Sincere apologies in advance for the long post:
Been poking around these forums for several months now. It's been seriously helpful for getting Atmosphere set up on a few unpatched first generation Switch models!
I, being a first time caller, do have a few questions particularly when it comes to jailbreaking, Atmosphere, bans, Tinfoil, dumping games, and similar such topics (some of them range from being simple yes/no to being more in-depth; figure I've done a healthy amount of Googling for each one before asking here):
1. If I dump a game to a .nsp file, does any personalized data (save games, character customizations, etc.) come along with it? Or is that stuff stored separately somewhere else (presumably in the emuMMC)?
2. As far as sigpatches go, will sigpatches that worked for Atmosphere 1.5.1 and Horizon 16.0.0 be likely to work with Atmosphere 1.5.2 and Horizon 16.0.2? Or will I need new ones? I accidentally tapped the update button on one of the first generation Switches that I own but have yet to set up Atmosphere on, but the goal is to get that one set up with it too.
3. When it comes to bans, let's say I mess up somewhere down the line, and I go online on a Switch that has dumped NSPs and I get banned. Adding to the hypothetical, let's say that the Nintendo Account is associated to both the aforementioned console, but also to, let's say, an OLED Switch or second generation Switch that isn't Jailbroken or modded whatsoever:
4. I've been trying to piece together all that there is to know about NSP dumping and admittedly, there's a lot to learn and much of it seems fragmented. I currently use Tinfoil v16.0 to install cartridges and then make dumps from the installation (it seems to not want to create an NSP file from the cartridge directly and I need to close Tinfoil after removing the cartridge before dumping the installed game to an NSP file.
6. I am giving thought to using a second first generation Switch to download and dump eShop titles. Given this:
7. When it comes to NSPs, am I correct in that for a given game, the base game (i.e. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe) is its own NSP, a DLC pack (i.e. The Booster Packs) is its own DLC (or collection of DLCs) is its own NSP, and any updates to the game itself are also their own NSPs as well?
8. If the answer to 7. is "yes", what's the best workflow for dumping those additional NSP files using something like Tinfoil? Or would I do something similar to the workflow detailed in 6b.?
9. Do I need to run Lockpick on the same Switch each time I wipe the SD card? Or can I back up my prod.keys file and just reload it (assuming it's going on the same Switch)? Same question for needing to back up the sysNAND/emuMMC?
10. I've considered looking for modded Switch Lites and/or OLED models as an alternative to using first generation models (the standard Switch is probably my least favorite model and the only reason I have them at all is for the ease of jailbreaking the first generation models). Assuming someone does the solder job successfully and uses the right hardware mod and all that, is the process for setting up the SD card for Atmosphere the same as it is for a first generation Switch? Are there key differences? How about booting to Hekate?
11. Mortal Kombat 11; I've seen a fair bit written about getting this game to work, from dumping to the DLCs to newer versions. It seems like a real hassle. It also seems like everything I've read about how to do this entails old versions of Atmosphere, the Switch firmware/OS/Horizon, and Mortal Kombat 11 itself. Is there any newer workflow/tactic/process to get this game working with as much DLC enabled as possible? Or have people given up on it?
I have a cartridge and an .nsp file made from having installed the cartridge using Tinfoil v16.0 (doing exactly what I said in 4.); if I launch the game and have no Internet, I'm only able to do a local match with either another human or a CPU player and with a fourth of the total characters in the roster (maybe half or two thirds of what you get when you just play the base game and download the large download that it does). I'd imagine there's a way to get more than that going.
12. I have yet another jailbroken Switch. I'm looking to sell it. eBay seems like a bad place to do it in. Facebook Marketplace seems like it could be similarly bad. Etsy seems like it could be okay. Where would you sell yours and what would you say or not say in the listing? I was considering listing it as a "V1 unpatched Switch with Atmosphere kit" and being very clear that the card is ready to go, but not in the system (putting the onus on the buyer to do that). I was originally considering sending the RCMLoader that I currently use, but maybe it might be safer not to. If anyone has advice on this, I'd love to hear it.
