Contents⌗

Storage overview⌗

Onboard⌗

Switch has 32GB of onboard storage (aka NAND aka eMMC). This has been left untouched, can be used to connect to nintendo online and do ‘proper’ things with.

SD Card⌗

The SD card has been setup with 2 partitions:

          96GB             32GB
|-----------------------|--------|
      SD card space       emuMMC

It has 32GB that is a copy of the official onboard storage, containing the OS and gamesaves. This is called ’emuMMC’ or emuNAND (emulated eMMC). It lets you play downloaded games and even do cheats without getting banned. It has been blocked from talking to nintendo’s servers completely. The remaining space appears as a normal SD card, as extra space to install games onto.

Hang onto the SD card’s receipt, emuMMC apparently hits the card hard. I had one card fail but could get it replaced under warranty.

Boot into official firmware⌗

This will boot into the onboard storage with no hacks or mods.

Fully power off, remove SD card, then hold both volume buttons while pressing the power button to turn on.

Boot into hekate bootloader menu⌗

Fully power off, then press volume down during boot when the hekate logo is showing. Hopefully don’t ever need to do so.

Open homebrew menu⌗

Launch a game while holding down R shoulder button. Can also just open the albums app, but it will be in ‘applet mode’ and have less RAM allocated. Running from a game will give it the full switch RAM. This sometimes matters, sometimes doesn’t. (Open the albums app by holding R shoulder button when opening)

Downloading games⌗

Card games come in .xci files. eShop/digital games come in .nsp files. Usually best to stick with nsp, they usually work best. The ‘base game’ will usually have a v0 in the filename. Updates to games with have something like v75785, can often be just as big as the base game. Download and install both. There can also be DLC files that install in the same way.

I go to https://nxbrew.net/ to download games, however it really really sucks. Uses a lot of link ad pages and paid filelocker sites. Needs an adblocker and patience.

Installing games⌗

There are a shocking number of meathods/software to install games with, feel free to explore/try other options. Games need to be installed, not just copied over. The two I’ve used/tested are:

Via a USB drive
Handy if you leave the switch docked.

Copy nsp files to a USB drive, open homebrew menu -> Goldlead -> Explore content -> USB drives -> Browse -> Select the nsp files to install.

Direct from computer
Handy if you use handheld and easy to plug into a computer.

Open homebrew menu -> DBI -> Run MTP responder. Open on computer, ‘SD Card install’ for intalling to SD card storage, ‘NAND install’ to install to the system OS partition (has ~25GB free). Copy the nsp files and they will be installed. MacOS doesn’t have a MTP client, need a third party app like android file transfer or openMTP (Both suck 🙄).

Removing games⌗

Just uninstall from normal switch menu.

Thumbsticks⌗

Since the hall effect sticks work differently, they need to be calibrated. I’ve already done in the switch OS so works perfect in menus and games, but homebrew apps typically don’t read the calibration data and instead calibrate on the fly. Wiggle both sticks a bit and it should stop moving menus around.

Versions⌗

  • nintendo OS 19.0.1 (unclear if also hotpatch?)
  • picofly with V2 lead, firmware 2.75
  • hekate_ctcaer_6.2.2
  • atmosphere 1.8.0