3DS Hacking Q&A General | Still here

[u/Aspect-X-]

New users, please read the entire post before asking your question, including the FAQ. You may find your question is already answered here.

Ask questions in the comments of this thread

Do you just want to hack your 3DS?

Start here: https://3ds.hacks.guide/

Things you really ought to stop asking already

You CAN install CFW on latest firmware (11.17.0-X) with mset9 on all models.

• You can install CFW on all consumer models on all versions with the methods in the guide.
• System transfers work fine for systems with CFW. See this wiki page: https://wiki.hacks.guide/wiki/3DS:System_Transfer
• Updating firmware/apps is safe if you have Luma 10.2.1+. You will not lose your CFW. Just accept the update.
• For upgrading your SD card to a larger size, refer to the this wiki page: to format the new SD card, then transfer the contents.
• Lost your SD card, or wiped it, and need to set it up fresh on a hacked console? https://3ds.hacks.guide/restoring-updating-cfw.html will get you going again.
• Files from 3ds.hacks.guide with a magnet icon require the usage of a torrent client to download them.
• You should install CFW with your main SD card, not its own SD card. You will not lose anything so long as you follow instructions. The mods are on the console itself, not the SD card, so you won't have an unmodded SD card to switch the system to not have CFW.
• Please see the updating to boot9strap page on the guide if you already have arm9loaderhax (indicated by Luma version 7.0.5 or lower on the Luma configuration screen) and are looking to update to boot9strap.
• If you want more homebrew apps look at Universal DB.
• If you want to know what CFW can legally do, the guide gives some examples and more examples are here.
• Uninstalling CFW, DON'T without specific direction from a knowledgeable helper. You just risk breaking things worse than your system already is. It won't give you any benefit. If it is to sell it, you don't want the buyer to not know it had CFW on it in the past, as that can complicate things in the future.
• Can X game be ported to 3DS?
• If you want save files, check 3DS Save Bank or search for a save editor. If you can't find them there, they likely don't exist and you need to submit a save or program a save editor.
• Install your own cartridges with Godmode9 instead of dumping to CIA, for a faster install and less free SD space required.
• If you can do something on stock firmware, you can do it on CFW.

Note: About three days after the post is unstickied it'll become locked to prevent users from asking questions where they likely won't find answers

Questions go below. Please ask your question in the comments.

[u/RarestKryptid]

Yes, but is there an official discord server?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/RarestKryptid]

https://i.imgur.com/aA89sM1.png and linked in the guide

[u/Eaglest2005]

How much can you do with a 4gb sd card? My main card is unfortunately too big to auto format to fat32 and the only thing I have that could read it is a phone which doesn't really work, but luckily when I opened the 3ds to try and see if that one would be compatible, I found a 4gb one already in there, which is small but should work right?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/Eaglest2005]

You can do the guide with the stock 2 GB one. As you run games from cartridges now, you only need the card for updates and homebrew. Unless you tried to download everything in Universal Updater you aren't likely to fill a 4GB card with updates for games you are actively playing.

[u/yuhyuhariana]

I took some videos using the camera app last night but can't find them on the SD card when plugging into my computer. It seems for non-cfw it's in a folder called DCIM, but this doesn't exist on mine with cfw. Where can I find the videos?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/yuhyuhariana]

Official functions work exactly the same with CFW, so the official camera app still uses the same folder.

[u/PilotFree3733]

With the recent ports of wind waker, super smash bros brawl and regta, as well as the full decompilation of mario kart wii on pc, is it a possibility that we could get mario kart wii with a native port to new 3ds?

[u/545484]

i've got a stupid xfinity gateway 8 that won't let me change my wifi settings to allow my 3ds to connect. (gateway 6+ have the settings disabled in the admin tools) i tried the WPA button and it connects, but it drops immediately. any potential solutions?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/545484]

Turn off the Xfinity router in the modem by putting it into bridged mode, and use your own router/WAP that you have full control of instead. Else you are at the limits of what xfinity allows you to do. ISP-controlled routers suck.

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/[deleted]]

Why does it need to? Install your stuff from universal updater.

