- Joined
- Jan 7, 2014
- Messages
- 14,600
- Trophies
- 4
- Location
- Another World
- Website
- www.gbatemp.net
- XP
- 25,217
- Country
Hacking I'm an absolute amateur and I'm way over my head with the Gateway 3DS
- Thread starter VandalCrown
- Start date
- Views 5,052
- Replies 50
I
I'm so sorry if these questions are annoying. How do I know if it's a .cia rom? Are they TOP SECRET? Ah, I'm so sorry, don't hit me.
But seriously, I have to find .cia roms and not use .3ds roms? Is that tricky to do? Augh. My knowledge is so limited.
I'm so sorry if these questions are annoying. How do I know if it's a .cia rom? Are they TOP SECRET? Ah, I'm so sorry, don't hit me.
But seriously, I have to find .cia roms and not use .3ds roms? Is that tricky to do? Augh. My knowledge is so limited.
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2014
- Messages
- 14,600
- Trophies
- 4
- Location
- Another World
- Website
- www.gbatemp.net
- XP
- 25,217
- Country
"cia roms are installable games to the 3ds sd card. those are pretty easy to find with google. One advantage is that you won't need the gateway to launch them, and online is safe.
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2014
- Messages
- 14,600
- Trophies
- 4
- Location
- Another World
- Website
- www.gbatemp.net
- XP
- 25,217
- Country
I wonder why everyone doesn't use them? How do they protect from bans? Golly.
New question: Is the fact that I'm 9.5 the reason why I can't access Gateway through their website? Or is that another issue?
New question: Is the fact that I'm 9.5 the reason why I can't access Gateway through their website? Or is that another issue?
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2014
- Messages
- 14,600
- Trophies
- 4
- Location
- Another World
- Website
- www.gbatemp.net
- XP
- 25,217
- Country
Gateway only work from 4.0 to 9.2. Above firmware aren't supported.
And about .cia. A lot of people use them, I'm not sure where you are going at
Basically, a .3ds rom use a publich online header, which is the same for everyone. A personnal dump have a private header, which is unique to all carts.
.cia are using the 3ds itself as an header, so it won't be banned since it's somehow unique.
Thank you so much, I'll only use .cia then.
When you say Gateway don't work, do you mean going in through the website, or do you mean the anything? Like, is the reason why it won't work because you need be at 9.2 to access the website through the 3DS in order to start the process?
o_o;;
When you say Gateway don't work, do you mean going in through the website, or do you mean the anything? Like, is the reason why it won't work because you need be at 9.2 to access the website through the 3DS in order to start the process?
o_o;;
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2014
- Messages
- 14,600
- Trophies
- 4
- Location
- Another World
- Website
- www.gbatemp.net
- XP
- 25,217
- Country
9.2 is the maximum firmware supported to get the hack working. anything above 9.2 wouldn't work, period.
Whoops. The hidden nut is out. Sorry my friend, my infos are misleadingYou can't downgrade on 9.5. System has to be 9.2 or lower. So sadly, yes, there's nothing you can do with your unit with Gateway. Sky3DS is your only option.
GW's page says:
- Works on 2DS, 3DS & 3DS XL (Firmware 4.1-9.2)
Sorry it's not what you want to hear
.
Last edited by CosmicMeteor,
Don't worry about asking too many questions. Asking questions is how we learn. There are a lot of guides and such available, but they can be very difficult to understand when you haven't learned the basics yet.
The exploit Gateway uses to be able to run its launcher using the browser is fixed in System Versions past 9.2, which means you don't have any way into the system right now. Until another bug is found that allows access to the system, your 3DS is not exploitable in any way. For this specific 3DS, your only option is a Sky3DS, since it works in a different manner, but it doesn't have as many features. You could sell your system and buy another one, to get one on a lower System Version. You cannot downgrade your system even with a hardware modification, because you would have to have a backup of your specific 3DS while it was on a lower System Version. (A backup is tied to a specific 3DS, trying to restore a backup from another 3DS will brick it.) Since you are past 9.2, there is no available exploit, so it's not just Gateway you're locked out of. Of which you are locked out. Of which out locked you... are...? (I've been playing too much Kingdom of Loathing...)
