Hacking In-Game Save Files Deleted Seamlessly (DS Lite)

[_Lusty]

Heyo! So, I've been dealing with this problem in my R4 flashcart where, if I play a ROM from the flashcart for, say, for 20 minutes, shut my DS off for the day, then come back later to it, my in-game save data is gone, out of nowhere, without any warning, I know this is a common anti-piracy tactic that many developers put into the game, but I'm not sure if its the ROM or the flashcart itself.

What's more weird is that the .sav file remains there, but not the save files in-game. This has happened with many games, like Kirby Canvas Curse or Super Star Ultra. The only thing I could do is to make an additional copy of the .sav file (before it resets itself) then copy it back in, but no luck

Even more weirder is that the only conclusion I've gathered so far is that it's caused by whatever region the ROM is. Not entirely sure, so I'll need to test it a bit further (apparently, European ROMS suffer less from this).

Anyone got an explanation?

 

[Shadow#1]

Heyo! So, I've been dealing with this problem in my R4 flashcart where, if I play a ROM from the flashcart for, say, for 20 minutes, shut my DS off for the day, then come back later to it, my in-game save data is gone, out of nowhere, without any warning, I know this is a common anti-piracy tactic that many developers put into the game, but I'm not sure if its the ROM or the flashcart itself.

What's more weird is that the .sav file remains there, but not the save files in-game. This has happened with many games, like Kirby Canvas Curse or Super Star Ultra. The only thing I could do is to make an additional copy of the .sav file (before it resets itself) then copy it back in, but no luck

Even more weirder is that the only conclusion I've gathered so far is that it's caused by whatever region the ROM is. Not entirely sure, so I'll need to test it a bit further (apparently, European ROMS suffer less from this).

Anyone got an explanation?

What flashcart?

 

[_Lusty]

It's an R4 SDHC Gold Pro (with a timebomb, sadly). It's apparently compatible with the 3DS but currently I'm using a DS Lite. It uses last year's kernel from the official website.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

It's an R4 SDHC Gold Pro (with a timebomb, sadly). It's apparently compatible with the 3DS but currently I'm using a DS Lite. It uses last year's kernel from the official website.

This is more or less guesswork.
Did you verify the ROMs are fine? (emulator, TWiLight Menu++ on DSi or 2|3DS, another flashcart)
Did you try YSMenu as kernel?
Did you try another SD? And did you verify your SD is okay from hardware perspective?

Checking SD:

1. Copy all your data from the SD to a computer. Reformat the SD to FAT32, 32kb cluster size, if bigger than 32GB and using Windows with guiformat.
2. Check your SD Windows, Linux, OS X.
   • If you get any errors replace the SD.
   • If you get no errors copy your files back on the SD.

======
The question "What flashcart?" above only serves one purpose: If you have some R4 not from www.r4ids.cn you get a salty comment about your cart and the link 575 link to the R4i Gold 3DS Plus on nds-card: https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=575

Good luck and have fun!

 

[_Lusty]

This is more or less guesswork.
Did you verify the ROMs are fine? (emulator, TWiLight Menu++ on DSi or 2|3DS, another flashcart)
Did you try YSMenu as kernel?
Did you try another SD? And did you verify your SD is okay from hardware perspective?

Checking SD:

1. Copy all your data from the SD to a computer. Reformat the SD to FAT32, 32kb cluster size, if bigger than 32GB and using Windows with guiformat.
2. Check your SD Windows, Linux, OS X.
   • If you get any errors replace the SD.
   • If you get no errors copy your files back on the SD.

======
The question "What flashcart?" above only serves one purpose: If you have some R4 not from www.r4ids.cn you get a salty comment about your cart and the link 575 link to the R4i Gold 3DS Plus on nds-card: https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=575

Good luck and have fun!

Ahh, many thanks! I've checked what I needed to do, and here's what I could figure:

So, the SD card isn't the problem, we can rule that out.

I haven't used YSMenu since all I heard was that its a bit clunky to set up, so I prefered to not mess around the kernels as much. I do know that it eliminates the timebomb, so you can fill me on that if you can

The ROMs I have were tested on emulators and they work fine, and I'm not entirely sure if, again, the anti-piracy kicks in because that flashcart has a feature to bypass AP measures for some games (Bowser's Inside Story, Pokemon Black/White). Not sure if ALL games have that.

 

[NightScript]

l I do know that it eliminates the timebomb, so you can fill me on that if you can

A time bomb is essentially a piece of code in the kernel (not firmware) that some (most notably in the R4 lineup) flashcards uses that acts as an expiration date for that card. This concept is in place to force people to buy another flashcart whenever they are met with the "expiration" screen (as past that date, the kernel will no longer work). A temporary fix would be to set your date back (considering that these time systems rely on the system clock) but a permanent fix would be to switch to an alternative kernel. Both YSMenu and TWiLight Menu++ with B4DS are the options available, but we recommend YSMenu due to its higher compatibility.

 

[_Lusty]

A time bomb is essentially a piece of code in the kernel (not firmware) that some (most notably in the R4 lineup) flashcards uses that acts as an expiration date for that card. This concept is in place to force people to buy another flashcart whenever they are met with the "expiration" screen (as past that date, the kernel will no longer work). A temporary fix would be to set your date back (considering that these time systems rely on the system clock) but a permanent fix would be to switch to an alternative kernel. Both YSMenu and TWiLight Menu++ with B4DS are the options available, but we recommend YSMenu due to its higher compatibility.

Ahh, gotcha. I did hear about YSMenu but I all I heard about it is that it does remove the timebomb but it is a bit more clunkier to use, with some issues and what not. Thanks for the heads-up though