SX OS v2.3 BETA Announcement

In v2.3 beta of SX OS we have some exciting new functionality that you, the community, has been requesting a lot. As you know, we value your feedback and support.. so your wishes are our command!

Let's have a look at the changelog:

• SD emuNAND support
  Since the introduction of our emuNAND feature we got a lot of comments about our initial decision to make the emuNAND data live on the actual system NAND. After lots of hard work we are happy to say we now have a workable solution for storing your emuNAND partition data on your microSD card. This has the upside of not using up any space on your Switch. In order to use the new microSD emuNAND system you will *not* have to format your microSD card. Simply enter the TX boot menu by holding Volume-+ while powering on your switch. Head into the options menu and select emuNAND on the left. Users of our existing emuNAND solution will see an option to migrate their existing emuNAND data. The migration process also cleans up the old emuNAND from the system NAND. Painless! We're interested in hearing your feedback about this exciting new functionality.
• The 'Emutendo' folder
  In addition to the new microSD emuNAND system we also introduce the 'Emutendo' folder on your microSD card. As you've probably noticed, the Switch saves various data to a 'Nintendo' folder on your microSD card. To completely decouple this data between your Original Firmware and your EmuNAND enabled firmware we have made EmuNAND enabled systems use this differently named folder. If you want keep using your old SD card data with your emuNAND, simply copy/rename the 'Nintendo' folder to 'Emutendo'.
• Added more directories to scan for content
  By popular demand we have added yet another list of subdirectories that will be scanned on your microSD card (or USB harddisk) for XCI/NSP/homebrew. The directories that have been added are:
  • – /sxos/updates
  • – /sxos/dlc
  • – /switch/updates
  • – /switch/dlc
• Homebrew menu takeover of any title by holding R
  Homebrew is usually launched from either the TX menu or the Homebrew Launcher menu. Both of these applications run as an 'applet' on the Switch. Applets do not have access to all of the system's memory, and thus any homebrew apps or games launched from here are affected by this as well. The only way to allow full use of the system's memory was to build and install homebrew NSP files. But now we have added another way to give homebrew applications full memory access! You can now hold the (R) button while launching any regular title, and this will launch the Homebrew Launcher Menu. Any homebrew launched from here will run with the same capabilities as a regular Switch game/app. Enjoy!
• Loading homebrew from USB
  More good news for homebrew lovers. You can now copy homebrew NRO files to your USB harddisk as well, and launch them directly from our SX OS menu.
• Stability improvements
  Overall stability of many components has been improved. This includes LayeredFS and USB incompatibilities. We have also fixed a bug which would prevent people from launching more than 32 titles.
• libusbfs update
  Last but not least a small update for developers. We've squashed a small bug in libusbfs pertaining the stat() function. If you had issues with this, grab an updated copy of libusbfs from our website!

The year 2018 is entering its final months. That does not mean we're taking a break from working on our beloved SX OS though. And yes, also those new 'unhackable' consoles are high up on the agenda. Don't worry, we will deliver.

Keep sending your feedback and ideas, they're very welcome.

See you all in the next update!

SX Dumper v1.0.1 Released

And thanks to all the feedback we received, [WAIN] was still on fire and updated it right away.

Enjoy!

1.0.1

• Keep console awake no more button presses while dumping!
• fixed bug with detecting cart too quickly.
• folder selection ("Root" ,"/sxos/xci/" , "/sxos/games/")
• UI adjustments for left stick navigation instead of left up down right for options
• Changed to Titleid.xci for Japanese,Chinese,Korean,Taiwanese

SX Dumper v1.0.0 Now Available!

As the name indicates it, this app will allow you to dump an original game to your microSD card or USB HDD and then play directly with your backup without the need of the original game anymore. This version 1.0.0 is already packed with features, and we are already working on the next update(s) to bring you an even smoother experience.

SX Dumper v1.0.0

• Dump to .XCI
• Automatically filenaming (full gamename.xci)
• USB HDD & microSD Card support
• Trimmed dumping (removed unused space from backup)
• Certificate wiping
• Splitting files for FAT32 filesystem
• CRC checking dumped image

SX OS v2.2.1 BETA Announcement

This update addresses some of the excellent feedback we've had following our v2.2 beta release. We can't thank the community enough for continuously identifying small issues and notifying us about them. Keep the feedback coming!

