Team Rebug showcases Nintendo Switch modchip

22 Responses

  1. a7mag3ddon says:

    Is this for real? Seems a waste when a 10$ trinket M0 does the same thing and is already out and available. Fitted one myself.

    • Jack Attack says:

      This is technically less work and far more elegant. Uses less power, too. plenty of things do “the same thing” but most still offer different advantages and disadvantages

      • a7mag3ddon says:

        Less power ? Trinket turns off when when switch it’s turned off essentially a cold boot. Trinket goes to sleep after injecting the payload so uses very little power in standby essentially making this a cold boot solution it’s avail right now and flash files easily available.

    • Brian says:

      This is less work than the trinket M0.

  2. Ruin says:

    yet another paid chip… what happened the releasing atmosphere

    • Joe says:

      Drama, drama and more drama. It’s probably MIA for awhile if not RIP. Also it would still need a jib to boot into RCM anyway.

    • TimeReaper says:

      there is free CFW for earlier firmwares, if you dont wanna pay 60$ to support modder then do it yourself.

    • DvdX says:

      Isn’t it typical to have a “paid” solution before a free solution comes available? PlayStation and Saturn both had modchips but they also had a “free” method (wether it be disk swapping or using readily available hardware that you may or may not own already), PlayStation 2 and Xbox both had modchips as well as free methods (again, using readily available hardware that you may or may not own already). PlayStation 3 had a dongle that cost money before CFW was released. Xbox 360 was a bit complicated due to the number of revisions the system went thru. All dependent on motherboard, DVD-ROM and Dashboard versions. Early systems were VERY easy and as long as you had a SATA connection on your computer, flashing DVD-ROM was free….later revisions required you to drill into it and risk breaking it. PSP used to require you to purchase certain games, until it became a matter of just flashing it for free. 3DS used to require you to buy an $80 GateWay card (2x the cost of a retail 3DS game), now it’s free. See a pattern here? MOST the time it cost money to play backups but eventually a free method comes along either just by running a program or by using something you may or may not already own.

    • Sammy says:

      Rebug has been working on and releasing CFW for the PS3 for free for going on a decade. This is the best solution for the Switch currently, and presumably will function like autoRCM and TX OS all in one, booting directly into cfw.

    • Kieran says:

      This isn’t a chip that boots you into its own custom firmware. It still needs a custom firmware like atmosphere, this just gives you another way to boot into it without needing to send payloads from a PC. It also says that it is using an early version of atmosphere.

    • Brian says:

      What a stupid comment.

    • yoshi314 says:

      it looks easy to build enough. probably a simple AVR.

  3. Thetechdoc says:

    I have been a little behind on switch news, is it still the case that on each reboot you need to re load a cfw? And if so, while in an “unhacked” state, is it possible to go online? Or is it very much still traceable etc and likely to cause ban?

    I wonder if someone will come up with a “duel nand” style solution so you can have the best of both worlds

    • TehCupcakes says:

      Yes, in general, it still needs to be applied every reboot. There is “autoRCM” which forces your Switch to boot into RCM mode without shorting pins… But it still requires that you connect the USB port to some external device to send the payload.

      As for you second question, it stands to reason that there is always a risk. Until the NAND is completely separate, logs or telling signs will remain from using unauthorized firmware, and as soon as you connect online you run the risk of that info being sent to Nintendo. In practice, it is hard to say if Nintendo is going to ban people in this situation, as it seems like most/everyone who has been banned so far went online while in the unauthorized firmware OR they have made some permanent change from within CFW (i.e. deleted logs, which is only possible if you have used unauthorized firmware – hence, insta-ban.) Simply running homebrew is far less likely to trigger red flags, but I could hardly say it’s “safe” either.

      • Theboulet says:

        Thanks Cupcakes for these details,

        I was wondering if a console with soldered pins could connect to the eshop. It appears so, as long as you run the OFW and didn’t mess too much with your data while using atmosphere.

        • Kieran says:

          Nintendo can still track your application history if you go online even after you load official firmware again. If you use homebrew, they could see it this way and still ban.

          • Theboulet encore says:

            Thanks !
            Well, so long online purchases…
            I’m glad my switch backlog is waaaaay lighter than my VITA’s.

            Ha, I forgot, VITA has no games. Silly me.

  4. kada says:

    maybe someone adapt the code for arduino mini ( chip seems equvalent)

    • sjm4306 says:

      The chip these use is an ATSAMD21, an atmel variant of the arm cortex m0+, which is way more powerful than the pro mini’s which use the atmega328p. Not too sure what are the requirements for a microprocessor to be used to hack the switch but I am assuming full speed native hardware based usb host capability (or it may be possible to bit bang it) is necessary which the 328p lacks. It looks like the modchip puts the SOC into dfu mode and sends the firmware payload over usb.

    • a7mag3ddon says:

      Needs to have USB host function, if the mini does then it will work.

  5. mamamiya says:

    I’ve got a working product but different to the one in the photo