Erista SXOS to Atmosphere - Questions

[esmith13]

Hi all,

I have a few questions before I migrate from an SXOS software license on my Erista Switch to Atmosphere.
I would appreciate it if some of you would spare the time to point me the correct way and/or ease my mind.

My Setup:
Launch Switch (Erista) on "current" release of SXOS - NO EmuNAND used (this is a second/spare switch that I have NO intentions of connecting to NSO or using a "real" NSO account on. Internet used only for shops in tinfoil)
OFW 11.0.0 (exfat version) - updated with choidujournx since the beginning so no fuses burned since well over a year ago.
SD card currently exfat formatted
AutoRCM enabled
have the SXOS USB-C Dongle, as well as a generic one I can load any payload on.

So, I understand how to do everything with SXOS well, and believe I understand how to setup Atmosphere in general but a few things to my eye appear unaddressed in the rentry site docs for migrating from SXOS to Atm. based on my also reading the section on starting from scratch with an Erista Switch.

My Questions:
1) Since I use SysNAND @ 11.0.0 not an EmuNAND, should I start with just setting up Atmosphere as a new install (not a migration from SXOS) using an 11.0.0 compatible version of Atmosphere and then first update Atmosphere to current, then SysNAND to 13.1.0 with Daybreak? If so, what Atmosphere version can/must I use for 11.0.0 OFW temporarily?
2) When I do update the SysNAND from 11.0.0 to 13.1.0, do I still use the exfat version? Should I be switching to fat32 for firmware install? If so, at what stage do I need to reformat my switch SD card? Does Daybreak even ask/care about that choice like choidujournx did?

Again - I'm very comfortable in general with doing all of this, just not sure the steps for my EXACT setup.
Thanks to anyone who can help answer these questions and sorry for the long read. Just wanted to be as detailed as possible to make sure I get the right answers.

 

[spkatsi]

Q1. Latest Atmosphere + fuse should support all past OFW

Q2. Technically not required, BUT eventually you will do this in order use some HB apps.
Think this migration as the perfect opportunity to format your SD card to FAT32

-You need Atmossphere + fuse.bin
-If you want only Atmosphere and no Emummc then you do not need hekate
-You need sigpatches for fuse.bin
-You need SX Gear (contains boot.dat and boot.ini) Edit the .ini file and replace "payload.bin" with "fuse.bin"

Also, if you don't mind a ban, why not update OFW directly by Nintendo and just burn fuses?

 

[esmith13]

Q1. Latest Atmosphere + fuse should support all past OFW

Q2. Technically not required, BUT eventually you will do this in order use some HB apps.
Think this migration as the perfect opportunity to format your SD card to FAT32

-You need Atmossphere + fuse.bin
-If you want only Atmosphere and no Emummc then you do not need hekate
-You need sigpatches for fuse.bin
-You need SX Gear (contains boot.dat and boot.ini) Edit the .ini file and replace "payload.bin" with "fuse.bin"

Also, if you don't mind a ban, why not update OFW directly by Nintendo and just burn fuses?

Thanks so much for the reply!

When switching SD card to fat32 do I NEED to do an OFW install and choose fat32 at the exact time I'm switching formats and if so, update then reformat or the reverse?
Let's assume I want to migrate tonight (for convenience) but stay exfat for now - like literally just a day or two. Should I just stay on OFW 11.0.0 so when I migrate I can install 13.1.0 and choose fat32 version or can I do the 13.1.0 now as exfat and reinstall 13.1.0 as fat32 when ready to reformat SD card?

Also to clarify, for NO emunand:
don't put hekate_ctaer_5.6.5.bin on root of SD card?
fusee.bin then goes on root instead or still in /bootloader/payloads/ or both?
What do I put on my RCMloader as the payload then, fusee.bin or still hekate_ctaer_5.6.5.bin (either would be renamed as payload.bin of course)?

I don't want to burn the fuses simply because I CAN and you never know if that may be a good thing one day in the future. Also, not the end of the world if I get a hardware ban but why volunteer for it? My opinion of course...

 

[spkatsi]

Thanks so much for the reply!

When switching SD card to fat32 do I NEED to do an OFW install and choose fat32 at the exact time I'm switching formats and if so, update then reformat or the reverse?
Let's assume I want to migrate tonight (for convenience) but stay exfat for now - like literally just a day or two. Should I just stay on OFW 11.0.0 so when I migrate I can install 13.1.0 and choose fat32 version or can I do the 13.1.0 now as exfat and reinstall 13.1.0 as fat32 when ready to reformat SD card?

