Hacking Gateway 128KB save dumps - are they still useless?

[CharlesB]

I played 'Zelda A Link Between Worlds' retail cart on an unmodded 3DS XL.
I dumped the save from the retail cart using Gateway on a different 3DS.
I also dumped the full ROM including header.

The save is 128 KB, and I don't have the original cart anymore.

Is there any way I can use this save?
I have a Gateway and I can buy a Sky3DS or other cart if necessary.

Thanks

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Not without additional hardware.

But the save might work on Sky3DS (not sure if save dumps work on it but I see no reason why they wouldn't actually I think Sky3DS might work with 1MB saves only but someone else who has actually used a Sky3DS will know better than me), in that case there is a way to decrypt the save using NTR-CFW or Palantine CFW (with SaveDataFiler). Then it could be imported to GW with SaveDataFiler.
If you can borrow a Sky3DS, that would be your best bet.

 

[Ra1d]

if you can still have access to your cart you can dump it using NTR-CFW, and the save file dumped using NTR-CFW can be restored with save data filer to your dumped rom.

 

[Aurora Wright]

Gateway spoofs a 512KB save cart, so you can't use it with that. You would have needed to decrypt the save with savedatafiler instead of dumping the raw one. I don't know how Sky3DS works, if it can read raw saves you should be able to edit the header info in the template (the save gets decrypted by the 3ds using the unique ID of the cart) and use it (basically you would spoof your old cart).

 

[CharlesB]

Thank you all for your quick replies!

I own both old and new 3DSs on 'good' firmware with two Gateways.

I don't have the original cart anymore, even if I get it back the save will likely have been deleted from it by now.

I like the idea of recreating my original cart with a Sky3DS in order to dump/decrypt the save properly.
If I can inject my raw 128 KB save, I'll see if I can get/borrow one.

 

[gamesquest1]

sky3ds will not allow you to decrypt/edit your save, only solution for decrypting your retail cart saves if they are 128kb save files is using NTR cfw, and if they use 6.x save encryption you can only do it on a n3DS

well there is one more solution, but that would mean buying the game again legitimately from the eshop and using the save data transfer tool

EDIT, oh ok if you dont own the original cart anymore you would need to either get it back or use a sky3ds to dump the save

 

[CharlesB]

That's great news - two solutions and neither require a Sky3DS.

I'm pretty sure that ALBW uses 6.x save encryption, so I will try NTR CFW on my N3DS now.

Thanks!

 

[gamesquest1]

That's great news - two solutions and neither require a Sky3DS.

I'm pretty sure that ALBW uses 6.x save encryption, so I will try NTR CFW on my N3DS now.

Thanks!

yeah i just read you don't have the original cart so you will either need to get it back even just for a few minutes, or use a sky3ds as a replacement cart

 

[CharlesB]

Oh OK, if I get the original cart back it probably won't have my save on it anymore.
Sky3DS it is then!

 

[gamesquest1]

Oh OK, if I get the original cart back it probably won't have my save on it anymore.
Sky3DS it is then!

well you have the .sav, so you can write it back to the cart then use NTR to dump the save (just backup the new owners save first so you can restore it after you have dumped yours)

 

[CharlesB]

I seem to recall there were problems with restoring a 128 KB raw save back to the original retail cart using Gateway.
But if that will work then I will try to borrow the original cart.
Thanks.

 

[gamesquest1]

I seem to recall there were problems with restoring a 128 KB raw save back to the original retail cart using Gateway.
But if that will work then I will try to borrow the original cart.
Thanks.

nope they will restore to the cart fine, its just that they cant be used with GW as it expects the .sav to be 512kb

 

[CharlesB]

Fantastic, thanks again.