HEY YOU!!! How do I play 3DS "homebrew" games?

Zeich wanted us to get a 3DS so that we could play KH: Dream Drop Distance (fuck you, Square, put all your games on one console instead of five-six), so I went and got a new one for decent price as an early Christmas gift for the both of us using some birthday money. It's still on it's way in the mail, but I figured I'd get a head start in doing some research into playing "homebrew" games off of whatever memory card rather than paying craploads for every game he wants us to play. But, first thing that popped up on Google is an article about how Nintendo has blocked most flash cards altogether in a somewhat recent firmware update. That sucks, because that was the only real idea I had for playing a lot of the stuff I want to.

Does anyone here with a 3DS know a way to play downloaded games regardless of this firmware patch, such as a decent way to jailbreak without bricking the bloody thing or a flash card/cart that actually still works with DS/3DS stuff?

DSTwo cart. I have one, and it works. You just have to hold off in updating your 3DS firmware until the DSTwo team puts out an updated cart firmware or EOS. Its a lot easier than it sounds. Basically, only update the 3DS firmware when the website tells you when its safe.

So 3DS updates are optional rather than automatic?

This is supposedly a brand new 3DS, so we'll see whether it already has the update or not. If it's not updated yet, it'll probably be a lot simpler than I think then to play the games, so I'll look into getting the DSTwo cart then.

If you try to play a retail game, it will try to update the system automatically. Just don't do this.

What do I do though if it's already updated? Is there a way to downgrade?

Its best just to wait. They're pretty quick with updates go the carts firmware. They release multiple patches every month. The DSTwo has a CPU in the cart that fakes the system into thinking its a legit cart, so you never have to worry about it being permanently blocked.

You won't be able to play 3DS games off of the DSTwo, though, if that's what you're looking for.

I thought that's what Holk said worked for him, or is that only for normal DS games?

Last I checked there wasn't anything to emulate 3DS games, only DS. (Something about the encryption or whatever I read. Anything can be broken in time though.) I have just about all the DS games I could ever want on my card in my 3DS. This was several months ago and I don't often keep up with this, so it's possible this has changed.

Well damn. That ruins a lot of hopeful plans there. Still, at least I can use it for DS stuff instead. Coincidentally, looking into the DStwo cart, I've seen some people say that it still works even with this new flashcard blocking patch. Anyone know whether this is true or not?

Its true. Like I said, the dstwo has a CPU in it, so the firmware makes the DS think its a retail cart.

That's good enough for me then. Thanks for your help, Holk/Chewey/Grafikal. <3

Okay, so, I got my DStwo cart and a non-upgraded 3DS. I copy the "_dstwo" folder over to the microSD card to install the latest OS version, and put it in the 3DS to boot it up. Icon comes up, looks like I'm gold... and then when I launch it, it comes up with an error telling me to please shut the system down and consult the operation manual. Oh fuck you, 3DS...

Experimentally tried many times with different things, such as with/without a patch already added, with/without the "ds2boot.dat" file, reformating the card to be an empty FAT one before copying the OS back over, but nothing seemed to work. I then tried it on my older DS, whose bottom touchscreen no longer works and isn't worth repairing, and find that the card works just fine on the regular DS. It's just the 3DS that doesn't like it, for some reason.

Am I doing something wrong here?

You need to find someone with an original DS or dslite and update the cards firmware in that. Also, make sure you download the firmware that has been marked as "safe" for the 3ds. Its near the top of the page.

I do have an original DS, and I did in fact update the firmware via it. But maybe it's not the "safe" version you are referring to. I'll check again.

Edit: Nope, it's all as it should be. DSTWO Eos v1.11_2012-1030, and updated the firmware with version 1.18. Reformatted the whole card to start again from scratch to double-check, stuck it in my original DS, and updated everything properly. Stuck it in the 3DS then, and still the black screen that simply says an error has occurred.

Did you also download the firmware patches, if there were any new ones?

There was one, and I downloaded and included that one too in the _dstwo folder. Still nothing.

Let me do some research.

I don't know where I'm going wrong. Made sure it's all properly done and updated on the original DS, even played a game to test it, but on the 3DS it will just come up as an error telling me to press and hold the power button to turn everything off. Following video tutorials exactly and still the same thing.

If it can play on the DS, then obviously it's not a faulty card, but it's not compatible with my 3DS. Is there something not working right in my 3DS perhaps? It shows the icon for it, so it obviously recognizes the connection. It just won't load properly once I try to launch it.