More actions
| Hekate - Nyx | |
|---|---|
| File:Hekatenyxswitch.png | |
| General | |
| Author | CTCaer |
| Type | System Tools |
| Version | 6.0.2_1.5.2 |
| License | GPL-2.0 |
| Last Updated | 2023/02/23 |
| Links | |
| Download | |
| Website | |
| Source | |
Hekate is a powerful and user-friendly bootloader for the Nintendo Switch that allows users to customize and control their device's boot process. Unlike the standard Nintendo Switch bootloader, which provides limited functionality, Hekate provides a wide range of options and features that can greatly enhance the user's experience.
One of the key benefits of Hekate is its graphical user interface (GUI), which makes it easy for even novice users to navigate and understand. The interface provides a variety of customization options, including the ability to change the device's boot logo and select the default boot configuration.
In addition to its easy-to-use GUI, Hekate offers a range of other features that are not available on the standard Nintendo Switch bootloader. For example, Hekate allows users to boot directly into the device's recovery mode, which can be useful for troubleshooting and repairing the device.
Another notable feature of Hekate is its support for emuMMC (Emulated NAND), which allows users to create a separate virtual Nintendo Switch operating system on their device. This feature is particularly useful for users who wish to experiment with custom firmware or other modifications without affecting the device's primary operating system.
Features
- Fully Configurable and Graphical with Touchscreen and Joycon input support
- Launcher Style, Background and Color Themes
- HOS (Switch OS) Bootloader -- For CFW Sys/Emu, OFW Sys and Stock Sys
- Android & Linux Bootloader
- Payload Launcher
- eMMC/emuMMC Backup/Restore Tools
- SD Card Partition Manager -- Prepares and formats SD Card for any combo of HOS (Sys/emuMMC), Android and Linux
- emuMMC Creation & Manager -- Can also migrate and fix existing emuMMC
- Switch Android & Linux flasher
- USB Mass Storage (UMS) for SD/eMMC/emuMMC -- Converts Switch into a SD Card Reader
- USB Gamepad -- Converts Switch with Joycon into a USB HID Gamepad
- Hardware and Peripherals info (SoC, Fuses, RAM, Display, Touch, eMMC, SD, Battery, PSU, Charger)
- Many other tools like Archive Bit Fixer, Touch Calibration, SD/eMMC Benchmark, AutoRCM enabler and more
NOTE: For maximum performance of UMS in Windows, you need to run nyx_usb_max_rate__run_only_once_per_windows_pc.reg, only once per PC you have. It only affects hekate's usb device. You can also view that file with text editor and see what it does. Linux/Mac OS users do not need that.
How to update
- Drag n drop
bootloaderfolder into sd card root and hit merge/replace.
No need to delete that folder first, especially if you want your configs and payloads.
- You can choose to update your RCM injection device or PC with the new
hekate_ctcaer_x.x.x.binor not.
In any case, bootloader/update.bin, will be checked and if newer it will get loaded.
update.bin is hekate and it is already copied with the bootloader folder drag n drop update process.
Notice about Atmosphere 1.0.0 and up: The fss0=atmosphere/fusee-secondary.bin in hekate_ipl.ini must be changed to fss0=atmosphere/package3. And make sure that atmosphere/contents folder does not have old Atmosphere components.
Notice about resized emuMMC: Resized emuMMC does not have the slow bug anymore. You can create a new one or recreate it via Nyx and the issue will be gone.
Media
HEKATE 6 has just dropped so lets update! - (Alien Retro Gaming)
Screenshots
Bootloader folders and files
| Folder/File | Description |
|---|---|
| bootloader | Main folder. |
| __ bootlogo.bmp | It is used if no logopath key is found. User provided. Can be skipped.
|
| __ hekate_ipl.ini | Main bootloader configuration and boot entries in Launch menu.
|
| __ nyx.ini | Nyx GUI configuration |
| __ patches.ini | Add external patches. Can be skipped. A template can be found here |
| __ update.bin | If newer, it is loaded at boot. Normally for modchips. Auto updated and created at first boot. |
| bootloader/ini/ | For individual inis. More configs menu. Autoboot is supported.
