help about Metroid Prime 4 Beyond

[Nyx24]

when in loading the game crashes and says "the software was closed because an error occurred" tried delete the game and redownload and yet still encounter this error

 

[Jack_Bauer]

you need to specify which firmware version you are on, which atomsphere, etc... in order to get help

 

[Nyx24]

you need to specify which firmware version you are on, which atomsphere, etc... in order to get help

it's 20.1.1 ams 1.9.5e

 

[zk90]

I’m on 20.5.0 and AMS 1.9.5E and having the same issue. Tried uninstalling the day 1 update and that didn’t work either.

 

[Nyx24]

I’m on 20.5.0 and AMS 1.9.5E and having the same issue. Tried uninstalling the day 1 update and that didn’t work either.

fixed my problem. just update the firmware

 

[zk90]

fixed my problem. just update the firmware

What’d you update to?

 

[Jayinem]

Some are having problems after installing with DBI even though the game will boot it will crash if this is the case reinstall with AwooInstaller + NS-USBLoader 7.2.

 

[bluedart]

Some are having problems after installing with DBI even though the game will boot it will crash if this is the case reinstall with AwooInstaller + NS-USBLoader 7.2.

Yeah, that's what I've been using to install for years. In my experience if it installs correctly from that it'll work just fine. I downpatched the xci with switch army knife like I did with ZA to get it to work on 18.0.0 but when I run the game it just does the "an error occurred message" after about 10 seconds of loading. Base game only as well as the 1.1.0 update. (FW 18.0.0|AMS 17.0|S)

Looks like one of the newer firmwares finally added something that newer games actually need to run in PRACTICE. I do not care enough about this particular game to risk losing access to all the games and homebrew I'm constantly using that all work perfectly on 18.0.0. I was pleasantly surprised when I got ZA working on here and this particular title is, very possibly, the last thing I will even install on my switch.

Out of curiosity, do we have a way to knowing exactly what 18.x is missing that this game needs specifically? One of the newer firmwares unlocked the clock speed a bit more, didn't it? Could this be simulated manually with homebrew for this one game, and if so what's the minimum value that would work?

 

[Drakull]

It comes with the 20.3.0 firmware in the cartridge. So if you are on that version or higher, you should be ok with the version requirements. Also here is the info from the nsc_builder about it:
Titleinfo:
- Name: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
- Editor: Nintendo
- Display Version: 1.0.0
- Meta SDK version: 20.5.0.0
- Program SDK version: 19.3.13.0
- Supported Languages: US (eng), UK (eng), JP, FR, DE, LAT (spa), SPA, IT, DU,
CAD (fr), KOR, TW (ch), CH
- Content type: Base Game or Application
- Version: 0 -> Application (0)

Required Firmware:
- Included Firmware: 20.3.0-80
- RequiredSystemVersion: 1275068416 -> (19.0.0)
- Encryption (keygeneration): 20 -> UNKNOWN
- Patchable to: 1275068416 -> (19.0.0)

 

[Nyx24]

What’d you update to?

i update my firmware to 21.0

 

[Morce3232]

I had to disable saltynx on 20.3.0 for the game to run (added exception).

 

[martinpittonus]

I have the firmware version 20.2.0 and AMS 1.9.2 and works fine.
What i have to do is disable saltynx, using ultrahand (L + ↓ + press R stick) and navigate to SaltyNX pressing Y button. And Reset the console. Once you made that steps, execute game.

Post automatically merged: Dec 8, 2025

I have the firmware version 20.2.0 and AMS 1.9.2 and works fine.
What i have to do is disable saltynx, using ultrahand (L + ↓ + press R stick) and navigate to SaltyNX pressing Y button. And Reset the console. Once you made that steps, execute game.

 

[protivakid]

I’m on 20.5.0 and AMS 1.9.5E and having the same issue. Tried uninstalling the day 1 update and that didn’t work either.

Same firmware, same AMS (though I have an E instead of an S), and same error when trying to boot Prime 4 from an official cartridge

 

[Earthshine]

Same firmware, same AMS (though I have an E instead of an S), and same error when trying to boot Prime 4 from an official cartridge

Does it do the same booting the cart from sysMMC?

 

[hornnic]

can also confirm disabling SaltyNX fixes the crashes on boot for OFW 19.0.1 and AMS 1.9.5

 

[jelbo]

can also confirm disabling SaltyNX fixes the crashes on boot for OFW 19.0.1 and AMS 1.9.5

With the cartridge?

 

[hornnic]

With the cartridge?

not sure about cartridge, I used a XCI found online

 

[Drakull]

can also confirm disabling SaltyNX fixes the crashes on boot for OFW 19.0.1 and AMS 1.9.5

I tried adding the code for the Metroid 4 game to the exceptions.txt file, but didn't seem to work.
Then simply connected by ftp to the console, removed SaltyNx (deleting the folder in the root and the one in the atmosphere/contents) and now the original cartridge is able to boot properly (before I kept getting an error). No need to reboot or anything, just deleting it's folders was all that was needed.

Since I don't care about changing fps or dock/portable mode (99% of the time playing docked) I don't think I'll install it back... also not helping it's cause that I didn't see anywhere an option so it doesn't keep writing to a log file.

Post automatically merged: Dec 10, 2025

Also funny enough, the version in the switch 1 cartridge for the game is 1.0.0, while the version for the game on switch 2 is 1.0.1 ... so if you run it with the switch 1 cartridge it runs fine without an update required... but as soon as you run the game using a switch 2 cartridge, you won't be able to run it with the switch 1 cartridge if you don't update the game.

 

[BigOnYa]

I can confirm, game and update works on FW 19.0.1. I had to patch game NSP and update with SAK using 21 prod key, to "Lower Firmwre" to get it to install in Awoo. Plays fine. Sorry @Blythe93 I was wrong when I originally said it could not be patched to lower FW.

 

[bluedart]

I can confirm, game and update works on FW 19.0.1. I had to patch game NSP and update with SAK using 21 prod key, to "Lower Firmwre" to get it to install in Awoo. Plays fine. Sorry @Blythe93 I was wrong when I originally said it could not be patched to lower FW.

So it looks like I only need to update to 19.0.1 then? For compatibility and stability reasons that should be okay. 19 didn't lose any memory for homebrew after all. I already got MP4 installed on 18.0.0 using SAK to downpatch it; the game just fails to boot after about 8 seconds or so. What specific version of Atmosphere would you recommend, and will that require an exact lower version of sigpatches since I'd be on 19 and not 20? (They don't by any chance have a special .bin I can flash to avoid using the sysmodule again, do they?) Another weird thing that I've been constantly reading is SaltyNX brings compatibility issues galore—is there a way to not have it? I don't think I need it at all.

Thanks for any help with this. I know this is a specific use-case as most people already bit the 20.x bullet earlier.