R4s dongle is already much better than the SX Pro and has the merit of being offered at about 20 €. It is therefore an unbeatable price! Attention nevertheless, for this price you do not have a complete system with a OS “ready to use”, since this dongle is just used to launch more easily a custom firmware like ReiNX or Atmosphere for example. It will indeed that you choose the free custom firmware that interests you the most. This dongle will then launch various payloads but unlike the SX Pro with its very complete home operating system, here the R4 team relies on hack systems available for several months already and are free. In this tutorial, we will show you how to use r4s dongle to install atmosphere v 0.9.1 custom firmware on Nintendo Switch v8.1.0. This tutorial is also suitable for installing future versions of the atmosphere.
The definitive guide to Switch 8.1 atmosphere custom firmware
Prep Work:
- Buy a set of r4s, including jig
- One MicroSD card.
Let’s get started.
Ⅰ: Download Software
Download link：
Ⅱ: Format Micro SD Card
Use the option in the picture shown below:
PS: Switch doesn’t support exFAT by default. Before next step, please put micro SD card
inside switch SD card slot. System will prompt to update system patch after power on. You can connect to internet to update exFAT support. Offline update exFAT support is
possible, please Google “How to install the exFat Update without updating your Switch”.
Ⅲ: Extract downloaded zip file to root of SD file and put micro SD card
into switch SD card slot.
Make sure the contents in the SD card like this:
Ⅳ: Boot customer firmware
- Turn off your switch console. Hold power button till the following screen appear, press Power Off.
- Remove the right Joycon from the switch console and slide the jig tool all
the way down to the end. - Insert the R4S dongle into the USB-C port on the bottom of the Switch.
- Hold the VOL + button and power button to turn on the Switch, the red led on
the dongle will be light, and the system should boot into the custom firmware.
Install NSP game
- Power off console, remove SD card from console, put SD card into PC. Copy NSP files to the root of SD card.
- Insert SD card to the console, repeat step IV boot up system.
- Click “Album”，Click “Tinfoil” in the next screen
- Tinfoil UI will be shown as following:
- Select Title Management->Install NSP-> devmenu.nsp. Wait for Done！appear which means installation
- Go back home screen by press Home button. A new devmenu icon will come out. Open it.
- Now devmenu will come out，click on “install from SD”, NSP files list shows the files inside
NSP folder of SD card - Select nsp file from the list, press A to start installation.
- Go back home screen by press Home button. Close devmenu, A game icon will come out.
Install XCI game
- Down free DEMO game，US version of ”Shining Resonance Refrain Demo” is
recommended. - Convert download xci file in PC using one-key-conversion tool. （download link:https://bit.ly/2MVypgD or https://bit.ly/2o2XdZx）
Note：
- One-key-conversion tool doesn’t support non standard characters and space, make sure
the xci files and target npdm files and directories don’t have non standard characters and
space. - When conversion finish,Title id will be shown. If no Title id shown, means either wrong xci
file, or the file name or directory name problem as described in note 1. - If there is no error, a new title id directory will be created.
- Copy newly created title id directory to the Backups directory of SD.
- Insert SD card to the console, repeat step IV boot up system.
- Click Album, then click “mod_Plague”
- Press “X” key，then select”Shining Resonance Refrain Demo”
- Press “A” key，Select the newly copied title id folder
- Press “A”key all
- When the screen shown below appear, installation is complete
successfully. Congratulations!
Press “HOME”, load new game by select ‘Shining Resonance Refrain Demo’
Final conclusion
As you can see, this is just a dongle that allows you to launch the payload of your choice in a simplified way. On paper, we do not necessarily need a dongle to enjoy a custom firmware (there are applications that connect your phone to your Switch and thus “replace” this dongle, all for free) and without OS home, the R4 team disappoints us a bit, we will not lie … We just feel that they wanted to go headlong to propose a competitor of the SX Pro but unfortunately, it is far from very useful. Thus, if you want a simple and functional system I advise you rather the SX Pro (which also benefits from a thorough follow-up from its creators). However, if you want to inject the payload of your choice and possibly to switch them as you wish, this dongle R4S is a good alternative especially as for 20 €, it’s not much. Note also that the positive point with this dongle is to be able to launch what you want easily without the need for a license (unlike the main competitor SX Pro) and I realize that it is a big plus, especially that some players do not understand that we can monetize a hack which initially is free.
But then again, R4s dongle is still a good choice for cracking Nintendo Switch 8.1, except SX Pro.