NTRBoot Cartridge Get

Recently I ordered a DSTT flash cartridge from nds-card.com, and it finally arrived on the 25th.  Of course, I ordered it for the express purpose of setting up NTRBoot on it.  DSTT cards are kind of a crapshoot, as there are many different chips that have been used to make them, and the NTRBoot flashing process has only been figured out for a certain subset of those chips.  Thankfully, though, the DSTT I received was compatible.

I decided to use my O2DS for the install and testing of said install since the O2DS doesn't actually need a magnet to trigger the lid switch.  It's got that nice handy switch just below the power button that puts the console into sleep mode, which replaces the lid switch from all the other 3DS-family consoles with clamshell designs.  I did eventually grab a magnet and try it out on my O3DS and N3DS, just to make sure I could do it on those, since the necessary button combination is a bit awkward depending on 3DS model.

Initially, though, I had a bit of a derp that caused me to think that my DSTT wasn't compatible.  I wanted to use a fork of boot9strap-ntr that looks for ntrboot.firm on the SD card instead of boot.firm, so I'd flashed it with that instead of the official boot9strap-ntr release.  With GodMode9 as my ntrboot.firm, my 2DS was powering on, and then off after about a second.

To troubleshoot, I decided to restore the backup of the DSTT's original contents that I'd made, and see if I could get the DSTT to be a normal flash cartridge.  I did that, obtained a copy of TWLoader, and booted freshly-dumped ROMs of Chrono Trigger DS and Mario Kart DS from it.  This told me that my card was actually compatible, since the NTRBoot flasher could actually write to it properly without bricking it.

Next, I actually flashed the official boot9strap-ntr to it, and was experiencing the same issue with GodMode9.  However, genius me then tried to boot into SafeB9SInstaller with it, which worked, and confirmed that my DSTT was indeed compatible.

I then realized a little fact I'd neglected: The version of GodMode9 I was using was old, and that there was a new version wherein one of the changes was "properly detect NTRBoot".  Updating to the new GodMode9 fixed the problem.  Re-flashed the fork of boot9strap-ntr, and all was well.

Why did I use a fork that just changes the name of the file that it looks for?  Well, The Guide™ has you remove the SD card and replace boot.firm with Luma partway through the process.  However, removing the SD card is a pain on New 3DSes, and if it boots from a different file, I can avoid having to swap out boot.firm partway through.  This one small change makes the process that much simpler.

Also, surprisingly, The Guide™ just has you boot straight into SafeB9SInstaller.  No NAND backup before installing B9S or anything.  Perhaps Plailect is unaware that GodMode9 can chainload other FIRM payloads...

I also took the opportunity to update my systems from B9S 1.2 to B9S 1.3.

While the primary use of NTRBoot is to install B9S on a stock system regardless of firmware version, I wanted to have this entry point accessible just in case I ever need it to restore a NAND backup.  It will come in handy, though, if I decide to buy one of those sexy New 2DS XLs, or if a friend wants their 3DS hacked.

I must say, though, the hacking process has gotten so simple these days that I question the necessity of The Guide™.  It stretches out every process into as many steps as possible, making every single mechanical action a step of its own.  It could say "put these files here, put those files there, boot 3DS, do the thing", but instead, it has steps entirely dedicated to telling you to press A.  Not only is this excessive, it makes the process look far more complicated than it really is.  Good technical writing doesn't misrepresent the complexity of a process.

I'd love to see the filename change incorporated into the official boot9strap-ntr, as well as the removal of boot9strap's boot9/boot11/OTP dumping feature.  Dumping the bootroms and the OTP can be done with GodMode9 quite easily, there's no reason to have a button combination to do it on boot. Especially one that causes said dump to happen every single time you use NTRBoot.

Overall, I'm quite happy with my purchase.