Hacking 3-in-1+AKAIO saving

[gotchaff]

I just lost about 3 hours of work in Mother 3 so now I'm trying to understand how this works.

I start with a Mother 3 GBA ROM and .gba.sav I have from my computer that I played up to Chapter 7 on my computer.

That loads fine. I play the game for 5 minutes, then save.

I turn off my DS then boot up AKAIO again. Asks if I want to backup my save, I say yes.

I then go to the GBA ROM and load it up. It asks if I want to boot up the save on my SD card, I say yes. It loads the save that I first put on the SD card, not the one I played for 5 minutes. So I took the save I put on my SD to begin with and moved it off of it, figuring the backup of the save I wanted to play was somewhere on the SD.

Boot up my DS again but now it acts as if there is no save.

So my question really is what can I do so that when I save in game, it overwrites the save that I loaded up off the SD? This way my most current save will always be readily accessible off of the SD card so I can back it up to my computer easily.

 

[Briankealing]

Good evening,

Sorry for the late reply. Okay.

When you "backup" .sav's using AKAIO's backup function, .sav's turn into .bak's. Because a .sav and .bak are different, AKAIO trys searching for the .sav (which you removed) and can't find it so it makes a new .sav as it assumes the game is it's first launch.

Basically, don't move the save, move the backup.

Long story short, a backup is not the same as a save file.

And to answer your question, yes, .sav's are overwritten.

 

[gotchaff]

But they are not overwritten. >_>

Okay, I have the save and ROM on my SD. This is what I do.

Boot up AK2, go to GBA ROMs folder, load Mother 3.gba

It asks me if I want to load the save file on my SD card.

I say yes.

Playclock is at 11:05, I leave the game running for 5 minutes, save when playclock is at 11:06, turn off DS.

Turn on DS, boot up AK2, asks me if I want to backup the save, I say yes. For some reason, after I do this, AKAIO freezes (sort of). The ":" in between the time is still moving, but the contents of my SD card are not displayed on the bottom screen, and pressing start does nothing. Turn off DS.

Turn on DS, boot up AK2, say no to backing up the save this time (I figure I already did it). I go to the GBA ROMs folder, select Mother 3, say yes to loading the save.

Game boots and the 11:05 save is there.

Obviously something is going wrong. ;_;

Those are the EXACT steps I follow, so please someone help me. ;_;

These are my settings for 3in1/FAS1:
Rumble Level Off
NOR mode Auto
Backup GBA save at startup Enabled
Prompt before Save/Load Enabled
GBA universal sleep disabled



Thanks for explaining the .bak thing though, that actually helps me put things in perspective.

 

[Another World]

load Mother 3.gba

i don't think you stated it, but you are using a translation patch version? that would be your problem, the patch has many issues, save problems being one of them. all i can tell you is that myself and many people i know used akaio/3in1/fa combinations to play the game all the way through with no issues.

perhaps obtain a clean copy of the rom and patch it yourself.

-another world

 

[Smiths]

having probs backing up a save can be bad battery as well.

 

[gotchaff]

load Mother 3.gba

i don't think you stated it, but you are using a translation patch version? that would be your problem, the patch has many issues, save problems being one of them. all i can tell you is that myself and many people i know used akaio/3in1/fa combinations to play the game all the way through with no issues.

perhaps obtain a clean copy of the rom and patch it yourself.

-another world


The one I have now is self-patched but I'll get a clean one and do it again.

Also, is there anything wrong with how when I backup the save I have to reset my DS?

Posts merged

QUOTE(Smiths @ Apr 2 2009, 09:52 PM)

having probs backing up a save can be bad battery as well.

I just got my EZ3-in-1 about a month ago so that would really suck. >_>

If this turns out to be the issue, should I just called realhotstuff? Anyone know if they'll send me a new one?

 

[Another World]

Also, is there anything wrong with how when I backup the save I have to reset my DS?

what do you mean? that that you are prompted to back up your save on the next bootup? or are you saying that saving is freezing your ds and causing you to reset it? in the first case, this is normal behavior. in the second, i would assume if it freezes the save is never backed up and/or corrupted.

