Hacking gateway to hell

Abcdfv

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Fixed that for you. Randomly changing the Launcher will not cause a brick. Try it!
Editing the launcher causes the sanity checks to fail triggering the brick code.

But I'd love to hear about what modifications you've made to the gateway launcher. Anything good?
 

GameSystem

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If you have ONLY a gateway card and never used a clone card, you will be fine. Even if by some chance your 3DS bricks, Gateway will replace your system, as they have for the 2-3 people who somehow got bricked in the past who used legitimate cards.

Or better yet, just get CFW because it's free.

*insert rage post that totally derails the thread to throw rocks at you because you agree about "walmart" pissing on your groceries after they saw you the other day shopping at "target" for the best deals*

A better comparison would be Coca Cola putting poison in their formula that deactivates when it comes into contact with their own aluminum cans. Then, a rival soda company steals the formula, and so they can sell for less, doesn't use the right aluminum to deactivate the poison. Now the customer gets food poisoning and blames Coke for putting poison in their product even though it doesn't affect Coke buyers and Coke warned people that other companies didn't use the right can to prevent the poison and you were putting yourself at risk.
 

upfromtheskies

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First of all, I don't think anyone has confirmed that there is a bricking code in the latest Gateway update. The reason people are assuming that there is one is because Gateway posted this message on their website about flash carts, such as the DSTwo+, that emulate the Gateway cart and are basically bootleg Gateway carts:

"We have noticed some serious and dangerous flaws in an unofficial Gateway emulation plugin,
and we strongly urge to cease using this plugin and only use GENUINE Gateway! You have been warned!"

Apparently Gateway has used bricking codes in the past to deter people from using knock-off Gateway carts, and a few people using official Gateway carts were bricked, however Gateway did replace their 3DS.
 

ground

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So what present age of chance is there that I'll brick my 3ds now that we have found out they are bricking cards again?
Will using a custom header/region free fix increase the chance of bricking?
Why did I have to find out about this just after I ordered it
As long as you use a original GW flashcard the changes should be small,

BUT, the brick code still gets loaded in the system, and thus might be executed by accident (like their old brickcode, the changes are small, but there is always a change that a bug/glitch jumps to that specific code). I personally would think it is better to use cfw as long as the brick code is in their launcher.
 
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honyo29

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First of all, I don't think anyone has confirmed that there is a bricking code in the latest Gateway update. The reason people are assuming that there is one is because Gateway posted this message on their website about flash carts, such as the DSTwo+, that emulate the Gateway cart and are basically bootleg Gateway carts:

"We have noticed some serious and dangerous flaws in an unofficial Gateway emulation plugin,
and we strongly urge to cease using this plugin and only use GENUINE Gateway! You have been warned!"

Apparently Gateway has used bricking codes in the past to deter people from using knock-off Gateway carts, and a few people using official Gateway carts were bricked, however Gateway did replace their 3DS.
there is a brick report after using ds2+ somewhere on this forum.
 

mashers

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it attempts to brick your system. Totally understandable,
Are you serious? You really think it's OK to brick a user's console in this situation? If Gateway are able to detect that their launcher is being used with a different flash cart then they should just prevent it from launching in that situation. An error page could explain that the Gateway software is only compatible with Gateway cards. Destroying the customer's property is utterly deplorable and there is no excuse for it. If Gateway feel that their IP has been infringed upon then they should follow the legal process by issuing a cease and desist to the makers of the DSTWO+. This is absolutely not the user's responsibility.

I for one will NEVER use a gateway product because of this.
 

Queno138

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If Gateway are able to detect that their launcher is being used with a different flash cart then they should just prevent it from launching in that situation. An error page could explain that the Gateway software is only compatible with Gateway cards.

For all you know, GW launcher had that functionality, but SuperCard deleted it, along with other checks.

For all we know, bricking might be the very last option in their mind.
Then again, there have only been 2 bricks (if the number hasn't climbed), so it is not confirmed.

