Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes regarding game preservation and hardware you own. We do not condone piracy. Always dump your own updates from legally purchased cartridges.
If you have a legitimate cartridge and are using a modded Switch:
Searching for "LA Noire Switch NSP update" often leads to help threads about specific installation failures. Here are the fixes.
Q: Do I need to install the DLC NSP separately? A: No. The v1.3.0 update includes the title keys for the DLC. However, you still need the actual DLC asset files. Most scene releases combine the v1.3.0 NSP with the DLC unlocker inside one file.
Q: Why does my SD card need to be FAT32 and not exFAT? A: LA Noire has a bug where writing the 14GB asset pack to an exFAT card causes data corruption during the "Verifying" step. Use FAT32 and split the NSPs using NS-USBloader.
Q: Will the update work on Firmware 16.0+? A: Yes. v1.3.0 is compatible all the way up to the latest Switch firmware (as of 2024/2025). However, you may need to update your sigpatches.
Q: Is there a 60 FPS cheat code for the updated NSP? A: No. The Switch hardware (even overclocked) cannot maintain 60 FPS due to the CPU bottleneck required for the MotionScan facial animation decoding. Stick to 30 FPS.
Be prepared for a hefty download. The base L.A. Noire NSP is roughly 7GB. The Update NSP is actually almost the same size—roughly 6GB. Combined, you are looking at nearly 14GB of space on your microSD card. This is because Rockstar effectively re-wrote half the game's assets for the Switch port.
If you’ve just downloaded the base L.A. Noire NSP, you’ve probably noticed something annoying: The game boots up, asks you to connect to the internet, and then demands a software update before letting you past the main menu.
Here is the catch: L.A. Noire on Switch has a mandatory day-one patch.
Unlike most games where updates add features or fix minor bugs, Rockstar’s port of L.A. Noire actually requires the update file to function properly. The cartridge (or the base NSP dump) contains only a fraction of the game data. Without the update, you will be stuck staring at a download screen indefinitely.
If you are running Atmosphere or SX OS (RIP), here is the standard workflow: