This thread is outdated
A lot of information in this thread is heavilly out of date.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• Supported Firmware information is out of date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.

 

[wodkamen420]

Each game will save in the same donor folder their portion.
However if the games have the same save filenames, then there will be conflict.
Better save often with Checkpoint.

Each game has a certain save-folder size on the NAND (Switch's internal memory) assigned.
E.g. smaller games (1.5mb-8mb), games with bigger saving requirements have save spaces ranging up to 165mb. You can look that up in Settings - Disk Management - Delete Saves.

Every game you are running over a donor has a different way of saving -> different kinds of save files.Therefore, using multiple games over one donor works (afaik) fine; they do not overwrite each other.

You won't run into complications up until the point when the donor's assigned save space on the NAND is full.
As a result, using many different games over the same donor will exhaust it's save space.
That is especially true for games like Skyrim or Minecraft, which save often -> Don't use a donor with small assigned save space (I had to live through that awful experience ).
Back to the brighter side: A lot of games with limited saves (take old adventures with 3 slots, for example) use very little space (100kb), even compared to the little 8mb.

Back in GameCube or PSX days this was represented beautifully with blocks on the memory card.

Hmm guess so far i have lucked out then lol all my stuff has been good when i load back up guess i will start backing up saves just in case tho thx

 

[PeterGemp]

Hmm guess so far i have lucked out then lol all my stuff has been good when i load back up guess i will start backing up saves just in case tho thx

Just, you know, do a save-backup named after the game you are playing with Checkpoint before switching out games.
You will still have to manually delete some files to make use of the assigned space, but that'll come later..

I wish a certain someone could make a programm, that not only switches games over donors BUT also manages corresponding save-files... you know who you are!

OR make Atmosphere/LayeredFS create savegames in the games own folder instead of on the console. Just spitballing here.
As long as we are using LayeredFS 'n all. Even later on, when we're able to install games onto our cfw, this feature wouldn't hurt.

 

[Zumoly]

I wish a certain someone could make a programm, that not only switches games over donors BUT also manages corresponding save-files... you know who you are!

I'd personally settle for a title ID creator.

 

[PeterGemp]

I'd personally settle for a title ID creator.

Please elaborate in detail! Sounds interesting, but I have no concept of what you could possibly mean by that.

 

[Dmafra]

And Hollow Knight, any working donor?

 

[Ewwwww]

I haven't found any working donor for NBA 2K 18.

 

[PeterGemp]

And Hollow Knight, any working donor?

I run it via Shining Resonance DEMO

 

[Zumoly]

Please elaborate in detail! Sounds interesting, but I have no concept of what you could possibly mean by that.

A homebrew that would allow the creation of custom title ID.
Say you want to layer SMO, you give the sdk version and save size to emulate and a custom icon will be created on your home menu

 

[EmperorX]

Game: Flinthook
Donor: Pinball FX 3
Works: YES
Saves: YES

 

[Arithmatics]

I see! Then let's use the bigger means: try 01007E6007764000 Death Squared The Employee Evaluation Demo with 16MB save size. This one should definitely work!

I have a question about the save sizes. what does this mean? where can I get more documentation on it?

 

[PeterGemp]

A homebrew that would allow the creation of custom title ID.
Say you want to layer SMO, you give the sdk version and save size to emulate and a custom icon will be created on your home menu

That would be rad. Is this an older trick from the 3DS days?

 

[Assasin1990]

That would be rad. Is this an older trick from the 3DS days?

ps vita. was easy to create a fake icon

 

[tottti1914]

I run it via Shining Resonance DEMO

could you tell my how you get the title key pm if it is not allowed thanks

 

[robbros]

crash bandicoot xci crashes the app, is the xci corrupted or??

 

[szczuru]

crash bandicoot xci crashes the app, is the xci corrupted or??

Crash is cart 2 - you need to extract nca with xci explorer.

 

[robbros]

Crash is cart 2 - you need to extract nca with xci explorer.

which file exactly please? and how do i use it with layeredfs?

 

[tottti1914]

how to check my key.ini is complete and need no more keys because i keep getting
0 0
Failed to read section! with hollow knight ??

 

[robbros]

Why do i always get "section 0 is corrupted" what is wrong?

 

[stingray1059]

i use the same donor for a lot of games saves work fine for each

so how can you change game if you have same donor for each game?

 

[wodkamen420]

so how can you change game if you have same donor for each game?

either use a file explorer to add another letter or number to the end of said folder or i believe there is a homebrew app called title cross that can do that process for u

Edit: yup here is the homebrew app https://gbatemp.net/threads/title-cross-folder-modifier-for-layeredfs.507949/