Hello guys, this is my first post here! I just got a MIG Switch card out of curiosity and I was tinkering with it. For those who don't know, it's used by placing XCI dumps as well as other game specific bin files in the sd card of the MIG Switch, and are obtained from the original cartridge by using an app like nxdumptool. Two of these bin files are mandatory to get the game to boot: Initial Data.bin and Certificate.bin. They stay the same for every cartridge of a specific game. Now, if you want to use an XCI dump from a shady website it's impossible to get it to work without those files. By using the Certificate.bin from another game it has no problem, but this does not count for the Initial Data.bin. So I looked for a way to obtain this Initial Data from an XCI file and read a bit of the XCI file documentation from switchbrew dot org. Here's what I understood so far: The Switch checks if the cartridge is valid by doing a challenge–response authentication on the Initial Data. The Package ID is contained both on the XCI and the Initial Data, on positions 0x110 and 0x0 respectively. The Initial Data hash is on the XCI at position 0x160. It is calculated by doing a SHA-256 hash on the full Initial Data content. So I was wondering, is there a way to to construct a functional Initial Data file starting from an XCI dump? I also tried a reverse approach by editing the Package ID in the Initial Data from another game, generating the Initial Data hash and putting it in the XCI file but is not enough to get the Switch believe it's a real game. Sorry if this may seem stupid but let me know what you think.

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catlover007 · 2024-04-22T04:06:40+00:00

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Gaming Switch XCI Headers?

Thread starter gameboy
Start date May 21, 2018
Views 5,078
Replies 4

gameboy

Well-Known Member

Member

Level 10

May 21, 2018

do switch backups have their own unique headers or id such as the ones 3ds had? I know before injecting 3ds games the only backups that could be played were the cart roms and not the .cias but those required a 'header' in such that if two of the same games appeared to go online the users would get banned. is this the case with Switch games carts?(if anyone knows)

hippy dave

BBMB

Member

Level 33

May 22, 2018

Yes.

DocKlokMan

Plugin Dev

Member

Level 14

May 22, 2018

Yes they do, also eShop titles do now as well, unlike with 3DS. This has not been brought up or mentioned with BBB or TX's backup loader.

Reactions: The_Green_Nerd and gameboy

hudhair

Well-Known Member

Member

Level 4

May 22, 2018

AnalogMan said:
Yes they do, also eShop titles do now as well, unlike with 3DS. This has not been brought up or mentioned with BBB or TX's backup loader.

Ah. I'm guessing that there will be a similar method of getting the header from a legit game you own and using it for all your "backup" games.