Hacking Is there any tool to perform a system transfer on an older firmware offline?

[Elliander]

I have both a 3DS that uses Gateway 3DS with an emuNAND and an N3DS Zelda edition that I never had the time to setup, so it's basically unused.

I've been reading a few threads on a few forums about the scene developments, with Gateway 3DS apparently being abandon-ware and with the the latest updates on their forums referencing another site for an unofficial update that isn't available to download anymore. Many other threads have people suggesting CFW and converting .3DS games to .CIA, but I don't want to do that. The thing is, for any console, I absolutely HATE installing games to the internal NAND. Having cart backups means I can move the carts off easily, or if a console breaks I have them working. When my PS3 hard drive died I lost everything EXCEPT my disc backups, as an example. and since all of my .3DS backups have my own legit headers for playing online I'd rather keep those files legit.

From what I can gather, CFW doesn't appear to be capable of running .3DS files for whatever reason (if I am wrong, please correct me!), but from what I can gather from various threads I apparently can run .3DS files on Stargate 3DS and save files from Gateway 3DS can run as well. The thing is, I also purchased DLC legitimately which was installed to the Gateway 3DS.

One idea I had was to setup Stargate 3DS on the N3DS and then do a system transfer from the Gateway emuNAND to a Stargate emuNAND, but is there any way to do this offline? Perhaps plugged into a computer or something? Because officially both consoles have to be online and on the latest firmware, and this idea would only work if a Gateway 3DS can go online to make the transfer. Since everything installed on the emuNAND is legit there would be no concern of being banned for that, but since Gateway 3DS is of coursed abandoned I doubt there would be any way of doing this an official way.

If there is any way to get this to work, it would allow me to easily transfer everything from the Gateway emuNAND to a Stargate emuNAND.

Alternatively, are there any tools to easily convert from one emuNAND to another? or is there any CFW I can switch to that can make use of an existing Gateway 3DS emuNAND on the latest firmware version? Or will I basically just have to setup an entirely new emuNAND and manually convert each and every save for each and every game onto the new system and then take it online and re-download the DLC? (assuming the DLC is still around to re-download that is)

 

[Lacius]

You must connect to the internet to do a system transfer.

 

[Ryccardo]

Stargate emuNAND

There's no such thing, and any form of emunand is deprecated since it only really brings disadvantages (unless you must run GW's outdated CFW)

You can use homebrews like JKSV or Checkpoint to backup (in decrypted form) your GW saves and restore them to any copy of the game, whether physical, "physical" (a proper flashcard like Sky or SG), or digital; and said decrypted backups are a much smarter option than just copying encrypted .sav off your flashcard (since they are tied to the header of the game)

The best setup for your needs would probably be CFW + an orange-button Sky (since the Stargate has its issues with Luma)

 

[Kwyjor]

The thing is, for any console, I absolutely HATE installing games to the internal NAND.

It is certainly frustrating when a console dies and makes data irretrivable, but when you install a CIA on a CFW 3DS, it is installed to the SD card. The only thing that ends up on the internal NAND is a ticket for the installation. Normal save data on the SD card can be recovered on a PC using fuse-3DS, as long as you have the movable.sed. (I think fuse-3DS can also open an emuNAND, but save data for installed software does not get written there.) But I'm not sure at all how that works with Gateway saves.

If all your software is purchased legitimately through the eShop, then you can also call Nintendo to move the NNID to another system, which can then connect to the eShop and re-download everything that has been purchased. (This of course does not include things like diamonds in Pokemon Rumble World.)

 

[Ryccardo]

But I'm not sure at all how that works with Gateway saves.

They save as the original physical game does, just in a slightly different place: the flashcard's microSD ends up with an encrypted .sav (to the individual game's header, for 6.0+ games running on 6.0+ OS), just like what can be dumped with an USB gamecard reader (or, for card1 (eeprom save) games, a DS, after sawing off the corner from the game card!)

 

[Elliander]

You must connect to the internet to do a system transfer.

Yes, I know that is the official answer, but this is literally a community of people who do unofficial things to consoles...

There's no such thing, and any form of emunand is deprecated since it only really brings disadvantages (unless you must run GW's outdated CFW)

That seems really backwards to me. I prefer the sandbox.

You can use homebrews like JKSV or Checkpoint to backup (in decrypted form) your GW saves and restore them to any copy of the game, whether physical, "physical" (a proper flashcard like Sky or SG), or digital; and said decrypted backups are a much smarter option than just copying encrypted .sav off your flashcard (since they are tied to the header of the game)

The best setup for your needs would probably be CFW + an orange-button Sky (since the Stargate has its issues with Luma)

Well, like I said, I want to transfer more than just the saves.

