Hacking Question regarding new games and cfw

[Onslawt]

Hey guys, I'm ready to delve into the world of hacking the switch and installing some CFW but I have a question. I know I read that if you get a NSP you can disable the firmware requirement on it however what about if you actually want to play a physical copy of a new game?

Take Smash for example, I already pre-ordered it but will I be able to pop it in and play it like normal if I am running a CFW and on firmware 5.1 if it requires a higher firmware? I'm sure there might be a workaround I just never read about it yet.

 

[LeMageFro]

You can only disable the firmware requirement to a lower firmware if both of them share the same encryption keys, so it's not that useful in the end. You won't be able to play a 6.0 game on a 5.1 FW for exemple, simply because 5.1 doesn't contain the keys used to encrypt the 6.0 game.

 

[Onslawt]

You can only disable the firmware requirement to a lower firmware if both of them share the same encryption keys, so it's not that useful in the end. You won't be able to play a 6.0 game on a 5.1 FW for exemple, simply because 5.1 doesn't contain the keys used to encrypt the 6.0 game.

Hmm damn so that means I will be unable to play smash upon release?

 

[LeMageFro]

Hmm damn so that means I will be unable to play smash upon release?

You probably won't if you stay on 5.1, but you can update to a higher firmware without burning any fuses if you use the homebrew choidujourNX. This way if there is ever a reason do downgrade back to 5.1 you'll be able to do it and to boot your switch regularly again (meaning without the need to go through RCM and use a custom bootloader like hekate). Right now the only firmware not supported by CFW yet is 6.2, so just don't update to this one. It should be supported soon, I bet before smash is released (and i think I read somewhere that smash won't even need 6.2 anyway).

Here you can find the topic for choidujourNX : https://gbatemp.net/threads/choiduj...ller-homebrew-for-the-nintendo-switch.513416/

 

[Maoh]

Smash hasn't even been released and is 5.1 so you'll be fine for a couple of months (I expect 6.0 and beyond games to be released halfway next year or so) and at any rate you can use community tools like choidujour to update your console no probs (my console is 6.1 atm so don't worry about that, if you do it correctly you can revert to an older fw if you want).

 

[LeMageFro]

Smash hasn't even been released and is 5.1 so you'll be fine for a couple of months (I expect 6.0 and beyond games to be released halfway next year or so) and at any rate you can use community tools like choidujour to update your console no probs (my console is 6.1 atm so don't worry about that, if you do it correctly you can revert to an older fw if you want).

How do you know that Smash is going to be 5.1 ?

 

[Draxzelex]

How do you know that Smash is going to be 5.1 ?

Because Smash was leaked and it runs perfectly fine on 5.1. I just beat World of Light today. That's not to say they might include a day 1 patch (which I'm skeptical about) but the base game doesn't need firmware 6.X

 

[LeMageFro]

Because Smash was leaked and it runs perfectly fine on 5.1. I just beat World of Light today. That's not to say they might include a day 1 patch (which I'm skeptical about) but the base game doesn't need firmware 6.X

Ho ok my bad for misleading you Onslawt. Draxzelex do you know if the encryption keys have indeed changed between 5.1 and 6.0, or even 6.2 ? I took it as an exemple assuming that they change at each major firmware revision but maybe that was false in this case too.

 

[Draxzelex]

Ho ok my bad for misleading you Onslawt. Draxzelex do you know if the encryption keys have indeed changed between 5.1 and 6.0, or even 6.2 ? I took it as an exemple assuming that they change at each major firmware revision but maybe that was false in this case too.

They change every time a new fuse is burnt because that corresponds to a new masterkey. Firmwares 5.0-5.1 share the same key, then firmwares 6.0-6.1, and now firmware 6.2 has its own key.

 

[LeMageFro]

They change every time a new fuse is burnt because that corresponds to a new masterkey. Firmwares 5.0-5.1 share the same key, then firmwares 6.0-6.1, and now firmware 6.2 has its own key.

Ok thanks, at least my exemple wasn't completely false. Surprising that Smash only requires 5.1 keys, but hey that's convenient !

 

[Draxzelex]

Ok thanks, at least my exemple wasn't completely false. Surprising that Smash only requires 5.1 keys, but hey that's convenient !

Games are in development way before these new firmwares come out. That's why there are no base games that require even firmware 6.0 at this time. By next year, games will eventually start requiring 6.0 and maybe by next spring, we'll see games requiring 6.2. Basically, there's a bit of lag time between a new firmware update and a game's firmware requirement. Again, day 1 updates can subvert this but these are less common than people believe.