Hacking Is it risky to buy a SKY3DS flashcard before knowing the firmware of the N3DS (Europe release)?

[hydro91]

Hey guys since the N3DS will be released on 13th of february (in Europe) I was wondering if it would be too risky to order the SKY3DS card before purchasing the handheld. Is it possible that Nintendo could patch the firmware until release in order to make the flashcard useless? I am asking because shipping of the SKY3DS takes about 2 to 3 weeks (according to the reseller) and I'd probably die waiting for it.
PS: Maybe I should just freeze myself. (butters help me)

 

[mrolive]

Hey guys since the N3DS will be released on 13th of february (in Europe) I was wondering if it would be too risky to order the SKY3DS card before purchasing the handheld. Is it possible that Nintendo could patch the firmware until release in order to make the flashcard useless? I am asking because shipping of the SKY3DS takes about 2 to 3 weeks (according to the reseller) and I'd probably die waiting for it.
PS: Maybe I should just freeze myself. (butters help me)

Well, the Sky3DS has been out for about 4 months and Nintendo hasn't done anything yet. It could be unpatchable but until we get another 3DS firmware update, we won't know for sure. If the next firmware does NOT patch it. I think it's safe to say the Sky3DS is in the clear. However, no one knows what Nintendo could be cooking up.

 

[insidexdeath]

The devs at 3Dbrew did say it is patchable, which just leaves one explanation and that is Nintendo not caring much about piracy.

 

[shinyquagsire23]

I'd say it's a really dumb decision in the long run, it's definitely patchable and unless Sky3DS comes out with some magical flasher file in the microSD, it's going to be a dead cart real quick. If it were like $10-$20 like all the R4 clones, I wouldn't be too mad. But a $80 investment is a bit much for me. I'd at least wait for Gateway to release their stuff and then compare/contrast.

 

[hydro91]

I'd say it's a really dumb decision in the long run, it's definitely patchable and unless Sky3DS comes out with some magical flasher file in the microSD, it's going to be a dead cart real quick. If it were like $10-$20 like all the R4 clones, I wouldn't be too mad. But a $80 investment is a bit much for me. I'd at least wait for Gateway to release their stuff and then compare/contrast.

but it would keep on working if I deny updates right?

 

[w0dash]

Sure.

 

[shinyquagsire23]

but it would keep on working if I deny updates right?

Yes, but if the game goes online you won't be able to use it in some games without updating the game first. And to do that, you have to use the eShop, which requires a system update. So kinda iffy there. If you play exclusively offline though, it's a viable solution.

 

[w0dash]

Yes, but if the game goes online you won't be able to use it in some games without updating the game first. And to do that, you have to use the eShop, which requires a system update. So kinda iffy there. If you play exclusively offline though, it's a viable solution.

Oh, I didn't think about that...

 

[mrolive]

The devs at 3Dbrew did say it is patchable, which just leaves one explanation and that is Nintendo not caring much about piracy.

Is there a source for this? I see it mentioned all over the forums and yet I've never heard of the proof

 

[hydro91]

Yes, but if the game goes online you won't be able to use it in some games without updating the game first. And to do that, you have to use the eShop, which requires a system update. So kinda iffy there. If you play exclusively offline though, it's a viable solution.

The same goes for GW though right?
So you are saying that if GW comes up with a new flashcard
it will be more reliable than the SKY3DS solution? Why would it be?

 

[2skies]

The same goes for GW though right?...

Not necessarily. With Gateway, you can always "emulate" the newest firmware (emuNAND) and go online, etc. Gateway is the more feature-rich flash cartridge solution, and I would echo others' recommendations to wait for their update. Even if you have to play the waiting game for it to get to you, it's very much worthwhile, and you'll thank yourself.

 

[shinyquagsire23]

The same goes for GW though right?
So you are saying that if GW comes up with a new flashcard
it will be more reliable than the SKY3DS solution? Why would it be?

That's the thing though, Gateway hasn't released a new cart, Sky3DS released a new cart just because someone bypassed their 10 game limit. emuNAND is probably the big factor though, since you can stay on 9.2 or below on sysNAND while updating in emuNAND. Whichever way you go though, I'd recommend waiting and then comparing options.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

The devs at 3Dbrew did say it is patchable, which just leaves one explanation and that is Nintendo not caring much about piracy.

Here is how this conversation goes:

Its sooooo easy to block, just one line of code!

If it is that easy to block why didn't nintendo do it in 9.3?

Well it might break other things if they block it.

So then it really isn't just "one line of code" is it?

BUT THE DEVS ARE GODS.

 

[mrolive]

Here is how this conversation goes:

Its sooooo easy to block, just one line of code!

If it is that easy to block why didn't nintendo do it in 9.3?

Well it might break other things if they block it.

So then it really isn't just "one line of code" is it?

BUT THE DEVS ARE GODS.

Was looking for this. If it was a one-line block, it would have been patched with Ninjhax.

 

[bytor]

You're better off getting yourself a Gateway because you can update it. I'm 99.9% certain that they will ship with 9.0 out of the box and you can set up EmuNAND to handle any updates once the Gateway team sort out support for the next official firmware update. You can already update your EmuNAND to 9.4 and Gateway are pretty quick at sorting out updates for EmuNAND.

If you get a Sky3DS flashcart it might be completely useless when 9.5 is released by Nintendo.

The only reason to get a Sky3DS flashcart instead of a Gateway is if you've already got a 3DS on 9.3 or 9.4...and the way that the Gateway team are going that advantage that the Sky3DS flashcart has currently may be gone if they find an exploit for 9.3 or above. And I certainly wouldn't put it past them.

 

[shinyquagsire23]

Was looking for this. If it was a one-line block, it would have been patched with Ninjhax.

My guess is that Nintendo's R&D just didn't get far enough by the time they were about to ship 9.3 to actually block it, while neimod+others already had a good hardware setup and a sky3DS to test with. The issue with sky3DS is that it emulates a normal 3DS cart, but it doesn't emulate it perfectly, so some responses it returns aren't proper responses, so it's easy to block.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Was looking for this. If it was a one-line block, it would have been patched with Ninjhax.

It is just one line of code to block it, and several more lines of code to fix the many original games that also got blocked by that one line.

 

[viral777]

The devs at 3Dbrew did say it is patchable, which just leaves one explanation and that is Nintendo not caring much about piracy.

Okay Baldassano.

 

[mrolive]

My guess is that Nintendo's R&D just didn't get far enough by the time they were about to ship 9.3 to actually block it, while neimod+others already had a good hardware setup and a sky3DS to test with. The issue with sky3DS is that it emulates a normal 3DS cart, but it doesn't emulate it perfectly, so some responses it returns aren't proper responses, so it's easy to block.

Well does anyone know how the hell a Sky3DS manages to do this? How would Nintendo even begin to patch this since it's obviously more than just a 1-line solution.

 

[shinyquagsire23]

Well does anyone know how the hell a Sky3DS manages to do this? How would Nintendo even begin to patch this since it's obviously more than just a 1-line solution.

It's possible that there's responses from normal carts which just aren't documented or even used. If Nintendo checks for one of these responses and it fails, then you can easily just block the cart. I believe this was the issue which neimod found with the sky3DS, just improper responses to certain queries.