Tutorial  Updated

How to use LayeredFS for Backup Loading + What Games Work/Don't

This thread is outdated
A lot of information in this thread is heavilly out of date.
If you have time, and have Staff permission, feel free to edit this thread and remove this statement once necessary.

Some information that needs to be addressed:
  • SX OS and Atmosphere now supports proper LayeredFS, instructions for using it has changed since this tutorial was made
  • Supported Firmware information is out of date
  • LFSKit needs to be updated to properly support non 5.x.x firmware
  • Compatability chart needs to be re-made
-PRAGMA


WARNING
  • DO NOT GO ONLINE WHEN DOING THIS (YOU WILL BE BANNED)


How to use LayeredFS for Backup Loading

Firmware Supported: ONLY 5.x.x
Use the PRAGMA LFS Kit below.

PRAGMA's LFS Kit

DOWNLOAD
SOURCE

  • Go from NOTHING in your SD Card to playing a game backup in a few clicks!
  • Decrypt .XCI -> romfs/exefs folder with main.nmpd auto edited aswell as folder's name auto renamed to donor titleid
  • Download NOTHING except LFSKit!
ENJOY!

yyTJ8rr.gif


Picking a Donor Title and getting Donor TitleIDRunning Game Backups!


    1. A donor title is the application we will run to open the backup.
      Pick a game you don't care about (Download a Demo or a free game from eShop, for example Octopath Demo)
      saves are something no one knows much about, we don't fully know where or how they are stored.
      They might overwrite the donor titles save, so seriously pick a game you DONT care about, not a game you rarely play.

    2. I also recommend picking a donor title/game combo that has been tested and reported working just so you know if YOU did something wrong or not.
    3. Find the TitleID of the donor title you chose from http://nswdb.com or http://switchbrew.org/index.php?title=Title_list/Games
      Region must be the same, choose the TitleID for the base-game NOT for the update title, even if your updated.

    1. Once again, boot into Hekate-IPL (Step 1).
    2. Enter "Launch firmware" and select "RomFS".
    3. Your now in your system's home menu.
    4. Open the Donor Title you set the TitleID of on that folder and .npmd file earlier.
    5. The game will load up flawlessly.
      If you opened the Title lets say, Fortnite, and Fortnite booted, the titleid of the folder in sd:/atmosphere/titles/{fortnitetitleid} doesnt exist, or doesnt start with 0100.
      If it gives you an error screen, either you didnt edit the main.npmd properly, or its an incompatible title/donor combo.
    To see which games work and which dont using which donor titles, look below.
    If you notice that you used a combination of Game and Donor title that isnt in the list below, post in the thread and I will add it. (look under to see what I need to add to chart).


Troubleshooting

  • Black Screen/Infinitely Loading
    Leave it for around 5 minutes then press the home button and go back into the game without closing it. Often this can do the job.
  • Freeze when Loading
    Close the game and try again, its a common occurence, you may have to try up to 4-5 times before getting it to work, sometimes you may even have to reboot between retries.
 
Last edited by PRAGMA,
D

Deleted User

Guest
It is your hactool (the new one you compiled). Revert to version 1.1 and it'll work out.
I ended up downloading the latest release from Scire's github and that solved it! My compilation should have been the first suspect, not really sure why I didn't think about it
 

Zumoly

GBATemp Analyst
Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
1,817
Trophies
0
Location
Yorosso
XP
3,102
Country
Mali
Anyone has any idea of how much time is left for this process to be less dense and more automated?

Once you get tge hang of it and have all tools in place, it's actually streamlined.

But I'm suspecting a better tool will soon be released (one that'll allow custom/dummy title ID installs)
 

Lunsce

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Messages
24
Trophies
0
Age
30
XP
81
Country
United States
Has Doom being able to run with any donor? The ones I tried so far make the game load but freezes when you select "start"
 

issayloki

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
146
Trophies
0
Age
43
XP
1,386
Country
Thailand
Hi all Iam a noob here so new to the scene. Anyway I got a quick question to ask for help here.
1 I got a 4.1.0 with out any demo game at all, or have Nintendo account yet. How can I get demo game to work with romfs? Do I have to update my console to 5.x?.
2 I manage to have kernal patch for 4.1.0 but since I have no demo game and account to get to eshop, there anything that I can do?

