Hacking What's preventing us from booting from re-writable memory?

[Gleasonator]

Hello,

I was hoping I could get some clarification on this. I am aware that 3DS ROM loaders do not currently exist for the 3DS due to a number of technical limitations, but I'd like to know what (if anything) is preventing us from writing 3DS ROM dumps to re-writable memory chips (EEPROM, etc.) and booting from this.

For instance, if I had a device that already interfaces with the 3DS (perhaps an existing 3DS game cartridge with it's ROM chip replaced with a re-writeable chip), and I wrote a single game image to it at a time (also wiping the save RAM each time), I should theoretically be able to boot from this as if it were an official cartridge, right? But it hasn't been done yet as far as I know, so it must not be that simple.

If anyone could provide me with information about this I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[Rydian]

http://gbatemp.net/topic/325375-crown3ds-update/

People aren't excited because there concept of making a 1:1 copy of a game cart isn't interesting to them. It means no homebrew, one game per cart unless you want to deal with long flashing sequences, no cheats or mods, etc.

 

[Gleasonator]

Thanks! This is what I was looking for:

There's nothing standing in the way of making a 1:1 cartridge clone - this is a piracy-only solution that requires no system exploits whatsoever, the problem here is that different games are on different cartridges and making a universal setup that would fit in a standard cartridge casing is close to impossible.

I'm interested in this because it seems like a simple (although maybe not practical) solution for making and using backups. But if writing to a chip like this is that inconvenient, I guess the amount of effort outweighs the price of just buying a new cartridge.

Thanks!

 

[Foxi4]

Thanks! This is what I was looking for:

There's nothing standing in the way of making a 1:1 cartridge clone - this is a piracy-only solution that requires no system exploits whatsoever, the problem here is that different games are on different cartridges and making a universal setup that would fit in a standard cartridge casing is close to impossible.

I'm interested in this because it seems like a simple (although maybe not practical) solution for making and using backups. But if writing to a chip like this is that inconvenient, I guess the amount of effort outweighs the price of just buying a new cartridge.

Thanks!

The fact that not all the chips that are on the cartridge PCB are standard or even identifiable isn't helping. Making a setup like this requires through analysis of the hardware, its behaviour and possible mass-produced replacements for the custom chips or work-arounds. It CAN be done, it's just a huge undertaking.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Wouldnt it still need to be signed to run?

 

[Rydian]

If it's a 1:1 copy of the data on the cart, then that's already signed.

 

[nukeboy95]

http://gbatemp.net/t...rown3ds-update/

People aren't excited because there concept of making a 1:1 copy of a game cart isn't interesting to them. It means no homebrew, one game per cart unless you want to deal with long flashing sequences, no cheats or mods, etc.

wait i thought it was re-writable

 

[Rydian]

Supposedly (though it was never shown, they only had one game for the demo), and even then it wouldn't be like modern flash carts where you boot them up and select a file to run.

 

[Ace Overclocked]

people are too spoiled with current flashcarts, i wouldn't mind having a reflashable cart like the old days, too much nostalgia...

 

[McHaggis]

people are too spoiled with current flashcarts, i wouldn't mind having a reflashable cart like the old days, too much nostalgia...

Losing the flashing tool was always a problem for me, so I was thrilled when micro SD solutions became available. Now, where did I put my Save Dongle...?

 

[pelago]

Making a 1:1 copy of a 3DS cartridge might not be as simple as some people seem to think (if it was, there would be be lots of pirate carts for sale already). Although you won't need to break encryption, there are lots of things that Nintendo can do in the cart hardware to make it extremely hard to analyse and clone.

 

[Rydian]

It's relatively simple, when compared to making something like a modern flash cart from scratch for a new system, if that counts.

 

[SSVAV]

Too complicated for the 12 year old kids who usually use the flashcards.

 

[nukeboy95]

if the 3ds is this hard than what will the wii u be like