ROM Hack [Release] AGB_FIRM Signature Patcher + GBA ROM Converter

[Shadow#1]

Okay now when I go to install a game to sysNAND it says invalid signature, what does that mean?

What does game have to do with AGB_FIRM?

 

[Skynetz]

What does game have to do with AGB_FIRM?

I installed the AGB_FIRM files to sysnand and emunand, now I'm trying to install games.

 

[Shadow#1]

I installed the AGB_FIRM files to sysnand and emunand, now I'm trying to install games.

Nands linked or unlinked?

 

[drewby]

The system supports AGB. No CFW somehow disables that. What would be the point?

I suspect the biggest problem people run into is the fact that some patch on the fly and some do not. If you have a CFW that patches and you have the patched AGB_FIRM installed, this likely conflicts and causes freezes. (They probably don't necessarily even patch the exact same bits.) If you have a CFW that does not patch and you haven't installed the patched AGB_FIRM, then that obviously won't work either. It's easy to get confusing obviously because most just don't really tell you whether they do or not. Also, I'm not sure, but it may be that your sysNAND's AGB_FIRM matters somehow. Oddly enough it should be the unpatched one. Maybe it should be the same exact version too? I started out installing the patched version in both and sysNAND definitely didn't like having the patched AGB_FIRM. I installed the unpatched one back on there and now it works. Of course, I only have the one version of that title, so if my emuNAND had a higher version that higher version is now gone and both sysNAND and emuNAND have the same version, just the emuNAND one is patched and the sysNAND one is not. That could be utterly unrelated though. I just know you have to have the games installed in sysNAND if you want to run them from emuNAND so the system obviously at least somewhat partially resets. (I notice the messages are still in English though. I have a Japanese N3DS that I've region swapped to US, so the messages being in English I guess means that the AGB_FIRM is still in memory or something of that sort.)

ReiNand is actually a great example of a CFW that "doesn't support AGB" as in it doesn't do any patching or anything with AGB right now. The author is looking into it, but that isn't on the highest priority list (after all, we can just install this CIA any time and it's not exactly hard to do. And, like I said, FBI will just tell you if the title already exists and delete the old one for you if you hit A, so even that minor risk in manually deleting is gone. Frankly I am actually kind of inclined to say it might be better if CFWs just left out the extra complexity of the on-the-fly patching as easy as this is...) On the other hand, many had been using rxTools a lot at least until some of these alternatives that don't do the on-the-fly patching started supporting 9.6+ emuNAND on the N3DS and rxTools does do that patching. This is why I said I keep both the unpatched and patched CIAs on my memory card now. If I need to switch or if the CFW changes I just load the other one. Oh, and btw, I'm also using ReiNand right now.

Anyway, some of this is speculation, but, regardless, I find it incomprehensible that a CFW could somehow "not support AGB" as it basically just isn't up to the CFW itself to support or not support it.

No, if the CFW doesn't support it, you can't run it. It's an issue with the CFW.

 

[Deleted User]

Just wanna ask, I've installed this to my nand and the error occurs to turn it off and try again.

So I've tried to install to my emunand and I can't do so. FBI can't start the AM service. What should I do?

 

[Nazosan]

No, if the CFW doesn't support it, you can't run it. It's an issue with the CFW.

ReiNand "doesn't support it." How am I running them?

I think what you mean is if the CFW uses methods that don't work with it then it can't. That rather depends on their methods though.

 

[drewby]

ReiNand "doesn't support it." How am I running them?

I think what you mean is if the CFW uses methods that don't work with it then it can't. That rather depends on their methods though.

Then why is one of RxTools' features AGB and TWL support? If other CFW don't support AGB, they wouldn't put it in the changelog. Also, if you install the CIA it gives your emuNAND support.

 

[Nazosan]

Oh. I didn't realize you ignored what I said. Ok, I'll say it again a little clearer:
To play GBA games you have to somehow bypass the signature checking except GBA games aren't actually run in true 3DS mode, they're in a sort of legacy mode. So there are two ways of going about this now. One, you can modify the "AGB_FIRM" which is basically the part of the system that handles the GBA switchover to not check the games for the signatures it was originally programmed to check for or two, the CFW itself can do so essentially patching in memory. If you have a cfw like rxTools, then it does the second way. If you have one like ReiNand it does nothing and doesn't touch the GBA stuff at all and the first way will work. ReiNand doesn't in any way "support" GBA games, it just doesn't screw up the process if you want to manually install the patched AGB_FIRM and run games via that. You can't have both though it seems. If you put the patched AGB_FIRM in emuNAND and try to run with rxTools and its patching methods, it gives you the black screen of death. (Maybe it changes offsets or something, I don't know. If so that would make sense though because that would mean some completely different part of the code gets changed in an unintended way.)