.cia (CTR Importable Archive) files are like .wad files from the Wii. They're a package that contains a title and instructions on where it installs (usually to the system SD card, but some install to internal memory). Generally, anything you would grab off the eShop is available in .cia format, and when installed, works the same way. If it's a game or app, you get an icon on your home screen. If it's DLC or something, you won't get an icon, but it'll be there. These are installed with a title manager such as Big Blue Box, DevMenu, FBI, and others. The downside is that they take up space on your System SD card and can be a hassle to install/remove, but it's a fairly minor downside, probably. (I quickly ran out of space when I was using the 4GB card that came with my system, but I upgraded that to a 32GB card.)
Games have a header that includes a Card ID. Every retail game has a unique Card ID. If the same Card ID is used to play online multiple times at once, Nintendo will ban the systems using it. When you download a .3ds rom, it won't have a unique Card ID, it'll have the same header that everyone who downloads it has. (This is why it's called a "public header", because the information in it is public.) To solve that, you can extract a header from a retail game that you own, and use the header from that to give your roms a unique Card ID. It doesn't matter if you use the same ID in different games, just that the same ID is never online in two places at the same time. This means that you can use the header from one game with every rom you use. (Since only you have access to that header, it's a "private header".) .cia games installed to the system do not have headers, they use the console's ID as their unique ID, which is why they don't have to worry about headers.
I hope this helps you get started. Sorry if some of it came out a little awkward. If you still have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll be happy to answer them as best I can.
Here's step 1... Get a 3ds with a firmware of 9.2 or below. Any original 3DS or 3DS XL that is brand new will be that firmware or below. Or if you want used, you can check on ebay by typing "3ds console firmware" and it'll show you consoles that advertise their firmware.
You can offset the cost by selling your current 3DS if you want. Worry about everything else when the time comes. It's actually pretty easy to use the Gateway once you get the hang of it. So don't be discouraged!
You can offset the cost by selling your current 3DS if you want. Worry about everything else when the time comes. It's actually pretty easy to use the Gateway once you get the hang of it. So don't be discouraged!
Man, you guys are great. Thank you for all the support so far.
So I'm sitting in a Tim Horton's (I'm Canadian), I have a 3DS XL sysNAND on 9.2 and I finally got into Gateway mode to do a nand backup! I'm here! I have my foot in the door!
But now I'm really confused. I'm now trying to downgrade my system to 4.5 (I'm not even really sure why I have to do this lol), but everytime I press that button, it shows up as fatal error. I'm reading around and apparently it's because this 3DS has never updated through wifi. I'm not entirely sure what that means, or where to go from here.
After I downgrade, I want to figure out how to load gateway without needing wifi, and then get started on downloading some great games. I hope I can figure something out - I was really excited when gateway mode popped in. I'll wait here for a bit and see if anyone responds.
So I'm sitting in a Tim Horton's (I'm Canadian), I have a 3DS XL sysNAND on 9.2 and I finally got into Gateway mode to do a nand backup! I'm here! I have my foot in the door!
But now I'm really confused. I'm now trying to downgrade my system to 4.5 (I'm not even really sure why I have to do this lol), but everytime I press that button, it shows up as fatal error. I'm reading around and apparently it's because this 3DS has never updated through wifi. I'm not entirely sure what that means, or where to go from here.
After I downgrade, I want to figure out how to load gateway without needing wifi, and then get started on downloading some great games. I hope I can figure something out - I was really excited when gateway mode popped in. I'll wait here for a bit and see if anyone responds.
Well, for one don't update it over Wi-Fi, or at all really, unless you're 120% certain you're in Gateway's EmuNAND. If that makes no sense, then for now take that as just don't.
The downgrade is what you'd need to run Gateway without Wi-Fi (technicality notwithstanding) so getting that going would help.
Without more info I can't personally say more as I'm not versed in Gateway logic, but perhaps someone else may understand without more detail.
