Homebrew [No Longer Working] Community freeShop fork - open source eShop alternative

[Lernos]

So, having excavated my good old New 3DS (heh), I found out that my old Freeshop 2.2.0 is no longer working properly. So here I am now. This fork seems to work fine, but I have a few complaints. First, the startup loading time, as well as the time it takes for the game to load on the lower panel after being selected by button A, is too slow imo. I have to wait a couple of minutes just to start Freeshop and then each time to take a look at the game I might want to download. And this brings us to my second point: no matter which game I choose, none of them display any description or screenshots, even some fairly old titles, like Ace Attorney. Is it supposed to be this way? Can it be fixed?

 

[Deleted User]

So, having excavated my good old New 3DS (heh), I found out that my old Freeshop 2.2.0 is no longer working properly. So here I am now. This fork seems to work fine, but I have a few complaints. First, the startup loading time, as well as the time it takes for the game to load on the lower panel after being selected by button A, is too slow imo. I have to wait a couple of minutes just to start Freeshop and then each time to take a look at the game I might want to download. And this brings us to my second point: no matter which game I choose, none of them display any description or screenshots, even some fairly old titles, like Ace Attorney. Is it supposed to be this way? Can it be fixed?

For one, it relies heavily on your internet connection. Two, try deleting the freeshop folder and start from scratch. Freeshop is not slow. But yeah on startup it takes like 30 seconds to a minute

 

[Deleted member 445482]

I have to wait a couple of minutes just to start Freeshop

Is your 3DS broken?

 

[Lernos]

Is your 3DS broken?

No. What I mean is the startup takes too long on the "Welcome, %username%" part.

For one, it relies heavily on your internet connection. Two, try deleting the freeshop folder and start from scratch. Freeshop is not slow. But yeah on startup it takes like 30 seconds to a minute

Done that, it's still the same. When I press A on a title in the list, it takes a few minutes to load on the lower screen until I can download it. Also, you've said nothing about the screenshots. Do you have them, I wonder?
And my internect connection and speed are fine, thanks.

Spoiler

 

[Dionicio3]

No. What I mean is the startup takes too long on the "Welcome, %username%" part.


Done that, it's still the same. When I press A on a title in the list, it takes a few minutes to load on the lower screen until I can download it. Also, you've said nothing about the screenshots. Do you have them, I wonder?
And my internect connection and speed are fine, thanks.

Spoiler

Your PC speeds =/= your 3DS speeds, the n3DS is limited to about 1.5MB/s

 

[Deleted User]

No. What I mean is the startup takes too long on the "Welcome, %username%" part.


Done that, it's still the same. When I press A on a title in the list, it takes a few minutes to load on the lower screen until I can download it. Also, you've said nothing about the screenshots. Do you have them, I wonder?
And my internect connection and speed are fine, thanks.

Spoiler

I do have the screenshots. Just press x to download a game.

 

[Lernos]

Your PC speeds =/= your 3DS speeds, the n3DS is limited to about 1.5MB/s

I know. I wasn't complaining about slow downloads anyway. It's just that, you know, if I had a PC speed lower than 1.5MB/s, then yes, it might've been my internet connection. I'm fairly sure it isn't.

I do have the screenshots. Just press x to download a game.

I can download games. But not having screenshots is a bummer, really. That's why I'm wondering what the problem really is and why it is occuring. Because I'd like to fix it and enjoy the full functionality.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I can download games. But not having screenshots is a bummer, really. That's why I'm wondering what the problem really is and why it is occuring. Because I'd like to fix it and enjoy the full functionality.

Do you download games at home and have a computer? Check out game info at Nintendo website if that helps. Also, you can do some window shopping (heh) on the Nintendo eShop 3DS app with pen & notepad before hopping back over to freeShop.

 

[Lernos]

Do you download games at home and have a computer? Check out game info at Nintendo website if that helps. Also, you can do some window shopping (heh) on the Nintendo eShop 3DS app with pen & notepad before hopping back over to freeShop.

