This thread is outdated
A lot of information in this thread is heavilly out of date.
If you have time, and have Staff permission, feel free to edit this thread and remove this statement once necessary.

Some information that needs to be addressed:

• SX OS and Atmosphere now supports proper LayeredFS, instructions for using it has changed since this tutorial was made
• Supported Firmware information is out of date
• LFSKit needs to be updated to properly support non 5.x.x firmware
• Compatability chart needs to be re-made

-PRAGMA

WARNING

• DO NOT GO ONLINE WHEN DOING THIS (YOU WILL BE BANNED)

How to use LayeredFS for Backup Loading

Firmware Supported: ONLY 5.x.x
Use the PRAGMA LFS Kit below.

PRAGMA's LFS Kit

DOWNLOAD
SOURCE

• Go from NOTHING in your SD Card to playing a game backup in a few clicks!
• Decrypt .XCI -> romfs/exefs folder with main.nmpd auto edited aswell as folder's name auto renamed to donor titleid
• Download NOTHING except LFSKit!

ENJOY!

Picking a Donor Title and getting Donor TitleIDRunning Game Backups!

1. 
   
   1. A donor title is the application we will run to open the backup.
      Pick a game you don't care about (Download a Demo or a free game from eShop, for example Octopath Demo)
      saves are something no one knows much about, we don't fully know where or how they are stored.
      They might overwrite the donor titles save, so seriously pick a game you DONT care about, not a game you rarely play.
      
      
   2. I also recommend picking a donor title/game combo that has been tested and reported working just so you know if YOU did something wrong or not.
   3. Find the TitleID of the donor title you chose from http://nswdb.com or http://switchbrew.org/index.php?title=Title_list/Games
      Region must be the same, choose the TitleID for the base-game NOT for the update title, even if your updated.
2. 
   
   1. Once again, boot into Hekate-IPL (Step 1).
   2. Enter "Launch firmware" and select "RomFS".
   3. Your now in your system's home menu.
   4. Open the Donor Title you set the TitleID of on that folder and .npmd file earlier.
   5. The game will load up flawlessly.
      If you opened the Title lets say, Fortnite, and Fortnite booted, the titleid of the folder in sd:/atmosphere/titles/{fortnitetitleid} doesnt exist, or doesnt start with 0100.
      If it gives you an error screen, either you didnt edit the main.npmd properly, or its an incompatible title/donor combo.
   To see which games work and which dont using which donor titles, look below.
   If you notice that you used a combination of Game and Donor title that isnt in the list below, post in the thread and I will add it. (look under to see what I need to add to chart).
   

Troubleshooting

• Black Screen/Infinitely Loading
  Leave it for around 5 minutes then press the home button and go back into the game without closing it. Often this can do the job.
• Freeze when Loading
  Close the game and try again, its a common occurence, you may have to try up to 4-5 times before getting it to work, sometimes you may even have to reboot between retries.

 

[Youngsie]

Since updating to latest sd files donkey kong tropical freeze no longer works (loads banner then crashes) was using fortnite as donor before and was working fine tried several donors since and deleting save data to no avail?

Anybody able to replicate?

 

[PeterGemp]

Since updating to latest sd files donkey kong tropical freeze no longer works (loads banner then crashes) was using fortnite as donor before and was working fine tried several donors since and deleting save data to no avail?

Anybody able to replicate?

Yes, I was wondering why DK suddenly started throwing errors.
Workaround for now - with the caveat of losing all your progress: Use Kitten Squad as a donor for DK. Can confirm the combination is indeed working.

Anyway, do see it as a win rather than a loss - Fortnite is a versatile donor; use it for another game.

 

[HoTsHoTz79]

Not sure what i did wrong;

Using V4.1 SDFiles LayeredFS
Octopath runs the demo instead of Xenoblade 2 :S

 

[PeterGemp]

Not sure what i did wrong;

Using V4.1 SDFiles LayeredFS
Octopath runs the demo instead of Xenoblade 2 :S

I highly doubt it. Mind checking if you named the Xenoblade folder on your sdcard accordingly (TitleID of the Octopath Traveller DEMO 010096000B3EA000)?

 

[Rhapsody]

For LayeredFS... Incase you dont want to update your firmware and want to stay on 4.1, see below;

Watch this video first
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=207&v=oiE8Luc0c9E

Read the description as well on what you need... THEN

Follow this post (thread) on how to make LayeredFS work on 4.1.0;
https://gbatemp.net/threads/atmosphere-layeredfs.507653/#post-8059224

once you follow that thread, you will have the patched kernel file... which you need to replace with what you got earlier

Just FYI: Latest Atmosphere commits may or may not work with 4.1...

Can you clarify what I would do with the kernel-patched.bin?

 

[Stoned]

Not sure what i did wrong;

Using V4.1 SDFiles LayeredFS
Octopath runs the demo instead of Xenoblade 2 :S

Do you have correctly Patched your main.npdm? and a valid Folder structure?

