The recent happenings on the scene worried me - there's quite a commotion with Gateway's 2.02B firmware which allegedly has a built-in Brick routine which kicks in if Launcher.dat's Checksums do not check out, namely if the file was modified in any way. Unfortunately, this "Bricking" situation might affect legitimate Gateway users due to SD corruption... which means having to periodically check Launcher.dat's checksum, defeating the purpose of "portability".
To prevent that from being an issue, I coded Brick-Protect 3DS. The program uses Bobobobo’s MD5 C++ implementation to check the MD5 checksum of Launcher.dat, compare it with the verified and correct MD5 and warn the user in the event that inconsistencies are detected. If the Launcher.dat file is not detected or if FAT cannot be initialized, the program will inform you about the issue and automatically terminate after a couple seconds.
Before anyone mentions it, yes, I know MD5 has vulnerabilities, but it works blazing fast on the DS, so I have no complaints - it's better than nothing.
Testing would be appreciated! If this saves at a single 3DS from getting bricked, the work was worth it.
PS: Forgive the absolutely terrible graphics, this was really hastily made. I'll improve upon it later, for now, what matters is that it works, at least on my end.
EDIT: My eagerness proved to be my own undoing. Version 0.2 allows for a delayed start, so that the user can switch microSD cards before performing the verification, a feature that should've been there from the start.
Instructions:
- Start the application on any DS-MODE flashcart
- Once prompted, remove the SD card from your flashcart (If necessary. The stylus is pretty helpful with this step!) and switch it with the one containing Launcher.dat. If your Launcher is on a full-sized SD card, you're unfortunately out of luck
- Once the switch is complete, press the START button to mount the newly-inserted SD and begin the verification process
Download Here (v.0.2)