Hacking (4.x only) CIA CFW Complete Guide

[Jak27]

A step-by-step CFW guide (especially for those who do not own a Gateway)

Requirements:
Hardware:
- A wireless router connected to the internet
- A PC connected to the router
- A 3DS on firmware 4.1 to 4.5
- A card reader
- A FAT32 formatted SD card/SD adapter for microSD (for the 3DS)
- A compatible DS flashcart
- A computer with Windows Vista/7/8 (ctrclient is compiled in VS2012 with no support for Windows XP)

Software:
- DevMenu_2x.cia or BigBlueMenu.cia
- the .bat file I attached here
- EmunandTool
- Gateway's installation files (from their website)
- Palantine's CFW files.

Instructions:
1. Have your 3DS WIFI connections configured properly (not really required, it's just to save time).
2. Copy Launcher.dat from the folder GW_OMEGA to your 3DS's big SD card. Insert that SD into your 3DS.
3. Transfer GW_INSTALLER.NDS to your flashcart's microSD's and run it on your 3DS, selecting the proper option.
Press A to close the installer after it's finished.
Press HOME to go back to the home menu after it closes.
Important: this will install the ROP Loader into the 3DS. If you run any DS game it will be removed and you'll have to run GW_INSTALLER.NDS again.

4. Go to System Settings > Profile > Nintendo DS Profile. You'll get into Gateway menu.
5. Select 'Format EMUNAND'. Confirm and wait until it's finished (the SD card will be formatted)
6. Shut down the 3DS, plug the SD card it into your PC's card reader.
7. Use EmunandTool and hit 'Extract emuNAND' to save it to your computer.

8. Drag the resultant emuNAND.bin into the bat file I uploaded. A file named REDNAND.bin will be generated when it's finished.
9. Use EmunandTool, select 'Inject NAND to emuNAND' and navigate to where your REDNAND.bin is.
(it will tell you NAND.bin doesn't exist every time you open a folder... just ignore it). Wait until it's finished. (It injects the file into a hidden partition so you won't see the file anywhere on the SD.)

10. Now get the CFW files. Copy everything that's in the 'SD Card' folder to the root of the SD card. Delete Launcher.dat and rename Launcher_GW.dat to Launcher.dat
11. Insert the SD card back in the 3DS. Let it create the software management information
12. Take the SD out of the 3DS and back into the PC's card reader. Go to the newly created 'Nintendo 3DS' folder and into the subfolders inside it.
Their names are a bunch of gibberish so let's call the first one ID1, and inside it there's an ID2 folder with a 'extdata' folder inside.
You have to create another folder inside ID2, called 'dbs'. And inside this new folder you add a file called title.db or import.db. You can add both, but it's not really necessary.
(Remember you may need to disable the option 'Hide extensions for known file types' in Windows Explorer's folder options so you can create them)
Like this:

└───Nintendo 3DS
    └───01234567890acbdef0123456789abcde        <-- ID1
        └───9876543210fedcba9876543210fedcba    <-- ID2
            ├───extdata
            └───dbs  <-- create this one and add one of the files inside it(or both)
                  title.db
                  update.db

Plug the SD back into the 3DS and go to System Settings > Data Management > Nintendo 3DS > Software.
It will tell you the management information is corrupted and ask you to reset it. Confirm it.

Now to get into the CFW, go to System Settings > Other > Profile > Nintendo DS Profile. It's unstable right now and won't successfully boot everytime. You know it works when the bottom screen flashes white for a brief moment. If it stays black then you have to power off the 3DS and try again.


Installing DevMenu/BigBlueMenu from the computer:
To install CIA files using the windows tools, you need to hold down the 'L' button while you select 'Nintendo DS Profile'.
Now you're gonna use the other files in the CFW archive.
You have to edit the file 'run.bat'. It comes like this:

installcia IPTOMODIFY 1 DevMenu_2x.cia

change IPTOMODIFY to your 3DS's IP address. If you're installing BigBlueMenu.cia, change it accordingly.
For example, mine is 192.168.1.3. So my file must be:

installcia 192.168.1.3 1 DevMenu_2x.cia

To find your 3DS's IP address you can either check your router or use Wireless Network Watcher
Double-click run.bat to install DevMenu.
A successful instalation will look like this:

Result-code: 0 means all went fine.

• If you get anything else, it's because you didn't create the files in the dbs folder;
• If you get 'failed to connect', turn wifi off and on again on the 3DS, then try again;
• If you're always getting 'failed to connect' and the 3DS is crashing/freezing, open the web browser as soon as the CFW starts and let it load a website.

If it installed fine, press the power button and then press HOME to reload the home menu.

You'll see a new gift there.

Once you have DevMenu/BigBlueMenu installed, you can start the CFW in regular mode (don't hold L) and install CIAs from the SD card using it.

I tried your method but I keep getting the failed to connect error. I tried the steps mentioned in this thread (turning wifi off and on, opening internet browser) but the cfw just crashes. If anyone could help I'd really appreciate it.

 

[RetroVortex]

I tried your method but I keep getting the failed to connect error. I tried the steps mentioned in this thread (turning wifi off and on, opening internet browser) but the cfw just crashes. If anyone could help I'd really appreciate it.

