So... for those who been here before, this tutorial used to have a step-by-step on how to switch eShop's between regions with old & outdated tools.
I updated this guide to be a lot more modern, and hopefully it's a lot easier to do as such... I really updated this guide though because I have an issue in my end with my Japanese New 3DS console I region changed to a USA region, and I needed a structured plan on how I'll region change it back to the original JPN region
Hope this clarifies why this page is completely different. If anyone still wanted to read the old guide, it's right below, but I recommend you DON'T follow it due to how ancient it was (June 9th, 2016):
Welcome to one of my tutorials! On this one, I'll tell you how to switch shops and online services between regions.
Prerequisites
- Any Nintendo 3DS system that will be region changed (Any model should hopefully work)
● It must already have been exploited, either with boot9strap or fastboot3ds installed
- For Old 3DS systems, an SD Card. For New 3DS systems, a microSD Card.
● The card should have at least 16 GBs for an Old 3DS, or 32 GBs for a New 3DS
● Make sure the card is empty until after creating an emuNAND, backing up the most important files (Luma3DS, GodMode9, any NAND backups) until then
● Make sure you do backups that:
○ Are placed on a PC, used for every NAND swap attempt
○ Or utilize a sysNAND & 2 emuNANDs altogether
- Luma3DS (Needed to load CFW)
- GodMode9 (Needed to make NAND backups & modify the NAND's files & folders)
- A clean SecureInfo_(A)(B)(C)(etc.) for the region you're swapping to
● Unfortunately this either requires another 3DS from the region you're swapping to, or a clean version downloaded from the Internet (Good luck finding an unused one though)
Step-By-Steps
The setup for this tutorial is as followed:
- sysNAND: The final region-changed NAND
- emuNAND 1: Previously un-region changed NAND, will be used for setting up information
- emuNAND 2: Same as last, but will be used with no information
Now, you can switch roles for these (If you're going to use EmuNAND 1 instead of SysNAND), but the setup is like this since everyone who hacks their 3DS' uses SysNAND in the end anyway
Without further ado, here are the steps:
1. Launch GodMode9, and make a backup of the unchanged NAND if you haven't done that yet. Copy the backup to the computer after that
- If you already have a backup and it's on your PC, skip this step
2. Back everything up on your card before proceeding further (Unless you don't have any data, which you can skip this step if so).
- I mean everything, since your card will have to be formatted to use 2 EmuNANDs anyway
- I'm not liable for any data loss, it's on you to remember and do this ^
3. Go back to GodMode9, and press the HOME Button. Go down to "More...", then select "SD Format Menu". Prepare to format the card to create a 2x Multi-EmuNAND, and start the process to format it
- After you format the card, copy your data you have moved to your PC back to the card if you didn't skip the 2nd step
4. Go ahead and follow all the steps from the 3DS Hacks Guide page on region changing ( https://3ds.hacks.guide/region-changing.html )
- Follow every step it says, and then continue back to proceed with this tutorial
5. Launch GodMode9 (If it's not on yet), and then go to "4:/data/(sysID0)/sysdata/00010038/", and delete the "00000000" file inside
- `4:/` is the EmuNAND CTRNAND partition, which includes all your system data and files
- The file you deleted is the data involving your NNID information, which is very important to delete so the system can format in System Settings without any issues ala unlinking your NNID
● It shouldn't be unlinked for this tutorial, and the deletion is still needed for setting up a dummy NNID
6. Reboot the console, making sure you launch the 1st emuNAND on boot, head to System Settings, and format the emuNAND to its factory settings
- Prior to booting the console again, either hold down L + UP while turning on your console, or edit the Luma3DS config holding SELECT to automatically boot the EmuNAND
● If editing the config, make sure you disable autobooting EmuNAND by the end of the tutorial
- To check if you're on your EmuNAND or not, set the Luma3DS configuration to show the NAND type in System Settings prior to launching it
- Make SURE you're actually on the 1st EmuNAND (The "Emu" string shouldn't have a number on it), and have backed up/renamed your "Nintendo 3DS" folder before doing this
7. After rebooting, go back to the 1st EmuNAND (If the config is set it should do that for you), and go through its initial settings.
- If the EmuNAND is on a lower version (It shouldn't be if you followed that 3DS Hacks Guide page), return to System Settings and run a system update
8. Shut down and return to GodMode9. Make a backup of the 1st EmuNAND, and afterwards restore it to the 2nd EmuNAND
- To switch between EmuNANDs, press the HOME Button, go to "More...", and then "Switch EmuNAND". Press "A" and it should be on the 2nd EmuNAND. Running it again will switch back to the 1st, and so on
9. Return to the 1st EmuNAND, and on it set up an NNID.
- This is assuming online services still work with the region you're switching from
10. After setting up the NNID, launch the eShop and set that one up
- We should still be on EmuNAND #1 btw
11. Close the eShop after it's set up, and turn off the console. Turn it back on, but this time launch the 2nd EmuNAND that has nothing set up
- To do this, either hold down L + RIGHT while turning on your console, or edit the Luma3DS config holding SELECT to automatically boot the 2nd EmuNAND on the 1st option if the config is autobooting the EmuNAND
12. Start the eShop, and it should display an error message while starting up. After it's displayed, force-shutdown the console
- This is normal, as that the error message marks for resetting the online information of the console's region
13. Turn on the 3DS, and this time start up your SysNAND. Check if the NNID initialization and eShop services work
- If the Luma3DS config has been changed, hold SELECT and disable the toggle to autoboot the EmuNAND
- If the eShop works, then you successfully switched online services!
- It should work, but if it doesn't then you might need to get help from the community here about any problems that have occurred. I feel like I can't handle help & support like I used to, so I'll leave it to the other smarter help supporters here on this forum
Hopefully this helps out people here. Everyone's been saying the past few years it's extremely hard to region change online services, especially those that come out with tutorials telling folks to spend twice the amount on 2 3DS' to make it possible, or those here on GBATemp linking to this thread before the 2025 modern tutorial update on this thread telling users to use legacy 2015 tools just to make it all work.
I reupdated this thread not just to help myself out: I also reupdated it because it would also help those others wanting to region change in a situation like mine.
So, yeah. Thanks for reading, following this, or whatever. Goodnight, thanks for coming to my TED talk, see ya, bye, whatevz-
