Hacking Downgrade Custom Firmware, is it possible?

[WiiHoney]

SUCCESS!
hourglass9 did the trick. restored back to FW 9.2, Now i can setup GW to the way it was. 2 day of tremendous expresience in the world of 3DS hacking.

@Hayleia you get very lucky

 

[Cosmic_Link]

Incase it helps, this is the setup with bootctr9, I use with my Gateway boot as default and boot Luma 3DS with L, R or Select, Uncart with X, Hourglass with Start and Emunand9 with Y. So long as you don't have an issue with a short boot screen, then this would probably ideal for your needs.

Download BootCTR from here: https://github.com/hartmannaf/BootCtr9/releases/tag/v0.4.1-alpha_

And put all the files onto the root of your SD card.

Replace the text in the boot_config.ini with the text in the below spoiler.

Spoiler: boot_config.ini

;Comments starts with ";" or "#", so you need to remove it first to the
;line actually do something.
[BOOTCTR9]
screenEnabled = 1
screenLog = 0
fileLog = 0
key_delay = 1000
boot_splash = 3
boot_splash_image = /arm9loaderhax/image2.bin
screenBrightness = 0xFF

[DEFAULT]
path = /GW.bin
delay = 100
offset = 0
payload = -1
splash = 1

[KEY_L]
path = /Luma.bin
delay = 1000
offset = 0
payload = -1
splash = 1

[KEY_R]
path = /Luma.bin
delay = 1000
offset = 0
payload = -1
screenEnabled = 1
splash = 1

[KEY_SELECT]
path = /Luma.bin
delay = 1000
offset = 0
payload = -1
screenEnabled = 1
splash = 1

[KEY_X]
path = /Uncart.bin
delay = 1000
offset = 0
payload = 1
splash = 3
screenEnabled = 1

[KEY_Y]
path = /Emunand9.bin
delay = 1000
offset = 0
payload = 1
splash = 3
screenEnabled = 1

[KEY_START]
path = /Hourglass.bin
delay = 1000
offset = 0
payload = 1
splash = 3
screenEnabled = 1


;Each key can be defined using a section, like the example below. Section
;names must be ALL caps, and between "[]". Valid keys:
; * Common keys: KEY_A, KEY_B, KEY_X, KEY_Y, KEY_L, KEY_R, KEY_SELECT,
; KEY_START.
; * D-PAD: KEY_DUP, KEY_DDOWN, KEY_DLEFT, KEY_DRIGHT.
;You MUST set at least "path" for each section, and it is the ONLY option you
;should set in the majority of cases.
;You may pass a .3dsx file or a .dat/.bin payload, the file type is detect
;automatically based on extension. Double check the path, since it must be
;correct (including caps).
;[KEY_CPAD_LEFT] ;MUST BE ALL CAPS
;path = /And/Respect_Caps_in_Path.3dsx


;Boot examples for almost every CFW out there.
;You can use both .3dsx files or binary (.bin, .dat) payloads
;[KEY_A]
;path = /rxTools/sys/code.bin
;[KEY_B]
;path = /Cakes.dat
;[KEY_X]
;path = /3ds/GW/GW.3dsx
;[KEY_Y]
;path = /ReiNand.dat

;An important remark: the majority of CFWs set L button to show menu instead
;of autobooting. So it is generally a bad idea to set L button to CFW boot,
;or the CFW menu will be shown instead of booting directly to CFW.
;[KEY_L]

Put the Gateway payload on the root of the SD and name it "GW.bin"

Put the Luma payload on the root of the SD and name it "Luma.bin"

Put the Uncart payload on the root of the SD and name it "Uncart.bin"

Put the Emunand9 payload on the root of the SD and name it "Emunand9.bin"

Put the Hourglass9 payload on the root of the SD and name it "Hourglass.bin"

It works for me. Might not be for you, but will allow you to boot gateway by default and Luma with L or R for when you want to update the sysnand firmware.

Also, make sure the gateway LAUNCHER.DAT is on the root of the SD card too.

Hope it helps.

 

[WiiHoney]

@Cosmic_Link thank you for the guide, i'll see what i can do after my system is back to normal

now my 3DS is showing sys 9.2 instead of ver 9.2.

something didnt completely cleaned up

 

[Hayleia]

Hourglass9 restores backups but keeps a9lh. So you're back to 9.2 yeah, but you still have a9lh stuff running.

 

[Temptress Cerise]

You need a clean 9.2 sysNAND backup, and you need to use Decrypt9 to flash back that backup.

Hourglass9 will always keep your a9lh, regardless of the backup used.

 

[WiiHoney]

That makes a lot of sense why i am still seeing Sys.
But now i cant boot into Decrypt9, the screen reboot to homebrewlauncher. any help?

 

[Temptress Cerise]

That makes a lot of sense why i am still seeing Sys.
But now i cant boot into Decrypt9, the screen reboot to homebrewlauncher. any help?

You have to setup the Decrypt9 a9lh.bin payload with Luma3DS' chainloader, just like you did with Hourglass9.

 

[WiiHoney]

You have to setup the Decrypt9 a9lh.bin payload with Luma3DS' chainloader, just like you did with Hourglass9.

What? so i have to rename decrypt9.bin to arm9loaderhax.bin?

I answered my own question
and the answer is yes

 

[Temptress Cerise]

What? so i have to rename decrypt9.bin to arm9loaderhax.bin?

and the answer is yes

That's not at all what I meant.... I mean that's one way of doing it, sure.

