Hacking Comparison of 3DS Flash Carts/Features - ON HIATUS (9/3)

[cateater1]

Last post makes me happy, and confirms i backed a winner. Happy holidays Gateway team!

 

[kyogre123]

lol I got all excited over a delay. Anyways, not complaining at all, I'm still not ready for multirom since my new MicroSD hasn't arrived yet

By the way, happy new year to every European, Asian and Australian/ New Zealander GBAtempers!

 

[Skiller23]

great news, i bought a GW and it was shipped yesterday, i hope it will arrive with the release of 2.0 FW

 

[Huntereb]

I forgot to tell everyone, but due to a mistake in shipping and such, I received a Gateway card free, along with my two R4i's (I got one of those free too because of a reseller mistake). I haven't used the Gateway yet, because I'm still using the R4, but if anyone needs any questions answered about it, I can throw some at you in the noob thread.

I'm saying this because of my obvious feelings toward the Gateway card, which I'm afraid won't change much just because I own it now.

 

[d.d.d.]

Minor thread updates. It has come to my attention as well that R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe supports emuNAND up to v7.1.

So then by this, our 3DS wouldn't need to be on the 4.1~.5 range of firmware?

 

[bkifft]

So then by this, our 3DS wouldn't need to be on the 4.1~.5 range of firmware?

No, the system firmware of the 3DS will still need to be between 4.1 and 4.5.

This update just annonces that the emunand which is kinda like a virtual machine (dear techsavy tempers, I'm well aware that it isn't. I'm just trying to get the message across, and I'd bet that most don't know about the kexec() system call or the good old QEMM quickboot (damn it I'm old) which would be way better analogies) that is running on the 3DS is updateable to 7.1.

All the "supports 7.1" claims on pages out in the wild are (as of now) just poorly and confusing worded.

 

[Skyrider]

No, the system firmware of the 3DS will still need to be between 4.1 and 4.5.

This update just annonces that the emunand which is kinda like a virtual machine (dear techsavy tempers, I'm well aware that it isn't. I'm just trying to get the message across, and I'd bet that most don't know about the kexec() system call or the good old QEMM quickboot (damn it I'm old) which would be way better analogies) that is running on the 3DS is updateable to 7.1.

All the "supports 7.1" claims on pages out in the wild are (as of now) just poorly and confusing worded.

Ya, I've emailed them about 3/4 days ago if they could alter the words to prevent confusion but it appears they haven't mailed back to me.

 

[d.d.d.]

No, the system firmware of the 3DS will still need to be between 4.1 and 4.5.

This update just annonces that the emunand which is kinda like a virtual machine (dear techsavy tempers, I'm well aware that it isn't. I'm just trying to get the message across, and I'd bet that most don't know about the kexec() system call or the good old QEMM quickboot (damn it I'm old) which would be way better analogies) that is running on the 3DS is updateable to 7.1.

All the "supports 7.1" claims on pages out in the wild are (as of now) just poorly and confusing worded.

So the 3DS flashcart still requires a 4.1~.5 FW but the cart can emulate up to 7.1 on an emuNAND... Okay. That makes sense. I guess I'll just hope that newer flashcarts will support newer FWs later on. Thanks for the clarification~

 

[Skyrider]

So the 3DS flashcart still requires a 4.1~.5 FW but the cart can emulate up to 7.1 on an emuNAND... Okay. That makes sense. I guess I'll just hope that newer flashcarts will support newer FWs later on. Thanks for the clarification~

It's not the newer flashcards that will probably support it, it's the exploit that was found between 4.1 and 4.5 that made the 3DS flashcards possible. Nintendo has fixed the exploit (above 4.5) so a new exploit has to be found in order for it to work on later versions, but that chance is very slim at the moment.

 

[d.d.d.]

It's not the newer flashcards that will probably support it, it's the exploit that was found between 4.1 and 4.5 that made the 3DS flashcards possible. Nintendo has fixed the exploit (above 4.5) so a new exploit has to be found in order for it to work on later versions, but that chance is very slim at the moment.

