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3DS HOMEBREW Discussion Thread [exploits/carts/applications/games]

I recently bought a 2DS and wanted to know what the benefit of setting up Homebrew is. The only benefit I can see is for non-localised games, what aren't I seeing?

People are starting to work on game mods as well as translations. There's a few bits and pieces of interesting homebrew as well as the usual Emulators and media players,

Apart from that yeah it's not as useful as it once was since the eShop means that 99% of the reason (the ability to carry my games around with me conveniently) I used to hack systems is gone (though I still use it for the handful of titles that never got Eshop releases)
 

Rich!

Member
I recently bought a 2DS and wanted to know what the benefit of setting up Homebrew is. The only benefit I can see is for non-localised games, what aren't I seeing?

2DS? how about this:

native hardware gba support (flawless 100% accurate GBA playback on all 3DS models) - and now you can turn off the blur/ghosting and darkening filter Nintendo had turned on in the original Ambassador releases. It's by far the best way to play GBA games, imo:

VOIDnD8l.jpg


and then you have numerous homebrew emulators - the New 3DS can play everything up to the NeoGeo with no issues, the 2DS and OG aren't as powerful - but you can still have stuff like this:

cibZWVnl.jpg


you can also back up all of your 3DS games to your internal SD and have them available as digital titles. Which is useful as hell.
 

Anilones

Member
There are a lot of benefits, but it depends on what you want out of it.

3. You can dump your game cards and install the game directly onto your SD card, allowing you to carry around your whole collection of games (depending on SD card size) without needing the physical card present.
4. Patching games. This allows you to patch custom content into games and play with mods and/or cheats (Like Fire Emblem Same Sex Marriage Patches or Amiibo character unlock patches).

They both sound pretty interesting. I would love to go purely digital but the prices on the eShop are so much greater than retail, and I have no interest in buying Amiibo's.

EDIT:
So the current recommendation is to complete the latest Browserhax and Menuhax and downgrade the firmware using this guide?
I read that I may lose my current game saves when downgrading from v11? Would a 32 GB SD card be more recommended? (I only have the free 4 GB one).

EDIT2:
After further reading is it actually possible to downgrade from v11 without a hardmod?
 
They both sound pretty interesting. I would love to go purely digital but the prices on the eShop are so much greater than retail, and I have no interest in buying Amiibo's.

EDIT:
So the current recommendation is to complete the latest Browserhax and Menuhax and downgrade the firmware using this guide?
I read that I may lose my current game saves when downgrading from v11? Would a 32 GB SD card be more recommended? (I only have the free 4 GB one).

EDIT2:
After further reading is it actually possible to downgrade from v11 without a hardmod?

Yes, with some caveats:
https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/DSiWare-Downgrade
 
I've been really out of the loop - Does disabling the blur and darkening filter still cause some form of "burn in" as rich had mentioned earlier in this thread?
 

Rich!

Member
I've been really out of the loop - Does disabling the blur and darkening filter still cause some form of "burn in" as rich had mentioned earlier in this thread?

only on F Zero, from what I've noticed due to the extremely fast flickering of the map to simulate transparency

99% of the library will be fine
 

Madao

Member
hm, last night i went on an acid trip to do a reverse system transfer from a New 3DS XL to a 2DS.

at the end, i was sucessful and managed to replicate all the settings from the New 3DS on my 2DS.

the reason for this is pretty silly. i wanted to transfer one of my main units to my XL but my XL had some stuff i didn't want to lose. as you know, you lose whatever is in the target system when you do a system transfer. now that i've moved all the stuff from that XL to the 2DS i had lying around doing nothing, i can do the transfer and have my main stuff on the big one. one last bonus is that there was no purchased stuff to move from that unit so i didn't have to fiddle with anything beyond the saves of the system apps (activity log and all that)

i realized that i want some stuff on a XL because some things are better overall on it.

the 2DS used to be in 9.2 but, since both of my New 3DS are A9LH units, i decided that it wasn't so bad to update it.
 