[u/Xexist]

I havent used the 3DS for a year or two. If there a post someone can direct me at with like a checklist to make sure I have everything I need and up to date etc? Pulling it out of retirement for my kid

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/Xexist]

Use universal updater to update things, or do the page in the guide or wiki about updating stuff.

[u/lifedragon99]

Is there a way to reset your friend code, with out a system wipe?

I want to get some friend safaris in pokemon XY and thought there might be another way of doing it.

My hacked 3ds is my secondary console, so I'd want to change that friend code if possible.

Found a way to use a dev tool and add dummy friends to the list and get them. 

[u/MetalMario64]

Sorry if this is asked a lot, the FAQs link above won’t load for me

I’m thinking of trying to hack my first 3DS, it’s an original 3DS. I’m thinking of getting a SanDisk 64GB SD card, would anyone be able to send a link to one that would be good to use? I know I’ll have to format it.

Also, what SD card reader should I use?

Thanks in advance.

[u/CheyenneG1999]

How would I go about having badges of gaming franchise logos on my folders to easy find which is which instead of looking at letters?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/CheyenneG1999]

Make the badges and then add them with GYTB or Anemone. Else use badge sets on the same site as custom themes if they already have what you want.

[u/chilly2370]

I don't have access to an SD card reader at the moment but haven't updated Luma in a long time, the guide says to update it by taking the SD card out so I'm assuming it's not possible to update it over ftpd?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/chilly2370]

Universal Updater can update it.

[u/Sleepy_Chipmunk]

How would I go about shuffling my official and unofficial themes? Searching online gives me how to shuffle one or the other, I want to mix them.

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/Sleepy_Chipmunk]

Dump the official ones so they show up in Anemone, then mix them in Anemone

https://github.com/astronautlevel2/Anemone3DS/releases/tag/v2.2.0

It's in the release notes.

[u/realToadPilzkopf]

Hey!
I‘m asking myself how I can create my own Themes and upload them. I have some ideas that no one made before.

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/realToadPilzkopf]

The theme web site and the Anemone discord cover how to make themes.

[u/realToadPilzkopf → u/DizzyDustStriker3DS]

I already knows thanks

[u/PilotFree3733]

Hi i started playing a pokemon game on mgba but i have noticed performance issues after playing for a while. Is there anyway to transfer that save to a virtual console version of the game? 

[u/ladiesman_317]

Does anone know if its possible to make a mod that changes the player model or if one already exists. I want my player model to be lusamines but i dont know how to and was wondering if anyone knew how

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/ladiesman_317]

You have to make the mod yourself for the game you want. That likely means that you need to decipher the data file format of the source game for the model and the format for the target game, and then write a conversion tool.

[u/Agitated_Camera7019]

I successfully extracted the camera data from the romfs, but how can I convert the JSON data into motion? I would be extremely grateful if anyone is willing to help.

[u/Embarrassed_Gap6619]

Two Nintendo 3DS Sound usage tips (#076 and #087) are missing from every public list — can anyone transcribe them, or point me to where the strings live in the title? 

I’m at 89 out of 91 parakeet usage tips in Nintendo 3DS Sound. The two I’m missing are #076 and #087, and after a lot of searching I’ve concluded that their text doesn’t exist anywhere online. The only complete public transcription of the tips is the MarioCube WC24 archive (wc24.mariocube.com/tips.html). It skips both: the list jumps straight from #075 to #077, and from #086 to #088. Every other source I’ve found either mirrors that archive or is an empty wiki stub. I’ve also searched this subreddit and the wider web and found no thread that has ever mentioned either number.

What I can infer from their positions: #076 sits among the voice-effect tips — #071 is High Harmony, #073 is Synth Harmony, #075 is Low Harmony. But in that range the odd numbers are voice effects and the even numbers are “Parakeet chat” / “Ideas” flavour tips (#072 is “Ideas: Reminders”, #074 is “Creating magic words 3”). So my guess is #076 is a random-pool tip with no action trigger. That’s inference, not knowledge. #087 is sandwiched between #086 (Starting StreetPass) and #088 (Compatibility), so it’s almost certainly StreetPass-related. I’ve since unlocked #088, #089 and #090 through NetPass and #087 still hasn’t appeared, which makes me doubt my own assumption.

