Hacking R4i Save Dongle Problems

[TheReturningVoid]

Ello all,

So I recently picked up a Sky3DS and R4i Save Dongle. I'm having problems with save extracting. The save files being extracted are completely empty - I've opened them in HxD to see this in all offsets, 00000000 to 000FFFF0 (end of file):

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Opening them in Notepad++ gives me a bunch of NUL also, leading me to believe that the saves are empty and contain no data. Any ideas as to what's going on?

Game I'm using for this is Tomodachi Life (E). I'd test other games, but they're all at my dad's house and I'm not there at the moment so...

Thank you for any help!

--JjStAr992_Gaming

 

[TheReturningVoid]

*bump*

 

[zoogie]

Ello all,

So I recently picked up a Sky3DS and R4i Save Dongle. I'm having problems with save extracting. The save files being extracted are completely empty - I've opened them in HxD to see this in all offsets, 00000000 to 000FFFF0 (end of file):

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Opening them in Notepad++ gives me a bunch of NUL also, leading me to believe that the saves are empty and contain no data. Any ideas as to what's going on?

Game I'm using for this is Tomodachi Life (E). I'd test other games, but they're all at my dad's house and I'm not there at the moment so...

Thank you for any help!

--JjStAr992_Gaming

Tomadachi life stores it's saves inside the rom itself, it has no seperate eeprom chip like most games do.

 

[TheReturningVoid]

So I can't grab the save?

 

[zoogie]

So I can't grab the save?

Not with r4i dongle. You will need a hackable 3ds (<9.3) or a powersaves dongle (i think) to dump the save.

Oh wait, since you're using a sky3ds you may be able to dump the game image and extract the save that way. It'd just be a backup though without a hackable 3ds.

 

[TheReturningVoid]

Yeah, problem is that there's no save on the Sky3DS. I think I might need to look at a powersaves dongle.

 

[zoogie]

Yeah, problem is that there's no save on the Sky3DS. I think I might need to look at a powersaves dongle.

It has to be on your sd card, inside the rom itself. I'm not familiar with the sky3ds game install tool or i could tell you how to use that, if possible. If you have a dumped game image, you can find the save offset with ctr.exe (crappy tiny reader).

 

[TheReturningVoid]

I didn't dump the rom, I just downloaded it somewhere. I have no idea how to grab roms with a 9.8.0 3ds. I don't believe it's possible.

 

[zoogie]

I didn't dump the rom, I just downloaded it somewhere. I have no idea how to grab roms with a 9.8.0 3ds. I don't believe it's possible.

There has to be a way to extract the rom from the sky3ds sd card. You might try posting in the noob paradise thread or one of the many sky3ds threads for better visibility. I'd love to help you further, but it's difficult since I don't have a Sky (need to get one lol).

 

[MelonGx]

Only Pasta and NTR can grab saves from Sky3DS properly.

If you know how to use Hex editor, you can manually extract a .3DZ save from DiskWriter backed-up save's 0x58-0x100057 (if the save is 512KB Card1).
To be noticed that Hex-editor-exported .3DZ save NEVER works on GW if the game uses KeyY 6.0 encryption. It's retail cart exclusive.

 

[TheReturningVoid]

There has to be a way to extract the rom from the sky3ds sd card. You might try posting in the noob paradise thread or one of the many sky3ds threads for better visibility. I'd love to help you further, but it's difficult since I don't have a Sky (need to get one lol).

Sky3DS isn't you're conventional flashcart. You write ROMs onto a SD card, and the card reads those ROMs, and loads them into the card. It doesn't have a GUI like Gateway, it basically tricks the 3DS into thinking its a retail game card.

Only Pasta and NTR can grab saves from Sky3DS properly.

If you know how to use Hex editor, you can manually extract a .3DZ save from DiskWriter backed-up save's 0x58-0x100057 (if the save is 512KB Card1).
To be noticed that Hex-editor-exported .3DZ save NEVER works on GW if the game uses KeyY 6.0 encryption. It's retail cart exclusive.

I don't see how Pasta could help, as I'm on 9.8.0. I'm not sure what NTR is.

 

[TheReturningVoid]

*bumpity bump*
Sorry if it was too early to bump, still getting used to this forum

 

[Zidapi]

*bumpity bump*
Sorry if it was too early to bump, still getting used to this forum

Actually, any bumping at all is against the forum rules.

• Avoid bumping (reviving) old or new topics; they'll be replied to when they're replied to.

So consider yourself informed. Now, onto the topic at hand.

You've already been given one possible explanation; that being that the Save Dongle won't work with card2 type games (games that store the save in the ROM itself).

While that may be true, the real issue is that the R4i Save Dongle doesn't work with games that use the newer save encryption that has been used in firmware version 6 onwards.

Tomodachi Life requires firmware version 7.1.0 or higher installed, so it's not compatible with the R4i Save Dongle.

 

[TheReturningVoid]

Ok, got that. Will remember not to bump in future.

Ah, that makes sense. Well, thanks for the information. Looks like I'll have to start some of my games afresh then.

 

[MelonGx]

I don't see how Pasta could help, as I'm on 9.8.0. I'm not sure what NTR is.

You haven't got any other choice.
You must achieve at least one of the following:
1) To learn how to extract 3DZ save from Sky3DS DiskWriter dumped save with Hex editor
2) To buy a 9.2 console to run Pasta or NTR custom firmware to load save dumping app
Otherwise you have to say goodbye to save conversion.
Save Dongle is an outdated hardware which is proved unable to read Sky3DS's save chip properly.