Before you downgrade, you need to backup your NAND. I bet that's why it isn't working. There's an option in the menu that says "Backup sysNAND" so do that first. Then drag that to your PC and leave it there. Then put all the downgrade files on your 3DS and downgrade it.
Actually... if you need a visual aid, I made a video on how to do it step by step which you can see here.
Actually... if you need a visual aid, I made a video on how to do it step by step which you can see here.
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 15,144
- Trophies
- 0
- Location
- Canberra, Australia
- Website
- boot9strap.com
- XP
- 11,119
- Country
If you don't know why you're downgrading, then I wouldn't bother. If you either have an Android phone (can install an app that lets you access he exploit without needing Internet), or another kind of phone that can act as an Internet hotspot, then you don't need to downgrade. It is a lot of trouble for not a huge amount of gain.
The downgrade is to allow you to access Gateway Mode without needing to use the browser exploit.
When you say "press that button", do you mean the Downgrade option in the Gateway Launcher menu? If so, is there anything in the message that might explain what the error is? If not, exactly what steps are you using? The only thing I can think of that would need a wifi update would be the browser exploit, but if you can get to the Launcher menu, that's not the issue.
You mentioned having made a NAND backup. Did you copy that backup to your computer? If you perform "Setup Emunand", it will format your card and delete all files on it. I would recommend doing "Setup Emunand" before downgrading, personally.
I'm not sure exactly what steps you've taken, so here's the steps I would do if I was starting from scratch:
- Back up Sysnand
- Copy NAND.BIN to your computer or other safe spot, possibly with a name that includes the date the backup was made or something.
- From the Launcher menu, select Setup Emunand. This will copy the current 9.2 System Version to the emuNand partition, as well as copy everything you have saved in sysNand.
- Copy NAND.BIN back to the SD card, along with the gateway.dg file for your region. (The files must be named "NAND.BIN" and "gateway.dg".)
- Downgrade Sysnand
- On Sysnand, "Format System Memory" from the System Settings menu (with SD card removed)
- Use the blue card to run GW_INSTALLER.nds to install the NVRAM profile (The downgrade will allow the blue card to work while in sysNand.)
- Make sure everything works and you can boot Gateway Mode and emuNand.
- In emuNand, go into System Settings, verify the version has "GW3D" in front of it and everything, and then select "System Update" to update emuNand to 9.8 (since you're on an Old 3DS).
- Enjoy! Everything you had before will still be in emuNand, like your Mii Plaza, installed titles, extra data, etc.
Keep in mind that this will have your two Nands unlinked, so if you want to keep them linked for some reason, you'll want to avoid doing the format. There are some minor advantages to having them linked, but for the most part it's more trouble than it's worth, in my opinion. But you might want to read up on the topic and decide which way you want to go on that.
Thank you!
Okay so, from what I understand, being in emuNand is actually just being in Gateway mode? Are these the same thing? Maybe I just haven't gotten that far yet.
Edit: And if anyone is willing, can you explain what sysNAND and emuNAND being linked or unlinked means?
Okay so, from what I understand, being in emuNand is actually just being in Gateway mode? Are these the same thing? Maybe I just haven't gotten that far yet.
Edit: And if anyone is willing, can you explain what sysNAND and emuNAND being linked or unlinked means?
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 15,144
- Trophies
- 0
- Location
- Canberra, Australia
- Website
- boot9strap.com
- XP
- 11,119
- Country
You can be in Gateway mode without being in emuNAND. EmuNAND is a separate instance of the 3DS operating system which was copied from the real one at some point, and runs from the SD card instead of on the console. It can be updated without affecting the real one of the console. You could think of it like running VMware. To get emuNAND you have to format it in the Gateway menu. If you don't, when you launch the exploit you are in gateway mode in sysNAND.
When you first create emuNAND it shares the Nintendo 3DS folder on the SD card, so eShop content and CIAs (which are stored inside) show up on both, but only work on one (only one system can have tickets to run the software). To prevent this happening, you format SysNAND with the SD card out. Then when you put the SD card back in, it creates a new Nintendo 3DS folder, and emuNAND and SysNAND have their own folders and run completely separately.
Similar threads
