Gaming Problems with Majora's Mask on OG 3DS

[criticaljer]

Background on the issue:

My oldest daughter has an old 3ds. The original. A few years after getting it, she received Majora's mask as a gift.

The cartridge would not launch in her system.

Both her siblings had 2DS slates and the cartridge worked in both. She ended up playing it on one of those.

The two siblings stopped playing the slates and being that I like to tinker with things, I installed CFW's on both. No problems. Majora's mask would work from a cia format on both after making adjustments to the region via editing locale.txt. Last summer, I even bought one of the 2ds xl's that went on sale, installed cfw and cia worked fine on it.

This week, my oldest wanted to play MM again. I told her to let me install a CFW and it should work fine ( 3ds . hacks . guide / get-started ). Wrong.

I installed it. Seems to be working as it should. All cia's installed seem to work except MM. The cartridge does not work still. No error message either. Just a black screen.

I have installed cia's from multiple sources, dumped the cartridge using GM9 and installed. Patching is turned on. I have used local switcher to try to overcome the issue. . I have used the luma locales folder for the region file and also tried it with the folder named with the cartridge identifier. I have tried installing from .3ds.

I've spent more time than I should have scouring this and other forums and can't find anything aside from using the local switcher and making sure patching is allowed.

Oh yeah, I also tried it with the updates and without. Black screen regardless.

For whatever reason, the game will not play in cartridge format or installed via .cia or .3ds. She can play it on one of the others, but it just irritates me that I can't figure this out.

Any suggestions aside from body slamming the cartridge and the DS would be appreciated.

 

[Kwyjor]

Just to eliminate the obvious: how long are you waiting at the black screen? Some games take a surprising amount of time to load on the old 3DS.

Why were you making region adjustments? Is the cart from a different region than the units you've been trying to play it with?

 

[criticaljer]

Just to eliminate the obvious: how long are you waiting at the black screen? Some games take a surprising amount of time to load on the old 3DS.

Why were you making region adjustments? Is the cart from a different region than the units you've been trying to play it with?

I've let it set for five+ minutes at a time for it to come up. No sound or action. Just a solid black screen on top and bottom. No buttons respond. I have to hold the power down to reset.

The region adjustments come from multiple posts about this game and a few others (see below). Setting the region and language seems to fix it for most and worked for the slates we have. I have tried it multiple times without the adjustment as well.

Maybe I should reset the 3ds and start from scratch.

gbatemp . net/threads/issue-with-majoras-mask-3ds.434987/
gbatemp . net/threads/anyone-know-why-majoras-mask-is-not-working-in-my-3ds.566188/

 

[Kwyjor]

Well, I can't say I'm familiar with that particular problem, but attempting to reset a 3DS is almost never a useful solution and I doubt it would help here.

Does taking out the SD card make any difference?

Also, I have no idea why you keep using the word "slate".

 

[ChiefReginod]

3DS settings: Delete Majora's Mask saves, updates and spotpass data. Don't delete the game from here.
FBI: Delete Majora's Mask ticket/seed and title.
Make sure you have the latest Luma installed and update the system to the latest OFW.
Open the eshop and close it. This is just so your system has the latest list of available game updates.

From there, reinstall the game and import the seed in FBI. Importing the seed isn't always needed depending on the CIA or game you're installing, but it's not going to hurt anything either if you try to import it and it fails. In my experience, most black screens on launch are from the seed not being imported.

 

[Potato Paste]

3DS settings: Delete Majora's Mask saves, updates and spotpass data. Don't delete the game from here.
FBI: Delete Majora's Mask ticket/seed and title.
Make sure you have the latest Luma installed and update the system to the latest OFW.
Open the eshop and close it. This is just so your system has the latest list of available game updates.

From there, reinstall the game and import the seed in FBI. Importing the seed isn't always needed depending on the CIA or game you're installing, but it's not going to hurt anything either if you try to import it and it fails. In my experience, most black screens on launch are from the seed not being imported.

i second this, seeds sometimes dont import and piss me off.

 

[Jayro]

Why not just use the proper Majora's Mask .cia for the region of 3DS you have? Region switching is more of a pain than it is worth.