Lokbob

Member
I want to dump my Monster Hunter Generations game on my sd card, can I later get the save file back to my cartridge? What's the best tool for that? I'm on Reinand.
 
I want to dump my Monster Hunter Generations game on my sd card, can I later get the save file back to my cartridge? What's the best tool for that? I'm on Reinand.
In that particular case, it saves everything to the SD card either way. So there's transfer necessary.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
I'm finally getting a TTDS tomorrow and I'm in the process of migrating my DS library to forwarders, so I can install them on my 3DS. For example, I'm using Dragon Quest IV. I complete the process and get three files: DRAGON.dat, forwarder-Dragon Quest IV.cia and forwarder-Dragon Quest IV.nds.

The .cia should be self explanatory. But what do I do with the other two files? Where am I supposed to do with them? All my games are located at the root of the DS card. Should I just put them there, alongside the original files?

Also, what happens if I have two games with the same .dat? For example, Dragon Quest IV and IX. Can I rename one of them?

Edit: Nevermind! I can rename the .dat file!
 

mooooose

Member
Hey, I set up my 3DS using Luma CFW. It's all set on a SD card that is too small (2GB) for a practical use of CFW.

Can I just copy everything from this SD card to a new, larger SD card? Or is there something in the process of setting up EmuNAND that will prevent this?
 
Hey, I set up my 3DS using Luma CFW. It's all set on a SD card that is too small (2GB) for a practical use of CFW.

Can I just copy everything from this SD card to a new, larger SD card? Or is there something in the process of setting up EmuNAND that will prevent this?

If you have completely followed the Pailect guide, there no longer is an emunand/rednand. You're now just running a patched sysnand. Which means you can just copy the contents of the old sd to a new one without problems.
 
Oh man, I just spent like the entire day downgrading my Old 3DS to 2.0 and installing arm9loader so I could use that DSiware hack to downgrade my Stock 11.0 N3DS. And now I gotta do it all over again for the n3DS.

It's god damn tedious and tiring, but it's worth it.

Edit: I gotta say though, Plailect's guide is perfect. Not a single error going through that thing like I had earlier in the year when trying to downgrade. Makes things so much easier.
 

phanphare

Banned
Browserhax and menuhax have been updated to support firmware 11.0, the latest firmware.

Free homebrew for all.

Edit: I am unable to get menuhax set up correctly, an Smea is warning that Nintendo could break Browserhax at any time, so you should quickly get menuhax or another secondary hack set up as quickly as possible. Fortunately I bought/installed VVVVVV ages ago, so I have set up VVVhax.

so I've got a n3DS that's on ver. 11.0.0-33U

is this as far as I can go right now?

edit: I can't get menuhax to work either
 
God Homebrew is impossible to get back into if you haven't done it in a while. Doesn't help that OP hasn't been updated in nearly a year and I don't wanna scroll through tons of pages to learn how to get this working.

There needs to be just a central forum that lists current brewable Firmwares with subforums that list current methods for homebrewing and how to do it cause fuck
 

Gaardus

Member
God Homebrew is impossible to get back into if you haven't done it in a while. Doesn't help that OP hasn't been updated in nearly a year and I don't wanna scroll through tons of pages to learn how to get this working.

There needs to be just a central forum that lists current brewable Firmwares with subforums that list current methods for homebrewing and how to do it cause fuck

Reddit's got you covered.
 

B.K.

Member
2DS? how about this:

native hardware gba support (flawless 100% accurate GBA playback on all 3DS models) - and now you can turn off the blur/ghosting and darkening filter Nintendo had turned on in the original Ambassador releases. It's by far the best way to play GBA games, imo:

Is there a list of games that are safe to remove the ghosting on?
 

HotHamBoy

Member
I just used browserhax to install menuhax on my N3DS.

So i have a couple questions-

What are the best emulators for N3DS, in terms of performance/features

How good is Virtual Boy emulation? This is something Nintendo is totally missing out on. A "best of" VB compilation would be amazing.

