Hacking SWITCH NOOB PARADISE - Ask questions here

[randomgbanoob123]

I have physical botw. Can I install update nsps and dlcs in cfw and have it work? Or perhaps dump my own physical copy easily?

 

[Draxzelex]

So just making sure on a few things:

1) NAND backup/restore has a limited amount of uses, correct? Basically since you're rewriting the entire NAND, this isn't the healthiest for the system... This is why I'm planning on just using two Switches. So my process for my main sytem (The one to keep clean) would be RCM -> Backup NAND -> Install Homebrew -> Backup Saves -> Restore NAND. This method should leave my main system clean and intact, correct?

2) As for the second system, I would then do RCM -> Backup NAND -> Install Homebrew -> Use ChoiDujourNX -> Restore Saves. Then is I ever want to restore NAND, I can restore to my clean 1.0 FW, correct?

Thank you for the help, I just want to make absolutely sure what I'm doing is correct. Thank you so much!

1. You will likely never reach this limit in your lifetime. We're talking doing multiple flashes a day for several years. A couple of flashes a month will most likely not lead to permanent damage. However flashing something to the NAND still carries an inherent risk
2. Yes, you can also downgrade using ChoiDujourNX as well since it can install any firmware you provide it

I have physical botw. Can I install update nsps and dlcs in cfw and have it work? Or perhaps dump my own physical copy easily?

Updates and DLC are installed into the console, not the games themselves; that is to say the content doesn't mind whatever format the game is in.

 

[thejellydude]

1. You will likely never reach this limit in your lifetime. We're talking doing multiple flashes a day for several years. A couple of flashes a month will most likely not lead to permanent damage. However flashing something to the NAND still carries an inherent risk
2. Yes, you can also downgrade using ChoiDujourNX as well since it can install any firmware you provide it

Updates and DLC are installed into the console, not the games themselves; that is to say the content doesn't mind whatever format the game is in.

How long does a NAND flash generally take? I'm wondering if I'm making this process more complicated than I need to. I definitely don't mind using two systems if there's merit to it.

 

[Draxzelex]

How long does a NAND flash generally take? I'm wondering if I'm making this process more complicated than I need to. I definitely don't mind using two systems if there's merit to it.

From the few people that I've heard try it out, they reported it took several hours. However I don't believe this will be a permanent thing once a proper EmuNAND solution is fleshed out.

 

[thejellydude]

From the few people that I've heard try it out, they reported it took several hours. However I don't believe this will be a permanent thing once a proper EmuNAND solution is fleshed out.

Okay, so it sounds like my original method is best for now. Once a proper solution comes out, I can sell one of my systems and migrate all my saves to a single system. Thanks! Also, since you seem knowledgeable, would you suggest ReiNX over SXOS? I've done custom firmware on my Wii, WiiU, and 3DS, so while I don't claim to be an expert, I'm certainly capable. I plan on using my spare system for homebrew and backups of my single-player games, so I think ReiNX should be more than fine?

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Okay I asked a couple weeks ago but never got an answer, so I guess I'll ask again. Is it currently possible to launch Linux from a dongle, and if not what is the technical reason it can't right now.

 

[Draxzelex]

Okay, so it sounds like my original method is best for now. Once a proper solution comes out, I can sell one of my systems and migrate all my saves to a single system. Thanks! Also, since you seem knowledgeable, would you suggest ReiNX over SXOS? I've done custom firmware on my Wii, WiiU, and 3DS, so while I don't claim to be an expert, I'm certainly capable. I plan on using my spare system for homebrew and backups of my single-player games, so I think ReiNX should be more than fine?

The only thing that ReiNX doesn't offer over SX OS is raw .XCI loading however this is a very minor issue. One, you can convert .XCI files to .NSP format using a tool called 4NXCI. Two, you can directly install .XCI files using ZeroTwoXCI which is the same as mounting an .XCI functionally. Three, .XCI offers no advantages over .NSP while .NSP can do things that the .XCI format is incapable of such as loading updates and DLC. On top of that, ReiNX is free so I see no reason for buying SX OS now unless you're extremely lazy.

Okay I asked a couple weeks ago but never got an answer, so I guess I'll ask again. Is it currently possible to launch Linux from a dongle, and if not what is the technical reason it can't right now.

My knowledge of Linux is incredibly limited so take what I say with a grain of salt but doesn't Linux need something to mount off of in order to run? A dongle only provides the payload, not the environment for the payload. Linux has to be run from a storage device such as an SD card so I don't believe it will work with any traditional dongle unless it can double as a storage device.

 

[Adran_Marit]

Okay I asked a couple weeks ago but never got an answer, so I guess I'll ask again. Is it currently possible to launch Linux from a dongle, and if not what is the technical reason it can't right now.

