Hacking Switching from gateway to CFW and memory & saves question

[di4medollaz]

so i am finally gonna go on cfw but i have a few questions. My 3ds is 4.2 firmware and i have gateway 3ds.
I read the 3dsguide site but am left with a few questions.

1. can i use my gateways micro sd card and put it into a SD adapter and put it into the O3DS big SD slot and use it to install cfw and emulators and my .3ds backup games? im not sure where i put the adapter though and have a million micro sd cards so im hoping any adapter works or i could just buy one of those old school big SD cards wich i will probably just do Wich one is cheap but still decent? 64 gb is enough

2. i take it there is no way to keep gateway and CFW at the same time? i wouldnt bother switching but i wanna play newer games

3. is converting my gateway save files to cia time consuming or easy? i seen a few guides but they seem outdated

 

[The Real Jdbye]

S

so i am finally gonna go on cfw but i have a few questions. My 3ds is 4.2 firmware and i have gateway 3ds.
I read the 3dsguide site but am left with a few questions.

1. can i use my gateways micro sd card and put it into a SD adapter and put it into the O3DS big SD slot and use it to install cfw and emulators and my .3ds backup games? im not sure where i put the adapter though and have a million micro sd cards so im hoping any adapter works or i could just buy one of those old school big SD cards wich i will probably just do Wich one is cheap but still decent? 64 gb is enough

2. i take it there is no way to keep gateway and CFW at the same time? i wouldnt bother switching but i wanna play newer games

3. is converting my gateway save files to cia time consuming or easy? i seen a few guides but they seem outdated

1. You can but you'll need a different SD card with CFW set up on it in order to get the saves converted. SanDisk Ultra and Samsung Evo are both great and decently priced, just make sure to only buy SD cards from reputable sellers like Amazon (no 3rd party sellers) or a local store, and not from eBay or Chinese online stores.

2. You can and it's pretty easy, follow 3ds.guide and DO NOT UPDATE OR MOVE YOUR EMUNAND TO SYSNAND when it asks you to, once you have B9S and Luma installed you can follow https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-using-luma3ds-gateway-on-b9s.431691/ to get GW working again as a dual boot.
The reason for not updating is because GW doesn't work on 11.6 and the reason for not moving your emuNAND is that Gateway is unsafe to use on sysNAND as it doesn't have FIRM protection so an accidental update will cause B9S to be wiped. Also on 11.3+ simply attempting to boot Gateway sysNAND (even though it fails to boot with black screens) will wipe B9S.
You can however update your sysNAND from Luma and use sysNAND with Luma, emuNAND with Gateway. That way you get to be on the latest firmware but still be able to use 11.2 with Gateway when needed.

3. It's a kinda slow and boring process, but this tool makes it easier: https://gbatemp.net/threads/gateway-save-export-helper.465503/

 

[Quantumcat]

Also on 11.3+ simply attempting to boot Gateway sysNAND (even though it fails to boot with black screens) will wipe B9S

I found out this isn't the case. If updated with Luma, then booted in Gateway mode, there will be black screens but B9S won't be wiped. Still good to have an emuNAND though in case anyone is ever tempted to update in Gateway mode.

 

[di4medollaz]

sounds kinda redundant i guess to bother keeping gateway. I will boot out of GW mode to 4.2 normal fw and follow a guide to get cfw on it. I already have the NAND saved from when i first ran GW also.

And JdBye i dont understand your meaning about the SD card. Your saying i will need a different sd card for CFW To get the saves converted. I planned on taking my microsd out of the Gateway card and saving the games and save files on my PC then formatting it , then following the 3dsguide by putting all relevant cfw install files on it from my PC then i will put the microsd into a adapter so it fits the big SD slot and pull out the old SD card and put it in.

Then after the cfw was installed on 3ds i thought i would take the micro sd that i just installed CFW with and go to my PC and put my .3ds and .sav files back onto the miro sd and use whatever programs are available to convert the .3DS files to cia and the .SAV files to whatever makes it compatible for cfw.

Is that wrong somehow?

 

[Quantumcat]

sounds kinda redundant i guess to bother keeping gateway. I will boot out of GW mode to 4.2 normal fw and follow a guide to get cfw on it. I already have the NAND saved from when i first ran GW also.

And JdBye i dont understand your meaning about the SD card. Your saying i will need a different sd card for CFW To get the saves converted. I planned on taking my microsd out of the Gateway card and saving the games and save files on my PC then formatting it , then following the 3dsguide by putting all relevant cfw install files on it from my PC then i will put the microsd into a adapter so it fits the big SD slot and pull out the old SD card and put it in.

Then after the cfw was installed on 3ds i thought i would take the micro sd that i just installed CFW with and go to my PC and put my .3ds and .sav files back onto the miro sd and use whatever programs are available to convert the .3DS files to cia and the .SAV files to whatever makes it compatible for cfw.

Is that wrong somehow?

You can't use the saves for Gateway games directly with cia games. Follow this guide to convert them: https://gbatemp.net/threads/importing-gateway-saves-to-cia-games.425743/ The tool that Jdbye linked will make it a little easier. You'll need an SD card in both your console and the Gateway card at the same time to be able to convert the saves. You can use a small one in the gateway card and just have one or two games on the card at once, and delete when done converting their saves.