Hacking Homebrew What does "You will not be able to use your NNID" mean when region changing 3ds?

[IceYeti]

Hi, I'm looking to buy a New 3DS LL and then region change it to English, but I'm confused about what you can't do after region changing it. The page on 3ds.hacks.guide says

If you change the region of your console:

• You will not be able to use your NNID (if you have one). NNIDs are locked to the region that they were created in.
• You may not be able to access the eShop, even if you delete your eShop account beforehand. This is because certain titles tend to remain linked to the 3DS, even after account deletion (especially on New 3DS).
  • While purchases can no longer be made on eShop, game updates can still be downloaded. Updates are usually required for online play.
  • This logic extends to system transfers, meaning you would not be able to perform a system transfer from a USA 3DS to a region-changed JPN-to-USA 3DS.
  • That being said, system transfer and game updates are region locked anyway (e.g. Japanese eShop only has Japanese game updates).
• You will not be able to uninstall custom firmware without bricking the console! If you intend to uninstall custom firmware in the future, you MUST restore your NAND backup that was created before the region change.

I understand that I can't use the eshop but I'm unsure of what it means regarding the nnid. What functions are linked to the nnid and what won't I be able to do after region changing the 3ds?

Edit: I just asked someone on discord, it seems like everything should work basically the same except for some stuff tied to the eshop like pokemon bank, so I guess I'll just have to use pksm instead for that

 

[Shadow#1]

Hi, I'm looking to buy a New 3DS LL and then region change it to English, but I'm confused about what you can't do after region changing it. The page on 3ds.hacks.guide says



I understand that I can't use the eshop but I'm unsure of what it means regarding the nnid. What functions are linked to the nnid and what won't I be able to do after region changing the 3ds?

Online will not work in any fashion after the region change so your NNID can't be authenticated with Nintendo to be linked to this console

 

[IceYeti]

Online will not work in any fashion after the region change so your NNID can't be authenticated with Nintendo to be linked to this console

So I won't be able to play anything online then?

 

[Shadow#1]

So I won't be able to play anything online then?

True

 

[IceYeti]

True

Based on other posts it seems like you can:

Hey guys,
This isn't a question but rather an awesome piece of info I stumbled upon, and had to share it here~!

Okay, so I picked up a Japanese O3dsXL, loaded cfw, then region changed it to USA. Then realized ya can't
play online (the 2 games I tested were Mario Kart 7 (cia) and Code of Princess (physical usa cartridge) before throwing the towel in.
You get a region error) So I searched all over online.. lots of people with the same question, but just told sorry you can only
launch/play the games 1 player, after region change on a J system.

WELL GOOD NEWS ON THAT! I just happened to see that in System settings>Other Settings>Profile
that the region THERE still said Japan. I changed it to United States and viola! I can now play online the 2 aforementioned, and others
both cia and cartridge games! I hope this helps some ppl :0)

*Also I heard that if you set up a USA NNID, that the eshop will work again too, gonna try that now just for shits

(won't let me link it)

 

[RichardTheKing]

Honestly curious: does Online even matter much, now that the 3DS has been dead for months?

 

[IceYeti]

Honestly curious: does Online even matter much, now that the 3DS has been dead for months?

There's some games I'd want to be able to play online

Post automatically merged: Jun 11, 2023

I just asked someone on discord, it seems like everything should work basically the same except for some stuff tied to the eshop like pokemon bank, so I guess I'll just have to use pksm instead for that

 

[Hayato213]

Hi, I'm looking to buy a New 3DS LL and then region change it to English, but I'm confused about what you can't do after region changing it. The page on 3ds.hacks.guide says



I understand that I can't use the eshop but I'm unsure of what it means regarding the nnid. What functions are linked to the nnid and what won't I be able to do after region changing the 3ds?

Edit: I just asked someone on discord, it seems like everything should work basically the same except for some stuff tied to the eshop like pokemon bank, so I guess I'll just have to use pksm instead for that

You need a second unit to do a system transfer in order to use online service after region changing to the correct region you want.

 

[Vulpes-Vulpeos]

Iirc, you only lose eShop. Online in games still works. Also you don’t need NNID to play online.

