It appears that users are being banned from 3DS online services, en masse. There's no direct cause right now, and seemingly no linking factor. This post is meant as an announcement for users, to be wary, and that GBAtemp will keep you updated as soon as more info rolls in. If you have been banned, please post in the thread below, and we will try to keep tabs on the situation. To be extra sure, it can't hurt to turn off your 3DS's wireless capabilities, so you might as well do that for now.

Edit 1: it appears that e-Shop access isn't restricted if you are banned.

Edit 2: A caller to Nintendo reported that the company said this ban is due to "unauthorized software usage".

Edit 3: @LinkSoraZelda is collecting info. Contact him if you are banned.

Edit 4: Click and fill this out if you were BANNED.

Edit 5:

[11:28:19 PM] Clector: Curiously the page of that error in Nintendo Support website used to have this:Error Code: 002-0102 Situation: You receive the error code 002-0102 when attempting to connect online. What to Do: If you continue to experience this issue, please contact Nintendo by calling 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
[11:28:44 PM] Clector: Now it says this: What to Do: If you are experiencing this error code, your Nintendo 3DS family system has been banned due to unauthorized system modifications, play of unauthorized versions of one or more games, and/or connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service. This ban is effective immediately and requests to remove the ban will not be processed.

Thanks to @Joom

Edit 6: Aurora Wright is taking another poll here

Edit 7: Not a lot is known but

There are bans happening, they are happening in all regions.
All models in the 3ds family seem to be candidates for banning.
There is no indication they will be anything other than permanent.
A game or DLC may end up being a cause but there is no one game or DLC that ties banned users together.
The cause or causes are as yet unknown, though it does seem to be related to modifications. Reports of unmodified consoles being banned are as yet unproven.
The banning is tied to something you can modify, thus you can unban. Doing it while the causes are unknown is likely only going to burn a working token though.
There are semi public tokens out there, Nintendo knows how to browse a forum as well as you so don't be surprised if they also get banned.
It does not seem to be limited to a given base firmware version, it does not seem to be limited to any one custom firmware type. There is some speculation that older hacking methods are not being hit as hard but nothing to confirm this yet.
The data collection could have happened this morning, or it could have been months in the making.
A simple check to see is checking your friends list, by itself it will not ban you.
Some are turning their wifi off. It is doubtful this will be of much use and being banned does not seem to come with any downsides that wifi being off will not also mimic.
You may have escaped a ban thus far but it could happen at any point. It could be that they stop in the future, it has happened on other consoles, but you would be living in hope rather than any particularly well founded logic.
The bans are done on the side of Nintendo's servers rather than your 3ds so there is also that.

If you hack your devices/games then their online functionality may be troubled. This has been known for decades, Nintendo seems to have finally caught up with that.

Please continue to share information with the thread or the links in previous edits.

Update 5/30

HOW TO HELP AVOID BANS (we think)​

If I was to guess from the information we have gathered since the ban wave, it seems likely that they are looking for TitleIDs that don't exist. Homebrew shows up in the activity log as the Download Play app, and fake CIA's show up as just ??????. That last one is what I'm guessing they are looking for.

If you are not banned yet or before you unban yourself, go into your friends list, choose settings, and turn off the option to "show friends what game you are playing." This will prevent you from playing games online with friends, so turn it back on when you wanna game with someone, but ALWAYS keep it off when running custom CIAs. Next, go into system settings -> internet settings -> spotpass, and turn off BOTH options. One is auto download software, the other sends system information to Nintendo. Also, make sure you don't have your favorite title set to something stupid like FBI or any other non-Nintendo CIA.

Its VERY likely that these options are what tipped off Nintendo, but we aren't 100% certain yet. The amount of banned people that had one of these options turned on was over 80% for each. If I was to assume that some of those people overlap, its very possible (but not confirmed) that 100% of banned people in the survey had at least one of those options turned on. I personally had all of them off and I have TONS of reasons for Nintendo to ban me.... yet I am not banned (yet).

Another bit of advice: Only run custom CIAs when offline, and after you close them, run a "legit" game like Smash Bros. or something before shutting down or going back online. This way your most recent title won't show up as a fake CIA

Current Theories as to what causes a ban
​

* SpotPass Settings: 8 users out of 46 users that were banned have SpotPass completely shut off, or SpotPass only (no friends list visibility)
* Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): Literally all reports ranged from 10.2+, I can get exact numbers for this if you'd like, but all firmwares were affected.
* Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): 44 of the 126 B9S users that answered were banned, pattern was mirrored for A9LH users as well.
* Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and freeShop: Literally about 98% of users both banned and unbanned had some combination of these applications installed. However the common ones were: FBI, HBL, LumaUpdater and NTR.
* Save Modification: Equal amounts of users on both sides have reported save modification in some form, either with PKSM or another save editor
* System Transfers: 188 users said that they had not previously system transfered, 61 of those users were banned; 16 users said they transferred from a hacked console, only three of them received a ban; 13 said they transferred from a stock system and likewise were banned. The rest of our sample did not answer this question.
* Activity Log Information: A majority of those who have not been banned have said they had NOT cleaned their activity logs. I can get exact numbers for this too on request.

