Hacking SWITCH NOOB PARADISE - Ask questions here

[Lucalulu]

Launching payloads, yes, since every time you turn off the Switch, the CFW turns off too. But it's nothing too complicated, and if you choose to never turn off your Switch (some people do that) then it's not an issue. Other steps to be repeated is updating the firmware, Atmosphere, Hekate, sigpatches, and other homebrews when new versions come out. But read about any caveats here first. No need to rush things.

I see, thanks for clarifying. I’m glad I asked because I might have to MAC friendly payload instead. Initially I was going to do the whole thing with a friend’s windows laptop, but since I would need something to launch a payload every time I turn it off I guess I’ll have to use a different method. For the jig, can someone link me a safe option please? Thanks

 

[Dust2dust]

You must not have read my post. Doing what you suggested will still not keep my switch from wanting to erase the partition when I turn off hekate and switch back to standard stock mode or if for some reason it powers off. I can't leave it in "auto boot RCM" mode because it's too confusing for other family members to have to load a payload when it doesn't turn on for them.

Post automatically merged: Nov 1, 2023

You must not have read my post. Doing what you suggested will still not keep my switch from wanting to erase the partition when I turn off hekate and switch back to standard stock mode or if for some reason it powers off. I can't leave it in "auto boot RCM" mode because it's too confusing for other family members to have to load a payload when it doesn't turn on for them. Also I can't trust them enough to avoid accidently erasing the partition on the switch. It's too easy to accidently acknowledge the message before removing the SD card.

If there is not solution to that then A simple "There is currently no way to stop that message from coming up and it's not a good idea to be constantly switching memory cards" would have sufficed.

Hmm, I have my SD card set up exactly as yours, emuMMC on a hidden partition, and my Switch never prompted me that there was something wrong with it and that it would try to fix it. My guess is that you possibly corrupted the content by pulling the SD card at the wrong moment. No idea how to easily fix it, but you might have to do it the hard way, re-formatting and re-installing your stuff. And my advice still stands, use Hekate with USB cable instead of pulling out the SD card.

 

[greenchili]

Hmm, I have my SD card set up exactly as yours, emuMMC on a hidden partition, and my Switch never prompted me that there was something wrong with it and that it would try to fix it. My guess is that you possibly corrupted the content by pulling the SD card at the wrong moment. No idea how to easily fix it, but you might have to do it the hard way, re-formatting and re-installing your stuff. And my advice still stands, use Hekate with USB cable instead of pulling out the SD card.

Try completely disabling hekate. Leave your SD card in. Power off the Switch. Power it back on without loading a payload. I assume you have a non-patched switch as well? My PC did say that the E: drive needed to be checked. On my system D: is the hidden partition and E: is the rest. Maybe the switch was complaining about the non-hidden partition.

I assume a windows PC still complains about the extra partition with your setup? I just want to make sure.

Thanks

 

[Dust2dust]

Try completely disabling hekate. Leave your SD card in. Power off the Switch. Power it back on without loading a payload. I assume you have a non-patched switch as well?

I assume a windows PC still complains about the extra partition with your setup? I just want to make sure.

Thanks

Why would you want to disable Hekate? It's probably the most useful homebrew existing on the Switch, only second to Atmosphere. If I turn off my Switch and turn it back on without injecting a payload (and of course without entering RCM) than the Switch boots normally to my ancient firmware (v2.3.0). And it's mostly useless in that state, that's why I never do that. My PC is Linux only, so I can't really help you with the Windows question. But as far as I remember (it's been years), inserting the SD card in the PC didn't generate any error messages or prompt to format.

