【Guide】How to migrate from SX OS to Atmosphere?

This short guide will show the basic steps to move from SX OS to Atmosphere, or have them both next to each other. It's very straightforward and should be done in maybe ten to fifteen minutes.



Why would I want to switch to Atmosphere and what are the ups and downs?

Pros:

• Most up-to-date CFW support for newer Firmwares
• KIP Support (external modules, 'add-ons' if you want)

Cons:

• No XCI Loading
• No Emunand
• No USB Loading
• No installing games from USB media

To put it in other words: if you don't need or want

• Emunand
• XCI Loading
• USB HDD support,

then there are no sensible reasons to hold on to SX OS.

 

General Warning for SX OS users!

 

This guide will not cover anything Emunand-related nor provide support for something SX OS-specific that you did set up on SX and now won't work anymore on Atmosphere. Assuming you have an Emunand running, you have to get rid of that before migrating to Atmosphere for the obvious reason that Atmosphere does not run Emunand (yet). You'll have to figure that out yourself though.

Basic Atmosphere Setup for existing SX OS users

• Get the latest Atmosphere files (zip and fusee-primary.bin), put the contents of the zip on the root of your MicroSD
• Get Sigpatches if needed (to run unsigned code), put the contents of the zip on the root of your MicroSD
• SX Installer does not work on Atmosphere, so get another title installer like Goldleaf, Tinfoil or Lithium and put it into your \Switch folder
• Since 0.8.5, Atmosphere supports cheats as well and they are compatible with the format that SX uses. User KuranKu already described what you need to move to make it happen, so have a look at this guide if you need this
• If you have any XCI files left, you will either have to install them with the latest versions of Tinfoil or Lithium or grab them again as NSPs from your most favourite source. Don't install them via the SX menu, they won't work on Atmosphere
• If you don't have or use the SX dongle, just use whatever loader you were using before but instead of pushing the SX payload, push the Atmosphere fusee-primary.bin payload

That is basically it. Now when in Atmosphere, launching any app while holding R (standard config) will open the Homebrew menu and allow you to run Homebrew from there.

All of the below is not necessary if you use any other dongle or payload launcher besides the SX Dongles! If you have a different method of launching payloads, just push the payload of your choice to go into SX or Atmosphere!

 

Booting Atmosphere with the SX Pro or Gear Dongle

 

If you want to use your existing SX Dongle to boot Atmosphere or to have a choice between Atmosphere and SX OS, there are some additional steps needed. SX actively blocks loading fusee-primary.bin through their launcher (boot.dat) since SX OS 2.6, so you need to install a little workaround and that is Hekate. I will show you how to set this up properly for both options - either having the dongle boot Atmosphere automatically, or leaving you a choice between Atmosphere and SX OS.


Setting up Hekate

For both options, we need Hekate.

You can optionally set Hekate up as the Payload that the Reboot to Payload Homebrew boots into. Now when you use this Homebrew or your console crashes, the console will boot into Hekate, allowing you to dump your NAND, choose between SX OS and Atmosphere (if wished) etc.

• Get the latest Hekate files and put the contents of the zip on the root of your MicroSD
• Rename hekate_ctcaer_*.bin on the root of your MicroSD to payload.bin
• Optional (if you want to have your console reboot into Hekate): Make a copy of the hekate_ctcaer_*.bin Payload, rename it to reboot_payload.bin and put it into the \atmosphere folder, overwriting the existing one. If you use the Reboot to Payload Homebrew, it'll now go into Hekate
• Optional (if you want to continue using SX): Get the SX OS Payload, put it into \bootloader\payloads
• Put the Atmosphere Payload fusee-primary.bin into \bootloader\payloads

Optional: Have Hekate autoboot into Atmosphere


You can set up Hekate so that you do not have to navigate its menu, but boot into Atmosphere directly. To achieve this, do the following:

• Boot up Hekate at least once, so that the file hekate_ipl.ini in the folder \bootloader is created
• Open hekate_ipl.ini and append the following lines at the end:

Code:

[Atmosphere]
payload=bootloader/payloads/fusee-primary.bin
{ }

• Change the value autoboot=0 to autoboot=1
• This will make Hekate show a splashscreen for some seconds, and then autoboot into Atmosphere. During the splash screen, you can press one of the volume buttons to override the autoboot process and get into Hekate's menu.
• Optional (if you want a longer time to be able to override): Change the value bootwait=3 to another time (in seconds)
• Save the file

If you go into Hekate now, it will show a splashscreen for the time specified in bootwait and then boot Atmosphere.

With this done, there is now two ways to continue, depending on whether you want to move to Atmosphere completely without being able to boot SX OS anymore, or whether you want to dual-boot. Since the whole SX OS CFW is written into the boot.dat, and the SX Dongle does not allow anything but starting boot.dat, both options require slightly different setups.


Using the SX Pro or Gear Dongle to boot Atmosphere without the possibility to load SX OS

Utilizing the SX Gear boot.dat (which is just a chainloader), you can force the dongle to boot Hekate directly. As with the SX OS boot.dat, it will not launch Atmosphere directly and just blackscreen if you try to, and you'll also have to use Hekate to achieve getting into Atmosphere.

• Follow all the steps above to set up Hekate
• Get the SX Gear boot.dat, put that on the root of your microSD, overwriting any existing boot.dat
• If you use the dongle to boot your console now, it will bring you into Hekate, where you can navigate to Launch > Payloads and choose fusee-primary.bin to launch Atmosphere

Using the SX Pro or Gear Dongle while being able to run both Atmosphere and SX OS

You cannot just use another boot.dat if you want to be able to run both Atmosphere and SX OS, because the boot.dat contains the whole SX OS CFW. So in that case,

• Follow all the steps above to set up Hekate
• Start your SX OS as usual
• For SX OS, just launch the CFW as usual
• For Atmosphere, go to Options > Payloads and launch payload.bin (this will bring you into Hekate)
• Navigate to Launch > Payloads and choose fusee-primary.bin to launch Atmosphere