Thank you guys
 

skflich

Active Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
29
Trophies
0
Age
32
XP
283
Country
United States
Game: Wolfenstien 2
Donor: Pokemon quest
Saves: No says 0kb free but I have over 3.7GB on SD and 24.6Gb system
FW: 5.1.0

Game: Wolfenstien 2
Donor: Happy Birthdays Demo
Saves: Yes
FW: 5.1.0

Got Black Screen After Nintendo Logo have to press home and load back in and works.

CART 2 had to do manual decryption using xci explorer and the following hactool.exe --romfs=romfs.bin (DIR\nameof.nca -k (filenameofkeys) then I did hactool.exe --exefsdir=exefs (DIR\nameof.nca -k (filenameofkeys) also used http://carlus.altervista.org/nx/title_id_patcher.html to patch my main.npdm file
 
Last edited by skflich,

mitcha

مجاهد صنديد مقاتل عنيد
Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2015
Messages
405
Trophies
0
Location
collo (chullu)
XP
1,764
Country
Algeria
working games : arms , mario + rabbids , mario tennis aces , SF 2 ultra
not working games : kirby sa , bomberman
donor : super mario odyssey (card)
ofw : 4.1.0 ( only fat 32 support)
decryption : xci explorer\hactool
method : layered fs (sdfiles v4), kernelpatched.bin
saves : all working
bugs : working fine , exit/return games too
 
Last edited by mitcha,

skflich

Active Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
29
Trophies
0
Age
32
XP
283
Country
United States
Very confused with cart 2 decrypting. How do you go from a cart 2 xci (in my case crash bandicoot n same trilogy) to having the folder that you need to put onto the SD card?

Load XCI in XCI Explorer look in the secure partition for the biggest .NCA file extract it.
 

Zris96

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
46
Trophies
0
Age
27
XP
447
Country
Dominican Republic
Can I play on a donor game in OFW?... I mean what if I use fortnite as a donor for Mario tennis aces and play on a user that it's not the one I used to play fortnite (for example), can I still play fortnite as usual on my real account when I'm on OFW and be able to play Mario tennis when I use layeredfs with fortnite as a donor?
 

Soluble

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2017
Messages
609
Trophies
0
Age
39
XP
588
Country
Can I play on a donor game in OFW?... I mean what if I use fortnite as a donor for Mario tennis aces and play on a user that it's not the one I used to play fortnite (for example), can I still play fortnite as usual on my real account when I'm on OFW and be able to play Mario tennis when I use layeredfs with fortnite as a donor?
Yep, it only accesses the other game when booting into layeredfs enabled CFW
 

Diavol0

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 29, 2018
Messages
21
Trophies
0
Age
35
XP
230
Country
Italy
Hi つ
I have decrypted the latest update file for Xenoblade/now i have a folder called "code" with insidie other folder like "blade,cs,voice..." (27.612 fileつ ◕_◕ )
Now?
(Perhaps,i need to unpack the Xenoblade original Romfs.bin merge the file and repack???)
Someone know how to unpack Romfs.bin?(i can not find the right command line for hactool)
 

PojarNazarovich

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
62
Trophies
0
Age
29
XP
348
Country
Belarus
Super Mario Odyssey on 5.1.0 with latest SD files don't work with Nine parchment and Embers of Mirrim as donors, also can confirm that woldenstein works with happy birthday demo
 
Last edited by PojarNazarovich,

PeterGemp

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2018
Messages
118
Trophies
0
XP
269
Country
United States
Super Mario Odyssey on 5.1.0 with latest SD files don't work with Nine parchment and Embers of Mirrim as donors, also can confirm that woldenstein works with happy birthday demo

At this point, there is absolutely no donor that could get Super Mario Odyssey or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to run.
* tries to invoke Cunningham's Law *

And afaik, I have yet to see someone play Mario Odyssey on SX OS, so there is no even a terrible alternative for somebody who really wants to play their backup.
:mellow:
 
Last edited by PeterGemp,

Zumoly

GBATemp Analyst
Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
1,817
Trophies
0
Location
Yorosso
XP
3,102
Country
Mali
At this point, there is absolutely no donor that could get Super Mario Odyssey or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to run.
* tries to invoke Cunningham's Law *

And afaik, I have yet to see someone play Mario Odyssey on SX OS, so there is no even a terrible alternative for somebody who really wants to play their backup.
:mellow:

I have the cart versions of those. Might consider at some point to dump them also and layer them onto the empty slots.

Edit: I'm sure the digital versions would run fine.
 
Last edited by Zumoly,

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    BakerMan @ BakerMan: speaking of roasted nuts, do you guys prefer your peanuts salted or honey roasted?