NS and APT Services

Revision as of 12:20, 28 August 2013 by 3dsguy (talk | contribs)

The NS (Nintendo User Interface Shell) system module is the first module launched from a CTR-NAND title after the FIRM processes are loaded. This module is launched by the pm process, with the titleID loaded from NSTID. NS first launches ErrDisp, then the menu. On retail the menu TID is loaded from MENUTID, while on dev/debug the menu TID is loaded from config. On dev-units if the menu TID block doesn't exist in config, NS will attempt to launch the alternate menu instead. The TID of the launched menu is then written to ACTIVEMENUTID. NS uses pm:app to launch titles.

Like home menu NS is constantly running while the system is in 3DS-mode. When attempting to return to home-menu when the home-menu process isn't running(like when the process terminated/crashed), NS will trigger a fatal error.

Alternate menu

When launching the regular menu fails, NS will then attempt to launch the alternate menu. This title could be used as a recovery process, however it's normally not used after the factory. This title is used at the factory for installing system titles, this title seems to be installed from a factory gamecard. This installer title likely deletes itself from NAND once it's finished installing titles.

On development Units, this is the Test Menu, and isn't deleted after being setup at factory.

Auto-boot

After loading FIRM params and prior to launching ErrDisp/Home Menu, NS handles auto-booting titles. The same code called by APT:Reboot is used for launching FIRM here. When the UPDATEFLAG is set, NS will launch SAFE_MODE_FIRM with the application titleID set to the System Updater titleID for this region. When the UPDATEFLAG is not set, NS can auto-boot the following titles as well if 0x1FF80016 bit0 is set.

When bit1 and bit2 are value zero in 0x1FF80016, NS will launch the title specified by the FIRM parameters if the title-info is set. This FIRM launch is done after launching ErrDisp and Home Menu. Otherwise when 0x1FF80016 is value 2 and the output u8 from PTMSYSM command 0x08140000 is value 0, NS will boot the title specified from the TWL TLNC block from FIRMparams+0x300. This is the same TLNC block which DSi titles wrote to RAM+0x300 for launching other titles via the launcher title. When handling the TLNC block, NS will boot the 3DS System Settings title when the TLNC titleID is the DSi System Settings titleID(the region field in the TLNC TID is not checked/used). When the TLNC titleID is not System Settings, NS will convert the input DSi titleID-high to the 3DS TWL titleID-high(tidhigh = (TLNCtidhigh & 0x7FFF) | 0x48000), then launch TWL_FIRM to run the title. NS does not support launching from gamecard via TLNC.

NS Workaround

A "ns_workaround" was added in NS to workaround the flaw added with 5.0.0-11. When NS is loading before launching any ARM11 processes and certain Configuration Memory fields are set, NS will launch AM then use command AM:InstallNATIVEFIRM. NS will then execute the code called by APT:StartNewestHomeMenu, the code related to APT:PrepareToStartNewestHomeMenu is not executed here.

NS will only execute this code-path when 0x1FF80016 is value zero, when KERNEL_VERSIONMAJOR is value 2, and when KERNEL_VERSIONMINOR is less than 35. Therefore, this code-path is only executed when the running NATIVE_FIFM version is prior to 5.0.0-11.

NS Service "ns:s"

Command Header Available since system version Description
0x0001.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 LaunchFIRM
0x000200C0 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 LaunchTitle
0x0003.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Wrapper for PMApp command 0x00030080.
0x0004.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Wrapper for PMApp command 0x000500C0.
0x000500C0 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 LaunchApplicationFIRM
0x00060042 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 SetFIRMParams4A0
0x00070042 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 This does initialization for the gamecard system update. Then this checks whether this gamecard system-update needs to be installed, by comparing the title-version of the CVer CIA stored in the system-update CFA with the title-version of the CVer title already installed in NAND.
0x00080000 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 This shuts down the gamecard system update interface: the shared memory is unmapped, the CFA archive is closed, state is cleared, etc.
0x0009.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Gamecard system update related.
0x000A.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Gamecard system update related.
0x000B.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Gamecard system update related.
0x000C.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Gamecard system update related.
0x000D.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 SetFIRMParams4B0
0x000E.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 Wrapper for "ptm:sysm" service command 0x040700C0.
0x000F.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 ?
0x00100180 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 RebootSystem
0x0011.... 1.0.0-0 - 2.0.0-2 TerminateProcessTID
0x0012.... ? ?
0x0013.... ? ?
0x0014.... ? ?
0x0015.... ? ?