*snip*
My knowledge of Linux is incredibly limited so take what I say with a grain of salt but doesn't Linux need something to mount off of in order to run? A dongle only provides the payload, not the environment for the payload. Linux has to be run from a storage device such as an SD card so I don't believe it will work with any traditional dongle unless it can double as a storage device.

My linux knowledge is more pc based but linux either runs as a live system (runs from usb/cd/sd that can be removed without touching the sotrage) or installed to the actual system.

so you would need a dongle with the payload telling it to launch from the SD card or for the dongle to double as a storage device... I think...

 

[thejellydude]

The only thing that ReiNX doesn't offer over SX OS is raw .XCI loading however this is a very minor issue. One, you can convert .XCI files to .NSP format using a tool called 4NXCI. Two, you can directly install .XCI files using ZeroTwoXCI which is the same as mounting an .XCI functionally. Three, .XCI offers no advantages over .NSP while .NSP can do things that the .XCI format is incapable of such as loading updates and DLC. On top of that, ReiNX is free so I see no reason for buying SX OS now unless you're extremely lazy.
My knowledge of Linux is incredibly limited so take what I say with a grain of salt but doesn't Linux need something to mount off of in order to run? A dongle only provides the payload, not the environment for the payload. Linux has to be run from a storage device such as an SD card so I don't believe it will work with any traditional dongle unless it can double as a storage device.

Sounds like I know what to do then. Do you have any guides you suggest? Otherwise I'll look around. Thank you for all the help!

 

[anothertemper]

Is it possible to do a full NAND backup with a FAT32 formatted card, or is exFAT required?

 

[alucard971]

My switch has been sitting at 2.1.0 after I found out Arms automagically updated my system firmware. I read the Switch hacks guide and it said anyone below 3.0.0 should wait for a firmware specific to the lower firmware versions. My poor Switch is collecting dust at the moment. I haven't been able to play the latest Breath of the Wild DLC, Mario Odyssey, and I won't be able to play Smash Brothers or Super Mario Party. I've been reading about Choi DuJour and upgrading/downgrading at will. However, if you upgrade past 4.0 I believe, it updates the game card reader chip and you will never be able to go back. Switch Hacks guide tells me that Pegaswitch should be my best choice, but its my understanding its mainly for developers (but I can play flog).

Is there an FAQ for lower firmware?

My end goal is this: I do not want to pirate games. I own and can dump any game I want to play. I want to play online and I want to use emulators (at least until there are virtual console releases).

 

[Simpl3lang]

Draxzelex
Thanks for helping

Your explanation to Desgrassia question was really helpful. Been watching videos of how tos but they dont go full detail. My day one switch is sitting on 3.0.0 collecting dust...forever. i want to start hacking now....but i ddnt know where to begin. Thanks for guide. Is 3.0.0 still worth keeping? The last time i read about hacking the switch....they mentioned 3.0.0 being tbe best firmware to stay on. Lol. Im so out of the loop.

 

[desgrassia]

If you're going to hack your Switch [...]

Thank you very much for the very detailed answer, I have much more clarity in my mind now. And it looks quite simple (well, provided I use the right amount of attention and common sense) even going back and forth from cfw and ofw seems reasonably easy to do.

I have one more question about "burning fuses": with a cfw installation I could choose to "autorcm" my switch, and that would be quite safe, I assume. How can I achieve the same "security" about not burning e-fuses when I decide to go back running an "original" firmware (flashed with choidujourn)?

 

[Scipio_]

If you're going to hack your Switch, regardless of whatever actions you take, you should backup the NAND as well as boot0/boot1 using Hekate. Not only will it be clean and hack-free but this will ensure that no matter what you do from that point onwards, you will be able to recover from pretty much any brick. A link to a tutorial can be found here (this also contains instructions on how to use CFW but you don't have to use it as I'll be linking more appropriate guides below).

After you do that, you can use ChoiDujourNX (which is a homebrew app) to update your firmware without burning fuses. The best firmware for CFW is currently 5.1 but if you want to play online, you must update to 6.0. In order to do so, you will need a CFW to load the homebrew application. There are currently 3 main CFWs available to users namely ReiNX, Atmosphere, and SX OS. The first 2 are free while the the third requires payment in order to enjoy all of its features, features that are available in the free CFW (apart from raw .XCI loading but the free CFW support .NSP loading which is objectively superior, think of .CIA from the 3DS).
ReiNX: https://reinx.guide/
Atmosphere: https://www.sdsetup.com/
SX OS: https://sx.xecuter.com/
Once you pick your CFW and update your firmware with ChoiDujourNX, then you're all set to load hacks/CFW/homebrew offline for as long as you want. When you are ready to go back online, you are going to need to restore the clean NAND you made which instructions on how to do that can be found in the first guide I linked you to. Then once you're done playing online and wish to return back to offline hacking, you will need to make another clean NAND backup. The reasoning for this is because the original clean NAND backup you made will have changed from Nintendo's perspective so if you restore it a second time, Nintendo will notice you modified your console. So you must repeat backing up and restoring clean NANDs everytime you go online then offline again.

