Emulation Is there a way to move my save data from unmodded 3DS to emulation?

[CitrusRain]

Story:

My ACNL town is turning 10 years old this week but my 3DS keeps crashing. After doing some troubleshooting with Nintendo we have determined there is bad data on my SD card, I can't move my saves (for anything) to a new sd card or the crashing persists. So that means I'm going to lose everything - my AC town, my streetpass miiplaza data, etc.

Question:

Can I take my save data from unmodded 3DS to any emulator?

 

[Kwyjor]

Are you saying you already tried a new card? What troubleshooting did you do?

The usual procedure in cases like this is to connect the SD card to your PC, copy everything off the SD card with Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier, format the card, test the empty card with h2testw, and copy everything back if the test is okay. If the test fails, then get a new card, format it properly, test the empty card, and copy everything to the new card.

Otherwise, it is not strictly necessary to "mod" your 3DS persistently. Do you have a "New" unit, or an "old" unit?

 

[CitrusRain]

Are you saying you already tried a new card? What troubleshooting did you do?

The usual procedure in cases like this is to connect the SD card to your PC, copy everything off the SD card with Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier, format the card, test the empty card with h2testw, and copy everything back if the test is okay. If the test fails, then get a new card, format it properly, test the empty card, and copy everything to the new card.

Otherwise, it is not strictly necessary to "mod" your 3DS persistently. Do you have a "New" unit, or an "old" unit?

New 3DS XL, from when that launched

used Kodak 50-in-1 card reader and copied 16gb SDHC to computer
received errors as follows

Windows error 0x80070057 The parameter is incorrect appeared >30 times
2 times skipped without documenting

[folder][google search results if checked]
00153500 Nintendo Badge Arcade


00159400 nothing found
0015a400 nothing found
00172600 nothing found
00161000 nothing found
00086300 post talking about ACNL saves
0017c100
00171200
000c2900
0016c200
000d5a00
0016f600
00132700
001a7100
001a2d00
001d1400
001b8f00
00058f00
00058c00
001c7400
00172800
00172700
00171000
00171100
00158d00
000f1400
00040002
0004000e
0004008c
474e6ac5e32dd193c57ea2b51381fd71
Private
private

Made second attempt to copy, it stayed at 4% with an ETA reading ">1 day". Canceled that after a few hours of nothing changing.
Copied what had made it to my computer to a new 32gb SDHC card, system showed games, badges, theme, could not launch game; message said to fix in eshop.
Opened eshop, went back to ACNL and it had a button to repair software. This failed, and all games and the theme vanished from the home screen leaving behind folders and badges. While I was talking to nintendo badges also vanished.

Nintendo thought the card reader needed fixed, but I suggested 1 more test - blanking out the new card and downloading something to see if it crashes as well as viewing photos (which had been guaranteed to crash). So it is determined that something is corrupted and ruining everything

Video of most consistent crash


Edit: Oh and I went ahead and downloaded the roadkill copier, will give it a shot tomorrow night, I got to get to bed - work in morning

 

[Kwyjor]

Please don't try to Google all those numbers. You'll find most of them in https://hax0kartik.github.io/3dsdb/ .

Nintendo thought the card reader needed fixed, but I suggested 1 more test - blanking out the new card and downloading something to see if it crashes as well as viewing photos (which had been guaranteed to crash).

So, did this work, or not? It's not clear from your post. Are you able to launch Animal Crossing at all anymore without crashing?

Anyway, you have several different options at this point - assuming Roadkill's Unstoppable Copier doesn't help. The key issue is that all data on the SD card is encrypted, and you will have to decrypt it somehow before you can hope to use it in an emulator.

By far the most straightforward option would be to use the Homebrew Launcher via super-skaterhax to launch an old version of JKSM, and then use that to dump your save data. Like I said, this doesn't install b9s+Luma or make any persistent changes to your 3DS – once you're done, you can just delete the files from your SD card and it will be like they never existed.

Follow the instructions in https://3ds.hacks.guide/installing-boot9strap-(super-skaterhax) up to Step 12 of Part II ("Your console will have booted into the Homebrew Launcher"), but don't download nimdsphax, boot9strap, or safeb9sinstaller. (You will need boot.3dsx from the "Luma3DS" zip file, though.) Instead, download JKSM_hax.zip from https://github.com/J-D-K/JKSM/releases/tag/12/20/2018 and extract that to the root of your SD card. (Follow this Zoogie-endorsed video at 10:55 if you have trouble, but please don't bother with any other video tutorials.) When you get to the Homebrew Launcher, you should be able to launch JKSM from the menu. Then select Animal Crossing (using left and right on the control pad) and export the data.

 

[CitrusRain]

Please don't try to Google all those numbers. You'll find most of them in https://hax0kartik.github.io/3dsdb/ .

