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Need help getting save files from full Vita Backup

CommanderToty

CommanderToty

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Ok, so here's my situation...

I have a 1000 model Vita and my only official Memory Card died recently. I followed the instructions at vita.hacks.guide to create an internal memory partition and install Henkaku-Enso. I then ordered an SD2Vita adapter and a microSD, and got that all set up.

Now I have a backup I made a while ago (pre-modding) via the Content Manager Assistant, however when I made it I just backed up everything at once, not each game individually, so all the folders are empty except for the 'SYSTEM' folder which has 3 files (a .psvimg, a .psvinf, and a .psvmd). So now when I connect my Vita to my PC, the only option to transfer anything back to the Vita is the 'Restore' option, which as I understand will delete everything on my SD card and replace it with what was in the backup. I'm new to modding in general, but I'm pretty sure this will screw something up.

Since I can just redownload all the games/DLC/patches from the PS Store, what I want to know is if there is a way to somehow get just the save files out of the backup and move them to my Vita individually? I read about something called psvimgtools, but it went over my head and I couldn't understand if it would help or not.

Like I said, I'm new to this, so I don't want to screw something up, but I also don't want to lose all those saves if I can help it (which is why I backed them up in the first place, obviously). Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I will admit, I haven't used psvimgtools before, but according to the docs, I assume it would go something like this:

  1. Download the latest release (presumably psvimgtools-0.1-win64.zip, and dump_partials.vpk)
  2. Install the VPK to your Vita, run it and copy partials.bin generated by the program to your computer
  3. Use psvimg-keyfind (.exe) from the archive on the partials.bin to get the necessary key
  4. Use psvimg-extract (.exe) to extract the .psvimg archives

I will be perfectly honest, I don't know if steps 1-3 are necessary, but it only sounds logical if you're dealing with backups that came straight from CMA.

Either way, while it may work if you drag and drop the corresponding files to the executables/binaries, I suspect you'll need to get your hands dirty and use the command line (Command Prompt/terminal).

If you're concerned about not losing any part of the backup, I think you shouldn't be, but to eliminate any concern, just make a backup copy somewhere else before proceeding.
 
lightwo said:
I will admit, I haven't used psvimgtools before, but according to the docs, I assume it would go something like this:

  1. Download the latest release (presumably psvimgtools-0.1-win64.zip, and dump_partials.vpk)
  2. Install the VPK to your Vita, run it and copy partials.bin generated by the program to your computer
  3. Use psvimg-keyfind (.exe) from the archive on the partials.bin to get the necessary key
  4. Use psvimg-extract (.exe) to extract the .psvimg archives

I will be perfectly honest, I don't know if steps 1-3 are necessary, but it only sounds logical if you're dealing with backups that came straight from CMA.

Either way, while it may work if you drag and drop the corresponding files to the executables/binaries, I suspect you'll need to get your hands dirty and use the command line (Command Prompt/terminal).

If you're concerned about not losing any part of the backup, I think you shouldn't be, but to eliminate any concern, just make a backup copy somewhere else before proceeding.
Click to expand...
Ok, so I did some more research and found this thread:
WiiUBricker

Thread 'Yifan Lu releases psvimgtools, a Vita Backup Decrypter'

image.jpg

The Playstation Vita's Content Manager Assistant allows you to backup games, saves and settings to your PC, encrypted with an AES256 key, which means that you can't do that much with them. While the hackers xyz and proxima were reportedly busy researching the F00D processor of the Vita, they discovered a trick that lets you practically obtain this secret key. With the AES256 key in one's possession, it's it now possible to decrypt Vita CMA Backups, even those from an unhackable firmware (3.63 etc.) although a hackable 3.60 Vita is always required...
  • Like

...that had a link to a site to generate my key without having to do steps 1-3. So I did that, got my key, downloaded psvimgtools, ran psvimg-extract via command prompt on the .psvimg file from my backup, and got this in my output folder:

1.png


I didn't know what was what in all those folders, so I got an idea. Back when my Vita Memory Card started failing, I was in the middle of an Uncharted: Golden Abyss playthrough (that kept crashing at the same spot because it turns out the patch file was corrupted, which is how I discovered the card was failing in the first place), and I did manage to backup just that game when I was working to solve it before the card gave out entirely (I got a few more saves like this too, but I couldn't get them all because of error messages when I tried). Anyway that was how I salvaged that save and was able to finish my playthrough after I modded my Vita, using just the internal storage (before my SD2Vita got here).

So I went to just my Uncharted backup, and in APP > AID > GAME_ID > savedata I found the savedata.psvimg file, copied it to my psvimgtools folder, extracted it, and got this:

2.png


So I went back to my 1st output folder, and dug around to find something that matched, and in ux0_user > 00 > savedata I found a list of GAME_ID folders corresponding to each game I had installed, and in the Uncharted one it had the same folders as my 2nd image (The contents of the folders was only partially the same, but I guess that's just because it was an older save).

I believe this means I have successfully located the save files! The problem is I have no idea what to do now lol.

I assume I need to repack these into individual savedata.psvimg files, and I think psvimg-create can do that, but I have no idea how to do it. The Command Prompt tells me this:

3.png


...but I have no idea what it means. I know the .psvinf and .psvmd files are something to do with metadata, but I don't know if those are necessary or how to find/repack them from my output if they are. I know you said you never used these tools before, but I'm definitely out of my depth here, so any help would be great.
 
No, you don't need to make .psvimgs if your Vita is modded. You should instead use Apollo Save Tool; it might be possible to copy saves over directly to the same paths, but I'd rather use that tool just in case encryption keys are different after you started over your Vita memory card (SD2VITA).

CommanderToty said:
So I went to just my Uncharted backup, and in APP > AID > GAME_ID > savedata I found the savedata.psvimg file, copied it to my psvimgtools folder, extracted it, and got this:

2.png
Click to expand...
After observing a random save hosted on Apollo Save Game Database, I found that this is basically the structure you need with a few more steps;
  1. Make a new folder named as the game's ID (GAME_ID as you wrote)
  2. Delete VITA_PATH file
  3. Move all remaining files into game ID folder you made earlier
  4. Upload the folder to Vita under ux0:data/savegames/ (may be under uma0 depending on setup, or more rarely, imc0/xmc0)
  5. Start the game once to generate the necessary save paths (if not already)
  6. Start Apollo
  7. Go to Ext Saves > your new save > Apply Changes & Resign (note: this may be unnecessary if encryption hasn't changed)
  8. In the same menu, do Copy save game > Copy Save to User Storage (ux0:user/)
Also, if on step 7 you can't find your save, it should help to refresh the list.
 

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