|
| bootloader/res/ | Nyx user resources. Icons and more. |
| __ background.bmp | Nyx - Custom background. User provided. |
| __ icon_switch.bmp | Nyx - Default icon for CFWs. |
| __ icon_payload.bmp | Nyx - Default icon for Payloads. |
| bootloader/sys/ | hekate and Nyx system modules folder. |
| __ emummc.kipm | emuMMC KIP1 module. !Important! |
| __ libsys_lp0.bso | LP0 (sleep mode) module. Important! |
| __ libsys_minerva.bso | Minerva Training Cell. Used for DRAM Frequency training. !Important! |
| __ nyx.bin | Nyx - hekate's GUI. !Important! |
| __ res.pak | Nyx resources package. !Important! |
| __ thk.bin | Atmosphère Tsec Hovi Keygen. !Important! |
| bootloader/screenshots/ | Folder where Nyx screenshots are saved |
| bootloader/payloads/ | For the Payloads menu. All CFW bootloaders, tools, Linux payloads are supported. Autoboot only supported by including them into an ini.
|
| bootloader/libtools/ | Reserved |
Bootloader configuration
The bootloader can be configured via 'bootloader/hekate_ipl.ini' (if it is present on the SD card). Each ini section represents a boot entry, except for the special section 'config' that controls the global configuration.
There are four possible type of entries. "[ ]": Boot entry, "{ }": Caption, "#": Comment, "newline": .ini cosmetic newline.
You can find a template Here
hekate Global Configuration keys/values (when entry is [config]):
| Config option | Description |
|---|---|
| autoboot=0 | 0: Disable, #: Boot entry number to auto boot. |
| autoboot_list=0 | 0: Read autoboot boot entry from hekate_ipl.ini, 1: Read from ini folder (ini files are ASCII ordered).
|
| bootwait=3 | 0: Disable (It also disables bootlogo. Having VOL- pressed since injection goes to menu.), #: Time to wait for VOL- to enter menu. Max: 20s. |
| noticker=0 | 0: Animated line is drawn during custom bootlogo, signifying time left to skip to menu. 1: Disable. |
| autohosoff=1 | 0: Disable, 1: If woke up from HOS via an RTC alarm, shows logo, then powers off completely, 2: No logo, immediately powers off. |
| autonogc=1 | 0: Disable, 1: Automatically applies nogc patch if unburnt fuses found and a >= 4.0.0 HOS is booted. |
| bootprotect=0 | 0: Disable, 1: Protect bootloader folder from being corrupted by disallowing reading or editing in HOS. |
| updater2p=0 | 0: Disable, 1: Force updates (if needed) the reboot2payload binary to be hekate. |
| backlight=100 | Screen backlight level. 0-255. |
Boot entry key/value combinations:
| Config option | Description |
|---|---|
| warmboot={FILE path} | Replaces the warmboot binary |
| secmon={FILE path} | Replaces the security monitor binary |
| kernel={FILE path} | Replaces the kernel binary |
| kip1={FILE path} | Replaces/Adds kernel initial process. Multiple can be set. |
| kip1={FOLDER path}/* | Loads every .kip/.kip1 inside a folder. Compatible with single kip1 keys. |
| fss0={FILE path} | Takes an Atmosphere package3 binary (formerly fusee-secondary.bin) and extracts all needed parts from it. kips, exosphere, warmboot and mesophere if enabled.
|
| fss0experimental=1 | Enables loading of experimental content from a FSS0 storage |
| exofatal={FILE path} | Replaces the exosphere fatal binary for Mariko |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| kip1patch=patchname | Enables a kip1 patch. Specify with multiple lines and/or in one line with , as separator. If actual patch is not found, a warning will show up
|
| emupath={FOLDER path} | Forces emuMMC to use the selected one. (=emuMMC/RAW1, =emuMMC/SD00, etc). emuMMC must be created by hekate because it uses the raw_based/file_based files. |
| emummcforce=1 | Forces the use of emuMMC. If emummc.ini is disabled or not found, then it causes an error. |
| emummc_force_disable=1 | Disables emuMMC, if it's enabled. |
| stock=1 | Disables unneeded kernel patching and CFW kips when running stock or semi-stock. If emuMMC is enabled, emummc_force_disable=1 is required. emuMMC is not supported on stock. If additional KIPs are needed other than OFW's, you can define them with kip1 key. No kip should be used that relies on Atmosphère patching, because it will hang. If NOGC is needed, use kip1patch=nogc.
