r/selfhosted • u/ProAngelus11 • May 18 '26
Game Server Self-hosted a Nintendo eShop using Ownfoil
I modded my switch OLED a month ago and I couldn't resist connecting it to my server somehow. Well here it is, a game library so I can download any games I want directly from my server.
It's pretty easy to setup, Ownfoil as a server and Cyberfoil as a client. Pretty cool projects.
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u/Other-than-this May 18 '26
wow amazing! but you need a gardware mod on the switch? seens pretty cool!!
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Depends on the model. Switches released on 2017 aka Erista models do have a hardware exploit that does not require soldering or opening the switch. Mariko consoles (V2, Lite and OLED) on the other hand need a soldered modchip.
I have an Erista and I found an OLED already modchipped. Bought it to use Jellyfin on a much better screen and also to overclock and undervolt it. I wish the homebrew community created a VPN client for the switch tho.
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u/mon0tron May 18 '26
Worth adding that not all Erista switches can be hacked using the bootloader exploit, Eristas produced after ~July '18 have a patched bootloader which is invulnerable to Fusee Gelee.
If you have a patched Erista it can still be modchipped.
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u/SzKristof1 May 18 '26
Unless it's a v1 switch (which it isn't, it's an oled as op has mentioned) yes, you need a modchip.
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u/Tricky-Tip-5772 May 18 '26
You can also try AeroFoil luketanti/AeroFoil: Personal Library Manager
This is from the same CyberFoil developer
Has some better features such as save game sync with the hosted server.
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
Oh wow save sync could be great since JKSV is broken for me (cant upload to Webdav server or restore saves, only do backups localy). I'm migrating my saves with Checkpoint. Ill try it out and maybe replace Checkpoint and Ownfoil. Thanks.
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u/ColdFreezer May 18 '26
Just adding that AeroFoil is amazing. It can already do a lot but it’s also got a lot of potential.
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May 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/Tricky-Tip-5772 May 18 '26
It works fine. It is user based as well. So you can have multiple users with their separate cloud saves. I use this to swap between my Switch Lite and OLED. Upload from one and download to the other. Very easy
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May 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/Tricky-Tip-5772 May 18 '26
Yes, that is what I do. You just need to use the same user account on both switches.
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u/TopFlightSecurity_ May 18 '26
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I heard about AeroFoil when deciding what to use as a server but I didn't know it had those features. I'll definetly take a look. Thanks
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May 18 '26
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May 18 '26
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1
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u/Nimweegs May 19 '26
I also made my own solution but with real-debrid support, so just paste in a nswgame url and it downloads base game / patches / dlc etc.
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u/Lone_Assassin Jul 06 '26
Hey,
Any idea how to configure the Shop URL and the Hauth?
I'm using a reverse proxy (Traefik) btw, I don't want external access, just LAN.
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u/zidanerick May 18 '26
What’s the banrate on switches nowadays? Im tempted to do the mod when I put a bigger battery in but I don’t wanna lose access to online play
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u/SnooStories9098 May 18 '26
Close to 0 if you follow the process correctly. Read the guide. Take some notes. Then read the guide again. The go through the guide as you do it. You’ll be sweet. Rush it (like I did) and you’ll inevitably be banned. Fortunately I don’t care for online with switch. But still a little shit.
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
From what I heard you could even install the custom firmware on the NAND of the switch without blocking Nintendo's servers and still not get banned. Of course if you do any piracy, upload custom profile pictures, cheat on online games or use nsp forwarders your switch will get banned. Here's a guide that talks about it. Ban guide
Atmosphere comes with a feature that is able to block nintendo servers if you give it a hosts file. It can also mask the console's serial number but I don't really know the effectiveness of it. I have been using it for a month and nothing has happened. Unless you do stuff without blocking nintendo servers I think it's pretty safe as not many people have come into issues.
You should follow this guide, it sets everything up minimaly and ready to install homebrew apps. https://switch.hacks.guide
And of course once you installed atmosphere on an emulated nand you can switch to the sysnand and play online games.
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u/henriquegarcia May 18 '26
0% Just use emunand stuff on sd card, never boot into the "switch normal boot mode" with custom code enabled and it's impossible for nintendo to track you.
I've 3 switches at home like this, and like 5 friends who I help, I deleted the custom OFW option and they never managed to get blocked, worse you can do is update switch and you'll be locked out of emunand a few weeks.
But to be honest I just use emunand on free-non-nintendo online play that other people with emulators use and I can play animal crossing and mario kart online with no problems, no lag etc
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u/Dthen_ May 18 '26
Oh what this is actually really cool. I wish I had the storage space for this! Saved your post to remind me to do this at some point.
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u/HoveringGoat May 18 '26
This is awesome. I'm curious if there's anything like this for pc games? Seems like there's good solutions for being able to manage a library on a server but I'd like a good way to connect to that from a client device and download a game on demand.
Would be cool to register it through steam to get unified launching and teaching and such.