 

[Ryccardo]

Also you don’t need NNID to play online.

Yep, this is no WiiU - and in fact you can still use the eShop (not differently than an unmodded console, that is) in my experience, I did that last year to get for everyone the Tomodachi Collection import tool, just had to create a Japanese NNID (given the arbitrary restriction they put on all free and freemium titles - remember the 3DS uses strictly per-console licenses like the Wii and the NNID system was tacked on later)
I did remember to delete the "classic" eShop account before each region change, and (however placebo it may have been) use a real Japanese serial number, though!

 

[CoolMe]

So I won't be able to play anything online then?

True

No, you can play games online after doing a region change, the same for downloading game updates.

 

[IceYeti]

You need a second unit to do a system transfer in order to use online service after region changing to the correct region you want.

What's part of the online service?

 

[Hayato213]

What's part of the online service?

Using eshop to update games in the same region you are in.

 

[Engezerstorung]

Its a little more complicated than that
Basically once your 3DS is authentified in a region on nintendo server side it is locked to this region
Doing a system reset doesnt unlink the nnid from their server, it keep the "memory" of it
the only case were you can region change and use the shop is with a clean 3DS that never had a nnid of the original region tied to it

There is a method to "unlink it" from the region its tied to but its a little more complicated

From what i remember :

• you need two 3DS of the same region (the original region of the 3DS you want to change the region of, NOT the target region you want to change to)
• basically you take the 3DS you want to region change (untouched, still ont he original region), and you make a transfer to the second 3DS, it will unlink the source 3DS of everything from the nintendo servers, basically making it "clean" again
• then you make the region change and you shoulld be able to link the nnid from the targeted region

With this method you should make a backup of the 2nd 3DS, the transfer will wipe everything on it and replace it with the source 3DS content

In any case, a region changed 3DS can only work with cfw once changed

 

[IceYeti]

Using eshop to update games in the same region you are in.

So besides that, everything else still works?

Post automatically merged: Jun 12, 2023

Its a little more complicated than that
Basically once your 3DS is authentified in a region on nintendo server side it is locked to this region
Doing a system reset doesnt unlink the nnid from their server, it keep the "memory" of it
the only case were you can region change and use the shop is with a clean 3DS that never had a nnid of the original region tied to it

There is a method to "unlink it" from the region its tied to but its a little more complicated

From what i remember :

• you need two 3DS of the same region (the original region of the 3DS you want to change the region of, NOT the target region you want to change to)
• basically you take the 3DS you want to region change (untouched, still ont he original region), and you make a transfer to the second 3DS, it will unlink the source 3DS of everything from the nintendo servers, basically making it "clean" again
• then you make the region change and you shoulld be able to link the nnid from the targeted region

With this method you should make a backup of the 2nd 3DS, the transfer will wipe everything on it and replace it with the source 3DS content

In any case, a region changed 3DS can only work with cfw once changed

Thanks for the info. This will be my first 3ds so I won't be able to do any of that but it seems like most stuff will work fine regardless.

 

[Hayato213]

So besides that, everything else still works?

Only affect eshop stuffs.

 

[IceYeti]

Only affect eshop stuffs.

Ok awesome

 

[LukeGess0117]

Hi I am having a similar question as I am looking to buy a japanese 2DS XL. So to confirm, the region changing process does or does not affect the NNID? If it does affect it, is there a way to prevent that? An alternate method or something? Also if i want to make a new nintendo network if after i region change the system to the united states region, will that work? Thanks

 

[Hayato213]

Hi I am having a similar question as I am looking to buy a japanese 2DS XL. So to confirm, the region changing process does or does not affect the NNID? If it does affect it, is there a way to prevent that? An alternate method or something? Also if i want to make a new nintendo network if after i region change the system to the united states region, will that work? Thanks

You need a second unit to do system transfer if you want to gain access to updating game via eshop other than that you can just do a region change.

 

[LukeGess0117]

You need a second unit to do system transfer if you want to gain access to updating game via eshop other than that you can just do a region change.

And this will not affect NNID if I do a region change without 2 consoles, correct?