 

[greenchili]

Why would you want to disable Hekate? It's probably the most useful homebrew existing on the Switch, only second to Atmosphere. If I turn off my Switch and turn it back on without injecting a payload (and of course without entering RCM) than the Switch boots normally to my ancient firmware (v2.3.0). And it's mostly useless in that state, that's why I never do that. My PC is Linux only, so I can't really help you with the Windows question. But as far as I remember (it's been years), inserting the SD card in the PC didn't generate any error messages

I was just naming a scenario that would cause the issue that happened to me. Since it is a possible scenario I would hope someone would have some form of an answer. And yes people do reasons for disabling hekate which I already stated. I'm not sure how you missed it.

Thanks

 

[Draxzelex]

Howdy, so... yeah, now I'm suffering from this problem that seems more widespread since 2019.
Brief recap:

• Act 1: I update my Nintendo Switch to latest Atmosphere 1.6.2, Hekate to 6.0.7, and FW to 17.0.0 ALL IN EMUMMC (I don't touch the sysMMC since I bought the console already banned). Also, I update sys-patch and sigpatches before begining the process to avoid any error.
• Act 2: The console errors, and I face a fucking "Failed to apply ‘nosigchk’!" error while restarting. I update again sigpatches et voila, the console now turns on, but now I cannot run any fucking software aside from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, since every game now loops on the "Checking whether this software can be played" error.
• Act 3: I update again everything: Atmosphere, Hekate, sigpatches (again), I unlink and relink my profiles to fake NNIDs, even do clean installs of everything, and nothing works.

Does anybody knows what could I do now?

Where did you download the patches from? Not all places have updated patches or even the correct ones.

 

[greenchili]

But just to be clear... I eventually want to move to a scenario where this switch is solely used for the shady business and buy a newer switch for the online legit stuff ( for the family ). But that may be a while.

In the meantime... this is the impression I get. For the best possible way to reduce chances of getting a console banned.

(keep in min my switch is non patched)

Setup an SD card with emuMMC. I already setup some exosphere stuff and some text files in the "hosts" directory to preven the switch in emuMMC (emuNAND) from connecting to Nintendo's servers. Use hekate in "auto RCM mode" to prevent any possible "incidents". Keep the switch in "standby mode" as much as possible. If for some reason it gets powered down or loses power than I have to connect it to a pc or phone to send a payload.

Boot and select emuMMC (emuNAND) for when I want to do the shady stuff. Never use online in that mode. Only install shady things in that environment. Right now I've been limiting installs to the emuNAND so that the "accessible" part of my SD card can be reserved for all of the homebrew junk. But as far as I can gather in this mode everything is essentially isolated.

Boot select sysNAND when I want to to do legit stuff. In this mode it sounds like everything should be ok. I'm just surprised that Nintendo doesn't scan the SD card for an "atmosphere" folder or even the "EmuMMC" folder and flag people for that. Or is that not the case?

 

[Blythe93]

I haven't ejected my SD card from my Switch in years, literally.

And here I did it more than 20 times (at the very least) when I was trying out SX OS and Atmosphere dual boot until I eventually gave up for the time being on having SX OS as well. Ever since then, I haven't removed my microSD card either, but it was a fun experience (thankfully without my microSD card breaking).

link for a good one would be massively appreciated

I'd suggest looking for them on AliExpress which is where I bought mine. Depending on where you live, shipment may vary. I bought 3 of them for $5 or something.

Stupid question, once my Switch is ready to go and I managed to mod and install games, will I be required to repeat certain steps in the future? Such as launching payloads etc?

Only if your Switch powers down, you'll need push your fuse.bin payload in order to launch Atmosphere. Other than that, I don't really think so.

 

[greenchili]

And here I did it more than 20 times (at the very least) when I was trying out SX OS and Atmosphere dual boot until I eventually gave up for the time being on having SX OS as well. Ever since then, I haven't removed my microSD card either, but it was a fun experience (thankfully without my microSD card breaking).

I'd suggest looking for them on AliExpress which is where I bought mine. Depending on where you live, shipment may vary. I bought 3 of them for $5 or something.

Only if your Switch powers down, you'll need push your fuse.bin payload in order to launch Atmosphere. Other than that, I don't really think so.

