Hacking SWITCH NOOB PARADISE - Ask questions here

[Blythe93]

HEY GUYS!! havent been on gbatemp in maybe a decade or two ^_~

QUESTION: i have two launch-ish Switches and want to hack one for funsies. both are listed as SAFE by the switch serial number checker (https://damota.me/ssnc/checker)

is there any reason to use one over the other ?

XAW70000******(latest legit firmware v17.0 - i use for legit games/online)
vs
XAW4000*******(4.5 firmware - i got this on second hand on the cheap and never use it)

i plan on hacking the second one with the older firmware but before i do - anyone have any good reason i should use the other one?

the XAW7 has 4 repeating 0's then misc numbers and the XAW4 has 3 repeating 0's then misc numbers

is there any variance between them? or just different production batches.

edit: addeum:
the older switch is logged into a friend's old account. i plan to wipe it and maybe make a dummy account before hacking it?

For two of my Switches, I've decided to keep their official firmware as low as possible, just in case a coldboot exploit is discovered and applicable on either of those firmware versions. Other than that, you can set up emuNANDs on both Switches and use them for gaming, maybe update the one with higher firmware to the latest official one just so that you can play your legit games online.

As for the older Switch, you can probably wipe it, depending on what has been done to the Switch already. Do you have a clean NAND backup? Did you ever blank your prodinfo? Made its sysNAND dirty in any way by installing a pirated game to it, app forwarder, etc.?

If its sysNAND is cleaned and it's not banned, I'd link at least one account that you intend to use the most. Why? Some of the games require a linked NNID for some features to work, some won't even start without it. Sure, there's a linkalho app that allows you to link fake accounts and it should fix most of the issues for the games that require a linked NNID. I've run into one case where it didn't let me get in-game promotional items and it was with Animal Crossing New Horizons. You need a real account linked.

If you need some additional guidance, feel free to ask.

 

[bupeapoop]

I feel ya. All those guides do some things a little bit differently than others so no wonder users run into errors. It takes some time getting used to all the terms being thrown around.

Phew! Glad to hear it as I definitely find Jailbreaking my Switch a little more challenging than my old PS4. I'm getting there though; slowly but surely!

That one should be good, it's the same one that I'm using currently.

Can you check if you have patches.ini file in bootloader folder?

Just double checked and I don't have a patches.ini file in my bootloader folder. In fact, I don't have that file anywhere on my SD Card. Whereabouts can I download this file? Could this resolve my issue?

Since Atmosphere 1.7.0 no longer supports ips kip patches (check the release notes here), which are usually used for piracy reasons, here are your options:

• Use sys-patch instead of sigpatches. This way, booting into Atmosphere with fusee.bin payload will work and sys-patch will make your game backups work.

In the end, I went with the sys-patch module that I downloaded from HERE. I went ahead and copied its contents over to my SD Card where it added entries in both the atmosphere and switch folders. You can also see the contents of my hakate_ipl.ini file HERE for added pace of mind. I'd imagine this is the same as yours Blythe93?

 

[franky86]

For two of my Switches, I've decided to keep their official firmware as low as possible, just in case a coldboot exploit is discovered and applicable on either of those firmware versions. Other than that, you can set up emuNANDs on both Switches and use them for gaming, maybe update the one with higher firmware to the latest official one just so that you can play your legit games online.

As for the older Switch, you can probably wipe it, depending on what has been done to the Switch already. Do you have a clean NAND backup? Did you ever blank your prodinfo? Made its sysNAND dirty in any way by installing a pirated game to it, app forwarder, etc.?

If its sysNAND is cleaned and it's not banned, I'd link at least one account that you intend to use the most. Why? Some of the games require a linked NNID for some features to work, some won't even start without it. Sure, there's a linkalho app that allows you to link fake accounts and it should fix most of the issues for the games that require a linked NNID. I've run into one case where it didn't let me get in-game promotional items and it was with Animal Crossing New Horizons. You need a real account linked.

If you need some additional guidance, feel free to ask.

hi. thanks for responding. i havent done any modding or exploits on either switch and the one i got second hand was from someone who wouldnt have . both are 'clean'. i plan to keep one updated/unmodded and only mod one. i was planning on upgrading the firmware to the latest on both then hacking one but you make a good point about keeping it on older firmware incase of future updates/patches.

thanks for explaining about some apps requiring a NNID - thats what i was wondering about. i have my legit nintendo account on my primary switch - would it be risky to log into the 2nd switch on the same account? if one switch gets banned/detected for being modified will it affect my whole nintendo account or just the modified switch?

i am mainly going to use the hacked switch to emulate gameboy/gameboy advance games.

