Getting started help

[Mohawk]

Hi,

I have an unpatched switched, brand new never taken out of the box. Bought SX Pro.

I want to be able to play switch game backups and also use retroarch. Do not care about getting banned.

I have been reading these forums extensively and want to make sure I have the right setup steps. Its hard knowing what is still current.

Below please find what I believe is the correct sequence. I have italicized my questions

1) Power on switch, go through initial setup. Do not connect to any internet. (Or, should I update the switch OFW to 8.0.1 before even inserting the SX Pro dongle)?

2) In switch settings, change both Primary and Secondary DNS to 163.172.141.219 (Is this the right DNS to input?)

3) Download the latest SX OS 2.7.1 beta, put the boot.dat file on my microSD 256 GB card. (Do I format the card as Fat32 or ExFAT? I have read a lot of conflicting posts - the official SX Pro manual states to use FAT 32, and also many posts state that retroarch works better with FAT 32. Numerous posts mention ExFAT gets corruption. I am not sure if this is still current.)

3) Backup my NAND on the switch using SX OS using the tutorial in this stickied link: https://team-xecuter.com/community/threads/nand-backup-guide.129131/
3.5) Backup NAND on my computer, then delete from the microSD

4) Create an emuNAND using the options menu on SX OS - select the microSD as files option (Is this the right selection? Does this reformat my card? Going back to the FAT32 vs ExFAT question).
4.5) Backup the emuNAND Files to the PC

5) Follow SX OS Manual to activate license for SX OS.

6) Download ChoiDuJourNX 1.0.2 (is this the latest version?) and follow this sticked thread to update the firmware to the latest 8.0.1 (to take advantage of the new speed boost function in the latest OFW).
https://team-xecuter.com/community/...ine-nintendo-switch-with-choidujournx.128170/

-Make sure emuNAND is ENABLED prior to launching ChoiDuJour NX
-Again, should I just update to OFW 8.0.1 on the switch before even getting started with the SX Pro installation?
-The ExFAT vs FAT 32 question comes up here - the choidujour guide says use ExFAT...

That should be it and I am now ready to go.
Thanks

 

[imprezgc8]

What you have listed should be fine. I would make a nand backup before updating your FW. Since you want to use emunand you can just update the emunand to FW 8.0.1 and leave the sysnand FW at whatever it is. Once you have the emunand setup you won't really have a reason to boot back to the sysnand again. Once you have emunand created you can always back that yup to so you can go back to a fresh emunand quickly than having to create a whole new one.

If you plan to use RetroArch you will 100% want to use fat32. The dev of the Switch RA cores even recommends it.

 

[Mohawk]

What you have listed should be fine. I would make a nand backup before updating your FW. Since you want to use emunand you can just update the emunand to FW 8.0.1 and leave the sysnand FW at whatever it is. Once you have the emunand setup you won't really have a reason to boot back to the sysnand again. Once you have emunand created you can always back that yup to so you can go back to a fresh emunand quickly than having to create a whole new one.

If you plan to use RetroArch you will 100% want to use fat32. The dev of the Switch RA cores even recommends it.

Thank you.

One thing i still don't understand:

I format the SD card as FAT32 from the beginning, as recommended in the SX Pro manual.

In the choidujour guide, it states the following:

"Tap the (exFAT) option for your firmware. Unless you have a very specific reason not to, you should be using exFAT for the best compatibility and support for files larger than 4GB"

I am confused...how can I use choidujour with the exFAT option if I want the SD card to be formatted as FAT32? Do i need to reformat the card after updating the switch firmware?

 

[Victorb9]

Exfat driver is not included in OFW, it’s instaling separately when you insert exfat sd card in you’re console.The trick is it’s also update OFW to the latest aviable.
Exfat driver does not conflict with fat32, so you can use both formats at the same time.

 

[imprezgc8]

It's not really a warning necessarily, just a suggestion as fat32 does not support files larger than 4gb. I have been using fat32 for 6+months now without any issue and I have the exfat driver installed as well just in case I change my mind. I had SD corruption using RetroArch at one point and lost a bunch of data when using exFAT.

 

[Mohawk]

OK Great

If I plan to format my SD card as FAT32, when I get to this screen in choidujour, should I ignore the yellow arrow and NOT choose the exFAT option?

 

[Victorb9]

If you not gonna use exfat card with you’re console - yes.
But again, it won’t do any harm and in case when you’d like to use exfat it will be ready to go.

 

[Mohawk]

If you not gonna use exfat card with you’re console - yes.
But again, it won’t do any harm and in case when you’d like to use exfat it will be ready to go.

Thanks,

This is my plan of attack:

MicroSD FAT32 as primary SD card, 512gB.

Then use an external USB drive formatted as exFAT to install .nsp and .xci that are greater than 4gB on the FAT32 SD card, without having to do any splitting myself.

This was suggested by Panda in this post:

"I wanted to weigh in on this. There is a easier way of installing larger NSP games on a FAT32 microSD without splitting your NSPs.

What you will need:

1. Nintendo Switch Dock
2. Flash drive formated as exFAT

Copy your large NSP games to your exFAT flash drive. Boot up SX OS and Dock your switch. Insert your flash drive on the side of the Dock. Navigate into the “Album App” and install your games onto your microSD card which is formated as FAT32.

I did this the other night with zero issues.

Hope this helps you all."

So, my question, , in choidujour, when I get to this screen, do I select the NON-exFAT option, or the exFAT option (that the yellow arrow is pointing to?).

Thanks!!!

 

[Victorb9]

Pick exfat, follow yellow arrow.

 

[moler]

Thank you.

One thing i still don't understand:

I format the SD card as FAT32 from the beginning, as recommended in the SX Pro manual.

In the choidujour guide, it states the following:

"Tap the (exFAT) option for your firmware. Unless you have a very specific reason not to, you should be using exFAT for the best compatibility and support for files larger than 4GB"

I am confused...how can I use choidujour with the exFAT option if I want the SD card to be formatted as FAT32? Do i need to reformat the card after updating the switch firmware?

im allso confused here. so can it be formatted in 2 partitions

 

[imprezgc8]

im allso confused here. so can it be formatted in 2 partitions

When updating with Choi, if you do not pick exFAT you will not be able to use an exFAT formatted SD. Even if you are using fat32 on your SD there is no harm is having the option for exFAT, plus if you are using a usb drive for you XCI backups then exFAT is better for that.