Hacking Gateway 3DS - First 3DS flash card?!

[Nobunaga]

nope, 32 G bit is 4 GB in size

Still less
But anyway I didn't actually knew this but ok xD

 

[chrisrlink]

sorry to get off subject pong are you saying the DSTwo (could be) blocked for good theroeticly

 

[Foxi4]

interesting point that the MicroSD cards are larger than they need to be

You have to take into account that the filesystem might waste quite a bit of space.

 

[raulpica]

You have to take into account that the filesystem might waste quite a bit of space.

Or maybe the entire "lol the memory card has to be of the right size ololo" thing is crap

It makes no sense whatsoever from a hardware design point. At all.

 

[Pong20302000]

sorry to get off subject pong are you saying the DSTwo (could be) blocked for good theroeticly

nope, the DSTwo can emulate a DS cart and its hardware 1:1, thats what its clean mode does, it uses its CPU to make a complete DS cart emulation with the data and the console would never know if it needed to be

 

[hundshamer]

NVM ninja'd

 

[Foxi4]

Or maybe the entire "lol the memory card has to be of the right size ololo" thing is crap

It makes no sense whatsoever from a hardware design point. At all.

That depends on how cartridge verification works - perhaps the 3DS checks the total capacity of the FLASH before booting the binary? But yeah, it does sound like a load of croak.

 

[Sizednochi]

sorry to get off subject pong are you saying the DSTwo (could be) blocked for good theroeticly

He didn't. Basically, the DSTwo is DS Mode, and the DS Mode flaw is on its hardware. The 3DS flashcard would do something with it's firmware, so it could be patched by Nintendo.

 

[Pong20302000]

Or maybe the entire "lol the memory card has to be of the right size ololo" thing is crap

It makes no sense whatsoever from a hardware design point. At all.

actually on checking they do indeed match it fine
but there may be an issue due to cards not being the size e.g when you buy 1GB you only get 997MB
so will be interesting to see

 

[porkiewpyne]

I think it's fake because when she put the SD Card for Resident Evil the size of the card was 2 GB while the size of the rom is actually 32GB something is not right here... :/ http://rom-news.org/3ds/nfo/Resident.Evil.Revelations.EUR.3DS-CONTRAST
Same for Luigi's Mansion it was a 2GB card while the size of it is 8GB http://rom-news.org/3ds/nfo/Luigis.Mansion.2.EUR.3DS-CONTRAST

The ROM sizes are in Gb, not GB. So 32 Gb = 4GB. I didn't get a good look at the microSD card itself though but if they are all 2GB ones as you said, then.......

 

[raulpica]

That depends on how cartridge verification works - perhaps the 3DS checks the total capacity of the FLASH before booting the binary? But yeah, it does sound like a load of croak.

Feeding a microSD in place of flash memory is something which you can't do just like that. You need a "translation" device (FPGA) which takes care of signaling. If you have something in place like that you can fit a 32GB card in it and let the FPGA take care of things its way.

Also, even if you want to believe that farfetched idea, microSDs have different real size estate than flash chips (it's not 1:1), so I still can't see how this would work.

 

[PhillipDS]

Heya! Lurker/Newbie here. Can't believe how many regular posters are asking questions that are obvious. I've been in contact with someone who's known about this for a while now, and can assure you it's real. I can also assure you that it blows ass and won't be worth purchasing unless you're extremely desparate.

Here's a little FAQ for you.

*Is this real?
Short answer: Yes. This is a real product and will really allow you to play 3DS ROMS on your 3DS unit.

*How does this work?
It's a tiny bit more complicated than this, but I'm dumbing it down so that everyone can understand. Basically, this is a shell for an SD card slot which tricks the 3DS into thinking that the SD card is the game cart. By putting the ROM into the SD card, and the SD card into the shell, you've essentially created a 1:1 copy of a retail game; a bootleg.

*What does that mean for the user?
A couple things. The SD card has to be the correct size for the ROM. If you have a 2gb ROM you need a 2gb SD card, and so on. You cannot use a larger card than the ROM you're using, which also means that there's no way to store more than one ROM on the card at a time. Additionally, the save files are stored on the cart shell itself, as the spot for that is standardized. This means that if you change the ROM, the new game will see that information as a corrupted save and delete it. You'll need to back up your save files before switching ROMs, and you may need additional hardware to do so.