QUOTEIf this turns out to be the issue, should I just called realhotstuff? Anyone know if they'll send me a new one?

if you received a kit with a dead battery, yes, report it and get a replacement. get what you paid for. RHS has good customer service.

what version of akaio are you using? try deleting the optionslist.bin and trying again. you might also need to reformat your msd using the pansonic formatter. recently i was using dsorganize, everything was working fine. except for 3in1 gba support. i had to format to get it working again. (i hate that dsorganize)

-another world

 

[gotchaff]

Alright, if I can't get it to work I'll call them

As for my freezing issue, this is what happens. When it asks me to backup the save when I boot up my AK2 and I say yes, the bottom screen lists nothing. It still has the skin and everything, it just displays none of the contents of my SD card. Pressing start also does not bring up the menu. The top screen with the time and date still functions normally.

Before this happened everytime I turned on my AK2, then I reformatted and now it only happens when I back up my saves at boot up.

 

[gotchaff]

Okay so I found out something interesting.

I reformatted, got a clean copy of the ROM and patched it, got a clean copy of AKAIO 1.4.1, problem still persists.

However, if play the game then save, then turn off the DS, then turn back on the DS and boot it up from the DS main menu, the save stays. It's only when I open up my AK2 and it tries to make a backup of it that it gets erased...

 

[gotchaff]

Ok, I turned off prompt before save/load and now everytime I turn my AK2 on I get the same freezes. Obviously, for some reason creating backups is freezing up my cart. After I reformat again I'm gonna turn of creating backups and see if that does the trick...

 

[gotchaff]

Yeah that did nothing. Sorry for posting so much I'm just trying to give you gives as much information as possible.

My problems now are:
1) Creating a backup up at startup crashes my AK2
2) Saving in game does not overwrite the save on my SD card.

Any insight to this issue is appreciated. I'm really hoping it's not a hardware issue.

Posts merged

Yeah that did nothing. Sorry for posting so much I'm just trying to give you gives as much information as possible.

My problems now are:
1) Creating a backup up at startup crashes my AK2
2) Saving in game does not overwrite the save on my SD card.

Any insight to this issue is appreciated. I'm really hoping it's not a hardware issue.

 

[|Tch0rT&#12]

I'm having saving issues too. It won't save any data even if it creates a .sav for the GBA games.

Mine does not have the freezing issue though. I just got my 3 in 1 from the same place yesterday.

Ryan

 

[Another World]

@gotchaff: try other roms. try psram and nor flashing combinations. stop trying on the one rom that has known saving issues with the translation patch.

@|Tch0rT|: if its not putting anything in the save you probably have a dead battery. do you have access to a volt meter or a radio shack? the battery is 3v and should read so on a meter.

-another world

 

[|Tch0rT&#12]

Thanks Another World I'll have to check that out then. BTW awsome username and avatar, I have fond memories of the SNES version of that game.

Ryan

 

[Another World]

thanks mate. i'm an addict. did you read the gbatemp recommends i wrote? the gba homebrew port of the atari st version plays perfectly. better than the slow version for snes (which i own the cart of).

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=126388

-another world

 

[|Tch0rT&#12]

thanks mate. i'm an addict. did you read the gbatemp recommends i wrote? the gba homebrew port of the atari st version plays perfectly. better than the slow version for snes (which i own the cart of).

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=126388

-another world

No I didn't catch that. That's awsome, I'm grabbing that ASAP! I'll have to check out the GBAtemp Recommends thing more. Thanks! =D

Ryan

 

[gotchaff]

Yeah, it's not keeping saves for any of my GBA ROMs. I'm guessing the battery is dead.

How can I best explain this issue to realhotstuff so they exchange it?

 

[Briankealing]

Hello again...

Just contact them and say the 3 in 1 was dead on arrival.

Mention that the 3 in 1's battery did not work upon arrival.

 

[gotchaff]

Hello again...

Just contact them and say the 3 in 1 was dead on arrival.

Mention that the 3 in 1's battery did not work upon arrival.

I got it about one - two months ago and it was fine until now.

Should I say that or will they not exchange it thinking that I did something to kill the battery?

 

[Another World]

always be honest. always proof read and edit your email before you send it. if they won't exchange it, find a 3 volt battery and solder it in yourself.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=114...p;#entry1543223

-another world