Hacking 2DS newbie

[whitelightning]

Hi,

I've just bought a 2DS and need some advice on how to play backup games. I've read numerous 3DS tutorials but struggling to understand the difference between Homebrew and rxTools. Do they do the same thing, or totally different tools? Also does one still need to buy a card like R4 these days?

Appreciate any advice on the easiest way to mod a 2DS.

Thanks.

 

[dimmidice]

anyone who wants to help you is going to need a lot more information.

1. what firmware is your 2ds on? you can see this by going to settings. DO NOT UPDATE IT.

2. what do you got at your disposal? do you have cubic ninja? ocarina of time?

as for your questions

RXtools is something that boots emunand.

and emunand is basically a copy of your normal 3ds operating system. so if you happen to screw up something on emunand your 3ds isn't bricked. and its convenient because you can usually update emunand to the latest version.

homebrew is just a general term for games and other applications made by normal people not companies.

as for needing a card you could get a gateway, sky3ds, or DSTWO PLUS. but i think they're firmware dependant. i'd give more information about that but i've never used one of them myself.

 

[Pacheko17]

Hi,

I've just bought a 2DS and need some advice on how to play backup games. I've read numerous 3DS tutorials but struggling to understand the difference between Homebrew and rxTools. Do they do the same thing, or totally different tools? Also does one still need to buy a card like R4 these days?

Appreciate any advice on the easiest way to mod a 2DS.

Thanks.

First of all, you need a console with firmware from 2.0 to 9.2 to play backups and flashcarts ( like the R4 ) can be used, but they aren't worth it.

rxTools is a custom firmware, basically a modded version of the 3DS's system made to play backups and do some very cool stuff ( Emulation, etc )
Homebrew are stuff made by enthusiasts and fans ( Like games, emulators, tools ) that aren't approved by Nintendo. To use homebrew you need to choose what's the best entrypoint for you ( There are a ton, especially if you are on 9.2 or below ).

But if you just want to play backups, you want to get rxTools, it's not hard to set up and there are a bunch of easy to understand tutorials out there, and, you can also run homebrew with rxTools, you just gotta be a bit careful, because unlike homebrew, a CFW ( custom firmware ) can break your console if you do some dumb mistake.

Good luck my friend

 

[The Real Jdbye]

rxTools is homebrew, and it is also a CFW.
Homebrew means anything that is made without Nintendo's consent using an unofficial SDK. So homebrew is not a "tool" it's the term used to describe any unofficial software made for a console.
If you want to install CIA games for free, then you need a CFW like rxTools (or a Gateway/DSTWO+ flashcart but most things can be done without buying hardware nowadays)
If you just want to play emulators, backup/restore savegames, install custom home menu themes and such, then you don't need a CFW for that, any homebrew loading method will do.
CFW will only work on firmwares 9.2 or below however, but other more conventional homebrew will work on any FW version as long as you have a way to load it, such as an exploit game.

 

[MelonGx]

"Homebrew" = Homebrew Launcher = Smea *Hax

It supports 9.0-10.3.

It doesn't support CIAs directly.
But it can boot CFWs which support CIA.

----------------

rxTools = One of the CFW supports CIA

It supports 4.1-9.2.

It can be booted by *Hax.
But only recommended on 9.0-9.2.
For older versions, we always use either of (1) rxTools Pasta Mode + Sysupdater + 9.2.0-20 CIA to upgrade your NAND to 9.2, then use *Hax (2) rxTools MSET downgrade function to downgrade System Setting applet to 6.X version.

 

[whitelightning]

Thanks - appreciate the comments and help so far.

The firmware I've got is V8.1.0-19E. I've not connected the 2DS to the Internet yet, so it won't update.

I don't have much at my disposal. The only game I have is Mario Kart 7 which came pre-installed (on the SD card I think). I do have spare SD cards which I can use to mod the 2DS.

I know people use their NDS/2DS/3DS to do various things like watching movies, read ebooks etc. I'm only interested in playing games. In my situation, what should I go for?

 

[tranxuanthang]

Thanks - appreciate the comments and help so far.

The firmware I've got is V8.1.0-19E. I've not connected the 2DS to the Internet yet, so it won't update.

I don't have much at my disposal. The only game I have is Mario Kart 7 which came pre-installed (on the SD card I think). I do have spare SD cards which I can use to mod the 2DS.

I know people use their NDS/2DS/3DS to do various things like watching movies, read ebooks etc. I'm only interested in playing games. In my situation, what should I go for?

Here is a helpful thread: http://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-installing-rxtools-custom-firmware-3ds-and-2ds.390867/