Hacking Need some advice with o3DS XL Gateway Card

[mitpat]

So for the last year I've been using my Gateway 3DS card with my o3DS XL to play 3ds and the occasional 2DS games. Recently I upgraded to the 4.1 beta and installed the Gateway A9LH (yes I realise now how silly this was after seeing Plailect's guide and Luma3DS).

So I want to start doing a lot more with my 3DS but need some advice before I proceed.


My setup is the following
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Gateway 3DS 4.1 beta with Gateway A9LH
Nand: 4.5
EmuNand: 10.3
No extra .cia files
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Can someone answer the following

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1.

I want to start to playing older games from GB, GBC and GBA (maybe SNES too). Emulators are ok but I've seen the virtual console direct injection stuff and installed some confirmed working .cia games (pokemon, advance wars, golden sun etc - just GBA so far). However no matter what I do every time I run them all I get is a black screen and have to force shutdown (I usually give them 30 seconds to attempt a run).

What am I doing wrong?


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2.

Is it possible to install A9LH (using Plailect's guide) and Luma3DS but still continue using the red Gateway 3DS cart for storing and running the 3DS games?

I ask as I'd like to keep it separate from my SD card just in case 2DS games can ever be loaded from the SD card.

Ideally I'd like to run to be able run 2DS, 3DS and virtual console direct injected games without ever having to swap out a game cart.


-------------------------------
3.

Should I get a n3DS XL to do all the above?

I've tried the n3DS XL and I liked it except for the c stick (much prefer my circle pad pro) but I assume that won't a difference for emulation.


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4.

If I got a n3DS XL is there a way to run the clock speed at it's higher speed all the time? (I've read it down clocks when playing games) as I'd assume this could be very useful for emulation (or direct playing).



Thanks for any help

 

[Quantumcat]

1. Gateway doesn't allow GBA games. And you need a N3DS for SNES games (but you can still run SNES by emulator, i.e. BlargSNES)
2. Yes - if Gateway gave you your OTP.bin keep it, restore a backup from before you installed Gateway's A9LH, update to 9.2, and install A9LH using SafeA9LHInstaller.3dsx (from homebrew).
You can use your Gateway after installing proper A9LH, and have it boot when you hold a key on startup. However GBA games won't work in Gateway mode, and you have to be VERY CAREFUL not to update while in Gateway mode, or your device will either brick or just have A9LH uninstalled (if lucky).
3. You need an N3DSXL for injected SNES games, but that's all. Up to you and your budget :-)
4. Yes, it is set in Luma config when you start it for the first time (or holding Select later if you want to change it).

Edit: Also, they're called "DS" games, not 2DS. The 2DS is a console that plays 3DS games, but doesn't have a 3D mode.

 

[Hayleia]

1.2.3. already answered perfectly above
4. Yes indeed as said above, but keep in mind that some games don't like that. Final Fantasy Explorers will black screen after the introduction if you play it overclocked. I'm not saying you shouldn't use these settings, but if you do and encounter problems, putting these settings back to no overclock is one of the things you can try first.

 

[mitpat]

It seems that I do have the otp.bin file so that makes my life easier. Thanks for the quick reply and particularly the detailed information.

Could you just clarify the following (sorry if it's obvious I just want to make sure I don't brick my system)

1. How do I install SafeA9LHInstaller.3dsx as I assume this has to be done in the main nand (do I use browserhax to get to homebrew launcher and install from there?)

2. If I then installed and used Luma 3DS I assume it can't access the games on my Gateway card, so either I have to copy my DS/3DS games to the sd card and launch from Luma 3DS or set a boot option to be able to go into Gateway mode. Is this correct?

3. You say that you have to be careful in Gateway mode not to update. Can you not just setup an emunand from the gateway menu and then run all games from that? (that way if you accidentally update you've only updated emunand)


Also thanks for all the help, you've taught me a lot. I'm now very temped by the idea of a n3DS XL

 

[Quantumcat]

1. Follow https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/Cubic-Ninja-OTP except ignore the first half (which is getting your OTP if you have a console on 1.0) and also restore a backup of pre-a9lh first (I am not sure if the Gateway a9lh installation could interfere with SafeA9LHInstaller, but better to be safe than sorry). And yep this is on your sysNAND.

2. You can convert the .3ds games to cia and install them if you wish (or just get them straight from freeShop). You can backup your saves before you begin and restore them later.

3. Yes you can keep using an emuNAND if you like, it requires slightly different steps near the end, but someone can advise you on that, I'm not 100% sure (it's more normal to use updated sysNAND).

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Oh before you do anything.

Are you interested in just using installed games and no longer using your Gateway cart? If so, before you start, get JKSM (a homebrew) on your emuNAND and use it to backup all your save games. That way when you are finished with the guide you can just restore all the saves and not have to work out how to get your Gateway cart working again.

All you need to do is select the game you want to backup with the Gateway select menu, go into JKSM, choose cartridge game, and choose to backup the save. Once you've backed them all up you can save the folder it creates as that has all the saves in it. Then when you're done setting up a9lh again and have your games installed you can go into JKSM, choose eshop, and choose to restore all.

 

[mitpat]

Thanks for clearing that up, you've been a great help.