Also to clarify, for NO emunand:
don't put hekate_ctaer_5.6.5.bin on root of SD card?
fusee.bin then goes on root instead or still in /bootloader/payloads/ or both?
What do I put on my RCMloader as the payload then, fusee.bin or still hekate_ctaer_5.6.5.bin (either would be renamed as payload.bin of course)?

I don't want to burn the fuses simply because I CAN and you never know if that may be a good thing one day in the future. Also, not the end of the world if I get a hardware ban but why volunteer for it? My opinion of course...

I do not think it matters the "when" you transition to fat32, I would say the earlier, the better. (exfat = risking data loss).

Also, I think the SD card must be formatted in a PC (I don't know if it can be done in Switch - don't be confused by choidujournx)

In your case (and mine) we do not need Hekate (this means fuse.bin goes only in root).
For future updates it is better to not rename fuse.bin, instead you can edit the boot.ini file.

Btw. I get the point with the fuses

 

[esmith13]

I do not think it matters the "when" you transition to fat32, I would say the earlier, the better. (exfat = risking data loss).

Also, I think the SD card must be formatted in a PC (I don't know if it can be done in Switch - don't be confused by choidujournx)

In your case (and mine) we do not need Hekate (this means fuse.bin goes only in root).
For future updates it is better to not rename fuse.bin, instead you can edit the boot.ini file.

Btw. I get the point with the fuses

Thanks yet again.

So, LAST question I think...
as for the fat32/exfat situation - I get why and when in general I should switchover, but the SPECIFIC question is - at the moment I decide I'm ready to erase/reformat to fat32 - do I need to install a fat32 version of OFW or does the exfat OFW just add the additional driver and still works with both sd formats? If I DO need to install a fat32 specific OFW, can I install 13.1.0 exfat today (to delay reformatting) and re-install 13.1.0 OFW fat32 version over top of itself? If I can't do that I would also have to not FULLY update to 13.1.0 so I could still have that update to transition to fat32 with.

 

[spkatsi]

The SD card will be formatted in fat32 but it shouldn't matter because you are not using EmuMMC.
This means the OFW is stored only in sysNAND and not in SD card.

I cannot see how this can matter (beside a possible data loss in SD card).
The question is "how hard" requirement this is for Atmosphere but I don't have an answer.

 

[esmith13]

The SD card will be formatted in fat32 but it shouldn't matter because you are not using EmuMMC.
This means the OFW is stored only in sysNAND and not in SD card.

I cannot see how this can matter (beside a possible data loss in SD card).
The question is "how hard" requirement this is for Atmosphere but I don't have an answer.

I see. I thought choosing exfat or fat32 OFW determined how the SD CARD had to be formatted, meaning if I updated to 13.1.0 fat32 now, it wouldn't read my exfat SD card at all.

 

[spkatsi]

I see. I thought choosing exfat or fat32 OFW determined how the SD CARD had to be formatted, meaning if I updated to 13.1.0 fat32 now, it wouldn't read my exfat SD card at all.

Exactly. There is no exfat or fat32 OFW.
choidujournx just asks which file format your SD card already is (reason=?)

Keep in mind that changing the File System format is going to DELETE everything from your SD card.

 

[esmith13]

yeah.
Added all the atmosphere related files to my existing exfat card and booted into the latest Atmosphere successfully already.
All of my existing HB and installed games worked fine. I installed another small game from a shop via Tinfoil and that worked too.
Backing up my SD Card now to a PC.
Then I'll put the exfat card back in the switch and use it to install the 13.1.0 fat32 version.
If it actually boots all the way up with the exfat card after that, I'll shutdown right away, reformat the card in my PC to fat32 and copy data back over to card.
If it doesn't boot after installing the fat32 13.1.0, I'll hard power down and reformat card in PC and copy data back over.

Either way, this self-made nightmare should be over by the end of today. (400GB card, so ~2hr backup and ~4hr copy back)

Thanks again for all your time.

 

[spkatsi]

Glad to hear the transition works smoothly

Save your sanity from Tinfoil and check DBI and mtp responder function (https://github.com/rashevskyv/dbi)
This app alone makes convenient the use of Atmos + NSPs

 

[esmith13]

Thanks for the tip.
Familiar with doing this kind of thing thru Tinfoil and MTP but at first glance this looks very nice. I will definitely give it a go.

 

[faeterov]

Hi, I'm following the guide at rentry and it states that those who updated the sysnad with ChoiDujourNX should restore the backup of boot0/boot1 given that ChoiDujourNX corrupts the files.... Did you encounter this problem?

 

[esmith13]

Not at all. That said I no longer use ChoiDujourNX now that I'm able to run FW above 11.0 and instead use Daybreak.

Honestly I think the issue arises if you try newer firmwares with ChoiDujourNX, but if you were on SXOS you're not above 11.0/11.x anyway yet.