 

[HoTsHoTz79]

I highly doubt it. Mind checking if you named the Xenoblade folder on your sdcard accordingly (TitleID of the Octopath Traveller DEMO 010096000B3EA000)?

Thank you, that did the trick... i dont know where i got the Title ID for Octopath demo from but it was incorrect

Do you have correctly Patched your main.npdm? and a valid Folder structure?

Thanks, after i followed @PeterGemp advise, your post helped me remember i had to patch the main.npdm with the correct Title ID

Can you clarify what I would do with the kernel-patched.bin?

when i was on 4.1, i grabbed those files from youtube link .. tossed them into sd card, then following the second link on how to create patched kernel for 4.1... i replaced / overwrite the file on my sd card

 

[Rhapsody]

when i was on 4.1, i grabbed those files from youtube link .. tossed them into sd card, then following the second link on how to create patched kernel for 4.1... i replaced / overwrite the file on my sd card

I grabbed the files from the Youtube link and put the hekate files onto my SD card, then replaced the existing kernel-patched.bin with the one I got from the utility in the second link. Doing so and then loading the RomFS option on hekate caused it to stay on 'Patching kernel' for an extended period of time, after which it went to a black screen (with the backlight on), and didn't load into Horizon after a few minutes of waiting. Selecting CFW works, although selecting the title that I have a redirect for causes it to wait at an infinite loading screen; loading any other game that doesn't have a redirect works fine. Assuming that's how to get LayeredFS working, it makes sense (since I'm trying to overwrite Super Mario Odyssey with Bayonetta 2, which isn't on the approved list, so it might just not be working).

Am I on the right track or am I doing something wrong here?

 

[Hondyn]

Game: Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy
Donor: VOEZ Demo
Saving normally

 

[Diavol0]

Now...dlc support pls
(Someone know a way to manually update the game?i have the update file for some game)thx

 

[Rhapsody]

I grabbed the files from the Youtube link and put the hekate files onto my SD card, then replaced the existing kernel-patched.bin with the one I got from the utility in the second link. Doing so and then loading the RomFS option on hekate caused it to stay on 'Patching kernel' for an extended period of time, after which it went to a black screen (with the backlight on), and didn't load into Horizon after a few minutes of waiting. Selecting CFW works, although selecting the title that I have a redirect for causes it to wait at an infinite loading screen; loading any other game that doesn't have a redirect works fine. Assuming that's how to get LayeredFS working, it makes sense (since I'm trying to overwrite Super Mario Odyssey with Bayonetta 2, which isn't on the approved list, so it might just not be working).

Am I on the right track or am I doing something wrong here?

Adding to this, attempting to load a game that is reported working with SMO as the donor (Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze) seems to end up with the same result in CFW mode. I'll try booting into RomFS mode and seeing how long it stays at that black screen to see if it needed more time.

 

[HoTsHoTz79]

I grabbed the files from the Youtube link and put the hekate files onto my SD card, then replaced the existing kernel-patched.bin with the one I got from the utility in the second link. Doing so and then loading the RomFS option on hekate caused it to stay on 'Patching kernel' for an extended period of time, after which it went to a black screen (with the backlight on), and didn't load into Horizon after a few minutes of waiting. Selecting CFW works, although selecting the title that I have a redirect for causes it to wait at an infinite loading screen; loading any other game that doesn't have a redirect works fine. Assuming that's how to get LayeredFS working, it makes sense (since I'm trying to overwrite Super Mario Odyssey with Bayonetta 2, which isn't on the approved list, so it might just not be working).

Am I on the right track or am I doing something wrong here?

RomFS option is correct, you have to use this instead of CFW to run backups
'Patching Kernel' for extended period of time doesn't sound right

Try these files.. these are my backup files from when i was on 4.1 and LayeredFS (RomFS) worked
https://www53.zippyshare.com/v/cKiNpB7r/file.html

Extract to your root sd, and overwrite... only file missing is the kernel-patched.bin which you have to create yourself using KernelPatcher

Also, I recommend trying a game thats listed to work for sure...

Edit - Someone posted the following that Bayonetta 2 works over Super Mario Odyssey in the following thread
https://gbatemp.net/threads/atmosphere-layeredfs.507653/page-4

I was able to generate a "kernel-patched.bin" for my 4.0.1 FW.
Then I used it and I tried "Bayonetta 2" over "Super Mario Odyssey" (cartridge game with ID 0100000000010000). Everything works fine (including saves). :-)
About saves, it seems Bayonneta 2 can save and it doesn't interfere with Mario saves:
- I let Bayonetta 2 saves
- I restart my Switch to check Mario save state: my 900 moons were still here :-)
- I restart my Switch in LayeredFS mode them start "Mario with boobs" (aka. Bayonetta 2 over Super Mario Odyssey): the save is still here too

However, tools like Checkpoint only see Super Mario Odyssey save. Do you know were Bayonetta 2 save is? Is it "mixed" with "Super Mario Odyssey" save?