Is it possible to install menu icons for emulators and homebrew, ala Wii/PSP/Vita, or do I have to reboot into HBL every time?
 

Opa-Pa

Member
so I've got a n3DS that's on ver. 11.0.0-33U

is this as far as I can go right now?

edit: I can't get menuhax to work either
I've been having the same problem with my n3DS even though on my OG it worked instantly. Now I looked up again and found this solution
https://github.com/yellows8/3ds_homemenuhax/issues/131#issuecomment-235804139

This solution seems to delete your theme and home menu settings completely, from your folders, to your badges used and your selected theme. Every downloaded apps and games will appear as presents again, too, so I won't bother (it doesn't delete any actual content, just your settings). I'm good with just smilehax.

God Homebrew is impossible to get back into if you haven't done it in a while. Doesn't help that OP hasn't been updated in nearly a year and I don't wanna scroll through tons of pages to learn how to get this working.

There needs to be just a central forum that lists current brewable Firmwares with subforums that list current methods for homebrewing and how to do it cause fuck
The most straight-forward method right now is browserhax + menuhax. There are many tutorial videos that explain it in detail, but you should use this site as a starting point to get the necessary stuff http://smealum.github.io/3ds/

I just used browserhax to install menuhax on my N3DS.

So i have a couple questions-

What are the best emulators for N3DS, in terms of performance/features
Look up the stable 1.3.3 version retroarch 3DS, it comes with multiple emulators.

As for the best avaible for n3DS, I maybe wrong, but from what I've tried:

Gameboy: gambatte
NES: nestopia
SNES: catsfc plus, and pocketsnes for games with special chips
Genesis: genesis plus gx and picodrive for Sega CD
WonderSwan: mednafen wswan
GBA: gpsp
 

phanphare

Banned
I've been having the same problem with my n3DS even though on my OG it worked instantly. Now I looked up again and found this solution
https://github.com/yellows8/3ds_homemenuhax/issues/131#issuecomment-235804139

This solution seems to delete your theme and home menu settings completely, from your folders, to your badges used and your selected theme. Every downloaded apps and games will appear as presents again, too, so I won't bother (it doesn't delete any actual content, just your settings). I'm good with just smilehax.

thanks, this worked

well actually at first it installed and everything and seemed to work but menuhax wouldn't actually come up when I rebooted the system. fiddling through the menus it turns out the delay time was longer than it took for the system to boot so it wouldn't work. changed it from 3 seconds to 2 and now everything is cool.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
Look up the stable 1.3.3 version retroarch 3DS, it comes with multiple emulators.

As for the best avaible for n3DS, I maybe wrong, but from what I've tried:

Gameboy: gambatte
NES: nestopia
SNES: catsfc plus, and pocketsnes for games with special chips
Genesis: genesis plus gx and picodrive for Sega CD
WonderSwan: mednafen wswan
GBA: gpsp

Honestly, if you have a N3DS, I would just use custom VC injection for NES, SNES and GBA. You lose all the extra functions of Retroarch, but there are very little, if any, incompatibilities and glitches.
 

MacTag

Banned
Honestly, if you have a N3DS, I would just use custom VC injection for NES, SNES and GBA. You lose all the extra functions of Retroarch, but there are very little, if any, incompatibilities and glitches.
Custom injection takes up more space, there's a 300 app limit, some chipped NES/SNES games won't run and NES in particular looks worse with forced 4:3 and slight darkening.

Custom injection is something I think only GBA is really worth doing for thanks to native support. And then only after color resortion/blur removal editing.
 

tauke

Member
Phew finally done with Part 2 of Plailect guide.

A reminder to anyone interested to downgrade is to follow the guide from the very first step to the dot.

I was using an older MenuHax and was wondering why I can't get the PlaiSysUpdater to work past the "HAX INIT..." screen...

After going back to the very first step, the process is pretty smooth on my New 3DS XL. No such thing as " (this can take many tries) " steps and the only issue I face is the black screen after the PlaiSysUpdater downgrade process to v 9.2.0.