This information is just what I've found. Like I said, there could be variables or things we haven't even checked for yet. But these are things that I feel should be disproven, at least with the current dataset we have.

• From the information that we've gathered from some people that have used a packet sniffer such as WireShark, the following data is sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers as soon as the 3DS connects to the internet:
  • Amount of time spent online (timer stops when either the system is disconnected from the internet, or connection drops out, then starts the timer again in a new session when it reconnects to the internet).
  • The game being played and amount of time spent on it during that session.
  • The console's unique hexadecimal ID used in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB, along with it's RSA-signed signature.
  • The console's serial number in which is broadcasted from the SoC and is hard coded in the SoC.
  • Friend Code generated on the Nintendo 3DS system, if one has been generated.
  • Internet connection status (either online or offline).
  • The Nintendo Network ID, if there is one linked to it.
  • Even if the sending of SpotPass Information is switched off, or even hiding your currently playing games. It does not prevent the system from sending currently playing information to Nintendo's online gaming servers, it only hides it from your friends in your friend list (like being invisible on the forum, while mods and admins can still see you). Why? Because even people without a Friend Code on their system have been getting banned too!

• The following data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers:
  • The data from the Nintendo 3DS's Activity Log. Oddly enough, while Nintendo does explicitly state that they collect Activity Log data, they're actually referring to their own server's Activity Log, which always tracks every console's online activity, and keeps a record of them that is stored forever. And is only collected in increments of data through a timer and a currently playing list.
    
  • Games or apps that have not been played, regardless if they're legitimate or not. You only get tracked when you're online and using that game or app.
  • Using games or apps while offline. Even though it is stored on the 3DS console's Activity Log, that data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers.
  • Custom Firmware. Though we can't rule out the possibility of them releasing a 3DS update in the future that adds such function to collect MD5 hashes of files and FIRM data and send them to Nintendo online gaming servers (which would also be updated in a maintenance).

• Things that people think what happens with consoles, but really doesn't:
  • "LocalFriendCodeSeedB is transferred to the system upon doing a system transfer". This is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB remains on the system and does not move to another system.
  • "The console generates a LocalFriendCodeSeedB upon first startup". Again, this is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is made during the manufacturing process at Foxconn. It is generated at the factory, flashed to the NAND flash memory storage, then created as an account on Nintendo's online gaming server and Nintendo eShop server immediately when being manufactured. It is absolutely impossible to generate a LocalFriendCodeSeedB and be able to connect to Nintendo's online gaming server and/or Nintendo eShop server, even if you knew the RSA generation key for it. You'd end up with Error Code 002-0102 "This console's online services have been restricted by Nintendo" if you even tried (the error can either mean two things: The hexadecimal ID doesn't exist on the server, or the request to access the hexadecimal ID has been denied which in other words... banned). So a LocalFriendCodeSeedB generator will NEVER happen! Because it's not worth doing, if it can't connect.
  • Switching off "Currently Playing" information. Once again, this does not hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only hides it from your friends.
  • Switching off SpotPass. Nope, this too doesn't hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only opts-out of receiving SpotPass data, sorry.

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

Thanks to @Platinum Lucario @MadMageKefka and @ShadowEO !

 

[SaberLilly]

From all the statistics we have,Nintendo doesn't seem to ban people right away,but it seems like they list off what seeds to ban first while biding there time from however they are recording users using unsupported software.Im guessing once they gather enough Intel over a few months for specific users since there might be a limitation on how many people they can ban at once,they ban all the seeds they caught using unsupported software at the same time.The cycle will only repeat after a few months,they will mark down whoever used homebrew on there ban list,bide there time for other users they can catch using it and then ban them all at the same time.That way they can ban them even when they aren't online when they send out the wave to kill the seeds.

Well that makes sense but jeez, if that's the case then they must have been collecting data for YEARS, at least in my case....but hey, i'm not mad, I knew it was coming sooner or later, just have to consider it lesson learned and be more careful next time

 

[Searinox]

I was able to do a test today involving another console and Mii Plaza. I have no illicit CIA titles installed but I do have an oldschool DS flashcart which has a very conspicuous name and icon. It came from the age before flashcarts would spoof legit game titles. I ran the flashcart then rebooted and streetpassed another console.

I found that DS titles do get shared, just like 3DS titles. Since the information for last played title is pulled from the Activity Log, I'd assume incognito mode would fix that. Setting the HBL to Activity Log would also prevent accidental refreshes.

