Cheats

The app marks the games you have cheats for, lists the cheats on the game page and gives them ready for the SD card, for one game or for the whole library at once.

How cheats work on the Switch

Cheats are text files that Atmosphère reads from the SD card:

sd:/atmosphere/contents/<title ID>/cheats/<build ID>.txt

Every version of a game has its own build ID, so a cheat only works with the version it was made for. The app takes the version you have (the game, or its latest update in your library) and looks for the cheats of that build.

Where they come from

From switch-cheats-db, a database of the community updated every day (cheats mirrored from GBAtemp and other collections, credited to their authors). The app downloads:

File	From	What for
versions.json (about 3.5 MB)	raw.githubusercontent.com	The build ID of each version of each game
contents_complete.zip (about 4 MB)	the latest release on github.com	The cheats, as the SD card holds them

They are looked at when the app starts and after a synchronization, once a day at most; the zip is downloaded again only when a new release of the database is out. Nothing about your library is sent: these are public files, downloaded like the titles database. If your network blocks GitHub, the cheats are simply not shown.

To turn them off, untick Settings › Show the cheats of your games (also in the setup wizard).

Versions the database does not know yet

The database lists the build ID of most versions, but a new update can take a while to appear in it. Then the app reads the build ID from the game itself, with your prod.keys: it is in the header of the program of the game (the NSO main), and only a few kilobytes of the file are read, also from an NSZ. What it reads is kept in cheats.builds.json in the data folder and read again only when the file changes. Without keys, only the versions the database knows have cheats.

In the app

• Library: the cover of a game with cheats for your version shows a small wand. Filters › Other › With cheats for my version lists them, with a button to download the cheats of all of them for the SD card in one ZIP, and With cheats for another version lists the games whose cheats are for other versions than the one you have.
• Game page: the Cheats section lists the names of the cheats of your version, with two downloads: a ZIP for the SD card and the text file alone (<build ID>.txt). When the database only has cheats for other versions of the game, it says which: update (or keep) the game to that version to use them.
• Notifications: with Settings › Notifications › Notify new cheats for my games on, a game that gets cheats for your version is told by Discord, Telegram or the webhook (see Notifications and API).
• API: GET /api/titles/{titleId}/cheats.txt, GET /api/titles/{titleId}/cheats.zip and GET /api/cheats.zip.

The legend above the covers of the Library explains the violet wand when some of your games have cheats.

Using them on the console

1. Download the ZIP and unzip it at the root of the SD card: it adds atmosphere/contents/... next to what is there.
2. Start the game. Atmosphère loads its cheats; open them with a cheat manager overlay (such as EdiZon with Tesla) or with Breeze, and turn on the ones you want.
3. By default Atmosphère turns the cheats of a game on when it starts. Holding L while the game starts loads it without cheats; dmnt_cheats_enabled_by_default in atmosphere/config/system_settings.ini changes the default.

Keeping the update that has cheats

A console has one version of a game installed, and cheats work only with the version they were made for. When a new update comes out, its cheats can take days, or never come, while the previous update has them. So the app keeps an old update when there are cheats for it and none for the newer one: Delete old updates, the automations and Space leave it, and say why (There are cheats for this version and not for the newer one). Install that update to play with cheats, or the newer one to play without.

It is on by default. The switch is Settings › Keep the old updates that have cheats (also in the setup wizard and in Organize › Cleanup). Turned off, a warning says that the cleanup deletes these updates like any other, and their cheats are lost until you get that version again.

When there are no cheats for your game

• Cheats for another version only: the game page names the versions, and Filters › Other › With cheats for another version lists these games. Cheats only load with the exact build they were made for, so the game must be at that version (installing an older update over a newer one is not possible without deleting the game). Keep the update they are for, see above.
• No cheats at all: nobody shared cheats for the game yet. New ones come with the next release of the database.
• Nothing shown: check that Settings › Show the cheats of your games is on and that the app can reach GitHub; the cheats arrive a minute after the app starts.

Use cheats offline and only in single-player games: online play with cheats can get the console banned.