Is fire emblem fates modding on 3ds a working/reliable thing I can do?

[Ⱥstra]

I am thinking of hacking my 3ds and if I were to do as such; I would like to ask if any people on this forum have done so and have managed to mod in stuff and edit saves for infinite resources. I know very little about the state of 3ds fates modding. I do not want to emulate the game so modding it this way would be my only option. I actually don't know a single person irl or online who has fates modded on their actual 3ds. I am pretty sure Zoran mods on Citra and he is basically the one who introduced me to the world of fates modding. There are plenty of guides on how to hack a 3ds so I don't need help on that but I do not see any updated guides on a fire emblem fates hacking specifically. For example, the best guide on fates save file hacking for infinite resources and other more absurd stuff is from 2016 so I don't even know if it still valid. Does anyone know of any guides I can use?

TLDR, I would like to get some input on people's experiences and perhaps tips with 3ds fates modding.  Links to guides are also appreciated.

Thanks.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Ⱥstra

[Third-Rate Scholar]

I have modded my physical copy of Fates. It might seem daunting but it is actually pretty easy. As far as I know you can't give yourself infinite resources, but you can give yourself 99 of every resource and then hack in more when you run out. I don't know exactly what you are trying to do, but I'll list some tools.

FEFTwiddler: Fates Save Editor. Lets you give yourself gold, resources, weapons, and more. Also lets you revive characters, obtain skills you normally can't get (like Inevitable End or Staff Savant), change stats. Basically, you'll use this for simple cheats.

Paragon: Fates GameData Editor. Enables you to add/change game data like weapon stats, class data, and character data.

Gamebanana Tutorials: These will show you how to use Paragon and how to load mods with Luma.

Save Manager: Lets you export your save data so you can make changes to it with Twiddler. Also lets you import your changes so they show up in game.

Also, you'll need to dump your game's romfs folder. However, I recommend doing this with a ROM because it will take a long time to dump your physical copy. Dumping the ROM with Citra will only take a few seconds instead.

I can walk you through it as well if you are having trouble with it.

[Ⱥstra]

11 hours ago, Third-Rate Scholar said:

I have modded my physical copy of Fates. It might seem daunting but it is actually pretty easy. As far as I know you can't give yourself infinite resources, but you can give yourself 99 of every resource and then hack in more when you run out. I don't know exactly what you are trying to do, but I'll list some tools.

FEFTwiddler: Fates Save Editor. Lets you give yourself gold, resources, weapons, and more. Also lets you revive characters, obtain skills you normally can't get (like Inevitable End or Staff Savant), change stats. Basically, you'll use this for simple cheats.

Paragon: Fates GameData Editor. Enables you to add/change game data like weapon stats, class data, and character data.

Gamebanana Tutorials: These will show you how to use Paragon and how to load mods with Luma.

Save Manager: Lets you export your save data so you can make changes to it with Twiddler. Also lets you import your changes so they show up in game.

Also, you'll need to dump your game's romfs folder. However, I recommend doing this with a ROM because it will take a long time to dump your physical copy. Dumping the ROM with Citra will only take a few seconds instead.

I can walk you through it as well if you are having trouble with it.

Thank you for the reply.

My infinite resources I actually meant 99, since I basically consider that infinite. No way will I run out of any resource in an iron man run if I have 99 of each. I have looked through the basic gamebanana tutorial and am also aware of the FEFTwiddler thing (though I do not know how to use it yet) but I have not heard that one needs to dump their romfs folder. This is news to me.

The gamebanana guide just says I need to put stuff into that folder. I think I read that said folder either already exists or I have to make it myself or something. https://gamebanana.com/tuts/13215   You can see what I mean here. The guide mentions nothing about dumping my romfs folder. I would appreciate you getting back to me on this front, since this is probably important.

Either way, I need to hack my 3ds first and will do that right now actually. I will then attempt to start fates hacking based on the guides you linked. I would definitely appreciate the help, since I doubt this will be a smooth process. (I have minimal knowledge on this kind of thing) I definitely want to hack this game to get even more fun out of it, since I absolutely love fates. Playing on an emulator does not seem as appealing to me as the classic, smooth 3ds experience that I already have 500 hours on. Of course this means I lose out on the HD texture pack but that is fine, fates already looks good.

Edit: I have successfully hacked my 3ds and am ready to start with fates modding. A guy on reddit told me this in response to me asking about whether I need to go into god mode or dumb my game: "yeah, it’s still the same process of putting stuff into your romfs folder, but doing it through gm9’s “allow patches” makes it toggleable, and makes it so you don’t have to dump your entire cartridge. personally i haven’t done it through luma."

