Homebrew [Release] freeShop - open source eShop alternative

[TheCruel]

https://freeshop.pw

Source: https://notabug.org/btucker/freeShop

This is homebrew software designed to imitate Nintendo's eShop. It allows you to browse and search games, and download ones you own (i.e. games for which you have the titlekey).

Usage:
1. Install the CIA file on your CFW of choice (preferably one removing region restrictions). Do NOT ask about CFW issues in this thread.
2. Put an encTitleKeys.bin file in the directory sdmc:/3ds/data/freeShop/keys/ or go to update settings in freeShop and add a URL to auto-download (recommended).
3. Launch freeShop and enjoy.

Spoiler: Build instructions

This is perhaps over-simplified. I'll be more thorough later. This is mostly for linux, building on Windows will be difficult.

1. Install devkitARM, including ctrulib and citro3d.

2. Build cpp3ds. This script shows how to build it on ubuntu. This includes downloading precompiled portlibs/tools. (if you use Arch it's on AUR)

3. Set CPP3DS env variable to the dir with cpp3ds build (containing lib/include dirs)

4. Build/install libarchive (to portlibs dir) and freeShop as detailed in this script.

FAQs

Q: Do I need a CFW for this?
A: Yes.

Q: Is there a 3dsx version?
A: No, and with the elevated permissions needed, it's not worth the trouble.

Q: Why are games missing? They're on the eShop.
A: It only shows games for which you have the title key (dumped to encTitleKeys.bin). And even then some games won't show because they're not cached server-side (this will eventually change).

Q: Why does freeShop show DLC as installed when I don't have it?
A: All DLC is lumped together with the same title id, so even partial installs will show it as installed. If you're missing DLC, just delete it and reinstall it. If eShop partially installed it, or you previously purchased some DLC through eShop on that console, you may lose the DLC freeShop installs when you revisit eShop. This is currently unavoidable.

Q: Can freeShop download while sleeping?
A: Not yet. It's currently unknown how to go into sleep mode without interrupting network services.

Q: Can I download games of any region?
A: Depends on your CFW. Most of them allow it, including the popular Luma3DS.

Q: Is this safe? Will I get banned/sued for using this?
A: Even modding your console's software/firmware runs legal risks. But like running freeShop, the risk is minimal. If you make sure to only install games you've purchased, then you remain in a safer legal grey area. And there is no way for Nintendo to know which client IP owns which games. That would requires some analytic guesswork, potentially resulting in many false-positive bans. Not likely to happen and none have been reported.

Q: Why don't I have any friends?
A: You should get out more.

Troubleshooting

I keep getting "Failed to install seed" errors.
You likely have a FW version < 9.6 and therefore cannot play newer games that utilize crypto seeds. You can fix this with a FW update.

I keep getting "Wrong title key" errors.
You're probably not using correct encrypted keys (encTitleKeys.bin). Decrypted keys will give this error.

I keep getting "Failed to finalize TMD install: 0xC86044D2".
The system is reporting that you don't have enough space on your SD card to install the game. If it's a DSiWare game, then it's your NAND that doesn't have the space.

I keep getting "Failed to finalize content install: 0xD8E08025".
There are many possible reasons for this. But one known diagnosis is a possible SD card problem. For example, a fake SD card who is reporting space available while it's actually full will often give this error. Double-check your SD card.

I get error code 0xD8A08004
This happens with the installation state gets screwed up. You have to reboot the console to get rid of it. If you consistently get this, report how so the bug can be fixed.

 

[Timmerito]

looks good!

 

[Damin72]

Very nice, man!

 

[Joom]

It's begun.

 

[Lycan911]

This is amazing! With this, I probably won't ever touch CIAngel again (sorry @cearp xD)

 

[Delumine]

holy shit

 

[Davidosky99]

Just amazing This is the peak of the 3ds hacking(piracy) scene

 

[Delumine]

Can you add a mode where it downloads and install the ticket instead of the game itself from the CDN? The advantage of the eSHOP itself is queueing multiple title to download in sleepmode.

 

[epicmartin7]

That looks pretty cool! Seems like a nice release.

I do have one question though. Now as a sort of disclaimer, I'm not trying to debate on the morals of legit vs. piracy and this is not target toward anyone in particular. It's just the morals I have and I still respect the morals of others lol.

Anyways, since this is Region Free, would it be possible for it to access our eShop balance to purchase games at all through this? Again, not trying to start a debate and I can see the convenience this has just toward downloading.

This is just a legitimate question I have as I like to support developers lol. Again (for the third time), not trying to start a war. I'm just generally curious lol. I respect everyone's morals lol.

 

[Xenon Hacks]

I'm about to go on a vacation for a week, so I figured I'd post some progress on my freeShop project. It's still relatively buggy and I have not yet uploaded the source. But atm the goal is to copy all the useful content of the eShop and improve on the crappy parts. It also permits flexibility with user-provided titlekeys which the eShop will obviously never do.

At the moment, it uses a cache of games scraped from that 3ds titlekeys website, however the keys will not be bundled obviously with freeShop. But it will permit user-provided encrypted titlekeys too and fetch the eShop information as necessary. After all, you should be using your own keys, piracy is illegal and I cannot promote that.

I am open to suggestions as to where you think the project should head. Before I commit to any specific model of managing titles, I'd like to hear what features people would like from a program like this. I only started learning about title installation stuff a few weeks ago, so I'm still learning about the limitations and possibilities atm.

Expected release date: May 28th

This is pretty much what CIAngel should be @cearp think you guys can collab or do you want things to be separate?

 

[Boured]

This is really.cool, good job dude. I can't wait for the first release ^^

 

[MasterLel]

Great !
That'd be even better if we didn't need tickets anymore, but I doubt it will ever happens.

 

[RealityNinja]

I wonder if it will download the seed... Very useful to test some japanese demos!
Great job anyway.

 

[Noroxus]

This is great!
How about adding something like theme support?
[swapping out images and BGM in BCSTM format]

Just an idea, no need to add it

EDIT: The PornHub application on the HomeMenu though lmao

 

[Deleted User]

This is pretty much what CIAngel should be @cearp think you guys can collab or do you want things to be separate?

It would be awesome for CIAngel to be paired with this!

 

[smileyhead]

We can now pirate games on the go without a PC. Amazing.
@MarcusD

 

[WiiUBricker]

Lawsuit coming in 3.2.1.. just kidding. I wonder what Nintendo can do technically to prevent such freeshop apps from working. It's like Nintendo's servers are warez heavens.

 

[Ketchup901]

We can now pirate games on the go without a PC. Amazing.
@MarcusD

We could already do that with CIAngel. But this is a nice GUI for it.

 

[4gionz]

Will this be as easy as using ciangel? As in do you need to manually download a certain file and place in manually or will your app fetch and download it by itself like ciangel does with wings.json? Since I have to use a computer to update the database every time a new game is released I'll probably just stick to ciangel

 

[WoJjTeK]

Is it possible to distinguish between EUR/USA etc versions of the content? When You searched for OOT it showed 2 results, I assume those are the EU and US versions. It'd be helpful if I could tell which version I am downloading. Alsi, is it possible to download DLC through this? Other than that, the app looks amazing and really high quality. Can't wait to try it out