Hacking Gateway 3DS - First 3DS Flashcart

[Jean Karlo]

That is exactly what I do not understand. Myself and I believe quite a few others, are not buying it to play Pokemon. I'm buying it to play all the games it CAN play.

You just don't get it do you?
This card may mean a LOT for YOU who hadn't buy the games you really want from 3ds. But for people That already bought the games they were interesed on, this cart is not of the same value. We would just use it to play shitty games that otherwise we wouldn't had buy because they don't look that good.
And The facts that :

1)It does NOT have a method to play different games at the same time without your savefile of the past game being deleted.
2)If it requires you to stay in 5.1.0.1.1 , New games may not be able to be played, (As i already said, this is just important to people that already have the games they want)
3)If you accidentaly update, You are done (If not upgradable),

*Don't get me wrong. I appreciate Gateway team for trying, And I'm buying this cart for my offline 3ds, But If i was to choose between this cart, and upcoming features/Games of the 3ds, I'll chose the second one

 

[stephysanrio]

Regardless the games you are waiting for probably don't come out till later this year so even then $80 and you get to play everything that can be payable with the gateway sounds fine.

I agree I don't think you guys should have your hopes too high because not even gateway themselves know IF THERE could be any fixes/upgrades to the card. They can't promise anything and even if they do something's can't just be done.
If they don't do an update then their sales might be low or they might still sell a lot if they say "yes will update it soon" and then just don't update it at all and say it wasn't possible. I mean they got nothing to lose at this point other than time investing on the product making it work... once they have cash in I mean.

 

[Quicksilver88]

How can we update it, since it can't run custom code and doesn't support DS-mode? (or am I forgetting something?)

My little dream : the Gateway is sold with a dongle "Gateway-PC connect", that allows us to update the cart and back up our saves...
Oh god, I can't wait to read that review...

There is another way updating could be done and this is how the m3zero cards were updated.....you put the flash update file on the microSD card, you plugged a usb that was essentially a trigger dongle into a usb port which powered the card and triggered it to install the firmware flash file....it blinked for a 30 seconds while it flashed itself and bingo it was updated....all done thru the internal hardware and a little usb cord. It was sort of flimsy and a little tricky to do but hey the M3 cards were dirt cheap, could use the R4 wood and other common OSes and I still have one in my old DS Lite that works great. So I too hope that if they don't provide some sort of save method that they include an R4 type dongle that allows save backup/restore and flashing thru the PC but there are other ways to accomplish flashing the card without an active pc connection or running it on the system iteself like the Supercards.

Also and I put this out there before....I don't think it would be impossible to (thru hardware) have the Gateway mirror its eeprom save data to a .sav file on the microsd card. Then say anytime the gateway is power cycled it flushes it eeprom and reloads the mirrored data. I think that would be totally possible but would be shocked if they did something that slick on a 1st gen card. I have money to burn so went ahead and ordered one from a reputable distributor. I figure if it does get perma blocked after 5.1 or 6.x then so what....I really don't use my 3DS as an online machine and there is a lot of content I already own and other stuff worth playing with. Knowing the history of flash carts this is only going to be the beginning and someone else will make cheaper, better ones. Given that this is a 'cartridge emulating device' Nintendo may not be able to block it without a hardware tweak on future models. We won't know until it unfolds. I will not be too shocked if 6.x works as it is hard to imagine Nintendo blocked this sucker before it is in the wild, then again they may have figured out their weakness or exploit in the cart slot and moved to block it.

I like others am a huge fan of SuperCard as they really are an ace company when it comes to ongoing support. I bought that old SuperCard SD slot 2 device to use on GBA and then soon after DS came out it was like fricking Xmas when they made it work with DS. They supported the patching program until 2010 thru rom 4xxxx and had very few games they didn't get working. I am still using the damned thing on my DL lite with the M3 is slot 1. I loved the Supercard because it has zero boot time and could run both GBA and DS from the same card....only real limitation on the old one was 2GB SD but still with the rom trimming the patcher program did you could get a lot of data on there. Supercard is the best flash company IMO and the DS2 has been well supported on DSi and 3DS so here is hoping they have a cart out soon as we know it will be better than the gateway. With that said I hope the gateway does exceed expectations and gets ongoing support but I do wish they would give us a few more details before launch like how they expect to handle saves and if 6.x is working.

 

[carnbyds]

I get that. But I also think it's foolish that so many people in this thread have blind faith that there will be an update to make it work on 6.x firmware. If there is, that's great. But taking just Gateway's word for it is foolish. Given how how many people post threads like "My cheap R4 clone won't work after the update" you better believe people will buy pokemon and then wonder why there Gateway is blocked.

Does it matter, They have 240 games out now for the 3ds. So i just invest $70 or so to play all that game. It doesnt matter if they can provide fw updates to counter Nintendo updates. I will be first to buy it..mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

 

[Luhof]

There is another way updating could be done and this is how the m3zero cards were updated.....you put the flash update file on the microSD card, you plugged a usb that was essentially a trigger dongle into a usb port which powered the card and triggered it to install the firmware flash file....it blinked for a 30 seconds while it flashed itself and bingo it was updated....all done thru the internal hardware and a little usb cord. It was sort of flimsy and a little tricky to do but hey the M3 cards were dirt cheap, could use the R4 wood and other common OSes and I still have one in my old DS Lite that works great.