So then unless someone finds a new exploit, or finds how to downgrade FW, I need to hunt for a used 3DS with a low FW... crap.

 

[Skyrider]

So then unless someone finds a new exploit, or finds how to downgrade FW, I need to hunt for a used 3DS with a low FW... crap.

Afraid so, yes.

 

[d.d.d.]

Afraid so, yes.

How's the availability in EU?

 

[Skyrider]

How's the availability in EU?

I have no idea. I bought this 3DS when it first was released, and I was lucky I only updated to 4.5.

 

[d.d.d.]

I have no idea. I bought this 3DS when it first was released, and I was lucky I only updated to 4.5.

Oh well. I've already updated to 7.1 on my XL. I guess I'll just wait and see about a new exploit.

 

[bkifft]

How's the availability in EU?

Not that bad actually, just check out http://gbatemp.net/threads/where-to-get-a-firmware-4-5-or-below-3ds-xl.352360/ , especially http://gbatemp.net/posts/4848102/ .

The secret to success is to check stores that sell 3DS which are not "go to electronic" resellers, like drugstores or bigger supermarkets and comparing the serial number (which is conveniently placed on the outside of the box) with the post i linked.

 

[badbob001]

When the clone makers cloned the GW, why didn't they clone the circuits exactly the same and so they wouldn't currently have this supposed non-upgradability issue? Did someone at Clone Inc actually study the GW design and decide that certain connections are not needed to run the firmware and skipped the extra work? I usually thought that clone makers simply bribed the actual manufacturer factory to get access to the design plans or excess/flawed product runs. I would not be surprised if the clone cards are made the exact same factory!

Or maybe the clone makers cloned a prototype GW card that was purposefully lacking all the features, which is similar to the designs you see in patents. Or maybe GW pre-programmed something in one of the chips that can't be easily accessed and has yet to be accessed with the software released so far, and so the clone makers designed around what seemed like an unneeded feature.

 

[Technicmaster0]

When the clone makers cloned the GW, why didn't they clone the circuits exactly the same and so they wouldn't currently have this supposed non-upgradability issue? Did someone at Clone Inc actually study the GW design and decide that certain connections are not needed to run the firmware and skipped the extra work? I usually thought that clone makers simply bribed the actual manufacturer factory to get access to the design plans or excess/flawed product runs. I would not be surprised if the clone cards are made the exact same factory!

Or maybe the clone makers cloned a prototype GW card that was purposefully lacking all the features, which is similar to the designs you see in patents. Or maybe GW pre-programmed something in one of the chips that can't be easily accessed and has yet to be accessed with the software released so far, and so the clone makers designed around what seemed like an unneeded feature.

Or maybe they just took an old layout from themselves and decided that they won't update their firmware.

 

[bkifft]

When the clone makers cloned the GW, why didn't they clone the circuits exactly the same and so they wouldn't currently have this supposed non-upgradability issue? Did someone at Clone Inc actually study the GW design and decide that certain connections are not needed to run the firmware and skipped the extra work? I usually thought that clone makers simply bribed the actual manufacturer factory to get access to the design plans or excess/flawed product runs. I would not be surprised if the clone cards are made the exact same factory!

Or maybe the clone makers cloned a prototype GW card that was purposefully lacking all the features, which is similar to the designs you see in patents. Or maybe GW pre-programmed something in one of the chips that can't be easily accessed and has yet to be accessed with the software released so far, and so the clone makers designed around what seemed like an unneeded feature.

Or they simply pruned out every piece of circuitry which they deemed not absolutely necessary ("Oh look: this 40 cent microcontroller, these resistors for 5 cents and this led for 1 cent don't seem to serve any purpose, so lets nix them. Oh, and we can use a smaller/weaker main chip as it's not fully utilized, which costs 30 cent less. That's 76 cent less per unit!")

 

[Ryukouki]

Guide now includes all features of each firmware update for each respective flash cart. I would like to thank Cyan for providing me this information with his helpful topic in the GBAtemp Wiki!

 

[Cyan]

the chart is updated on wiki
the picture on first post is already outdated.