Hacking [GUIDE] The EmuNAND/Save Data Mega Guide GBATemp Doesn't Deserve

[MrJason005]

I am concerned about what I heard about saves and Gateway... Is it true that once I setup Gateway and downgrade my 3DS, that I won't be able to use my Retail cart saves anymore? I got pretty far on some of my games and really don't want to lose all that progress (ex: Pokémon games)... Currently, my 3DS FW is 9.2.0-20U.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Just stick to 9.2 unless you really need that no internet needed support.

 

[prototech]

So from what I gather, you cannot backup the save data of CIA that comes with 6.0+ due to the encryption? Therefor there is no way to backup the saves for those games at all?? I'm trying to decide on whether I want to all in on CIA's or not, and I want to decide soon so I don't lose any progress on games that I start, but this could be a problem if it's true. I'm also trying to be future proof, so if I got a different 3DS, could I just transfer the emuNAND and be good? Or will that not work since it's a different console?

 

[mmn]

So from what I gather, you cannot backup the save data of CIA that comes with 6.0+ due to the encryption? Therefor there is no way to backup the saves for those games at all?? I'm trying to decide on whether I want to all in on CIA's or not, and I want to decide soon so I don't lose any progress on games that I start, but this could be a problem if it's true. I'm also trying to be future proof, so if I got a different 3DS, could I just transfer the emuNAND and be good? Or will that not work since it's a different console?

Nooooo. It's only retail games that have issues. You can back up all .cia save data using savedatafiler.

 

[Skeet1983]

Is there a way we can trade/download saves that were made through Gateway? Also, would the Powersaves device and saves work with Gateway?

 

[prototech]

Nooooo. It's only retail games that have issues. You can back up all .cia save data using savedatafiler.

I tried loading savedatafiler on emuNAND where all of my cia's are installed, but for most of the games it says that the user save data is broken. Any ideas on this?

 

[serenade.63]

Is there anyway to take a save made on a .3ds card1 and have it still work on that rom converted to .3dz and vise versa?

 

[mmn]

Is there anyway to take a save made on a .3ds card1 and have it still work on that rom converted to .3dz and vise versa?

I haven't ever done this, but I believe you have to change the header in the save file to match the one in the .3dz.

 

[sicbud]

Awesome info! Kinda wish i knew the stuff sbout retail carts and saves before downgrading. Oh well, guess i'll just have to stick with .cia and .3ds files

 

[ubergeek77]

Does anyone here happen to have an MT Card? I need help converting a card1 save to a .cia save. Thanks.

 

[TotalInfinity]

Here's a question for you guys. Is it possible to merge the contents of an SD card together if they were both used on the same 3DS? For example, I've made a backup of all my games and save data from my retail, non hacked 3DS, and saved it all to the computer. I then formatted the SD card, installed the 4.5 CFW (downgrading the 3DS), and played one game on the SD card I installed from a .CIA. Now that my gateway has arrived in the mail, I want to restore my backed up nand, get my 3DS back to 9.2, install 9.4 emunand, and just play everything on emunand. Will I be able to take that one .CIA I installed and its save data and merge it with my earlier backup, so the 3DS sees it along with everything else already on my SD card?

Still wondering the answer to this, as I'd love to get back to 9.2 and enjoy my new gateway as soon as possible

 

[thorasgar]

Still wondering the answer to this, as I'd love to get back to 9.2 and enjoy my new gateway as soon as possible

I don't have a definitive answer for you as I know little about what CFW does with saves. My suggestion is to get the system back to 9.2 sys and move forward. Maybe there is a solution you will find for that one game, but you can't have to much time invested in it yet, do you?

This whole downgrading thing is fine for people who want to start off with a clean slate but trying to deal with all this encryption incomaptibility between retail carts and eshop games is just a bit much.

 

[MassiveRican]

Hi guys, new to Gateway, and I think I messed up and can't recover my eShop saves. Here's a quick breakdown of what I've done so far.

1. I started with a Back up of the full contents of my SD card.

2. I was getting the update nag on 9.2, so per the 3DS/N3DS Ultra Guide I formatted sysNAND. (I thought this step was mandatory and I believe it's where I messed up in being able to recover my saves)

3. setup sysNAND, installed Gateway, backed up sysNAND, formatted emuNAND.

4. Linked my NNID in the emuNAND. All is well I can re-d/load my eShop games. Did not separate my sysNAND/emuNAND link yet, would have to do an additional sysNAND format.

5. D/loaded BBM (Big Blue Menu) and Save Data Filer.

So now onto the real questions:

1. Am I able to restore my save games after I re-d/load the games from the eShop by copying the contents of the original backup to the SD card again? The folder names in the root Nintendo 3DS folder are different which is concerning.

2. If an eShop save game restore is not possible, would it be possible to d/load the game, boot via Gateway and restore my save game to the .3dz file? I found out the directory structure to locate the save files I want to recover so maybe I can just inject an encrypted save with Save Data Filer, I don't know.

