Hacking Homebrew Project Discussion: Bringing back SXOS-style XCI HDD Loading to Atmosphere?

[SonyUSA]

So, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Although I don't have the necessary knowledge to do this, I'll study the subject a bit. Thank you for your comment. Do you have any links or places where I can find this branch?

It was largely blacklisted by the community because of the vitriol around Xecuter at the time, and my old primary hard drive died and I lost a ton of old Switch stuff... so it may be difficult to get a copy. Because it was binaries only, you'd be hard pressed to be able to do much of anything with it even if you found a copy...

Edit: You miiiight be able to find it one of the old HATS packs, my memory is a little foggy but I think they had it at one time...

 

[Jhen97]

It was largely blacklisted by the community because of the vitriol around Xecuter at the time, and my old primary hard drive died and I lost a ton of old Switch stuff... so it may be difficult to get a copy. Because it was binaries only, you'd be hard pressed to be able to do much of anything with it even if you found a copy...

Edit: You miiiight be able to find it one of the old HATS packs, my memory is a little foggy but I think they had it at one time...

thank you very much

 

[Cylent1]

XCI loading is probably unlikely, it's simpler to implement storage redirection to USB (in the form of emuNAND or emuSD) and there's not really any benefit to XCI loading anyway... If all you want is to load games from USB, storage redirection would give you that.

You know you can buy 2TB MicroSDs right?

Some people just still dont get it!

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It was largely blacklisted by the community because of the vitriol around Xecuter at the time, and my old primary hard drive died and I lost a ton of old Switch stuff... so it may be difficult to get a copy. Because it was binaries only, you'd be hard pressed to be able to do much of anything with it even if you found a copy...

Edit: You miiiight be able to find it one of the old HATS packs, my memory is a little foggy but I think they had it at one time...

That's quite interesting. I was aware of the decrypted SX OS and subsequent cracked versions (which seemed to directly lead to HWFly/PicoFly), but I didn't realize somebody had reverse engineered it enough to be able to implement it into Atmosphere.

As far as my understanding goes, XCI loading requires including Nintendo keys in the code, at least that was how TX did it, so unless that requirement can be removed, you can bet that the Nintendo ninja's would DMCA it on the spot. You could always require that people find the key somewhere else and paste it into a file, at least the code itself would be less likely to get DMCA'd that way, but it's hardly ideal. That is probably a big reason why nobody really wanted to touch it.

 

[Jayro]

Hope, and it's always good to have hope. SD cards with more than 500 GB are hard to find and very expensive. You guys talked about 1 TB and 2 TB cards as if they were easy or cheap as water, haha.

You can find 512GB cards all day in retail stores, and online. I even got a 400GB one for my GoPro.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I agree with you, but I also agree that it's always good to have options: HDD, SD, SSD. If there's a feature or functionality that can be used, why not use it? If the SXOS had this function more than 7 years ago, any developer could do the same, even with Nintendo's rules. Are there any shady ways to release a dark version of Atmosphere? lol Rsrsrsrs

Sure, it might be nice to have. There are some games I only ever play docked because I treat them exclusively as couch multiplayer games. I could save space by putting them on an external drive.
To be honest, I don't really see myself actually doing that though, just because there is a small chance I'll at some point want to play in tabletop or online, and won't be able to because I didn't bring the drive with me.
It's just such a minor savings for me, because there are only a handful of games that I treat as couch multiplayer only, and for the rest, I would rather not deal with being tethered to an external drive whenever I take the Switch around with me.
But certainly having the option wouldn't hurt, and for people that only play docked, I can understand it makes a lot more sense.

This question comes up a lot, and while the storage situation right now is not ideal, as prices on flash storage continue going down and prices on 2.5" external HDDs stay the same (as they have for years and years at this point), it will sooner or later stop making sense to use external HDDs over SD. We're not quite there yet though.

 

[ChibiMofo]

Some people just still dont get it!

That's an ironic take from someone with your avatar and signature.

 

[Reploid]

ARe we there yet?

 

[Jhen97]

ARe we there yet?

We're not quite there yet; we need someone with the necessary knowledge, a dark room, and to share the content in some Telegram groups so that Nintendo doesn't sue us.

 

[l7777]

I got my 2TB cards for $120 each. Maybe that has gone up because of the everything shortage.

Yeah I just went and looked, multiply your price by 3 & then add another $10. I about fell off my chair. I didn't get quite as good a deal as you but still less than half the current asking price.

ARe we there yet?

Not sure if this was on purpose, but you sound like my 8 year olds on anything more than a 10 minute car ride.

Yes, I understand your point of view, but you know that cards with more storage are more expensive; you're considering your own situation and not that of others...
Besides, it's not just me who needs this, it's the community that longs for direct loading from an external hard drive.

