A few weeks ago, fans found something ‘interesting’ about Autobuild Sharing in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That being, Nintendo didn’t actually do any filtering in regards to what objects could be shared using the system, and hence modded builds involving otherwise non-fusible actors were possible with a bit of file editing.
This led to some crazy builds, like a way to get Ganondorf anywhere in the game, a way to overload the game with horses, and ways to use things like low gravity and infinite wind effects anywhere in Hyrule.
Unfortunately, it seems the fun is now over. Why? Because Nintendo has just released a new update for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
And this update breaks these special QR codes and Autobuilds stone dead. Take a look at the full patch notes for example:
Ver. 1.4.2 (Released 4 July 2025)
Nintendo Switch 2 Edition: Fixes related to ZELDA NOTES
- Fixed an issue in which the player was unable to use the Daily Bonus effects “Health Recovery” or “Hearty Meal” if they had increased their hearts to the maximum number. Several other issues related to ZELDA NOTES have been addressed.
- The latest update data is required to play elements related to ZELDA NOTES.
General
- Fixed an issue in which the background music would not be played correctly in certain battles in the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Several other issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.
As you can see, most of it seems harmless enough. There’s a tweak to how the Daily Bonus effects work, the usual ‘issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience’ lines, and the usual stuff there…
But there’s also a point Zelda Notes ‘issues’ being fixed, and that’s where Nintendo snuck in their fix for the exploit.
Because while the actual QR codes remain in the app and Autobuild selection, you can’t actually build them in game now. The game doesn’t generate any object when you use them, leaving Link just pointing at nothing in the process.
So yeah, no more Ganondorf or Demon Dragon or Hylian Retrievers on demand here. The game just doesn’t allow it, at least on the latest version of the game.
Meanwhile, Breath of the Wild got an update too. Fortunately, that one didn’t see any major changes. You’ve got the Daily Bonus fix, and that’s about it:
- Fixed an issue in which the player was unable to use the Daily Bonus effects “Health Recovery” or “Hearty Meal” if they had increased their hearts to the maximum number.
- Several other issues related to ZELDA NOTES have been addressed.
Hence you’re at least safe to update that game without any worries. Any glitches and tricks you may want to use there still work fine, and the tweaks to Zelda Notes don’t seem to affect anything meaningful, at least based on our research.
Either way, the hacked Autobuild schematics are now impossible to use in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2, at least in the latest version of the game. If you still want to use them, it’s best not to update the title, or to wait to do so until you’ve done everything you need to with Ganon, Epona and other wacky builds.
Here’s hoping nothing else gets patched out afterwards!
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