Gaming Where are the GBA (injected and ambassador) game saves kept? Can we back them up?

[Chrushev]

Pretty much title. Im wondering where the game saves are kept and if we can export/import them?

 

[Intronaut]

Yes. See agbsave9

 

[daxtsu]

Pretty much title. Im wondering where the game saves are kept?

They're stored on a partition in sysNAND, and then stored on SD when you boot up sysNAND the next time.

On an unrelated note, this is why the saves seemingly "vanish" if you're using ARM9LoaderHax with emuNAND, and don't have a CFW that properly enters sysNAND when exiting a GBA game. Hopefully we can modify AGB_FIRM to fix this at some point..

 

[Chrushev]

They're stored on a partition in sysNAND, and then stored on SD when you boot up sysNAND the next time.

On an unrelated note, this is why the saves seemingly "vanish" if you're using ARM9LoaderHax with emuNAND, and don't have a CFW that properly enters sysNAND when exiting a GBA game. Hopefully we can modify AGB_FIRM to fix this at some point..

Hmm interesting. Im launching them from my Emunand (games installed in both sys and emu), after pressing Home button I am taken to Sysnand. I use a9lh N3ds with AuReiNand. Sounds like my setup should be fine for saves?

Now another question.... if nintendo patches AGB_FIRM in a firmware update will that mean loss of all saves?

And another question.... will Emunand (or SysNand) backup preserve these saves within itself?

And another question.... In a system transfer scenario will these saves carry over? What about just a normal FW update, lets say from 10.6 to newly released 10.7?

 

[daxtsu]

Hmm interesting. Im launching them from my Emunand (games installed in both sys and emu), after pressing Home button I am taken to Sysnand. I use a9lh N3ds with AuReiNand. Sounds like my setup should be fine for saves?

Now another question.... if nintendo patches AGB_FIRM in a firmware update will that mean loss of all saves?

Probably all they would do is try to remove the signature patching, but honestly, since only the Ambassador games use it (on regular consoles, not our CFW ones), I doubt Nintendo will do anything to try and stop us. They're not exactly losing any money on AGB_FIRM piracy, since they don't sell GBA VC games on the 3DS.

 

[Chrushev]

Probably all they would do is try to remove the signature patching, but honestly, since only the Ambassador games use it (on regular consoles, not our CFW ones), I doubt Nintendo will do anything to try and stop us. They're not exactly losing any money on AGB_FIRM piracy, since they don't sell GBA VC games on the 3DS.

kk, I edited my original question with some more... pasting them here:

And another question.... will Emunand (or SysNand) backup preserve these saves within itself?

And another question.... In a system transfer scenario will these saves carry over? What about just a normal FW update, lets say from 10.6 to newly released 10.7?

 

[daxtsu]

kk, I edited my original question with some more... pasting them here:

And another question.... will Emunand (or SysNand) backup preserve these saves within itself?

I'm not really sure what you mean here. The GBA games will always save into the AGB_SAVE partition until you exit the game and then go into sysNAND. SysNAND will then write it to the SD card as a backup automatically. So I guess the answer to your question is yes, unless your CFW takes you back to emuNAND instead, where the next game you launch will overwrite any progress you made in the first game.

And another question.... In a system transfer scenario will these saves carry over?

Assuming the save was written to SD, and isn't still stuck in AGB_SAVE, yes.

What about just a normal FW update, lets say from 10.6 to newly released 10.7?

Regular updates shouldn't affect it.

 

[Chrushev]

I'm not really sure what you mean here. The GBA games will always save into the AGB_SAVE partition until you exit the game and then go into sysNAND. SysNAND will then write it to the SD card as a backup automatically. So I guess the answer to your question is yes, unless your CFW takes you back to emuNAND instead, where the next game you launch will overwrite any progress you made in the first game.




Assuming the save was written to SD, and isn't still stuck in AGB_SAVE, yes.




Regular updates shouldn't affect it.

Hmm, so the save that is written to the SD, is that where its read from the next time the game starts? Why do we need to extract/inject stuff if we have these files on the SD we can backup/restore? Can you go into more detail about how that works? For example, if all I did was backup the files written to the SD, then lets say my system is wiped. Can I reinstall the GBA game, put the files on the SD and have the game read them?

 

[daxtsu]

Hmm, so the save that is written to the SD, is that where its read from the next time the game starts? Why do we need to extract/inject stuff if we have these files on the SD we can backup/restore? Can you go into more detail about how that works? For example, if all I did was backup the files written to the SD, then lets say my system is wiped. Can I reinstall the GBA game, put the files on the SD and have the game read them?

I believe AGB_FIRM reads it from SD and then puts it in AGB_SAVE for the game to use before launching the game. I think AGBSave9 was made since it's actually easier to extract and inject in that small partition than it is to bother figuring out how to decrypt SD card stuff, believe it or not. Also, SVDT and SaveDataFiler can't deal with GBA games. All that being said, I think you could resume from where you left off if you had a backup of the Nintendo 3DS folder (and didn't actually format the system, since that introduces its own problem of not being able to use the old Nintendo 3DS folder you backed up). I've not tried it though.

 

[Chrushev]

I believe AGB_FIRM reads it from SD and then puts it in AGB_SAVE for the game to use before launching the game. I think AGBSave9 was made since it's actually easier to extract and inject in that small partition than it is to bother figuring out how to decrypt SD card stuff, believe it or not. Also, SVDT and SaveDataFiler can't deal with GBA games. All that being said, I think you could resume from where you left off if you had a backup of the Nintendo 3DS folder (and didn't actually format the system, since that introduces its own problem of not being able to use the old Nintendo 3DS folder you backed up). I've not tried it though.

Ok, I am more interested in this for sake of preserving my saves, so it sounds like if push comes to shove if I only have the SD card files backed up there may be a way to recover the saves from there and then inject them if something happens to my ds?

 

[daxtsu]

Ok, I am more interested in this for sake of preserving my saves, so it sounds like if push comes to shove if I only have the SD card files backed up there may be a way to recover the saves from there and then inject them if something happens to my ds?

I know that's a hypothetical question, but I would instead keep regular backups that are made with AGBSave9 so you don't run into it in the first place. That way you have the raw saves and not have to deal with formatting or even getting a new 3DS console, both of which would present you with problems relating to encryption.

 

[Chrushev]

I know that's a hypothetical question, but I would instead keep regular backups that are made with AGBSave9 so you don't run into it in the first place. That way you have the raw saves and not have to deal with formatting or even getting a new 3DS console, both of which would present you with problems relating to encryption.

Hmm and these AGBSave9 extracts are raw as in can be imported into GBA carts (for GBA or DSlite) and other 3DS consoles etc? Or are they still somehow locked to my console?

 

[daxtsu]

Hmm and these AGBSave9 extracts are raw as in can be imported into GBA carts (for GBA or DSlite) and other 3DS consoles etc? Or are they still somehow locked to my console?

As far as I know, they're raw SRAM/EEPROM/Flash saves, good to use on MGBA, VBA, or real console.

 

[Chrushev]

As far as I know, they're raw SRAM/EEPROM/Flash saves, good to use on MGBA, VBA, or real console.

awesome thanks for your help!