13. I'm giving thought to trying to install Android on one of the first generation Switches that I'm keeping:
Again, I apologize for the length of this post and how many questions I have. (Even though this seems annoying, it seemed better to ask in a batch than to create 14 individual forum posts.)
Been poking around these forums for several months now. It's been seriously helpful for getting Atmosphere set up on a few unpatched first generation Switch models!
I, being a first time caller, do have a few questions particularly when it comes to jailbreaking, Atmosphere, bans, Tinfoil, dumping games, and similar such topics (some of them range from being simple yes/no to being more in-depth; figure I've done a healthy amount of Googling for each one before asking here):
1. If I dump a game to a .nsp file, does any personalized data (save games, character customizations, etc.) come along with it? Or is that stuff stored separately somewhere else (presumably in the emuMMC)?
2. As far as sigpatches go, will sigpatches that worked for Atmosphere 1.5.1 and Horizon 16.0.0 be likely to work with Atmosphere 1.5.2 and Horizon 16.0.2? Or will I need new ones? I accidentally tapped the update button on one of the first generation Switches that I own but have yet to set up Atmosphere on, but the goal is to get that one set up with it too.
3. When it comes to bans, let's say I mess up somewhere down the line, and I go online on a Switch that has dumped NSPs and I get banned. Adding to the hypothetical, let's say that the Nintendo Account is associated to both the aforementioned console, but also to, let's say, an OLED Switch or second generation Switch that isn't Jailbroken or modded whatsoever:
a. Does just the account and the console with the dumped NSPs get banned? Or does every console currently associated with the account get banned as well? Or is it just the associated consoles?
b. Let's say the Nintendo Account in question here has the same billing address and/or has used some of the same payment methods as another Nintendo account that has absolutely no CFW/Atmosphere/NSP-dumping/modding/jailbreak consoles or activity associated with it whatsoever; is the second Nintendo Account subject to a ban too by association? Or is Ninty not that...vigilant?
4. I've been trying to piece together all that there is to know about NSP dumping and admittedly, there's a lot to learn and much of it seems fragmented. I currently use Tinfoil v16.0 to install cartridges and then make dumps from the installation (it seems to not want to create an NSP file from the cartridge directly and I need to close Tinfoil after removing the cartridge before dumping the installed game to an NSP file.
a. Am I doing this correctly?
b. Are the NSPs that I'm dumping as part of this process useful on any other jailbroken/sigpatched Switch? Or just the one I dumped from?
c. I sort of understand what Tickets are and what the point of them is. But I don't understand where I need to use them or take them into account or back them up or anything like that. (For context, I've managed to use Tinfoil v16.0 to install cartridges and then dump the installs to .nsp files which I've since backed up to my PC. I've yet to do anything in terms of installing or reinstalling from an NSP or trying to install NSPs to a second jailbroken console that were initially ripped from the first.) What do I need to do with them? Do I need to do anything with them?
5. I currently use 90dns to block Ninty's servers. It's not the most convenient way to connect my Atmosphere-based Switch to the Internet. And I've heard that I ought to be doing other things. Exosphere is the one I've heard the most about, but it's also the case that, since the Switch's arrival in 2017, the conventions of how to Homebrew change every so often. What's the cool thing to be doing nowadays?6. I am giving thought to using a second first generation Switch to download and dump eShop titles. Given this:
a. Does the Switch that I do this on have to be the primary Switch for the Nintendo Account that I'm downloading eShop games for/from? (I ask as I am considering also using this account (and its purchases) with an OLED Switch that likely won't be modded/jailbroken.)
b. The order of operations I'm picturing for this is something like:
1. Wipe Switch
2. Log into Nintendo Account
3. Download all eShop purchases that I want to dump
4. Forget WiFi Network
5. Turn on Airplane mode
6. create an emuNAND with the correct versions of Atmosphere, Hekate, Tinfoil v16.0, and sigpatches on the SD card without having formatted it since step 1
7. Boot to emuNAND
8. Join WiFi with 90dns (assuming I don't set up Exosphere or whatever is recommended for blocking Nintendo's servers as part of this process)
9. Set up Tinfoil
10. Dump already installed eShop content to NSP
11. copy .nsp files somewhere else so that they can be installed on my primary (Jailbroken) Switch.
