Hacking New to the scene, point me in the right direction.

[hobbit101]

Hey all,

I have 2 old 3DS that were collecting dust one has a firmware of 2.1.0-4u and the other is 3.0.0-6u. I have been trying to read on the best way to play a cia?(im guessing cia = rom). But, there is just so many faqs, and guides that I am so confused on what to do or were to even start (what the heck are sysnands or emuands?). Should i just buy one of those gateway or skynds cards and look for roms or cia? Was hoping to do it for free but it seems kinda complicated. If some one wouldn't mind pointing me to a guide that's for my firmware, that would be awesome. Or should I just buy a flashcard and hope for the best? Was hoping to play what ever new games are out now (trying to past some time on the train commute).

Thanks in advance!

 

[tony_2018]

Read those threads in this section that are "Sticky".

 

[Typhin]

Hey all,

I have 2 old 3DS that were collecting dust one has a firmware of 2.1.0-4u and the other is 3.0.0-6u. I have been trying to read on the best way to play a cia?(im guessing cia = rom). But, there is just so many faqs, and guides that I am so confused on what to do or were to even start (what the heck are sysnands or emuands?). Should i just buy one of those gateway or skynds cards and look for roms or cia? Was hoping to do it for free but it seems kinda complicated. If some one wouldn't mind pointing me to a guide that's for my firmware, that would be awesome. Or should I just buy a flashcard and hope for the best? Was hoping to play what ever new games are out now (trying to past some time on the train commute).

Thanks in advance!

I'd recommend reading the guides, as well as the stickied question threads. Here's a quick summary of the terms you were asking about, which should make reading through the guides easier.
sysNand - Your system's internal memory, and the firmware it holds. This gets booted whenever the system is turned on, so this MUST NOT be updated too far or you will be unable to use exploits.
emuNand - A copy of the internal memory placed on the system's SD card that is run instead of your internal copy. Once set up, you'll use an exploit to launch this, so you can have a newer version without losing the ability to use exploits.
CIA - CTR Importable Archive. Similar to a WAD file for the Wii, it's a file that contains software you can install onto your system. Generally, eShop titles as well as system updates will be in the form of CIA files. This is a bit different than a rom, since a CIA must be installed before it can be used, and is installed to your system's internal memory (or emuNand) or system's SD card. Roms are run directly off your flash card instead.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey all,

I have 2 old 3DS that were collecting dust one has a firmware of 2.1.0-4u and the other is 3.0.0-6u. I have been trying to read on the best way to play a cia?(im guessing cia = rom). But, there is just so many faqs, and guides that I am so confused on what to do or were to even start (what the heck are sysnands or emuands?). Should i just buy one of those gateway or skynds cards and look for roms or cia? Was hoping to do it for free but it seems kinda complicated. If some one wouldn't mind pointing me to a guide that's for my firmware, that would be awesome. Or should I just buy a flashcard and hope for the best? Was hoping to play what ever new games are out now (trying to past some time on the train commute).

Thanks in advance!

To start, you're going to need a game containing a compatible update. Anything between 4.1 and 9.2 will work but higher is better in this case since more games will be compatible. Unless you buy a Gateway then you'll be able to use the latest version via emuNAND and play games requiring any version. Either way you'll need to update your console via a game because the minimum is 4.1.

Once you're on a compatible firmware, you can either use a Cubic Ninja game to load PastaCFW, or use Gateway, either will work but Cubic Ninja is the cheapest route. You can use PBT-CFW or Palantine CFW as well if you update to 4.x, but they're buggy, take a lot of tries to work every time you want to boot CFW, and are severely limited in what games will run since they only work on 4.x.

PastaCFW supports 4.1-4.5, 8.x and 9.0-9.2 so if you don't want to spend money on a GW you just have to find a cheap game with 8.0-8.1 or 9.0-9.2 on it (check http://3ds.essh.co for update versions, you can type the version in the search box) as well as a copy of Cubic Ninja.

 

[hobbit101]

To start, you're going to need a game containing a compatible update. Anything between 4.1 and 9.2 will work but higher is better in this case since more games will be compatible. Unless you buy a Gateway then you'll be able to use the latest version via emuNAND and play games requiring any version. Either way you'll need to update your console via a game because the minimum is 4.1.

Once you're on a compatible firmware, you can either use a Cubic Ninja game to load PastaCFW, or use Gateway, either will work but Cubic Ninja is the cheapest route. You can use PBT-CFW or Palantine CFW as well if you update to 4.x, but they're buggy, take a lot of tries to work every time you want to boot CFW, and are severely limited in what games will run since they only work on 4.x.

PastaCFW supports 4.1-4.5, 8.x and 9.0-9.2 so if you don't want to spend money on a GW you just have to find a cheap game with 8.0-8.1 or 9.0-9.2 on it (check http://3ds.essh.co for update versions, you can type the version in the search box) as well as a copy of Cubic Ninja.

Thank you, this was super helpful, I am think about going the Gateway route, it seems much more simple. I wouldnt mind loading a Custom firmware, I really dont plan on going online much since i will be using it whiles I am communting on the train not much of a wifi connection there. I am worried about where to buy a gateway card, alot of those sites seems questionable to me and i would rather use a site that takes paypal so I will get refunded without worries. I live on the east coast, can anyone recommend a good reliable seller?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Thank you, this was super helpful, I am think about going the Gateway route, it seems much more simple. I wouldnt mind loading a Custom firmware, I really dont plan on going online much since i will be using it whiles I am communting on the train not much of a wifi connection there. I am worried about where to buy a gateway card, alot of those sites seems questionable to me and i would rather use a site that takes paypal so I will get refunded without worries. I live on the east coast, can anyone recommend a good reliable seller?

Gateway is a bit easier. It's not really as complicated as it sounds though. Running PastaCFW is pretty simple, it's easier than it sounds. Once you have a compatible firmware and NINJHAX installed on your Cubic Ninja (which only has to be done once and is just a matter of entering your 3DS version on smealum.net/ninjhax and scanning the QR code displayed while in NINJHAX) then you just have to load the game and select the QR code option, the homebrew launcher will appear and you select PastaCFW.
Gateway offers a bit more functionality, and games can be copied directly onto the MicroSD without having to convert or install anything and you can play right away.
I'm pretty bad at explaining though

But I prefer Gateway myself, being able to copy a game onto the MicroSD and play it right away easily beats having to install CIA files (which need to be converted from a ROM if there isn't already a CIA available of the game you want) which take forever to install. Other than that it's not a huge difference. On the New3DS PastaCFW and GW are launched in pretty much the same way, only difference being that GW has easier methods on the Old3DS but that may change soon. PastaCFW has only been out for a few days after all.