Hacking Games really slow after updating to 11.13?

[Stella-Etoile]

I recently updated my 11.9 CFW o3DS to 11.13 after updating my Luma to 10.0.1.

Shortly after, I realized that the load times for a lot of my software has become significantly slower.

For example, a wild encounter in Pokemon Ultra Sun takes 5 to 6 seconds of black screen (with audio still playing) before showing up. Summoning a ride pokemon (eg. Tauros) results in a second or two of my character going missing until it is replaced by the correct model.

When playing Pokemon Y, there are noticeable breaks in the audio. FPS also seems to struggle when that happens. Same issue in Mario Kart 7.

Before updating, I had absolutely no problems with any of my software.

I read some other threads where people have claimed that their 3DS home icons load slower than they used to after updating their firmware, and that it may be a problem with the SD card. Is this correct?

If I bought a new SD card and copied and pasted all of the contents of my current SD card, will all of my software and saves run fine?

If this isn't the correct solution, what else should I try?

The issues aren't game-breaking, but annoying nonetheless. Feels like I'm running the games on an unstable emulator.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kwyjor]

If updating to 11.13 caused things to slow down, the Internet would be absolutely echoing with outraged screams.

It is much more likely you are having SD card problems. Do you not have any cartridge-based games you can use for comparison?

If I bought a new SD card and copied and pasted all of the contents of my current SD card, will all of my software and saves run fine?

Yes, that is the standard method of upgrading one's SD card. Just make sure it is properly formatted and verified with h2testw before you start using it.

 

[Stella-Etoile]

If updating to 11.13 caused things to slow down, the Internet would be absolutely echoing with outraged screams.

It is much more likely you are having SD card problems. Do you not have any cartridge-based games you can use for comparison?

Yes, that is the standard method of upgrading one's SD card. Just make sure it is properly formatted and verified with h2testw before you start using it.

Getting a new SD card seems to have solved the problem. Weird since I know for sure my old SD card was genuine. Maybe I've damaged it somehow. Anyway thanks for the help!

 

[nl255]

Getting a new SD card seems to have solved the problem. Weird since I know for sure my old SD card was genuine. Maybe I've damaged it somehow. Anyway thanks for the help!

Actually all flash memory, including SD cards, damage themselves over time (whenever they are written to or erased). While SD cards (and most flash memory) have things like wear leveling and extra sectors to make them last longer eventually the number of damaged/bad areas is so great that it will no longer be usable.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Getting a new SD card seems to have solved the problem. Weird since I know for sure my old SD card was genuine. Maybe I've damaged it somehow. Anyway thanks for the help!

Copying the files over to another card also defragments the files. It's recommended that you never defragment flash storage, so rather than defragmenting it, copying the files over to a PC, formatting + copying back would serve the same purpose, and might have sped up your old card back to its original speed
Also, formatting with 32k cluster size is supposed to improve speeds. 64k is technically the fastest, but some people reported graphical issues with GBA VC when using 64k cluster size.

 

[Kwyjor]

Also, formatting with 32k cluster size is supposed to improve speeds. 64k is technically the fastest, but some people reported graphical issues with GBA VC when using 64k cluster size.

Isn't it the other way around? I understand larger cluster sizes increase speed, and the graphical issues occur when using smaller cluster size. (Yes, the front page of https://3ds.hacks.guide/ refers to 32k clusters, but apparently that is a rare instance of inaccuracy.)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Isn't it the other way around? I understand larger cluster sizes increase speed, and the graphical issues occur when using smaller cluster size. (Yes, the front page of https://3ds.hacks.guide/ refers to 32k clusters, but apparently that is a rare instance of inaccuracy.)

Pretty sure it was only 64k specifically. People using the card as formatted out of the box (probably with a cluster size of like 8k or 16k) had no issues.

 

[upfromtheskies]

Getting a new SD card seems to have solved the problem. Weird since I know for sure my old SD card was genuine. Maybe I've damaged it somehow. Anyway thanks for the help!

I've had genuine SD cards fail before, not really sure what causes it, but it can happen.

 

[GufoStufo]

I recently updated my 11.9 CFW o3DS to 11.13 after updating my Luma to 10.0.1.

Shortly after, I realized that the load times for a lot of my software has become significantly slower.

For example, a wild encounter in Pokemon Ultra Sun takes 5 to 6 seconds of black screen (with audio still playing) before showing up. Summoning a ride pokemon (eg. Tauros) results in a second or two of my character going missing until it is replaced by the correct model.

When playing Pokemon Y, there are noticeable breaks in the audio. FPS also seems to struggle when that happens. Same issue in Mario Kart 7.

Before updating, I had absolutely no problems with any of my software.

I read some other threads where people have claimed that their 3DS home icons load slower than they used to after updating their firmware, and that it may be a problem with the SD card. Is this correct?

If I bought a new SD card and copied and pasted all of the contents of my current SD card, will all of my software and saves run fine?

If this isn't the correct solution, what else should I try?

The issues aren't game-breaking, but annoying nonetheless. Feels like I'm running the games on an unstable emulator.

Thanks in advance.

I'm experiencing the exact same problem. An hour ago everything was fine, I finally decided to update the firmware and I'm having really slow load times (it almost seems like everything freeze for 10 seconds),

The actual SD card can't be the problem. You just copied everything on the new microsd?