Destroying the customer's property is utterly deplorable and there is no excuse for it
I agree.

However,
As long as my product works and it doesn't harm me because I wasn't being a smartass with it, I couldn't care more.

[I tend to not upgrade my GW ware beyond 'safe' versions]
 

mashers

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For all you know, GW launcher had that functionality, but SuperCard deleted it, along with other checks.

For all we know, bricking might be the very last option in their mind.
You're right, I don't know. And as a user, it's not my responsibility to know or care how Gateway protects its intellectual property. It is, however, Gateway's responsibility as a manufacturer to ensure that their product does not cause damage to my property, either through negligently producing a substandard product, or by deliberately introducing a 'feature' which has the potential to brick my console.
 

SirByte

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GW isn't really in a position to issue C&D letters for copyright infringement; having a legal representative would expose them to more potential harm than good. That being said, there are many ways to deal with the issue other than disabling someone's device. I'd prefer a splash screen with a "marketing message", but if you want to do evil, just abuse the update function of the DSTwo+ and non-destructively disable it. User will have to reprogram the FPGA to get it working again, which is annoying enough for both user and the DSTwo+ supply chain.
Disclosure: happy "old" DSTWO for DS/Emu/Homebrew and GW user.

Edit: if SC can edit out the splash screen, they can edit out the brick code.
 
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Queno138

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You're right, I don't know. And as a user, it's not my responsibility to know or care how Gateway protects its intellectual property. It is, however, Gateway's responsibility as a manufacturer to ensure that their product does not cause damage to my property, either through negligently producing a substandard product, or by deliberately introducing a 'feature' which has the potential to brick my console.

While they have a responsibility, who is to ensure they will adhere to it.
I mean, at the first place, all flashcarts are illegal to begin with.

It is entirely desired to have a product that will not brick our console,
but I'll say at the end of the day, we created this demand.

Unless everyone comes together to boycott Gateway, we are at their mercy.

If you wanna enjoy the features (which is, to an extent, available with other products), take the risk.

At the same time, if SuperCard wants to release a flashcart using other people's work,
its their responsibility to make sure it's safe.
 

mashers

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GW isn't really in a position to issue C&D letters for copyright infringement; having a legal representative would expose them to more potential harm than good.
Tough shit. If a company wants to produce a product which is legally indefensible then that is a risk they have to take. Destroying the end user's property in order to mitigate those risks simply shows that we are talking about a company which places its own gain over all else.
 

gamesquest1

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Tough shit. If a company wants to produce a product which is legally indefensible then that is a risk they have to take. Destroying the end user's property in order to mitigate those risks simply shows that we are talking about a company which places its own gain over all else.
are we talking about supercard as well now as they also willingly chose to clone a company known to brick consoles of people using clones, they willingly sent their users to the chopping block so they could turn a profit without doing any work

as shitty as gateway are none of this would be a problem if supercard knew what they were doing and knocked up their own FW, i mean most of the work has been done for them now, its like having someone elses answer sheet in front of you all you have to do is rewite it in your own words, but instead they cant even be bothered to do that they would instead scribble out the owner name and write their name on it rather than spend a few mins rewriting it
 
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marksteele

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Tough shit. If a company wants to produce a product which is legally indefensible then that is a risk they have to take. Destroying the end user's property in order to mitigate those risks simply shows that we are talking about a company which places its own gain over all else.

What you fail to understand is you are NOT a gateway user when you use a knockoff, why would they give a damn about you? Gateway backs proper gateway users.

I mean this would be like getting mad at Nintendo for banning you from their online services because you started hacking with a pirated game.

You took the risk after gateway said not to and that's that, if you had actually researched rather than going "shiny thing" and buying it then there would never be a problem.

If anything we should boycott those who have the despicable practice of ripping off other flashcards. These things take a LONG time to develop and they have every right to put whatever they want in THEIR code.
 