|
| fullsvcperm=1 | Disables SVC verification (full services permission). Doesn't work with Mesosphere as kernel. |
| debugmode=1 | Enables Debug mode. Obsolete when used with exosphere as secmon. |
| atmosphere=1 | Enables Atmosphère patching. Not needed when fss0 is used.
|
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| payload={FILE path} | Payload launching. Tools, Android/Linux, CFW bootloaders, etc. Any key above when used with that, doesn't get into account. |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| l4t=1 | L4T Linux/Android native launching. |
| boot_prefixes={FOLDER path} | L4T bootstack directory. |
| ram_oc=0 | L4T RAM Overclocking. Check README_CONFIG.txt for more info. |
| uart_port=0 | Enables logging on serial port for L4T uboot/kernel. |
| Additional keys | Each distro supports more keys. Check README_CONFIG.txt for more info. |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| id=IDNAME | Identifies boot entry for forced boot via id. Max 7 chars. |
| logopath={FILE path} | If it exists, it will load the specified bitmap. Otherwise bootloader/bootlogo.bmp will be used if exists
|
| icon={FILE path} | Force Nyx to use the icon defined here. If this is not found, it will check for a bmp named as the boot entry ([Test 2] -> bootloader/res/Test 2.bmp). Otherwise defaults will be used.
|
Note1: When using the wildcard (/*) with kip1 you can still use the normal kip1 after that to load extra single kips.
Note2: When using FSS0 it parses exosphere, warmboot and all core kips. You can override the first 2 by using secmon/warmboot after defining fss0. You can define kip1 to load an extra kip or many via the wildcard (/*) usage.
Warning: Careful when you define fss0 core kips when using fss0 or the folder (when using /*) includes them. This is in case the kips are incompatible between them. If compatible, you can override fss0 kips with no issues (useful for testing with intermediate kip changes). In such cases, the kip1 line must be under fss0 line.
Boot entry key/value combinations for Exosphère:
| Config option | Description |
|---|---|
| nouserexceptions=1 | Disables usermode exception handlers when paired with Exosphère. |
| userpmu=1 | Enables user access to PMU when paired with Exosphère. |
| cal0blank=1 | Overrides Exosphère config blank_prodinfo_{sys/emu}mmc. If that key doesn't exist, exosphere.ini will be used.
|
| cal0writesys=1 | Overrides Exosphère config allow_writing_to_cal_sysmmc. If that key doesn't exist, exosphere.ini will be used.
|
| usb3force=1 | Overrides system settings mitm config usb30_force_enabled. If that key doesn't exist, system_settings.ini will be used.
|
Note: cal0blank, cal0writesys, usb3force, as stated override the exosphere.ini or system_settings.ini. 0: Disable, 1: Enable, Key Missing: Use original value.
Note2: blank_prodinfo_{sys/emu}mmc, allow_writing_to_cal_sysmmc and usb30_force_enabled in exosphere.ini and system_settings.ini respectively, are the only atmosphere config keys that can affect hekate booting configuration externally, if the equivalent keys in hekate config are missing.
Payload storage:
hekate has a boot storage in the binary that helps it configure it outside of BPMP enviroment:
| Offset / Name | Description |
|---|---|
| '0x94' boot_cfg | bit0: Force AutoBoot, bit1: Show launch log, bit2: Boot from ID, bit3: Boot to emuMMC.
|
| '0x95' autoboot | If Force AutoBoot, 0: Force go to menu, else boot that entry.
|
| '0x96' autoboot_list | If Force AutoBoot and autoboot then it boots from ini folder.
|
| '0x97' extra_cfg | When menu is forced: bit5: Run UMS.
|
| '0x98' xt_str[128] | Depends on the set cfg bits. |
| '0x98' ums[1] | When Run UMS is set, it will launch the selected UMS. 0: SD, 1: eMMC BOOT0, 2: eMMC BOOT1, 3: eMMC GPP, 4: emuMMC BOOT0, 5: emuMMC BOOT1, 6: emuMMC GPP,
|
| '0x98' id[8] | When Boot from ID is set, it will search all inis automatically and find the boot entry with that id and boot it. Must be NULL terminated.
|
| '0xA0' emummc_path[120] | When Boot to emuMMC is set, it will override the current emuMMC (boot entry or emummc.ini). Must be NULL terminated.
