Hacking nds on 3ds + upgrade from a9hl/gateway

[Aglae Pheryl]

Hi,

My kids are running N3ds & 3ds XL consoles all running a9hl in 11.3.0-36E & Gateway cards which they can choose at boot (yes they want to keep this if possible as they have Animal Crossing saves & cheats that they spent a long time on in GW mode).

1. How can they also play their old .nds file (in a9hl mode if possible) ? Do I need to install anything for them or convert the rom files?

2. They have messages to update their consoles in a9hl, I've told them not to update or they'll brick. Still correct ?

3. Is a9hl the latest/best they could use or is there a new update I should install for them (I have not looked into their consoles for ages).

Thanks,

 

[RHOPKINS13]

They should be able to update without bricking, but you'd be best off upgrading them to use Boot9Strap instead. https://3ds.guide/a9lh-to-b9s

Best method for loading .NDS files is to use an old DS flashcart. Only other method is TWLoader, but compatibility leads a lot to be desired.

There are ways of transferring their Animal Crossing saves from Gateway to CIA versions of Animal Crossing on the home menu. Afterwards you may find that there's really no need or advantage to using a Gateway.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hi,

My kids are running N3ds & 3ds XL consoles all running a9hl in 11.3.0-36E & Gateway cards which they can choose at boot (yes they want to keep this if possible as they have Animal Crossing saves & cheats that they spent a long time on in GW mode).

1. How can they also play their old .nds file (in a9hl mode if possible) ? Do I need to install anything for them or convert the rom files?

2. They have messages to update their consoles in a9hl, I've told them not to update or they'll brick. Still correct ?

3. Is a9hl the latest/best they could use or is there a new update I should install for them (I have not looked into their consoles for ages).

Thanks,

Use the GW blue cart for NDS games. It should work in Luma3DS right away, but to get it working in Gateway you have to be using Classic Mode AFAIK and you need bluecardfix.cia installed (it's included in the Gateway download)

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

Hi,

I followed all the steps to move from a9hl to b9s. Seemed to work but now when booting (with the Dpad down) it does not bring Gateway anymore. The kids still use it so it would be great to get it back if possible.
It seems I lost of the games that had been installed from FreeShop. Is there any way to get them back or do I have to go through all the pain of installing them again (I have not made a list of what my kids installed so they will notice my blunder for sure).

I am also getting a weird message when launching FreeSHop (something about Nims) is this normal? It seems to work otherwise (though I have not tried to install anything as I'm hoping someone will be able to help me recover the games that were here before).

BTW, the console now shows 11.3.0-36E.

Thanks,

 

[Quantumcat]

Gateway will not work on 11.3. You'll have to get an emuNAND (if you don't have one already) and downgrade it to 11.2. Then you can follow https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-using-luma3ds-gateway-on-b9s.431691/

Losing games might mean you were using emuNAND and then now boot in sysNAND mode. You can leave it as is and tick "Autoboot emuNAND" in Luma config or you can follow https://3ds.guide/move-emunand (only do the latter if you're going to dump Gateway, which is recommended).

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

Thanks, I get most of what you said. I understood the kids should not boot emunand but since the console is now showing 11.3.0 I guess they can't. As I said dpad down on boot does not do anything.

So now, to restore the old games that were in emunand (I though a9hl did not mean emunand ...but I guess it's all Greek to me) all I have to do is AutoBoot emuNAND. But how do I go about doing this? Does it mean it will boot into Gateway mode?
I suppose I should boot while pressing 'select' to select autoboot emunand correct? If I do so, will Gateway mode be lost forever? It seems Gateway will never update as their web site latest news dates back in February. Yet the kids would love to keep it.

 

[Quantumcat]

You can boot emuNAND using Luma. EmuNAND doesn't change depending which CFW you use (Luma or Gateway) but the Select rom menu won't be available in Luma.

If you want to use Gateway again, downgrade your emuNAND using 3Down, or, do a 9.2 CTR transfer (https://3ds.guide/9.2.0-ctrtransfer but do steps for emuNAND not sysNAND) and then follow the link I gave before for being able to boot Gateway with B9S. Then, you can update to 11.2 (the highest version you can be on for Gateway) using a Yoshi's Wooly World rom and booting into Gateway mode with the card out so the menu turns up, and holding Up over the boot Gateway menu item when you select it so that rom updating is enabled. Then try to play Yoshi and it will update you to 11.2. But be careful letting your kids use it in Gateway mode because if they update you'll have to go through the downgrading thing again (if they do it in emuNAND) or lose access to free games completely (if they do it in sysNAND mode) in contrast using Luma only is perfectly safe, updating won't hurt your console.

 

[DarkIrata]

Oot: Did you had a9hl gateway or the normal a9hl installed?

