Homebrew Question Is emu on switch really worth having a dedicated hacked switch for?

[playstays_shun]

I get that its convenient, its cool its on a portable system and streamlined,.. its almost certainly probably better than previous portables since its got better internals, but curious if the draw is worth a dedicated unit for. How much love has this system gotten for retro stuff


I got a v2+lite recently, and trying to figure out what to do with my unpatched v1 whether to mess with it or sell it, or just keep it stock and let it collect dust as a backup to my other devices


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Themes would be cool but dont *really* care, BT would be cool but dont *really* care, not sure there’s anything else that interests me about the switch scene at the moment.

edit- think I decided against it but I like hearing user input!

 

[Goku1992A]

Depends on your gaming needs. My Galaxy S10 is what I use to play my emulators on it's a much better experience opposing to playing on switch. I also get 100% DS playback and maybe 70% 3DS playback. The thing is emulation is saturated and you can play it on almost any android device or retro pie and etc..etc.. if that's what your mainly jailbreaking your switch for then it wouldn't be worth it.

I mainly use my CFW switch for a little piracy and getting the DLC for free. I use my switch lite a little more than my CFW switch but alot of games I do buy came from me pirating the game and liking it.

 

[Zhongtiao1]

Not really worth it in my opinion. If you are already considering a powerful laptop, go for it. You can do a lot more (and not to mention even run switch games).

 

[playstays_shun]

I appreciate your honesty, piracy wouldn’t be of interest for me whatwso

Not really worth it in my opinion. If you are already considering a powerful laptop, go for it. You can do a lot more (and not to mention even run switch games).

Have an M1 MacBook Air, wouldn’t be considering getting a gaming laptop instead of keeping V1 just wondering if it actually has value add vs. Vitamodded and a competent laptop… and having all these old systems too (even though portability is always a draw, and simplicity). My vita I love for sd2vita to have a good sd card for their store. That's pretty much the only reason I got it

Just considering where V1 fits in my workflow. And piracy and such honestly doesn’t interest me whatsoever but I appreciate your honesty Goku

 

[LeyendaV]

The Switch scene is truly amazing, long time since I saw a community unning like this one. With a SD card big enought (200GB at min.) you can have UT system nand, file/partition emulated nand, Android AND Lakka, all in the same environment without really making any kind of modification to the console, meaning you can return to a vanilla-state console at any time.

BUT, if you aren't attached to your Erista console at all, own another Switch and have better hardware options for emulation and stuff, then this may not be the thing for you.

 

[playstays_shun]

The Switch scene is truly amazing, long time since I saw a community unning like this one. With a SD card big enought (200GB at min.) you can have UT system nand, file/partition emulated nand, Android AND Lakka, all in the same environment without really making any kind of modification to the console, meaning you can return to a vanilla-state console at any time.

BUT, if you aren't attached to your Erista console at all, own another Switch and have better hardware options for emulation and stuff, then this may not be the thing for you.

Outside of ‘that you can’ what is the biggest draw for you?

I love enthusiasm of any scene tbh, it’s contagious, but I like to be pragmatic too

Also - sounds like you answered it but if I do wanna dabble and find its not for me, it’s not a ball buster to restore it to a clean stock like state and re-sell it without screwing over the next owner? Seems like it from the precautionary backup options for NAND and such in the home brew guide

I just dont wanna get my feet wet, decide its not for me, and after 2 hours of playing around I spend 20 to ‘fix’ it to get ready to sell it off

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Also has Retroarch been optimized for Switch or is it just ‘Retroarch’ running on an X1 tablet essentially? If the latter, does it run OK overall? Since that alone is not the best hardware on paper. I would think it needs extra love and attention to detail to have the wow factor


I guess another option is I could just keep it and ‘do nothing’ for a while to really weigh out what the move is since there’s no real rush

 

[Jayro]

I think so, if you already have a banned, hackable Switch like I do. I need my other Erista hackable unit to stay untouched though, as I play Splatoon 2 on it.

 

[LeyendaV]

Outside of ‘that you can’ what is the biggest draw for you?

