Thank Cyan too. My idea was to create a thread strictly based on downgrading with information to determine who could and could not downgrade their 3DS. and a way to keep others from bricking. all I did was create a tutorial and follow the first 20 pages for downgrade confirmations. Cyan has kept the first post organized and up to date since around page 20, I come in here and there and update little things, but Cyan has kept it nice and tighty.lol
Could someone help me with understanding the procedures before downgrading? I have read alot of contradictory information and am rather confused. I have played a few games on 9.4 emunand and a legit Fantasy Life cart on sysnand 9.2. I am not worried about losing my fantasy life saves, but I want to ensure that eshop and my rom saves on emunand are kept working. Do I:
1. format sysnand, log in with NNID again then downgrade,
2. simply downgrade to 4.5 without formatting anything OR
3. format sysnand, downgrade to 4.5 WITHOUT logging in with my NNID?
Thanks in advance
I didn't unlink my sysNAND at all. I did a straight downgrade. just back up your SD card with all your rom saves and you should be fine. the downside is that some cartridge game saves will not work with the sysNAND on 4.5 due to a different encryption. when the 3DS loads sysNAND it keeps that save encryption even when you go into emuNAND so most games (pokemon for example) will not load the save data and will show it as corrupt. I downgraded briefly and then used my backup NAND to reinstall to sysNAND 9.2 because I wanted my pokemon game saves to work. so your answer is 2.
Thanks, that was all I needed to know. I am aware of the issues regarding retail game saves but I think that I am willing to forgo some saves for now.
I'm having a little problem understanding this part:
What about savegames? - Game cartridge using 6.x keyY played in SysNAND will not be compatible after downgrade to 4.5 SysNAND. (different encryption)
- Game cartridge using 6.x KeyY played in emuNAND will not work on downgraded console's EmuNAND (Classic mode emuNAND use correct Savegame KeyY on 9.x)
- ROM's savegames should be compatibile with any system version.
ROM using 6.x KeyY played on SysNAND or EmuNAND use the same encryption method (pre-6x method) even when SysNAND is 6+
- Installed games/eShop games and their savegames are still present and working.
* Pokemon and Smash Bros are reported having issues and corrupted savegames.
Still unclear which method the users used to play them before downgrade.
I have a GW card on the way and I have 2 3ds XL, both with 9.2 sysnand, and have about 20 retail games and a couple of eshop games:
Zelda OoT
Mario 3DS
Lugis Mansion
Zelda ALBW
MH3U
Lego City
Shin Megami Tensei 4
Castlevania
Bravely Default
Metal Gear
Resident Evil
Shinobi
Fire Emblem
Lego Marvel
Transformers Prime
And a couple of older ones.
Some of them I want to keep my saves, some of them I don't care.
Can I copy them to GW and continue my progress?
If Can't continue on GW, can I keep my progress on the retail cart?
If neither of those are available, playing the game on GW is possible if I restart the save?
Can I play Online with the copy of my legally bought games on GW?
I preordered MH4U, will I be able to play online with my cart and/or GW?
Thank you for any help.
What about savegames? - Game cartridge using 6.x keyY played in SysNAND will not be compatible after downgrade to 4.5 SysNAND. (different encryption)
- Game cartridge using 6.x KeyY played in emuNAND will not work on downgraded console's EmuNAND (Classic mode emuNAND use correct Savegame KeyY on 9.x)
- ROM's savegames should be compatibile with any system version.
ROM using 6.x KeyY played on SysNAND or EmuNAND use the same encryption method (pre-6x method) even when SysNAND is 6+
- Installed games/eShop games and their savegames are still present and working.
* Pokemon and Smash Bros are reported having issues and corrupted savegames.
Still unclear which method the users used to play them before downgrade.
I have a GW card on the way and I have 2 3ds XL, both with 9.2 sysnand, and have about 20 retail games and a couple of eshop games:
Zelda OoT
Mario 3DS
Lugis Mansion
Zelda ALBW
MH3U
Lego City
Shin Megami Tensei 4
Castlevania
Bravely Default
Metal Gear
Resident Evil
Shinobi
Fire Emblem
Lego Marvel
Transformers Prime
And a couple of older ones.
Some of them I want to keep my saves, some of them I don't care.
Can I copy them to GW and continue my progress?
If Can't continue on GW, can I keep my progress on the retail cart?
If neither of those are available, playing the game on GW is possible if I restart the save?
Can I play Online with the copy of my legally bought games on GW?
I preordered MH4U, will I be able to play online with my cart and/or GW?
Thank you for any help.
So sad how 2DS user (including me) can't downgrade it cause either noone has done it yet or its not able to. 
1. You can back them up with GW and some saves may work, most probably not. Remember it is not just an encryption issue. If the game passes that hurdle you also have the save size incompatibily to deal with.
2. Yes. You boot into GW Classic mode and your carts will work just fine.
3. Moot. But yes you can restart new saves if you back up them up. You can do both methods simultaneously. Example my boys have Pokemon x and Y carts. Now they can switch versions on the GW. They can now have two separate copies of Animal Crossing (something about now the other one can be the Mayor)
4.Yes you can. If you make the dumps from your carts you will not need to inject a header. Change the extension to .3dz
5. MH4U, most likely either or both methods. No promises becuase we don't have the NA version in the wild yet.
Bottom Line: if your cart saves are important you will have to continue to use those. Bummer, I was hoping to make $200 selling mine.
1. You can back them up with GW and some saves may work, most probably not. Remember it is not just an encryption issue. If the game passes that hurdle you also have the save size incompatibily to deal with.
2. Yes. You boot into GW Classic mode and your carts will work just fine.
3. Moot. But yes you can restart new saves if you back up them up. You can do both methods simultaneously. Example my boys have Pokemon x and Y carts. Now they can switch versions on the GW. They can now have two separate copies of Animal Crossing (something about now the other one can be the Mayor)
4.Yes you can. If you make the dumps from your carts you will not need to inject a header. Change the extension to .3dz
5. MH4U, most likely either or both methods. No promises becuase we don't have the NA version in the wild yet.
Bottom Line: if your cart saves are important you will have to continue to use those. Bummer, I was hoping to make $200 selling mine.
Thank you for your response, it cleared it up to me. I'll backup games that works and keep the carts that don't. What wasn't clear to me was that the retail carts worked.
Just to clarify, the retail carts will work in GW Classic mode if you stay on higher sysnand firmware. If you downgrade to 4.x the saves (most) will not.
I downgraded successfully. from 9.2U to 4.2U on my aqua blue Nintendo 3DS original Firmware 1.0U
What if you downgrade to sysnand 4.5 and emunand 9.4. Will game backups save work on GW if you restart the save, losing your progress of course? Or they just not work altogether?
New saves will work fine. It is just the ones that were used on higher firmware that will not. When you start the game you generally will get a "save is corrupted, making new save" message.
It is safe to use a game cart (SSB) to update to 8.1. Just disable wifi when doing it to be safe. You cannot update to anything but the latest firmware online.
I apologize if I'm asking anything that's already been asked a hundred times which seems all too likely, but please help me out.
1. What are the risks of downgrading without a Gateway as opposed to with?
2. Is there a way to backup and restore StreetPass data?
1. What are the risks of downgrading without a Gateway as opposed to with?
2. Is there a way to backup and restore StreetPass data?
1)the risks are no different
2)as far as I know, there is not
3) remember that most of your cartridge saves will not work properly on anything below 6.x if you played your games on a firmware above that
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