Hacking Newbie looking for answers / confirmation regarding Gateway

[SonGoku78]

Hi @ all,

i just bought an 3DS XL with FW 5.1.XXX to be able to use Gateway, because i don´t want to use our regular 3DS XL´s with 9.2 FW and our legit NNID´s.

I will get a gateway card Soon™ and i am getting prepared while its on its way.
So i have some questions open, and i hope you can help me out

1)
So basically i decided NOT to downgrade to 4.5, as i see no benefits aside from not having to launch the exploit everytime (which i can do with an android app and i think it is done very fast).

1a)
If i am missing something please tell me so i can think my decission over again maybe...

1b)
My question is, as i am on FW 5.1... i wanted to do an update with Smash Bros retail cartridge, this should be the latest available update on a game cartridge right ?
It should be then 8.1... i guess, is that ok, or should i just leave the FW 5.1 on the 3ds ?

2)
Can any gateway users confirm that streetpass is working on emunand normally like it would on sysnand ? I mean i go to emunand and then just close the 3ds and enable wifi ? Are there any risks ? i gues snot, as i will only use emunand, and as i said console is fresh bought, and i never played a game on it, preowner stuff will be wiped with systemformat before starting to gateway

3)
My memory card choice will be this:
32GB Big SD Card, because i want to use CIA install, should be enough right ?
32GB MicroSD Card for Gateway so roms
Both combined should give me enough space for my gaming needs, or should one of them be 64GB ?
Opinions are welcome

4)
Online Play
This is where i am not fully confident if i understand everything right:
There are CIA´s, ROM headers, unique ID´s and stuff...
So as i am new to gateway, i have about 20 retail games, and my friends may have 5 to 10 games that i myself do not own.
When i just back them all up through gateway, can i just use the roms online normally,as they would have unique ID´s already ? Do i need to rename to .3DZ, or can i just play them straight away online without doing anything to the roms ? What if i want to convert some of them to CIA, for example the ones i play more often online ? what should i know about my self ripped games in considertion with online playing ?
What about downloaded roms ? Is it enough to convert them to CIA ti be online playable ?
I know it is never safe with online gaming, nintendo could swing ban hammer whenever the want.
That is the reason i didn´t want to fiddle with our regular 3DS XL´s

I hope it is not too much asked for, and you will wipe up my all of my questions/concerns

Good evening

 

[Essometer]

1)No Question, but you got it right.

1b)As long as the FW is over 6.x (because of the new savegame encryption) you are good. No need
to have the latest Gateway compatible FW.

2)Streetpass will work on emunand with no issues. There is no risk using it.

3)Should be enough. I for myself have a 32GB microSD and no space worries.

4) I have no experience with CIAs. For ROMs, if you dump them yourself
they already have a unique ID. Just rename the ending to .3DZ and you are good to go.
For downloaded ROMs, you need to dump the header of your original ROMs and splice it
int the downloaded ROM.

There is no known case of an ban from Nintendo (at least I don´t know any).
Of course, there is alway a risk, but it´s neglectable in this case.

 

[thorasgar]

Hi @ all,

i just bought an 3DS XL with FW 5.1.XXX to be able to use Gateway, because i don´t want to use our regular 3DS XL´s with 9.2 FW and our legit NNID´s.

I will get a gateway card Soon™ and i am getting prepared while its on its way.
So i have some questions open, and i hope you can help me out

1)
So basically i decided NOT to downgrade to 4.5, as i see no benefits aside from not having to launch the exploit everytime (which i can do with an android app and i think it is done very fast).

1a)
If i am missing something please tell me so i can think my decission over again maybe...

1b)
My question is, as i am on FW 5.1... i wanted to do an update with Smash Bros retail cartridge, this should be the latest available update on a game cartridge right ?
It should be then 8.1... i guess, is that ok, or should i just leave the FW 5.1 on the 3ds ?

