Hacking Just because I'm slow and need clarification for system transfers and custom firmwares

[Camused]

This will probably be an annoying post, but I have to ask the site I used to frequent back when I was involved in the old NDS flashcart scene. It's been many years, and I now find myself in need of help in an area that I used to be fairly well versed in.

Trying to TL;DR my situation here but I'm long-winded. Sorry.

What I have currently in my possession:

1. A broken old 3DS XL that does not turn on because the top screen literally snapped clean off (sad story). I know you can terminate the ribbon cables but...
2. A new New 2DS XL that updated to 11.6.0-39U. I have already called Nintendo and had them transfer my NNID to this system, and the eshop has already let me download all my games.
   
3. A physical cartridge of regular Pokemon Sun
4. The SD card from the Old 3DS XL that had all the other data (not that this is useful anymore as I was told multiple times that Pokemon saves data to the 3DS internal memory).
5. Various 16 and 32gb Micro SD by Samsung and Sandisk
6. Anything needed to be done on a PC I'm good to go.
   
7. Half a brain because I'm old.

Stream of consciousness that might vaguely communicate my dilemma/questions/concerns before I buy something that doesn't work:

Old 1st gen 3DS XL broke. Digital copy of Pokemon Sun had 13 years of playing the games legit on the save file. I am now well aware that no, having a Nintendo tech remotely switch your NNID to a new system does not "still allow you to transfer your save data" like he said to me 3 times on the phone. I know. I read about it, but really it doesn't matter now, because the NNID transfer worked and even if I could get the top screen attached to the broken system, I couldn't get the save off of it anyway. The tech tried to tell me the save for Pokemon games is on the SD card, I said it wasn't, he said I was wrong. A brief glimmer of sadly naive hope. So here I am. The thought of losing everything I've worked on and used competitively for so many years, I can't take it. I resolved, after making heavy use of the old carts for GBC/GBA and NDS, that I would pay for everything on the 3DS, and I have. And I still will, after I buy a flashcart.

See, I'm what you call a completely obsessed Pokemon collector, and even if I know they won't be 100% legit, I absolutely have to get my freaking teams back. So again, here I am, basically being forced by Nintendo to buy a flashcart just to attempt to re-create the save data that was lost to the broken 3DS.

I'm tired after hours upon hours of trying to figure everything out. Every path I look down it leads me to eventually needing to buy a flashcart. But, before I do, am I correct in what I've figured out?

So, in order to use a program to generate my collection of Pokemon (I have a spreadsheet, and I have a list of what I lost when the 3DS broke): I have to buy a flashcart, install custom firmware on my New 2DS XL (purchased yesterday), use homebrew to extract the save file for a new game I start in Ultra Sun, edit the save, then get it back onto the system so that I can somehow resume playing normally.

Money isn't an issue, so I am going to spend more at a site that is in the US so that I'm not waiting 2+ weeks. Pretty sure I should get the R4i Gold 3DS Plus because it has the ntrboot switch, and everything else I've read says that at that point I will be able to homebrew my way towards editing my save, recreating what I lost, and stop being an emo-butthurt mess. After that, I'll either sell the cart or give it away.

So, the only thing I guess I really need to know now, is that once I have genned my teams back into the 2DS XL digital copy of Ultra Sun, can I get the 2DS back to the official, untouched state? Or, will I have to buy another 2DS (not a big deal) and just use the Pokemon Bank to transfer over what I generated to yet another new game started on a stock firmware New 2DS that I once again will have to ask Nintendo to System Transfer for me, else the normal System Transfer would copy over remnants of the CFW? Because I don't care about hacked pokemon, I have spreadsheets and pictures of every single monster that I bred and my tally in Pokemon Bank for Eggs Hatched between X/Y, ORAS, Sun and Ultra Sun, is very close to hitting 90,000. I literally only use the 3DS to play Pokemon, and I literally spend 75-85% of my time in the games collecting and hatching eggs. I own a ton of other games digitally, but I haven't touched them in years.

So yeah before I buy what seems to be a pretty cheaply priced flashcart, are my ducks in a row? Thanks, I never thought I'd be back at GBAtemp, but I kinda missed it. I truly appreciate any advice or help, getting yelled at not so much but I will accept it because I know this is a terrible noob post.

 

[Lacius]

First, you have two sensible options for installing CFW to your 3DS:

1. ntrboot, which requires a cheap DS flashcart compatible with ntrboot (easier, but slightly more expensive than Option #2 below).
2. DSiWare method using seedminer so you don't need a second system that already as CFW. The only thing you need to buy for this is a $1.99 DSiWare game (slightly harder, but less expensive than Option #1).

Second, while it is possible to restore your 3DS to what's essentially an untouched state (i.e. remove CFW), there is absolutely no reason to do this, and it's not recommended. You can, for example, use Pokemon Bank with CFW.

 

[Camused]

First, you have two sensible options for installing CFW to your 3DS:

1. ntrboot, which requires a cheap DS flashcart compatible with ntrboot (easier, but slightly more expensive than Option #2 below).
2. DSiWare method using seedminer so you don't need a second system that already as CFW. The only thing you need to buy for this is a $1.99 DSiWare game (slightly harder, but less expensive than Option #1).

Second, while it is possible to restore your 3DS to what's essentially an untouched state (i.e. remove CFW), there is absolutely no reason to do this, and it's not recommended. You can, for example, use Pokemon Bank with CFW.