I'm curious. What size microSD cards did you get for those prices? I have a couple 64g.. but obviously they are not quite big enough. Especially with the EmuMMC eating up half of it.

 

[Blythe93]

I'm curious. What size microSD cards did you get for those prices? I have a couple 64g.. but obviously they are not quite big enough. Especially with the EmuMMC eating up half of it.

I have SanDisk Extreme 256GB in my Switch. 256GB is the lowest I'd go for and I paid around $55 for it. 512GB go for $75-90. Just make sure that you're buying legit ones, not fake microSD cards.

 

[Morricorne]

Fantastic, thanks for replying. Basically my best bet is to follow the steps in “Set up Atmosphere with EmuNAND on Erista (Unpatched)”, correct? I also want to confirm which jig I should buy, a link for a good one would be massively appreciated. Stupid question, once my Switch is ready to go and I managed to mod and install games, will I be required to repeat certain steps in the future? Such as launching payloads etc?

You only need send payload one when you Run CFW first time after Switch shootdown. If you not power of Switch. Don't need to send payload again with tegrarcm. If your Switch is v1 its mean is erista if i remember correctly. Then Yes you need to backup your nand first. Then create emunand on SD card. I recommend using file based emunand. Its simpler. I do not use jig and rcm loader. I have hwfly on my oled. I won't comment on this. If you set emunand with guides from rentry.org. And You block all Nintendo servers. Then you good to go. To install any games without problem with dbi. I've been using it this way for three years now on my next Switch console. I owned v1, lite and now Switch oled. Everything works fine and I've never been banned. Most important is block Nintendo servers connection.

 

[MayorBryce]

Here's my stupid question that probably has an answer somewhere. Is anyone looking for softmod exploits for OLED Switches? In a few years, I'd like to be able to hack my OLED without the risk of bricking it via messing up a hardware hack. I understand only v1 Switches have an exploit, but I'm wondering if anyone is looking for exploits for other versions.

 

[Hayato213]

Here's my stupid question that probably has an answer somewhere. Is anyone looking for softmod exploits for OLED Switches? In a few years, I'd like to be able to hack my OLED without the risk of bricking it via messing up a hardware hack. I understand only v1 Switches have an exploit, but I'm wondering if anyone is looking for exploits for other versions.

There is no software based exploit outside of fusee gelee and deja-vu. You need modchip for OLED.

 

[Lamcza]

sup boys how is that 17 firm safe to update or just better to w8 some more ? thx

 

[Blythe93]

sup boys how is that 17 firm safe to update or just better to w8 some more ? thx

On my primary Switch, I'm still on 16.1.0|AMS 1.5.5 since there are no games yet that require higher firmware revision.
On my secondary Switch, however, I've recently updated to 17.0.0|AMS 1.6.2 to test if everything's working properly and so far so good. I haven't run into issues personally but note that some games might stop working (in most cases, reinstall is all that it takes to fix them, with the most recent versions of installers) or you might experience crashes such as when trying to connect to the Internet (if you've blanked your prodinfo in the past you need to either restore it or set up DNS MITM as well).

So, take your pick.

 

[desgrassia]

Hi again,

I still have one unanswered question, I cannot find a definitive answer even after searching here and googling around. It is about the gamecard reader.

Since I am going to update my clean (hopefully) sysNAND to 17.0.0 (now it sits at 2.3.0) in order to play my legit games and go online, I do not understand if this will *in any way* update my gamecard reader or if there is a way to avoid that. Or anyway if I should even bother with that, also since I will need to be able to read the physical games I have bought

My current situation is: I surely updated it once, when I installed OS 5.x with ReiNX some years ago, in fact now on 2.3.0 it does not work.

I read the table here: https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/extras/updating/ and so I believe that there are more updates waiting, but I cannot find any informations about any way to avoid that (i.e. does it upgrade while installing new firmware or the OS itself does it after boot?). Also it would be useful to know, if that was possible, if I could still read gamecards with the latest OS but without updating it.