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

Oot: Did you had a9hl gateway or the normal a9hl installed?

Yes, I believe the console used a9hl gateway.

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

You can boot emuNAND using Luma. EmuNAND doesn't change depending which CFW you use (Luma or Gateway) but the Select rom menu won't be available in Luma.

If you want to use Gateway again, downgrade your emuNAND using 3Down, or, do a 9.2 CTR transfer (https://3ds.guide/9.2.0-ctrtransfer but do steps for emuNAND not sysNAND) and then follow the link I gave before for being able to boot Gateway with B9S. Then, you can update to 11.2 (the highest version you can be on for Gateway) using a Yoshi's Wooly World rom and booting into Gateway mode with the card out so the menu turns up, and holding Up over the boot Gateway menu item when you select it so that rom updating is enabled. Then try to play Yoshi and it will update you to 11.2. But be careful letting your kids use it in Gateway mode because if they update you'll have to go through the downgrading thing again (if they do it in emuNAND) or lose access to free games completely (if they do it in sysNAND mode) in contrast using Luma only is perfectly safe, updating won't hurt your console.

Well, the kids would love to keep Gateway so I guess I'll try to bring it back, and also bring back all the games that weer installed in A9hl.

Do you believe Gateway/emunand is still setup on the internal usd card in the N3ds console after I followed https://3ds.guide/a9lh-to-b9s all the way through?
The console reads Sys 11.3.0-36E when I go into settings.
Is there a tutorial (like 3dsguide) to bring it down to 11.2 or whatever I need to bring back Gateway and the games that were installed in a9hl ?
We do have Yoshi Wooly World (both cia or 3ds file on the gateway) in case we need it at some point.

Just so I understand, when the kids where booting A9hl (not gatewat with dpad down) were they in emunand or sysnand? I though Gateway was emunand and a9hl sysnand. I may have not understood something.

Thanks again for helping me sort this out.

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

You can boot emuNAND using Luma. EmuNAND doesn't change depending which CFW you use (Luma or Gateway) but the Select rom menu won't be available in Luma.

If you want to use Gateway again, downgrade your emuNAND using 3Down, or, do a 9.2 CTR transfer (https://3ds.guide/9.2.0-ctrtransfer but do steps for emuNAND not sysNAND) and then follow the link I gave before for being able to boot Gateway with B9S. Then, you can update to 11.2 (the highest version you can be on for Gateway) using a Yoshi's Wooly World rom and booting into Gateway mode with the card out so the menu turns up, and holding Up over the boot Gateway menu item when you select it so that rom updating is enabled. Then try to play Yoshi and it will update you to 11.2. But be careful letting your kids use it in Gateway mode because if they update you'll have to go through the downgrading thing again (if they do it in emuNAND) or lose access to free games completely (if they do it in sysNAND mode) in contrast using Luma only is perfectly safe, updating won't hurt your console.

I will be trying the 9.2 CTR transfer but what do you mean do steps for emunand?

In the following steps, should I use something different for step 3? and for steps 6 & 7? Or should I follow all steps as indicated for the whole process ?

Section II - CTRTransfer

1. Launch GodMode9 by holding (Start) during boot
2. If you are prompted to create an essential files backup, press (A) to do so, then press (A) to continue once it has completed
3. Navigate to [0:] SDCARD -> gm9
4. Press (A) on the CTRTransfer .bin to select it
5. Select “CTRNAND options…”
6. Select “Transfer image to CTRNAND”
7. If prompted, select “Transfer to SysNAND”
   • This prompt will only appear if you have an EmuNAND

 

[Quantumcat]

I will be trying the 9.2 CTR transfer but what do you mean do steps for emunand?

In the following steps, should I use something different for step 3? and for steps 6 & 7? Or should I follow all steps as indicated for the whole process ?

Section II - CTRTransfer

1. Launch GodMode9 by holding (Start) during boot
2. If you are prompted to create an essential files backup, press (A) to do so, then press (A) to continue once it has completed
3. Navigate to [0:] SDCARD -> gm9
4. Press (A) on the CTRTransfer .bin to select it
5. Select “CTRNAND options…”
6. Select “Transfer image to CTRNAND”
7. If prompted, select “Transfer to SysNAND”
   • This prompt will only appear if you have an EmuNAND

On step 7 choose emuNAND instead of sysNAND.

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

On step 7 choose emuNAND instead of sysNAND.

On step 7 choose emuNAND instead of sysNAND.

Well I did not have the choice to go emuNAND. The only option was sysNand. Guess I have to go through with it?

The console now reads Sys 9.2.0-20E. I'm a bit scared to proceed with the System Update. It prompts to connect to theInternet to update. Since on Step 7 I had no choice but to choose sysNAND, should I go on or try to start over with the steps and see I can can force emuNAND on step 7 somehow ?