What I’m asking:

1. Does anyone have either of these unlocked? A screenshot or transcription would settle it.

2. More usefully — has anyone dumped 3DS Sound and pulled the tip strings out of it? It’s a system title, so the text should be in a message archive somewhere in the RomFS. If someone knows which file and what format, I’ll do the extraction myself on my own console. I have GodMode9 and a working CFW setup, I just don’t know where to look.

3. If those strings happen to carry unlock conditions or flag IDs, that would permanently settle the trigger question for the whole list, not just these two.

Setup: Old 3DS, firmware 11.17, Luma3DS 13.4, NetPass for StreetPass.

I’ll compile everything into a complete guide once I’m done, since no accurate one exists. Happy to share my working notes with anyone who wants them.

[u/Elite_Venomoth]

I'm trying to retrieve some battle videos from my copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby to hopefully extract a Pokémon from one that I ended up losing. However, the extdata for the video is stored on my non-modded system instead of my modded one. Is there any way for me to move just the extdata over, or just extract and decrypt it from the non-modded system? In theory I just need the decrypted extdata and don't need to re-import it anywhere. Thanks!

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/Elite_Venomoth]

You need to mod the unmodded system to decrypt the data, or you need to system transfer it to the modded system, which will wipe the data currently on that system.

https://blog.ihaveahax.net/2025/01/25/why-is-a-nintendo-3ds-with-custom-firmware-safer-than-stock/

No reason not to mod the system

[u/SmallKnight1121]

I was downloading files onto my SD card and then it became RAW. I have many hours put into games with the saves on this SD card and I want to be able to recover all of it without needing to pay anything. If anyone can help me with this it will be greatly appreciated.

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/SmallKnight1121]

This is why the guide gives you checkpoint to back up your saves and copy them to another device. Your card corrupted and the filesystem isn't readable. PC file recovery is generally not a simple process in this case.

[u/Thorn-of-your-side]

The FAQ appears to be completely gone :T

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/Thorn-of-your-side]

The wiki covers all of it now. It's better maintained as well. wiki.hacks.guide FAQ seems to be visible to mods only here, and is years out of date, last edited by a retired moderator.

[u/SalomonG18]

Need help installing the LOZALTTP 3DS fan game. I downloaded the entire zip but could not find a .cia or a .3ds file. Any help would be appreciated

[u/CitricAcrid]

Are there any applications that let you read virtual console memory addresses in real time? The virtual console has a lot of emulation oddities and I'd really like to study some of what's going on under the hood

[u/PigeonBroski]

My 3DS seems to be stuck after I changed the theme with Anemone. I changed it, and it froze so I restarted it, it gives me about 2 seconds then it’s just stuck, not enough time to do anything about it, and it works fine when I have the SD Card out, is there anything I can do about this?

[u/Odd_Brilliant_9816]

I didn't use UU for like 3 weeks, 2 days ago I wanted to download something but I can't as everything I try to get shows "download failed" error, it's like that when I'm using first two stores, last one (universal DB) works and can download stuff, even if I try to download something from other stores it's failed, it's still creating little file on memory cards but not downloading whole game, as for what I found, in the past was pretty much same situation and on twitter UU devs said it's issue on their end. Anyone has a solution for that?

[u/uhhh_this_is_an_alt]

How do I unregionlock my 3ds?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/uhhh_this_is_an_alt]

6th item from the bottom in the main post.

[u/Ahmadsmaddi]

When I opened my 3ds all my game went missing I asked Gemini for a solution but I don't know if it'll work pls someone help . Here's what Gemini said.

Connect the device to the computer: Turn off the 3DS. Connect the 3DS to your PC or laptop using a USB cable (charging/data cable). Power on the device while holding the START button until you enter the GodMode9 screen. Enable USB Flash Drive Mode: Inside GodMode9, press the HOME button (below the bottom screen). Select Mount SD to PC via USB and press A. The SD card will immediately appear on your computer screen as if it were a USB drive. Download and transfer the files: On your computer, open your browser, search for faketik github, and download the faketik.3dsx file (it is very small, just a few kilobytes). Open the SD card on your computer and navigate to the folder named 3ds. Copy the faketik.3dsx file and paste it inside the 3ds folder. Open the FBI GitHub download page, download the FBI.cia file, and place it in the root directory of the SD card. Run the app and recover your games: Unplug the cable, press B on the 3DS, then press START to reboot the device. Open the Homebrew Launcher (via the Download Play app using the method you used previously). You will see the FakeTik app appear in the menu! Open it and let it scan for a few seconds. Once finished, return to the Home Menu, and all your games and save data will immediately reappear!