2)
Can any gateway users confirm that streetpass is working on emunand normally like it would on sysnand ? I mean i go to emunand and then just close the 3ds and enable wifi ? Are there any risks ? i gues snot, as i will only use emunand, and as i said console is fresh bought, and i never played a game on it, preowner stuff will be wiped with systemformat before starting to gateway

3)
My memory card choice will be this:
32GB Big SD Card, because i want to use CIA install, should be enough right ?
32GB MicroSD Card for Gateway so roms
Both combined should give me enough space for my gaming needs, or should one of them be 64GB ?
Opinions are welcome

4)
Online Play
This is where i am not fully confident if i understand everything right:
There are CIA´s, ROM headers, unique ID´s and stuff...
So as i am new to gateway, i have about 20 retail games, and my friends may have 5 to 10 games that i myself do not own.
When i just back them all up through gateway, can i just use the roms online normally,as they would have unique ID´s already ? Do i need to rename to .3DZ, or can i just play them straight away online without doing anything to the roms ? What if i want to convert some of them to CIA, for example the ones i play more often online ? what should i know about my self ripped games in considertion with online playing ?
What about downloaded roms ? Is it enough to convert them to CIA ti be online playable ?
I know it is never safe with online gaming, nintendo could swing ban hammer whenever the want.
That is the reason i didn´t want to fiddle with our regular 3DS XL´s

I hope it is not too much asked for, and you will wipe up my all of my questions/concerns

Good evening

1a. I think you have it.
1b. Does it have a browser? I have heard some don't. Update with smash is what most people do.
2. I don't use streetpass but all reports apindicate it works.
3. Probably be just fine with that. I have a 64 mSD and 32 SD. it just depends how many games you want. You can always change.
4. To many questions. Slow down. First you need to read the faqs and tutorials here and most of your questions will be answered. Unless you can get pre made cia files they can be a pain to make. 3ds and 3dz are much simpler. A cart you dump yourself will have headers so you just rename to 3dz. Downloaded roms will have the header removed. Cia do not need headers. Realize your existing saves on your carts will not be able to be used if you want to dump them onto the Sd card, if you want the saves you will need to continue using the carts.

 

[troa11]

To #1 - it should be mentioned that at the moment if you want to mess with other launcher utilities, like those needed to generate xorpads in order to make your own cia files or extract your .db file to make cias of your own eshop stuff, you need to be on the NDS exploit (ie 4.1-4.5). Some of those utilities may eventually be ported to the web exploit, but they aren't yet.

 

[SonGoku78]

First of all : thanks to you all for your replys


Essometer

So when i dump my own games, i just rename the ending from .3ds to 3dz, thats all right ?
No problem with online play, that´s good to know.
As you are from germany too, you know that there are plenty of streetpass events, that´s why i asked for streetpass.
Do you know if the streetpass mii lobby games are available as CIA anywhere (not asking for links) ? Just didn´t check yet...


thorasgar

I checked the 3ds, it has a browser installed already, just opened it without internet connection though.
But it seemed in working condition.
I just want to put screen protectors and a crystal case on the 3ds before i will use it.
I looked a bit into CIA conversion, a hell lot to do, which can go also wrong, so i guess i will be sticking with pre-made cia´s
for the games that i can´t dump myself.
I have no worries about my saves, as we have two regular 3ds xl for our retail games, but thanks for the advise.
The "gateway 3ds" will be a fresh new start with its own new NNID if i ever want to go into eshop though (maybe for game updates)

troa11

because of your reply i looked more into cia stuff, like i said before, i think i could do it, but i guess its not worth all the hassle
(at least for me, as i am too lazy) when there are enough pre-made cia´s out there
And i really do not want to downgrade, which is a prerequisite for making cia´s...
On the 3ds are no bought eshop titles, except animal crossing which was preinstalled, as it is an animal crossing 3dsxl, nut preowner did
a sysformat already, which i will do again too, before i really start to gateway it
And animal crossing we have already bought through eshop on one of our other 3ds´...so no loss there for us.
If i understood right from my readings so far, it should also be possible to download it again from ehop legally through emunand

As i said before, thanks for you replys.
Once i start "gatewaying" i will look for answers first, and in case i really do not understand something i will ask again.
But since now everything has guides here and there and basically some other questions every starter has are answered already, i think this should
not be the case hopefully

Nice week to you all, cheers

 

[thorasgar]

I don't use Streetpass so I am no expert but I have heard that Nintendo has Hotspot agreements with various carriers and you can receive a system update through streetpass and not even know it. You still have to accept to install. Just keep that in mind.

