Hacking The R4i Gold Pro: Can it emulate GBA? What is the deal with "wood"?

Jtoomer

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I have been helping a friend set up an R4i Gold Pro card for his 3DS and am attempting to find out if there is a GBA emulator that will work with it.

Put simply, every place I've looked for this information is a disaster. Please respond with either somewhere to look for this software, an explanation that it isn't possible, or some instructions. I know that seems strict but "You bought the wrong card" and "Go buy this card" answers are completely unhelpful in this scenario, I'm trying to help a less-than-tech-savvy friend with this and I myself am not too experienced with this sort of thing anyhow.

Now for the other thing; I've been using this page (https://www.r43ds.org/pages/3DS-Homebrew.html) to get the software for him as it is the site he bought his R4 from. The GBA emulator it lists immediately downloads the zipped folder with a bunch of files and no explanation. There are a bunch of contradictory 'readme's and HTML files that lead me to believe that it is a labyrinth of other software with Possibly a GBA emulator in there. The only readme that led anywhere attempts to explain the install instructions but begins with "for wood user (v1.45 or newer)". After a half hour of reading into it online I still feel like I have no clue what I am doing or if I should be installing it or what version or anything.

I'm in way over my head here. I was able to get his R4 working and able to play DS, SNES, NES, GB, and GBC roms just fine but this is somehow just beyond me. Any help is appreciated.
 

Majickhat55

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Wood%20R4%20Kernel%20Installation.jpg
 
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Adeka

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In simple terms wood is the menu that loads when you start the flashcart

The GBA and SNES emulators for flashcarts are really bad and not worth using (with the exception being the dstwo which has some decent emulators)

Why don't you just inject SNES and GBA to VC?
 

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If you want to play GBA and SNES games with a DS flashcart you need a DSTwo or DSTwo+. They are expensive though so you're better off installing CFW (https://3ds.guide). You can install GBA games to your home menu, and if on a N3DS can also install SNES (if an O3DS then you can still use homebrew emulators).
If he is on an N3DS on 11.4 or 11.5 and doesn't want to do a DSiWare hax CFW installation then he can still use homebrew (but will require buying stuff, see https://3ds.guide/homebrew-launcher-(alternatives) ) and use emulators to play the games. They won't run as well as if they were installed though. An O3DS that refuses to install CFW has no choice but to buy a DSTwo.
 
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Jtoomer

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He is on an old 3DS. Honestly, its not that big of a deal. If it was just something that we could take care of easily and be done with (like the NES emulators and such) I would just take care of it but in the end its probably more hassle than it is worth.

Might end up looking into VC injection. Guessing that would be a more direct exploit on the 3DS instead of just the flashcart, I've used the Youtube exploit to launch homebrew once before (over a year ago, not sure if that's even still around) but never really did anything with it. Also, what is CFW?
 

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He is on an old 3DS. Honestly, its not that big of a deal. If it was just something that we could take care of easily and be done with (like the NES emulators and such) I would just take care of it but in the end its probably more hassle than it is worth.

Might end up looking into VC injection. Guessing that would be a more direct exploit on the 3DS instead of just the flashcart, I've used the Youtube exploit to launch homebrew once before (over a year ago, not sure if that's even still around) but never really did anything with it. Also, what is CFW?
https://3ds.guide/
 
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Jtoomer

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I don't know how acronyms trip me up this often, but that is neither here nor there.

Honestly its great to see something along the same lines as BootMii for the Wii. I've been using Wii homebrew for years now and seeing the 3DS get similar homebrew support is great. I will just set him up with this for GBA and SNES emulation and have him use the R4 for DS and NES (The NES emulator works great). That should be all I need as long as I can get it all working.
 
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Adeka

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to save you some time here is the emulator for SNES

As for premade gba vc injects you will need to go to that iso site
 

Jtoomer

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Considering it seems all the methods for installing the CFW on that 3DS Guide require either having a 3DS that isn't updated or having a 3DS that already has CFW I don't think that will work out for me. It would be really nice to have that sort of permanent exploit built-in I don't think it's something I can do unfortunately. Are there any other options?

'that iso site'? Is this some Taboo thing I don't know about?
 

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Considering it seems all the methods for installing the CFW on that 3DS Guide require either having a 3DS that isn't updated or having a 3DS that already has CFW I don't think that will work out for me. It would be really nice to have that sort of permanent exploit built-in I don't think it's something I can do unfortunately. Are there any other options?

'that iso site'? Is this some Taboo thing I don't know about?
once the 3ds has boot9strap installed its permanant and its safe to update afterwards

we arn't allowed to say the name of the website so everyone here calls it that iso site. Have you tried google?
 

Jtoomer

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once the 3ds has boot9strap installed its permanant and its safe to update afterwards

we arn't allowed to say the name of the website so everyone here calls it that iso site. Have you tried google?

"Subcultures are nested fractally, there is no bottom" -Randall Monroe

I'll Google around. Thanks for the support, it's rare to see a forum that is this quick to respond.
 

