answered pokemon OR/AS rom editing

[Bryan B]

so I got attracted to this site as I saw this randomizing nuzlockes and people editing their games almost like pokegen. Anyway I am pretty clueless on how any of stuff works and am just trying to learn everything I can about this idea since it seems really cool especially the results I have seen people randomizing their games changing the main characters etc. I gathered 3ds/2ds need to have certain firmwares to make it work but that's about all I learned so far. like what other requirements are needed to really start doing rom editing (programs physical equipment etc) also im kind of new to forums so hopefully me posting this isn't a problem. I know not a lot to work with here.

[Alpha]

What firmware are you on? The target firmware for ROM editing is 9.0-9.2. You will need a Gateway flashcart to both dump your retail game and play your edited games.

[Bryan B]

my 3ds xl is on 9.7 which from my limited understanding is no good I was contemplating getting a used 2ds at game stop and then pokemon alpha sapphire and was just inquiring about this stuff I was really intrigued by it.

[Alpha]

Right, all ROM editing has to happen at 9.2 or lower. Some save editing can be done at 9.5.0-22 and lower.

[Bryan B]

so shoot for a Nintendo product under 9.2 and this might be a dumb question but what is a gateway flash cart I heard about it but couldn't get a clear answer when I did some looking. is it a blank cartridge that fits into the 3ds and its it necessary.

[Alpha]

Yeah, you can think of the Gateway as some sort of blank cart. http://www.gateway-3ds.com/

It is a homebrew and edited game enabler as well. With it, you can create a separated NAND partition (which allows you to run games at any firmware) and also allows any kind of game to run (which is important, because actual games require a valid signature that cannot be produced by anyone but Nintendo, and as soon as a game is edited, that signature becomes invalid.

[Bryan B]

ok so as long as I get a Nintendo product under 9.2 I wont need it

[Alpha]

Unfortunately, that is not the case. The gateway cart is required for playing the edited ROMs. Gateway itself requires firmware no greater than 9.2 in order to launch the exploits it needs to get running. (You can think of it like Nintendo blocked Gateway from working on later systems).

[Bryan B]

ok I got it now thanks again

[BattleLegend]

– Latest EMUNAND support for old 3DS (currently version 9.7)

For Gateway. But my 3DS is on firmware 9.5.0-22U though