So I tried to mod my 3DS XL and I think I bricked it.

[Kaiji_Key]

I decided to mod my 3DS one day because I was bored, so I followed the guide I put below. Well, halfway through, I find out that the guide is outdated because one of the things I was supposed to download said that it was outdated. Well, me being the genius I am, I decided to restart with a different guide, so I deleted the Pokémon Picross file since I downloaded all of the software through that game. Well, after deleting the Pokémon Picross folder called '0017c100', I tried to put the SD card back into my 3DS, and the little light in the bottom-right corner would come on for a second, and then it would just fade out. I realized immediately that I should have deleted the game from the system menu first, but it was too late.

That was about a month ago. Today, however, I decided to stick the SD card back into my laptop and try and recover the file. After a couple of different file recovery applications (one of which was quite sketchy), I finally found the file and tried to recover it... until I realized the deleted file was empty and therefore couldn't be recovered.
I have no clue what to do and it would be quite a disappointment if I can't fix it, seeing that I've had the device for a few years and have a lot of good memories saved on it (not to mention the sheer amount of save data on there as well.)

If anyone has any tips to help me before I bring it into a shop, they would be immensely helpful. And if it truly is unfixable, is it possible to purchase a new 3DS and transfer over all of the files containing my save data?

Also, this is the tutorial I was using. The outdated software, which was sadly the final download, was called 'ctr-no-timeoffset', and the link to the download is in the description of the video.

 

[Dionicio3]

What files do you still have on your SD card? Send a screenshot of the root of your SD

 

[ChiefReginod]

This is why the first rule of modding is to never follow youtube tutorials.

It would be helpful if you listed out each step you took in detail. No one is going to watch that video (and they shouldn't).

 

[Kaiji_Key]

What files do you still have on your SD card? Send a screenshot of the root of your SD

Which root exactly? Under the SD card, I have two folders titled 'DCIM' and 'Nintendo 3DS'. The Pokémon Picross file was far into the 'Nintendo 3DS' folder.

 

[Dionicio3]

Which root exactly? Under the SD card, I have two folders titled 'DCIM' and 'Nintendo 3DS'. The Pokémon Picross file was far into the 'Nintendo 3DS' folder.

The root just means what you immediately see when you open up the SD card in your file explorer. Does it happen to contain anything that's like "boot.firm"? I suspect that's what's missing, and if that's the case, all you'd need to do is download the latest release of Luma3DS, grab the file called "boot.firm" and place it at the root

 

[Kaiji_Key]

The immediate folders are 'DCIM' and 'Nintendo 3DS', along with another one titled 'FileHistory', but that one was just a side effect of me enabling history for the SD card in case this ever happens again (I enabled it a few hours ago so it sadly does not have anything before today).

Those two files were the only ones on the SD card when I opened it up to mod; I deleted all traces of mods including the
boot.firm file. I can try and add that file again, but seeing as all the other mod-related files have been erased, I don't know if it'll do anything.

 

[Dionicio3]

The immediate folders are 'DCIM' and 'Nintendo 3DS', along with another one titled 'FileHistory', but that one was just a side effect of me enabling history for the SD card in case this ever happens again (I enabled it a few hours ago so it sadly does not have anything before today).

Those two files were the only ones on the SD card when I opened it up to mod; I deleted all traces of mods including the
boot.firm file. I can try and add that file again, but seeing as all the other mod-related files have been erased, I don't know if it'll do anything.

boot.firm is technically all that's needed for it to boot successfully. I really think that's all you need to do to fix your 3DS, and then follow this after you add the file

 

[Kaiji_Key]

I downloaded Luma3DS and added the boot.firm file to the SD card; I shall try and start my 3DS now.

 

[Kaiji_Key]

Ohkayyy it turned on

 

[Kaiji_Key]

It's on the Luma3DS config screen; what should I do now?

 

[Dionicio3]

It's on the Luma3DS config screen; what should I do now?

Make sure "Show NAND or user string in System Settings" is checked, then just press start

 

[Kaiji_Key]

oh my god it worked

 

[Kaiji_Key]

What do I do from here? I'd like to continue the modding process if possible.

 

[Dionicio3]

What do I do from here? I'd like to continue the modding process if possible.

Simply follow from here and you should be good to go

 

[Kaiji_Key]

Thanks so much! Hopefully, it'll all go well without any more... deletion of important files

 

[Kaiji_Key]

Simply follow from here and you should be good to go

I have run into a problem. There isn't enough room on my SD card to copy the cia files over.

 

[El_Misterioso]

This is why the first rule of modding is to never follow youtube tutorials.

It would be helpful if you listed out each step you took in detail. No one is going to watch that video (and they shouldn't).

I hacked my Wii u with CWF Mocha with a YouTube tutorial, now I installed tiramisu with Wii U hack guide, nobody bad happened

 

[Dionicio3]

I have run into a problem. There isn't enough room on my SD card to copy the cia files over.

Unfortunately the only real solution there is get a bigger SD card, just make sure it's formatted as FAT32 when you use it (usually all cards less than 32GB are)

 

[Kaiji_Key]

I'm quite sure it is because the 'FileHistory' folder that I mentioned earlier takes up nearly 1 GB of space, but I think I'll make sure it's fine to delete before I actually delete it.

 

[Dionicio3]

I'm quite sure it is because the 'FileHistory' folder that I mentioned earlier takes up nearly 1 GB of space, but I think I'll make sure it's fine to delete before I actually delete it.

Yeah the file history folder is Windows specific, nothing to do with the 3DS