Ok, I'm posting in the N00b thread, because I feel a little overwhelmed by all of the information out there and am a little confused...
I have 4 O3DS, each with 4.1-4.5 sysNAND and running GATEWAY with 11.xx emuNAND. (No, I didn't waste my money buying all this last month. I've had these for a couple years or more.)
I also have one N3DS XL that I recently bought on ebay, premodded with A9LH preinstalled, and *I believe* LumaDS CFW.
My usage:
I own multiple 3DS so I can play with my nieces, either multiplayer, or just give them something to do when adults are otherwise occupied, on trips, etc.
I do not use much homebrew or such, just regular gaming. I do like to play with cheats on some games.
Where to go?
I like the idea of booting directly into emuNAND because I'm afraid that someday one of my nieces will accidentally update the sysNAND. Not a fear with A9LH as you use updated sysNAND.
I've read that GATEWAY's A9LH installer is not the best way to go. It sucks.
If so, what should I do with all of my O3DS?
If I set up regular A9LH, does that require updating beyond 4.5 and making the GATEWAY CARDS useless? (Including the BLUE card, that also serves as a DS Flashcart) Yes and no.
What then?
So if I'm not using GATEWAY, how do I load games? Gateway or just by installing them to the SD card.
I have yet to play any games on my pre-hacked N3DS XL, because... where do I put the games? How do I load them? Install a game as a CIA via FBI, download something like FreeShop and use that to download games, etc.
I'm sure the information is out there, but I've apparently looked in all the wrong places, because I can't find it. It's there. There's an iso site regarding this 3ds stuff as well. Google for it. It cannot be named here, as it's illegal.
Do I just convert games to CIA and install them all as CIA? You can, or get CIA from that iso site, or install from Nintendo's servers, visa vi FreeShop.
Can I still use cheats without GATEWAY? Some cheats, yes. You will not be able to use cheats on games that use extended ram. You can use NTR to use cheats, once converted to that format.
Thanks for any help!