*Can it run homebrew?
Nope. This won't allow you to run unsigned code. The cart is set up in such a fashion that you've created a 1:1 copy of a retail cart. That is, it's signed by Nintendo already, and that's why you can run it.

*Can it get around region blocking?
Nope. For the same reason listed above, you'll still need to use the correct region's ROM for your hardware, and won't be able to play any ROMS of games that haven't been released in your hardware's region. You also can't modify the ROMs without stripping the Nintendo signature and thus making this method no longer work.

*But since the 3DS can't tell the difference between this and a real cart, it means Nintendo can't block it with an update, right?
No. Nintendo can and will block this device. Currently, the 3DS can't tell the difference. However, it's just not being instructed to check the right things. There's plenty Nintendo can do to identify this device. For only one example, they can check the read speed of the cart and see that it isn't the same as an official card.

Worse, since ROMs can't be modified, Nintendo also can and will simply include the update on future game carts, making it impossible to play those games with the device since doing so would force an update that made it no longer function.

*So what will I need in order to use this to full effect?
You'll need:
1) The device itself
2) One MicroSD card to standard SD card adaptor for your computer, or a USB card reader device with a MicroSD card slot.
3) One MicroSD card of every standard 3DS ROM size - 512mb, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB
4) A method of getting save data off the cart, storing it for later, and putting it back on the cart (an R4i save dongle, for instance).

*Will this open any doors for better versions in the future?
Nope. Again, because it's running 1:1 copies, and can't run any modified or unsigned code, it won't be leading to better technology on its own. It will, however, serve to motivate those that are currently working to crack that nut in two ways: First, because someone is out there getting a piece of the pie already and potentially eating their sales, and second because people will be unhappy with the complicated way this one works and demand for a proper system will increase.

PLEASE admins or mods... Put this RIGHT BELOW the main post so people understand some very important stuff. Thanks for making it easy to understand!

 

[mkdms14]

And the battle of what it is or is not continues on. Wonder when this will all die down.

 

[Foxi4]

Feeding a microSD in place of flash memory is something which you can't do just like that. You need a "translation" device (FPGA) which takes care of signaling. If you have something in place like that you can fit a 32GB card in it and let the FPGA take care of things its way.

Also, even if you want to believe that farfetched idea, microSDs have different real size estate than flash chips (it's not 1:1), so I still can't see how this would work.

Oh, don't worry, I know all that. I was just saying that it's a possibility... but it's far more likely that they just had those laying around on-site.

 

[doorbell8423]

is this some kind of SciFi, computer rendering video clip with movie effects to fool us? Or is it real?

 

[Jan1tor]

I don't really care if it's practical or not. If I can avoid spending $70 per game (which is the price around here) it's a deal for me. Even if it costs double the price of a retail card and forces me to never update my 3ds again.

Whooooo hooooo let the stealing begin!!!!!!

 

[heartgold]

Pokemon X and Y coming this October.

This could only mean one thing.

The Poketard flood. :/

This is a great step, lets hope it's more useful or can be topped later.

 

[raulpica]

I had to remove some usual "piracy discussions". They're not the matter at hand of this topic, so please refrain from making any more. Thanks.

 

[Yacker]

Pokemon X and Y coming this October.

This could only mean one thing.

The Poketard flood. :/

This is a great step, lets hope it's more useful or can be topped later.

Its already starting.

 

[PsyBlade]

The SD card has to be the correct size for the ROM. If you have a 2gb ROM you need a 2gb SD card, and so on. You cannot use a larger card than the ROM you're using,

I call bullshit on this one, you simply will not find a fitting card

1) the exact size of sdcards is not specified
it varies by manufacturer and model

(my 8GB ones for example are actually only around 7.94GB
and my 32GB ones are of different sizes)

2) you will not get lucky either
the rough size they are standardized around do not fit to the 3ds rom sizes very well
the roms (0001-0003) I have seen are exactly 256MiB (=268,435,456Byte) or 512MiB (=536,870,912Byte)

sdcards in this area are around 256MB, 512MB and 1GB
256MB = 256,000,000Byte
512MB = 512,000,000Byte
1GB = 1,000,000,000Byte

even if you include some variation that's an unlikely fit for all of them