It is certainly frustrating when a console dies and makes data irretrivable, but when you install a CIA on a CFW 3DS, it is installed to the SD card. The only thing that ends up on the internal NAND is a ticket for the installation. Normal save data on the SD card can be recovered on a PC using fuse-3DS, as long as you have the movable.sed. (I think fuse-3DS can also open an emuNAND, but save data for installed software does not get written there.) But I'm not sure at all how that works with Gateway saves.

If that works like it does on the Nintendo Switch than I'm still not interested. The games installed to the SD card are still locked to the console (unlike the .XCI files) and it's so bad that I can't even copy a game backup over without using official means. Additionally, it's not exactly straight forward to move a game off it then back onto it like it is for an XCI. For starters, the folder structure has coded names. Even if it worked the same, I'd still have to mess around with all the individual files where an XCI is just easier and quicker.

If all your software is purchased legitimately through the eShop, then you can also call Nintendo to move the NNID to another system, which can then connect to the eShop and re-download everything that has been purchased. (This of course does not include things like diamonds in Pokemon Rumble World.)

Of course, that requires that I first take it online.

I did some digging, and I was able to find a thread with working download links to an approach that will allow me to update Gateway 3DS to the most recent working version though:

https://psxtools.de/index.php/Thread/76249-GATEWAY-emuNAND-11-7-0-40E-U-J-Original-GATEWAY-Card/

Assuming that works, I can either just get a second Gateway 3DS and do a system transfer from one to the other (and then restore a backup of the emuNAND on the first to keep all the data on it) or I can setup some other option on the N3DS and transfer from the Gateway emuNAND to either another emuNAND or a sysNAND.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Yes, I know that is the official answer, but this is literally a community of people who do unofficial things to consoles...



That seems really backwards to me. I prefer the sandbox.



Well, like I said, I want to transfer more than just the saves.



If that works like it does on the Nintendo Switch than I'm still not interested. The games installed to the SD card are still locked to the console (unlike the .XCI files) and it's so bad that I can't even copy a game backup over without using official means. Additionally, it's not exactly straight forward to move a game off it then back onto it like it is for an XCI. For starters, the folder structure has coded names. Even if it worked the same, I'd still have to mess around with all the individual files where an XCI is just easier and quicker.



Of course, that requires that I first take it online.

I did some digging, and I was able to find a thread with working download links to an approach that will allow me to update Gateway 3DS to the most recent working version though:

https://psxtools.de/index.php/Thread/76249-GATEWAY-emuNAND-11-7-0-40E-U-J-Original-GATEWAY-Card/

Assuming that works, I can either just get a second Gateway 3DS and do a system transfer from one to the other (and then restore a backup of the emuNAND on the first to keep all the data on it) or I can setup some other option on the N3DS and transfer from the Gateway emuNAND to either another emuNAND or a sysNAND.

I tried the instructions in that thread for 11.9 and it bricked my GW emuNAND. So I decided fuck it and finally made the move to CFW. I suggest you do the same, it's not really worth jumping through hoops just to keep GW working. Every new system update means GW breaks again and you can't update or play online. I had been holding off on switching because I didn't look forward to converting all my games and saves, but in the end it's better to have do that once than have to deal with sketchy frankenfirm system updates every time there's a new update, which may or may not even work.

You can use this tool to help convert the GW saves to a format that can be used with CIAs (do that before you start the CFW install process): https://www.dropbox.com/s/zf4fkbe8fwen7ee/GWSE.rar?dl=0

You can convert all your .3DS/.3DZ roms to .CIA with this:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-3ds-simple-cia-converter.384559/
Put a boot9.bin dump in the same folder as the program, so it can decrypt the files. You can dump boot9.bin yourself with B9S (which you will set up when you switch to CFW) or you can find a dump online, all boot9.bin are the same.

And finally, here's the CFW guide: http://3ds.hacks.guide/
Follow the "move emuNAND" section when asked to, however make sure you have converted/extracted your GW saves before you follow that guide.
You can keep using emuNAND with CFW, but emuNAND breaks DSiWare, takes up space on your SD card and has no benefits since B9S gives you full access to the system at boot time meaning brick protection.

Also, no need to worry about public/private headers anymore, they're not needed with CIAs.

 

[Kwyjor]

If that works like it does on the Nintendo Switch than I'm still not interested.

I have no idea how it works on the Switch, but save data retrieved using fuse-3DS is completely independent of the console it came from. The only catch is that you need homebrew to restore it again – and you do need to know the title ID of the game so you can find the save data in the SD card's folder structure.