 

[RedColoredStars]

The NH Switch guide suggested using this emummc.txt file in atmosphere/hosts as your DNS-MITM redirection config (note how the top line comment mentions this is a "90 DNS equivalent":
# 90DNS-equivalent # 90DNS-equivalent 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.com 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.net 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.jp 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.co.jp 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.co.uk 127.0.0.1 *nintendo-europe.com 127.0.0.1 *nintendowifi.net 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.es 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.co.kr 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.tw 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.com.hk 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.com.au 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.co.nz 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.at 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.be 127.0.0.1 *nintendods.cz 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.dk 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.de 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.fi 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.fr 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.gr 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.hu 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.it 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.nl 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.no 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.pt 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.ru 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.co.za 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.se 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.ch 127.0.0.1 *nintendo.pl 127.0.0.1 *nintendoswitch.com 127.0.0.1 *nintendoswitch.com.cn 127.0.0.1 *nintendoswitch.cn 95.216.149.205 *conntest.nintendowifi.net 95.216.149.205 *ctest.cdn.nintendo.net

I personally used a combination of the rentry and nh guides for DNS-MITM.

The rentry guide uses more wildcards to make the list shorter and has you save it as default.txt.

# Block Nintendo Servers
127.0.0.1 *nintendo.*
127.0.0.1 *nintendo-europe.com
127.0.0.1 *nintendoswitch.*
95.216.149.205 *conntest.nintendowifi.net
95.216.149.205 *ctest.cdn.nintendo.net

While the nh guide includes a line that isn't covered by rentry and has you save it as emummc.txt

127.0.0.1 *nintendods.cz

I add the the extra line onto the shorter version and name it emummc.txt as I believe that is the correct way to preserve Atmospheres default redirection at the same time. As per: https://github.com/Atmosphere-NX/Atmosphere/blob/master/docs/features/dns_mitm.md#atmosphère-defaults

Something I'm wondering though if perhaps someone can answer. The rh guide has both of these, but redirect differently.

*nintendowifi.net
*conntest.nintendowifi.net

Isn't only one necessary? Doesn't *nintendowifi.net already cover *conntest.nintendowifi.net? And if so, is it better to redirect to loopback 127.0.0.1 or to 95.216.149.205? And then, why is 95.216.149.205 used at all? Can't loopback just be used for all entries... or? Wouldn't this be the best and most simple config?

# Block Nintendo Servers
127.0.0.1 *nintendo.*
127.0.0.1 *nintendo-europe.*
127.0.0.1 *nintendoswitch.*
127.0.0.1 *nintendods.*
127.0.0.1 *conntest.nintendowifi.*
127.0.0.1 *ctest.cdn.nintendo.*

Unless there's a reason to use 95.216.149.205 for the last two?

 

[Blythe93]

Just double checked and I don't have a patches.ini file in my bootloader folder. In fact, I don't have that file anywhere on my SD Card. Whereabouts can I download this file? Could this resolve my issue?

It's included with the sigpatches archive, inside of a bootloader folder. It should fix the issue.

You can also see the contents of my hakate_ipl.ini file HERE for added pace of mind. I'd imagine this is the same as yours Blythe93?

My hekate_ipl.ini is pretty much the same one from the sigpatches archive, located inside of a bootloader folder as well.

i have my legit nintendo account on my primary switch - would it be risky to log into the 2nd switch on the same account?

As far as I'm aware of, it shouldn't be a problem.

if one switch gets banned/detected for being modified will it affect my whole nintendo account or just the modified switch?

As far as I know, one gets a console ban if Nintendo detects it's been modified. Accounts get banned only for cheating in online games. You can find more info about what got people banned here.

 

[franky86]

As far as I'm aware of, it shouldn't be a problem.


As far as I know, one gets a console ban if Nintendo detects it's been modified. Accounts get banned only for cheating in online games. You can find more info about what got people banned here.

thanks again for the info. i just charged up one with legit/unmodified 4.5 FW on it and it wont even let me log out/remove user/unlink account without wanting to go online and download an update for the switch. yikes.

i am not sure the best order in which to go about this:

i wanted to reformat this switch that is still on legit 4.5 firmware and then hack it but now it seems like i need to hack it first or let it update before i can wipe it?

edit: i am looking into re-initializing the console from maintenance mode(power+/-volume) but it says i should only use this under exceptional circumstances in bright red. hm.

edit 2: re-initializing from maintenance mode worked, now its back to factory default and still on the old original fw. thanks.

