Hacking Homebrew To people still running an emuNAND on your 3DS, what is your reasoning

What setup do you use? (EMUNAND USERS ONLY)


  • Total voters
    21

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,220
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,113
Country
United Kingdom
i play with dev titles and stuff like that and dont want to break my sysnand in the process
I do the same too with many of the leaked dev files I had back in the day.
 

NightScript

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
951
Trophies
1
Age
20
XP
2,235
Country
United States
This is actually a very valid point I never even thought of. Though, in my experience even shitty flash storage does last a while, and I have a feeling some other component on the 3DS will fail long before the flash storage
How long is a "while", though? On the DSi side of things, we're dealing with corrupted NANDs from even simple System Updates. We have even implemented an entirely different method of our guide to avoid installing Unlaunch (though ironically, a lot of NAND writes are caused by the Home Menu so this is useless. Still, you can't beat sense into a rock)

-----

Overall, I suppose from what I've seen of the thread, there are three legitimate reasons why one would keep an EmuNAND:
1. Multibooting into different versions of the 3DS OS. Back in the day, it was common to downgrade EmuNAND to 2.1.0
- This also allows using other CFW that never got updates to work on the latest, such as Gateway. Gateway has a more stable cheat engine than Luma3DS as well as the ability to load non-installed games through the .3DS format. This is a subbullet because I am leaving out the MAJOR downsides (clone bricking, online headers), although it's bordering that line because Gateway is a MAJOR risk on SysNAND by not including update patches to .firm partitions
2. Having different menu's without the use of 3DSBank. This is important because you have to be booted into one menu to even realize that you're in the wrong menu and have to switch, yet EmuNAND allows you to use different menu's selectable right from the boot menu
3. eMMC wear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dionicio3

Dionicio3

goat
OP
Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2017
Messages
4,046
Trophies
2
Age
20
Location
Hollister, CA
Website
dionicio3.com
XP
7,192
Country
United States
How long is a "while", though? On the DSi side of things, we're dealing with corrupted NANDs from even simple System Updates. We have even implemented an entirely different method of our guide to avoid installing Unlaunch (though ironically, a lot of NAND writes are caused by the Home Menu so this is useless. Still, you can't beat sense into a rock)
NAND corruptions isn't always explicitly a sign of the chip failing. I'm more talking about the chip completely failing and either entering a read only mode (which is what I tend to see happen with flash storage), or just stop being detected by the console all together
Multibooting into different versions of the 3DS OS. Back in the day, it was common to downgrade EmuNAND to 2.1.0
Yeah I mentioned this later as a cool possible use case, specific when dualbooting a retail and dev firmware. Downgrading for the use of exploits isn't necessary anymore though
This also allows using other CFW that never got updates to work on the latest, such as Gateway. Gateway has a more stable cheat engine than Luma3DS as well as the ability to load non-installed games through the .3DS format. This is a subbullet because I am leaving out the MAJOR downsides (clone bricking, online headers), although it's bordering that line because Gateway is a MAJOR risk on SysNAND by not including update patches to .firm partitions
I have never really seen instability with Luma3DS's cheat engine other than maybe when it was first introduced. But everything I initially saw got fixed fast. Also, staying on such a dramatically low firmware that works with Gateway will lock you out of certain games that require new firmware versions (though this might not be an issue as I'm not sure what firmwares Gateway works up to/games that require anything newer than it)
Having different menu's without the use of 3DSBank. This is important because you have to be booted into one menu to even realize that you're in the wrong menu and have to switch, yet EmuNAND allows you to use different menu's selectable right from the boot menu
This is another use case that's decent, even if pretty niche. I personally find it very hard to even come close to the 300 title limit without using badges (and I used to be a heavy pirate as you'd know lol)
eMMC wear.
Fair, but then again, I bet another component (my guess the SD reader itself) will fail first
 
  • Like
Reactions: SylverReZ

ghjfdtg

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
1,362
Trophies
1
XP
3,291
Country
How long is a "while", though? On the DSi side of things, we're dealing with corrupted NANDs from even simple System Updates. We have even implemented an entirely different method of our guide to avoid installing Unlaunch (though ironically, a lot of NAND writes are caused by the Home Menu so this is useless. Still, you can't beat sense into a rock)
The corruption you mentioned is caused by libfat not updating the second file allocation table because it's simply not supported. I wish devkitPro would drop libfat in favor for FatFs already which is proven and super stable. This is not acceptable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ber71

