Free Piracy guide for Switch

Free piracy guide for Switch. Last updated 11/14/2018.
If you care about bans, make sure you follow Step 3, and remain offline until emuNAND releases to dodge bans. SX "EmuNAND" is not true emuNAND and will not protect you from bans. While there are only a few things CONFIRMED to cause bans at the moment, Nintendo's telemetry is very thorough so staying totally offline until emuNAND is the only safe way to avoid potential FUTURE bans.
Going online with NSP files installed is one of the few things guaranteed to cause a ban. Switch bans are CDN-based and will lock you out of the eShop, online play, and even system updates.

Required Physical Items:
1. Jig (a small bit of metal to short two pins on the right Joy-Con rail)
    Buy: http://switchjigs.com
    Make: https://gbatemp.net/threads/502087
2. MicroSD card (Ideally above 32GB)
    The Switch needs to be updated to support the exFAT file system to make a NAND backup.
	FAT32 format can be used otherwise, as it is more stable with homebrew.
3. Windows/Mac/Linux PC or Android phone or Jailbroken iPhone
4. USB-C cable that connects to your PC and/or phone (converters are okay)
5. Switch on any firmware version. Switches purchased after June 2018 have a chance to have the RCM entry point fixed at the factory, these units cannot currently be hacked. Info: https://gbatemp.net/threads/481215/
    4.1.0 and earlier will eventually get a software warmboot (bypass Step 1) method. If using a USB connection doesn't bother you, you get no value out of staying on 4.1.0.
    1.0.0 already has software warmboot, but is exceedingly rare.

Required Software Downloads (or just download everything in one go from https://www.sdsetup.com/console?switch . The default package includes everything except the payload sender, which you can add by checking a box):
1. SDFiles zip. Download from https://github.com/tumGER/SDFilesSwitch/releases and extract the ZIP to the root of your SD card.
2. Hekate Payload. Download the bin file from https://github.com/CTCaer/hekate/releases/ and place it on your PC or phone.
3. Payload sender application. These differ based on platform.
    Windows PC: https://github.com/eliboa/TegraRcmGUI/releases
    Android phone: https://github.com/MenosGrante/Rekado/releases
    Mac OS/iPhone (Jailbroken): https://mologie.github.io/nxboot/
    Linux PC: https://github.com/Cease-and-DeSwitch/fusee-launcher

Setting up CFW:
0. If you care about bans at all, open the Settings on your Switch and DELETE all your Wi-Fi networks. Do not re-add networks for any reason while your Switch is hacked. Make sure to follow Step 3. Once "EmuNAND" is released, you'll be able to dual boot an online, unhacked system alongside an offline, hacked system. If you use your hacked Switch online for any reason, assume you will be banned.
1. Fully power off your Switch, insert the jig into the right Joy-Con rail, hold Volume UP, and tap Power. Nothing will happen.
2. Start your payload sending app on your PC or phone, select the payload file, and then connect the device to your Switch. This will boot the Hekate menu. Use the volume keys and power button to navigate the Hekate menu.
3. It is STRONGLY recommended you make a NAND backup now. Tools > Backup > Backup eMMC Boot0/1, and then Backup eMMC RAW GPP. Store these files in a safe place!
4. Use Hekate's menu to launch CFW. It will look like the normal Switch menu, but opening the Photo Album will instead open the Homebrew Launcher (if you hold R/ZR while opening the Album, it will load the normal Album).

	You will need to do steps 1, 2, and 4 every time you power on your Switch to access your pirated content, but you can leave your Switch in sleep mode as long as you want without having to redo the jig + payload process.
 		If you'd like to skip Step 4, you can open SD:/bootloader/hekate_ipl.ini on your SD card and change "autoboot=0" to "autoboot=1".
		If you'd like to skip Step 1, you can use the "briccmii" payload from here: https://files.sshnuke.net/briccmiiv2.zip to set up automatic RCM (AutoRCM). This feature intentionally bricks part of your NAND, forcing the Switch to ONLY boot into RCM. It means you won't need the jig or button combo, but also means you won't be able to turn on the Switch at all without sending a payload over USB. You can run the Briccmii payload whenever you want to uninstall AutoRCM.
		Step 2 cannot be skipped with current exploits. In the future, it might be skippable with a software entry point for older firmware versions.

Installing NSP files (Games):
1. Open the Homebrew Menu by clicking the photo album while in CFW.
2. Use the application "Goldleaf" (it might still be called "Tinfoil," the name was changed due to drama) to install NSP files from either the SD card or over USB from a PC. If your SD Card is formatted as FAT32, you'll need to use USB install for games above 4GB.
3. Games will appear on your home menu just like eShop titles. If you boot the Switch without signature patching CFW, your sideloaded games will fail to launch.

Unhacking the Switch for safe online play:
- If you want to go back to online, you can back up your hacked NAND and restore the backup you hopefully made in Step 3. You will lose all your pirated games, but your system will be completely clean and unflagged by Nintendo assuming you never went online in CFW. If you're extra paranoid, use a different SD card while you're unhacked (or just eject the SD card containing all of your hacked content).

Updating the System Firmware for newer games or features:
- ChoiDuJourNX (https://gbatemp.net/threads/513416) is a tool designed to update Switch firmware without burning e-fuses. You can go to https://darthsternie.bplaced.net/switch.html to find firmware dumps to install. Your old NAND backup will not boot (without Hekate) if you've updated the Switch firmware to a fuse-burning update without using ChoiDuJourNX. Booting an updated firmware without using Hekate will burn fuses to match that firmware. Because of this, ChoiDuJourNX installs AutoRCM by default.

Where to download Switch NSPs:
Option 1: DarkUmbra (https://darkumbra.net/forums/forum/194-switch/). This website has a ton of NSP dumps as direct downloads, but people use adfly and you need to block the site's anti-adblock with this filter: forum.darksoftware.net##script:inject(bab-defuser.js)

Footnote: ALL custom firmware for the Switch requires a payload, sender, and files on the SD. ReiNX and RajNX are packaged distributions of Atmosphere alpha, just like SDFiles, so if you prefer them for whatever reason they offer the same feature set. SX OS is a paid CFW with console-based DRM that also offers XCI loading and USB drivers but nothing else over the free options and is unlikely to get features before Atmosphere implements them as Team Xecuter has historically plagiarized most of their code from Atmosphere. SX Pro and other "dongle" options act as payload senders in lieu of a phone or PC (an SX Pro dongle can boot CFW that is not SX OS).
Option 2: Various discord servers.