Hacking Partial upgrades, Gateway, and region unlocking

Habstinat

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In the realm of 3DS hacking, I guess you could call me a conservative. I have a Japanese 3DS purchased on launch day that's still on firmware 1.0.0-0. Not being Japanese myself, I've been patiently waiting for a region unlock, rejecting firmware updates, and playing Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition in Japanese ever since that day.

Recent developments with the Gateway flashcart have led me to wonder a few things:
  1. Will Gateway ever support region-unlocked 3DS games? I once heard that the team was "working on it". The fact that the team is even investigating this catches my interest -- I thought that the Gateway just worked by simulating an actual 3DS card, but if they are toying with the idea of region unlocks, clearly they must be able to do something more than that.
  2. I've heard that the Gateway will only be compatible with version 4.5 at launch. Will it work on my lowly 1.0.0-0 device out of the box? I obviously can't update through the System Menu because that will bring me straight to 6.x...
  3. I've also heard that someone was able to successfully downgrade the 3DS through flashing the NAND. Using a similar method, wouldn't it be possible to perform a partial upgrade without using the network? What would one need to purchase to perform something like this?
  4. Lastly, how plausible is the idea that someone tech-savvy enough could set up a home webserver that spoofs the Nintendo servers to serve v4.5, so all one would need to do is connect to their (hacked) home WiFi and update through the system menu? Has this been attempted?
I do know that I can upgrade to 4.5 through an included update in a game cartridge, but I really don't want to have to do that for this to work. If any of the above free methods work, they'd be much preferred.

Thanks a lot for your help, 3DS hacking gurus.
 

jastolze

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1. Probably not for a while.
2. I believe I heard it works with 4.2 - 4.5. (I have 4.5.0-10U and that supposedly works)
3. No idea.
4. I was wondering this too. I think it would be a great idea for the Vita as well.
 

Devin

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1. No one but the GW3DS team knows how far they've gotten on Region Free games.
2. Firmwares 4.2-4.5
3. Yes a downgrade was done before however it required a dump of the 3DS at the firmware it was downgraded to. (3DS at 1.X.X firmware, dump firmware, update to 6.X.X, restore 1.X.X firmware, downgrade complete.) Just as an example.
4. Doubt it, as a long of research has been done with the 3DS' network protocol. But it's possible to spoof the Nintendo Video videos, so who knows.
 

LAA

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I simply feel for you reading you've only played SF4 and not upgraded 3DS since launch (But at same time admire that determination/resisting of temptation).
Hopefully we'll have region free 3DS's soon and you can play all of the awesome games 3DS has on offer!
 

reaper527

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I've heard that the Gateway will only be compatible with version 4.5 at launch. Will it work on my lowly 1.0.0-0 device out of the box? I obviously can't update through the System

how open are you to getting another jpn game? while you can't just go into settings and say update, you can put a game in that requires 4.2/4.5 etc. and let that update your system to the firmware it requires. (i'd recommend turning the wifi off if you do this, just to avoid any accidents).
 

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