Hacking Nintendo Switch Banning Hub & Warning

[THEN00P]

Banned: N
Downloaded with CDN: N
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: N
Disabled "Send Error Information" in System Settings: Y
SX OS used: N
SX OS used while online: N
Played online SX OS Backups: N
Layered FS Used: Y
Layered FS Used while online: Y
Played online Layered FS Injects: N
Homebrew/non-TX CFW Offline: Y (almost every homebrew except boginstaller)
Connect to Internet with homebrew/CFW: Y
Connect to eShop while using CFW/homebrew: Y
Played with Layered FS Injects with Own Cert.: Y
Can you access the eShop: Y
Backups updated: N
Wi-Fi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: N
AutoRCM: N
Auto-Update Software: N

Been using homebrew since 3.0.0 i am quite surprised i am not banned, yet.

 

[Shuny]

@Draxzelex I think it would be interesting to add the Switch OS version as well. It is possible that some checks were added in the newer version of the OS that were not present before. That would explain the discrepancy between those results

That would explain why someone just playing Mario Tennis Aces (5.1.0) was instantly banned but someone using LayeredFS for a long time on 3.0.0 is still not banned

 

[xxBLACKBEARDxx]

I updated my post I just got banned

 

[Omno]

Banned: N
Downloaded with CDN: Y
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: Y
Disabled "Send Error Information" in System Settings: Y
SX OS used: Y
SX OS used while online: Y
Played online SX OS Backups: N
Layered FS Used: Y
Layered FS Used while online: Y
Played online Layered FS Injects: N
Homebrew/non-TX CFW Offline: Y
Connect to Internet with homebrew/CFW: Y
Connect to eShop while using CFW/homebrew: Y
Played with Layered FS Injects with Own Cert.: Y
Can you access the eShop: Y
Backups updated: Y
Wi-Fi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: N
AutoRCM: Y
Auto-Update Software: Y

Still no ban. I've used my cert on my PC to download from CDN directly. I've used DevMenu (no profile picture swap though). Whenever I need to go online I mount the NAND manually and go to system:/save and delete the logs and play reports - 80000000000000A0, 80000000000000A1 and 80000000000000D1.

 

[korko]

I'm in a bit of a unique position. I've only been connected very briefly to the network, on OFW, after literally only having booted SX OS once with no licence.

- Started with Switch on latest software, completely clean, never had an SD card inserted, wifi details removed and flight mode on
- Added SX OS 1.1 (no license) to a SD card, inserted it and booted SX OS without autorcm
- Soon found out I needed an update for SD card. Formatted the SD, shut down switch and booted into OFW with the blank SD card
- (Possibly a mistake) connected to the internet to complete the SD card update. Did not access any games or the eshop.
- Removed wifi again, entered flight mode, booted back into SX OS after adding the OS files and some emulators back onto the SD card

Since then I've played around with a few emulators, nothing in my error log. I have no interest in backups, just homebrew. I haven't connected to wifi since.

I very much doubt this is enough to be banned already but I realise if I do connect again, there's a possibility.

 

[Chumlee1900]

Banned: N
Used any CDN Downloader: N
Unchecked "Send Errors" in Menu: Y
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: y
SX OS used offline: Y
SX OS used online: N
Played with SX Backups online: Y
Layered FS Used offline: N
Layered FS Used online: N
Played with Layered FS Injects online: N
Homebrew Offline: N
Connect internet with homebrew: N
Connect to eShop during CFW: N
Played with Layered FS Injects with OwnCert.: N
Does the Eshop work: Y
Backups updated: Y
WiFi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: Y
AutoRCM: N
SX OS Version used when Online: 1.1
Auto Game Update/Downloads deactivated: Y

This one is pretty misleading.

SX OS Used online: You said NO
Played with SX backups online: Now YES?

 

[good]

Banned: N
Downloaded with CDN: N
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: Y
Disabled "Send Error Information" in System Settings: Y
SX OS used: Y
SX OS used while online: Y
Played online SX OS Backups: N
Layered FS Used: Y
Layered FS Used while online: Y
Played online Layered FS Injects: Y (DOOM attempted to go online on startup)
Homebrew/non-TX CFW Offline: N (5.1.0)
Connect to Internet with homebrew/CFW: Y
Connect to eShop while using CFW/homebrew: Y
Played with Layered FS Injects with Own Cert.: N
Can you access the eShop: Y
Backups updated: N
Wi-Fi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: N
AutoRCM: N
SX OS Version used when Online: 1.0
Auto-Update Software: N

 

[hipmp5]