 

[bupeapoop]

It's included with the sigpatches archive, inside of a bootloader folder. It should fix the issue.

Ah perfect. Thanks for point me in the right direction. I downloaded the Hekate+AMS-package3-sigpatches-1.7.0p-cfw-18.0.0.zip from the link provided.

I've then went ahead and copied over the hekate_ipi.ini and patches.ini files across to the bootloader folder from the zip. Is it necessary for me to copy across the kip_patches and exefs_patches folders over to my Atmosphere folder also? These are also contained within the Sigpatches zip file.I figured since I have the sys-patch module installed, these wouldn't be necessary, but I could be wrong here?

 

[RedColoredStars]

Ah perfect. Thanks for point me in the right direction. I downloaded the Hekate+AMS-package3-sigpatches-1.7.0p-cfw-18.0.0.zip from the link provided.

I've then went ahead and copied over the hekate_ipi.ini and patches.ini files across to the bootloader folder from the zip. Is it necessary for me to copy across the kip_patches and exefs_patches folders over to my Atmosphere folder also? These are also contained within the Sigpatches zip file.I figured since I have the sys-patch module installed, these wouldn't be necessary, but I could be wrong here?

You're fine if patched items are all green when you look at the sys-patch log in the overlay. They should be orange if you have both sigpatches and sys-patch, green if you only have sys-patch, and red if unpatched. That's about the only way you'll know for sure if things are being patched correctly. If you don't have Tesla installed, you'll have to put these on your SD card:

https://github.com/WerWolv/Tesla-Menu
https://github.com/WerWolv/nx-ovlloader

Then when your emuMMC is loaded press L, the down button on the left joycon, and press the right stick in at the same time. That will bring up Tesla menu and you can choose the sys-patch overlay from there to see the log.

 

[Blythe93]

thanks again for the info. i just charged up one with legit/unmodified 4.5 FW on it and it wont even let me log out/remove user/unlink account without wanting to go online and download an update for the switch. yikes.

I feared that would be the case, yeah. Nintendo wants you to update to the latest firmware before you do anything.

i wanted to reformat this switch that is still on legit 4.5 firmware and then hack it but now it seems like i need to hack it first or let it update before i can wipe it?

edit: i am looking into re-initializing the console from maintenance mode(power+/-volume) but it says i should only use this under exceptional circumstances in bright red. hm.

edit 2: re-initializing from maintenance mode worked, now its back to factory default and still on the old original fw. thanks.

Glad it worked out for you, I was in a middle of writing a bit lengthy reply but you were much faster. ^^

Now that your console is factory reset, I'd suggest that you set it up the way you'd like it to be so that the personalized settings carry over to the emuNAND once you create it. I'd suggest that you delete all saved wireless connections and disable automatic software updates and sharing error information. Before you make an emuNAND, make sure not to connect to any network while on stock firmware i.e. your unhacked system. You don't want your emuNAND going online without previously setting up 90DNS or DNS MITM in order to block Nintendo servers.

Optionally, I'd suggest that you pick one theme that you prefer less (Basic White or Basic Black) than the other one to use on your sysNAND, and use the one that you prefer once you get into your emuNAND. That way you can easily differentiate between the two which one's which. I like to keep the white theme on my sysNAND, and the black theme on my emuNAND. I don't mess with the custom themes personally as the default ones work perfectly fine for me.

Once done, make a full NAND backup. This will be your clean NAND backup. The steps to do so can be found here. Keep your backup somewhere safe! It's really important to have one if things go south.

Maybe wait for someone else other than me to reply as well, but I believe that once you make a full backup you're safe to format your Switch, if you really want. You can always restore the backup you've previously created if something doesn't work.

Now, I'm not sure how would you go about connecting to your NNID without updating your system. I can think of a way to do so, but I'm not sure if you risk getting your console banned in the process. Probably not worth the trouble. @Draxzelex mentioned that it's possible to update sysNAND without burning fuses, but I'm not sure what's the proper way to do so i.e. the risk-free one. Maybe he can comment on that further. Linking a fake account on emuNAND with linkalho shoud be enough for the most use cases, e.g. being able to play official NSO emulators for GBA, N64, etc.

