Tutorial Simple Guide to Downgrading your 3DS

[Namaru]

Successfully downgraded my MH4U N3DS XL, but I think I screwed myself. I used the same memory card to backup multiple 3DS before finally slotting it into the MH4U and running the downgrade, unlinking nands, and going on with my business. I don't have my copy of MH4U anymore, and even though I backed all the stuff up; I can't get it back. Even when I get a .cia of it installed and copy over the save data, I can't get my save back (the game will just say it's unusable and needs to format). It's aggravating because I have the files, but I can't seem to get them to work right. Any chance of rescuing my save data?

 

[brkun]

My N3ds Update package has 102 Files, is that right?

[Edit]
because I feel like it's not after 2 failed attempts on the first .cia

[Edit 2]
nvm this all
I got it to work, I just had to uses the safeSysUpdater

i got this package with 102 files too.

It worked for you on N3DS?

How many times you tried with safesysupdater? Going to try this today =)

 

[Horbz]

Exactly why I did this, so I could play FE:IF translated. Looks like I'm not the only one here doing this to translate the JP games we own XD

I know! I still don't understand why the 3DS has a region lock. As soon as Ninjhax and region free launcher was available for 10.3, I ordered Monster Hunter right away from Japan. And now I am overwhelmed how great the community is (for example fan translations).

Successfully downgraded my MH4U N3DS XL, but I think I screwed myself. I used the same memory card to backup multiple 3DS before finally slotting it into the MH4U and running the downgrade, unlinking nands, and going on with my business. I don't have my copy of MH4U anymore, and even though I backed all the stuff up; I can't get it back. Even when I get a .cia of it installed and copy over the save data, I can't get my save back (the game will just say it's unusable and needs to format). It's aggravating because I have the files, but I can't seem to get them to work right. Any chance of rescuing my save data?

I'm not quite sure if I understand what you are saying. So you DO have a backup of your "Nintendo3DS" folder? And what did you do to unlink sysNAND and emuNAND? Did you format emuNAND or sysNAND? There might be a chance. I also have a MH4U Edition N3DS XL and got it all to work.

 

[Namaru]

I know! I still don't understand why the 3DS has a region lock. As soon as Ninjhax and region free launcher was available for 10.3, I ordered Monster Hunter right away from Japan. And now I am overwhelmed how great the community is (for example fan translations).


I'm not quite sure if I understand what you are saying. So you DO have a backup of your "Nintendo3DS" folder? And what did you do to unlink sysNAND and emuNAND? Did you format emuNAND or sysNAND? There might be a chance. I also have a MH4U Edition N3DS XL and got it all to work.

Yes, I copied absolutely everything from my memory card before hand. I have the folder that I know MonHun is in because it is over 8GB and I know which one is my Emunand because when I installed the MonHun .cia I found, that folder is the one that increases (but keep in mind since I used it to downgrade multiple 3DSs, it has multiple 12c89429etc. folders in the Nintendo 3DS). To unlink them, I followed the stickied guide and formatted the internal memory after setting up the emunand (I only had one folder in there that didn't have the /dbs folder, so that was obviously the emunand).

 

[Horbz]

(but keep in mind since I used it to downgrade multiple 3DSs, it has multiple 12c89429etc. folders in the Nintendo 3DS).

So the folder is /Nintendo 3DS/*random number*

But it is not possible that there are multiple folders that share the same random number combination.

Requirement for this to work:
Let's say you backed up folder from before the downgrade is "/Nintendo 3DS/12345". In that folder you'll find the encrypted files that contain Monster Hunter and your savegame.
Now on your SD card there should be a folder with the exact same number combination. If you formatted emuNAND, then your sysNAND has the same number as your 3DS before unlinking the NANDs. If you formatted your sysNAND, then the sysNAND has another folder now and your emuNAND should use the same folder as before.

What you can do now is back up again the whole "/Nintendo 3DS/12345" folder from your SD (in case something goes wrong). Delete it and copy the whole "12345" back, that you have backed up from your "original" system before you downgraded.

Check both sysNAND and emuNAND if your game is back.

 

[Namaru]

So the folder is /Nintendo 3DS/*random number*

But it is not possible that there are multiple folders that share the same random number combination.

Requirement for this to work:
Let's say you backed up folder from before the downgrade is "/Nintendo 3DS/12345". In that folder you'll find the encrypted files that contain Monster Hunter and your savegame.
Now on your SD card there should be a folder with the exact same number combination. If you formatted emuNAND, then your sysNAND has the same number as your 3DS before unlinking the NANDs. If you formatted your sysNAND, then the sysNAND has another folder now and your emuNAND should use the same folder as before.