[u/Real-Measurement-953 → u/Ahmadsmaddi]

Why are you asking humans to tell you whether AI is correct? If you want help from humans, just ask for help, don't ask us to read AI slop. You can try to follow those instructions. Don't worry, you won't be able to get past step 2 "Connect the 3DS to your PC or laptop using a USB cable." The 3DS does not use a USB cable, unless you've switched out your 3DS's proprietary charging port for a USB-C port. To put files on the SD card, you're supposed to remove the SD card from your 3DS and put it into your computer's SD card slot (if it has one) or use an SD card reader. Also, Gemini told you to install Faketik which might not even solve your problem.

Follow these instructions: https://wiki.hacks.guide/wiki/3DS:Missing_Titles

[u/Ahmadsmaddi → u/Real-Measurement-953]

THANK YOU A LOT. My friends 3ds games just just went missing from his 3ds I wanted to try to help him but I was afraid that ai is wrong like usual that's why I decided to ask reddit users thanks for helping

[u/Anoniemeer]

anyone with any knowledge on how to identify a battery drain? my battery drains really fast. ive replaced the battery twice and its still happening.

[u/Ahmadsmaddi → u/Anoniemeer]

I don't really know the reason without checking it myself but it might be something in the system that costs a lot of battery usage or if you have something like a 100 game it also costs some of the battery

[u/EnduringEndling]

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but it doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere. I've downloaded MSET9 as the guide instructs, but the guide shows it as including "errors.txt", which apparently isn't included in the download even though everything else is. I was wondering if it only creates this later to catalogue errors or something like that, or if I should be concerned that it isn't present.

[u/J-Blink3]

Hi, I've been following the 3ds hacks guide but getting stuck on section 2 of installing boot9strap. When I inject the trigger file successfully on the MSET9 script, I reinsert the SD card as per the instructions and the console goes into a black screen where nothing happens.

I'm using an old 3ds XL on version 11.15.0-47E, I've tried searching this issue but found nothing that works, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/[deleted]]

Use the actual 3DS cartridges instead of a flashcart. Games come from the official sources, which is eShop or their own cartridge. There is no reason for a 3DS flashcart. If you need a translation, you use layeredfs to apply it to the cartridge.

[u/Aspect-X- → u/[deleted]]

Just mod it.

Gateway and emunand are completely obsolete. You won't get support for either.

[u/MysteryPuppeteer]

I know this is probably not the place to ask this, but I'm having trouble extracting sprites from a 3ds game and was wondering where to find help for this.

[u/DontCallMeJiim]

I feels super dumb but I found my old 3DS and wanted to get back into it but i have touched it since 2019 and I remember something about needing to boot into emuNAND but don’t remember how, the setting says I’m on Sys11.8.0.41 which means it’s not on emuNAND but that I do have custom firmware, I feel like I’m missing something super obvious and can’t find the info

Everything I find is about installing CFW…but I already have it, is emuNAND not a thing anymore or something? Am I just dumb…?

I vaguely remembered something like holding down left shoulder while booting, but that doesn’t do anything 😐

[u/Aspect-X- → u/DontCallMeJiim]

While emunand is still possible, its not a common practice. You are fine to continue without it.

emunand is often associated with older cfw installs though, so I recommend you follow this page in the event you have an outdated setup: https://3ds.hacks.guide/checking-for-cfw.html

[u/DontCallMeJiim → u/Aspect-X-]

Yeah I hadn't picked up my 3DS since I moved a few years ago and only had *vague* recollections of having to hold down r-shoulder when booting to get into emunand and *not* updating the system when it prompts for a system update but I think those are out of date memories now lol

I updated my 9.0 Luma3ds to 13.4, so from what I read it seems ok to hit the "system update" right?