My question is: when the console connects to Nintendo's servers and broadcasts any potential running application, does it ONLY broadcast the RUNNING application, or does it also broadcast LAST RUN application like Mii Plaza? I have been reading mixed up reports about this and I am not sure if this functionality is restricted to Mii Plaza or also the console's WFC connection. The initial post of this thread does not explicitly mention the function.

Finally I'd like to ask if disabling Mii Plaza information sharing genuinely does disable it from communicating to Nintendo, or if it's like disabling Friends List tracking and only hides stuff from other users' views.

 

[appeltje_eitje]

My cfw 3ds met my other 3ds in mii park and i have the option show friends what you are playing off.. but it shows last played: open source eshop clone.. how is this possible and how do i change this?

 

[IC_]

I never had any Pokemon game and I didn’t get banned, even though I used homebrew while being online

 

[Purge]

I never had any Pokemon game and I didn’t get banned, even though I used homebrew while being online

Inb4 "that means Pokemon is causing the ban!!! No one play USUM 1.2! Let's just gloss over the fact that we came to this conclusion using unreliable anecdotal evidence provided by 3DS users who probably did not even mention all potential factors which contributed to their ban!"

 

[Vaylein]

Hey all,

First post.

Sounds like people are still getting the hammer and we’re not much closer to a solution here.

Been pondering. Instead of trying to hide what we’re doing here, perhaps there are ways to stop the dial home as all methods I’ve come across don’t seem to actually yield any successful results (incognito mode/play log clearing/spotpass/friends list settings).

My thoughts have been around dns blocking. Would be nice to know what addresses the 3ds communicates with so we can try to narrow down the list. Perhaps there’s a dns name for a server listed in the firmware that gathers the info we don’t want them to see which can be blocked to prevent the dial home while still allowing game traffic akin to dns blocking for preventing updates.

Someone’s likely already thought of this but just putting it out there as I haven’t noticed any discussion around this yet

Vay


Edit: typo

 

[appeltje_eitje]

Yesterday I met my cfw 3ds and it was showing the last game i played was open source eshop clone, and i have the option show friends what you are playing off..
So I played animal crossing new leaf and the next time it showed my last game was animal crossing.. So I turned on the incognito trough godmode and this morning I tried the streetpass again and Yes it shows my last game play was share-play.. So the incognito mode does not work here and I don`t know how to change it.

 

[appeltje_eitje]

Yesterday I met my cfw 3ds and it was showing the last game i played was open source eshop clone, and i have the option show friends what you are playing off..
So I played animal crossing new leaf and the next time it showed my last game was animal crossing.. So I turned on the incognito trough godmode and this morning I tried the streetpass again and Yes it shows my last game play was share-play.. So the incognito mode does not work here and I don`t know how to change it.

Its still showing my last played game i played luigis mansion 2 and it shows in mii park on the 3ds i met trough streetpass.. Nobody who knows how this is possible ???

 

[Searinox]

DNS blocking is not a solution as some servers the console phones home to are also servers it relies on for online game functionality. Luma3DS devs chose thus far to not include deviceID spoofing or disable phoning home altogether, in the idea that although the vast majority use it for piracy, it's actually intended to only allow unsigned code to run and they are not responsible if you choose that unsigned code to be pirated games. And so far no one else has forked it to try and implement this.

My cfw 3ds met my other 3ds in mii park and i have the option show friends what you are playing off.. but it shows last played: open source eshop clone.. how is this possible and how do i change this?

Uninstall all homebrew CIAs and switch to running homebrew as .3dsx files via Homebrew Launcher through Luma's Rosalina module and attach it to a useless system app like the Music player(H&S doesn't yet work, although it'd've been ideal). There's tutorials for this stuff you can find with Search. After you're set up, launch a legit app of whatever kind, close it, go into Mii Plaza, and put it to sleep and wait a few minutes. It will overwrite the app entry. Bonus points if you get Cthulhu app and also erase homebrew entries from your Activity Log and icon cache.

 

[appeltje_eitje]

Uninstall all homebrew CIAs and switch to running homebrew as .3dsx files via Homebrew Launcher through Luma's Rosalina module and attach it to a useless system app like the Music player(H&S doesn't yet work, although it'd've been ideal). There's tutorials for this stuff you can find with Search. After you're set up, launch a legit app of whatever kind, close it, go into Mii Plaza, and put it to sleep and wait a few minutes. It will overwrite the app entry. Bonus points if you get Cthulhu app and also erase homebrew entries from your Activity Log and icon cache.

Thanks..
But I use freeshop to install the CIAs, so Im not able to use freeshop again ?
I must seek for only .3dsx files ?
I already go to download play to start the homebrew channel and start the .3dsx freeshop there and freeshop installs the .cia

 

[Searinox]

Freeshop is available as 3dsx and you can still use Freeshop and FBI to install CIAs, just stay away from dodgy stuff like homebrew, fake apps, or out-of-region, unreleased titles/DLCs...

