Hacking Question Obligatory SX OS Ban Question

[ethicaldesign]

Please forgive my noobie-ness, but there's so much misinformation on the internet surrounding the switch mod community and I really am looking for an educated answer here.

My switch is on OFW ver. 6.2 and I received my SX Pro kit and booted SX OS. Then, I made a copy of my Full sysNAND for good measure per recommendations found here. Now, I have cartridges that I purchased and would like to still play these online in OFW. I also would like to play offline backups of games in CFW. I've read conflicting statements surrounding .XCI and .NSP files. Is any one of them going to "dirty" your sysNAND more than the other and exactly what logic/reasoning is behind your claim and how does it dirty? For example, if I run a .xci backup in SX OS CFW and never go online in CFW, will my console be at risk for when I play my legitimately purchased cartridges in OFW? Is this where emuNAND installed as a file partition on the sd card is advantageous? I understand that it is not impervious from ban and most recommend a separate console for offline play, but I keep reading of people doing this without ban. I look forward to your advice!

 

[marveldragon]

I'll try and toss my few cents in before answering your specific questions. Nintendo constantly update its firmware. With each update they add new features and security measures. Some of these are not all known to the general public. While the community have found/figured out most of the telemetry data (user stats, activity logs, and error logs) there is no way to know 100% what they might add to in the future or what tricks they might come up with to circumvent all precautions. The general consensus is go dark and self ban (completely block your interactivity with Nintendo services) to prevent a console ban.

Let me try and answer your questions in order.

I've read conflicting statements surrounding .XCI and .NSP files. Is any one of them going to "dirty" your sysNAND more than the other and exactly what logic/reasoning is behind your claim and how does it dirty?

nsp's "dirty" your sysNAND more than xci's. Normally, in the unhacked world, digital games require a special licenses needed to play the game. Games are "leased" for periods of time and ping Nintendo servers periodically to check and see if you own the game.

Both xci and nsp games, however, do leave activity logs and such information being played on your console. Check your profile you will see things like; you played game x for y amount of hours and such. It is slightly more easier for Nintendo to check these logs to see what games you are playing. How would it look if you played a nsp game for several hours and not own it? How would that be logically possible? For xci's they can't really tell if you popped in a cart you own, borrowed from a friend or found on the side of the road until they start logging cart specific certs or lack of a cert; which they currently do not do as far as I know.

So if you have a backup nsp installed you have to be extra careful to remove all traces of it when booting into OFW if you are not using emuNAND.

For example, if I run a .xci backup in SX OS CFW and never go online in CFW, will my console be at risk for when I play my legitimately purchased cartridges in OFW? Is this where emuNAND installed as a file partition on the sd card is advantageous? I understand that it is not impervious from ban and most recommend a separate console for offline play, but I keep reading of people doing this without ban.

Like I said at the top, you never know what new logs Nintendo might put in their updates. However, you should be fine with sticking with xci's if you are okay with not playing the nsp only games.

emuNAND when used properly would be the safest and best solution. If you stay offline or trust stealth mode/dns90, emuNAND redirect all data that would be written to your sysNAND to your emuNAND. This means when booting into OFW, logs that get sent to Nintendo servers "should" not include your emuNAND hackery logs. This way you can use both xci and nsp games in emuNAND and not have to worry too much.

My current recommendation is to use separate sd cards, one for OFW and one for CFW with emuNAND. You should also just keep an ear out every time new firmwares are released and be wary to adopting the newest firmwares for your CFW.

 

[stephrk398]

Well, you should have made the nand backup prior to any CFW in order to stay 'clean'. Nintendo is logging all kinds of information as you use your switch, and can easily detect a modded console the second it goes online. Doesn't matter if you're in OFW or CFW. Whether or not Nintendo does anything about it in that instance, is up in the air. Some get banned instantly, others think ban waves still exist which is why there are delays. Most look at it like this: If you go online at any point after CFW usage, it's rolling the dice, and not a matter of if you'll get banned, but when. The only long-term success stories I've heard of is when someone NEVER goes online post-CFW, and then restores a 'clean' nand backup when they want to go online. But don't be surprised if you still get banned.

And you can play your cartridges fine in CFW.

 

[ethicaldesign]

I'll try and toss my few cents in before answering your specific questions. Nintendo constantly update its firmware. With each update they add new features and security measures. Some of these are not all known to the general public. While the community have found/figured out most of the telemetry data (user stats, activity logs, and error logs) there is no way to know 100% what they might add to in the future or what tricks they might come up with to circumvent all precautions. The general consensus is go dark and self ban (completely block your interactivity with Nintendo services) to prevent a console ban.

Let me try and answer your questions in order.



nsp's "dirty" your sysNAND more than xci's. Normally, in the unhacked world, digital games require a special licenses needed to play the game. Games are "leased" for periods of time and ping Nintendo servers periodically to check and see if you own the game.

Both xci and nsp games, however, do leave activity logs and such information being played on your console. Check your profile you will see things like; you played game x for y amount of hours and such. It is slightly more easier for Nintendo to check these logs to see what games you are playing. How would it look if you played a nsp game for several hours and not own it? How would that be logically possible? For xci's they can't really tell if you popped in a cart you own, borrowed from a friend or found on the side of the road until they start logging cart specific certs or lack of a cert; which they currently do not do as far as I know.

So if you have a backup nsp installed you have to be extra careful to remove all traces of it when booting into OFW if you are not using emuNAND.



Like I said at the top, you never know what new logs Nintendo might put in their updates. However, you should be fine with sticking with xci's if you are okay with not playing the nsp only games.

emuNAND when used properly would be the safest and best solution. If you stay offline or trust stealth mode/dns90, emuNAND redirect all data that would be written to your sysNAND to your emuNAND. This means when booting into OFW, logs that get sent to Nintendo servers "should" not include your emuNAND hackery logs. This way you can use both xci and nsp games in emuNAND and not have to worry too much.

My current recommendation is to use separate sd cards, one for OFW and one for CFW with emuNAND. You should also just keep an ear out every time new firmwares are released and be wary to adopting the newest firmwares for your CFW.

Thank you so much for your answers! This has really helped clear up my concerns/questions. #myhero