The real problem is there are some like Gateway that use methods that essentially break this. I think it has to do with the way they setup ARM9 threads to control stuff in the home menu. I think it uses the ARM9 core as par of the switchover process (or maybe it can use it directly as the actual GBA CPU? Though the GBA originally was ARM7, that ARM9 is probably pretty close to the same thing if you downclock it enough. I really don't know though -- someone more familiar with the process would have to answer to that. Maybe there is an actual ARM7 core in there too and it just uses the ARM9 for the process. I get the impression that the legacy mode is more like a sort of double legacy where it's essentially doing a legacy mode of the DS legacy moding the GBA. Complicated stuff.) It's not because Gateway "doesn't support GBA games" it's because it's doing something that essentially breaks the process. So along comes ReiNand which doesn't do this yet doesn't support GBA games and then all you have to do is patch the AGB_FIRM and enjoy your GBA games once more. My guess is Gateway's thread just doesn't play nice at all with the switch. They definitely have their system setup to do some pretty complex things using that core after all, including a lot of system takeover processes.

 

[Mistie]

I tried to do this on my New3DS XL ver. 9.2.0-20U with ReiNand emunand on 10.4.0-29U (Installing to emunand of course) and it is giving me the error "An error has occurred. Press and hold the POWER Button to turn the system off. Please refer to the Operations Manual for details."

I installed the patched CIA to nand. The created CIA for the game (pokemon emerald in this case) was installed to SD.

 

[PoLoMoTo]

Then why is one of RxTools' features AGB and TWL support? If other CFW don't support AGB, they wouldn't put it in the changelog. Also, if you install the CIA it gives your emuNAND support.

ReiNAND supports both AGB and TWL. I have used both.

I tried to do this on my New3DS XL ver. 9.2.0-20U with ReiNand emunand on 10.4.0-29U (Installing to emunand of course) and it is giving me the error "An error has occurred. Press and hold the POWER Button to turn the system off. Please refer to the Operations Manual for details."

I installed the patched CIA to nand. The created CIA for the game (pokemon emerald in this case) was installed to SD.

You need to install the patched CIA to the nand of both the sysNAND and the emuNAND. Then you also need to install the GBA VC cia's to both the sysNAND SD and the emuNAND SD

 

[Skynetz]

Nands linked or unlinked?

Unlinked

 

[Shadow#1]

Unlinked

Ha then u have to install gba vc in both

 

[Mistie]

You need to install the patched CIA to the nand of both the sysNAND and the emuNAND. Then you also need to install the GBA VC cia's to both the sysNAND SD and the emuNAND SD

So I have to boot into CFW on my sysnand and install it from FBI?

Can I tell ReiNand not to boot into my emunand, or how do I install it to sysnand?

 

[PoLoMoTo]

So I have to boot into CFW on my sysnand and install it from FBI?

Can I tell ReiNand not to boot into my emunand, or how do I install it to sysnand?

Yes, I used PastaCFW. I booted it by running browserhax from sysNAND, launching the Homebrew Launcher, and from there launching PastaCFW. After the system rebooted into sysNAND with Pasta patches I installed the CIAs with FBI.

 

[Mistie]

Yes, I used PastaCFW.

Is there a way I can only use JUST ReiNAND? I don't want to use other CFW for simplicity's sake.

 

[PoLoMoTo]

Is there a way I can only use JUST ReiNAND? I don't want to use other CFW for simplicity's sake.

No, I do not think ReiNAND supports sysNAND, you don't have to replace ReiNAND to run Pasta.

 

[mattmc]

My first attempt at doing this was Golden Sun and that worked swimmingly. Then I tried Super Mario Advance. The first one. US version. After uninstalling, reinstalling, repacking and then reinstalling, I'm still being told the save data is corrupt. Am I missing something? I loaded the ROM into the footer generator to let it find the needed settings, and that site with all the save type information seems to be in agreement.

Edit: Nevermind, SRAM patch fixed it. Thanks for your work, Riku.

 

[Mistie]

No, I do not think ReiNAND supports sysNAND, you don't have to replace ReiNAND to run Pasta.

I used ReiNAND in sysNAND before I installed my emuNAND. I did this so I could clone my sysNAND over and get FBI and HBlauncher_loader "preinstalled" on my emunand. Just after I setup emuNAND it auto boots to emuNAND rather than sysNAND.

 

[PoLoMoTo]

I used ReiNAND in sysNAND before I installed my emuNAND. I did this so I could clone my sysNAND over and get FBI and HBlauncher_loader "preinstalled" on my emunand. Just after I setup emuNAND it auto boots to emuNAND rather than sysNAND.

Well I guess I was unaware, that'll probably do. You just need to install the CIAs so whatever gets it done will work.

 

[spooks456]

It wouldn't let me install the patched AGB_FIRM in neither Sysnand or Emunand, and I only could uninstall the one that was already installed in Sysnand, but still can't install it in either nand, what should I do?