I love enthusiasm of any scene tbh, it’s contagious, but I like to be pragmatic too

Also - sounds like you answered it but if I do wanna dabble and find its not for me, it’s not a ball buster to restore it to a clean stock like state and re-sell it without screwing over the next owner? Seems like it from the precautionary backup options for NAND and such in the home brew guide

I just dont wanna get my feet wet, decide its not for me, and after 2 hours of playing around I spend 20 to ‘fix’ it to get ready to sell it off

—

Also has Retroarch been optimized for Switch or is it just ‘Retroarch’ running on an X1 tablet essentially? If the latter, does it run OK overall? Since that alone is not the best hardware on paper. I would think it needs extra love and attention to detail to have the wow factor


I guess another option is I could just keep it and ‘do nothing’ for a while to really weigh out what the move is since there’s no real rush

If you are using emunand, the only thing you need to do to "clean" your console is removing the SD card, and that's about it. Since emunand was introduced on february/march last year, you don't touch the console at all when modifying it.
Of course, back-ups and stuff are mandatory but at this point is mostly because is a good practice. Briking a Switch is actually pretty hard with the right versions for every homebrew you use.

About RetroArch, cores for Switch are compiled with libraries from and for the console. It not just another version, since it necessarily must optimized in order to work correctly.
And truth is, emulation over HOS is surprisingly good.

 

[Kioku]

I do not recommend buying a Switch specifically for emulation. You're far better off buying a phone made within the last 4 years and a controller.

If you already have a Switch? Yeah, it'd be alright to setup for emulation.

 

[playstays_shun]

If you are using emunand, the only thing you need to do to "clean" your console is removing the SD card, and that's about it. Since emunand was introduced on february/march last year, you don't touch the console at all when modifying it.
Of course, back-ups and stuff are mandatory but at this point is mostly because is a good practice. Briking a Switch is actually pretty hard with the right versions for every homebrew you use.

About RetroArch, cores for Switch are compiled with libraries from and for the console. It not just another version, since it necessarily must optimized in order to work correctly.
And truth is, emulation over HOS is surprisingly good.

Thanks

And is the home brew guide for switch up to date enough to use as the sole reference?

Also good practice to remove account from stock side of switch since I wont be using that?

And lastly, update Switch to latest version before home brew stuff or just leave it on whatever its on (its probably only a month or so out of date iirc but gotta fire it out )

Didn’t realize emuNAND was so new! Then again I have never forayed into home brew switch stuff so how could I? Just reading up on it

 

[Rahkeesh]

No emulation option really compares to Mister for the cores it supports. At least not favorably. If you want to blow $200-300 and don't mind being tethered to a TV/monitor (and having like 1/20th the arcades) it is by far the best option. Well also not much save state support outside of the NES and handhelds can be an issue, but you can still cheat at least.

That said M1 Mac even runs Dolphin extremely well let alone most of Retroarch, get a controller and it's already a decent emulation device, certainly runs rings around Switch. Still Switch will handle just about everything up through playstation about as well, and can just about do N64 and Dreamcast, and it fits into your hands.

 

[LeyendaV]

Thanks

And is the home brew guide for switch up to date enough to use as the sole reference?

Also good practice to remove account from stock side of switch since I wont be using that?

And lastly, update Switch to latest version before home brew stuff or just leave it on whatever its on (its probably only a month or so out of date iirc but gotta fire it out )

Didn’t realize emuNAND was so new! Then again I have never forayed into home brew switch stuff so how could I? Just reading up on it

I wouldn't be able to tell you about guides since I haven't been checking them myself. If you have any especific question, feel free on asking them and we all will help you.

You can leave your user accounts on the console, it won't affect how it works nor will carry any negative impact on them.

About the system version, the scene is compatible till HOS 12.0.3. While we already have stuff working on 12.1.0 (more than enough to make the version perfectly usable), the best would be to wait a few more weeks before updating from 0.3 to 1.0

 

[zerofalcon]

Depends on what kind of platforms you want to emulate. Recently, users are more interested on emulate consoles like 3DS, Gamecube or Wii but the Switch just cant handle it as they expect.

There are people who like "playable" emulation (stuttering sound emu, glitches here and there or low fps performance) and its fine, to each their own I guess, and others who demand perfect emulation on a console not capable of it, so, if someone gaming needs go far beyond high specs, the Switch is not worth having as a dedicated hacked console.

 

[playstays_shun]

Depends on what kind of platforms you want to emulate. Recently, users are more interested on emulate consoles like 3DS, Gamecube or Wii but the Switch just cant handle it as they expect.

There are people who like "playable" emulation (stuttering sound emu, glitches here and there or low fps performance) and its fine, to each their own I guess, and others who demand perfect emulation on a console not capable of it, so, if someone gaming needs go far beyond high specs, the Switch is not worth having as a dedicated hacked console.