|
Nyx Configuration keys/values (nyx.ini):
| Config option | Description |
|---|---|
| themebg=2d2d2d | Sets Nyx background color in HEX. EXPERIMENTAL. |
| themecolor=167 | Sets Nyx color of text highlights. |
| entries5col=0 | 1: Sets Launch entry columns from 4 to 5 per line. For a total of 10 entries. |
| timeoff=100 | Sets time offset in HEX. Must be in HOS epoch format |
| homescreen=0 | Sets home screen. 0: Home menu, 1: All configs (merges Launch and More configs), 2: Launch, 3: More Configs. |
| verification=1 | 0: Disable Backup/Restore verification, 1: Sparse (block based, fast and mostly reliable), 2: Full (sha256 based, slow and 100% reliable). |
| ------------------ | ------- The following options can only be edited in nyx.ini ------- |
| umsemmcrw=0 | 1: eMMC/emuMMC UMS will be mounted as writable by default. |
| jcdisable=0 | 1: Disables Joycon driver completely. |
| jcforceright=0 | 1: Forces right joycon to be used as main mouse control. |
| bpmpclock=1 | 0: Auto, 1: Fastest, 2: Faster, 3: Fast. Use 2 or 3 if Nyx hangs or some functions like UMS/Backup Verification fail. |
FAQ
Q. Which Linux/Android distributions are supported in Partition Manager?
- For L4T Linux you can use the official Ubuntu Bionic 3.4.0 and newer or any other distro betas.
- For android you can get Android 10.
Q. I don't care about emuMMC/Linux/Android. Can the Part manager be used for something else?
- Yes. You can still reformat your SD card to a single FAT32 partition.
- You can even use it when you have exFAT and you want to format to FAT32.
- It is also suggested to format your sd card via hekate. That's because it prepares it for performance. something that many partitioning tools neglect.
hekate (c) 2018, naehrwert, st4rk.
(c) 2018-2022, CTCaer.
Nyx GUI (c) 2019-2022, CTCaer.
Thanks to: derrek, nedwill, plutoo, shuffle2, smea, thexyz, yellows8.
Greetings to: fincs, hexkyz, SciresM, Shiny Quagsire, WinterMute.
Open source and free packages used:
- FatFs R0.13a, Copyright (c) 2017, ChaN
- bcl-1.2.0, Copyright (c) 2003-2006, Marcus Geelnard
- Atmosphère (Exosphere types/panic, prc id kernel patches),
Copyright (c) 2018-2019, Atmosphère-NX
- elfload, Copyright (c) 2014 Owen Shepherd, Copyright (c) 2018 M4xw
- Littlev Graphics Library, Copyright (c) 2016 Gabor Kiss-Vamosi
___
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Changelog
(v.6.0.2)
- hekate v6.0.2 changes
- HOS 16.0.0 Support
- Fixed an issue which could, in some cases, cause Stock-mode to hang on boot on HOS 1.0.0 to 6.1.0.
- Fixed an issue on TUI mode where user could not access options without a hekate_ipl.ini
- In case hekate started with removed or broken SD and was plugged later
- L4T Loader: updated T210B01 SC7-Exit firmware to account for new burnt fuses count
- Various other improvements.
- emuMMC Changes
- HOS 16.0.0 Support
- As always based on https://github.com/m4xw/emuMMC
- Nyx v1.5.2 Changes
- HOS 16.0.0 Support
- Improve SD error handling on init. Added retries in case of failure.
- If it still fails to load them, now user will properly get a fatal error message.
- Added support for bpmpclock=3 which further reduces clock speed for the worst binned SoCs
- Additionally, the first boot clock test now lasts fro 10s on first boot, instead of 5s.
- To change bpmpclock, you need to manually edit nyx.ini, since it's not in the GUI options.
- Reboot to OFW button now gets disabled if AutoRCM is enabled
- Fixed an issue on PKG1/2 dump tool which would produce incorrect binaries on PKG1 dumping.
- Various improvements/fixes
- BDK Changes
- SDMMC: Improve init error handling
- GPIO: Added gpio_direction_input and gpio_direction_output functions that can fully configure a pin easier.
- 5V Regulator: Removed X3 pin for T210B01. VBUS regulator should not be managed there.
- HW Deinit: Do not touch APE clocks on T210B01
- HW Deinit: Remove support for broken HW init
- CLOCK: Improve PLLC deinit
- BM92T36: Added sanity checks for comms. Fixes hanging in case of broken i2c to that chip.
- SDRAM: Removed support for (LP)DDR2/3. Only LPDDR4(X) is used anyway.