NightScript

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
951
Trophies
1
Age
20
XP
2,235
Country
United States
The corruption you mentioned is caused by libfat not updating the second file allocation table because it's simply not supported. I wish devkitPro would drop libfat in favor for FatFs already which is proven and super stable. This is not acceptable.
Uh, neither the official System Updater or Unlaunch use libfat. System Updater uses whatever lib Nintendo made, while Unlaunch uses Nocash code:tm:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dionicio3

ghjfdtg

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
1,362
Trophies
1
XP
3,291
Country
Uh, neither the official System Updater or Unlaunch use libfat. System Updater uses whatever lib Nintendo made, while Unlaunch uses Nocash code:tm:
Yes, but any homebrew not from nocash that writes to the twln partition fs is inevitably messing it up. There were exploits before unlaunch existed. This is my theory where the corruption comes from. eMMC is super reliable and durable. I doubt it's the cause.
 

Dionicio3

goat
OP
Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2017
Messages
4,046
Trophies
2
Age
20
Location
Hollister, CA
Website
dionicio3.com
XP
7,192
Country
United States
Yes, but any homebrew not from nocash that writes to the twln partition fs is inevitably messing it up. There were exploits before unlaunch existed. This is my theory where the corruption comes from. eMMC is super reliable and durable. I doubt it's the cause.
They were talking about bricks they've seen that were caused directly from the official System Updater and Unlaunch, not about any potential bricks caused by other software. Bringing up these other software is irrelevant
 
  • Like
Reactions: NightScript

ghjfdtg

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
1,362
Trophies
1
XP
3,291
Country
They were talking about bricks they've seen that were caused directly from the official System Updater and Unlaunch, not about any potential bricks caused by other software. Bringing up these other software is irrelevant
No, the homebrew apps using libfat introduce inconsistency to the filesystem. This only shows up when Unlaunch or the system updater try to modify the same filesystem. That's why i brought it up.

Anyway, i agree this is not exactly relevant for this thread. Just mentioned this because the eMMC on DSi is allegedly unreliable.
 

Dionicio3

goat
OP
Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2017
Messages
4,046
Trophies
2
Age
20
Location
Hollister, CA
Website
dionicio3.com
XP
7,192
Country
United States
No, the homebrew apps using libfat introduce inconsistency to the filesystem. This only shows up when the Unlaunch or the system updater try to modify the same filesystem. That's why i brought it up.
Most users aren't running libfat homebrew that write to NAND before the use of System Updater/Unlaunch. In fact, most users don't run any homebrew at all before running System Updater, and only run dumpTool before Unlaunch
 
  • Like
Reactions: NightScript

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    and the morning cuz school
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    Although tomorrow is Labor Day which means I won't go to class which means I'll sleep well.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    is labor day different in venezuela than in america, or did time skip that far?
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    It must be the 1st already
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    1st of what?
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    may?
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Oh yeah it's in September
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BakerMan, yea i think its different
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    ok, because here it's in september, right before the fuckin school year starts
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    good night
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    as to you
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    How do you know if the night will be good when you're asleep
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    because i didn't say i was asleep
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    i said i was sleeping...
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    sleeping with uremum
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Even my mum slept on that uremum
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    yall im torn... ive been hacking away at tales of phantasia GBA (the USA version) and have so many documents of reverse engineering i've done
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    I just found out that the EU version is better in literally every way, better sound quality, better lighting, and there's even a patch someone made to make the text look nicer
  • TwoSpikedHands @ TwoSpikedHands:
    Do I restart now using what i've learned on the EU version since it's a better overall experience? or do I continue with the US version since that is what ive been using, and if someone decides to play my hack, it would most likely be that version?
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    @TwoSpikedHands, I'll preface this with the fact that I know nothing about the game, but, I think it depends on what your goals are. Are you trying to make a definitive version of the game? You may want to refocus your efforts on the EU version then. Or, are you trying to make a better US version? In which case, the only way to make a better US version is to keep on plugging away at that one ;)
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    I'm not familiar with the technicalities of the differences between the two versions, but I'm wondering if at least some of those differences are things that you could port over to the US version in your patch without having to include copyrighted assets from the EU version
    Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy: I'm not familiar with the technicalities of the differences between the two versions, but I'm...