This is likely a skewed perspective. There are a few that want the functionality, most of us are going along just fine without it.

 

[Jhen97]

Yeah I just went and looked, multiply your price by 3 & then add another $10. I about fell off my chair. I didn't get quite as good a deal as you but still less than half the current asking price.


Not sure if this was on purpose, but you sound like my 8 year olds on anything more than a 10 minute car ride.


This is likely a skewed perspective. There are a few that want the functionality, most of us are going along just fine without it.

I'm not even going to discuss this; the more options and features, the better. If you or others like being stuck with certain limitations, that's not my problem... Just look at the various threads and comments from people searching for this feature from the defunct SXOS!

Post automatically merged: Apr 2, 2026

This will likely be implemented in a modified version of Atmosphere on Telegram communities, but then you would need MigSwitch to know how they manage to simulate an original cartridge game using an XCI file, something that only TeamXeCuter with SXOS and MigSwitch should know and for which they possess the encryption keys. A homemade implementation is possible.

 

[SonyUSA]

That's quite interesting. I was aware of the decrypted SX OS and subsequent cracked versions (which seemed to directly lead to HWFly/PicoFly), but I didn't realize somebody had reverse engineered it enough to be able to implement it into Atmosphere.

As far as my understanding goes, XCI loading requires including Nintendo keys in the code, at least that was how TX did it, so unless that requirement can be removed, you can bet that the Nintendo ninja's would DMCA it on the spot. You could always require that people find the key somewhere else and paste it into a file, at least the code itself would be less likely to get DMCA'd that way, but it's hardly ideal. That is probably a big reason why nobody really wanted to touch it.

This is all exactly correct

 

[l7777]

I'm not even going to discuss this; the more options and features, the better. If you or others like being stuck with certain limitations, that's not my problem... Just look at the various threads and comments from people searching for this feature from the defunct SXOS!

Post automatically merged: Apr 2, 2026

This will likely be implemented in a modified version of Atmosphere on Telegram communities, but then you would need MigSwitch to know how they manage to simulate an original cartridge game using an XCI file, something that only TeamXeCuter with SXOS and MigSwitch should know and for which they possess the encryption keys. A homemade implementation is possible.

I'm not discounting that there is demand for the functionality, I just question whether that demand is as high as you believe. Personally I wouldn't want my portable device to be stuck to a dock because I couldn't decide which games I really care about vs the ones I play only from time to time.

 

[kidkat210]

Just to throw my 2 cents in, back when I used sxos and the xci hdd loading. The performance was worse compared to just installing the xci. Mainly happened in bigger file sized games. alot of stuttering, falling through maps, and various 1off glitches. I cant deny it was possibly my setup but I tried with multiple docks and SSD's and still encountered bugs.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I'm not discounting that there is demand for the functionality, I just question whether that demand is as high as you believe. Personally I wouldn't want my portable device to be stuck to a dock because I couldn't decide which games I really care about vs the ones I play only from time to time.

The demand isn't as high, there used to be somebody asking about it what felt like every other day.
When SX OS came out, 1 TB MicroSD cards either did not exist, or they cost as much as the entire Switch ($300++). Obviously, it didn't make sense to spend that kind of money just on storage. I still don't even own a 1 TB SD card, I made do with 512 GB due to cost, and since I barely had to delete older stuff a couple times it wasn't worth upgrading when they became cheaper.

 

[Cylent1]

That's an ironic take from someone with your avatar and signature.

It's ironic someone where you are from even is capable of having an opinion!
I didn't ask for yours....

 

[TomSwitch]

Hi everyone, health to you!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about one of the best features we lost with the end of SXOS: the ability to mount and play XCI files directly from an external HDD/SSD via the dock or USB-C, without having to install them to the SD Card/emummc.

With SD cards getting full so fast and the constant "install/uninstall" cycle wearing out our storage, I feel like the scene is missing a dedicated External Storage Loader.

I know the Atmosphere team (SciresM) won't implement this due to their "out of scope" and legal policies, but I wanted to hear from the community:

1. Technically speaking, how hard would it be to create a standalone Sysmodule (something like a "sys-usb-loader") that intercepts the filesystem and redirects it to a USB drive?
2. Is there any active project currently looking into fsp-srv redirection for external media?
3. Would anyone else here be interested in seeing this feature as a separate homebrew/sysmodule?

I believe that for those of us with huge libraries, being able to plug in a 2TB HDD and just play would be a game-changer for the current Switch scene.

What are your thoughts? Is it a "pipe dream" or could some talented dev make this happen?

I'm new to this forum, so I apologize for any incorrect quotes in this post. And I want to thank everyone who dedicates their time to the community, whether developers or not, despite the ingratitude of many. I wish you all the best in your lives...

Ask Mythos to do it, but ask it to hack Switch 2 first.