ds r4 card with the appropriate software on the r4 card, will I also be able to play it? And what about emulation for DS games? Is there some other software to install to play games for older devices?

 

[AntiMach]

Ohhh, that clears some things up. I was also wondering about ROMs on 3ds r4 cards? If I just put a 3ds ROM on the 3ds r4 card with the appropriate software on the r4 card, will I also be able to play it? And what about emulation for DS games? Is there some other software to install to play games for older devices?

Well, I'm not sure about the 3ds r4 cards, as I never used one. However, if you want to emulate DS games, you can use TWLoader or nds-bootstrap loader

 

[markdavid99]

Thanks to everyone who helped me. I finished installing everything, although my language is still in japanese, which isn't that bad since I can use other ways to play games in Eng. Thanks again for all the help.