The maximum sessions that can be used with this service is two, therefore only two processes can use this service at the same time.

APT Services

Command Header Available since system version Description
0x00010040 GetLockHandle
0x00020080 Initialize
0x00030040 Enable
0x00040040 Finalize
0x00050040 GetAppletManInfo
0x00060040 GetAppletInfo
0x00070000 GetLastSignaledAppletId
0x00080000 CountRegisteredApplet
0x00090040 IsRegistered
0x000A0040 GetAttribute
0x000B0040 InquireNotification
0x000C0104 SendParameter
0x000D0080 ReceiveParameter
0x000E0080 GlanceParameter
0x000F0100 CancelParameter
0x001000C2 DebugFunc
0x001100C0 MapProgramIdForDebug
0x00120040 SetHomeMenuAppletIdForDebug
0x00130000 GetPreparationState
0x00140040 SetPreparationState
0x00150140 PrepareToStartApplication
0x00160040 PreloadLibraryApplet
0x00170040 FinishPreloadingLibraryApplet
0x00180040 PrepareToStartLibraryApplet
0x00190040 PrepareToStartSystemApplet
0x001A0000 PrepareToStartNewestHomeMenu
0x001B00C4 StartApplication
0x001C0000 WakeupApplication
0x001D0000 CancelApplication
0x001E0084 StartLibraryApplet
0x001F0084 StartSystemApplet
0x00200044 StartNewestHomeMenu
0x00210000 OrderToCloseApplication
0x00220040 PrepareToCloseApplication
0x00230040 PrepareToJumpToApplication
0x00240044 JumpToApplication
0x002500C0 PrepareToCloseLibraryApplet
0x00260000 PrepareToCloseSystemApplet
0x00270044 CloseApplication
0x00280044 CloseLibraryApplet
0x00290044 CloseSystemApplet
0x002A0000 OrderToCloseSystemApplet
0x002B0000 PrepareToJumpToHomeMenu
0x002C0044 JumpToHomeMenu
0x002D0000 PrepareToLeaveHomeMenu
0x002E0044 LeaveHomeMenu
0x002F0040 PrepareToLeaveResidentApplet
0x00300044 LeaveResidentApplet
0x00310100 PrepareToDoApplicationJump
0x00320084 DoApplicationJump
0x00330000 GetProgramIdOnApplicationJump
0x00340084 SendDeliverArg
0x00350080 ReceiveDeliverArg
0x00360040 LoadSysMenuArg
0x00370042 StoreSysMenuArg
0x00380040 PreloadResidentApplet
0x00390040 PrepareToStartResidentApplet
0x003A0044 StartResidentApplet
0x003B0040 CancelLibraryApplet
0x003C0042 SendDspSleep
0x003D0042 SendDspWakeUp
0x003E0080 ReplySleepQuery
0x003F0040 ReplySleepNotificationComplete
0x00400042 SendCaptureBufferInfo
0x00410040 ReceiveCaptureBufferInfo
0x00420080 SleepSystem
0x00430040 NotifyToWait
0x00440000 GetSharedFont
0x00450040 GetWirelessRebootInfo
0x00460104 Wrap
0x00470104 Unwrap
0x00480100 GetProgramInfo
0x00490180 Reboot
0x004A0040 GetCaptureInfo
0x004B00C2 AppletUtility
0x004C0000 SetFatalErrDispMode
0x004D0080 GetAppletProgramInfo
0x004E0000 HardwareResetAsync
0x004F.... ? ?
0x0050.... ? ?
0x0051.... ? ?
0x0052.... ? ?
0x0053.... ? ?
0x00540040 5.0.0-11 ?

These "APT:U" and "APT:S" applet services can handle launching "applets", these services handle signaling for home/power button as well. Only one session for either APT service can be open at a time, normally processes close the service handle immediately once finished using the service.