Hacking Animal Crossing .CIA Save File Not Being Read After Update

[appleburger]

Hey guys,

• I upgraded my GF's 3DS from menuhax to Luma, and everything went well
• The only game she cares about is Animal Crossing, and she had been playing on the old version, so I updated to Luma in order for her to play the newest Welcome Amiibo version of the game
• After upgrading, the game still ran with her save file (yay!)
• I then couldn't update the game (no!) due to NNID issues
• I installed the update manually via .CIA with FBI
• Now her save file no longer loads
• I restored the NAND backup to get back to the old version of the game that ran her save from before
• And her save file still doesn't load up (what?)

So, I'm not sure how to recover this save file. Currently, the game is running on Luma with the latest update, so I'd like to just inject her save file into this version of the game, if that's possible. If not, I'd like to simply revert it back to the old version of the game with her save file intact, from the NAND backup. I don't know why the backup isn't restoring her save, that seems odd to me, and I've never had this issue with other games.

Does anyone here have some experience with updating the Animal Crossing .CIA and moving save files? My GF is currently heartbroken from losing her town!

Thanks

 

[Shadow#1]

Hey guys,

• I upgraded my GF's 3DS from menuhax to Luma, and everything went well
• The only game she cares about is Animal Crossing, and she had been playing on the old version, so I updated to Luma in order for her to play the newest Welcome Amiibo version of the game
• After upgrading, the game still ran with her save file (yay!)
• I then couldn't update the game (no!) due to NNID issues
• I installed the update manually via .CIA with FBI
• Now her save file no longer loads
• I restored the NAND backup to get back to the old version of the game that ran her save from before
• And her save file still doesn't load up (what?)

So, I'm not sure how to recover this save file. Currently, the game is running on Luma with the latest update, so I'd like to just inject her save file into this version of the game, if that's possible. If not, I'd like to simply revert it back to the old version of the game with her save file intact, from the NAND backup. I don't know why the backup isn't restoring her save, that seems odd to me, and I've never had this issue with other games.

Does anyone here have some experience with updating the Animal Crossing .CIA and moving save files? My GF is currently heartbroken from losing her town!

Thanks

AC and ACWA r 2 different games so different save

 

[appleburger]

AC and ACWA r 2 different games so different save

No they aren't. Welcome amiibo is just the update. Anyone with the regular game can update it to 'welcome amiibo' and it retains your save.

Her sister has the cartridge version, and updated with her save file intact - so that's not the issue.

 

[Shadow#1]

No they aren't. Welcome amiibo is just the update. Anyone with the regular game can update it to 'welcome amiibo' and it retains your save.

Her sister has the cartridge version, and updated with her save file intact - so that's not the issue.

 

[appleburger]

Triple post?

You can update New Leaf to get the Welcome Amiibo update. I'm aware that the newer cartridges have the title change, but it's the same game.

Nintendo even says themselves that you can update New Leaf to Welcome Amiibo and keep your save: https://en-americas-support.nintend...334/~/how-to-update-animal-crossing:-new-leaf

Even still, restoring the NAND doesn't bring back the save file, either. I guess I'll start by using a Save Manager and see if I can inject her save in to the new .cia, anyway. Still odd that it doesn't show for the original .cia when I restore the NAND.

 

[Shadow#1]

Triple post?

You can update New Leaf to get the Welcome Amiibo update. I'm aware that the newer cartridges have the title change, but it's the same game.

Nintendo even says themselves that you can update New Leaf to Welcome Amiibo and keep your save: https://en-americas-support.nintend...334/~/how-to-update-animal-crossing:-new-leaf

Even still, restoring the NAND doesn't bring back the save file, either. I guess I'll start by using a Save Manager and see if I can inject her save in to the new .cia, anyway. Still odd that it doesn't show for the original .cia when I restore the NAND.

Yea best to dump with JKSM then re-inject the save if it's even will there

 

[E1ite007]

Check if the save file is "garden.dat" or "garden_plus.dat".
If it is "garden.dat", that's why. The Welcome Amiibo update cannot load the old files ("garden.dat").

 

[appleburger]

Check if the save file is "garden.dat" or "garden_plus.dat".
If it is "garden.dat", that's why. The Welcome Amiibo update cannot load the old files ("garden.dat").

I've heard about that, and so my next shot was to go through this: https://www.reddit.com/r/ACHacks/comments/6k634m/how_to_convert_save_data_gardendat_to_garden/

But even when I revert the game (by restoring the NAND from the point where the save was confirmed working), the save still doesn't load. That's pretty weird. That's pre-Welcome Amiibo update.

Because ideally, I'd like to simply revert the NAND, backup the save, restore the NAND, and restore the save. Seems simple enough. But idk why the save doesn't show up on the old NAND like it seemingly should. Clearly I'm ignorant as to how the saves actually work, I suppose.

 

[Kwyjor]

I can tell you that ACNL uses Anti Savegame Restore. That means that if you run the game, and then try to restore an earlier save, the game won't recognize it. Likewise, things might go out of sync if you're restoring the NAND to a point that doesn't correspond to when the game was saved.

JKSM is supposed to be able to defeat Anti Savegame Restore; it's really just a matter of changing a single byte - this is the "secure value" referenced in that page you linked to. I think you can also fix it manually using the online save editor at https://www.marcrobledo.com/acnl-editor/ .

ETA:

If not, I'd like to simply revert it back to the old version of the game with her save file intact, from the NAND backup.

This is confusing. ACNL stores its save data in encrypted files on your SD card. The only relevant thing stored in the NAND is the secure value for Anti Savegame Restore.

 

[appleburger]

I can tell you that ACNL uses Anti Savegame Restore. That means that if you run the game, and then try to restore an earlier save, the game won't recognize it. Likewise, things might go out of sync if you're restoring the NAND to a point that doesn't correspond to when the game was saved.

JKSM is supposed to be able to defeat Anti Savegame Restore; it's really just a matter of changing a single byte - this is the "secure value" referenced in that page you linked to. I think you can also fix it manually using the online save editor at https://www.marcrobledo.com/acnl-editor/ .

Ah, that really helps clear things up, thank you!

This is confusing. ACNL stores its save data in encrypted files on your SD card. The only relevant thing stored in the NAND is the secure value for Anti Savegame Restore.

I should have clarified - I have the SD card backup and the NAND backup. I figured restoring the NAND would restore Animal Crossing to the pre-update version, and I could grab her save from the SD backup, but perhaps that's where I really went wrong.