hekate - CTCaer mod

Custom Nintendo Switch bootloader, firmware patcher, and more.

Bootloader folders and files

Folder/File	Description
bootloader	Main folder.
|__ bootlogo.bmp	It is used when custom is on and no logopath found. Can be skipped.
|__ hekate_ipl.ini	Main bootloader configuration and boot entries.
|__ patches.ini	Add external patches. If not found patches_template.ini will be loaded. Can be skipped.
|__ update.bin	If newer, it is loaded at boot. For modchips. Can be skipped.
bootloader/ini/	For individual inis. 'More configs...' menu. Autoboot is supported.
bootloader/res/	Nyx user resources. Icons and more.
|__ background.bmp	Nyx - custom background.
|__ icon_switch.bmp	Nyx - Default icon for CFWs.
|__ icon_payload.bmp	Nyx - Default icon for Payloads.
|__ icon_lakka.bmp	Nyx - Default icon for Lakka.
bootloader/sys/	For system modules.
|__ 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 - Our GUI. Important!
|__ res.pak	Nyx resources package. Important!
bootloader/screenshots/	Folder where Nyx screenshots are saved
bootloader/payloads/	For payloads. 'Payloads...' menu. Autoboot only supported by including them into an ini. All CFW bootloaders, tools, Linux payloads are supported.
bootloader/libtools/	Future reserved

Note: Sept files for booting 7.0.0 and up are expected at /sept folder at root of sd card.

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.

Global Configuration keys/values when boot 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.
verification=2	0: Disable Backup/Restore verification, 1: Sparse (block based, fast and not 100% reliable), 2: Full (sha256 based, slow and 100% reliable).
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.
backlight=100	Screen backlight level. 0-255.

Possible boot entry key/value combinations:

Config option	Description
logopath={SD path}	If global customlogo is 1 and logopath empty, bootlogo.bmp will be used. If logopath exists, it will load the specified bitmap.
warmboot={SD path}	Replaces the warmboot binary
secmon={SD path}	Replaces the security monitor binary
kernel={SD path}	Replaces the kernel binary
kip1={SD path}	Replaces/Adds kernel initial process. Multiple can be set.
kip1={SD folder}/*	Loads every .kip/.kip1 inside a folder. Compatible with single kip1 keys.
fss0={SD path}	Takes a fusee-secondary binary and extracts all needed parts from it.
kip1patch=patchname	Enables a kip1 patch. Specify with multiple lines and/or as CSV. Current available patches nosigchk.
fullsvcperm=1	Disables SVC verification (full services permission)
debugmode=1	Enables Debug mode. Obsolete when used with exosphere as secmon.
atmosphere=1	Enables Atmosphère patching.
nouserexceptions=1	Disables usermode exception handlers when paired with Exosphère.
emummc_force_disable=1	Disabled emuMMC if it's enabled.
stock=1	Disables unneeded kernel patching when running stock or semi-stock. If emuMMC is enabled, emummc_force_disabled=1 is required to run completely stock.
payload={SD path}	Payload launching. Tools, Linux, CFW bootloaders, etc.
icon={SD 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 default 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: Never define core kips when using fss0 and make sure that the folder (when using /*), does not include them. This is in case the kips are incompatible between them.

Payload storage:

Hekate now has a new 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: sept run.
'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	bit7: Force Nyx to run `Dump pkg1/2.
'0x98' rsvd[128]	Reserved.

You can find a template Here

If the main .ini is not found, it is created on the first hekate boot.

hekate     (C) 2018 naehrwert, st4rk
CTCaer mod (C) 2018 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 (SE sha256, prc id kernel patches), Copyright (C) 2018, Atmosphère-NX
 - elfload, Copyright (C) 2014 Owen Shepherd, Copyright (C) 2018 M4xw

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