3. If neither of the options above are possible is there anyway for me to restore my saves lol. I hope so since I have 50+ hrs in smash and 80+ hrs in SMT IV. If I can't well so be it. Thanks for the help.

I ask before experimenting myself since I don't want to brick my console accidentally. Any tips or help would be appreciated, although from the looks of the OP, which btw was very thorough and well written, thanks mmn, and it's looking like I'm screwed I pray there be hope for me yet lol.

 

[mmn]

Still wondering the answer to this, as I'd love to get back to 9.2 and enjoy my new gateway as soon as possible

You can probably:

1. Backup save with savedatafiler (assuming you can use that on cfw)
2. Restore your old NAND
3. Reinstall the game via .cia
4. Inject save with savedatafiler

Hi guys, new to Gateway, and I think I messed up and can't recover my eShop saves. Here's a quick breakdown of what I've done so far.

1. I started with a Back up of the full contents of my SD card.

2. I was getting the update nag on 9.2, so per the 3DS/N3DS Ultra Guide I formatted sysNAND. (I thought this step was mandatory and I believe it's where I messed up in being able to recover my saves)

3. setup sysNAND, installed Gateway, backed up sysNAND, formatted emuNAND.

4. Linked my NNID in the emuNAND. All is well I can re-d/load my eShop games. Did not separate my sysNAND/emuNAND link yet, would have to do an additional sysNAND format.

5. D/loaded BBM (Big Blue Menu) and Save Data Filer.

So now onto the real questions:

1. Am I able to restore my save games after I re-d/load the games from the eShop by copying the contents of the original backup to the SD card again? The folder names in the root Nintendo 3DS folder are different which is concerning.

2. If an eShop save game restore is not possible, would it be possible to d/load the game, boot via Gateway and restore my save game to the .3dz file? I found out the directory structure to locate the save files I want to recover so maybe I can just inject an encrypted save with Save Data Filer, I don't know.

3. If neither of the options above are possible is there anyway for me to restore my saves lol. I hope so since I have 50+ hrs in smash and 80+ hrs in SMT IV. If I can't well so be it. Thanks for the help.

I ask before experimenting myself since I don't want to brick my console accidentally. Any tips or help would be appreciated, although from the looks of the OP, which btw was very thorough and well written, thanks mmn, and it's looking like I'm screwed I pray there be hope for me yet lol.

I don't think you can get those saves back unless you have a NAND backup from before you formatted... I might be wrong, but I wouldn't know any other way to do it.

 

[prototech]

You can probably:

1. Backup save with savedatafiler (assuming you can use that on cfw)
2. Restore your old NAND
3. Reinstall the game via .cia
4. Inject save with savedatafiler

I don't think you can get those saves back unless you have a NAND backup from before you formatted... I might be wrong, but I wouldn't know any other way to do it.

Does savedatafiler work on emuNAND? or just a 4.x cfw?

 

[mmn]

Does savedatafiler work on emuNAND? or just a 4.x cfw?

It works anywhere you can run arbitrary .3ds and .cia files

 

[prototech]

It works anywhere you can run arbitrary .3ds and .cia files

Interesting. I have tried running this as a 3ds file and it loads but most of the saves are "broken", and I tried installing the cia version through BigBlueMenu but it fails.

 

[TotalInfinity]

It works anywhere you can run arbitrary .3ds and .cia files

Could not get savedatafiler to work on cfw, it would give me an error about the SD card on startup, so I decided to just go ahead and get back to 9.2/install gateway and emunand. Hopefully I can get the save, the cia and save are still backed up on a computer and my original sd card data restored.

 

[MassiveRican]

I don't think you can get those saves back unless you have a NAND backup from before you formatted... I might be wrong, but I wouldn't know any other way to do it.

Thanks for the heads up, I just needed confirmation from someone knowledgeable that it's a no go. I'll keep the SD card backup just in case something comes out in the future. For now I'm going to pour out some liquor for my saves, they were good to me. So long SMT IV I ain't playing ya again lol.

I'm going to see if it can be clarified if it's 100% necessary to format sysNAND prior to installing gateway if your getting the update nag when on 9.2 so others don't suffer the same fate. If the exploit could be run with the nag and I could have just formatted it after a NAND backup I'm going to be pissed.

 

[thorasgar]

I am missing something here. The original eshop games and and saves should still be on the SD card correct. If so, shouldn't it just be a matter of finding where the current downloaded games are in the structure and replacing them with the files on the SD card if the OFW is the same version?

 

[mmn]

I am missing something here. The original eshop games and and saves should still be on the SD card correct. If so, shouldn't it just be a matter of finding where the current downloaded games are in the structure and replacing them with the files on the SD card if the OFW is the same version?

I'm pretty sure things that get stored on SD are encrypted, and the keys change if you do a system format. I don't have any more information than that, so things may or may not work.