Hacking Fixing Pokémon "Saved game corrupted" error

[BullyWiiPlaza]

So I was messing around with hack ROMs by having two Omega Rubys on the Gateway card. In the process I somehow managed to corrupt my original savegame. Now even with undo'ed changes to the ROM roster on the micro SD Card nothing has changed. I also injected an old "nand.bin" file to the SD Card but the savegame is still corrupted. I'm also still using the previous/unmodified ROM.

How can I recover the data? Where is the savegame stored even? It's not the SD Card I guess.

 

[Queno138]

So I was messing around with hack ROMs by having two Omega Rubys on the Gateway card. In the process I somehow managed to corrupt my original savegame. Now even with undo'ed changes to the ROM roster on the micro SD Card nothing has changed. I also injected an old "nand.bin" file to the SD Card but the savegame is still corrupted. I'm also still using the previous/unmodified ROM.

How can I recover the data? Where is the savegame stored even? It's not the SD Card I guess.

It happens when the header between roms are different.
Also if you renamed .3dZ to .3ds or vice versa.

you probably put the wrong save into the wrong rom.
or changed the rom header by mistake.

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

It happens when the header between roms are different.
Also if you renamed .3dZ to .3ds or vice versa.

you probably put the wrong save into the wrong rom.
or changed the rom header by mistake.

I didn't touch the original ROM since then and it still reports a broken savegame. Is there no way to extract it anyway using SaveDataFiler or something? I can't save and that is needed for SaveDataFiler to fix the CTR Card option.

 

[Queno138]

I didn't touch the original ROM since then and it still reports a broken savegame. Is there no way to extract it anyway using SaveDataFiler or something? I can't save and that is needed for SaveDataFiler to fix the CTR Card option.

Normally, it is unlikely for saves to get 'corrupted' without doing anything.

If the game reads it as 'corrupted' (normally due to header info mismatch),
savedatafiler will not be able to extract it, as it uses the header to extract.



To be clear, before I jump to any conclusion,
both roms are:

1. .3DZ
2. Has any extraction/injection been done before the corruption
3. what have you done with the roms while they were working, before leading to the corruption?

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

Normally, it is unlikely for saves to get 'corrupted' without doing anything.

If the game reads it as 'corrupted' (normally due to header info mismatch),
savedatafiler will not be able to extract it, as it uses the header to extract.



To be clear, before I jump to any conclusion,
both roms are:

1. .3DZ
2. Has any extraction/injection been done before the corruption
3. what have you done with the roms while they were working, before leading to the corruption?

I had a .3dz rom patched with the public Luigi's Mansion header. Then I made a hacked ROM by extracting the initial ROM and injecting the same header again, also changing the extension to .3dz because it defaulted to .3ds.

So I expected it to carry over the save file which wasn't the case. The game acted like there was no save file so I started the game from scratch to see if the modified ROM works and it did. I saved the game and quit.

Then I launched the original ROM again and the savegame was corrupted. The hacked ROM was still functional afterwards. Unfurtately I didn't back up my "main" savegame so it's lost now.

 

[Queno138]

I had a .3dz rom patched with the public Luigi's Mansion header. Then I made a hacked ROM by extracting the initial ROM and injecting the same header again, also changing the extension to .3dz because it defaulted to .3ds.

So I expected it to carry over the save file which wasn't the case. The game acted like there was no save file so I started the game from scratch to see if the modified ROM works and it did. I saved the game and quit.

Then I launched the original ROM again and the savegame was corrupted. The hacked ROM was still functional afterwards. Unfurtately I didn't back up my "main" savegame so it's lost now.

Basically the only save that might be saveable is the one your saved after creating a hacked rom.
At the point (in bold above) you didn't back up, so that save is definitely lost.

Based on the way you are phrasing it, can I assume that the original rom is your first game which you left untouched,
made a copy and then hacked this copy, as a result having 2 games?

If so,
Is your original .3DZ rom still patched with the public Luigi header?

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

Basically the only save that might be saveable is the one your saved after creating a hacked rom.
At the point (in bold above) you didn't back up, so that save is definitely lost.

Based on the way you are phrasing it, can I assume that the original rom is your first game which you left untouched,
made a copy and then hacked this copy, as a result having 2 games?

If so,
Is your original .3DZ rom still patched with the public Luigi header?

Yes and it's still patched because I left it how it is. Another important question is, where the save file is stored because I made backups of the nand.

 

[Queno138]

Yes and it's still patched because I left it how it is. Another important question is, where the save file is stored because I made backups of the nand.

Backup of the nand?

For Pokemon games,
It's stored in the entire rom itself.
To extract the save (before the usage of savedatafiler) I used this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33354511/CardTwo Save Tool.rar


One can only use savedatafiler after the header matches the game.

Do make backups of the game before extraction or injection

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

For Pokemon games,
It's stored in the entire rom itself.

How? When I play and save it does not update the modification date of the ROM.

Also the program you linked says that it didn't find a save file in the ROM (after I renamed it to .3ds since .3dz is not a supported format).

 

[Queno138]

How? When I play and save it does not update the modification date of the ROM.

Also the program you linked says that it didn't find a save file in the ROM (after I renamed it to .3ds since .3dz is not a supported format).

What do you mean how?
card2 games don't save outside the rom like other carts,
instead, the saves are saved as a partition inside the rom.

That's odd.

In that case, try this one:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12206225/cart2sav.zip

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

In that case, try this one:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12206225/cart2sav.zip

This worked but I don't think the offset is correct. Is there any guide on decrypting the .sav files too? I can't find one. Sorry for asking too much :/

 

[Queno138]

This worked but I don't think the offset is correct. Is there any guide on decrypting the .sav files too? I can't find one. Sorry for asking too much :/

one can only decrypt either by bruteforcing (which requires powersaves, and retail cart played on >FW4.5)
or using savedatafiler.

But savedatafiler can only decrypt the save if the header matches the save and game.

In any case, try running the game as .3DS instead of .3DZ

or try changing the header.

There could be a chance there was some mistake inbetween you did not notice.

Corruption of saves are not that common, as Pokemon itself has 2 saves.
If the most latest one is corrupted, it'll rollback to the next most recent save.

If it still shows corrupted,
it's either header mismatch, or even played on different firmware (GW related issues).

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

So I took the ROM backup I had from a few days ago and loaded it up on the 3DS but it continued the savegame I started today which means that it's not saved inside the ROM...

 

[Queno138]

So I took the ROM backup I had from a few days ago and loaded it up on the 3DS but it continued the savegame I started today which means that it's not saved inside the ROM...

That is extremely odd.
Well gateway probably saves onto the redcart, THEN into the rom.

so you probably accessed the save in the redcart?

It sounds like your ROM ain't a card2 rom for some reason.

in any case, since you were able to "load todays savegame",
use savedatafiler to back it up right away.

 

[yarib]

Did you try loading the other rom. Anytime you make changes to the roms they go out of order on the gateway menu. Ive had a similar problem like this.

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

Did you try loading the other rom. Anytime you make changes to the roms they go out of order on the gateway menu. Ive had a similar problem like this.

Yes, the ROM is now the last entry in the list.

Here's the updated issue:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/pokémon-x-y-or-as-savegames-always-corrupted.383106/

It actually affects ALL of my Pokémon games.