As of Atmosphère 0.8.6, the system now uses "override all apps" by default. This means that THIS GUIDE IS DEPRECATED - you only need to press R over any installed title and it will be overridden by hbl. Enjoy your hassle free homebrews and CFW updates!

I see a lot of people using RetroArch as an installed NSP to access full RAM, or people whining that they can't play 20FPS SM64 because they don't want to install any NSP.

Well guess what, now with Atmosphère (and soon others CFW I guess) you can have full RAM homebrews without installing any NSP. It will basically "replace" the game with hbmenu when you launch it with R pressed (or not, your choice), granting you full RAM access.

Note : You need at least one title on the console (whether it's an homebrew NSP or a digitally puchased game or a cartridge game). If you can pick an up to date game that's better as you won't be nagged everytime you launch hbmenu.

Let's get started !

1. Download the latest release of Atmosphère here, as well as fusee-primary.bin : https://github.com/Atmosphere-NX/Atmosphere/releases
2. Extract the ZIP to the root of your SD card

If you don't care about mods
This method breaks mods (and sysmodules with an invalid title id)

1. Open the atmosphere folder of your SD card and edit loader.ini (Notepad++ is your best friend)
   
2. Replace the title_id line by "title_id=app"
3. Replace the override_key line by "override_key=R"
4. Save the file, put the SD card back in your console
5. Use the fusee-primary.bin payload to boot Atmosphère (you can chainload it with Hekate to dual boot others CFW / Lakka)

Now running any game while holding R will open hbmenu instead of the game, how impressive ! If you want to play the game instead, don't hold R while launching it.

Or, if you care about mods
This method works with mods and invalid sysmodules

1. Find the title ID of your target game here : https://switchbrew.org/wiki/Title_list/Games
2. Open the atmosphere folder of your SD card and edit loader.ini (Notepad++ is your best friend)
3. The current title ID is the Photo Gallery - replace it with your game (title_id)
4. Save the file, put the SD card back in your console
5. Use the fusee-primary.bin payload to boot Atmosphère (you can chainload it with Hekate to dual boot others CFW / Lakka)

Now, running the game you selected will open hbmenu instead of the game, how impressive ! If you want to play the game instead, just hold R while launching it.

If you want to, you can edit loader.ini and change the key combination (override_key) :

• override_key=!R will run the game when R is pressed, hbmenu else
  
• override_key=R will run hbmenu when R is pressed, the game else

If it doesn't work or if it's glitchy, just try another game and hope for the best.

 

[m4xw]

Has nobody else done this or why is this such a secret?

I'm confused.

Wont work on the RA NSP, but its 010100000000a100
It's not in the App tid range.

 

[Treeko]

Why did the nsp version of RA disappear from retroarch's website?

 

[natinusala]

@m4xw can answer that I believe

 

[lil-devil]

Why did the nsp version of RA disappear from retroarch's website?

tl;dr nsp version doesn't support Dynamic Recompiler

 

[CrazyRach82]

I am on SXOS, but want to boot atmosphere from sxos to run retroarch/mupen64plus-next. Do I follow these instrutions and use hekate to boot atmosphere?

 

[RareCandyMan]

Wont work on the RA NSP, but its 010100000000a100
It's not in the App tid range.

So, from a purely Aesthetic point of view, there is no way to do this with a title that says/looks like RetroArch? It has to be some other installed NSP?

 

[Slim45]

does the switch's fan work with retro arch? system does get hot

 

[ut2k4master]

I am on SXOS, but want to boot atmosphere from sxos to run retroarch/mupen64plus-next. Do I follow these instrutions and use hekate to boot atmosphere?

you dont need this if youre on sx os. just hold R while booting any game

 

[CrazyRach82]

you dont need this if youre on sx os. just hold R while booting any game

Mupen64 won’t work for me though. Can’t play any of the n64 games.