 

[Ericzander]

1)
So basically i decided NOT to downgrade to 4.5, as i see no benefits aside from not having to launch the exploit everytime (which i can do with an android app and i think it is done very fast).

1a)
If i am missing something please tell me so i can think my decission over again maybe...

1b)
My question is, as i am on FW 5.1... i wanted to do an update with Smash Bros retail cartridge, this should be the latest available update on a game cartridge right ?
It should be then 8.1... i guess, is that ok, or should i just leave the FW 5.1 on the 3ds ?

2)
Can any gateway users confirm that streetpass is working on emunand normally like it would on sysnand ? I mean i go to emunand and then just close the 3ds and enable wifi ? Are there any risks ? i gues snot, as i will only use emunand, and as i said console is fresh bought, and i never played a game on it, preowner stuff will be wiped with systemformat before starting to gateway

3)
My memory card choice will be this:
32GB Big SD Card, because i want to use CIA install, should be enough right ?
32GB MicroSD Card for Gateway so roms
Both combined should give me enough space for my gaming needs, or should one of them be 64GB ?
Opinions are welcome

4)
Online Play
This is where i am not fully confident if i understand everything right:
There are CIA´s, ROM headers, unique ID´s and stuff...
So as i am new to gateway, i have about 20 retail games, and my friends may have 5 to 10 games that i myself do not own.
When i just back them all up through gateway, can i just use the roms online normally,as they would have unique ID´s already ? Do i need to rename to .3DZ, or can i just play them straight away online without doing anything to the roms ? What if i want to convert some of them to CIA, for example the ones i play more often online ? what should i know about my self ripped games in considertion with online playing ?
What about downloaded roms ? Is it enough to convert them to CIA ti be online playable ?
I know it is never safe with online gaming, nintendo could swing ban hammer whenever the want.
That is the reason i didn´t want to fiddle with our regular 3DS XL´s

1) No you don't need to downgrade. But it's a painless process. After doing so you should update the emuNAND using your gateway card to the latest version (check my signature, I have vids on how to do this. Or read topics here if written is more your style).

2) Streetpass works fine for me with the most updated emuNAND. And wifi is also safe to use in that mode.

3) 32GB for each should be plenty. I have two 4GB (I found them laying around) and will probably get bigger ones.

4) I also made a video regarding this. Basically dont even worry about .cia files. As for .3ds/z you can go the easy way and use this program to find a public header to use and just patch that into a rom you get from the internet (nobody has gotten banned thus far). Or to be extra safe you can use Gateway to rip your own game (doesn't matter which one) and then use that program to extract that header and inject that into your roms you find online and then rename them to .3dz. That's what I do with my header from Bravely Default (if I don't make sense, watch the video). If you are just backing up your own games then don't worry about converting to .cia or anything. .3dz will be fine and no extra work is needed.

 

[PokeChampion]

I was looking for sit/way to download 3DS ROMs onto my Micro SD without viruses on my laptop using with Gateway 3DS cart.

 

[Ericzander]

I was looking for sit/way to download 3DS ROMs onto my Micro SD without viruses on my laptop using with Gateway 3DS cart.

For some reason we aren't allowed to give out links to websites that supply roms, but it won't take much effort to find a forum that will have everything that you need.

 

[PokeChampion]

For some reason we aren't allowed to give out links to websites that supply roms, but it won't take much effort to find a forum that will have everything that you need.

Alright. Thanks!

 

[SonGoku78]

@ thorasgar

Yes i know that issue with updates through nintendo zone, but like ericzander said it should be safe, as i will be using streetpass on emunand only...


@ ericzander

i still see no benefit from downgrading. The reason i don´t want to downgrade is simply, because
not everything is really downgraded, so there is still a minor chance that this could be an issue in the future in some way...i think it is better to have an official firmware where all files have appropriate condition...
But if you can give me a good reason i will think it over maybe.
And as is said, it shouldn´t be too hard to launch the explot through the android app, so internet connection needed anyways.

you say "this programm" for headers etc, but there is no name/link can you write me the name please ?

