Hacking SWITCH NOOB PARADISE - Ask questions here

[hanbalfrek]

Hi all,

Sorry for being a total beginner at this, but I've been troubleshooting for about 3 hours now.

About a month ago I got a modded switch working for my son using Atmosphere and Hekate and Arcropolis using sysMMC with a guide from gamebanana. Minimalist one.

However, this morning my son clicked update on something as he was starting Smash, and now when launching from Hekate, it says Unknown pkg1 version. HOS version is not supported.

I figured he updated the modded copy in the SD Card, and so I:
- copied in my SD Card backup, same problem
- deleted everything, unzipped fresh downloads (same versions) of Atmosphere and Hekate, same problem
- formatted the SD card again, copied in fresh copies of everything, same problem.

I'm not sure what else I can try, since there's no new versions of Atmosphere and Hekate to try.

Any advice appreciated!
Thanks.

 

[impeeza]

The best way to proceed is to wait until a new version of Atmosphère get released. please be patient, the people working in it do it just for love to the scene and work hard to get it.

You need a new version of Hekate and atmosphere to support new firmware.

 

[hanbalfrek]

Ah, okay, so whatever he updated affects the version of Atmosphere, and not just what's on the SD card.
Thanks! Appreciate your quick reply!
He know will remember not to update (I've said that to him before), and I'll now remember to take him off wireless since he just wants to play Smash locally.

 

[miola]

same happened to me i think.
switch updated to newer version. OFW is working, CFW is not. hekata is working
shall i just wait for new files with atmos update and insert them into the sdcard or i need to prepare smth to fix it?

 

[Blythe93]

shall i just wait for new files with atmos update and insert them into the sdcard or i need to prepare smth to fix it?

Wait for Atmosphere, Hekate and sys-patch to be updated before you do anything else. You'll most likely just need to drag and drop new files, overwriting the existing files.

 

[leonlai15]

Hi guys!

I have a V1 switch that I would like to mod and install CFW and Homebrew.
It's Official Firmware as seen from system settings is 18.0.1.

As of the date of this post, I do not intend on updating to latest firmware 20.0.X via the settings menu of my V1 Switch.

Most of the current modding tutorials seem to use 19.0.1 as a starting point.
Is there a way I can update my V1 switch to 19.0.1 and then follow along the modding tutorials?
Or is there a better way?

Thoughts and advice anyone?

 

[miola]

welp, i need to be patient.
i've read the message about just wait for update too late.
and was trying to recover t he OFW to previous version.i used daybreak to downgrade the formware back to 19.
and now nothing is loading
long waiting with blue led blinking and balkck screen (see it inside usb) before i can start hekata
then if i go to OFC i see picture 1, if i go to CFW i see picture 2.

would appreciate any support of how to restore it back to any working state.

 

[Blythe93]

Is there a way I can update my V1 switch to 19.0.1 and then follow along the modding tutorials?
Or is there a better way?

Thoughts and advice anyone?

Follow this guide: https://switch.hacks.guide/

If you're using CFW on your emuNAND, you don't have to update your sysNAND to 19.0.1 (or any other firmware, really) since you can download firmware files from the Internet (I know of two place, one website and one github page, that have 19.0.1 for download). Sadly, can't link to them here due to the copyright reasons. but it's not that hard to find them with a quick Google search.

If you're using CFW on your sysNAND, that's a bit tricky for me as I don't use it myself but I'd suggest you to wait for the Atmosphere and Hekate to get updated before going for a higher firmware. I believe that Daybreak (that comes with the Atmosphere) updates the system the way it's officially done so there shouldn't be issues with you using it to update your sysNAND to firmware 19.0.1 but don't take my word on that. As I said, I only use emuNAND for CFW stuff and I have no real life experience with sysNAND CFW setups.

Also, for game backups, I'd suggest using the latest sys-patch and DBI (for installing games). Also make sure to block Nintendo servers by using either DNS MITM or 90DNS, whichever you may prefer.

would appreciate any support of how to restore it back to any working state.

Blank prodinfo? Try with installing sys-patch (last time I checked it should come with nim service fix) and see if CFW will boot.
Not sure what to do with the OFW side, though. You'll probably need to restore prodinfo for OFW to work.

Starting from 17.0.0 blanking your PRODINFO using any method (via exposphere.ini, Incognito_RCM or similar) will cause a User Abort in the nim service.

 

[miola]

i've wiped everything i can (following this guide https://switch.hacks.guide/user_guide/getting_started.html)
tried to load - nothing.
tried sys-patch - nothing


all launch options ends with this screen. - wormboot doesn't matches with fuses

Post automatically merged: May 4, 2025

I think I need smhow to change the ofw version, maybe. Can it be done from Hekate?

