<commit_before>---
title: Nintendo Switch OLED Modding
categories:
- Gaming
- Hacking
tags:
- nintendo
- switch
- modchip
# https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/7511698/game_logo_nintendo_switch_video_icon
thumbnail: thumbnail.svg
---

Modifying and installing homebrew on a Nintendo Switch OLED.

```toc
# This code block gets replaced with the TOC
```

## Winning a Nintendo Switch

My wife won a Nintendo Switch at a [meetup we attended](https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/beerops-sydney-australias-largest-devops-data-meetup-tickets-323016740767). We initially regretting our decision to attend. On the night of the event, transport workers were taking industrial action, it was raining, the food and drinks were poor and the place was tightly crowded. The next day she got the call notifying her of the winning the Wordle competition the night prior which made up for everything!

![](winning/competition.jpeg)

Unfortunately, it was the regular model without the OLED screen. Luckily, the device was brand new and we had the receipt, so I swapped it over to the OLED model at JB Hi-Fi for an extra $40.

![](winning/switch-oled.jpg)

## Modchip

To install homebrew (I am not condoning piracy) on an OLED Switch, a hardmod/modchip is required. The modchip runs a custom bootloader instead of Nintendo's, allowing unsigned code to execute.

I bought the [HWFly v4.1 from Aliexpress](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004410596922.html) for roughly $150 AUD. I would recommend the cheaper v4, as at the time of installation, there was no instructions available for the v4.1. The difference is the v4.1 uses ribbon cables to ease installation, but ultimately the difficulty is the same and not as secure.

I loosely followed this [amazing tutorial by Sthetix](https://www.sthetix.info/soldering-the-oled-v3/) to install the modchip. This video is for the v3, but I applied the solder points and connections to v4.1. The following equipment is also required along with my suggestions (photo from the Sthetix video):

![](modchip/equipment.png)<commit_msg>Fix typo<commit_after>---
title: Nintendo Switch OLED Modding
categories:
- Gaming
- Hacking
tags:
- nintendo
- switch
- modchip
# https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/7511698/game_logo_nintendo_switch_video_icon
thumbnail: thumbnail.svg
---

Modifying and installing homebrew on a Nintendo Switch OLED.

```toc
# This code block gets replaced with the TOC
```

## Winning a Nintendo Switch

My wife won a Nintendo Switch at a [meetup we attended](https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/beerops-sydney-australias-largest-devops-data-meetup-tickets-323016740767). We initially regretted our decision to attend. On the night of the event, transport workers were taking industrial action, it was raining, the food and drinks were poor and the place was tightly crowded. The next day she got the call notifying her of the winning the Wordle competition the night prior which made up for everything!

![](winning/competition.jpeg)

Unfortunately, it was the regular model without the OLED screen. Luckily, the device was brand new and we had the receipt, so I swapped it over to the OLED model at JB Hi-Fi for an extra $40.

![](winning/switch-oled.jpg)

## Modchip

To install homebrew (I am not condoning piracy) on an OLED Switch, a hardmod/modchip is required. The modchip runs a custom bootloader instead of Nintendo's, allowing unsigned code to execute.

I bought the [HWFly v4.1 from Aliexpress](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004410596922.html) for roughly $150 AUD. I would recommend the cheaper v4, as at the time of installation, there was no instructions available for the v4.1. The difference is the v4.1 uses ribbon cables to ease installation, but ultimately the difficulty is the same and not as secure.

I loosely followed this [amazing tutorial by Sthetix](https://www.sthetix.info/soldering-the-oled-v3/) to install the modchip. This video is for the v3, but I applied the solder points and connections to v4.1. The following equipment is also required along with my suggestions (photo from the Sthetix video):

![](modchip/equipment.png)
{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.07174231332357248, 'fraction_numerical': 0.024890190336749635, 'mean_word_length': 4.509408602150538, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 3, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 3, 'https://': 8, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 8, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
{'dir': 'git-commits-cleaned', 'id': '5626848', 'n_tokens_mistral': 1247, 'n_tokens_neox': 1149, 'n_words': 546}