Oh wow, didn't know about that.
btw, I sent a e-mail to Gateway, asking them if they could give a few infos about the update process, here's the answer:


We will disclose how update takes place when manual is online. We are trying to
have 6.x ready for launch, but it is true most likely it won't be ready on time
as we have a lot of things to do right now before launch.

mailto:[email protected]


Well, what was I expecting anyway...

 

[Warlord698]

soooo, i take it the stick at the top of the subforum is now debunked

 

[Rydian]

soooo, i take it the stick at the top of the subforum is now debunked

It wasn't debunked when Crown was announced, it wasn't debunked when the 634th fake youtube 3DS emulator video was posted, etc.

It'll be changed when something is actually out and works.

 

[Warlord698]

*looks at first post*
but GBATemp getting a review sample kinda makes it real

 

[porkiewpyne]

*looks at first post*
but GBATemp getting a review sample kinda makes it real

Until Devin gets a review unit, tests it thoroughly and after the card is publicly available will it be changed. Everything is still Unconfirmed as of now, even if it is very very very convincing etc. All that does not matter in at all.

 

[WhiteMaze]

You just don't get it do you?
This card may mean a LOT for YOU who hadn't buy the games you really want from 3ds. But for people That already bought the games they were interesed on, this cart is not of the same value. We would just use it to play shitty games that otherwise we wouldn't had buy because they don't look that good.
And The facts that :

1)It does NOT have a method to play different games at the same time without your savefile of the past game being deleted.
2)If it requires you to stay in 5.1.0.1.1 , New games may not be able to be played, (As i already said, this is just important to people that already have the games they want)
3)If you accidentaly update, You are done (If not upgradable),

*Don't get me wrong. I appreciate Gateway team for trying, And I'm buying this cart for my offline 3ds, But If i was to choose between this cart, and upcoming features/Games of the 3ds, I'll chose the second one

I will repeat myself once more on 4 very important topics:

1- This is the FIRST 3DS ROM compatible flashcard. The FIRST one! So how can you want it to do everything? The fact that it PLAYS ANY 3DS ROM even if only prior to the 6.x.x firmware proves it has accomplished MORE than any of its competitors.

2- If you have most games the card can play, or you have bought the ones that interest you, then very simply: this card is not for you.

3- You have NOWHERE to go as an alternative. You either buy the new games, or you buy the Gateway.

4- Lastly, the card MAY be upgradable and compatible with the new firmwares, in time. So if that is the case, even this card will be for you and I advise you to buy one if that comes true.

Regardless the games you are waiting for probably don't come out till later this year so even then $80 and you get to play everything that can be payable with the gateway sounds fine.

I agree I don't think you guys should have your hopes too high because not even gateway themselves know IF THERE could be any fixes/upgrades to the card. They can't promise anything and even if they do something's can't just be done.
If they don't do an update then their sales might be low or they might still sell a lot if they say "yes will update it soon" and then just don't update it at all and say it wasn't possible. I mean they got nothing to lose at this point other than time investing on the product making it work... once they have cash in I mean.

We will just have to wait and see, and pray they can manage to update it for compatibility with 6.x.x

 

[stephysanrio]

I wonder how would it be possible to update a gateway card anyway (IF they do come up with an update for it to work on 6.0)

 

[WhiteMaze]

I wonder how would it be possible to update a gateway card anyway (IF they do come up with an update for it to work on 6.0)

I have no idea..

 

[Rydian]

*looks at first post*
but GBATemp getting a review sample kinda makes it real

But you can't get it, so you can't play 3DS ROMs.

When you can play 3DS ROMs, the answer in the sticky will change.

The situation has not yet changed, so the sticky will not.

 

[Klobasica]

WTF...In stock

http://www.power-up.nl/index.php/nintendo-3ds/gateway-3ds-1/gateway-3ds.html

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Read the description, it says it has a rolling shipping date, earliest is early July.


---


It means they are already doing preorders but will not ship.

 

[Rydian]

WTF...In stock

Chinese/import shops lie about stock all the time. See the EZ-Flash discontinuation for a great example. All the sites still listed it as in-stock, then they found out they couldn't order it on-demand anymore and lots of shops had to cancel orders to tell customers it would actually be another month until they could get it.

 

[idane]

I wonder how would it be possible to update a gateway card anyway (IF they do come up with an update for it to work on 6.0)

Actually there are quite a few ways to do something like this. They could have a DS mode updater like many current cards, maybe do it using a JTAG programmer or something similar and maybe even simply have a simply USB adapter which allows flashing from the PC.

Fact of the matter is, there are plenty of ways to update - that's not really the issue. The more interesting thing is that they said that some aspects will be updgrable. If this means that some of the code is on a ROM that can't be rewritten then it might mean that upgradability would be limited. Another factor might be the actual space that can be used for their code - if they don't have enough flash/eeprom/whatev storage space, we may be limited simply because they dont have the space for it.