1- if I move up to a bigger SD card, what is the easiest way to do this with emuMMC and multi partitions?
2- how do you get the JIG off the right joy con rail without shorting it out or rebooting/powering off? just standby mode, slide off and add right joy con once in cfw, then wake it up again?
3- if always boot into emuMMC CFW, is it safe to assume that there was no mods ever done to sysNAND? is that something that just happens first time launching sysNAND cfw (since that seems to be a selectable option too in Hekate) - just wondering if I do do home-brew, dont like it, and wanna sell system stock. can I just boot without sd card in, and Wipe the system and call it a day re-sell wise?
4- the DNS and telemetry blocking require being connected to wifi temporarily without it, does atmosphere (or cfw, I thought synonymous) block it from phoning home from that short window when its connected to wifi anyways?
5- is there a good FTP app to prevent unplugging SD card?
6- is Retroarch as simple as installing from home-brew app and the cores needed, or is it a lot of configuration and mapping to buttons and stuff?


Like to do lots of research before weighing all the options but read the tutorial a time or two

 

[Goku1992A]

1. Your emmunand (clean switch) is capped at 32gb the rest of the data is for your CFW. I believe you can set it up easier now than you can before.
2. Just put the jig normally and it will not harm the system its best you put it in sleep mode to refrain from keep on sliding it on and off
3. You will have a launch screen that will tell you if you want to boot into stock mode or CFW
4. Dont use wifi ever on your CFW switch
5. There is a usb mount mode that you can transfer files there is also FTP but it will require internet and I highly not reccomend you connect to the internet on CFW
6. All the cores should be provided when you download retroarch but I'm not a fan of it because you have to do alot of organizing.

To be honest with you if you're not going to pirate games it's not really worth the trouble because besides the games all you can do is backup your saves or just use hacks or cheats.

 

[kidkat210]

1) there's no "easy" way to move to a new sd when you have multiple partitions. I made a image of my sd card. And moved that way, expanding the partitions after installing the image

2)you can remove the jig whenever. All it does is shorts out 2 connectors when powering on the switch (while holding the volume minus button) to send it to rcm. Besides that it can't do any damage (unless you use a paperclip and are stupid bout it)

3)what you do in emunand stays in emunand (like Vegas lol). Always load cfw on emunand. And tour sysnand will be considered clean. But just in case, make a nand backup the first thing you do.

4) there are multiple ways of blocking connecting to nintendo servers. I suggest using atmosphere's built in prod.info blanker. It blank out your switch's serial number, making so nintendo can't detect what switch it is. But for an added protection, I suggest 90dns.

5) you have options. I suggest either sys-ftpd or ftpd (standalone app). There are also alternatives that work via usb. Like hekate's ums, tinfoils mtp, etc. So there is options

6) retroarch is pretty much that simple. Its just some core need configurating and or overclocking to work more properly. Its kind of a core by core basis. But there are also standalone emulators. Ppsspp, mgba, melonds (just to name a few)

 

[playstays_shun]

thanks this is helpful!

last question I think for now - is lakka retroarch preferred to horizon retroarch in general and for everything or only things that can be played ONLY on lakka.. and is there a stable build or is that one just nightlies? from searching around sounds like lakka is the way to go for GC, but my buddy said it runs choppy as hell and like single digit fps crap and to not even bother with that or even other 3D stuff like ps1

 

[Rahkeesh]

Lakka with vulkan performs better on cutting edge 3D cores. Dolphin still tends to be bad but its at its best on Lakka, also better performance on Dreamcast, PSP, and you got 3D psx (and therefore upscaling) with Swanstation. Outside of that its not very different from horizon retroarch.

Major upside of Lakka is that its small, easy to install, and completely independent of horizon (switch OS). You can use it without worry of ban or anything.

Downsides come down to the custom drivers. Docking/undocking forces a reboot, trying to switch the player 1 controller can cause a mess, just trying to play without joycons can be difficult. This may improve down the road but right now its still kind of beta-ish.

 

[sley]

Hacking my Switch was worth it for me because compared to my Laptop it's just so easy to play Mario Party or Tekken 3 with friends on the TV. Combined with the fact that you can use all sorts of controllers on Horizon with MissionControl it's just really convenient and I see no reason not to hack if you have a interest in Retro Games.
+ You can stream you PC to your Switch if you don't want to connect your Laptop to the TV with HDMI.

 

[pcwizard7]

The Switch has Retroarch HOS, Android and Lakka (Linux environment for retroarch) and Linux (ubuntu) so any Linux based emulates.

On Android, you have access to emulators made for Android and Switch makes a good handheld for Android Games.

Game streaming, you can steam your PC, PlayStation, Xbox to the switch and run games on host while playing them on switch