In any case, that is generally a measure of last resort; you would only need to do that if you could no longer power on the system at all. The point is, as long as the SD card is intact (and you've backed up the encryption key), you won't lose save data on a 3DS if the system dies.

 

[Lacius]

Yes, I know that is the official answer, but this is literally a community of people who do unofficial things to consoles...



That seems really backwards to me. I prefer the sandbox.



Well, like I said, I want to transfer more than just the saves.



If that works like it does on the Nintendo Switch than I'm still not interested. The games installed to the SD card are still locked to the console (unlike the .XCI files) and it's so bad that I can't even copy a game backup over without using official means. Additionally, it's not exactly straight forward to move a game off it then back onto it like it is for an XCI. For starters, the folder structure has coded names. Even if it worked the same, I'd still have to mess around with all the individual files where an XCI is just easier and quicker.



Of course, that requires that I first take it online.

I did some digging, and I was able to find a thread with working download links to an approach that will allow me to update Gateway 3DS to the most recent working version though:

https://psxtools.de/index.php/Thread/76249-GATEWAY-emuNAND-11-7-0-40E-U-J-Original-GATEWAY-Card/

Assuming that works, I can either just get a second Gateway 3DS and do a system transfer from one to the other (and then restore a backup of the emuNAND on the first to keep all the data on it) or I can setup some other option on the N3DS and transfer from the Gateway emuNAND to either another emuNAND or a sysNAND.

And I'm telling you that a system transfer requires both an internet connection and both systems (either an emuNAND or sysNAND) to be on the latest system version.

I haven't kept up to date with this thread, so I don't even know what you're trying to do anymore, but you could backup your GW system's emuNAND, use Luma3DS with the Gateway emuNAND and update it to 11.9, system transfer to the other 3DS, and then downgrade.

 

[Elliander]

I have no idea how it works on the Switch, but save data...

I wasn't talking about save data. I was talking about game backups. Basically, there are two ways in which backups can be handled: Either it's installed or it's not.

For the 3DS, the .CIA files have to be installed meaning there is a limit to how many games can be installed and it's very inconvenient to move them. On the other hand, there are the .3DS files and .3DSX files which basically act like a ROM file. A disc image to be mounted, which pretends to be a game cart.

For the Switch, the NSP files are used for installation while the XCI files are for disc image mounting.

I don't consider installed games to be viable long term for any console. If a console breaks it has to be reinstalled, if you run out of space you have to uninstall, etc. Once emulators come out it's even more annoying. For example: While emulators like Citra can run games that were installed, you have to go through the processing of dumping them from the 3DS, whereas if you kept them as .3DS files it would just work.

And I'm telling you that a system transfer requires both an internet connection and both systems (either an emuNAND or sysNAND) to be on the latest system version.

I haven't kept up to date with this thread, so I don't even know what you're trying to do anymore, but you could backup your GW system's emuNAND, use Luma3DS with the Gateway emuNAND and update it to 11.9, system transfer to the other 3DS, and then downgrade.

What I want to do is play my game backups without installing them as CIA on my N3DS. I don't really have a problem with the idea of converting saves (even if it would be time consuming) nor do I have an issue with converting backup file types, but I do want the latest firmware version to play online again or at least to be able to buy and play the latest games offline.

It's nice to know that Luma3DS can run a Gateway emuNAND, but if it can't do anything more than run .CIA files it's an inferior product. It is possible for CFW to access the Gateway SD card, so the fact that no one seems interested in adding .3DS file support is rather strange to me.

For moving the emuNAND to the 3DS that's a nice idea for cloning the emuNAND onto a new 3DS at the very least.

Also, no need to worry about public/private headers anymore, they're not needed with CIAs.

Well, since my games are legit backups, and since Nintendo has new ways of detecting piracy, I'd rather not even give the appearance of being a pirate. Nintendo would be able to see that I don't own the eShop version of my games very easily, whereas my carts each have their own legit and unique header so no problem running them as backups.

I wouldn't be surprised if everyone who switched to .CIA to go online gets hit with a bulk ban, since Nintendo is fond of doing it that way. To the best of my knowledge no one has been banned yet, but Nintendo clearly is planning something and will probably time it around a new release. This will likely result in the community finally accepting the need for emuNAND for homebrew and proper backups in it's CFW.

 

[Lacius]

I wasn't talking about save data. I was talking about game backups. Basically, there are two ways in which backups can be handled: Either it's installed or it's not.