Post automatically merged: May 4, 2025

Blank prodinfo? Try with installing sys-patch

By installing you meant to copy the sys-patch files to the root? Right?

 

[Blythe93]

all launch options ends with this screen. - wormboot doesn't matches with fuses

Ah, Mariko unit and a modchip, your warmboot file needs to be updated. Sadly, I'm not really experienced with these units.

Since you've updated firmware to 20.0.x on your sysNAND, you'll probably need to wait for new version of the Atmosphere (or grab the test build from the ReSwitched Discord server, I think) before you can update your warmboot file. To do so, you'll probably need to boot into CFW on sysNAND via Hekate (you can even boot into stock system via Hekate) at least once in order to update your warmboot_mariko .bin file. After that, your console should be able to boot once again.

 

[miola]

thanks for support.

to wait for me is fine (from now on i'll try to be patient - haha) but im afraid that i did it worse trying to revert the update.
it says im on 19.1 not 20.

and you'r telling i need to boot into CFW via hekate - but i can't boot into anything right now. i cn load only hekate and even this takes much longer than usual

Post automatically merged: May 4, 2025

the question is - will i be able to wait and fix everything. or because i've tried to downgrade via daybreak to 19.1 smth else is needed to be done (or it is completely broken now)

Post automatically merged: May 4, 2025

welp. i've managed to factory reset the console and OFW is working.
i'm hesitating how to proceed to turn on the cfw again. (because of the potential version difference)
what is the best thing to do now?

 

[Blythe93]

welp. i've managed to factory reset the console and OFW is working.

Congrats!

i'm hesitating how to proceed to turn on the cfw again. (because of the potential version difference)
what is the best thing to do now?

Are you on sysNAND or emuNAND CFW? Do you have any important save files?

If you don't care about your save files, you can just format your SD card and start anew by following this guide: https://switch.hacks.guide/user_guide/getting_started.html
Remember, if you're using emuNAND, you can just download firmware files you need from the Internet, you don't have to update your sysNAND and dump the firmware from your sysNAND as the guide says. I believe that's the most legal way to obtain your firmware update files and probably one of the reasons Switch Hacks website remain to this day. Additionally, for game backups to work, you'll need sys-patch I linked above and title installer such as DBI (I'd recommend the latest Russian version of it since English one, while it still works most of the time, is a bit outdated) or TinWoo installer (if you're looking for somewhat up-to-date English installer).

In future, make sure not to update automatically to the latest firmware version before you make sure that everything (or at least Atmosphere, Hekate and sys-patch) is up-to-date. ^^

 

[miola]

i'm on emuMMC (i was ale to boot separately ofw and cfw and semi (but never used it))
i do not have anything important there already

sorry for being stubborn here. but i still do not understand one thing (and decided to he on the safe side)
in that guide (i've used it already) it is not mentioned how to update the switch without switching it to 20 version again.
it says just use the latest atmos.
shall i be worried about matching version of OFW and CFW.

 

[Blythe93]

in that guide (i've used it already) it is not mentioned how to update the switch without switching it to 20 version again.
it says just use the latest atmos.

When you're updating your Switch the official way, you can only update to the latest. Anything else requires you to have firmware files or to dump them previously by yourself. Because downloading firmware files from the Internet means downloading copyrighted material, I'd say that they aren't allowed to do that? As long as they don't have any copyrighted material on their website, big N probably won't touch them.

When the time comes, just update the firmware to the latest one via Daybreak once you download the latest Atmosphere and (supported) firmware files.

shall i be worried about matching version of OFW and CFW.

Not really. I don't use sysNAND at all and it's on 15.0.1 or something like that, while my emuNAND is on 19.0.1. Still waiting for the official release of the Atmosphere, Hekate and sys-patch (and other homebrew apps and sys-modules like MissionControl).

 

[miola]

ok. so i just go through the guide mentioned above. and fresh install latest atmosphere. thanks.

 

[cvskid]

Are there any tutorials for triple booting switch emmc emunand, linux, and android after backing up my sd card and emunand? I just got a bigger sd card a 512gb but most tutorials i have seen is either 1 or the other.

That and is it worth having both linux and android or just stick to android? I'm assuming android 14 is the go to on nintendo switch.

 

[leonlai15]

Hi Blythe93,

Thanks for the reply and insights!

I noted that the beginning of 2(two) paragraphs of your reply started with "If you are using CFW on your ...".

I am not sure if you misread what I wrote in the first paragraph of my post as sometimes my writing can be confusing.

This is because my Nintendo Switch V1 is stock and unmodded. It is running official firmware from Nintendo version 18.0.1 and I would like to install CFW and homebrew on it.

As CFW is still NOT installed (as of this reply), I am not sure how to apply what you wrote and move forward.