Cool, thanks so much for the ultra fast reply.

I will look into seedminer, didn't give it much thought, because the guide just says that ntrboot is the only way if you don't already have access to a 3DS with custom firmware. And, you're saying that if I follow the guide and disable the "phones home" to Nintendo, I would be able to Pokebank, as well as use my Digital Ultra Sun in official tournaments/use Mystery Gift and stuff? I've gotten a lot of info from someone who has helped official VGC players prep for tournaments, but he doesn't know a lot about how CFW has changed since the last couple of seasons.

I put the time into my old collection, in case I offend someone who is adamantly against "hacked" Pokemon. I was going to buy a 2nd system anyway because I have absolutely zero space free in the Bank. I didn't lose everything, but I did have more of my recent competitive teams on the digital copy. I have to get them back, and Nintendo is zero help there. With what I've bred shiny and competitive, I could fill 9 boxes, 12 if you count what I've soft-reset for over the years. Also had tons and tons of sentimental Pokemon that I've transferred over since Ruby on the GBA. Too many years to think *poof* it's all gone. Thousands of hours. One of my only gaming passions now that I'm a lot older than I once was!

Quick edit- Since you're here, can I ask if you know if it is relatively not extremely hard/impossible to get the save data legit and working back on the system after editing it? Thanks again!!!

 

[Lacius]

Cool, thanks so much for the ultra fast reply.

I will look into seedminer, didn't give it much thought, because the guide just says that ntrboot is the only way if you don't already have access to a 3DS with custom firmware.

Pros of using ntrboot:

• You can easily install CFW to an unlimited number of systems whenever you want.
• If you plan on removing CFW, you might want to have the compatible DS flashcart around, just in case you want to reinstall CFW.
• This method cannot be patched. It will always work.

Cons of using ntrboot:

• More expensive than $1.99 for a compatible DS flashcart.
• It could take a few weeks for the flashcart to arrive in the mail.

Pros of using DSiWare and seedminer method:

• Only $1.99.
• Can be used immediately.

Cons of using the DSiWare and seedminer method:

• It's $1.99 per system.
• It's a little more time-consuming to install CFW.
• If Nintendo releases a new update (e.g. 11.7 or 12.0), this method might not work anymore if you need to reinstall CFW because you removed it.

And, you're saying that if I follow the guide and disable the "phones home" to Nintendo, I would be able to Pokebank, as well as use my Digital Ultra Sun in official tournaments/use Mystery Gift and stuff? I've gotten a lot of info from someone who has helped official VGC players prep for tournaments, but he doesn't know a lot about how CFW has changed since the last couple of seasons.

I put the time into my old collection, in case I offend someone who is adamantly against "hacked" Pokemon. I was going to buy a 2nd system anyway because I have absolutely zero space free in the Bank. I didn't lose everything, but I did have more of my recent competitive teams on the digital copy. I have to get them back, and Nintendo is zero help there. With what I've bred shiny and competitive, I could fill 9 boxes, 12 if you count what I've soft-reset for over the years. Also had tons and tons of sentimental Pokemon that I've transferred over since Ruby on the GBA. Too many years to think *poof* it's all gone. Thousands of hours. One of my only gaming passions now that I'm a lot older than I once was!

If you run homebrew through Luma3DS's Rosalina menu and disable certain settings, there's virtually no chance of being banned. CFW alone cannot be detected by Nintendo over the internet.

Regarding tournaments, I don't know how they check a 3DS for CFW. There are ways to hide most traces of CFW while keeping CFW installed, but it might be best to temporarily remove CFW for a tournament and then reinstall it later. If this is the case, ntrboot might be your best bet.

 

[Camused]

Pros of using ntrboot:

• You can easily install CFW to an unlimited number of systems whenever you want.
• If you plan on removing CFW, you might want to have the compatible DS flashcart around, just in case you want to reinstall CFW.
• This method cannot be patched. It will always work.

Cons of using ntrboot:

• More expensive than $1.99 for a compatible DS flashcart.
• It could take a few weeks for the flashcart to arrive in the mail.

Pros of using DSiWare and seedminer method:

• Only $1.99.
• Can be used immediately.

Cons of using the DSiWare and seedminer method:

• It's $1.99 per system.
• It's a little more time-consuming to install CFW.
• If Nintendo releases a new update (e.g. 11.7 or 12.0), this method might not work anymore if you need to reinstall CFW because you removed it.

If you run homebrew through Luma3DS's Rosalina menu and disable certain settings, there's virtually no chance of being banned. CFW alone cannot be detected by Nintendo over the internet.

Regarding tournaments, I don't know how they check a 3DS for CFW. There are ways to hide most traces of CFW while keeping CFW installed, but it might be best to temporarily remove CFW for a tournament and then reinstall it later. If this is the case, ntrboot might be your best bet.

Cool. You convinced me that before I order a flashcart, I should attempt seedminer. I have computers with good GPUs. Thank you, you help a lot of people here, so you have a new fan

 

[Uumas]

This fork of Luma should be completely undetectable as long as they don't take your sd card and look at the files: https://github.com/Jan200101/Luma3DS-H/releases

 

[Camused]

Sweet guys thanks for the response. I'm now getting ready to start seedminer. Think I have it ready to go, so cheers for that!