Now I am not sure if I am supposed to dumb my game or use gm9.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Ⱥstra

[Third-Rate Scholar]

Only dump if you plan to do any editing with Paragon (I should have specified, my apologies), otherwise just toggle 'allow patches' (hold SELECT on boot and you'll see the option) and use the file structure in the tutorial. 

[Ⱥstra]

1 hour ago, Third-Rate Scholar said:

Only dump if you plan to do any editing with Paragon (I should have specified, my apologies), otherwise just toggle 'allow patches' (hold SELECT on boot and you'll see the option) and use the file structure in the tutorial. 

Hi again. I enabled allow patches and installed some mods, namely the "good guy garon", "body accessories always visible" and the voice select mod. The accessory one works great, I have no idea if the garon one works because I can't tell story differences since I always skip the story in this game and the voice select mod appears to not be working. It said you can just paste the entire romfs folder in the title folder if it is your first mod, which it was. However, I added those other 2 mods afterwards but windows never told me that files were being overroad, so I assume that means there are no conflicting files. Do I perhaps have to start a new playthrough (from chapter 1) for said mod to work? (If you do not know about these mods you can ignore my questions here)

Also, thanks for linking the save editor stuff. I now have FETWiddler and the save manager installed but have no idea how to use them. FETWidder seems similar to gba randomizer programs but I have no save file to give it, since I do not know how to use the save manager. Could you maybe walk me through how to do that? My end goal is to have 99 of every resource and a bunch of chef hats but that seems to be quite easy to do with the program. The problem for me is bringing the actual saves over and then back to the 3ds.

Thanks

Edit: Garon mod did not work either. I will try and fix that. Perhaps I will need to use this paragon thing as well if all these mods just mess with each others files or something

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Ⱥstra

[Third-Rate Scholar]

Of course.

• How to use the Save Manager and Twiddler

1. After installing JKSM, open it on the Homebrew Launcher and select 'Titles' -> 'Fire Emblem Fates'
2. If the save file you want to modify is on slots 1-3 select 'Save Data', otherwise select 'Extra Data'
3. Select 'New' and then name the folder whatever you like.
4. Exit JKSM and power off the system
5. Insert your SD card into your computer and open FEFTwiddler
6. Select File->Open File and navigate to [SD Card]->JKSV->Saves or ExtData (depending which slot you exported)->Fire Emblem Fates->[Whatever you named the folder from earlier]->chapter#.bak
7. Make the desired changes with Twidder. To maximize resources, go to Chapter Data and hit Maximize All in the lower right corner. Then go to File->Save File
8. Then go to File->Open File and select the other .bak file. Then make the same changes and hit Save File.
9. Close Twiddler and right click on your SD card and hit eject, then remove from computer.
10. Insert SD card into 3DS and power on the system.
11. Open JKSM and navigate back to Save Data or Extra Data and HIT THE Y BUTTON NOT THE A BUTTON on your save folder to import your changes into the game.
12. Close JKSM and open your Fates save to see your changes!

Note: You do not need to make a new folder every time you want to export your save. You can just overwrite the existing folder.

 

As for the mods, it sounds like you installed them correctly. However, with most mods, a fresh save is required. I haven't played these mods but starting a new playthrough is a good idea. For the voice select mod, make a folder called exefs inside the mods/[Title ID] folder and then put the code.ips inside the folder.

[Ⱥstra]

Hi.

I have not tried your instructions yet, since I am still struggling with the mods. I managed to get the voice mod working (I had the ips in the wrong area. Also, putting it in the exefs folder actually makes it not work. The readme that should only be done with Citra or something). Either way, I got that mod working with the accessory mod which is great.

However, not only am I unable to get the garon mod to work with any of the other 2 mods (tried every combination), I can't even get it to work on its own! Perhaps it is because I have a physical birthright cartridge with conquest as dlc but the instructions do not say anything about that. In fact, they say very little at all. You can check them out here if you wish: https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-conquest-story-overhaul-fire-emblem-fates-good-guy-garon-edition.487117/

I have not attempted your instructions yet but have read through them. When you say save file, do you mean I am supposed to save the edited file to an area or does that save the edits made to said file/s, effective immediately for the file/S in the SD card?

Thanks again. My plan was to edit the save once I hit the actual route/base and I wanted to sort out mod situation first.

[Third-Rate Scholar]

It saves the edits that you made. You don't save it to a specific area, it just overwrites the file. You don't need to move any files. 

Sorry about the Garon mod. I'm honestly not sure why it wouldn't be working. 

[Ⱥstra]

Hi. I will try to save edit tomorrow and will report back then. In the mean time, I would like to ask whether or not one can get banned from online play (visiting castles and stuff) from using the mods I have and save editing? What has your experience been like in that regard?