Does that make logical/rational sense? And/or is there a more logical way to do this? Figure the second Switch is really there to be used to dump eShop stuff exclusively and I would probably go through this process every time I amassed a large enough collection of eShop purchases that I'd want to do this stuff with.
c. Is this where I need to pay attention to tickets?
7. When it comes to NSPs, am I correct in that for a given game, the base game (i.e. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe) is its own NSP, a DLC pack (i.e. The Booster Packs) is its own DLC (or collection of DLCs) is its own NSP, and any updates to the game itself are also their own NSPs as well?
8. If the answer to 7. is "yes", what's the best workflow for dumping those additional NSP files using something like Tinfoil? Or would I do something similar to the workflow detailed in 6b.?
9. Do I need to run Lockpick on the same Switch each time I wipe the SD card? Or can I back up my prod.keys file and just reload it (assuming it's going on the same Switch)? Same question for needing to back up the sysNAND/emuMMC?
10. I've considered looking for modded Switch Lites and/or OLED models as an alternative to using first generation models (the standard Switch is probably my least favorite model and the only reason I have them at all is for the ease of jailbreaking the first generation models). Assuming someone does the solder job successfully and uses the right hardware mod and all that, is the process for setting up the SD card for Atmosphere the same as it is for a first generation Switch? Are there key differences? How about booting to Hekate?
11. Mortal Kombat 11; I've seen a fair bit written about getting this game to work, from dumping to the DLCs to newer versions. It seems like a real hassle. It also seems like everything I've read about how to do this entails old versions of Atmosphere, the Switch firmware/OS/Horizon, and Mortal Kombat 11 itself. Is there any newer workflow/tactic/process to get this game working with as much DLC enabled as possible? Or have people given up on it?
I have a cartridge and an .nsp file made from having installed the cartridge using Tinfoil v16.0 (doing exactly what I said in 4.); if I launch the game and have no Internet, I'm only able to do a local match with either another human or a CPU player and with a fourth of the total characters in the roster (maybe half or two thirds of what you get when you just play the base game and download the large download that it does). I'd imagine there's a way to get more than that going.
12. I have yet another jailbroken Switch. I'm looking to sell it. eBay seems like a bad place to do it in. Facebook Marketplace seems like it could be similarly bad. Etsy seems like it could be okay. Where would you sell yours and what would you say or not say in the listing? I was considering listing it as a "V1 unpatched Switch with Atmosphere kit" and being very clear that the card is ready to go, but not in the system (putting the onus on the buyer to do that). I was originally considering sending the RCMLoader that I currently use, but maybe it might be safer not to. If anyone has advice on this, I'd love to hear it.
13. I'm giving thought to trying to install Android on one of the first generation Switches that I'm keeping:
a. It seems like it might be easier to do this on a separate microSD card rather than on the same SD card that I have Atmosphere and my emuMMC on. Am I wrong there?
b. Am I correct in that I wouldn't need to block Nintendo's servers on the Android side of things because Android isn't set to immediately phone Nintendo's servers in the way that Horizon is?
14. Is there ever a reason (other than because a new game requires it) to update the Switch's firmware and Atmosphere and Tinfoil, etc.?Again, I apologize for the length of this post and how many questions I have. (Even though this seems annoying, it seemed better to ask in a batch than to create 14 individual forum posts.)
It won't.
