Hacking Restore game save Gateway question.

rviperx

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The main reason I got a Gateway was to carry less retail games at one time. I know you can backup retail game saves with the gateway, but can you restore them to a downloaded rom or even a back up of the rom? Thank you in advance.
 

The Real Jdbye

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Yes and no. Some game saves can be copied and used on the Gateway, but this requires 2 things:
- If the game came with 6.0.0 or newer on it and has been played on a 6.0.0+ system (this doesn't include Gateway emuNAND), then it will be using the newer encryption that the Gateway doesn't yet support, so the save can't work on it. Newer games that have been played and saved on emuNAND will work though.
- If the save is any other size than 512kb, it won't work on the Gateway. I found out that only 3 of my 15 or so games used this save size so I can only use the saves from those few games on my Gateway.

So basically, a very small amount of saves will work on the Gateway but you'll still have to carry a bunch of games around with you if you want to play them.
 

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I am actually curious about the technical explanation behind that... Why don't save files of different sizes work and why are so many a different size to begin with?
 

The Real Jdbye

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I am actually curious about the technical explanation behind that... Why don't save files of different sizes work and why are so many a different size to begin with?
It has something to do with the encryption, I think. Gateway treats all saves as 512kb, therefore the entire 512kb is used (though most games only fill up part of it). When you load a smaller save onto it, the signature check will fail because it's checking against the entire 512kb and your save is only filling up part of that. At least that's the way I see it, but I don't know if that's accurate.
 

rviperx

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The link to another thread kinda confused me. I only have the retail backup and the normal downloaded rom. how can Inject the retail save to the retail backup? I honestly dont care about playing online with them, just want to keep my gamesave. The main save I want is Kingdom hearts 3D. Thank you for all the help.
 

gamesquest1

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Yes and no. Some game saves can be copied and used on the Gateway, but this requires 2 things:
- If the game came with 6.0.0 or newer on it and has been played on a 6.0.0+ system (this doesn't include Gateway emuNAND), then it will be using the newer encryption that the Gateway doesn't yet support, so the save can't work on it. Newer games that have been played and saved on emuNAND will work though.
- If the save is any other size than 1MB, it won't work on the Gateway. I found out that only 3 of my 15 or so games used this save size so I can only use the saves from those few games on my Gateway.

So basically, a very small amount of saves will work on the Gateway but you'll still have to carry a bunch of games around with you if you want to play them.
its actually anything smaller than 512kb won't work, all gateway saves are set to 512kb(except nand/card2 games), so if it tries to load a smaller save it just see's it as corrupt

the only games that have saves bigger than 512kb are card 2 games like pokemon and animal crossing

basically what you said is correct but the save file is 512kb save file or card2/nand save roms
 

gamesquest1

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basically dump the cart they came from as the header is tied to the save also, it has to have the header from the cart the save came from, once done rename dumped rom to .3dz and the dumped save to match the games titleID, you can check on 3ds.essh.co to find out the games titleID easily
 

The Real Jdbye

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its actually anything smaller than 512kb won't work, all gateway saves are set to 512kb(except nand/card2 games), so if it tries to load a smaller save it just see's it as corrupt

the only games that have saves bigger than 512kb are card 2 games like pokemon and animal crossing

basically what you said is correct but the save file is 512kb save file or card2/nand save roms
Ah, I remembered wrong. Thanks for reminding me.
 

rviperx

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how would i "Dump" the cart and game save? Do you know anywhere i can get step by step instructions + list of tools needed or a video that covers this issue? Sorry if I'm being a complete noob.Thank you
 

rviperx

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oh, Thank you, but now the dumped rom is saying invalid .3DZ, but worked fine before i changed the file to "3DZ"
 

gamesquest1

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oh, Thank you, but now the dumped rom is saying invalid .3DZ, but worked fine before i changed the file to "3DZ"
You need to dump the cartridge the save came from, the roms you download are missing the header data, to use a save from your own cart you need to use you own dump of the game too
 

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You need to dump the cartridge the save came from, the roms you download are missing the header data, to use a save from your own cart you need to use you own dump of the game too
Okay, on this...finally got my card today. So if I start dumping my games, only the ones that have been played on 4.5 or less will be valid saves according the the post earlier? I have about 40 games but most all of them I have played on my regular updated 3DS. So none these saves will work unless I havent played it in forever?
 

rviperx

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its the retail game I dumped"AKHE.3ds.". All i did was rename the ".3DS" to ".3DZ". and it says invalid .3DZ. Was I supposed to use a program or something?
 

gamesquest1

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Okay, on this...finally got my card today. So if I start dumping my games, only the ones that have been played on 4.5 or less will be valid saves according the the post earlier? I have about 40 games but most all of them I have played on my regular updated 3DS. So none these saves will work unless I havent played it in forever?
Yes and no. Some game saves can be copied and used on the Gateway, but this requires 2 things:
- If the game came with 6.0.0 or newer on it and has been played on a 6.0.0+ system (this doesn't include Gateway emuNAND), then it will be using the newer encryption that the Gateway doesn't yet support, so the save can't work on it. Newer games that have been played and saved on emuNAND will work though.
- If the save is any other size than 512kb(fixed), it won't work on the Gateway. I found out that only 3 of my 15 or so games used this save size so I can only use the saves from those few games on my Gateway.