Fortunately I just remove my microSD like the troubleshooting says and the 3DS boots properly from which I resume the steps from the guide.

I'll do Part 3 later as I need to go to bed now lol.
 

BigFwoosh

Member
Probably a dumb question, but if I use browserhax to install the HBC, can I still update firmware like normal or am I going to be stuck on whatever version I'm on now?
 

Rich!

Member
Probably a dumb question, but if I use browserhax to install the HBC, can I still update firmware like normal or am I going to be stuck on whatever version I'm on now?

no, you'll fuck up things and lock yourself out.

if you install cfw using paliecet's guide, you'll be able to update and never lose homebrew
 

Linkark07

Banned
Probably a dumb question, but if I use browserhax to install the HBC, can I still update firmware like normal or am I going to be stuck on whatever version I'm on now?

You can update but wait till there is a confirmation that your current entry to HBC works in the new version. Until then, don't update your 3DS.

In the case of Browserhax, it is most likely Nintendo will find a way to remove it again on the new firmware.
 

BigFwoosh

Member
no, you'll fuck up things and lock yourself out.

if you install cfw using paliecet's guide, you'll be able to update and never lose homebrew

You can update but wait till there is a confirmation that your current entry to HBC works in the new version. Until then, don't update your 3DS.

In the case of Browserhax, it is most likely Nintendo will find a way to remove it again on the new firmware.

Thanks! Sounds like CFW is the way to go then.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Wait, you can install CFW and keep updating like normal? Because the whole reason I've been avoiding it is that I assumed I'd lose eShop and internet access in general and thus not be able to buy digital games legitimately anymore.
 
D

Deleted member 126221

Unconfirmed Member
Wait, you can install CFW and keep updating like normal? Because the whole reason I've been avoiding it is that I assumed I'd lose eShop and internet access in general and thus not be able to buy digital games legitimately anymore.

Yup! If you have A9HL and Luma, you can update from Nintendo's servers without any problem!
 

MikeDip

God bless all my old friends/And god bless me too, why pretend?
Wait, you can install CFW and keep updating like normal? Because the whole reason I've been avoiding it is that I assumed I'd lose eShop and internet access in general and thus not be able to buy digital games legitimately anymore.

Yes
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Oh wow, okay. I guess I'll have to follow Plailect's guide then.

One more thing, if I'm reading this correctly, if I'm on 11.0.0-33 then I need to downgrade via DSiWare, right? I read that for this to work, I need at least one 3DS with CFW, but all I have is two 3DS' on 11.0.0-33 with homebrew launcher and no CFW. Am I screwed then?
 

Doopliss

Member
There are three different retroarch nightlies for each day, which one do I use?
The 3DSX version can be run from the homebrew launcher.
The CIA can be installed to the regular home screen if you have custom firmware (A9LH or emu/rednand) and has better performance for a couple of the cores.
The 3DS version is for flash carts or something IDK.
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican

The 3DSX version can be run from the homebrew launcher.
The CIA can be installed to the regular home screen if you have custom firmware (A9LH or emu/rednand) and has better performance for a couple of the cores.
The 3DS version is for flash carts or something IDK.

Thanks to you both and this thread in general. I got browserhax and Vvvv.hax installed so I'm good to go! I only want emulators. Is retroarch the go to for all systems?

Is there any possible way for DS games to be ran, roms or dumps? Last I checked there wasn't...


Custom firmware sounds interesting,but I want to keep it simple. Loading up VVVVV just to get to the homebrew is easy peasy, I think I'll just stick with that for emulators.

But what is the biggest pro of custom firmware, can someone sell me on this idea?
 

Madao

Member
Oh wow, okay. I guess I'll have to follow Plailect's guide then.