For the 3DS, the .CIA files have to be installed meaning there is a limit to how many games can be installed and it's very inconvenient to move them. On the other hand, there are the .3DS files and .3DSX files which basically act like a ROM file. A disc image to be mounted, which pretends to be a game cart.

For the Switch, the NSP files are used for installation while the XCI files are for disc image mounting.

I don't consider installed games to be viable long term for any console. If a console breaks it has to be reinstalled, if you run out of space you have to uninstall, etc. Once emulators come out it's even more annoying. For example: While emulators like Citra can run games that were installed, you have to go through the processing of dumping them from the 3DS, whereas if you kept them as .3DS files it would just work.



What I want to do is play my game backups without installing them as CIA on my N3DS. I don't really have a problem with the idea of converting saves (even if it would be time consuming) nor do I have an issue with converting backup file types, but I do want the latest firmware version to play online again or at least to be able to buy and play the latest games offline.

It's nice to know that Luma3DS can run a Gateway emuNAND, but if it can't do anything more than run .CIA files it's an inferior product. It is possible for CFW to access the Gateway SD card, so the fact that no one seems interested in adding .3DS file support is rather strange to me.

For moving the emuNAND to the 3DS that's a nice idea for cloning the emuNAND onto a new 3DS at the very least.



Well, since my games are legit backups, and since Nintendo has new ways of detecting piracy, I'd rather not even give the appearance of being a pirate. Nintendo would be able to see that I don't own the eShop version of my games very easily, whereas my carts each have their own legit and unique header so no problem running them as backups.

I wouldn't be surprised if everyone who switched to .CIA to go online gets hit with a bulk ban, since Nintendo is fond of doing it that way. To the best of my knowledge no one has been banned yet, but Nintendo clearly is planning something and will probably time it around a new release. This will likely result in the community finally accepting the need for emuNAND for homebrew and proper backups in it's CFW.

.3DS filed are more likely to get a person banned than .CIA files due to the way headers work on the 3DS. If you want to use Gateway on the latest system version, then you should be aware that Gateway is the inferior CFW, not Luma3DS.

 

[Elliander]

.3DS filed are more likely to get a person banned than .CIA files due to the way headers work on the 3DS. If you want to use Gateway on the latest system version, then you should be aware that Gateway is the inferior CFW, not Luma3DS.

I have never been banned. Why? Because I never pirated. I did extract the headers from my games, and reinjected one into all of them in order to avoid an issue with accidentally using the same header twice (since I have more than one console), but I knew what I was doing.

Yes, if you go online with a flash cart and it has either a zeroed out header or if the header is online at the same time, you will be banned, but otherwise it's totally safe.

I get that for some stupid reason some people prefer .CIA files. Fine. You can do whatever you want with your own console. However, it really is trolling for people to push for .CIA in literally EVERY thread that explicitly states a dislike for .CIA to push for it. Honestly, I've grown to HATE Luma and I haven't even used it yet ENTIRELY because I am tired of all the trolling over it. My opinion on this matter is the same regardless of the console as well. In fact, for my Switch I actually uninstalled all my installed games after converting them to .XCI just because of how much I hate using the installed games.

Gateway emuNAND is superior to Luma3DS because it is capable of doing what I want while Luma3DS is incapable of doing what I want. They haven't even included a way to read the SD card from a Gateway or DSTWO cart, despite the fact that protocols to do so have already been written.

If you guys really want to see people stop using Gateway, and the equivalent carts on other consoles, all you have to do is make ROMS work on the CFW.

 

[Lacius]

I have never been banned. Why? Because I never pirated. I did extract the headers from my games, and reinjected one into all of them in order to avoid an issue with accidentally using the same header twice (since I have more than one console), but I knew what I was doing.

Yes, if you go online with a flash cart and it has either a zeroed out header or if the header is online at the same time, you will be banned, but otherwise it's totally safe.

I get that for some stupid reason some people prefer .CIA files. Fine. You can do whatever you want with your own console. However, it really is trolling for people to push for .CIA in literally EVERY thread that explicitly states a dislike for .CIA to push for it. Honestly, I've grown to HATE Luma and I haven't even used it yet ENTIRELY because I am tired of all the trolling over it. My opinion on this matter is the same regardless of the console as well. In fact, for my Switch I actually uninstalled all my installed games after converting them to .XCI just because of how much I hate using the installed games.

Gateway emuNAND is superior to Luma3DS because it is capable of doing what I want while Luma3DS is incapable of doing what I want. They haven't even included a way to read the SD card from a Gateway or DSTWO cart, despite the fact that protocols to do so have already been written.