Just keep trying. As mad as it seems, and assuming you've done all the right steps, it will eventually let you do it.
(it's a lot more stable afterwards btw. At least for me it has been. I'd also make sure you're not on low battery either. Since those resets do drain the device quite a bit)

 

[piratesephiroth]

Just keep trying. As mad as it seems, and assuming you've done all the right steps, it will eventually let you do it.
(it's a lot more stable afterwards btw. At least for me it has been. I'd also make sure you're not on low battery either. Since those resets do drain the device quite a bit)

The CFW eats a lot of battery when its server is running. The 3DS even gets warm.

 

[RetroVortex]

The CFW eats a lot of battery when its server is running. The 3DS even gets warm.

Yeah I noticed that I was quickly running out after a few hours of trying. So I went off to charge it up for a while. Then when I came back I started trying it again half-heartedly. Then the cmd prompt showed something different and I was like: "OMG! IT WORKS!"
Maybe the secret is to not care enough?

 

[ChrisX930]

After finished all and get all needed things to work.
Is it possible to dump Games from other region so I can create .cia's out of it and install them to the CFW?

 

[piratesephiroth]

After finished all and get all needed things to work.
Is it possible to dump Games from other region so I can create .cia's out of it and install them to the CFW?

Yeah you can dump anything but the CFW won't run all the games that are made for firmware 5 or higher

 

[ChrisX930]

Yeah you can dump anything but the CFW won't run all the games that are made for firmware 5 or higher

Okay, thanks

 

[Kakkoii]

Is there no way to run emunand/rednand on the CFW so we can run a higher version? Without the need for a Gateway card?

 

[Jak27]

For thos of you who got it working by opening the internet browser, how fast did you open it? Was it as soon as the cfw launches, or did you wait a bit? I get the browser to open if I open it as soon as I'm taken to the home menu screen, but then it just stays stuck trying to open a webpage, and if I try anything like closing it or trying to load another page, the cfw crashes.

 

[piratesephiroth]

For thos of you who got it working by opening the internet browser, how fast did you open it? Was it as soon as the cfw launches, or did you wait a bit? I get the browser to open if I open it as soon as I'm taken to the home menu screen, but then it just stays stuck trying to open a webpage, and if I try anything like closing it or trying to load another page, the cfw crashes.

I had to open it as soon as possible.

 

[ChrisX930]

For thos of you who got it working by opening the internet browser, how fast did you open it? Was it as soon as the cfw launches, or did you wait a bit? I get the browser to open if I open it as soon as I'm taken to the home menu screen, but then it just stays stuck trying to open a webpage, and if I try anything like closing it or trying to load another page, the cfw crashes.

I just used rop Multiloader (you need a DS Flashcard for it) and installed homebrew 4.x to the DS Profile.
After this, I used the launcher.dat (not the launcher_GW.dat) from Palantine CFW.
After some tries, it worked.
I loaded the CFW with Holding "L".
I waited until the CFW was fully loaded.
And then, I used "run.bat"

 

[RetroVortex]

I had to open it as soon as possible.

From what I understand, the browser loading up, and connecting to a webpage seems to have more to do with the fact that it's a good boot then it being actually useful.
It just seems like when holding L and booting it up, it only loads into a good stable state like 5% of the time. Otherwise it usually crashes about 10 seconds in no matter what you do.

 

[Jak27]

I just used rop Multiloader (you need a DS Flashcard for it) and installed homebrew 4.x to the DS Profile.
After this, I used the launcher.dat (not the launcher_GW.dat) from Palantine CFW.
After some tries, it worked.
I loaded the CFW with Holding "L".
I waited until the CFW was fully loaded.
And then, I used "run.bat"

I'd love to try this but I can't find the multiloader anywhere

 

[relski]

If I want to go all legit again, how do I remove the CFW?

 

[ChrisX930]

I'd love to try this but I can't find the multiloader anywhere

First post, dude xD

Downloads
Rop MultiLoader

 

[ChrisX930]

If I want to go all legit again, how do I remove the CFW?

Wipe your SD Card (+ hidden Partition

 

[piratesephiroth]

I'd love to try this but I can't find the multiloader anywhere

Don't waste your time with the multiloader. Just use Gateway's.

 

[ChrisX930]

Don't waste your time with the multiloader. Just use Gateway's.

with gateway 4.x it didn't work for me.
So I used rop Multiloader to install "homebrew 4.x" instead of "gateway 4.x" you need to do this to run the launcher.dat (not launcher_GW.dat) from the CFW_Folder

 

[Jak27]

First post, dude xD

Lol my bad, I've been trying to get this to work all day so I'm a bit tired.
Anyway I'll try to use the homebrew launcher and see if i have any luck. Quick question though, do I have inject the nand i got from the backup with this, or can I continue to use the rednand that pirate's tutorial specifies?

 

[ChrisX930]

Lol my bad, I've been trying to get this to work all day so I'm a bit tired.
Anyway I'll try to use the homebrew launcher and see if i have any luck. Quick question though, do I have inject the nand i got from the backup with this, or can I continue to use the rednand that pirate's tutorial specifies?

I used the rednand for it