[Third-Rate Scholar]

Read this. It details what will and will not cause a shadowban.

[Johnnie]

So Luma has a built in cheats system. However, the cheats don't work for modded 3DS games so it really depends on what you want. 99 of every resource, all the skills, infinite xp/money/supports are all built in cheats. You just have to bring the Luma menu up while the game is running. L+Down+A by default I think. It's in the Luma documentation.

 

The Good Guy Garon mod is for Conquest, so you would need a copy of that game to use it. Even though each path is DLC, Birthright, Conquest and the Special Edition all have different game ids. A Birthright mod won't work on Conquest.

[Ⱥstra]

6 hours ago, Third-Rate Scholar said:

Of course.

• How to use the Save Manager and Twiddler

1. After installing JKSM, open it on the Homebrew Launcher and select 'Titles' -> 'Fire Emblem Fates'
2. If the save file you want to modify is on slots 1-3 select 'Save Data', otherwise select 'Extra Data'
3. Select 'New' and then name the folder whatever you like.
4. Exit JKSM and power off the system
5. Insert your SD card into your computer and open FEFTwiddler
6. Select File->Open File and navigate to [SD Card]->JKSV->Saves or ExtData (depending which slot you exported)->Fire Emblem Fates->[Whatever you named the folder from earlier]->chapter#.bak
7. Make the desired changes with Twidder. To maximize resources, go to Chapter Data and hit Maximize All in the lower right corner. Then go to File->Save File
8. Then go to File->Open File and select the other .bak file. Then make the same changes and hit Save File.
9. Close Twiddler and right click on your SD card and hit eject, then remove from computer.
10. Insert SD card into 3DS and power on the system.
11. Open JKSM and navigate back to Save Data or Extra Data and HIT THE Y BUTTON NOT THE A BUTTON on your save folder to import your changes into the game.
12. Close JKSM and open your Fates save to see your changes!

Note: You do not need to make a new folder every time you want to export your save. You can just overwrite the existing folder.

 

As for the mods, it sounds like you installed them correctly. However, with most mods, a fresh save is required. I haven't played these mods but starting a new playthrough is a good idea. For the voice select mod, make a folder called exefs inside the mods/[Title ID] folder and then put the code.ips inside the folder.

Hi again. I followed your steps to do the best of my ability but I do not understand step 8. I did not see any other bak file, nor do I even know how to check if a file is a bak file. I only had one save file, so maybe that is why? I only saw Game0 and then some other things seemily unrelated.

I hit the y button to apparently restore the save and I was greated by some sort of error or fail message of some sort, yet it then proceeded to start working and I now have infinite resources and 2 chef hats, one on corrins head and one on felicias. So in conclusion, it worked but I am a bit confused about the events that led up to that. Have you experienced something similar?

[Third-Rate Scholar]

If you only had the one file, then don't worry about step 8. I was just trying to detail what worked for me. You can disregard the error message on import because it won't actually affect your save. Anyway, I'm glad that you've got your resources now. 

[Ⱥstra]

4 minutes ago, Third-Rate Scholar said:

If you only had the one file, then don't worry about step 8. I was just trying to detail what worked for me. You can disregard the error message on import because it won't actually affect your save. Anyway, I'm glad that you've got your resources now. 

Do you know why it gives such an error message though. I am paranoid, especially if I do not understand a technical thing, so I worry that my save will be corrupted, etc.

[Ⱥstra]

21 minutes ago, Johnnie said:

So Luma has a built in cheats system. However, the cheats don't work for modded 3DS games so it really depends on what you want. 99 of every resource, all the skills, infinite xp/money/supports are all built in cheats. You just have to bring the Luma menu up while the game is running. L+Down+A by default I think. It's in the Luma documentation.

 

The Good Guy Garon mod is for Conquest, so you would need a copy of that game to use it. Even though each path is DLC, Birthright, Conquest and the Special Edition all have different game ids. A Birthright mod won't work on Conquest.

I checked this out and the luma cheats via that flag app do have infinite resources but no chef hat option, but there was some option did perhaps does that, something about unlocking all city items or something.

[Third-Rate Scholar]

The error message is just JKSM removing the backup created by Twiddler from your save folder. It hasn't corrupted mine and it shouldn't corrupt yours either.

[Ⱥstra]

2 minutes ago, Third-Rate Scholar said:

The error message is just JKSM removing the backup created by Twiddler from your save folder. It hasn't corrupted mine and it shouldn't corrupt yours either.

Ok cool. Thanks for the help mate. It turns out one can also do this via luma, as another person in this thread highlighted. Using this method I can press select + y to give myself 99 of everything in 1 second. Much more convenient, however I do not think there is a way to give myself chef hats, meaning I think I will probably stick to the Twiddler method