Hacking Recently installed Luma/A9LH... few questions.

[DrkrZen]

So, I finally got around to following the 3DS Guide, step by step (huge props to the people that put that together) and getting everything installed and going. I did everything except for the System Update and the entirety of Section VIII - CTRNAND Luma3DS. And, I injected FBI.

Couple questions arise, though... before doing a System Update, I'm most interested in messing with Freeshop and some emulators.

1. Is it okay to update to the latest System Update, now? Or, should I mess with backing up CIAs of my physical game collection, Freeshop, emulators, etc. first, THEN update?
2. Can CIAs be be updated, as well?

3. Secondly, can someone put into layman's terms what Section VIII does?
4. What is the difference between installing a CIA to play a backup and installing a Title Key?
5. What's the difference between an Encrypted Title Key and a Decrypted one?

I'm currently on an O3DS with 11.2.0-35U.

Sorry if these seem like dumb questions, but prior to installing all this stuff, I ran into some really great people here and truly appreciate this community of helpful people. Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Quantumcat]

1. Is it okay to update to the latest System Update, now? Or, should I mess with backing up CIAs of my physical game collection, Freeshop, emulators, etc. first, THEN update?
2. Can CIAs be be updated, as well?

You can update - the guide tells you to. Updating won't affect the ability to do anything. Cias can be updated, either through the eShop, home menu, freeShop, or by installing update cias manually.

3. Secondly, can someone put into layman's terms what Section VIII does?
4. What is the difference between installing a CIA to play a backup and installing a Title Key?
5. What's the difference between an Encrypted Title Key and a Decrypted one?

3. Means that if your SD card or SD reader breaks your console will still boot up (if you don't do this section then if your SD reader in the console breaks your console with be useless until you fix it).
4. You mean installing a ticket (titlekeys allow the creation of good tickets). Good tickets let you download the game from the eShop. Cias just install the game. If ripped from cartridges or non-legit installed games (see the sticky for a definition of legit cia) then the ticket in it lets it show on the home menu but you can't redownload from the eShop.
5. The titlekeys database only accepts decrypted keys as input so the guy in charge can encrypt them and make sure they are valid. Encrypted ones are used by the 3DS to make tickets in freeShop and CIAngel, Decrypt9 can decrypt them.

 

[DrkrZen]

Thanks for clarifying all of that, Quantumcat. I just wanted to make sure that updating was alright, what with recent updates and whatnot.

The rest was just out of curiosity, so I appreciate you taking the time to explain all of that.

Thanks again!

 

[HyperT]

The only potential issue with updating to latest firmware is if you need immediate access to HBL as it takes few days for a new otherapp.bin payload to be made.

 

[DrkrZen]

Yeah, that's why I don't hop right into the next update. Even when I didn't have CFW, its just always been a habit to wait, just in case.

 

[Starboy]

Iam about to install cfw and i want to know how can i add cia games to play on cfw, cant find a tutorial, is it just that you install the cia from fbi on 3ds and it will open on your homescreen or do i have to do some other process apart from installing cia from fbi