Ok, so I have been trying to Google about how to do this properly, and haven't been having much luck.
I want to backup several of the physical games I have that I tend to switch between often to roms so I can just have them on my 3DS without having to carry the carts around.
I have a N3DS with Arm9loader and Luma3DS.
Most of the guides are old and before arm9loader, and/or assume you are using a flashcart, or despite specifically mentioning they are for the 3DS are only for dumping DS content.
The best guides I could find were these:
https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/wiki/Dumping-Game-Cartridges
https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutoria...-to-cia-dump-private-headers-ds-carts.432600/
And to be fair, they still aren't too much help.
For one thing, I am confused why nothing seems to mention using uncart, since the most well known 3DS hacking guide recommends you install that as part of the hacking procedure. Are there better options now? Or were these guides written before that app? Or is that just one of several ways that are equally as good that people recommend doing?
And also, pretty much none of these guides also mention backing up your save too, just the rom.
So I figured it would be best to ask here, I actually have several questions about what I want to do:
1: Well, first of all the obvious one, what would be the best way to dump both the cart's rom and it's save file if I already have a fully hacked 3DS?
2: Would it be better to keep them as .3ds files, or convert them to .cia files? Can you load .3ds files easily on a 3DS, or would converting them to a .CIA be much easier?
3: If CIA is the easier/recommended method, then how would I be able to install my saves along with the CIA?
4: Also if CIA is recommended, is it possible to dump to .3ds first so I can also use the rom AND save in emulators, and then convert to CIA to install on my 3DS?
5: I was told that it's possible to get Pokemon Bank to work with a ROM you have dumped of your game carts, is there anything special I have to do for this? Also, is there any way to get Poke Transfer to work with black/white/2 roms or would I have to use my physical carts for that since they are DS games?
6: Are there any games where that are issues with dumping and backing up/restoring their saves? The biggest concern I have is not corrupting or losing my save data, or tripping some kind of protection in the games where they refuse to load my save data or think it's corrupted.
7: And in reference to the above, is there any easy way to have more than one save you can switch between games? Especially for something like pokemon, since I hear that has some kind of protection against restoring different or earlier saves.
8: Also, for the tons of other games I have that I am just going to keep on cartridge for now, is there any way to dump a backup of just their saves?
9: And finally, can I do all this without having to use the homebrew launcher, since I am on the latest CFW and for now HBL does not work on that version?
Err... thanks in advance for anyone that answers, I know I asked a lot.
I want to backup several of the physical games I have that I tend to switch between often to roms so I can just have them on my 3DS without having to carry the carts around.
I have a N3DS with Arm9loader and Luma3DS.
Most of the guides are old and before arm9loader, and/or assume you are using a flashcart, or despite specifically mentioning they are for the 3DS are only for dumping DS content.
The best guides I could find were these:
https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/wiki/Dumping-Game-Cartridges
https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutoria...-to-cia-dump-private-headers-ds-carts.432600/
And to be fair, they still aren't too much help.
For one thing, I am confused why nothing seems to mention using uncart, since the most well known 3DS hacking guide recommends you install that as part of the hacking procedure. Are there better options now? Or were these guides written before that app? Or is that just one of several ways that are equally as good that people recommend doing?
And also, pretty much none of these guides also mention backing up your save too, just the rom.
So I figured it would be best to ask here, I actually have several questions about what I want to do:
1: Well, first of all the obvious one, what would be the best way to dump both the cart's rom and it's save file if I already have a fully hacked 3DS?
2: Would it be better to keep them as .3ds files, or convert them to .cia files? Can you load .3ds files easily on a 3DS, or would converting them to a .CIA be much easier?
3: If CIA is the easier/recommended method, then how would I be able to install my saves along with the CIA?
4: Also if CIA is recommended, is it possible to dump to .3ds first so I can also use the rom AND save in emulators, and then convert to CIA to install on my 3DS?
5: I was told that it's possible to get Pokemon Bank to work with a ROM you have dumped of your game carts, is there anything special I have to do for this? Also, is there any way to get Poke Transfer to work with black/white/2 roms or would I have to use my physical carts for that since they are DS games?
6: Are there any games where that are issues with dumping and backing up/restoring their saves? The biggest concern I have is not corrupting or losing my save data, or tripping some kind of protection in the games where they refuse to load my save data or think it's corrupted.
7: And in reference to the above, is there any easy way to have more than one save you can switch between games? Especially for something like pokemon, since I hear that has some kind of protection against restoring different or earlier saves.
8: Also, for the tons of other games I have that I am just going to keep on cartridge for now, is there any way to dump a backup of just their saves?
9: And finally, can I do all this without having to use the homebrew launcher, since I am on the latest CFW and for now HBL does not work on that version?
Err... thanks in advance for anyone that answers, I know I asked a lot.
Last edited by Cyber Akuma,