Comment on Why are they asking about the serial number?
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 hours agoI’ve modded a few.
For the Nintendo DS, you just plug in a cartridge that looks like a DS game, but it has an SD card slot on the back. The DS boots the cartridge, which has custom firmware, including a list of games you might have on the card.
For the 3DS, you had to put an SD card in it, and the 3DS would store certain system files on it. You could take one off and modify it… it’s been a few years since I did mine. Most of the work is on the computer. You then boot into the system and flash the custom firmware.
For the PlayStation 1, you installed a spring that made it always think it was closed, you plugged a dodgy generic GameShark into the back, and ran any game (including a demo disc) to bypass the copy protection, then you swapped in a burned game.
The Switch needs a hardware chip soldered onto the board. I haven’t attempted it. I’ve heard it used to be easier but it’s since been fixed. I have one of the newest Switch 1 models (it’s the OLED variant) so mine can’t even be modded AFAIK.
Modding most modern consoles runs a risk of “bricking” the console, which means it’s damaged internally beyond repair and you might as well throw it out. So there is a risk sometimes.
Sweet! About ten years ago, I did want to mod my 3DS with an HDMI connector. Perhaps that being possible was just an urban legend? It would’ve been so cool to play Smash Bros 3DS on a big screen, back then.
Were there any performance benefits that came with modding Nintendo consoles or was it “just” region unlocking?
By modding I don’t mean hardware mods, I mean the ability to back up your games to the SD card so you don’t have to switch game carts. Also homebrew. The H-shop (Homebrew Shop) has a bunch of game mods. For example I’m playing Animal Crossing New Leaf, but it’s not Welcome Amiibo, it’s Welcome Luxury. Changes how some things look, and boosts what things sell for. I’m on day 2 and I’ve already got 100k in the bank and like 27k on my villager. I think they made fishing easier, too.
None of those games are sold new anymore, you’re either buying them from a collector/scalper or you’re downloading them. Nintendo isn’t making any money off these games anymore. I don’t endorse straight up stealing, but for what Nintendo charges and for how rare they run sales… and for how expensive they made the hardware these days… I think they’re doing just fine.
If you want performance gains on 3DS, use Citra or the like (an emulator) on your computer. Then, you can do a little more.
At least one company made a hardware mod to allow the 3DS to stream video over WIFI, but as far as I'm aware they're no longer made. The New 3DS can do it without additional hardware, but the console must be soft-modded. That's trivially easy on both models of the 3DS though.
For the Switch I used a little plastic thing I slide into the controller part on the side, copied some files and that was it. No physical changes needed but if I power the device off fully I have to remod it again.
That’s a V1, and has a low serial number.
There are “patched” V1s that the plastic things don’t work on, V2, OLED, and Lite. All of these need a chip to mod. You could hard mod yours too, if you wanted.
V1 and V2 are super easy to hard mod. The lite has a few more points to do than V1/V2, and the OLED is quit difficult but still possible.
I’ve hard modded quite a few V1/V2 and a handfull of the Lites.
nooch@lemmy.vg 7 hours ago
The oled model can be modded: guide.nx-modchip.info
It’s not easy though