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Softmodding a New 3DS XL


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#1 Anthus

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Posted 04 October 2016 - 12:15 PM

My friend showed me his softmodded 3ds, so I decided to give it a try since I have two 3DSs (one is original, one's the new 3ds xl).

... And it is certainly a process. :P

Anyone else mess around with homebrew stuff?

This is probably obvious, but no links to anything illegal or questionable, please.

#2 MoscowModder

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Posted 04 October 2016 - 04:53 PM

I have a DSTWO flash cart that I put all of my DS and GBA games on. It usually works like a charm, but sometimes it takes several attempts to start up on my 3DS. I haven't tried modding the 3DS itself though. Since (the majority of) my games are EShop downloads, the single-cart advantage is (nearly) a moot point.


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#3 thepsynergist

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Posted 04 October 2016 - 05:10 PM

I have AL9H installed on my O3DS, and I couldn't be happier.  Not only is it a lot faster to boot compared to menuhax or any other secondary entrypoints, but it allows you to continue to update to the most recent system version, without fear that Nintendo can remove your hacks.  Because AL9H (armloader9hax) has root level access, if you "lose" access to your hacks because an update occurs, you can downgrade again at the push of a button (with a few drag and drop files to your SD card).  You also have access to emulators just like any other hacked console.  It's been really nice.  Also, the ability to back up your save data easily is another strong point.  You can even clone your Pokemon easier than ever.

 

There's a free version of the PokeBank available via homebrew, and since the save data is saved on your SD card, you can clone every Pokemon you own.  It makes it nice if your friend wants a really good pokemon, but you're unwilling to just give it away.

 

Not to mention, if you have an O3DS rather than a New3DS, you have access to GBA injection, so you can play any GBA game on the console, without it being emulated.  This is due to the fact that technically the 3DS was built with a GameBoy Advance inside it.  This feature was never utilized so it was only the chips that were saved.  Because you couldn't connect the GBA games to the 3DS via carts, you would have had to have the rom installled and have the 3DS read that.  However, because it's not technically being emulated, the games play at 1:1 with no lag.  However, because of this, there are no special emulation features you may be used to, such as save states or video filter settings.  It just plays like a GBA game.  It is a nice thing to do, like play Golden Sun on the go, because Nintendo can't figure out that people might want to play GBA games on the go again without using carts that are getting harder and harder to find.  


Edited by thepsynergist, 04 October 2016 - 05:14 PM.

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#4 Russ

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 07:05 PM

I have a DSTWO that used to get a lot of use playing backups of my DS games I didn't wanna carry around anymore and fan translations. I haven't really used it that much in a few years though. The most I ever did past that was use a memory editing glitch to insert some pokegen's Pokemon into ORAS. I'm vaguely familiar with how 3ds softmodding works, but I really don't have much of a use for it myself. Money isn't enough of an issue for me to consider pirating, and there aren't any games that provide enough of a modding incentive to interest me yet. I suppose there's Smash, but I don't wanna go through all the effort to add some new songs to the game. I loathe censorship, so stuff like the patches to uncensor Bravely Default/Second or retranslate Fire Emblem Fates interest me, but I don't really care for either game so it's more of a curiosity than something I'd consider pursuing.

I will say, I'm kind of baffled by how much easier it seems to mod a Wii U (it can be done in five minutes with no permanent effect) than a 3DS. I figured it'd be the other way around.
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#5 Anthus

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Posted 07 October 2016 - 11:05 AM

I finally got it all set up, on my old 3DS. Gonna see how well the emulators work before messing with my new 3DS. I've been reading though, that the snes, and gba emus run better on the newer model.

The main reason I wanted to homebrew this was to play emulators on the go. Playing the gba mario games on break is nice.

I did come across a mod that is just plain insane though. It allows you to blatantly steal any title from the eShop for free. That's dark arts, right there. I dunno how it even works, or how Nintendo doesn't know about it.


Edit, I'm also waiting for that OoT 3D asset veiwer to come out. I love looking at games from under the hood, so to speak. And uncensored BD? I need to look into that, but I'm unsure if the minor costume changes warrant playing through the second half of that game again though :P

#6 Russ

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Posted 07 October 2016 - 01:42 PM

I did come across a mod that is just plain insane though. It allows you to blatantly steal any title from the eShop for free. That's dark arts, right there. I dunno how it even works, or how Nintendo doesn't know about it.