 

[Quantumcat]

Well I did not have the choice to go emuNAND. The only option was sysNand. Guess I have to go through with it?

The console now reads Sys 9.2.0-20E. I'm a bit scared to proceed with the System Update. It prompts to connect to theInternet to update. Since on Step 7 I had no choice but to choose sysNAND, should I go on or try to start over with the steps and see I can can force emuNAND on step 7 somehow ?

Sounds like you don't have an emuNAND. Make sure to create one before you boot into Gateway mode, booting Gateway on sysNAND mode is dangerous.

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

Sounds like you don't have an emuNAND. Make sure to create one before you boot into Gateway mode, booting Gateway on sysNAND mode is dangerous.

Thanks but how do I go about creating an emuNAND now? When you say it doesn't look like I have one, does it mean I lost it somehow while going from a9hl to b9s? Does this mean all the games installed with FreeSHop are gone? All the saved games from Gateway (Animal Crossing) are gone? If so my kids are gonna be mad at me...

 

[Quantumcat]

Thanks but how do I go about creating an emuNAND now? When you say it doesn't look like I have one, does it mean I lost it somehow while going from a9hl to b9s? Does this mean all the games installed with FreeSHop are gone? All the saved games from Gateway (Animal Crossing) are gone? If so my kids are gonna be mad at me...

You might have followed the move emuNAND section but made a mistake while doing so. If you still have the sav files on your SD card, if you get Gateway working you can access them and export them.

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

Hi again,
I don't know what to do from here. Since I can only boot to Sys 9.2.0-20E, how can I install Gateway again from here (I really don't remember how to do this)?

Then I understood that I can update Gateway emunand to 11.2 with Poochy. When done (if someone can guide me), how do I update the Sys 9.2.0-20E without bricking the console/losing Gateway emunand (what is the max version I can update to to keep both)?

I also need to reinstall FreeShop (The games my kids installed might still be there on the internal usd card as I see there's 11 gb of data on it). If I cannot recover them, I'll have to reinstall them.

Thanks,

 

[crazy_p]

Hi i believe you still have your Emunand on your SD.. Try to hold SELECT when you boot your Console and check the AUTOBOOT EMUNAND Option then you should boot up your Emunand

 

[Quantumcat]

Hi again,
I don't know what to do from here. Since I can only boot to Sys 9.2.0-20E, how can I install Gateway again from here (I really don't remember how to do this)?

Then I understood that I can update Gateway emunand to 11.2 with Poochy. When done (if someone can guide me), how do I update the Sys 9.2.0-20E without bricking the console/losing Gateway emunand (what is the max version I can update to to keep both)?

I also need to reinstall FreeShop (The games my kids installed might still be there on the internal usd card as I see there's 11 gb of data on it). If I cannot recover them, I'll have to reinstall them.

Thanks,

I recommend not using the Gateway card now that you have B9S - if the kids update on sysNAND mode then you will lose all access to free games. You would be better off getting into Gateway mode, backing up your save games with JKSM, then never touching it again.

First of all get an emuNAND. https://3ds.guide/godmode9-usage

Follow https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-using-luma3ds-gateway-on-b9s.431691 to be able to boot Gateway mode.

Boot Gateway mode with the card outside the console. Put the card in, then hold Up on the D-pad while selecting the boot Gateway mode option.

Try to play Yoshi from the Gateway card. It will update you to 11.2.

To install freeShop, see the mini guide in the OP of the Noob Paradise thread.

 

[Aglae Pheryl]

Thanks, I followed your advice and decided not to install Gateway and to go through with the process. I only kept b9s. The console now reads Sys 11.5.0-38E.

I have installed FreeShop and now I have started to install the games again. When selecting a game in FreeShop, it tells me it is already installed, yet I do not have the icon to launch it when I boot the N3ds. The games are somewhere on the card.
Do you believe there is a way to restore all of them at once? I remember the kids had created a few folders with several games in them.

I may be doing things wrong but I am deleting the games to re-install them for the icon to show.

 

[lone_wolf323]

Thanks, I followed your advice and decided not to install Gateway and to go through with the process. I only kept b9s. The console now reads Sys 11.5.0-38E.

I have installed FreeShop and now I have started to install the games again. When selecting a game in FreeShop, it tells me it is already installed, yet I do not have the icon to launch it when I boot the N3ds. The games are somewhere on the card.
Do you believe there is a way to restore all of them at once? I remember the kids had created a few folders with several games in them.

I may be doing things wrong but I am deleting the games to re-install them for the icon to show.

You would need to run tikshop for the icons to reappear on your home screen.