Anyway, thank you very much for your help on 4.X FW!​

 

[Rhapsody]

Did that and it booted into Horizon this time. It appears that it works now... sorta. When I load into SMO (my donor), Tropical Freeze does load, but the bars from the generic Switch loading screen still appear on the top and bottom, until I press Home to go back to the home menu and then go back in; then it appears to work fine.

However, I'm noticing that switching to another game after loading a game causes the system to error and tell me to restart. This happens in both directions; if I load the donor and then load another game on my system, I get an error. If I load another game on my system and then the donor, I get an error. This happens whether or not the game is manually closed by pressing X on the home screen beforehand.

Obviously I'm happy to have gotten this working, although I'm a bit concerned about this error issue since I use AutoRCM and running into this error while out on the go would put my Switch out of commission. Is this expected behavior?

 

[HoTsHoTz79]

Did that and it booted into Horizon this time. It appears that it works now... sorta. When I load into SMO (my donor), Tropical Freeze does load, but the bars from the generic Switch loading screen still appear on the top and bottom, until I press Home to go back to the home menu and then go back in; then it appears to work fine.

However, I'm noticing that switching to another game after loading a game causes the system to error and tell me to restart. This happens in both directions; if I load the donor and then load another game on my system, I get an error. If I load another game on my system and then the donor, I get an error. This happens whether or not the game is manually closed by pressing X on the home screen beforehand.

Obviously I'm happy to have gotten this working, although I'm a bit concerned about this error issue since I use AutoRCM and running into this error while out on the go would put my Switch out of commission. Is this expected behavior?

So just FYI, the files I've given you is from the first update of LayeredFS... just recently another update for LayeredFS was pushed that allows more games to work
However I've moved from 4.1 to 5.1... and from what i understand the new update only works with 5.X (?) im not sure.. so your on your own for that XD

Second thing, the crashing issue is a known issue in LayeredFS at the moment... so if you run a backup, it works .. even if u put to sleep, you can come back and play.. but if you close or try another game.. it will crash and you will need to RCM > push payload

 

[Rhapsody]

Let's say I wanted to test if a title worked on a few donor titles quickly. Extracting the game and patching the required file is obviously something we can't get around, but moving the game to the SD card can be lengthy depending on how fast your method of moving it to there is. Let's say I wanted to test Kirby Star Allies against Sonic Mania and BotW as donors. Could I use the application in the OP to patch Star Allies for those TitleIDs and only have to move it in one instance?

That is to say, does any game file actually get patched other than the main.npdm? Could I just replace the main.npdm with a different TitleID written to it and change the name of the folder? Would that work?

 

[HoTsHoTz79]

Let's say I wanted to test if a title worked on a few donor titles quickly. Extracting the game and patching the required file is obviously something we can't get around, but moving the game to the SD card can be lengthy depending on how fast your method of moving it to there is. Let's say I wanted to test Kirby Star Allies against Sonic Mania and BotW as donors. Could I use the application in the OP to patch Star Allies for those TitleIDs and only have to move it in one instance?

That is to say, does any game file actually get patched other than the main.npdm? Could I just replace the main.npdm with a different TitleID written to it and change the name of the folder? Would that work?

Correct, RomFS.bin stays the same across all donors.. only thing changes is the main.npdm that can be patch and overwritten
i use this to patch .npdm http://carlus.altervista.org/nx/title_id_patcher.html
then simply rename the title in the /atmosphere/titles/<old title id> into /atmosphere/titles/<new title id>

look up Atmosphere Mod Plague.. i think it does patching of npdm within switch (i personally haven't used it)

 

[Deleted User]

Hey dannidevi, I just downloaded tomGER's latest release (v 4.1 on Git). CONFIRMED WORKING!
Thanks

I can't seem to find anything about this, could you give me a little help?

 

[HoTsHoTz79]

I can't seem to find anything about this, could you give me a little help?

Go here - https://gbatemp.net/threads/newest-hekate-sdfiles-zip.506280/
Follow Download link to GitHub


FYI: thats SDFiles V4.1 (not to be mistaken with Firmware 4.1)

 

[RDTG]

The contribute link doesn't work, and I can't login to contribute on the list itself, but DOOM works 1/5 launches with Thimbleweed Park but eventually errors out. It seems to be purely luck based. It will either error out right after loading the main menu or work for a few minutes depending on how many times tried.

Edit (forgot to include):
Firmware 5.1.0
Hekate-LayeredFS v4 & 4.1*

*Tested with both, have not tested anything earlier than v4

 

[Lunsce]

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ XENOBLADE WORKING ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
(Donorctopath demo--Save work.)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
Latest layeredfs sd file (4.1)

Did not work