Hi, so my general routine for handling updates thus far has been the following:
1.) Backup sysNAND and emuNAND for each offline Switch
2.) Update an online only Switch using the Internet to the latest version.
3.) On each offline Switch, Update the sysNAND via "Match Local Users"
3.) On each offline Switch, Update the emuNAND via "Match Local Users"
This process generally works to allow me to officially update without having to take the firmware online and without having to mess with ChoiDujour. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work with SXOS. Last time it happened I was making a big version jump from v8 something to v9 something, and this time it's from 9.0.2 to 10.0.2.
My sysNAND updated successfully from 9.0.2 to 10.0.2 through "Match Local Users", but on emuNAND it only successfully updated the game data. Not the firmware. It says it's complete after updating the game, but the firmware does not update. If I try again it says the update has failed.
Again, this isn't the first time this has happened. In the past it was simply easier to create a new emuNAND and use Checkpoint to transfer the games, but Checkpoint has been rather... bad... lately. The old version I was using doesn't work on 9.0.2 and the latest version will ONLY backup the primary user data. It doesn't even list the games played by any other user. That aside, t never properly worked on every game. Minecraft, for example, ends up with all chests being empty. Even if it did work it's an annoying and tedious process to have to create a save game for each and every game in order to restore them.
Still, ChoiDujour is not exactly the most viable option either. The latest firmware isn't even available to download here and although I have found it via an external site, I have to just trust that the files are not malicious. Although there are tools for dumping the firmware, they seem to require that I actually be in the firmware with the update meaning that the risk of doing something detectable by Nintendo ends up being significantly higher. In this case I am going to have to use this approach, but I don't like it.
So, my suggestions:
1.) If you guys can figure out exactly why system updates fail to work on some versions of SXOS then you could improve SXOS by adding an extra kind of stealth mode that blocks updates via Match Local Users on purpose while at the same time making sure it works when users actually want it to work. That's a vulnerability people who play with others in person face. If a bug can keep it from working right, that seems like a good place to start to figure that out.
2.) I'd like to see a simple emuNAND updater in the SXOS menu that takes the firmware version from the sysNAND and applies it as an update to the emuNAND if higher. If SXOS can build a new emuNAND from the firmware on the sysNAND, I imagine it should be possible for it to do this. That way, a person can officially update the sysNAND and then use this update data on the emuNAND without risking a ban. Similarly, a way to export other data from the sysNAND to the emuNAND without creating a new emuNAND such as online game saves would be great to see, but at the simplest I'd just like a simple way to reliably update without having to rely on external websites.
1.) Backup sysNAND and emuNAND for each offline Switch
2.) Update an online only Switch using the Internet to the latest version.
3.) On each offline Switch, Update the sysNAND via "Match Local Users"
3.) On each offline Switch, Update the emuNAND via "Match Local Users"
This process generally works to allow me to officially update without having to take the firmware online and without having to mess with ChoiDujour. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work with SXOS. Last time it happened I was making a big version jump from v8 something to v9 something, and this time it's from 9.0.2 to 10.0.2.
My sysNAND updated successfully from 9.0.2 to 10.0.2 through "Match Local Users", but on emuNAND it only successfully updated the game data. Not the firmware. It says it's complete after updating the game, but the firmware does not update. If I try again it says the update has failed.
Again, this isn't the first time this has happened. In the past it was simply easier to create a new emuNAND and use Checkpoint to transfer the games, but Checkpoint has been rather... bad... lately. The old version I was using doesn't work on 9.0.2 and the latest version will ONLY backup the primary user data. It doesn't even list the games played by any other user. That aside, t never properly worked on every game. Minecraft, for example, ends up with all chests being empty. Even if it did work it's an annoying and tedious process to have to create a save game for each and every game in order to restore them.
Still, ChoiDujour is not exactly the most viable option either. The latest firmware isn't even available to download here and although I have found it via an external site, I have to just trust that the files are not malicious. Although there are tools for dumping the firmware, they seem to require that I actually be in the firmware with the update meaning that the risk of doing something detectable by Nintendo ends up being significantly higher. In this case I am going to have to use this approach, but I don't like it.
So, my suggestions:
1.) If you guys can figure out exactly why system updates fail to work on some versions of SXOS then you could improve SXOS by adding an extra kind of stealth mode that blocks updates via Match Local Users on purpose while at the same time making sure it works when users actually want it to work. That's a vulnerability people who play with others in person face. If a bug can keep it from working right, that seems like a good place to start to figure that out.
2.) I'd like to see a simple emuNAND updater in the SXOS menu that takes the firmware version from the sysNAND and applies it as an update to the emuNAND if higher. If SXOS can build a new emuNAND from the firmware on the sysNAND, I imagine it should be possible for it to do this. That way, a person can officially update the sysNAND and then use this update data on the emuNAND without risking a ban. Similarly, a way to export other data from the sysNAND to the emuNAND without creating a new emuNAND such as online game saves would be great to see, but at the simplest I'd just like a simple way to reliably update without having to rely on external websites.