Max 10 Configure Single Image

I would like to configure a single Max 10 image and leave the other image intact. I found a post on this forum that discusses how to configure a single image in the Max 10. The Intel guy suggested using the on-chip flash ip core and a binary file (rpd) format. I looked through the documentation for the on-chip flash ip core, but didn’t see an obvious way to erase a single image. I see that I can erase pages and sectors, so that may be the way to accomplish what we want.

This is the post I am referring to:

https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D50P00004KyBVKSA3/max10-internal-dual-config-how-to-program-only-cfm0

If we used this system, we would have a dual boot configuration burned in. Image 0 would contain a bootloader and never get erased again after it leaves the factory. Image 1 would contain our main application that can be upgraded in the field. The bootloader application in image 0 must be able to erase and rewrite image 1 while still running. Is this possible? If so, can you provide some additional information about erasing and configuring only image 1?

Also, the app note referenced in the other forum post is using NIOS, but I am not using NIOS. I suspect I can stream the bits into the on-chip flash ip core any way I want once I have it instantiated. Is NIOS required for the on-chip flash ip core?

Thanks,

Rick