The EmuNAND designed by TX is not a 'true EmuNAND' because it emulates the NAND from the NAND and not from an external location such as the SD card. What this means is that you run the risk of the EmuNAND partition being detected by Nintendo so I wouldn't risk using this to keep me safe. However if you want to give it a shot, there are no guides/tutorials on its proper usage so usage is highly discouraged as a result.

This is a great post. I feel like this should be stickied somewhere visible because a lot of people are looking for this info.

I've got a few questions. Won't going online via choidujour open you up to a ban if Nintendo verifies your burned fuses to the fw you're running?

Would the process you outlined log anything on your switch that could result in a ban? Ie running rcm, backing up nand, using a Homebrew app to update fw...it seems like that would leave some sort of trace on your console.

I guess the best option is to wait for a correctly implemented emunand?

 

[Anitsu]

where do you guys find game updates?

 

[Draxzelex]

Sounds like I know what to do then. Do you have any guides you suggest? Otherwise I'll look around. Thank you for all the help!

For ReiNX, you can find a guide at https://reinx.guide/

Is it possible to do a full NAND backup with a FAT32 formatted card, or is exFAT required?

You can do a partial NAND backup with Hekate using a FAT32 or exFAT formatted SD card. Further instructions on how to do a partial NAND backup can be found in the Hekate thread which is pinned here.

My switch has been sitting at 2.1.0 after I found out Arms automagically updated my system firmware. I read the Switch hacks guide and it said anyone below 3.0.0 should wait for a firmware specific to the lower firmware versions. My poor Switch is collecting dust at the moment. I haven't been able to play the latest Breath of the Wild DLC, Mario Odyssey, and I won't be able to play Smash Brothers or Super Mario Party. I've been reading about Choi DuJour and upgrading/downgrading at will. However, if you upgrade past 4.0 I believe, it updates the game card reader chip and you will never be able to go back. Switch Hacks guide tells me that Pegaswitch should be my best choice, but its my understanding its mainly for developers (but I can play flog).

Is there an FAQ for lower firmware?

My end goal is this: I do not want to pirate games. I own and can dump any game I want to play. I want to play online and I want to use emulators (at least until there are virtual console releases).

Right now, PegaSwitch has been replaced by the current exploit which works on more firmwares and has more access to the console. Not to mention that the switch hacks guide is severely outdated as a result. The only reason you would want to prevent the gc slot from being updated is if there is an exploit that only works on firmwares lower than 4.0 which needs a working gc slot.

This is the Catch22 of lower firmwares; they have potential access to unreleased exploits but are limited in what they can do until said exploits are released. There is a way to prevent the gc slot from being updated when you update past a firmware past 4.0 however this method involves making the gc slot not work on firmwares 4.0 and higher. If you are willing to do this when you use the homebrew app, ChoiDujourNX, (ChoiDujour is an exe that is eclipsed by ChoiDujourNX) to update your firmware past 4.0, you can still play all of your cartridge games. You will either have to convert them to .NSP format, install them as .XCI files, or download them as .NSP files for installation.

Draxzelex
Thanks for helping

Your explanation to Desgrassia question was really helpful. Been watching videos of how tos but they dont go full detail. My day one switch is sitting on 3.0.0 collecting dust...forever. i want to start hacking now....but i ddnt know where to begin. Thanks for guide. Is 3.0.0 still worth keeping? The last time i read about hacking the switch....they mentioned 3.0.0 being tbe best firmware to stay on. Lol. Im so out of the loop.

You can use any firmware to hack the Switch since we are currently relying on a hardware exploit however there may come future exploits that work on certain firmwares. I would highly recommend checking out ChoiDujourNX for updating your firmware without burning fuses. Fuses are what prevent downgrading in the first place so this homebrew app is designed to update your firmware without burning these. Keep in mind that it will install AutoRCM by default to prevent accidental fuse burning but all of the myths and rumors about AutoRCM are false and it is more useful than people give it credit for. If you are going to be using ChoiDujourNX to update your firmware, the best firmware for CFW is currently 5.1

Thank you very much for the very detailed answer, I have much more clarity in my mind now. And it looks quite simple (well, provided I use the right amount of attention and common sense) even going back and forth from cfw and ofw seems reasonably easy to do.

I have one more question about "burning fuses": with a cfw installation I could choose to "autorcm" my switch, and that would be quite safe, I assume. How can I achieve the same "security" about not burning e-fuses when I decide to go back running an "original" firmware (flashed with choidujourn)?

You can just downgrade by using ChoiDujourNX to flash your original firmware but this time, toggle AutoRCM off when doing so.