And what exactly happens if i get update through nintendo zone on emunand ? i will get update nag, but couldn´t i just upgrade through emunand system settings then, to get rid of it ?
Other route would be, if i will have a backup of my emunand, i could just format my emunand and simply inject my backup emunand back to sd through the emunand tool right ?

So do i understand you right, that i can use any of my own ripped reatil cartridges header for any downloaded game ? For example, when i rip fire emblem, i could use its header for a downloaded bravely default rom ? or have the games to match ? i mean do i have to use the header of my fire emblem only in a downloaded fire emblem rom ? Because, why should i do this if i have already my own ripped game with its unique header...i am just a little confused right now...
Would be great if i can use my won header on any rom, but then still it will have not a matching unique header, as it is from another game, so i guess best route would be to use prepared cia´s for games that i do not own myself and still want to play them online...

But my biggest questions arised through more reading yesterday:

If i get dlc´s and for example mii plaza game cia´s or other game cia´s, and have them installed on my emunand, are they all wiped if i go to eshop ?
I know they will be wiped, if i don´t seperate sysnand and emunand when i go to data management on sysnand (i will seperate them though), but what happens when i go to eshop on emunand if i have this stuff installed ?
So workaround would be getting game updates only via cia´s right ?
because i would only use eshop on the gateway 3ds for game updates...


Thanks in advance for your answers ericzander.

We are off to skiing today, so i can read answers today evening the earliest

 

[SonGoku78]

I am so tired from skiing all day...
Just wanted to see if there are new answers...guess i was not lucky
Please if someone or especially Ericzander could review my latest post and give me some some answers would be very nice
Cheers everybody

 

[Ericzander]

I hath been summoned.

Okay, so if you don't wanna downgrade then don't worry about it. It was painless for me but if you have concerns (and either an internet connection or an Android phone to access the site) then by all means stay at your current firmware.

you say "this programm" for headers etc, but there is no name/link can you write me the name please ?

Oh, it's in my video. I didn't wanna go into long details about it so I assumed you'd just check that out haha. But yeah the program is called Gateway rom patcher.

And what exactly happens if i get update through nintendo zone on emunand ? i will get update nag, but couldn´t i just upgrade through emunand system settings then, to get rid of it ?

That is correct.

Other route would be, if i will have a backup of my emunand, i could just format my emunand and simply inject my backup emunand back to sd through the emunand tool right ?

That I dunno.

So do i understand you right, that i can use any of my own ripped reatil cartridges header for any downloaded game ? For example, when i rip fire emblem, i could use its header for a downloaded bravely default rom ? or have the games to match ? i mean do i have to use the header of my fire emblem only in a downloaded fire emblem rom ? Because, why should i do this if i have already my own ripped game with its unique header...i am just a little confused right now...
Would be great if i can use my won header on any rom, but then still it will have not a matching unique header, as it is from another game, so i guess best route would be to use prepared cia´s for games that i do not own myself and still want to play them online...

To my understanding, you can take the header from any big (size wise) rom and use it on any rom. So I believe you can use a 4gb header with a 2gb rom but not the other way around (Bravely Default is 4gb and Fire Emblem is 2gb) but don't quote me on that. Try it using the patcher and if it works, it works! Nobody has gotten banned for using public headers and we simply dunno what Nintendo can and can't see. But I believe you will be the absolute safest if you use a header from a game you own (preferably a game that has some form of online mode).

I wish I could answer your other questions but I don't know because I haven't tried. Hope I helped!

 

[PokeChampion]

I need a 3DS to 3DZ converter to play online. But. That's okay though. I'll find that myself

 

[Ericzander]

I need a 3DS to 3DZ converter to play online. But. That's okay though. I'll find that myself

Here is the link to the video that should help you out.

 

[PokeChampion]

Here is the link to the video that should help you out.