Since you're probably new to the Switch hacking scene, I'd suggest that you go through these two guides: NH Switch guide and Rentry.org Switch guide. Getting familiar with the terms used will make updating and maintaining your Switch afterwards a much easier task for you.

I've made a short tutorial here about updating your Switch CFW environment, hopefully it'll be of use to you.

And that's pretty much the extent of the info I can share with you. Keep your SD card and your setup as simple and organized as possible and you'll be good to go. Good luck!

Is it necessary for me to copy across the kip_patches and exefs_patches folders over to my Atmosphere folder also? These are also contained within the Sigpatches zip file.I figured since I have the sys-patch module installed, these wouldn't be necessary, but I could be wrong here?

I believe that they are unnecessary if you're using sys-patch. You can even launch the official fusee.bin in order to boot into Atmosphere and, if you have sys-patch only, game backups should work. patches.ini comes bundled with sigpatches so I don't think that sys-patch need them.

 

[bupeapoop]

You're fine if patched items are all green when you look at the sys-patch log in the overlay. They should be orange if you have both sigpatches and sys-patch, green if you only have sys-patch, and red if unpatched. That's about the only way you'll know for sure if things are being patched correctly. If you don't have Tesla installed, you'll have to put these on your SD card:

https://github.com/WerWolv/Tesla-Menu
https://github.com/WerWolv/nx-ovlloader

Then when your emuMMC is loaded press L, the down button on the left joycon, and press the right stick in at the same time. That will bring up Tesla menu and you can choose the sys-patch overlay from there to see the log.

Thanks for clearing this up. For the mean time, I'll hold off installing both the kip_patches and exefs_patches since I have the sys-patch module installed. Since I already went ahead and installed Tesla, I'll check out the log file in the hope I see the colour green. If all else fails, I'll go ahead and copy the kip and exef patch foldes across in the hope I see orange.

Back to work tomorrow and I know if I load up my Switch now I'll be up all night so I'll check it out once I get home from work.

Much appreciated RedColouredStars and Blythe93 for all your help across this Easter weekend!

 

[RedColoredStars]

Thanks for clearing this up. For the mean time, I'll hold off installing both the kip_patches and exefs_patches since I have the sys-patch module installed. Since I already went ahead and installed Tesla, I'll check out the log file in the hope I see the colour green. If all else fails, I'll go ahead and copy the kip and exef patch foldes across in the hope I see orange.

Back to work tomorrow and I know if I load up my Switch now I'll be up all night so I'll check it out once I get home from work.

Much appreciated RedColouredStars and Blythe93 for all your help across this Easter weekend!

Can you please do me a favor? Tell me if 'ctest' in the log is green or orange for you if you have both sigpatches and sys-patch.

 

[Blythe93]

Tell me if 'ctest' in the log is green or orange for you if you have both sigpatches and sys-patch.

For me it was green since the beginning, while everything else was orange.

 

[bupeapoop]

Couple quick question before I head off to work.

1.

Since jailbreaking my Switch over the course of the Easter weekend, I've not once made any attempt to log into the official Nintendo Switch OS and update it to its current release version 18.0.0 (Released March 25, 2024). It's been a good 18+ months since I last signed onto my Switch and I've used a fresh SD Card since my last card corrupted on me.

With that in mind, should I be looking to update my Switch to the latest version? Should I keep it on whatever out dated version it's currently on since I do not intend on playing official games or playing online? Or does it really even matter?

2.

In my Switch, I currently have a 400GB SanDisk Ultra with all my content that I've used to get up and running. Is it worth me buying an exact model of this SD Card and copy over the contents so I have a working backup if ever necessary?

 

[Blythe93]

With that in mind, should I be looking to update my Switch to the latest version? Should I keep it on whatever out dated version it's currently on since I do not intend on playing official games or playing online? Or does it really even matter?

I'd personally keep it at the lowest possible firmware just in case another coldboot exploit is found and works on that firmware. And, since you're playing on emuNAND and not playing online, you really have no reason to update it.

In my Switch, I currently have a 400GB SanDisk Ultra with all my content that I've used to get up and running. Is it worth me buying an exact model of this SD Card and copy over the contents so I have a working backup if ever necessary?