*Is the firmware version of your Nintendo Switch a consideration at all when you begin the modding process?
**Or am I having undue/unnecessary concerns?
***Can I proceed to mod my Nintendo switch V1 as it is?

Follow this guide: link deleted as forum rules prohibit my newbie account from including urls.

If you're using CFW on your emuNAND, you don't have to update your sysNAND to 19.0.1 (or any other firmware, really) since you can download firmware files from the Internet (I know of two place, one website and one github page, that have 19.0.1 for download). Sadly, can't link to them here due to the copyright reasons. but it's not that hard to find them with a quick Google search.

If you're using CFW on your sysNAND, that's a bit tricky for me as I don't use it myself but I'd suggest you to wait for the Atmosphere and Hekate to get updated before going for a higher firmware. I believe that Daybreak (that comes with the Atmosphere) updates the system the way it's officially done so there shouldn't be issues with you using it to update your sysNAND to firmware 19.0.1 but don't take my word on that. As I said, I only use emuNAND for CFW stuff and I have no real life experience with sysNAND CFW setups.

 

[miola]

never thought about having android/linux on switch. what are the use scenarios for you?
in this tutor they cover the partitioning for android/linux - maybe itll help.
https://switch.hacks.guide/user_guide/all/partitioning_sd.html

 

[impeeza]

never thought about having android/linux on switch. what are the use scenarios for you?
in this tutor they cover the partitioning for android/linux - maybe itll help.
https://switch.hacks.guide/user_guide/all/partitioning_sd.html

Some people find the emulation of other platforms better performance on Linux than HOS.

 

[Blythe93]

I am not sure if you misread what I wrote in the first paragraph of my post as sometimes my writing can be confusing.

Nah, it was my bad. ^^" I somehow forgot in a moment when I wrote a reply. It's not really easy to focus when you have kids running around you.

This is because my Nintendo Switch V1 is stock and unmodded. It is running official firmware from Nintendo version 18.0.1 and I would like to install CFW and homebrew on it.

As CFW is still NOT installed (as of this reply), I am not sure how to apply what you wrote and move forward.

Just follow the above mentioned guide and you'll be on the right track.

*Is the firmware version of your Nintendo Switch a consideration at all when you begin the modding process?

It depends on whether you'd like to use clean sysNAND (no CFW on it) in order to play legally purchased games. If that's the case, you will need to update to the latest firmware. Otherwise, I'd suggest that you make an emuNAND and run CFW on it. Personally, I'm not using sysNAND on any modded Switch of mine, only emuNAND CFW.

**Or am I having undue/unnecessary concerns?

The only things that you need to know is what will and will not get your console banned and how to avoid that. Check this guide.

***Can I proceed to mod my Nintendo switch V1 as it is?

Pretty much, yeah. If it boots perfectly fine into OFW, there's not much else you need to do before you mod it. Few things to consider, though:

• Factory reset would be a good thing if you'd like to remove previous owner's profiles, saves, settings, etc. Once done, you can set it up the way you want. I'd sugegst not to connect to the Internet if you'd like to keep your stock firmware as low as possible, just in case another exploit is found in the future that may or may not be available for the firmware your console is on. Based on what I've seen so far, it's unlikely that we'll get a proper softmod anytime soon but only time will tell. Do not format your Switch before reading the following as well:
• Do you have any profile on your Switch with linked Nintendo Network ID? If you do, it might be worth keeping it because there are games that require linked NNID in order to work (e.g. NSO emulaors, Ori games, etc.). If you don't, however, I'd advise against going online and linking one because it'll require a latest firmware update to be installed first which isn't a good thing if you'd like to keep your firmware as low as possible. If you don't mind updating your console in order to link at least one profile with the NNID account, definitely do it after you factory reset your console, set everything up the way you want it and connect it to the Internet, update to the latest firmware and remove all of the saved network credentials afterwards, before you create a clean NAND backup that you may or may not need sometime in the future if things go south. While you can use linkalho or similar to link fake NNID accounts to your profiles, there are some games like Animal Crossing New Horizons that offer in-game items for those that have real NNID linked (i.e. Mario-themed items) which won't be offered if you're just using the fake NNID accounts. If that isn't much of a concern for you, feel free to ignore it. ^^ I love ACNH and I was disappointed that I've somehow missed the opportunity to get some of those items in-game on my modded Switch.
• Make sure not to restore your NAND backup if you ever connected to the Nintendo servers after you've created it. Check this thread and look for the Best Way to Avoid Bans tab.
• Make sure to read the guide on Switch Hacks website before you attempt to mod your Switch at least once, just so that you get to know what you're dealing with.
• You don't need to update your stock firmware in order to dump and get the latest firmware files that you'll use to update your emuNAND. You can find those files online. Sadly, we can't share the links to them due to the copyright reasons, but quick Google search should lead you to them.

If you have any other question, don't hesitate to ask.