Oh trust me, they know about it. Part of the reason why the 3DS gets an update every week or so is to break homebrew for precisely that reason. :P

And uncensored BD? I need to look into that, but I'm unsure if the minor costume changes warrant playing through the second half of that game again though

Well, in the case of BS, it's far more than just minor costume changes. But I think that one's also waiting on a full fan translation for the large amount of content that was removed during localization.
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#7 kurt91

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 12:03 AM

Yeah, the New 3DS's upgrades can be used by the different emulators. RetroArch can play all of the pre-N64 Nintendo games flawlessly, Sega consoles very well, but questionable at times on Sega CD, and can actually play some PlayStation games at full speed, if you make a couple minor tweaks to the audio. Mainly, once you de-sync the audio, you usually get 45-50 FPS on most games, and some games get a full 60. The developers actually came back around to working on it, so whatever issues are left should get ironed out.

 

Anyways, I pretty much mainly use my 3DS for the emulators on it. It's nice having something like that on-the-go. I haven't gotten around to installing AL9H on it, mainly because of the amount of time it takes to set up, and because I'd rather not brick it. I used to have MenuHax on it, so it would auto-boot the custom firmware, but accidentally broke it when trying to update something. Now I've got BrowserHax set up, but I haven't used it in forever.



#8 thepsynergist

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 12:03 AM

There's also uncensored versions of a lot of games, Fire Emblem If (Fates), Bravely Default, hell even the new Hatsune Miku game.



#9 Anthus

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 11:36 AM

I installed AL9H on my old 3ds, but I wasn't aware there was a brick risk. I found out the R button doesn't always work though on my water damaged system, so unfortunately most gba games are off till I set it up on my new 3DS. I just don't wanna brick it is all.

#10 thepsynergist

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 05:10 PM

That's more along the lines of o3DS's having terrible shoulder buttons.  They're just ribbon cables attached to the mobo, and they always fill up with dust.  Blowing them will cause them to work again for a few minutes.  Problem is, doing this over time will cause the contacts to have a chance to rust due to the water particles in your saliva when you do this.  Same thing with blowing cartridges and then they "magically" work.  This is due to the fact that moisture conducts electricity better than nothing at all, though the price of the contact points rusting over time is a factor.

 

To be honest, I'm just waiting for mine to stop working all together before I open up my 3ds and replace the ribbon cables.  This would be better if I wasn't poor and could just get a New ™ 3DS.



#11 Lüt

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 07:20 PM

Blowing them will cause them to work again for a few minutes.  Problem is, doing this over time will cause the contacts to have a chance to rust due to the water particles in your saliva when you do this.

Any reason you can't use air cans?



#12 Anthus

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 08:00 PM

That's more along the lines of o3DS's having terrible shoulder buttons.  They're just ribbon cables attached to the mobo, and they always fill up with dust.  Blowing them will cause them to work again for a few minutes.  Problem is, doing this over time will cause the contacts to have a chance to rust due to the water particles in your saliva when you do this.  Same thing with blowing cartridges and then they "magically" work.  This is due to the fact that moisture conducts electricity better than nothing at all, though the price of the contact points rusting over time is a factor.

 

To be honest, I'm just waiting for mine to stop working all together before I open up my 3ds and replace the ribbon cables.  This would be better if I wasn't poor and could just get a New ™ 3DS.

 

Have you done any hard modding before? We have a lot of tools, and soldering stuff here, so I've thought about trying it, but I'm not exactly comfortable enough to do it to my only system that still works completely. And my o3DS got soaked, over night, while on, in a back-pack that got rained on. I tried playing Sm4sh, and Toon Link just kept dodging every which way. It was amusing, but unplayable. Drifting in MK7 is also... interesting to get used to. The only game that plays with no controller issues is Tri-Force Heroes, which I actually plan on buying a hard copy of, cause it is surprisingly good, save for a few tedious moments with moving Links around cause I'm an anti-social bastard, and don't wanna play online till I learn the maps.



#13 thepsynergist

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Posted 08 October 2016 - 08:24 PM

Any reason you can't use air cans?

 

No, I'm just a cheap bastard and never get around to going to the store to buy stuff like that.

 

 

 

Have you done any hard modding before? We have a lot of tools, and soldering stuff here, so I've thought about trying it, but I'm not exactly comfortable enough to do it to my only system that still works completely. And my o3DS got soaked, over night, while on, in a back-pack that got rained on. I tried playing Sm4sh, and Toon Link just kept dodging every which way. It was amusing, but unplayable. Drifting in MK7 is also... interesting to get used to. The only game that plays with no controller issues is Tri-Force Heroes, which I actually plan on buying a hard copy of, cause it is surprisingly good, save for a few tedious moments with moving Links around cause I'm an anti-social bastard, and don't wanna play online till I learn the maps.

 

 

Not on 3DS's but there's a site called GBATemp that has a lot of advice on this sort of stuff.  It doesn't have any links to warez as the site strictly forbids them, so it should be fine to talk about.  

 

I got the AL9H downgrading guide so I could get my systems OTP (One-Time-Password) so I could get all my apps/games signed so they'd run on my 3DS there. 

 


Edited by thepsynergist, 08 October 2016 - 08:25 PM.

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