If you guys really want to see people stop using Gateway, and the equivalent carts on other consoles, all you have to do is make ROMS work on the CFW.

Almost nobody uses Gateway anymore, and almost nobody uses emuNAND anymore.

 

[AmandaRose]

99.99% of members on this site hate gateway and don't recommend using it or emunand due to the fact that cfw does everything a hell of a lot better than gateway does and has a heck of a lot more features ect ect.. All I can suggest is this site is probably not the right place for the OP if they are determined not to convert from gateway to the superior cfw.

 

[osm70]

I have the Gateway card. I don't use it anymore. I switched to Luma. Installing CIAs is not a problem to me. I have tons of pirated games that I played online and I never got banned.

99.99% of members on this site hate gateway and don't recommend using it or emunand due to the fact that cfw does everything a hell of a lot better than gateway does and has a heck of a lot more features ect ect.. All I can suggest is this site is probably not the right place for the OP if they are determined not to convert from gateway to the superior cfw.

A little nitpick: That's not entirely true. a CFW won't run .3DS files at all. You have to convert to CIA and install.

 

[AmandaRose]

A little nitpick: That's not entirely true. a CFW won't run .3DS files at all. You have to convert to CIA and install.

Which is a benifit as cia files take up less space than 3ds files on the sd card.

 

[Lacius]

I have the Gateway card. I don't use it anymore. I switched to Luma. Installing CIAs is not a problem to me. I have tons of pirated games that I played online and I never got banned.

No one has ever been banned for playing CIA-installed games online, only for playing .3DS files with bad headers.

 

[osm70]

No one has ever been banned for playing CIA-installed games online, only for playing .3DS files with bad headers.

I know. That was a reaction to the OP saying "I never got banned because all my backups are legit".

 

[AmandaRose]

No one has ever been banned for playing CIA-installed games online, only for playing .3DS files with bad headers.

Yes the only way to get banned online with cia files is to cheat online or play a game online before it's official realese date.

 

[osm70]

I have both a 3DS that uses Gateway 3DS with an emuNAND and an N3DS Zelda edition that I never had the time to setup, so it's basically unused.

I've been reading a few threads on a few forums about the scene developments, with Gateway 3DS apparently being abandon-ware and with the the latest updates on their forums referencing another site for an unofficial update that isn't available to download anymore. Many other threads have people suggesting CFW and converting .3DS games to .CIA, but I don't want to do that. The thing is, for any console, I absolutely HATE installing games to the internal NAND. Having cart backups means I can move the carts off easily, or if a console breaks I have them working. When my PS3 hard drive died I lost everything EXCEPT my disc backups, as an example. and since all of my .3DS backups have my own legit headers for playing online I'd rather keep those files legit.

From what I can gather, CFW doesn't appear to be capable of running .3DS files for whatever reason (if I am wrong, please correct me!), but from what I can gather from various threads I apparently can run .3DS files on Stargate 3DS and save files from Gateway 3DS can run as well. The thing is, I also purchased DLC legitimately which was installed to the Gateway 3DS.

One idea I had was to setup Stargate 3DS on the N3DS and then do a system transfer from the Gateway emuNAND to a Stargate emuNAND, but is there any way to do this offline? Perhaps plugged into a computer or something? Because officially both consoles have to be online and on the latest firmware, and this idea would only work if a Gateway 3DS can go online to make the transfer. Since everything installed on the emuNAND is legit there would be no concern of being banned for that, but since Gateway 3DS is of coursed abandoned I doubt there would be any way of doing this an official way.

If there is any way to get this to work, it would allow me to easily transfer everything from the Gateway emuNAND to a Stargate emuNAND.

Alternatively, are there any tools to easily convert from one emuNAND to another? or is there any CFW I can switch to that can make use of an existing Gateway 3DS emuNAND on the latest firmware version? Or will I basically just have to setup an entirely new emuNAND and manually convert each and every save for each and every game onto the new system and then take it online and re-download the DLC? (assuming the DLC is still around to re-download that is)

First of all, CIAs are not installed on the NAND. They go on your SD card. Only the ticket is installed on the console. So, if your SD card dies, your games are gone. Just like the Gateway SD card. But if you have a backup, you don't have to install the CIAs again. You can just copy the installed games to a new card and it will work fine. Now as for the death of the system itself... yeah, I admit that CFW makes recovery more difficult. First of all, you need to hack the new system. Then you need to reinstall all CIAs... unless you have a backup of your tickets. You can dump your tickets from the old system and install them to the new one. They the new 3DS will play pre-installed games from the original SD card. (Unlike installing the game itself, installing the ticket takes less than a second.)