Hacking Gateway, Retail 3DS carts, and their updates

[dafatkid27]

Hey guys-

Long time temp-er, first time Gateway-er. I just bought a Gateway in anticipation of the 9.2 release. I have 9.2 on my 3DS XL, complete with the update nag. But I have a few questions, because this sysnand/emunand/update stuff is very confusing and I can't find a straight answer in my searches.


1) I have retail carts for games like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Smash (and many others) with save progress. However, I haven't been able to download their latest eShop updates (I have 1.0.3 and need 1.0.4 for Smash, and I believe there's an update for Ruby I need) since it asks me to update before accessing the eshop.

Will I be able to download these updates once I have emunand working to access the eshop? And will I still be able to play those retail carts online without issue? One thread mentioned something about wiping my progress but I couldn't tell what applied.

2) Some threads were describing emunand as a "clean slate" - what happens to all of the Virtual Console and 3DSware games that I have purchased and have progress on?

I think that's all the questions I have for now. Thanks in advance, and sorry for my noobiness.

 

[CamelSnus]

1. If emunand is supported in the upcoming gateway update then yes you will be able to get the update files from the eshop, however if there is no emunand and you still want to grab the updates you can find a .cia dump of the update and install that.
2. Emunand when first set up is a copy of your system nand therefor all your games and saves should be intact, but if you format your emunand through the 3ds system menu it will be a "clean slate" and you system nand will no longer be linked to your emunand.

 

[dafatkid27]

Cool, thanks for the explanations! I was worried there for a bit but that is very reassuring. It sounds like Emunand clones and impersonates my Sysnand, so all further purchases and updates and downloads are done through there. A couple more quick Qs then:

1) When you mention grabbing the .cia dump of the updates- I assume that installs to Emunand as opposed to Sysnand? Though you mentioned that that would be in the scenario where Emunand is not supported... I'm confused here.
2) Would there ever be a reason to boot back into Sysnand?
3) All of my purchases through the Emunand eshop link back to my NNID, so I could theoretically in the future re-download them to my old Sysnand?
4) Assuming 3) were to happen for whatever reason, can I transfer the saves of my Emunand eshop downloads back to the Sysnand?

 

[CamelSnus]

Cool, thanks for the explanations! I was worried there for a bit but that is very reassuring. It sounds like Emunand clones and impersonates my Sysnand, so all further purchases and updates and downloads are done through there. A couple more quick Qs then:

1) When you mention grabbing the .cia dump of the updates- I assume that installs to Emunand as opposed to Sysnand? Though you mentioned that that would be in the scenario where Emunand is not supported... I'm confused here.
2) Would there ever be a reason to boot back into Sysnand?
3) All of my purchases through the Emunand eshop link back to my NNID, so I could theoretically in the future re-download them to my old Sysnand?
4) Assuming 3) were to happen for whatever reason, can I transfer the saves of my Emunand eshop downloads back to the Sysnand?

1. Yes the cia dump will install on the emunand, but if you get the update from the eshop within emunand it will also "install" on system nand (the update is stored on the system sd card). From the looks of it(gateway teaser video) the new gateway update might not have emunand yet.

2. Yes if you have an ambassador 3DS then you will need to be in system nand to play the GBA games. As gateway does not run them yet. Other then that no.

3. Yes I redownloaded my ambassador games from emunand and it works on my system nand, but you not be able to play those games. (As I was just testing my VC games loaded fine on system nand but my SSB was removed from system nand. Not sure if its because that game was transfered from my other console.)

4. My saves from my VC games transferred between sysnand and emunand.

 

[dafatkid27]

Excellent. Thanks again, really!

I just found this in another thread: "Anything you purchase from emuNAND will only be playable in emuNAND, though. Not only because of firmware compatibility, but because of download tickets." Is this still true? If so it basically sounds like once I go Gateway, I shouldn't purchase eshop games legitimately anymore, unless I decide to stop using Gateway.

 

[CamelSnus]

Excellent. Thanks again, really!

I just found this in another thread: "Anything you purchase from emuNAND will only be playable in emuNAND, though. Not only because of firmware compatibility, but because of download tickets." Is this still true? If so it basically sounds like once I go Gateway, I shouldn't purchase eshop games legitimately anymore, unless I decide to stop using Gateway.

Yes it is true, as I was testing it seemed like my VC games worked on both but not my other eshop titles (SSB and Fantasy Life) I had on my emunand. You could buy from eshop with your emunand but if you do just make back ups of your emunand. I would say dont buy anything from eshop unless you plan to continue using gateway.

 

[dafatkid27]

Cool, good to know. Thanks a ton for the personalized help!