This is a great post. I feel like this should be stickied somewhere visible because a lot of people are looking for this info.

I've got a few questions. Won't going online via choidujour open you up to a ban if Nintendo verifies your burned fuses to the fw you're running?

Would the process you outlined log anything on your switch that could result in a ban? Ie running rcm, backing up nand, using a Homebrew app to update fw...it seems like that would leave some sort of trace on your console.

I guess the best option is to wait for a correctly implemented emunand?

Theoretically yes however there is no evidence to suggest that Nintendo or even Horizon is checking the fuse count. What they can check is if you updated to a firmware which is impossible to update to offline such as 6.0 which has possibly led to 2 bans hence why I don't suggest using ChoiDujourNX to update to that firmware to go online with. At least, not until a cartridge comes packaged with firmware 6.0

If you backup the NAND in Hekate, it is theoretically safe because Hekate is loaded in RCM which runs before the NAND does.

And even an EmuNAND that runs from the SD card can theoretically be detected if Nintendo sniffs in the right places.

where do you guys find game updates?

Finding game updates is actually kind of easy, if you know what to google. Just a few hints here:

First, find out the titleID of the game you want to update. Check this table and find the game you want to update (CTRL-F). Now that you have the titleID, change the third number from the right (0) to an 8. For example, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has titleID 0100152000022000. Change the third 0 from the right to an 8, so now you have 0100152000022800. In the Title Versions column, you can see that this game had 7 updates released so far. Usually, you only need the latest update. The latest is 458752. Now visit google and search for this: [UPD][0100152000022800][v458752]. Keep the brackets, they will help. Now the results should point to some sites allowing you to get the update. Just try a few until you get what you want. Easy enough.

 

[alexj9626]

If you're already on 6.0 and didn't restore your clean NAND already, then the NAND that you're running right now is the tainted one full of hacks that can flag you for a ban. If you don't mind taking the risk for an absolute 100% clean NAND, then you don't have to restore it. But if you do, then you have no other choice unfortunately.
I mean for all of the problems I'm hearing about 2.0, it seems like V1.9 seems to alleviate them as long as you aren't interested in EmuNAND since that's the only reason I would see someone running V2.0 right now.
Yes

Thanks! So one final question. Any way to update 2 NANDs backups to 6.0? I want to update the one i have now to 6.0 and then my old bakcup with 5.1 to 6.0.

I was thinking on using ChoiDNX so i update my current "not so clean" NAND, dont burn any fuses, bakcup that one, restore my old 5.1 that i would be able to do cause i didnt burn any fuses, update and restore. Just want to know if its possible, i know is kinda the hard way/unnecessary.

Thing is, is ChoirD safe? Havnt people been banned for using Choir to update to 6.0?

 

[Draxzelex]

Thanks! So one final question. Any way to update 2 NANDs backups to 6.0? I want to update the one i have now to 6.0 and then my old bakcup with 5.1 to 6.0.

I was thinking on using ChoiDNX so i update my current "not so clean" NAND, dont burn any fuses, bakcup that one, restore my old 5.1 that i would be able to do cause i didnt burn any fuses, update and restore. Just want to know if its possible, i know is kinda the hard way/unnecessary.

Thing is, is ChoirD safe? Havnt people been banned for using Choir to update to 6.0?

You can if you want to. Its just some paranoid people wouldn't even want to update their clean NANDs using homebrew but if you're content with doing so, ChoiDujourNX does make updating real easy and simple.

And about ChoiDujour/ChoiDujourNX banning people...the thing is, you cannot update to 6.0 offline without hacking the console. This is because there isn't a single cartridge that comes with that firmware. So if you update to firmware 6.0 before going online, then you most likely be flagged for a ban. In fact, I have reason to believe this happened to 2 users already.

 

[alexj9626]

You can if you want to. Its just some paranoid people wouldn't even want to update their clean NANDs using homebrew but if you're content with doing so, ChoiDujourNX does make updating real easy and simple.

And about ChoiDujour/ChoiDujourNX banning people...the thing is, you cannot update to 6.0 offline without hacking the console. This is because there isn't a single cartridge that comes with that firmware. So if you update to firmware 6.0 before going online, then you most likely be flagged for a ban. In fact, I have reason to believe this happened to 2 users already.

I was refering to my current "not so clean" NAND, so i could update that with ChoiDujorNX. Well, thanks for the info, better not risk it.

Only "problem" i see is that if i restore my clean NAND, update and then use homebrew to restore my saves backups, then that NAND is not clean anymore, so whats the point. Thats why im trying to keep that NAND clean from 5.1, cause it looks like using homebrew/other stuff on 6.0 is a little more risky.

 

[ganons]

Switch has been offline and flight mode long before fw 6 but when ever launching a game it says a software update is available and it will download now. Any way to get rid of this message?