Banned: N
Used any CDN Downloader: N
Unchecked "Send Errors" in Menu: Y
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: Y (I even forced a error before going online going to e-shop offline before connecting to Internet)
SX OS used offline: N
SX OS used online: N
Played with SX Backups online: N
Layered FS Used offline: N
Layered FS Used online: N
Played with Layered FS Injects online: N
Homebrew Offline: Y (Only GBA Emulator)
Connect internet with homebrew: N
Connect to eShop during CFW: Y (hekate on 5.1)
Played with Layered FS Injects with OwnCert.: N
Does the Eshop work: Y
Backups updated: N
WiFi settings deleted: Y
Airplane mode: Y
AutoRCM: Y (only when used offline, all the times when i connect online i restored AutoRCM state to disabled)
SX OS Version used when Online: No SX OS used
Auto Game Update/Downloads deactivated: N

 

[CarefulCrysis]

This one is pretty misleading.

SX OS Used online: You said NO
Played with SX backups online: Now YES?

fixed my bad sorry

 

[Cencil]

Just posted this in another thread but i'll post here too; wanted to report I have recklessly for the past few weeks been playing Paladins, Mario Kart 8, Fortnite etc online with no issues all in CFW/Hetake.

Mainly because I was too lazy to swap back to OFW to play it - only until I heard about all these bans happening to everyone recently. I've started only playing in OFW for online games since.

Played Paladins an hour ago...still not banned? *Knocks on wood*

 

[Spy Pirate Shado]

I'm in a bit of a unique position. I've only been connected very briefly to the network, on OFW, after literally only having booted SX OS once with no licence.

- Started with Switch on latest software, completely clean, never had an SD card inserted, wifi details removed and flight mode on
- Added SX OS 1.1 (no license) to a SD card, inserted it and booted SX OS without autorcm
- Soon found out I needed an update for SD card. Formatted the SD, shut down switch and booted into OFW with the blank SD card
- (Possibly a mistake) connected to the internet to complete the SD card update. Did not access any games or the eshop.
- Removed wifi again, entered flight mode, booted back into SX OS after adding the OS files and some emulators back onto the SD card

Since then I've played around with a few emulators, nothing in my error log. I have no interest in backups, just homebrew. I haven't connected to wifi since.

I very much doubt this is enough to be banned already but I realise if I do connect again, there's a possibility.

I have to admit, I was about to rage a little if you ended all that buildup with "and I'm banned" because I've seen so many reports that go over just how careful they have been but were still banned and I can't help but be incredible skeptical of claims like that.

I obviously don't know for sure, but you should be fine going forward. Even people who reported that they NEVER went online while using CFW EVER and got banned probably just conveniently forgot that one time they did it and had an error in their logs.

If you were finding yourself worrying that if you wanted to buy that cool new eshop game that just came out but you're too afraid of getting banned, just follow the obvious steps before doing it! Clear logs, boot into OFW, and go support the developers!

 

[Draxzelex]

• I've now updated some things to the questionnaire after reviewing everyone's suggestions (two will be in their own category for now). This includes asking for crashes due to homebrew (under homebrew/non-TX CFW), specifying whether or not logs were cleared before going online without CFW/homebrew, comments section, and fuse mismatches (due to SX OS 1.2 supporting anti-fuse burning and fuse bypassing).
• @xxBLACKBEARDxx is now the first person to have been unbanned as of June 24th but now banned as of June 25th. Other notable things including SX OS only but with some homebrew. If you are reading this xxBLACKBEARDxx, please specify the homebrew utilized as well as any crashes you encountered.

Have to comment here so i can watch this thread.

INB4 its Over 9000

Edit: Too Late, Much over.


This should really be on the home page, right above SX OS 1.2 or at least visible with it.

The home is filled with "Layered FS", "SX OS 1.1" "SX OS 1.2" but no mention of Banned anywhere lol. No Mention of Brick code anywhere either.

This is purely speculation, but it could be due to not causing paranoia. With potential reports of being bricked and banned, it would make most people NOT want to hack their console (which is the opposite of what GBATemp wants).

@Draxzelex Might want to add to the question / report format, if while using a Hombrew App it crashed. as in, pSnes crashes, this generate a specific report /custom error /custom icon on report / something different that triggers a flag, "maybe?"

This can pinpoint user who got stored custom crashes on their systems.

Added to the questionnaire under homebrew/non-TX CFW so it won't be its own category for now. If a trend begins developing, it will become its own column for easier viewing purposes. Also, I've went ahead and contact the homebrew only banned users for further clarification.

Also you need to add on the form if they cleared the logs between going online with OFW.

Thank you. It is now made much clearer what the user action is in order to further determine its safety/risk.