I hope that my question makes sense

Thank you

 

[Lamcza]

On my primary Switch, I'm still on 16.1.0|AMS 1.5.5 since there are no games yet that require higher firmware revision.
On my secondary Switch, however, I've recently updated to 17.0.0|AMS 1.6.2 to test if everything's working properly and so far so good. I haven't run into issues personally but note that some games might stop working (in most cases, reinstall is all that it takes to fix them, with the most recent versions of installers) or you might experience crashes such as when trying to connect to the Internet (if you've blanked your prodinfo in the past you need to either restore it or set up DNS MITM as well).

So, take your pick.

crashes and reainstaling games yea i will stay on 16 :X thx

 

[Morricorne]

Here's my stupid question that probably has an answer somewhere. Is anyone looking for softmod exploits for OLED Switches? In a few years, I'd like to be able to hack my OLED without the risk of bricking it via messing up a hardware hack. I understand only v1 Switches have an exploit, but I'm wondering if anyone is looking for exploits for other versions.

Only known soft exploit for Switch is only for unpatched v1 only. First revision.

 

[Draxzelex]

Hi again,

I still have one unanswered question, I cannot find a definitive answer even after searching here and googling around. It is about the gamecard reader.

Since I am going to update my clean (hopefully) sysNAND to 17.0.0 (now it sits at 2.3.0) in order to play my legit games and go online, I do not understand if this will *in any way* update my gamecard reader or if there is a way to avoid that. Or anyway if I should even bother with that, also since I will need to be able to read the physical games I have bought

My current situation is: I surely updated it once, when I installed OS 5.x with ReiNX some years ago, in fact now on 2.3.0 it does not work.

I read the table here: https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/extras/updating/ and so I believe that there are more updates waiting, but I cannot find any informations about any way to avoid that (i.e. does it upgrade while installing new firmware or the OS itself does it after boot?). Also it would be useful to know, if that was possible, if I could still read gamecards with the latest OS but without updating it.

I hope that my question makes sense

Thank you

If you're updating your sysMMC from 2.3 all the way to 17.0, there are several cartridge reader updates in between. Whether you want to update your cartridge reader or not depends on what is more important to you; the usefulness of being able to play your retail carts on 17.0 or the advantage of not having an updated cartridge reader. And currently, the only reason to not update your cartridge reader is if a future exploit such as an untethered coldboot requires an unupdated cartridge reader. If that prospect is not enticing enough for you, then you don't need to worry about irreversibly updating your cartridge reader. For the most part, a lot of people don't care. In my opinion, I think it makes sense. Even in the hypothetical scenario where a better exploit is released that necessitates the use of a cartridge reader that hasn't been updated, that also assumes you have a cartridge or something similar to make use of the exploit. The most likely scenario would be a specific game that would allow users to load the hack but that would involve buying said game which may even become scarce if such a hack were to be released. Therefore I think its fair to update your cartridge reader. But if you want to retain the ability to load cartridges on lower firmware versions in case a superior exploit is released in the future, then you will have to use the nogc patch to disable the cartridge reader on higher firmware versions in order to prevent it from being updated.

 

[desgrassia]

If you're updating your sysMMC from 2.3 all the way to 17.0, there are several cartridge reader updates in between.
[...]

Fair enough. I also am now in the spirit of thinking that I should just do what makes me enjoy my switch the most now and for the nearest future

Also, having already updated it once, it might already be past the point where it is no more exploitable (if ever it will be), so there even might be no reason to overthink all the thing.

Just for the sake of having more knowledge of what I am doing, do you know if the update is applied at time of firmware upgrade or if it is done when the reader is actually being used?

And thank you again for helping me understand (almost) everything I am doing. So I will not need to come back to this thread in future for upgrades and whatever. Or maybe I will be able to be one giving some answers instead of just making questions