I recently downloaded many 3ds roms in the .3ds file format and I have no idea how they are intended to be played. The citra 3ds emulator seems to require decrypting the roms at first. The decrypting itself apparently has to be done on your hacked 3DS with some homebrew (the only pc software for doing it is apparently a trojan horse).
What do I need to play my .3ds files. Do I need to get one of those Gateway / SKY 3DS flashcarts or will those citra faggots implement encrypted rom support for their emulator one day.
PS: I own a hacked 9.2 OFW nintendo 3DS
Jackson Jones
Get CFW and then you can download and install games from freeshop or install .cia files.
.3ds is pretty unless you have a flashcart like gateway.
Sebastian Campbell
do I understand this correctly? Freeshop is a site run by the 3ds scene guys and they emulate a nintendo eshop where all games are priced $0, right?
Cameron Diaz
You need to go through a lengthy process to back your 3ds and enable it for homebrew. It's worth it.
Alexander Gray
No, Freeshop is a program that uses title-keys to falsely claim download permissions and then downloads games, DSiWare, videos, etc. straight from the eShop's servers. eShop is totally compromised and there is nothing Nintendo can do to stop anybody from pirating straight from their own servers.
Citra's in an odd spot because it's easier to obtain a hacked 3DS and use it than it is to decrypt roms and then play them with still severely spotty emulation.
Not quite so lengthy anymore, plus Plailect removed most of the hearsay and trial/error from the process with a dedicated guide for Arm9loaderhax. You can follow it to emunand setup and then totally throw away the rest if you don't care about the GB or two of space missing from your SD card for the emunand partition.
Brayden Bennett
user, there's no reason not to go all the way once you've downgraded to 9.2
Easton Richardson
Why the fuck would you want to emulate 3DS right now? Citra runs literally nothing perfectly.
Tyler Sanchez
Once you've gotten to 9.2 or lower for A9LH's Decrypt9 access you're perfectly able to set up an emunand partition with FBI and such, update emunand through system settings in CFW and then flatly ignore the rest of the guide
Gavin Allen
Get yourself some a9lh over at and start enjoying Freeshop
Because all of their supporters are in denial of how much time it'll take for 3ds emulation to become viable
Adam Bailey
True, but a9lh is simply a superior entry point. At no additional risk it's well worth it.
Benjamin Murphy
Eh, depends on if you want to dive straight into games or if you want to go that extra mile if you ask me. Stick with just the emunand and you skip another downgrade and a potential brick if you're stupid and using New 3DS.
Jayden Russell
The process has been updated. No additional downgrading and no additional risk of brick. It's Ajax very quick now.
Xavier Collins
There's that whole "ctrtransfer" bit on the Plailect guide that implies another downgrade. Or did they find another way of getting the OTP without a shit-ton of external hardware on 2.1+ when I wasn't looking?
Grayson Bell
...
Adrian Baker
The ctr transfer isn't really a downgraded, but sort of w sysnand restore to 2.1. Upgrading from it is also safe.
Matthew Nguyen
Stupid because if you close your N3DS or otherwise put it into sleep on 2.1.0 it bricks, user. The advice for that is "don't close your 3DS".
What's the effective difference?
Easton Rodriguez
It's really retarded that there isn't a working 3DS emulator yet.
Isaac Sullivan
Faster, safer sue plaisysupdater is unstable, doesn't require another sysnand restore to get out of 2.1, and some other shit that the homebrew thread can tell you all about.
Alexander Sanchez
OK one more question:
I am on OFW 9.2.0 and my 3DS is hacked. I even have Reinand. If I need a flashcart to play my .3ds files, what flashcard should I get? Is Gateway or SKY+ better? There is also a R4 flashcard but I think this one is for .nds games only as the R4 was a flashcart for the NDS era.
I still don't understand why you can't get your .3ds files on the SD card and then use the homebrew launcher to launch the game from there instead from the cart.
Connor Foster
Quick question - If I got me a 3DS and wanted to pirate games on it, but do have access to legit games too, do I have to commit to one or the other? Like, would playing real carts normally conflict with all that stuff you gotta do to make it set up for piracy, or vice-versa?
Christian White
You can play legit games exactly as you would on a normal 3DS. There is no downside to CFW other than the extremely small risk of a brick during the setup process.
Kevin Cox
Don't buy either one. You don't need a fucking flashcart except for DS games (and that will change soon). Use freeshop (or download .cia files if you want one of the games that isn't in there yet).
Jackson Wilson
So no worry about newer games wanting to update the system or whatever?
Basically, I have friends and family to borrow games from, but only the really big name Mario/Zelda type stuff. So I just want to be sure I could play their legit carts and just pirate the more obscure stuff.
Adrian White
Nope, I followed the instructions and kept everything my 3DS had before I set up CFW. All my digital games, all my saves. Nothing changed except being able to download free games as well.
Jace Cruz
If you are worried about update nags. I think there are firmware version spoofers just like back in the day on the PS3. They will make the system think you are on firmware 99.9.9 if necessary.
Mason Carter
Updates are handled one of two ways. Either you stop at the 9.2 downgrade and use emuNAND (a separate clone of the system partition) to launch games, rendering it safe to update without breaking CFW. Or you go all the way and setup A9LH which allows CFW to boot on updated firmware without the need of emuNAND.
Ian Sanchez
It is really interesting how complicated hacking became with this handheld gen but people still break their systems even if it takes them years.
Aaron Richardson
Okay, thanks for the answer, that's enough information for now. I'll check that out in more detail once I actually have a 3DS.
…Wait a second, does it matter which model of 3DS I got? That just occurred to me. If I got one at all I'd want to get a new 3DS xl.