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First Nintendo Switch cartridge dumps (ROMs) released

Atheerios

Member
Disclaimer: please, let's not turn this thread into a war of "is homebrew good?" or "piracy isn't bad". This isn't to talk about those things, but to inform a current situation related to the Nintendo Switch.

Today the first Nintendo Switch ROMs have been released to the public, as confirmed by GBATemp

The following ROMs have been released:

The.Legend.of.Zelda.Breath.of.the.Wild.NSW-BigBlueBox
Mario.Kart.8.Deluxe.NSW-BigBlueBox
ARMS.NSW-BigBlueBox
Has.Been.Heroes.NSW-BigBlueBox
Puyo.Puyo.Tetris.USA.NSW-BigBlueBox
Lego.City.Undercover.USA.NSW-BigBlueBox

There's no way to run these ROMs yet.

The scariest thing about this is that they are not normal cartridge ROMs, but the hackers have already decrypted the contents and posted those in way that they hide the unique identifier that cartridges have.

Most of you don't realize, but the Switch hacking community is incredibly talented, as the people who helped hack the 3DS are now working on Switch. As an interesting note, the Switch OS may be based on the 3DS OS (because of internal strings referencing the same OS name "Horizon"), but of course with new security additions.

The following things have already been achieved privately:

  • Userland code execution
  • Kernel has been dumped
  • Cartridge dumps
  • Extracting private data from games like models (data mining)
  • Backing up saves and transferring them to another Switch
  • Editing saves
  • "Cheating" in games by modifying RAM values

And a lot more that they haven't disclosed publicly. You can find most of them on Twitter, they post lots of interesting things about this.

Nintendo has been pretty incompetent with their OS security in the past, and that sadly hasn't changed with the Switch. However, if Nintendo refuses to give us an option to back up saves, what other option we have?
 
When are we getting the region-free patch?
/s

No, but seriously. I'm hoping we get some homebrew capabilities later on in the year. Retroarch running on this would be a dream come true.
 
tenor.gif
 
Awesome. I hope this doesn't lead to piracy (of course it will) but the thought of being able to back up my saves has me extremely excited.
 

Haano

Member
> Backing up saves

Backing up saves doesn't warrant you to hack the switch. Most people do it just for piracy. Simple as. It's always been the case.

They'll only be a very limited number of people who'll do it for saves or mods. Very limited.
 

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Sounds like mostly things you'd get from userland control.
 

moolamb

Member
Not joking but I would welcome region free in the form of being able to choose your dialogue and subtitle language for all games (Xenoblade 2).

These roms have been amazing in the past for fan 'undub' versions.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Woulnt it be enough to say that Roms got dumped ? I dont know if you need to list the specific file names or teams dumping/uploading them. Feels kinda weird.
 

Foffy

Banned
I assume Nintendo hopefully has a better online system to just bar people from playing online on hacked systems. Didn't they finally target the 3DS scene a few months ago?
 

atbigelow

Member
There's a lot of awesome research and hacking that goes into console exploits. I love reading and watching it.

Sadly, it then gets used to pirate software. Homebrew seems like the minority justification for ecosystem damage.
 

TankRizzo

Banned
> Backing up saves

Backing up saves doesn't warrant you to hack the switch. Most people do it just for piracy. Simple as. It's always been the case.

They'll only be a very limited number of people who'll do it for saves or mods. Very limited.

you've gone and done it for the people on GAF

e8nQfgG.gif
 

Semajer

Member
Datamining is the thing enabled by homebrew that I enjoy the most. Hopefully it won't be long for TCRF to be updated with interesting Switch data.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
When are we getting the region-free patch?
/s

No, but seriously. I'm hoping we get some homebrew capabilities later on in the year. Retroarch running on this would be a dream come true.

That's my hope as well. Switch's hybrid nature makes it such an ideal emulator box.
 
I assume Nintendo hopefully has a better online system to just bar people from playing online on hacked systems. Didn't they finally target the 3DS scene a few months ago?

They only targeted the local_id tag on friendlists. Which you can easily change to recover online. That's why apps that don't require friendlist could get online (eShop) and the ones that did require won't connect (Pokemon Bank).
 
I asked this one that icons Smash mod and ill ask it here as well.

The people behind this are obviously incredibly talented. Why don't they put their knowledge and energy to good use and do/make something themselves AND make money from it?
 
> Backing up saves

Backing up saves doesn't warrant you to hack the switch. Most people do it just for piracy. Simple as. It's always been the case.

They'll only be a very limited number of people who'll do it for saves or mods. Very limited.

It's not their fault for expecting Nintendo to have a feature that's been in every console since the PS2.

I asked this one that icons Smash mod and ill ask it here as well.

The people behind this are obviously incredibly talented. Why don't they put their knowledge and energy to good use and do/make something themselves AND make money from it?

It's a lot easier to mess with existing hardware/software than create your own from scratch. Patreon also makes it a lot easier for them to get paid if there are fans of their work.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Internet Browser or more storage options to be delivered even later now.
 
The following things have already been achieved privately:

  • Userland code execution
  • Kernel has been dumped
  • Cartridge dumps
  • Extracting private data from games like models (data mining)
  • Backing up saves and transferring them to another Switch
    [*] "Cheating" in games by modifying RAM values

It would be sad to see cheaters in Splatoon 2 so early
 

patientx

Member
Forget about all the other stuff, but I HATE CHEATING in console games... Some people would eventually pirate stuff I get it we have no way to prevent that %100 but cheating effects the whole community in multiplayer games... Fuck this.
 
I asked this one that icons Smash mod and ill ask it here as well.

The people behind this are obviously incredibly talented. Why don't they put their knowledge and energy to good use and do/make something themselves AND make money from it?
They more than likely do. The do this as a hobby.
 
Forget about all the other stuff, but I HATE CHEATING in console games... Some people would eventually pirate stuff I get it we have no way to prevent that %100 but cheating effects the whole community in multiplayer games... Fuck this.

Better hope Nintendo has a way of checking for tampered accounts.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Honestly I have never wanted a machine cracked more than the switch. The emulation possibilities are insane.
Always better off doing emulation on PC. But i can see the appeal of emulation on Switch since on the go portability emulation

Only times i would bother emulation on console is if it's native emulation access to your games like PSP had a native like official PS1 emulator so that is awesome, not a fan of bad fanmade emulators
 
I feel like an aspect that will help Switch with piracy is the inherent appeal of the system, which is the entire "It's a mobile device AND a home console!" concept.

All the pirating in the world won't get you the functionality and the appeal that the Switch has.
 
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