Now without further ado, lets have a look at the list of changes:

• Support for *big* USB drives
  In our last announcement we bragged that you were able to enjoy TERABYTES of content, which was technically correct.. but in practice you were still limited to USB drives with a capacity up to 2TB. This is now a limitation of the past, as you are now able to use storage devices with a capacity of up to a PETABYTE!
• Fix USB disk directory scanning
  Due to a small bug in 2.2 beta the subdirectories on your USB disk weren't being properly scanned for content. This has been fixed and you can now rely on the same subfolder structure as on your microSD card.
• Fix USB ethernet and keyboard support
  The introduction of our USB disk support apparently broke support for existing USB peripherals that were supported by Nintendo's firmware. Fixed!
• Add USB drive write support
  We have enabled write support for USB drives. In practice for SX OS this means that NSP files can now actually be deleted after installation. But this also serves a greater purpose.. keep reading!
• Eject gamecard on USB eject
  When you disconnect a USB disk while in the main menu the (emulated) Game Card will actually be ejected now. A small detail, but a nice addition nonetheless.
• Improved LayeredFS support
  LayeredFS suffered from incompatibilities with certain games, this has been addressed and fixed. If you find any more problem titles, let us know!
• Add support for temporarily disabling LayeredFS by pressing X while launching game/application
  If you want to skip loading your LayeredFS patches you can now hold the X key while launching a game/application. The game/app will start normally without any patches applied.
• Further improvements to overall system stability..

.. and other minor adjustments to enhance the user experience. You know the drill! 😉

Last but not least, we have some cool news for homebrew devs. We are releasing a little library called `libusbfs` that allows your homebrew to interface with USB disks very easily. You can find the latest library code on our website in the downloads section! We are looking forward to popular homebrew apps adapting support for USB storage.

That's all we have today. We get many questions daily about supporting "patched" switch consoles. We are working hard on a solution. Stay tuned, friends!

SX OS v2.2 BETA Announcement

Today we are back once again with a much anticipated new feature as well as various improvements to existing functionality for SX OS. While this is still labelled as BETA we've had some good success with it internally, we're looking forward to your feedback.

Lets jump into the list of changes!

• Docked USB drive support!

Yes. You read it right. You can now plug a USB mass storage device into your switch' dock and load XCI or install NSP content from there directly. No longer are you limited by the size of your microSD card when playing the switch from the comfort of your couch, but you can now enjoy TERABYTES of content by using external harddisks and such! The filesystem on the drive needs to be either FAT32 or exFAT, and the directories that are being scanned for content are equal to the ones you'd use on the microSD card.

• Updates to the cheat system
  • More accurate progress indication during cheat search
    People were reporting "freezes" during cheat searches, often times these were just due to impatience and a suboptimal UI from our end. The progress bars are more honest and update more frequently now!
  • Cheat search for exact value requires no initial dump anymore
    For 'exact value' searches a big initial dump file on your microSD is not needed, and since this is often the way people start a cheat search we decided to streamline the cheat finder process a bit. You are now prompted with a question whether you want to start an exact value search or arbitrary value search, in case of the former the process will be much faster.
  • Automatically apply/disable cheats upon toggle
    The interface for "applying" the cheats was a bit counterintuitive, you now no longer have to press the plus (+) button in order to apply cheats. They are automatically applied/disabled once you toggle them. Disabling cheats now properly works as well, so there's no need for having a dummy cheat any more to work around that limitation.
  • Ability to add cheats using the UI
    Identifying memory locations for cheats using just the console is nice, but previously there was no way of adding an actual cheat-code for a location you found to the cheat code library. This has been addressed, and there is now an interface for doing this directly from our menu.
• Show homebrew NSP icons in TX menu
  Some homebrew NSP titles were not displaying their icons properly. This has been investigated and fixed.
• Fix error 2345-0021 when in docked mode opening TX menu
  People who play/cheat in docked mode will like this fix. The frequent crashes that happened when opening the TX menu in docked mode are now a thing of the past!

That's it folks. Enjoy this BETA and let us know what you think. We have more tricks up our sleeves, more rabbits in our tophats. And we only have one gear: FORWARD.

SX OS v2.0.1 and SX OS v2.1 BETA

Today, we are back with *two* new versions of SX OS. Huh? Two new versions? Yes, you read that right.

As of today, we will be distributing two versions of SX OS. One is the "stable" release which has been extensively stress-tested and the other is the optional "beta" version of SX OS which comes with new functionality that needs to go through a thorough acceptation phase before it will be rebranded as the current stable version.

We got a lot of feedback from people who didn't like us bumping the version number of SX OS so often for small fixes, and they are right. 99% of our end-users should not be bothered with small (but important) fixes but would rather enjoy a properly vetted build of SX OS.

With the introduction of the beta channel we hope to address this and introduce new exciting functionality sooner rather than later.

— What's new in SX OS 2.0.1?

• Stability improvements
• Introduction of optional beta updates available through OTA updater

— What's new in SX OS v2.1 BETA?

SX OS v2.1 beta introduces our brand new cheat engine and cheat finder. Many people requested a way to cheat in games or aid in finding cheats for games, so it has been high up on the priority list for a while. We're curious to hear your feedback about this initial version of our game cheat addition to SX OS.

As of now we don't have a big library of game cheats available yet, but we hope the community will come up with some cool ones that they will share publicly. Finding cheats and making (reliable) cheat codes for Switch games can be a laborious task and is in certain aspects a bit more involved than finding cheats for, say, a classic gameboy game!

For that reason we have written a small reference guide [HERE] for the aspiring cheat hackers out there detailing the format of our cheat codes, caveats that need to be accounted for, and small tips to bring you up to speed.

