Hacking Question Are my legit carts safe?

MrMoo · Oct 7, 2018

Good morning/afternoon/evening,

This is probably a really dumb question, but I've been doing a ton of reading and searching and I'm just not able to find the clear answer to the question I have. After reading all of the stuff about "banned" certs on legit carts, I've very confused. I completely get the whole situation if you were to pull the cert off the cart and dump that to your system (or other shady stuff) and that getting the cart banned. However, what about the instances where you just put a legit cart you own in a modded switch? Say, I let a friend use a cart that I have put in my modded switch. (purchased brand new, mind you) My switch has not been online or anything like that (and I never intend to do that), but does that mean he now runs the risk of being banned for using a cart I put in my modded switch? What if he uses that cart online in his legit switch and then I put it back in my modded switch?

I hope someone can point me to some information on that one. I knew what I was getting in to when I modded the thing, but... I never really expected a scenario like this and I was unable to find anything specifically related to this question.

urdaddy · Oct 7, 2018

nothing to worry here. move along

MrMoo · Oct 7, 2018

urdaddy said:
nothing to worry here. move along

Couldn't tell if this was an answer or a troll.

. I might just be being an idiot, but I share games with my friends quite a lot. So it's a bit of a concern for me.

Draxzelex · Oct 7, 2018

If a console is hacked, you always risk a ban with everything associated; console certificate, Nintendo account, and cartridge header. Doesn't matter if you own it or not. Nintendo cares that you hacked the console because that means you violated the Terms of Service which will lead to a ban. Don't hack the console if you want it to be safe.

MrMoo · Oct 7, 2018

Draxzelex said:
If a console is hacked, you always risk a ban with everything associated; console certificate, Nintendo account, and cartridge header. Doesn't matter if you own it or not. Nintendo cares that you hacked the console because that means you violated the Terms of Service which will lead to a ban. Don't hack the console if you want it to be safe.

My concern isn't exactly with the console itself, I was well aware (or so I thought) of what could happen to it (and so far, so good, but it's not like I ever used it online). I don't exactly intend to ever use those carts with this console again for safety reasons, but they were used with it in the past. My concern is only with those carts causing my friends issues.

Draxzelex · Oct 7, 2018

MrMoo said:
My concern isn't exactly with the console itself, I was well aware (or so I thought) of what could happen to it (and so far, so good, but it's not like I ever used it online). I don't exactly intend to ever use those carts with this console again for safety reasons, but they were used with it in the past.

Nintendo has the ability to ban game cartridge headers as well as consoles. The risk still remains. Its greater if it was used since you have no idea if the previous owner(s) dumped and actively use them.

MrMoo · Oct 7, 2018

Draxzelex said:
Nintendo has the ability to ban game cartridge headers as well as consoles. The risk still remains. Its greater if it was used since you have no idea if the previous owner(s) dumped and actively use them.

These carts were purchased by me brand new. I just let my friend use them in his Switch and I used them in my modded switch in airplane mode.

Draxzelex · Oct 7, 2018

MrMoo said:
These carts were purchased by me brand new. I just let my friend use them in his Switch and I used them in my modded switch in airplane mode.

Do you plan to keep your hacked console in Airplane Mode?

MrMoo · Oct 7, 2018

Draxzelex said:
Do you plan to keep your hacked console in Airplane Mode?

Forever and always. It was online a handful of times right before I modded it and then never again. I updated to 5.1 after and never went online again.

Draxzelex · Oct 7, 2018

MrMoo said:
Forever and always. It was online a handful of times right before I modded it and then never again. I updated to 5.1 after and never went online again.

Then as long as the hacked console never connects online, your friend can play it without any worries so long as he doesn't provide copies of the header to other people.

Freezerbomb · Oct 7, 2018

MrMoo said:
does that mean he now runs the risk of being banned for using a cart I put in my modded switch? What if he uses that cart online in his legit switch and then I put it back in my modded switch?

1) No, because he didn't violate the TOS.
2) No, they only ban game card certs if the certs were copied and used online simultaneously. (don't do that)

Philourer · Oct 7, 2018

Your friend is 99.9999999% safe. Nintendo isn't going to ban a console because it used the same physical cart that you used, ESPECIALLY if they never even knew it was in your console.

If your console did get banned, and if they logged certs of every cart you and your friend ever used...don't panic, just take off the last three 9s, your friend is now only 99.9999% safe. If you backed up your cart to xci (and explicitly backed up its cert), and Nintendo is able to determine that you were playing it as an xci (it seems they can't as if yet, but there's no guarantees), then I'd say your friend is about 99.7% safe. The cart though, not so much.

The actual danger to your friend's console would be if you both played online using the same cart at the same time (obviously, one of the consoles is modded and actively pirating). Even then, I'd wager money that your friend's console would not be banned, and that the cart's cert would PROBABLY not be banned.

Freezerbomb · Oct 7, 2018

Philourer said:
Your friend is 99.9999999% safe.

100% / 3 = 33.3333333%

33.3333333% * 3 = 99.9999999%

100% = 99.9999999%

100% safe

bundat · Oct 7, 2018

From what I understand, what you are asking is if modded/hacked Switches leave traces of hacking/modding in game carts.

No, afaik, they don't.
Afaik, carts are readonly, and any data related to the game (e.g. saves) are stored only on your Switch's NAND.

In your scenario (where you will never go online with the hacked Switch), the ones who will borrow your carts have no risk.

BUT if you ever go online, and have used a cart dumper homebrew on your carts, this thread might be of interest to you:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ban-reports-on-2nd-hand-games-played-on-non-modded-switch.519986/

Philourer · Oct 7, 2018

If Nintendo were truly banning unmodded consoles simple for having a cart inserted that had it's cert banned, I think we'd have more than one report (which isn't even direct from the person affected). I'm not one to believe in conspiracy theories, so I won't comment on that. My guess is either the person is lying (maybe they did mod their console, or perhaps they never got a ban and are just trolling) or maybe, just maybe, the cart in question had it's cert shared with many people. If I were Nintendo and two carts were online with the same cert, I'd let it slide. Twenty, I'd ban the cert at the very least, and maybe consider some console bans.

Just an educated guess on my part. I could be wrong, anything's possible.

MrMoo · Oct 7, 2018

You guys are awesome, thank you very much for the answers. I have no intention of ever attempting a dump or going online. I'm sure someone out there (who is also lurking) were wondering the same things.

Hacking Question Are my legit carts safe?

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