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Hardware
The Picofly mod is a kit, a collection of parts that work together on all variants of the original Switch (not Switch 2).
The Picofly kit uses two FPC cables and one custom PCB with a controller chip called a Raspberry Pi. The controller chip convinces the Switch to run custom code installed to your microSD.
The kit requires precise soldering on parts as small as 0.3 mm and fitment may require modding of fiberglass, metal, or plastic internals.
Because of the method used, the kit does not need a "blank" or reset device to start from, you can keep your saves.
Is it safe for the device?
Yes.
- The kit simply lowers the CPU supply voltage at a specific time
- The specific time is written to and read from the SD card by the firmware on the Pi.
- The Pi displays a menu and you choose the next step
The only danger comes from installation of the hardware. Amateur soldering and modification of the thin and delicate circuit board can ruin it. We offer a mod recovery service if your own mod attempt broke something.
(Sagebrush Repair has over 16 years repair experience, good job finding us. 🎖️)
OK sure, and will I get console banned?
No.
The console will effectively have two main modes of use after modding: modded and stock, aka CFW and OFW.
- If you stay in CFW forever, you should never get console banned. CFW is preconfigured to be anonymous.
- Booting to OFW is fine as well. Online multiplayer with official game carts, subscriptions, or store downloads. OFW is preconfigured from the factory.
The above bullet points are always true until you do something reckless in advanced boot modes (see "Misc" below).
Jargon and concepts
(Important information for owners using Hekate)
- OFW means Original (or Official) FirmWare. This is the original system software on the Switch. The OFW is sometimes referred to as HOS (or HorizonOS), and is a highly customized version of the 3DS's operating system.
- sysMMC refers to the storage chip physically soldered to the board. When you read about the Switch having 32 or 64GB of storage, it's referring to this chip (circled in red). Engineers and techs call this chip an eMMC package. It contains the OFW.
- CFW means Custom FirmWare, a goal of the mod for many folks. Atmosphère is popular CFW and what we use for modding. Android and Linux live here too, thanks to Switchroot.
- emuMMC is a virtual chip, an emulated eMMC, not physically soldered to the board, but rather installed as a file or partition on your microSD card.
Combine these terms and you get "sysMMC OFW" aka Stock. This is commonly shortened to just OFW and means a normal out of the box boot mode using the soldered, physical chip. The same as unmodded.
Combining different terms nets you "emuMMC CFW" aka "modded". This is commonly shortened to just CFW and means running a modified version of HOS from a microSD card.
You'll notice there may be other combinations of terms possible. There are, and the resulting boot modes can be ignored by most people. There's more about the other modes below.
Further reading
SD recommendations:
- It's very important that your microSD card is FAST, it's the only realistic bottleneck in a well modded device.
- It is recommended to test your card's speed, because the Switch runs it's port almost twice as fast as many older or cheap microSD cards.
- Here's a link to some tests we've done on microSD cards.
- If you remove your microSD, you can not run modified. You can however run stock without a microSD.
- You can often purchase two smaller size microSD for cheaper than one larger. This works great!
Community Resources:
- RetroSix has a moderately outdated but still great wiki: https://www.retrosix.wiki/picofly-hwfly-rp2040-nintendo-switch
- A reddit mod runs this page and also has good info: https://socalconsolemodding.com/pages/what-can-you-do-with-a-modded-switch
- A community effort to provide accurate instructions for custom CFW installation exists here: https://switch.hacks.guide/user_guide/modchip/
- The guide above assumes you want to assemble your platform piece by piece, which is valid but very involved. Most modders and modded console owners rely on a package that's pre-assembled/configured as a Zip file. The package is called H.A.T.S. and has a different guide here: https://sthetix.info/hats/
Misc:
- Most people stay in CFW forever and ever.
- OFW is literally just stock, just like a normal console. You don't get banned there unless you break the TOS by being a racist, a creep, or stealing copyrighted content. DON'T.
- CFW has server blocks in place. You can connect to the internet in CFW no problem, only selected servers are blocked.
- Well configured CFW make your device think it's serial number is XAW000000000000, effectively anonymizing it.
- emuMMC, the virtual storage chip, lives only on your microSD card. If you remove the SD card, you will not be able to load CFW.
- emuMMC CFW does not touch the soldered chip at all, and has no way of interacting with it once booted.
- There are 2 other boot modes that are seldom needed and can get you banned (if you do something stupid): "Semi-Stock" and "sysMMC CFW"
- There are valid reasons to enter the other two boot modes, but most people just do what they need to do in them, and then reboot to CFW.
- A video on the emuMMC/sysMMC and Hekate's different launch modes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUs-5JV6Rg8