One more thing, if I'm reading this correctly, if I'm on 11.0.0-33 then I need to downgrade via DSiWare, right? I read that for this to work, I need at least one 3DS with CFW, but all I have is two 3DS' on 11.0.0-33 with homebrew launcher and no CFW. Am I screwed then?

ur boned. sorry.

cheapest solution is getting a crappy cheap 3ds/2ds that isn't updated, setup A9LH on it and then do your systems with that.
 

tauke

Member
Phew just done with Part 3 of Plailect guide and that was intense especially the System Update step in EmuNAND. Need to triple check to confirm I'm at the right system settings.

I'll resume Part 4 when I get back from work...
 
Simple question: Luma CFW with A9LH here, but I have it on EmuNAND? What kind of speed increase would I be looking at if I just bit the bullet and did CFW SysNAND? Is it worth it?
 
God Homebrew is impossible to get back into if you haven't done it in a while. Doesn't help that OP hasn't been updated in nearly a year and I don't wanna scroll through tons of pages to learn how to get this working.

There needs to be just a central forum that lists current brewable Firmwares with subforums that list current methods for homebrewing and how to do it cause fuck
Yeab... it's why I stopped.

What's even the point? Why not just use it on a computer if you're so desperate to emulate?
 

Opa-Pa

Member
ur boned. sorry.

cheapest solution is getting a crappy cheap 3ds/2ds that isn't updated, setup A9LH on it and then do your systems with that.
Eh it's fine, not in a hurry. And well I got my n3DS only a couple of months ago so I can't justify a purchase like that.

Anyways, how realistic would it be to expect a new downgrade method in the current firmware or a latter one? Same for installing CFW in general.

Sorry if it's a silly question but I barely understand anything beyond what's available on Homebrew launcher.
 
Been out of the loop for a while concerning homebrew but I have a question: is it possible to run this fan translation of Beyond the Labyrinth with homebrew?

There's also a Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D fan translation that seems to be nearing completion that I'd love to be able to play too.

Since they are xdelta patches on a rom dump they need CFW. So if you're on <10.X or on 11.x but have a hacked system to transfer from you're good. Otherwise you're out of luck for now.

Eh it's fine, not in a hurry. And well I got my n3DS only a couple of months ago so I can't justify a purchase like that.

Anyways, how realistic would it be to expect a new downgrade method in the current firmware or a latter one? Same for installing CFW in general.

Sorry if it's a silly question but I barely understand anything beyond what's available on Homebrew launcher.

The mail 11.0 purpose was to break downgrades so its as likely as Nintendo overlooking something / making a mistake.
 
Since they are xdelta patches on a rom dump they need CFW. So if you're on <10.X or on 11.x but have a hacked system to transfer from you're good. Otherwise you're out of luck for now.

EDIT: Completely misread your post, I don't have a hacked system nor do I know how to install CFW. Guess I'll hope something pops up later in the system's life.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
Honestly, if you have a N3DS, I would just use custom VC injection for NES, SNES and GBA. You lose all the extra functions of Retroarch, but there are very little, if any, incompatibilities and glitches.

I would really like to do this, for a handful of GBA and SNES games. Particularly Mother 3.

So here's where I'm at:

I used browserhax to install menuhax on my N3DS last night, which is running the latest firmware. Outside of adding retroarch, I haven't done anything else.

What (up to date) guide/steps do I need to follow to get injected VC games installed and running on my N3DS? I found a site that has .CIA files for a lot of VC injects, but I'm having a hard time find a clear, current guide for my firmware.

Thanks!
 

Rich!

Member
Use this:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/restoring-original-colors-to-gba-vc.427642/page-5#post-6423110

In combination with the ROM converter on this page (bottom attachment, do not use the others)

https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-agb_firm-signature-patcher-gba-rom-converter.390313/

Open a GBA ROM with the footer generator in the first link, choose settings and save the footer. Open the footer with the ROM converter, choose your images and name and it makes a cia. Done.

Calling it an inject is a bit of a lie, you aren't injecting anything. Here's one for the GB VC too: https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-ultimate-gbc-vc-injector-for-3ds.434172/
 

hlhbk

Member
So if you follow this guide and get everything up and running on the most current firmware is there any danger using the Nintendo store to buy games? Could you get banned?
 
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