Other than games, I'd backup everything else on it just in case you need something from your previous build, as well as backup save games with JKSV. Other than that, games you can probably redownload later so I wouldn't back them up.
When I've moved from my 128GB to 256GB microSD card due to it failing and getting corrupt from time to time, I didn't keep any of the games installed on it. I keep my game backups on my external HDDs so that I can reinstall them via DBI at any given time.

 

[Dust2dust]

My console just now:

View attachment 429012

On settings applet, and the black rectangle is on DBI System Info Tool. the guessed one is exactly the one on the box.

I hadn't seen that while using DBI. Duckbill is such an awesome coder! Too bad he's given up on DBI. I just hope he'll release a quick fix, if it ever breaks in a future firmware update, or else, we're in trouble, as Draxzelex mentioned earlier.

Thanks to you, impeeza and binkinator (while he was still active), I've solved pretty much all of the problems I've encountered so far (not that I'm actively looking for new ones, that is ^^). And I've learned a thing or two along the way from other users as well. Hayato213. Dust2dust and BigOnYa lurk around here a lot and their replies helped me here and there.

I'm by no means an expert, far from it, actually. I just try to help here and there, when I see that I can. You are the real deal on this thread, now, Blythe93, whether you realize it or not. You've practically replaced binkinator as the reference for fixing Switch problems for the newcomers as well as the slightly more experienced users. Just make sure to not burn yourself out, like I suspect what happened to binkinator. We all want to keep you around for a long time.

 

[SaggyBeans]

Can you please do me a favor? Tell me if 'ctest' in the log is green or orange for you if you have both sigpatches and sys-patch.

Did you try downloading and using the sigpatches from the three cats site? Mine was also green when I downloaded the sigpatches from the thread on the gbaforums but when I used the three cats sigpatches "ctest" turned orange for me.

 

[jgs88]

Since you're probably new to the Switch hacking scene, I'd suggest that you go through these two guides:

Thanks for the guide! I followed it, but I may have made a mistake along the way.
SD Preparations: I put those files like Atmosphere and such on the first map of the SD-card (and offcourse I did the steps that came before)

And then I come at this point, launching CFW: There is nothing listed in the list when I click "Launch".


I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is, the microSD now looks like this:
- atmosphere (folder)
- bootloader (folder)
- emuMMC (folder)
- switch (folder)
- hbmenu.nro
- hekate_ipl.ini

Is this good?

 

[bupeapoop]

Just a quick one folks. So earlier today, I purchased the exact same 400GB SanDisk Ultra SSD that I'm currently using in my Switch. This was purchased as a backup.

What I'd like to know is how best to back this up? Should I go ahead and format it to Fat32 before simply copying and pasting all the files across? Or is there another method you'd suggest to clone the card?

I'd like to backup the card now before I begin installing backup games onto my current SD. All my backup games are currently stored on my External HDD that I intend on installing through the use the DBI app.

Thanks again for all your help and effort.

 

[impeeza]

Just a quick one folks. So earlier today, I purchased the exact same 400GB SanDisk Ultra SSD that I'm currently using in my Switch. This was purchased as a backup.

What I'd like to know is how best to back this up? Should I go ahead and format it to Fat32 before simply copying and pasting all the files across? Or is there another method you'd suggest to clone the card?

I'd like to backup the card now before I begin installing backup games onto my current SD. All my backup games are currently stored on my External HDD that I intend on installing through the use the DBI app.

Thanks again for all your help and effort.

If you have a RAW partition based EmuNAND you need to backup that using a tool like EmuTool or dd (in linux) and also backup all files on the visible partition of the card.

If you have a File Based EmuNAND or you don't have one, simply transfer the files from a card to another.

Formatting es FAT32 should be done on Hekate's NYX for the best performance.

I personally keeps a copy of my sd card on my secondary HHD and update it using Free FILESYNC anh NYX's UMS once at month. So if I need to have the SD on a new one, or go back to a point in time simply copy the backup to the new card (I am using File Based EmuNAND) and that's all

 

[Blythe93]

And then I come at this point, launching CFW: There is nothing listed in the list when I click "Launch".


I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is, the microSD now looks like this:
- atmosphere (folder)
- bootloader (folder)
- emuMMC (folder)
- switch (folder)
- hbmenu.nro
- hekate_ipl.ini

hekate_ipl.ini is in the wrong folder, it should be in bootloader folder instead (mentioned here under Instructions, 4. step).