Full Guide Release!

https://plailect.github.io/OTP/

All regions now supported!

If you appreciate this guide and the work I put into maintaining it, I accept donations through both Bitcoin and PayPal.

If you felt like the guide helped you out then I'd really appreciate it! If I get enough I may buy a 2DS for testing hardware stuff so I don't break another N3DS.

If the guide didn't help you out then I'm really sorry about that

 

[BloodRose]

Just closed the lid =/ It killed it, had no choice but to hardmod and restore the sysNAND then redid the 2.1 downgrade (without closing it this time) and got the OTP and reverted back without a problem.

Thanks. Useful tip there then I suppose. Leave the lid alone. It might actually be useful if that is added to the main tutorial tbh.

 

[Sniffynose]

Thanks. Useful tip there then I suppose. Leave the lid alone. It might actually be useful if that is added to the main tutorial tbh.

Yeah true, essentially you want to get into 2.1, do the web trick to load otphelper, get the otp.bin, then dump your sysnand back in one go especially on a N3DS, I've never had a hassle with O3ds' but N3ds' can be really picky with it =( I guess it has a lot to do with them never actually having that firmware.

 

[BloodRose]

Yeah true, essentially you want to get into 2.1, do the web trick to load otphelper, get the otp.bin, then dump your sysnand back in one go especially on a N3DS, I've never had a hassle with O3ds' but N3ds' can be really picky with it =( I guess it has a lot to do with them never actually having that firmware.

So just to be clear, are you talking about the start of section 3 of this page after running OTPHelper? That even after the fixed 2.1 has been flashed to an N3DS internal NAND and the console has booted into 2.1, placing the N3DS/LL/XL into standby whilst in 2.1 user mode bricks the system?

https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/Part-4-(Getting-the-OTP)

Because if so that then that's an easy mistake to make and definitely needs to be added to the guide IMHO. It would make sense especially if the N3DS and 3DS handle powersaving differently but it's probably still worth clarifying.

 

[Sniffynose]

So just to be clear, are you talking about the start of section 3 of this page after running OTPHelper? That even after the fixed 2.1 has been flashed to an N3DS internal NAND and booting into 2.1, placing the N3DS/LL/XL into standby whilst in 2.1 user mode bricks the system?

https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/Part-4-(Getting-the-OTP)

Because if so that then that's an easy mistake to make and definitely needs to be added to the guide IMHO. It would make sense especially if the N3DS and 3DS handle powersaving differently but it's probably still worth clarifying.

Yup that's exactly where I did it. I had a few things going so just closed it and after about 10mins, opened it up and it never recovered from sleep. After rebooting it just kept giving the Nintendo error please turn off the system and try again thing. So out came the soldering iron ftw lol.

Edit: Once I replaced the nand with the "sysNand_original" dump via hardmod, I just repeated the downgrade and went through the routine without closing it this time, and all was well.

 

[BloodRose]

Yup that's exactly where I did it. I had a few things going so just closed it and after about 10mins, opened it up and it never recovered from sleep. After rebooting it just kept giving the Nintendo error please turn off the system and try again thing. So out came the soldering iron ftw lol.

Edit: Once I replaced the nand with the "sysNand_original" dump via hardmod, I just repeated the downgrade and went through the routine without closing it this time, and all was well.

Yeah it does sound like whatever controls power saving on the N3DS isn't in 2.1. AFAIK the 3DS doesn't go into power save whilst idle as long as the lid remains open and the power is connected. I could be wrong though and if I am then that's another potential problem.

As you say, I guess the take home is spend as little time in 2.1 on an N3DS as possible and don't close the lid at all.

 

[pbanj]

snip

Is there a reason the guide doesn't tell n3ds users to do the nand unbricking with otp helper?

 

[Plailect]

Is there a reason the guide doesn't tell n3ds users to do the nand unbricking with otp helper?

OTPHelper does it automatically

 

[pbanj]

OTPHelper does it automatically

good to know. someone mentioned it and i wanted to see if it was a mistake or not.