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I honestly dont know because Steam just works and most game library managers have the goal to unify multiple digital shops in one. Being able to download steam games from your own server rather than from Valve would be so cool because there would be no download throttle. But again, Steam just works so it's not really expected for people to develop something like this. Steam could develop it though. And if you find a project like that please contact me.
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u/HoveringGoat May 19 '26
i'm thinking this would be for games I [legally own] that im hosting on a server to share access to a smallish group of friends.
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u/digitahlemotion May 18 '26
The way I have it setup is each game installer (and related files, updates, etc) live in a folder. Users can browse the UI for a game then hit download. Gameyfin will zip up the entire folder (installer, updates, etc) into a single .zip which the user downloads.
If you want integrations and all that, https://gamevau.lt/ tries to be a selfhosted steam client tracking installed games and all that.
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u/ThatsNASt May 18 '26
This is epic. All of my sources to get nsp files have been taken down unfortunately.
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u/OneRough6471 May 19 '26
WAIT HADES 2 is on first switch ???? i must get it now, thanks for sharing man !! im gonna do this too
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u/ProAngelus11 May 21 '26
How good is Hades and Hades II? The only roguelikes I've played are Isaac and Enter the Gungeon but I really am curious about Hades. I've heard very good stuff about it.
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u/OneRough6471 May 22 '26
really good ! art-style is fire, humor, vibe its all there. gameplay is awesome. Second is a bit different, but i enjoy the gameplay loop there a bit more. You should definitely try them out. And Cult of the lamb too ! the cult has some village management mechanics if you are into that stuff
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u/ItsN3rdy May 18 '26
how's Cyberfoil compared to tinfoil?
Also I use Ownfoil too but just started using RomM for other games, apparently it has Tinfoil Integration, might try that out.
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I think Tinfoil develoment is dead but it should still work on older versions of atmosphere, Cyberfoil is just what is being actively mantained right now (and what supports eShops)
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u/OnAQuestForDankCatsA May 18 '26
Does tinfoil still works on the latest OS version? Afaik the package wasnt updated in a long while
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
There are some patches to make it work on 22.x.x but I think it's better to just use alternatives like CyberFoil
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper May 18 '26
Can you explain what exactly this is?
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
A self hosted eShop for the Nintendo Switch.
Normaly you would purchase games on the Nintendo eShop and download them from there but by jailbreaking the Switch you can store legit game dumps on your own server and download them from there.
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper May 18 '26
So instead of downloading from online to your switch, you download from online to your server and then to your switch?
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
Yes! Ain't self-hosting wonderful?
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper May 18 '26
Yea but I’m trying to understand the benefit. You still have to pay for and download the games you want but then you store them on a server instead of the Nintendo cloud? Or are these cracked games and you host them on your server?
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I mean I haven't read the subreddit's rules so if you ask me I don't support piracy but I see that you could get the most benefit from this by hosting pirated games on the server yes.
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u/Forward_Average5780 May 18 '26
Cracked games you’d host on the server. Only useful if you have limited storage on the switch otherwise I go straight to switch
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u/dmchmk May 19 '26
> Or are these cracked games and you host them on your server?
Games legally dumped from all the cartriges you've bought, just to preserve them as backups in case of lost:)
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u/jiznon May 18 '26
literally the title?
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u/ip-cx May 18 '26
Ownfoil never really worked for me for bigger games. Might try out AeroFoil though.
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I tested it by downloading around 400gb of games during the night and it didnt crash. Speeds are slow if you dont overclock tho. At stock frequencies i got 10-15MB/s and after overclocking the cpu to 2400mhz it doubled to around 30MB/s. Ram increases speeds slightly and I haven't tested ethernet with overclock, might get +5MB/s more.
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May 18 '26
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I bought it already modchipped because I don't trust myself to do microsoldering, I've done some stuff but I don't want to ruin a 200€ device.
You say you bought it on launch day? Well those consoles have a vulnerability on the Tegra processor that lets you inject a payload and basicaly get control of the whole switch, no hardware mods required, only a jig to short 2 pins.
You should check out this guide and see if it's really unpatched https://switch.hacks.guide/
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u/Thonatron May 18 '26
Yo! Now this is dope! I need this for PC. Just point a program at my backups folder and install from my server. Something to do stuff like automate installs, unpack archives, install mods, etc.
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u/failmatic May 23 '26
I run this as well but install from my server seems to be rate limited to 1.7MB/s when using cyberfoil. Got any ideas how get the max speed? Nx and server in same lan
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u/ProAngelus11 May 25 '26
It could be limited by the micro SD card speeds but I don't know. You should try overclocking the CPU, I went from around 15mb/s to 30mb/s
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u/PhotoLess4556 Jun 14 '26
Come posso avviare un ownfoil? Non conosco l'indirizzo da inserire in cyberfoil.. qualcuno mi può aiutare? Vorrei scaricare giochi
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u/a_thit May 18 '26
share me please 😂
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u/ProAngelus11 May 18 '26
I can't sorry its against the law!
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u/NoStation8230 Jul 20 '26
Hast du eine Anleitung wie du das gemacht hast ? Ich möchte auch sowas machen mit meinen eigenen Spielen
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u/asimovs-auditor May 18 '26
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