 

[Deleted User]

Mupen64 won’t work for me though. Can’t play any of the n64 games.

atmos on 7.01 and got mupen to load with doing this method

I used mario tennis ID and hold R when booting mario tennis

Load retroarch and mupen no longer crashes no boot

 

[ZachyCatGames]

does the switch's fan work with retro arch? system does get hot

It does. The fan automatically turns on when needed, if it isn’t turning on then the system isn’t making very much heat (or your fan is broken)

 

[Clydefrosch]

I really wish there was a fan controller. I'd honestly feel better if it always ran at like one level higher than it does on its own.

 

[Stremon]

For some reason this title replacement method doesn't work anymore on a fresh install of Kosmos v11.10.0, launching the homebrew loader only works with the album app, no matter which hbl_tid I put in the loader.ini
I tried redownloading all files, and I was careful to select atmosphere as CFW, but it's still doesn't work.
It's like the CFW doesn't use the loader.ini at all.

 

[Eudeyrn]

For some reason this title replacement method doesn't work anymore on a fresh install of Kosmos v11.10.0, launching the homebrew loader only works with the album app, no matter which hbl_tid I put in the loader.ini
I tried redownloading all files, and I was careful to select atmosphere as CFW, but it's still doesn't work.
It's like the CFW doesn't use the loader.ini at all.

Atmosphere changed the parameter names. This is fixed in a PR for Kosmos, but not in the release zip yet. (Edit: this is fixed in the 11.10.1 hotfix release)

loader.ini should be:


[hbl_config]
title_id=...
path=atmosphere/hbl.nsp
override_key=!R

[default_config]
override_key=!L

 

[RareCandyMan]

Atmosphere changed the parameter names. This is fixed in a PR for Kosmos, but not in the release zip yet. loader.ini should be:


[hbl_config]
title_id=...
path=atmosphere/hbl.nsp
override_key=!R

[default_config]
override_key=!L

So just to be clear, if you want it to boot hbl.nro when you are holding R, the regular game else, you would change it override_key=R. Correct?

 

[Eudeyrn]

So just to be clear, if you want it to boot hbl.nro when you are holding R, the regular game else, you would change it override_key=R. Correct?

Yes, that part hasn't changed. The key with a ! means launch HBL by default (when you're not pressing any buttons) only launching the game when the key is held. The key without a ! means the opposite - launch the game by default, only launching HBL when the key is held.

It looks like the new [default_config] section is only needed if you don't have a [hbl_config] section. You could remove [hbl_config] and only specify an override key in the [default_config] section, in which case the path is hardcoded to atmosphere/hbl.nsp and the title_id is hardcoded to 010000000000100D (the Album.) I didn't see that documented anywhere, so I'm only guessing based on the source. I tried removing the [default_config] section entirely and it changed nothing about the HBL title override.

 

[xwizit]

Hey guys, cant seem to get this to work. Im doing the "i dont care about mods" guide, and all that happens when i hold r is the game launches

my ini file

[config]
tid=app
hbl_path=atmosphere/hbl.nsp
override_key=!R

 

[Silent_Gunner]

I'm trying to remember what programs allow you disable the game card slot, because it's my understanding you need a game on the internal storage or something to get this trick to work, and I can't remember in between updates for everything whether it was Kosmos, Atmosphere, and/or hekate that had the option and what I need to either delete or what setting to change. Either way, I know I don't want to lose access to the current error handler and some of the features that have made CFW for the Switch much more convenient to use compared to before!

 

[ZachyCatGames]

I'm trying to remember what programs allow you disable the game card slot, because it's my understanding you need a game on the internal storage or something to get this trick to work, and I can't remember in between updates for everything whether it was Kosmos, Atmosphere, and/or hekate that had the option and what I need to either delete or what setting to change. Either way, I know I don't want to lose access to the current error handler and some of the features that have made CFW for the Switch much more convenient to use compared to before!

nogc disables the gamecard slot

 

[Deleted User]

Hey guys, cant seem to get this to work. Im doing the "i dont care about mods" guide, and all that happens when i hold r is the game launches

my ini file

[config]
tid=app
hbl_path=atmosphere/hbl.nsp
override_key=!R

Should look like

[config]
tid=put title id of a game
hbl_path=atmosphere/hbl.nsp
override_key=R

Ive tried mario tennis and smash and both work - Hold R when loading whatever game you go with