— Closing words

Go update your SX OS to v2.0.1 now by downloading the latest version from our website or using the online updater in SX OS itself. If you're feeling adventurous, give the v2.1 beta a shot, which is also available to you through the online updater in SX OS.

That's it for today. Enjoy!

SX OS v2.0 Announcement

A lot has happened since the initial release of SX OS a few months ago. This is far from a simple proof of concept custom firmware anymore. With this major update we bring some exciting new functionality to the table. We suggest you grab a beverage of your choice and read on to learn more!

• EmuNAND

Lets start with the major new feature in 2.0: EmuNAND.

Those who have a background in the Nintendo 3DS hacking scene know what this is, but let's quickly elaborate for those of you who are new to the game:

The Switch uses a NAND Flash storage chip to store all of the system software, as well as your save games and other assets. With EmuNAND we create a shadow copy of this storage from which you can run SX OS. The benefits from doing this are that you keep your SX OS "world" separated from your original firmware. This also means you can keep your switch on an older firmware, while running the latest and greatest firmware inside of your EmuNAND. As we all know, older is better.. when it comes to defeating system security at least. And newer is better when it comes to enjoying the latest content! 😉

Another upside of consolidating your SX OS usage from your original firmware usage is vastly reducing the risk of a network ban. You can run SX OS in EmuNAND, of course with our Stealth Mode enabled, and anything that is littered on the EmuNAND's filesystem is not visible to the switch in Original Firmware mode.

One thing to note is that SX OS EmuNAND works a bit differently compared to what some of you might think of as "traditional" EmuNAND where the entire NAND is copied to a separate partition on the MicroSD card. With SX OS EmuNAND your EmuNAND partition lives inside of your regular NAND. The primary reason for this is that occupying 32GB of a MicroSD card is a bit wasteful. The secondary reason is by utilizing the existing flash storage we can guarantee performance and reliability.

You can set up EmuNAND by booting into the SX OS boot menu (hold Volume + during boot) and going into the revamped "Options" menu. There you will find a section called EmuNAND which will guide you through the setup. By default SX OS will allocate 15GB for your EmuNAND partition. If you want to use a different size hit the "advanced" button before creating your EmuNAND.

SX OS will boot into EmuNAND by default if it finds a valid EmuNAND partition. If you don't want to boot into EmuNAND, there's a button in the SX OS Boot menu which will allow you to continue booting with EmuNAND disabled.

• NAND Dumping, Restoring, GPT Repair

As mentioned in the previous section we have revamped our SX OS boot menu's option screen quite a bit. For the tinkerers and advanced users we introduced an easy method of dumping/restoring your NAND flash storage. Another neat addition for people who had an unhappy accident while playing with their NAND is the "GPT Repair" option. This will repair your NAND's partition table if you ever need to. Again, this functionality is for advanced users who know what they're doing only. Please be cautious when using this functionality.

• LayeredFS working on 6.0

With our (early) support for 6.0 we introduced a regression where "LayeredFS" would no longer work. This has been corrected and you can now enjoy your game modifications/hacks again on the latest official firmware.

• Homebrew NSP Compatibility

We got word that the community has started distributing homebrew titles as NSP files recently. These NSP files cut some corners in the way they are crafted, but we decided to introduce support to make them usable with SX OS anyway. So you can now enjoy your favorite homebrew titles that comes as installable NSP files and launch them directly from the home screen!

• Closing Words

Whew, we're sorry for the wall of text. We tried to keep things as concise and easy to understand as possible. SX OS 2.0 is a big and important update, but certainly won't be the last. We know you're all waiting for even more functionality that is in high demand. Rest assured, we work as fast as we can to scrap these items off of the bucket list and bring them to you, the loyal end user, as fast as we can!

Enough chit-chat, you can update to SX OS 2.0 right *now* by using the built-in updater if you are running SX OS 1.9 or higher. Otherwise head to our website and grab a copy! Enjoy!

SX GEAR Update

Most are early SX OS users who couldn't wait for SX Pro to start shipping but were quickly missing the convenience, ease of use and safety of the SX Pro Dongle and jig. SX Gear is fully compatible with SX OS. You can purchase a license separately, or use an existing SX OS license that you have and use the regular SX OS boot.dat file. You now own a SX Pro, in red color

Also, many Switch owners asked us for an official Team Xecuter product that will allow them to use other (opensource) payloads. Team Xecuter provides the best quality product and users know it is best to stick to the brand they trust to make sure they have a device they won't have to replace after 50 boots. Or worse, one that would damage their precious Switch.

SX Gear is Team Xecuter's solution for the opensource community. To use it with your favorite payload, simply download the SX Gear `boot.dat' file from our website. Place this `boot.dat' file in the root of your microSD card together with the `payload.bin' file of your choice and the payload will run as soon as you power on your switch!

That's it for today folks! Keep an eye out for the upcoming SX OS v2.0!