@Draxzelex I think it would be interesting to add the Switch OS version as well. It is possible that some checks were added in the newer version of the OS that were not present before. That would explain the discrepancy between those results

That would explain why someone just playing Mario Tennis Aces (5.1.0) was instantly banned but someone using LayeredFS for a long time on 3.0.0 is still not banned

LayeredFS has been denounced by everyone and even one of the Switch's most prominent hackers. Needless to say, anyone and everyone who has used LayeredFS is already at a huge enough risk due to many other factors. On an unrelated note, your suggestion made me decide to add if fuses are not properly burned due to SX OS 1.2 now bypassing the fuse check.

Banned: N
Downloaded with CDN: Y
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: Y
Disabled "Send Error Information" in System Settings: Y
SX OS used: Y
SX OS used while online: Y
Played online SX OS Backups: N
Layered FS Used: Y
Layered FS Used while online: Y
Played online Layered FS Injects: N
Homebrew/non-TX CFW Offline: Y
Connect to Internet with homebrew/CFW: Y
Connect to eShop while using CFW/homebrew: Y
Played with Layered FS Injects with Own Cert.: Y
Can you access the eShop: Y
Backups updated: Y
Wi-Fi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: N
AutoRCM: Y
Auto-Update Software: Y

Still no ban. I've used my cert on my PC to download from CDN directly. I've used DevMenu (no profile picture swap though). Whenever I need to go online I mount the NAND manually and go to system:/save and delete the logs and play reports - 80000000000000A0, 80000000000000A1 and 80000000000000D1.

Did you update backups in CFW or OFW and which type of AutoRCM did you use? TX or Hekate?

 

[Deleted User]

Banned: N
Downloaded with CDN: N
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: Y - Everytime I used LayeredFS
Disabled "Send Error Information" in System Settings: Y
SX OS used: N
SX OS used while online: N
Played online SX OS Backups: N
Layered FS Used: Y
Layered FS Used while online: Y
Played online Layered FS Injects: Y - I used 99,999cc speed hack to race with my friend in private lobby once.
Homebrew/non-TX CFW Used: Y - WAIN cart dumper
Connect to Internet with homebrew/CFW: Y
Connect to eShop while using CFW/homebrew: Y
Played with Layered FS Injects with Own Cert.: N
Can you access the eShop: Y
Backups updated: N
Wi-Fi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: N
AutoRCM: N
Lowest SX OS Version used when Online: N/A
Auto-Update Software: Y

 

[Omno]

Did you update backups in CFW or OFW and which type of AutoRCM did you use? TX or Hekate?

I updated in both OFW and CFW. I used Hekate originally, but I've also fiddled with the TX one and briccmii v2

 

[Cencil]

Banned: N
Downloaded with CDN: N
Cleared Error Logs prior to going Online with nx-dreport: N
Disabled "Send Error Information" in System Settings: Y
SX OS used: Y
SX OS used while online: N (Not SX OS but I did play purchased games online in Hetake CFW a ton)
Played online SX OS Backups: N
Layered FS Used: N
Layered FS Used while online: N
Played online Layered FS Injects: N
Homebrew/non-TX CFW Used: Y
Connect to Internet with homebrew/CFW: Y
Connect to eShop while using CFW/homebrew: Y
Played with Layered FS Injects with Own Cert.: N
Can you access the eShop: Y
Backups updated: N
Wi-Fi settings deleted: N
Airplane mode: Y
AutoRCM: Y (Hetake's Brickmii)
Lowest SX OS Version used when Online: N/A
Auto-Update Software: N

 

[Spy Pirate Shado]

The timing could not have been more perfect. And while I agree it may appear biased towards LayeredFS, for some strange reason, there are a lot of people who are not banned due to using it. The only trend I can see is those who used LayeredFS and are not banned also used LayeredFS Online. This strangely complements the now 3 TX users who were banned using a fully offline SX OS. Either people are outright lying or Nintendo is punishing those who actively tried to hide their tracks first. It is beyond mind boggling.

This isn't mind boggling. The data set is still incredibly low, and all the data is self reported. It is way too easy for someone to have forgotten "that one time" they did something they didn't say they did in a long, self reported data set with unreliable potential cause-effect consequences for things you might or might not have done being the sole purpose of said data.

It's still interesting to look at but to claim that any of it actually points towards conclusive evidence of this, that or the other is misguided. (Not that you're saying that, just saying that for emphasis!)

From every piece of data I've seen so far, other than very few possible outliers that could easily have been misreported or straight lied about, as long as you are careful to clear logs when appropriate, stay in airplane mode with no internet connections set up when running ANYTHING other than Nintendo code, etc etc you should be fine if you want your best shot at avoiding a ban. However, this is still an educated guess, so there could be something that screws everyone eventually that nobody expects (the spanish inquisition).