What I meant, was using Luma3DS' chainloader for that, and assigning it to a button.

Link: https://github.com/AuroraWright/Luma3DS/wiki/Other-features-and-notes#payload-chainloading

Like down_Dec9.bin and putting that inside the payloads folder inside the luma folder, then holding Down on the D-Pad at boot time.

 

[WiiHoney]

You people are an AMAZING, Now i have more knowledge that a day ago. Thank you

I'll post back once the restore is done

P.S. Restore is done and i can boot without SD Card. and it's ver. instead of sys.

Time to load HBL and setup GW back

 

[Hayleia]

Time to load HBL and setup GW back

... or a GW compatible a9lh version
Because that would be a waste to have done all of that and still be using menuhax I think.

 

[WiiHoney]

You know what @Hayleia you are right. Do you have any guide in mind that is a9lh and GW compatible?

 

[Temptress Cerise]

You know what @Hayleia you are right. Do you have any guide in mind that is a9lh and GW compatible?

Use liomajor's Tree Stage2 files. I believe there may be a guide on that iso site, by Kazuma77, for GW users on getting v1 A9LH setup. I think. That's what I was told anyways, never checked.

Anyways, as for liomajor's Three Stage2 files.
Link: https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-three-stage-2.429303/

 

[Hayleia]

That wasn't even what I was thinking about actually. Just a regular v1 setup should work with Gateway's payload. As long as it isn't v2.
The three stage 2 thing was for the times when there wasn't even a payload.

And I just checked, you can find the old links by cloning plailect's guide and seeing an old version of it. Or maybe there is a way to do it directly from the browser but I don't know, I don't use github very often...

edit found it. https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/w...hax)/2aa4abe44b812609c4482c87b3fb3d9257fb9053
Though beware, you need a SafeA9LHInstaller that is compatible with v1, not one that is compatible with v2, otherwise you will brick.

 

[WiiHoney]

Got it. I am on in few, modding and hacking never stops just like life

 

[Temptress Cerise]

That wasn't even what I was thinking about actually. Just a regular v1 setup should work with Gateway's payload. As long as it isn't v2.
The three stage 2 thing was for the times when there wasn't even a payload.

And I just checked, you can find the old links by cloning plailect's guide and seeing an old version of it. Or maybe there is a way to do it directly from the browser but I don't know, I don't use github very often...

edit found it. https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/Part-5-(arm9loaderhax)/2aa4abe44b812609c4482c87b3fb3d9257fb9053
Though beware, you need a SafeA9LHInstaller that is compatible with v1, not one that is compatible with v2, otherwise you will brick.

Like I said, Kazuma77 said he posted a guide on that iso site, which should be all the correct files and everything to get v1 setup.

I know not everyone likes the Three Stage2 files, but they have been updated to fully support GW's A9LH.bin, and not using the Launcher.dat as it used to.

Edit: I also don't want to be the one to blame if they brick, so that's another reason I just tell them to either look for them themselves, or to have a look at posted guides that work.

 

[Quantumcat]

I use Gateway perfectly fine in conjunction with Luma. If I hold down on startup I boot into Gateway mode, and if I do nothing I get Luma.

All you have to do is have Luma's arm9loaderhax.bin and launcher.dat on the root of your SD, and Gateway's arm9loaderhax in luma/payloads renamed to down_GW.

Downgrading to 9.2 locks you out of all recent games that require a higher firmware to run, which isn't a very good solution.

Plailect should add instructions for those that wish to use Gateway as well to his guide.

 

[Hayleia]

Like I said, Kazuma77 said he posted a guide on that iso site, which should be all the correct files and everything to get v1 setup.

I know not everyone likes the Three Stage2 files, but they have been updated to fully support GW's A9LH.bin, and not using the Launcher.dat as it used to.

I don't have anything against it ^^
It's really just that I don't see the point of it now. It used to solve a compatibility problem with Gateway but now I don't see why one would use that rather than payloads with a boot manager.
Though yeah, if all files are coherent, that makes it less of a hassle.

So yeah, @WiiHoney, you choose

 

[Temptress Cerise]

I don't have anything against it ^^
It's really just that I don't see the point of it now. It used to solve a compatibility problem with Gateway but now I don't see why one would use that rather than payloads with a boot manager.
Though yeah, if all files are coherent, that makes it less of a hassle.

So yeah, @WiiHoney, you choose

I don't use it either. I use no-screen-init v1 A9LH with BootCTR9.

I use Gateway perfectly fine in conjunction with Luma. If I hold down on startup I boot into Gateway mode, and if I do nothing I get Luma.

All you have to do is have Luma's arm9loaderhax.bin and launcher.dat on the root of your SD, and Gateway's arm9loaderhax in luma/payloads renamed to down_GW.

Downgrading to 9.2 locks you out of all recent games that require a higher firmware to run, which isn't a very good solution.

Plailect should add instructions for those that wish to use Gateway as well to his guide.

He restored 9.2 to get a clean state to flash v1 A9LH. At least that was the gist of it. He could have flashed v1 on top of v2, but I am not sure how safe that was//is. So long as you use the correct files and installer, then it should be safe.

 

[Quantumcat]

He restored 9.2 to get a clean state to flash v1 A9LH. At least that was the gist of it. He could have flashed v1 on top of v2, but I am not sure how safe that was//is. So long as you use the correct files and installer, then it should be safe.

Ah OK. From skimming it sounded like he wanted to be on 9.2 because he knew Gateway worked on 9.2.