Updating 18.1 / AMS 1.7.1/S to 21 to play Metroid Prime 4 - Any Guidance?

[Bravestarr]

Dear forum members! You have always helped me in the past. I update my Switch 1 only when games arrive, I want to play. I have a mac and need some guidance how I proceed with this setup. Is there a special tutorial to update this firmware to the new one? And what about sig patches? This has been a pain in the past. Thanks for your help!

This post looks like there are no sig patches for CFW 21: https://gbatemp.net/threads/sigpatches-for-atmosphere-hekate-fss0-fusee-package3.571543/ "PLEASE DO NOT UPGRADE TO FW 20 UNLESS IS NEEDED. =/

 

[TomSwitch]

Dear forum members! You have always helped me in the past. I update my Switch 1 only when games arrive, I want to play. I have a mac and need some guidance how I proceed with this setup. Is there a special tutorial to update this firmware to the new one? And what about sig patches? This has been a pain in the past. Thanks for your help!

This post looks like there are no sig patches for CFW 21: https://gbatemp.net/threads/sigpatches-for-atmosphere-hekate-fss0-fusee-package3.571543/ "PLEASE DO NOT UPGRADE TO FW 20 UNLESS IS NEEDED. =/

If you don't want extra work just go 20.05 and 1.9.5, if you want 21 go ahead, there should be no problem with this game but there may be chance of problem for your other stuff when you are on AMS 1.10+, almost everything stop working if you don't recompile them.

 

[Bravestarr]

If you don't want extra work just go 20.05 and 1.9.5, if you want 21 go ahead, there should be no problem with this game but there may be chance of problem for your other stuff when you are on AMS 1.10+, almost everything stop working if you don't recompile them.

Okay, what do you mean with 20.05 and 1.9.5? Which is what? And isn’t there something that changed with sigpatches so I don’t need them anymore? And that about this little usb c with with the payload. Do I have to update that as well?

Thanks !

 

[TomSwitch]

Okay, what do you mean with 20.05 and 1.9.5? Which is what? And isn’t there something that changed with sigpatches so I don’t need them anymore? And that about this little usb c with with the payload. Do I have to update that as well?

Thanks !

What is your worry? That combo is the established one. It's the latest just a few days ago. If you want to work and exposure to some pain then go for 21 and 1.10, you will be fine in playing that boring game. If you use a lot of homebrew you may want to check that your must have got recompiled.

PS: If you go 20.05 and 1.9.5 you can always easily move to 21 and 1.10. Not the other way around.

 

[Bravestarr]

Okay, i go with the save way and update to 20.05 and 1.9.5. That means firmware 20.05 and Atmosphere 1.9.5 right?

And my worry? My kids use the thing for other stuff and I dont want to end up with games not working because of my stupidity. =) There was once an app I could run on the switch to start the update process. But I think it is gone? So something like:

1. to to this github repo,
2. download this
3. use setting xy so you do not need sigpatches OR
3. use this thread and install the sigpatches...
...

Because everytime I tried it on my own and followed tutorials, I ended up here and someone said "Well, of course you had to usw this because you did that." =D

 

[TomSwitch]

Okay, i go with the save way and update to 20.05 and 1.9.5. That means firmware 20.05 and Atmosphere 1.9.5 right?

And my worry? My kids use the thing for other stuff and I dont want to end up with games not working because of my stupidity. =) There was once an app I could run on the switch to start the update process. But I think it is gone? So something like:

1. to to this github repo,
2. download this
3. use setting xy so you do not need sigpatches OR
3. use this thread and install the sigpatches...
...

Because everytime I tried it on my own and followed tutorials, I ended up here and someone said "Well, of course you had to usw this because you did that." =D

I have only one advise, start with a clean atmosphere directory. Overwriting the directory is only advisable if the change is very minor. If you are a pirate you probably want to get the latest sys-patch from impeeza and block access to Nintendo servers with your favorite method. Update your firmware when you have done the above with daybreak.

You should be fine with the list at this post except use atmosphere 1.9.5 instead of 1.10 pre-release with firmware 20.05. You can also try 1.10 if you want to dip you feet in, reverting atmosphere is easy and mostly pain less.

Thread 'Preliminary list of updated homebrew apps and tools for FW 21.0.0 | AMS 1.10.0 | Please add your findings!!!'

Nov 17, 2025

UPDATING TO NEW FIRMWARE 21.0.0 IS NOT RECOMMENDED. THERE ARE COMPATIBILITY ISSUES WITH A LOT OF HOMEBREW APPS.

UPDATED APPS for new firmware 21.0.0 (download the MODDED files if there is no official release for FW 21.0.0). USE the modded files with CAUTION. Not all modded apps have been tested.

YOU CAN USE THIS TOOL TO AUTOMATICALLY PATCH your NRO and OVL files to support FW 21.0.0

MAIN TOOLS:
Hekate: Here.
Atmosphère: Here.
sys-patch module: Here.

OTHER TOOLS:
Ultrahand Overlay: Here.
nx-ovlloader for...

• alcab
• Replies: 760
• Forum: Nintendo Switch

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[Nico128]

EDIT: It works
I formated the SD card and started from the beginning.

firmware is 21.01.1
HATS-08122025-6fd71fe https://sthetix.info/hats/releases/

Then I installed Metroid with NS-USBLoader via the network
- Metroid Prime 4 Beyond [010019A01E2F2000][v1.0.0][US][Base].xci
- Metroid Prime 4 Beyond [010019A01E2F2800][v131072][US][Update v1.1.0].nsp

 

[Thelastunicorn]

EDIT: It works
I formated the SD card and started from the beginning.

firmware is 21.01.1
HATS-08122025-6fd71fe https://sthetix.info/hats/releases/

Then I installed Metroid with NS-USBLoader via the network
- Metroid Prime 4 Beyond [010019A01E2F2000][v1.0.0][US][Base].xci
- Metroid Prime 4 Beyond [010019A01E2F2800][v131072][US][Update v1.1.0].nsp

New ofw is 21.1.0 Atmosphere 1.10.1