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I don't think it's something I can do unfortunately. Are there any other options?
Just the DSTwo flashcart:
An O3DS that won't install CFW has no choice but to buy a DSTwo
You should get him to buy another console - maybe he has been wanting to upgrade to an N3DS or a limited edition console anyway. He can install CFW on it then transfer his data from his old console and sell the old console. The price difference would be comparable to getting a DSTwo but he would have way more stuff he can do (install homebrew and have free 3DS games).
 

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I see why you call it that now.

I will take my search there for now and see how things go.
Just the DSTwo flashcart:

You should get him to buy another console - maybe he has been wanting to upgrade to an N3DS or a limited edition console anyway. He can install CFW on it then transfer his data from his old console and sell the old console. The price difference would be comparable to getting a DSTwo but he would have way more stuff he can do (install homebrew and have free 3DS games).


Well I mean... I have a 3DS as well.

Alright hang on, I might have a special case here; I have an old 3DS (The Legend of Zelda Collectors one) that I have kept behind on updates (over a year behind now), if its as far behind as I remember it could be much easier to exploit.... would that be able to make exploiting a fully updated 3DS easier?
 

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I see why you call it that now.

I will take my search there for now and see how things go.



Well I mean... I have a 3DS as well.

Alright hang on, I might have a special case here; I have an old 3DS (The Legend of Zelda Collectors one) that I have kept behind on updates (over a year behind now), if its as far behind as I remember it could be much easier to exploit.... would that be able to make exploiting a fully updated 3DS easier?
Yes, you can install CFW on it if it is on 11.3 or below, and use it to install CFW on your friend's console. But because of the system transfers, someone will lose something. Here are the ways you can do it:

1. If your friend doesn't want to lose his data, you can backup your SD card and make a NAND backup, then he transfers to your console. Make another NAND backup (you will be told to in the guide) and seven days later do the transfer as it says in the guide and install CFW on his console. That way his data will end up back on his machine. If you had an NNID on it you will lose it (it will end up attached to his console), but when everything is done, you can restore the NAND backup you made right at the start, and restore the SD card data, and your console will be as it was before (minus NNID if you had one).

2. If your friend doesn't mind losing his data you can just do exactly what the guide says. (You'll lose your NNID unless you wait seven days after the transfer then transfer back).

3. If you have a third, spare console then nobody has to lose anything: he transfers to the spare, you transfer to his console and install CFW, transfer back to yours, then he transfers back from the spare to his console. There would be a few seven-day waits though.
 

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11.4 came out in April this year so if you haven't updated in a couple months you should be good to go
 

Jtoomer

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Alright, its really late at night (technically morning now) and I am too fried from today to make sense of this.

Basically in the end I have 3 3DSs to work with:

-My 3DSXL, Its current and I want to get the CFW on it.
-My spare 3DS, its the one that is a year behind on updates.
-My Friend's 3DS, its current and I want to get the CFW on it.

All of them are "old" 3DS models.

So the two that are current on updates I want to get the CFW on. The one that is old I don't care what happens with it too much (as long as it ya'know, isn't bricked or anything). The 7-day waits are going to be a hassle and I would like to do as few as possible. Losing data is a pain too...

So how should I go about this? I have a lot of downloaded (yes, legit) games with a lot of save data. As long as I can save my file for Pokemon Moon I'm fine (I could live with losing it too but prefer not to). The spare 3DS has no Nintendo Account tied to it and I don't think my friend has any games downloaded so the only one that I need to keep data with is mine.
 

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Alright, its really late at night (technically morning now) and I am too fried from today to make sense of this.

Basically in the end I have 3 3DSs to work with:

-My 3DSXL, Its current and I want to get the CFW on it.
-My spare 3DS, its the one that is a year behind on updates.
-My Friend's 3DS, its current and I want to get the CFW on it.

All of them are "old" 3DS models.

So the two that are current on updates I want to get the CFW on. The one that is old I don't care what happens with it too much (as long as it ya'know, isn't bricked or anything). The 7-day waits are going to be a hassle and I would like to do as few as possible. Losing data is a pain too...

So how should I go about this? I have a lot of downloaded (yes, legit) games with a lot of save data. As long as I can save my file for Pokemon Moon I'm fine (I could live with losing it too but prefer not to). The spare 3DS has no Nintendo Account tied to it and I don't think my friend has any games downloaded so the only one that I need to keep data with is mine.

1. Hack old 3DS
2. Do DSiWare hax guide with old & your friend's console, let him go on his merry way
4. Wait 7 days
5. Transfer from your console to the old one
6. Wait 7 days
7. Do the DSiWare hax guide with the old console and yours
8. Done

Do the above if your friend is your priority. If yours is, then swap steps 5-7 with step 2 (insert "wait 7 days" between them).either way, he'll lose his data but you will keep yours.
 

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Considering it seems all the methods for installing the CFW on that 3DS Guide require either having a 3DS that isn't updated or having a 3DS that already has CFW I don't think that will work out for me. It would be really nice to have that sort of permanent exploit built-in I don't think it's something I can do unfortunately. Are there any other options?

There is such a permanent exploit that can be used to hack any 3ds but it hasn't been released yet. It is known as ntrboothax/magnethax and requires a compatible DS mode flash cart (and unless you are on a o2ds, a magnet such as a fridge magnet). The catch is that aside from the ak2i (which has been semi-confirmed to work) nobody knows which flash carts will be compatible.
 

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