[u/Aspect-X- → u/DontCallMeJiim]

correct

[u/ShooterMainDisliker]

Hi! So modding your console will remove region locks by default. If I have a Japanese 3DS that I install CFW on (but don't do a region swap), what will happen if I try to play EU/USA physical cartridges of games where the language depends on the system language? Games like Animal Crossing and Tomodachi Life? What languages will the games be in and will they even work? Will I be locked to playing Animal Crossing in Japanese unless I do a region swap?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/ShooterMainDisliker]

The wiki covers that. There's homebrew tools for any issues. Languages available depend on what's in the game data and which region you buy the cartridge for.

[u/CheminCrossing]

Hello, I've purchased a 2nd-hand 3DSXL that was already homebrewed, I'm updating it following the guide, but I'm seeing things I'd like to get rid of in the SD card and I'm not sure I can (not finding answers in the guide or post)
There's a huge folder (38g) the previous owner called Nintendo 3DS with nesting folders with random (to my eye) names like a33800c83110bd083030303000284245; the end of the folders are apps and scripts. Since you should be able to homebrew on a smaller card, I guess it's not from the homebrewing process itself?

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/CheminCrossing]

The guide covers setting up a CFW system from a wiped SD card. Wipe the card and do that

[u/ScarHydreigon87]

Is it safe to system update?

[u/Aspect-X- → u/ScarHydreigon87]

answered in the post

[u/TryToBeHopefulAgain]

What would people recommend to do with a broken front plate? The plastic on the hinge by the street pass led has snapped off.

[u/TryToBeHopefulAgain → u/TryToBeHopefulAgain]

I gather replacement shells are pretty poor. Was wondering if I could find a cheap broken 3ds xl but I don’t know how easy it is to replace the front plate.

[u/TryToBeHopefulAgain → u/TryToBeHopefulAgain]

https://files.catbox.moe/hopsyl.jpg

[u/MaxJ345]

What's the difference between the three file types (e.g. .cia, .3ds, .cxi)?

[u/AndreaSnep → u/MaxJ345]

I don’t see the descriptions Dizzy mentioned, so: .3ds files are game cartridge backups (or potentially, homebrew converted for use on older hack methods like Gateway); .cxi files are raw executable files for your 3DS (like a .exe, but you can’t just run them directly), and .cia files are complete data archives (homebrew, game backups, system files, etc.) you can install to your 3DS.

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/AndreaSnep]

https://wiki.hacks.guide/wiki/3DS:Installing_software

It's in the wiki, findable by searching the question or the term "3ds software formats".

[u/MaxJ345 → u/DizzyDustStriker3DS]

Thank you for the link!

[u/MaxJ345 → u/AndreaSnep]

Thank you for the explanation!

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/MaxJ345]

The guide and wiki cover that. You're supposed to use the resources in the main post.

[u/Kakashi_Senju]

If I don't have soldering tech and tools what the ways I can put a usb-c port on my 3ds OG

Or what public methods did yall use to do so

[u/AbelSuperstar100 → u/Kakashi_Senju]

I use a 3DS to USB-C adapter from "EEE 3C Store" on Aliexpress. It's pretty non-intrusive and small and works with all the USB-C cables I use for it.

[u/sagebrushrepair → u/Kakashi_Senju]

Throw money at it to have someone mod it for you, or do the adapter thing like the other poster says

A lot of earlier, 2011-12 3ds have crumbling charge ports nowadays so USB mod is recommended before it crumbles all the way

[u/Aspect-X- → u/Kakashi_Senju]

Your best bet is a 3DS to USB-C adapter.

[u/Shipchen]

I'm thinking abkut buying a 3ds that was modded but Luma was uninstalled. I want to set up Luma again once I buy it but want to make sure the console isn't bricked. Anything I need to test or is it fine if it boots normally? Don't really know how a blocked one looks

[u/DizzyDustStriker3DS → u/Shipchen]

B9S won't boot to home menu without Luma. Luma being uninstalled makes no sense. The guide and main post covers what to do with a wiped CFW console or SD card. Seller is supposed to wipe it before sale and have you redo the setup per the guide.