Right now the smartest thing anyone can tell you is that it's all guesswork. We'll know how it would be updated as soon as someone receives it for review, since not showing that you at least have the infrastructure for it would definitely have an impact on the review, even if there isn't an actual update yet. I really suggest we all just sit tight and wait for the actual product to be out in the wild, so that people give factual answers and not theorize about it.

On a side note, you can be certain of one thing - once it's out, there will be more within a few months at most, which will likely offer at least the same feature set for a lower price, and will quite likely start addressing issues that the gateway may have so as to have a good selling point. This was seen in all additional HW based modding solutions, the most recent being the PS3 with the insane number of "jailbreak" dongles released before CFW came along. You can even look to the X360 where there are a variaty of mod types, from simple drive mods to replacing the DVD drive with an ext. USB HDD to JTAG/RGH, with many variaties of many of these.

My suggestion - be patient - we'll all find out soon enough

 

[Riku]

I wonder how would it be possible to update a gateway card anyway (IF they do come up with an update for it to work on 6.0)

Look at DSTwo. It have bootloader, which looking in SD card for specific update file (and compare version if any found) before launching actual code. All done by FPGA itself, it just requires some power from cartridge slot.

 

[Quicksilver88]

It really all comes down to what type of company they want to be and how long they want to be in the market. They may be a flash in the pan in which case it will likely never get expanded features or updated for new 3DS firmware. If this happens then it is what it is which is a temporary solution that will let you play a large library that is out now without updating past 5.1.x......If they want to keep selling the thing then they have thought ahead and it will have some flash capability either thru a file on the sdcard, a usb trigger cable (like m3), or a usb flash dongle for the PC. Won't matter because no matter what gateway does (flash in the pan or better) other better known and established companies will reverse engineer it and make an improved/cheaper product. If there is never a true 3DS crack then I could very well see Supercard or another established company making some type of 3DS/DS card that you could play both roms, us DS mode for homebrew and a 3DS save/rom managing application or OS.

I ordered gateway and I think with the number of 'known' and fairly reputable mod suppliers that are offering this thing there is a pretty good chance it is real and will make it to market. It is interesting that they are teasing feature like upgradeability, 6.x compatibility and save/restore functionality. Why not just come clean and leak or tell us what it can do? Usually when companies obscure its because they don't want to tell you its limitations and want people preodering before they let them down. A few more weeks and all will be known.

 

[totalnoob617]

Actually there are quite a few ways to do something like this. They could have a DS mode updater like many current cards, maybe do it using a JTAG programmer or something similar and maybe even simply have a simply USB adapter which allows flashing from the PC.

Fact of the matter is, there are plenty of ways to update - that's not really the issue. The more interesting thing is that they said that some aspects will be updgrable. If this means that some of the code is on a ROM that can't be rewritten then it might mean that upgradability would be limited. Another factor might be the actual space that can be used for their code - if they don't have enough flash/eeprom/whatev storage space, we may be limited simply because they dont have the space for it.

Right now the smartest thing anyone can tell you is that it's all guesswork. We'll know how it would be updated as soon as someone receives it for review, since not showing that you at least have the infrastructure for it would definitely have an impact on the review, even if there isn't an actual update yet. I really suggest we all just sit tight and wait for the actual product to be out in the wild, so that people give factual answers and not theorize about it.

On a side note, you can be certain of one thing - once it's out, there will be more within a few months at most, which will likely offer at least the same feature set for a lower price, and will quite likely start addressing issues that the gateway may have so as to have a good selling point. This was seen in all additional HW based modding solutions, the most recent being the PS3 with the insane number of "jailbreak" dongles released before CFW came along. You can even look to the X360 where there are a variaty of mod types, from simple drive mods to replacing the DVD drive with an ext. USB HDD to JTAG/RGH, with many variaties of many of these.

My suggestion - be patient - we'll all find out soon enough

well maybe ,or maybe not, cobra team for the ps3 was able to come out with a dongle that could do things no other dongle was able to do and that no dongle has been able to do since, nobody has released a clone or public method of doing what the cobra dongle does in the same way cobra does it ,they came out of nowhere and have done amazing things and have totally delivered on their promises of supporting their devices and then some, it could go either way i guess, but im not sure if gateway can use some form of DRM like cobra used on their dongle that would prevent other teams from easily cloning their work ,as for the TB dongle i think the cloning of that device was more political than technical ,someone got pissed off or there was some sort of falling out and someone leaked their secret, the DRM i dont think was broken by the cloners, the original jailbreak though was not not protected and was reversed and let out for free by mathieul (psgroove)
about gateway ds mode i think the team said it dont have a ds mode , but i am guessing that they are referring to it being able to function as a ds mode card to run roms and homebrew, im not sure if that means no ds mode period for updates and a manager ,but i assume that it does mean zero functionality in DS mode, which would mean additional hardware is likely needed like a r4 sav dongle or some other usb device to update,