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RednaxelaNnamtra

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Maybe its a real bug inside of the gateway emulation of supercard, most people don't know what is done when the launcher is checking for the Gateway card, maybe a little part of code is loaded from there, which causes the brick using the dstwo.
 
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Editing the launcher causes the sanity checks to fail triggering the brick code.

But I'd love to hear about what modifications you've made to the gateway launcher. Anything good?

I tried it. Modifying a handful of random bytes in the launcher does not brick. It will just hang.

Some devs said they check a SHA1 hash before continuing. If the SHA1 hash fails, the launcher will hang, not brick. If you modify the SHA1 hash so that the launcher continues, then you get a chance of bricking.
There are probably multiple SHA1 hashes, and I can imagine it being something like this:

if hash 1 fails => hang
if hash 2 fails => brick

It's a safeguard against corrupted files while still allowing bricking for malicious modifications
 

mashers

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What you fail to understand is you are NOT a gateway user when you use a knockoff,
I understand that entirely. I just don't think that this absolves Gateway of responsibility for deliberately placing code which bricks consoles. Add code which prevents knock-off cards from working with their firmware? Sure, of course that's a sensible business move. But bricking the console itself is spiteful and unnecessary, and shows contempt not for the people making the knockoffs but for the console users.

why would they give a damn about you? Gateway backs proper gateway users.
Because I might otherwise be a Gateway user in the future. If I bought a knockoff card to use with Gateway's firmware and got an error message that the knockoff card isn't supported, I would think "silly me, shouldn't have bought the knockoff, better buy a Gateway." This means more sales for Gateway, But if, instead, Gateway chose to make my console unusable, I would think "fuck Gateway" and be sure never to become a Gateway customer.

they have every right to put whatever they want in THEIR code.
Maybe, maybe not. But I don't agree that it's the right thing to do under any circumstances.
 
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marksteele

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I understand that entirely. I just don't think that this absolves Gateway of responsibility for deliberately placing code which bricks consoles. Add code which prevents knock-off cards from working with their firmware? Sure, of course that's a sensible business move. But bricking the console itself is spiteful and unnecessary, and shows contempt not for the people making the knockoffs but for the console users.


Because I might otherwise be a Gateway user in the future. If I bought a knockoff card to use with Gateway's firmware and got an error message that the knockoff card isn't supported, I would think "silly me, shouldn't have bought the knockoff, better buy a Gateway." This means more sales for Gateway, But if, instead, Gateway chose to make my console unusable, I would think "fuck Gateway" and be sure never to become a Gateway customer.


Maybe, maybe not. But I don't agree that it's the right thing to do under any circumstances.

Realistically we're dealing with people who are so cheap that they want to pirate games rather than buy them....odds are if it didn't brick consoles people would try their absolute best to break through the error message so they can continue to use the knockoffs
 
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Because I might otherwise be a Gateway user in the future. If I bought a knockoff card to use with Gateway's firmware and got an error message that the knockoff card isn't supported, I would think "silly me, shouldn't have bought the knockoff, better buy a Gateway." This means more sales for Gateway, But if, instead, Gateway chose to make my console unusable, I would think "fuck Gateway" and be sure never to become a Gateway customer.

Did you ever consider Gateway doesn't care about you in particular? If you get bricked, you tell people about it.

Rather, it's a message to future DSTWO+ buyers.

You are just collateral damage to get the message across
 

gamesquest1

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Realistically we're dealing with people who are so cheap that they want to pirate games rather than buy them....odds are if it didn't brick consoles people would try their absolute best to break through the error message so they can continue to use the knockoffs
yep we seen the same thing with the previous clones when gateway added the lesser know save delete and game ejector code, i dont think i seen a single person say "awww darnit i gone bought a clone, i best go buy one of those new ginuiwine gateway cards!".....no the response was more of a "YEAH GO R4 YOU CAN DO IT DISABLE THEIR CRAPPY PROTECTION! WE CAN WAIT>>>>>HAHAHA CLONES 4 LIFE!"
 

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