 

[Makoto0729]

I just want to tell the OP, dude, you are a god.

I had so many issues, but they were pretty much all user error or due to things I had already done before this and thinking I knew stuff that was wrong (like thinking I could use my GW Emunand for certain things because I was being lazy and trying to skip setting up RedNAND) or simply not reading certain things. When I went back and followed it word for word it all went without a hitch. I even got my downgrade and re-upgrade working first try!

So thank you so much. And my biggest piece of advice for everyone else here who may be having issues is this: Forget what you think you know, and follow every instruction to the T (Like one issue I had was having an arm11.bin file in the wrong place way back in the beginning that didn't affect me till way later, I just didn't want a ton of stuff on my root).

Do EXACTLY what it says. 90000%.

(Also, for the record, I was on a US N3ds, FW 9.2 upon starting).

 

[Xana]

I haven't been able to get the uncart.bin from the guide to boot, and I've tried several times now. It just gets stuck on a black screen. Is this a common problem, and is there any solution?

EDIT: this seems to be the same problem I'm having with ReiNand, where it only works if I first load a different payload with screen-init (like Emunand9/Decrypt9).

EDIT2: or not. didn't work the second time i tried it *shrug*

 

[iromoki]

Having some issues with the sysupdater, it prompts "An Error has Occured, hold power" and whatnot while downgrading to 2.1 EmuNand. I'm using the O3DS XL on firmware 9.2. So far I've tried about 6 times to get it to work and no full success since some do install but until I get to one point it just gives me that error.

 

[OrGoN3]

I'm stupid. Sorry.

 

[OrGoN3]

Why, for instance, is OTHelper being used to backup the RedNAND in part 4 versus using E9 or D9?

 

[Just Passing By]

Why, for instance, is OTHelper being used to backup the RedNAND in part 4 versus using E9 or D9?

To cause less confusion probably. What's easier? Using 2-3 tools or sticking with one tool?

 

[Masanohashi]

In part 4, section II, number 5, do i need to unbrick the emunand BEFORE one click setup? I am on n3ds xl. Barely unbricked it twice, always end up after the unbricking the nand process with every possible failure, including FIRM0 mismatch, that forces me to restore the sysnand backup, and the emunand one.

 

[annson24]

I'm having trouble downgrading my n3ds xl to 2.1, it's my >10th time now and still the same results.

It always displays v.00000 -> v.03553 fail etc etc. but when I look into the system tools it displays 2.1.0 already.

 

[pbanj]

I'm having trouble downgrading my n3ds xl to 2.1, it's my >10th time now and still the same results.

It always displays v.00000 -> v.03553 fail etc etc. but when I look into the system tools it displays 2.1.0 already.

That's a partial downgrade, a full downgrade won't boot. Do you happen to have patched twl/agb on your emunand?

 

[annson24]

That's a partial downgrade, a full downgrade won't boot. Do you happen to have patched twl/agb on your emunand?

I haven't since I don't think I made any twl modifications. But I'll try, (will study it first since I'm a newb in this community tho). Thanks for the tip. Will report back.

 

[pbanj]

I haven't since I don't think I made any twl modifications. But I'll try, (will study it first since I'm a newb in this community tho). Thanks for the tip. Will report back.

If you played gba games you deff have it. Even if you didn't you still could as a lot of guides had people do it for the hell of it.

 

[annson24]

If you played gba games you deff have it. Even if you didn't you still could as a lot of guides had people do it for the hell of it.

I skipped parts 1-3 from the tut since I was on ReiNAND. I think my ReiNAND had some twl modifications so I restarted the process but I then started from part 1, ditched reinand and used luma. After that, downgrade was a success and now I'm on CFW sysNAND. Thank you for your support.

BTW, the process of a9lh is excruciatingly long, I had mine for 3.5 straight hours (excluding all the troubleshooting before which I think consumed another 3hours haha). Nevertheless it's awesome. Thank you @Plailect and everyone who contributed.