At risk of making this extremely long winded, here's my exhaustive list of things you shouldn't do on a firmware modification (hekate, SX OS) that still uses Nintendo code for the vast majority of its functions:

1. Go online.

 

[korko]

I have to admit, I was about to rage a little if you ended all that buildup with "and I'm banned" because I've seen so many reports that go over just how careful they have been but were still banned and I can't help but be incredible skeptical of claims like that.

I obviously don't know for sure, but you should be fine going forward. Even people who reported that they NEVER went online while using CFW EVER and got banned probably just conveniently forgot that one time they did it and had an error in their logs.

If you were finding yourself worrying that if you wanted to buy that cool new eshop game that just came out but you're too afraid of getting banned, just follow the obvious steps before doing it! Clear logs, boot into OFW, and go support the developers!

Thanks. Sorry I probably should have opened with "I'm not banned"!!!

I'm kinda split on what to do right now. I could chance it and just connect online on OFW, I could do a full factory reset to be safer, or I could just wait it out and stay offline until we know more about the cause.

I'd really rather avoid a ban if possible. I'm not bothered about online but it would just feel a bit "meh" when I've only mucked about with homebrew.

 

[Spy Pirate Shado]

No this is different. This hasn't stopped. 3DS came in batches. And was probably done with lots of strung together data as 3DS was hard to track.

This is an automated VAC with some randomness and thresholding, or at least all of the indications of one. It may still have some degree of verification before bans are handed out but this seems completely automated. It not hitting everyone is logical early on, they want to spook and discourage. They also don't want to make patterns or triggers obvious.

This is still speculation!

Here's my speculation that I came up with straight out of my butt: I have seen plenty of reports here (not that this is even meaningful given the low sample data) that someone got banned within 10 minutes of doing something that they think triggered the ban, for the first time since whenever. So, went on eshop, browsed, downloaded a demo or something, then turned off internet or just did whatever else, and 10 minutes later they were banned. If this is the case, this indicates the complete opposite of what you're saying, which is that people could be being banned soon after being initially flagged for a ban. Which is wholly different than the idea of "do something bannable, put you in a pool and ban people randomly to spook everyone".

This isn't like banning users of a well known Diablo 3 or WoW bot, where it makes sense to not ban you as soon as they detect something which could give you information on what exactly they're detecting about the bot. We have complete control over what we do with our switches, and due to the nature of what homebrew and CFW we have hacked together so far, we're still using a lot of Nintendo's code so when you connect online, you PROBABLY don't want to be currently running in the background a hacked up mishmash of Nintendo's game browser/eshop/settings men and our beloved album/homebrew/SXOS crashfest.

If they're seriously logging something while using the CFW on internal memory to be uploaded when we connect in the future and randomly deciding who to screw any given day then we're probably all doomed anyway.

 

[Draxzelex]

I updated in both OFW and CFW. I used Hekate originally, but I've also fiddled with the TX one and briccmii v2

Sorry to keep bothering you but I forgot to ask, what is the lowest version of SX OS that you went online with? If not online, just use the lowest one you used in general.

This isn't mind boggling. The data set is still incredibly low, and all the data is self reported. It is way too easy for someone to have forgotten "that one time" they did something they didn't say they did in a long, self reported data set with unreliable potential cause-effect consequences for things you might or might not have done being the sole purpose of said data.

It's still interesting to look at but to claim that any of it actually points towards conclusive evidence of this, that or the other is misguided. (Not that you're saying that, just saying that for emphasis!)

From every piece of data I've seen so far, other than very few possible outliers that could easily have been misreported or straight lied about, as long as you are careful to clear logs when appropriate, stay in airplane mode with no internet connections set up when running ANYTHING other than Nintendo code, etc etc you should be fine if you want your best shot at avoiding a ban. However, this is still an educated guess, so there could be something that screws everyone eventually that nobody expects (the spanish inquisition).

At risk of making this extremely long winded, here's my exhaustive list of things you shouldn't do on a firmware modification (hekate, SX OS) that still uses Nintendo code for the vast majority of its functions:

1. Go online.

Only thing I can add to this is that homebrew is typically designed for functionality over safety. Outside of it probably being harder to make it safer than work better, most, if not all, devs do not want to be held responsible for bans due to their software.

 

[Omno]

Sorry to keep bothering you but I forgot to ask, what is the lowest version of SX OS that you went online with? If not online, just use the lowest one you used in general.

I've been online with every version so far