Hacking Questions before modding a 3DS

[TheRamsWay]

Hello!

I'm currently thinking about modding my 3DS. It's not the first console I've ever hacked but it's the first one for me to still be somewhat alive and to ban users, so I wanted to know as much as possible about that to avoid as many risks as I can. But by reading different forums and websites, etc, I've seen some confusing things, but as some posts are old and their info may be outdated, and considering the 3DS is at the end of its life, I'd like to ask here for help.

First, I've seen people saying that CIAs shouldn't be installed to the home menu, or that Rosalina should be used instead of FBI, and others saying the opposite is safe... So how should I install CIAs and how does Rosalina and the Homebrew Menu actually work? I've also seen that you shouldn't be connected to the Internet when using homebrews, is that really needed?

To stay on the subject of CIAs, if I ever want to install an official game with a CIA, is there anything I have to worry about? Some posts are talking about headers and tickets etc, and I must admit I've not quite understood everything.

And finally, on the 3DS hacking guide, one step is about ctr-no-timeoffset. I understand what it does, but I don't get why it's needed?

Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry if all of this sounds really dumb!

 

[Zense]

Just hacked my 3rd 3ds and I've yet to have issues playing online, neither eshop purchased games nor .cia games. Follow 3ds.hacks.guide and you should be good. I've only done the stuff mentioned there (no tickets etc) and I haven't been banned. Cheat and you will get banned, though.

Hope I answered some of your questions!

 

[TheRamsWay]

So official games should be fine? What about homebrews?
The 3DS hacks guide is really great and I try to get everything I can from it, but it doesn't really address the concernsI had (and it's steel unclear to me whether I should FBI or Rosalina, or 3DSX files instead, as some forum posts I found suggested...)
Thanks a lot!

 

[99Queijos]

Just hacked my 3rd 3ds and I've yet to have issues playing online, neither eshop purchased games nor .cia games. Follow and you should be good. I've only done the stuff mentioned there (no tickets etc) and I haven't been banned. Cheat and you will get banned, though.

Hope I answered some of your questions!

(Some) cheating won't ban my console, I've been cheating on Mario Kart 7 since 2017 and until today I haven't been banned, but some games like Nintendo Badge Arcade or games that you can dodge pay may result in game ban/application or even on the console.

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So official games should be fine? What about homebrews?
The 3DS hacks guide is really great and I try to get everything I can from it, but it doesn't really address the concernsI had (and it's steel unclear to me whether I should FBI or Rosalina, or 3DSX files instead, as some forum posts I found suggested...)
Thanks a lot!

You can download and install homebrews and .CIA 3DS games at your leisure, as long as you do not disclose your console data with Nintendo, as it may (possibly) result in a console ban.

 

[TheRamsWay]

Okay so basically I can install CIAs however I want as long as SpotPass + showing the current game to friends are disabled, if I understand correctly. Thanks!

 

[99Queijos]

Okay so basically I can install CIAs however I want as long as SpotPass + showing the current game to friends are disabled, if I understand correctly. Thanks!

"Show friends what I'm playing" is optional after CFW is done, but you need to disable this when you CFW your 3DS

 

[TheRamsWay]

It's optional? I didn't know that, through all the things I read it was always presented as a possible source of bans

 

[99Queijos]

It's optional? I didn't know that, through all the things I read it was always presented as a possible source of bans

After I did CFW on Nintendo 3DS, I enabled this option to show what I'm playing and haven't had any banning issues so far.

 

[TheRamsWay]

Oh okay. I'll probably keep it disabled just in case, but that's good to know!

 

[Zense]

So official games should be fine? What about homebrews?
The 3DS hacks guide is really great and I try to get everything I can from it, but it doesn't really address the concernsI had (and it's steel unclear to me whether I should FBI or Rosalina, or 3DSX files instead, as some forum posts I found suggested...)
Thanks a lot!

You'll have both FBI and Rosalina. They do different things. FBI is for installing stuff and managing your sd card etc (plus many more things). Rosalina is just an in-game menu you'll get through having CFW that you can access by pressing L+Down+Select.

 

[TheRamsWay]

Doesn't Rosalina inject the Homebrew Menu? Although I don't even know for sure what the HB Menu does, I've seen Rosalina quoted every time as a safer way to launch homebrews.
From what I've seen, it only boots 3DSX though, and not every homebrew has a 3DSX version, so I don't get why some people on other forums and threads suggested to avoid CIAs...

 

[Zense]

Doesn't Rosalina inject the Homebrew Menu? Although I don't even know for sure what the HB Menu does, I've seen Rosalina quoted every time as a safer way to launch homebrews.
From what I've seen, it only boots 3DSX though, and not every homebrew has a 3DSX version, so I don't get why some people on other forums and threads suggested to avoid CIAs...

Ah, I see. Yeah, you can inject a homebrew to an existing app in order to hide it. If you follow 3ds.hacks.guide you'll inject homebrew launcher into download play app momentarily. I guess some think it is safer than installing homebrew to your home menu since nintendo might see what you've installed on it, but I've never cared and I've never been banned. Installing .cias puts the homebrew on your home screen and one way of doing this and the most common way is to use fbi.

 

[TheRamsWay]

Oookay, got it. Basically Rosalina is the supposedly safer way and FBI the more convenient one (and not necessarily less safe as Nintendo probably doesn't care about the 3DS anymore) right?