What you can do now is back up again the whole "/Nintendo 3DS/12345" folder from your SD (in case something goes wrong). Delete it and copy the whole "12345" back, that you have backed up from your "original" system before you downgraded.

Check both sysNAND and emuNAND if your game is back.

See I don't quite know what's going on, I know for a fact this is my original folder from before the downgrade and I know for a fact Monster Hunter is in there because the folder is huge and this was the only 3DS that had any files on it to begin with (amusingly my N3DS kept Birds and Beans but none of my other eShop titles like Shovel Knight), and it seems like my Emunand is a completely different folder. None of this makes sense to me, but I have a feeling it's because I used this memory card in multi 3DS downgrades because it already had all the files necessary on it.

I just don't understand what's going on.

 

[Horbz]

That's not easy to explain. That English is not my first language does not make it easier at all...
I try to explain anyway: there is a folder called "Nintendo 3DS" on every single system. The 5 folders with those random number/ letter combinations that you have are from a different NAND each. After formatting (or using another 3DS with the same SD card) a new folder is created by that system.
What that means is (if you unlinked your sys- and emuNAND) they both use an own folder now to store their data.
That also means that your 3DS can only use two of them (one for sysNAND and one for emuNAND), so the 3 other folders are not usable with that 3DS system.

All those files are kind of encrypted, so if your NAND does not match with the folder, the files are not usable.

Are all the files you have on your SD card or do you have any additional (different) files on your computer?

 

[zhecloud]

Hi guys, can anyone help me ?

Im doing the guide to downgrade my 2ds 10.3 to 9.2 firmware.

I do Ok all the steps but when i need to press Y into the sysupdater to start the downgrade, the screens turn black and appears some pink pixels in the screen.

Y tried like 20-25 times, i put the sysupdater like boot but not work. I dont know what more to do.

Sorry for my bad english, and thanks.

 

[masterzed]

Hi guys, can anyone help me ?

Im doing the guide to downgrade my 2ds 10.3 to 9.2 firmware.

I do Ok all the steps but when i need to press Y into the sysupdater to start the downgrade, the screens turn black and appears some pink pixels in the screen.

Y tried like 20-25 times, i put the sysupdater like boot but not work. I dont know what more to do.

Sorry for my bad english, and thanks.

have the same problem. Press Y and black screen with some pixel in left site! mybe any idea how to fix them?

 

[Horbz]

@zhecloud and @masterzed did you try using safeSysupdater instead? Take a look HERE.

 

[zhecloud]

@zhecloud and @masterzed did you try using safeSysupdater instead? Take a look HERE.

Yes, i use safesysupdater and i get the black screen.

When i use sysupdater, doesnt finish to load the updater and the words are splits and i can press any button.

Thanks

 

[Bilada]

Can i move my sd card data normally to another one after downgrading?

 

[masterzed]

@zhecloud and @masterzed did you try using safeSysupdater instead? Take a look HERE.

yeah i took the safesysupdate from this post

 

[hcenteno21]

Can i move my sd card data normally to another one after downgrading?

Yes as long are you are not running emunand you can just swap them normally

 

[hcenteno21]

Yes, i use safesysupdater and i get the black screen.

When i use sysupdater, doesnt finish to load the updater and the words are splits and i can press any button.

Thanks

Try formattig your card and starting over using sysUpdater from the first post. And are you using menuhax to get to homebrew? Browserhax never worked for me, or for a lot of people and using menuhax seems to work with a great success rate.

 

[derthomas]

Im just getting some dots in the bottom left corner of the upper screen when attempting a downgrade. weird

 

[hcenteno21]

Im just getting some dots in the bottom left corner of the upper screen when attempting a downgrade. weird

What sysUpdater are you using, and what entry point? Also what firmware are you currently on, and what system?

 

[derthomas]

What sysUpdater are you using, and what entry point? Also what firmware are you currently on, and what system?

Im using safesysupdater the most recent version. o3ds, 10.3, menuhax

 

[zhecloud]

Try formattig your card and starting over using sysUpdater from the first post. And are you using menuhax to get to homebrew? Browserhax never worked for me, or for a lot of people and using menuhax seems to work with a great success rate.

Yes i format my sd with SDformatter.

First i use browserHax to enter homebrew for first time, after i install menuhax. I tried with both sysupdater and nothing

 

[hcenteno21]

Im using safesysupdater the most recent version. o3ds, 10.3, menuhax

Try sysUpdater from first post. always worked for me personally better. As well as formatting my sd, when i was having issues. I formatted my sd putting back in system to create folders took it out and loaded the starter.zip to get 3ds folder and added sysUpdater to 3ds folder and updates to root of sd. LMK i have done about 8 this week all succesfully.