Yeah, guess I could. But it's still inconvenient. I could check out new games at Nintendo website or eShop and then download them in CIAngel, for that matter. What's the point in having freeShop then? There may be workarounds, and I could understand things being in development - but for me, things that are stated as working, and really working for other people, don't work. And I really don't like when something doesn't work like it's supposed to. I think problems should be solved, and workarounds are just a temporary means of going by until there's a proper fix or explanation on what to do to fix it yourself.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Yeah, guess I could. But it's still inconvenient. I could check out new games at Nintendo website or eShop and then download them in CIAngel, for that matter. What's the point in having freeShop then? There may be workarounds, and I could understand things being in development - but for me, things that are stated as working, and really working for other people, don't work. And I really don't like when something doesn't work like it's supposed to. I think problems should be solved, and workarounds are just a temporary means of going by until there's a proper fix or explanation on what to do to fix it yourself.

You said you have to wait several minutes when starting up freeShop and checking out the game info & screenshots in their previews. Can you get a stop watch to time how long it takes to do the tasks that are too slow for you so they can be cross compared to what you should be getting. Something doesn't add up right because freeShop is comparable to Nintendo eShop in terms of usability and speed.

 

[k7ra]

You said you have to wait several minutes when starting up freeShop and checking out the game info & screenshots in their previews. Can you get a stop watch to time how long it takes to do the tasks that are too slow for you so they can be cross compared to what you should be getting. Something doesn't add up right because freeShop is comparable to Nintendo eShop in terms of usability and speed.

Wait, loading game info & screenshots still work???
It's from long ago don't work for me...
I even reinstalled freeshop and delete cache.

 

[Lernos]

You said you have to wait several minutes when starting up freeShop and checking out the game info & screenshots in their previews. Can you get a stop watch to time how long it takes to do the tasks that are too slow for you so they can be cross compared to what you should be getting. Something doesn't add up right because freeShop is comparable to Nintendo eShop in terms of usability and speed.

So I went ahead and recorded all that. Videos speak louder than words, heh. It should also be noted that I'm on the latest b9s and Luma3DS. And 3DS firmware update, of course.

Spoiler

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Wait, loading game info & screenshots still work???
It's from long ago don't work for me...
I even reinstalled freeshop and delete cache.

So I went ahead and recorded all that. Videos speak louder than words, heh. It should also be noted that I'm on the latest b9s and Luma3DS. And 3DS firmware update, of course.

Spoiler

Sigh, I had to oblige your video with mine. Excuse the rubber band (for privacy) and shakey camera work.

https://streamable.com/zdo5a

 

[Lernos]

Sigh, I had to oblige your video with mine. Excuse the rubber band (for privacy) and shakey camera work.

https://streamable.com/zdo5a

I'm glad for you, really. It's great to see that everything works as intended for someone. But I never said that it's not working for everyone. What I'm trying to prove here is that freeShop is not working for me the way it's intended, which I believe I have. What I want is a solution for my problem. I can wait, but I really want it fixed.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I'm glad for you, really. It's great to see that everything works as intended for someone. But I never said that it's not working for everyone. What I'm trying to prove here is that freeShop is not working for me the way it's intended, which I believe I have. What I want is a solution for my problem. I can wait, but I really want it fixed.

Ah, alright, lets get to debugging. Do you have a spare (micro) SD card by any chance? The original 4 GB card that comes with every 3DS works best in debugging. If you don't, make sure it has a speed rating of Class 10 minimum.

• You'll want to do a pre-check with H2testw to ensure the card is physically intact.

It's super crucial your card isn't fake and doesn't has bad sectors, which you why you need to use H2testw. <-Absolutely don't skip this step. Please.
Edit - When you do the test, it has be Full Write + Verify on an empty card. Copy everything off if you have no spare card to work with.

• Reformat the card with SD Memory Card Formatter V5.0 . You'll want nuke that card with a clean slate just in case. If you used something like MiniTool Partition Wizard's allocation size changer before, that messes up SD cards big time.
  
• Reformat the card as FAT32 + 32 KB cluster size with Windows File Explorer. If you have a card bigger than 32 GB, you'll need to use guiformat.
• If it doesn't work in guiformat, format the card first in ExFAT or NTFS before trying again in FAT32.
  
• Make a barebones CFW with no games installed. Have the 3DS rebuild a blank Nintendo 3DS folder. Don't use anything from your normal build.
  
• Launch Nintendo eShop at least once. (I think this is needed to grab bgm_boss1 and bgm_boss2 for freeShop music playback).
  
• For freeShop install, do either .3dsx or .cia. If it's .3dsx version, have Rosalina Menu inject homebrew launcher in Download Play or AR Games. Some Sys App titles work better than others for certain users.
  