 

[criticaljer]

Well, I can't say I'm familiar with that particular problem, but attempting to reset a 3DS is almost never a useful solution and I doubt it would help here.

Does taking out the SD card make any difference?

Also, I have no idea why you keep using the word "slate".

I've taken the card out and tried to play the cartridge. No dice.
Put a new sd card in. No Dice.
I just call the flat 2ds a slate because it looks like a slab.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

i second this, seeds sometimes dont import and piss me off.

I've tried to import the seed from FBI and it fails. I installed the seed database as well and it still fails. Looking in the directory, I don't see anything that matches the game number.

I'll look into this more and see if the seeds directory actually has a file for this game.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Why not just use the proper Majora's Mask .cia for the region of 3DS you have? Region switching is more of a pain than it is worth.

I've tried this.

The DS a US version with English as the default. I have tried CIA's that are US EN. When it failed, I tried Europe and then switched the locale. No dice.

Again, the cartridge does not work either, yet works on 2 flat 2ds and one New 2DS XL. Bizarre.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

3DS settings: Delete Majora's Mask saves, updates and spotpass data. Don't delete the game from here.
FBI: Delete Majora's Mask ticket/seed and title.
Make sure you have the latest Luma installed and update the system to the latest OFW.
Open the eshop and close it. This is just so your system has the latest list of available game updates.

From there, reinstall the game and import the seed in FBI. Importing the seed isn't always needed depending on the CIA or game you're installing, but it's not going to hurt anything either if you try to import it and it fails. In my experience, most black screens on launch are from the seed not being imported.

I'll give this a try and we'll see what happens.

 

[criticaljer]

3DS settings: Delete Majora's Mask saves, updates and spotpass data. Don't delete the game from here.
FBI: Delete Majora's Mask ticket/seed and title.
Make sure you have the latest Luma installed and update the system to the latest OFW.
Open the eshop and close it. This is just so your system has the latest list of available game updates.

From there, reinstall the game and import the seed in FBI. Importing the seed isn't always needed depending on the CIA or game you're installing, but it's not going to hurt anything either if you try to import it and it fails. In my experience, most black screens on launch are from the seed not being imported.

Thanks for the ideas. Still no love.

Everything is up to date. Opened eshop and let it update. Tried to import the seed again but it failed. Again, there is no file in the seed directory that matches the cartridge though so it wasn't a surprise.

I wonder if this has something to do with 3d. The three systems that work are all 2ds. This is a 3ds. It shouldn't make a difference, but I don't see anything else except that is just an older system. The black screen is annoying because there isn't an error to use for debugging.

 

[Kwyjor]

I wonder if this has something to do with 3d.

Well, is the 3D slider working properly on this system? Does it make any difference if it's on or off when you start the game?

I do idly note that https://tcrf.net/Nintendo_3DS#Hidden_Key_Combinations suggests a black screen can result when a game for the New 3DS is forced to boot on an old 3DS, but this is getting wildly speculative.

It also occurs to me that while a full system reset is not a good idea, there are cases where clearing the home menu extdata can help.
https://3ds.hacks.guide/troubleshooting.html#clear-home-menu-extdata

 

[criticaljer]

Well, is the 3D slider working properly on this system? Does it make any difference if it's on or off when you start the game?

I do idly note that //tcrf.net/Nintendo_3DS#Hidden_Key_Combinations suggests a black screen can result when a game for the New 3DS is forced to boot on an old 3DS, but this is getting wildly speculative.

It also occurs to me that while a full system reset is not a good idea, there are cases where clearing the home menu extdata can help.
3ds.hacks.guide/troubleshooting.html#clear-home-menu-extdata

The slider seems to work properly. I can calibrate it in the system menu and it shows up as it should. It is usually in the off position. I've tried opening with it on or off with no difference.

I did read that MM has features for the the new 3ds and that they should be disabled automatically on the old. That could be a path to check. Especially since neither the cartridge or cia will launch.

Thanks for the links.

 

[ihaveawindows]

I think you used a cartridge that was from a N3DS or N2DS and the CPP (Circle Pad Pro) or C-stick settings got saved, so maybe that's a reason to look into?

Also, regarding the recent wave of MM fails, I think it's just a terrible fate to have, isn't it?