So basically, a very small amount of saves will work on the Gateway but you'll still have to carry a bunch of games around with you if you want to play them.

pretty much that ^

any games released with 6.x on cart will be using 6.x encryption so the save wont work if you played it on a properly updated console....also the saves are limited to only games that used a 512kb save chip

so here is some examples
Mario kart save: when dumped is 512kb and the game released before 6.x was released....-----> will work fine
Ocarina of time: was released before 6.x was released, but unfortunately the save when dumped is 128kb--------> will not work
pokemon X/Y: this game was released after/with 6.x firmware if the game was played in classic mode you can do it, if played on a 3ds running 6.x firmware its no good

so basically you need to check 2 points
1. Was the game released before 6.x firmware, if yes, goto #2 if no...was the game played on a updated console or a 4.x console in classic mode, if it was a updated console....you can give up here, if it was classic mode continue to #2

2. dump the save and check the file size,is the dumped save 512kb, if yes just follow the steps and it will be ok, if the save doesn't dump, its most likely a nand saving/card2 game (animal crossing or pokemon) these also work fine using this method aslong as you pass #1 & #2

its the retail game I dumped"AKHE.3ds.". All i did was rename the ".3DS" to ".3DZ". and it says invalid .3DZ. Was I supposed to use a program or something?
did you happen to run the "rom cleaning tool" or anything like that on it? you need to keep the rom exactly how it dumped and just rename it to .3dz, the rom cleaning tool removes the header that is dumped when using the gateway dump tool....oh another thing, was the rom split? if the game is one of the 4gb games gateway will automatically split it into 2 pieces you need to join the 2 pieces together to make a valid rom...nvm just checked I think that is 2gb, so should just be a standard .3ds rom, not sure why it didn't work, I can only suggest you try dumping it again and make sure not to run any programs on it
 

Veign06

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pretty much that ^

any games released with 6.x on cart will be using 6.x encryption so the save wont work if you played it on a properly updated console....also the saves are limited to only games that used a 512kb save chip

so here is some examples
Mario kart save: when dumped is 512kb and the game released before 6.x was released....-----> will work fine
Ocarina of time: was released before 6.x was released, but unfortunately the save when dumped is 128kb--------> will not work
pokemon X/Y: this game was released after/with 6.x firmware if the game was played in classic mode you can do it, if played on a 3ds running 6.x firmware its no good

so basically you need to check 2 points
1. Was the game released before 6.x firmware, if yes, goto #2 if no...was the game played on a updated console or a 4.x console in classic mode, if it was a updated console....you can give up here, if it was classic mode continue to #2

2. dump the save and check the file size,is the dumped save 512kb, if yes just follow the steps and it will be ok, if the save doesn't dump, its most likely a nand saving/card2 game (animal crossing or pokemon) these also work fine using this method aslong as you pass #1 & #2
Alright cool, so 512kb saves only...I do have the original MK7 but I did the eshop patch/update and Ive even played it on 8.0 so I assume it would not work in that case. Also, for games like say Kingdom Hearts or any other game that had 4.5 or less but say I've played it using an 8.0 system (no patch like MK), it still becomes invalid? Thanks for the info.
 

gamesquest1

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Alright cool, so 512kb saves only...I do have the original MK7 but I did the eshop patch/update and Ive even played it on 8.0 so I assume it would not work in that case. Also, for games like say Kingdom Hearts or any other game that had 4.5 or less but say I've played it using an 8.0 system (no patch like MK), it still becomes invalid? Thanks for the info.
even if you have updates from eshop, the game will only use the encryption from when the game was released, so Mario kart should be fine, also its 5.x or lower is fine, it wasn't until 6.x that they added the new save encryption so all games that where below 6.x will be using the standard encryption methods
 
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Veign06

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even if you have updates from eshop, the game will only use the encryption from when the game was released, so Mario kart should be fine, also its 5.x or lower is fine, it wasn't until 6.x that they added the new save encryption so all games that where below 6.x will be using the standard encryption methods
Awesome, thanks...is there anywhere that lists what file size will be dumped on each game or is it something you just have to test? Maybe ill get to keep some saves, I didnt know this was a feature until I started looking in the menus...I supposed this is a newer feature?
 

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