And you have to downgrade in order to play online? Because I'm on 9.2/GW9.4

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hi @ all,

i just bought an 3DS XL with FW 5.1.XXX to be able to use Gateway, because i don´t want to use our regular 3DS XL´s with 9.2 FW and our legit NNID´s.

I will get a gateway card Soon™ and i am getting prepared while its on its way.
So i have some questions open, and i hope you can help me out

1)
So basically i decided NOT to downgrade to 4.5, as i see no benefits aside from not having to launch the exploit everytime (which i can do with an android app and i think it is done very fast).

1a)
If i am missing something please tell me so i can think my decission over again maybe...

1b)
My question is, as i am on FW 5.1... i wanted to do an update with Smash Bros retail cartridge, this should be the latest available update on a game cartridge right ?
It should be then 8.1... i guess, is that ok, or should i just leave the FW 5.1 on the 3ds ?

2)
Can any gateway users confirm that streetpass is working on emunand normally like it would on sysnand ? I mean i go to emunand and then just close the 3ds and enable wifi ? Are there any risks ? i gues snot, as i will only use emunand, and as i said console is fresh bought, and i never played a game on it, preowner stuff will be wiped with systemformat before starting to gateway

3)
My memory card choice will be this:
32GB Big SD Card, because i want to use CIA install, should be enough right ?
32GB MicroSD Card for Gateway so roms
Both combined should give me enough space for my gaming needs, or should one of them be 64GB ?
Opinions are welcome

4)
Online Play
This is where i am not fully confident if i understand everything right:
There are CIA´s, ROM headers, unique ID´s and stuff...
So as i am new to gateway, i have about 20 retail games, and my friends may have 5 to 10 games that i myself do not own.
When i just back them all up through gateway, can i just use the roms online normally,as they would have unique ID´s already ? Do i need to rename to .3DZ, or can i just play them straight away online without doing anything to the roms ? What if i want to convert some of them to CIA, for example the ones i play more often online ? what should i know about my self ripped games in considertion with online playing ?
What about downloaded roms ? Is it enough to convert them to CIA ti be online playable ?
I know it is never safe with online gaming, nintendo could swing ban hammer whenever the want.
That is the reason i didn´t want to fiddle with our regular 3DS XL´s

I hope it is not too much asked for, and you will wipe up my all of my questions/concerns

Good evening

1) Benefits at the moment are being able to use the DS profile exploit to launch it that way, which is somewhat easier than the new web browser exploit, as well as being able to run launcher.dat homebrew like SD decryptor (decrypt/dump eshop titles and nand) CTR decryptor (decrypt roms) and the RAM dumper. Benefits of newer firmware is basically being able to play cartridges with 6.x save encryption that have been played on a legit 3DS before. That's about it. If you have saves like that that you want to keep, I'd say it's worth updating, otherwise it's better to downgrade.
2) StreetPass works as expected for me anyway.
3) I use a 64GB MicroSD with a 16GB full SD. Just my personal preference but CIAs take way too long to install and my home menu is already messy enough.
4) 3DZ extension is needed as well as a proper header. Some roms will have the header already, most won't. You can use the same header for most games though (there are some public headers online), you can apply and check headers using Gateway ROM Patcher. If the header isn't valid it will show an error upon loading the 3DZ. CIAs should work without a header although I haven't tried this myself. It would be quicker to apply a known good header to a 3DZ though.

 

[Ericzander]

And you have to downgrade in order to play online? Because I'm on 9.2/GW9.4

No you don't. For your purposes don't worry about downgrading. As long as you have the most updated emuNAND (which you do) and have a .3dz file with a header you can play online.

 

[SonGoku78]

Hi @ all
thanks to all for your recent answers, i think i am well prepared now
I will buy 32 gb sandisk micro-sdhc and sdhc cards with class 10 soon, wait for my gateway. And download all stuff that i will need, so everything is prepared to start.
I guess i will not use the eshop on emunand to be on the safe side, it will be cia update files then for me.

Cheers

 

[PokeChampion]

I tried getting a header out of my Pokemon Alpha Sapphire game that I had from My cart using ROM Patcher 0.6.But evidently it was ECLA.3DS. And wouldn't budge