 

[ChiefReginod]

Thanks for the ideas. Still no love.

Everything is up to date. Opened eshop and let it update. Tried to import the seed again but it failed. Again, there is no file in the seed directory that matches the cartridge though so it wasn't a surprise.

I wonder if this has something to do with 3d. The three systems that work are all 2ds. This is a 3ds. It shouldn't make a difference, but I don't see anything else except that is just an older system. The black screen is annoying because there isn't an error to use for debugging.

You can import it via wifi. It's been a while since I've done that but it still worked last time I tried.

And just to explain why deleting the game from FBI is preferred, if you delete the game from the 3DS settings it doesn't really delete everything. The ticket is actually left behind. So if the ticket is bad or corrupt it's still going to be bad after reinstalling the game. In the Tickets section of FBI it only lists them by Title ID, so look for the Title ID of Majora's Mask in there and delete it, then try reinstalling.

 

[criticaljer]

I think you used a cartridge that was from a N3DS or N2DS and the CPP (Circle Pad Pro) or C-stick settings got saved, so maybe that's a reason to look into?

Also, regarding the recent wave of MM fails, I think it's just a terrible fate to have, isn't it?

I don't remember if we bought the game new or used since it was a while back. It is possible. Not a bad line of inquiry for sure.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

You can import it via wifi. It's been a while since I've done that but it still worked last time I tried.

And just to explain why deleting the game from FBI is preferred, if you delete the game from the 3DS settings it doesn't really delete everything. The ticket is actually left behind. So if the ticket is bad or corrupt it's still going to be bad after reinstalling the game. In the Tickets section of FBI it only lists them by Title ID, so look for the Title ID of Majora's Mask in there and delete it, then try reinstalling.

I'll go through the ticket section and delete the the Title ID of any of the various versions I've installed. That would be USA, Europe, and the updated of both. Hell, the list could polluted with them since I normally deleted through the system menu and not FBI.

 

[Kwyjor]

If it's a problem with some sort of residual save data on the cart, then according to the manual, you can delete all save data by holding down A+B+X+Y after the Nintendo 3DS logo disappears but before the title screen displays.

(You can of course back up your data beforehand with Checkpoint if you like.)

 

[criticaljer]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I uninstalled via FBI and cleaned out the tickets and then tried the cartridge. No luck. Installed the US and EUR versions. No luck. Hell, I even installed the Japanese version just to see. Nothing.

I reset the cartridge on another 2DS and then retried. Black screen.

It's absolutely bizarre. It must not be a common problem though or I'd be able to find more info on MM cartridge won't load. Surely, this game runs for most people who bought it for the original 3ds.

Since this 3ds has cfw, are there any drawbacks to a factory reset?

 

[N7Kopper]

Since this 3ds has cfw, are there any drawbacks to a factory reset?

It's not likely that doing that would help, but you can just back up your NAND before trying it.

If neither a cartridge nor an install will boot (or crash! A black screen implies some kind of softlock), then maybe it's a hardware problem? You've got people better at fixing 3DS problems than me stumped.

 

[Kwyjor]

Since this 3ds has cfw, are there any drawbacks to a factory reset?

A system format does not remove CFW, so if that is somehow at fault, then a system format won't help. But doing a system format with CFW installed is indeed a thing people do.

I suppose if the installed .cias do not work, then it can't be a cartridge problem.

Did you already try clearing the home menu extdata, as I suggested above?

 

[criticaljer]

A system format does not remove CFW, so if that is somehow at fault, then a system format won't help. But doing a system format with CFW installed is indeed a thing people do.

I suppose if the installed .cias do not work, then it can't be a cartridge problem.

Did you already try clearing the home menu extdata, as I suggested above?

I did reset the extdata.

Other installed cia's work fine as well as cartridge's. It's just the damn MM cia's and the cartridge.

Just bizarre.

 

[criticaljer]

I talked with my daughter and we did buy the game used. If it was played on a new 3ds, maybe it's first run on an old 3ds with a save from a new 3ds set some value somewhere that has fubar'd the device for this game in any format. Kind of what Kwyjor mentioned.

Maybe a factory reset would be the key.