 

[FateForWindows]

Freeshop is available as 3dsx and you can still use Freeshop and FBI to install CIAs, just stay away from dodgy stuff like homebrew, fake apps, or out-of-region, unreleased titles/DLCs...

Actually Nintendo can check your tickets to see if you pirated stuff. Then again they rarely bother to do so.

 

[Nogardrevlis]

Are there actual reports from German user getting banned , I don't really have seen German user getting banned. I'm not banned by the way.

 

[FateForWindows]

Are there actual reports from German user getting banned , I don't really have seen German user getting banned. I'm not banned by the way.

The bans are worldwide. German 3DS systems are just European (E) systems. There have been ban reports on three types of consoles, the U, E and J ones. Haven't seen anything about the Korean models though.

 

[Deleted member 350372]

Jeez... I know it's been a while since I last been on this forum, but seems like Nintendo is cracking at it and banning people still to this day. Still am using homebrew CIA apps like FBI and BootNTR Selector and am still not banned. I do however, avoid using apps that I don't find necessary like quick restart and quick shutdown listed on TitleDB. Yeah I still use freeshop, but I don't use it to pirate newly released or unreleased titles/DLC. I sometimes use it to find games that aren't on the normal eShop and download them from there. One example is the GBA game called "F-Zero: Maximum Velocity". Tried searching it on the eShop, wasn't listed there.

 

[appeltje_eitje]

I don`t understand all,
We are all going to be banned (all people with cfw) ?
Because when we follow the 3dshacksguide and then we follow the finalizing setup..
We putted the cia files on the 3ds:

• The latest release of Anemone3DS (the .cia file)
• The latest release of Checkpoint (the .cia file)
• The latest release of FBI (the .cia and .3dsx files)
• The latest release of Luma3DS Updater (the .cia file)
  
  And after we use them it will be visible on the Nintendo servers and in a matter of time we will get a ban ????
  
  Why don`t we make a new finalizing setup and use 3dsx instead of cia and do that trough the hb launcher in download play ???
  Too late for me now. And the CIA games we have downoaded with freeshop, are they ok to play online or only eshop games we bought and
  fysical games, I mean games in my own region I can buy here in the shop or eshop..
  
  

 

[Reaga]

I don`t understand all,
We are all going to be banned (all people with cfw) ?
Because when we follow the 3dshacksguide and then we follow the finalizing setup..
We putted the cia files on the 3ds:

• The latest release of Anemone3DS (the .cia file)
• The latest release of Checkpoint (the .cia file)
• The latest release of FBI (the .cia and .3dsx files)
• The latest release of Luma3DS Updater (the .cia file)
  
  And after we use them it will be visible on the Nintendo servers and in a matter of time we will get a ban ????
  
  Why don`t we make a new finalizing setup and use 3dsx instead of cia and do that trough the hb launcher in download play ???
  Too late for me now. And the CIA games we have downoaded with freeshop, are they ok to play online or only eshop games we bought and
  fysical games, I mean games in my own region I can buy here in the shop or eshop..
  

I can't speak to the guide doing an all-.3dsx setup, but I can confirm you can play online with freeshop games. I started US with freeshop before buying the cartridge.

That said, I still haven't updated to US v 1.2 yet.

 

[appeltje_eitje]

I can't speak to the guide doing an all-.3dsx setup, but I can confirm you can play online with freeshop games. I started US with freeshop before buying the cartridge.

That said, I still haven't updated to US v 1.2 yet.

First post the last words say:

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

-- So going online with freeshop games will get you a ban, it`s not installed trough Nintendo eShop that`s what I read, or do I misunderstand ???

 

[Searinox]

Not all of us followed the guide verbatim.

 

[Reaga]

First post the last words say:

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

-- So going online with freeshop games will get you a ban, it`s not installed trough Nintendo eShop that`s what I read, or do I misunderstand ???

Freeshop games are indistinguishable at run-time (i.e while playing the game) from an eshop copy. And the 3DS doesn't have the ability to check your account while the game is running.

In theory, they could check it during the update process (since that uses the eShop), but not while playing online. They would have to manually check the header files of everyone who plays online and compare the accounts of people playing with digital headers (assigned by the console upon installation, as opposed to cartridge headers which are assigned in manufacturing), and compare those accounts to those who have purchased the game.

This would be a major task even if they had a process on their servers to handle it automatically, just because of the huge size of the 3DS audience. Even worse if they feel the need to do it by human hand.

Homebrew CIAs online is different, they can just run a detection of online titleIDs and compare them to real titleIDs. Still a rough task with the large number of 3DS titles, but not as hard as detecting pirated copies during online play.