• Don't forget to DSP1 dump the sound driver. There's a bug in freeShop where if you don't have music playing, you run into queue downloads / (START) exiting issues.
  
• Lastly, launch freeShop and check if it boots up in a timely manner. If it does, download title keys. Restart and check if game info works.

Feedback on what happens will follow with figuring out what's wrong with your original build.

 

[Lernos]

Spoiler

Ah, alright, lets get to debugging. Do you have a spare (micro) SD card by any chance? The original 4 GB card that comes with every 3DS works best in debugging. If you don't, make sure it has a speed rating of Class 10 minimum.

• You'll want to do a pre-check with H2testw to ensure the card is physically intact.

It's super crucial your card isn't fake and doesn't has bad sectors, which you why you need to use H2testw. <-Absolutely don't skip this step. Please.
Edit - When you do the test, it has be Full Write + Verify on an empty card. Copy everything off if you have no spare card to work with.

• Reformat the card with SD Memory Card Formatter V5.0 . You'll want nuke that card with a clean slate just in case. If you used something like MiniTool Partition Wizard's allocation size changer before, that messes up SD cards big time.
  
• Reformat the card as FAT32 + 32 KB cluster size with Windows File Explorer. If you have a card bigger than 32 GB, you'll need to use guiformat.
• If it doesn't work in guiformat, format the card first in ExFAT or NTFS before trying again in FAT32.
  
• Make a barebones CFW with no games installed. Have the 3DS rebuild a blank Nintendo 3DS folder. Don't use anything from your normal build.
  
• Launch Nintendo eShop at least once. (I think this is needed to grab bgm_boss1 and bgm_boss2 for freeShop music playback).
  
• For freeShop install, do either .3dsx or .cia. If it's .3dsx version, have Rosalina Menu inject homebrew launcher in Download Play or AR Games. Some Sys App titles work better than others for certain users.
  
• Don't forget to DSP1 dump the sound driver. There's a bug in freeShop where if you don't have music playing, you run into queue downloads / (START) exiting issues.
  
• Lastly, launch freeShop and check if it boots up in a timely manner. If it does, download title keys. Restart and check if game info works.

Feedback on what happens will follow with figuring out what's wrong with your original build.

Alright, so I don't have a 4GB spare card, but I did have a 32GB Sony Class 10 one, so I went through all the steps (Rosalina-injected homebrew launcher into Download Play, then installed FBI and HBL cias) and installed a .cia freeShop, the latest evi community fork release. I did launch eShop and DSP1, but when I launched freeShop, there was no music playing. So I waited and the startup took around 2+ minutes on the "Welcome" screen. There still was no music. I downloaded title keys nonetheless, launched it again, it took the same time to load... then the game info didn't load for about 1.5 minutes... and then there it was, No Screenshots. I checked my original SD Card. There were bgm_boss1 and bgm_boss2 files there. So I copied them to the empty music/eShop folder in freeShop on the test SD... The music played. The rest stayed the same. What do we do now?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Alright, so I don't have a 4GB spare card, but I did have a 32GB Sony Class 10 one, so I went through all the steps (Rosalina-injected homebrew launcher into Download Play, then installed FBI and HBL cias) and installed a .cia freeShop, the latest evi community fork release. I did launch eShop and DSP1, but when I launched freeShop, there was no music playing. So I waited and the startup took around 2+ minutes on the "Welcome" screen. There still was no music. I downloaded title keys nonetheless, launched it again, it took the same time to load... then the game info didn't load for about 1.5 minutes... and then there it was, No Screenshots. I checked my original SD Card. There were bgm_boss1 and bgm_boss2 files there. So I copied them to the empty music/eShop folder in freeShop on the test SD... The music played. The rest stayed the same. What do we do now?

Did you check your SD card on your computer using H2testw? What was the results of the write + verify test?

 

[Lernos]

Did you check your SD card on your computer using H2testw? What was the results of the write + verify test?

It went without errors, but gave me this warning that it will only check all MBs except for one. And that it's okay for NTFS, but it was formatted in FAT32.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

It went without errors, but gave me this warning that it will only check all MBs except for one. And that it's okay for NTFS, but it was formatted in FAT32.

The test was done on an empty card, jah?

 

[Lernos]

The test was done on an empty card, jah?

Yes, it was empty to begin with, but I quickformatted it by Windows standard means before running the test just to be sure.