So, did this work, or not? It's not clear from your post. Are you able to launch Animal Crossing at all anymore without crashing?

as it was an empty sd card I downloaded pokemon bank (small app that had a high chance of failing rather than a long download that would keep the tech support guy waiting for longer)
Pokemon bank worked fine, so a blank sd card works but if I copy data over to it, it doesn't.

Anyway, you have several different options at this point - assuming Roadkill's Unstoppable Copier doesn't help. The key issue is that all data on the SD card is encrypted, and you will have to decrypt it somehow before you can hope to use it in an emulator.

These are the only errors roadkill copier had, but for some reason it didn't copy over 'private'
Upon testing, random games fail, like some virtual console pokemon games but not others (out of red/blue/yellow/gold/silver/crystal, 2-3 of them work) and I tested Pokemon Y, & Shantae Pirates Curse, those work. Pokemon Bank worked until I hit save, then error 006-0105. But ACNL doesn't work. Tried redownloading and it still didn't work.

By far the most straightforward option would be to use the Homebrew Launcher via super-skaterhax to launch an old version of JKSM, and then use that to dump your save data. Like I said, this doesn't install b9s+Luma or make any persistent changes to your 3DS – once you're done, you can just delete the files from your SD card and it will be like they never existed.

Follow the instructions in https://3ds.hacks.guide/installing-boot9strap-(super-skaterhax) up to Step 12 of Part II ("Your console will have booted into the Homebrew Launcher"), but don't download nimdsphax, boot9strap, or safeb9sinstaller. (You will need boot.3dsx from the "Luma3DS" zip file, though.) Instead, download JKSM_hax.zip from https://github.com/J-D-K/JKSM/releases/tag/12/20/2018 and extract that to the root of your SD card. (Follow this Zoogie-endorsed video at 10:55 if you have trouble, but please don't bother with any other video tutorials.) When you get to the Homebrew Launcher, you should be able to launch JKSM from the menu. Then select Animal Crossing (using left and right on the control pad) and export the data.

Alright, I'll be trying this tomorrow, will report back after.

 

[Kwyjor]

These are the only errors roadkill copier had, but for some reason it didn't copy over 'private'

As per the site I linked to, 16F600 corresponds to the Metroid Blast Ball demo. The "private" folder is unimportant. (I believe it's primarily used for Flipnote.)

But ACNL doesn't work.

"Doesn't work" isn't very descriptive. Do you get an error message, or a blank screen, or what?

ACNL uses "Anti Savegame Restore" (sometimes referred to as "secure value" protection), so it's definitely going to complain about your save data being faulty. (The Pokemon games also use Anti Savegame Restore. Shantae definitely does not.) Fortunately JKSM doesn't care about that.

 

[CitrusRain]

As per the site I linked to, 16F600 corresponds to the Metroid Blast Ball demo. The "private" folder is unimportant. (I believe it's primarily used for Flipnote.)

"Doesn't work" isn't very descriptive. Do you get an error message, or a blank screen, or what?

Instead of it doing the 3ds splash screen, I press launch on ACNL and it's instantly:
An error has occurred. Hold down power to turn off the power, then turn it on again and try again. For help [link]

ACNL uses "Anti Savegame Restore" (sometimes referred to as "secure value" protection), so it's definitely going to complain about your save data being faulty. (The Pokemon games also use Anti Savegame Restore. Shantae definitely does not.) Fortunately JKSM doesn't care about that.

The only one I have progress in still has it - I loaded it up to find I was in giovanni's gym in yellow

Post automatically merged: Sep 28, 2023

Follow the instructions in https://3ds.hacks.guide/installing-boot9strap-(super-skaterhax) up to Step 12 of Part II ("Your console will have booted into the Homebrew Launcher"), but don't download nimdsphax, boot9strap, or safeb9sinstaller. (You will need boot.3dsx from the "Luma3DS" zip file, though.) Instead, download JKSM_hax.zip from https://github.com/J-D-K/JKSM/releases/tag/12/20/2018 and extract that to the root of your SD card. (Follow this Zoogie-endorsed video at 10:55 if you have trouble, but please don't bother with any other video tutorials.) When you get to the Homebrew Launcher, you should be able to launch JKSM from the menu. Then select Animal Crossing (using left and right on the control pad) and export the data.

Okay I've done this, and I just found a guide here https://projectpokemon.org/home/tutorials/save-editing/managing-3ds-saves/using-jksm-r62/

I have managed to obtain backups for 2 games including ACNL and I see I can put them into my new SD. But can I also import it into my other new 3ds that IS modded? and can I load it into citra without following this guide I just stumbled into when downloading citra?

Here's my town moved to the new sd card - You rock, Kwyjor!

 

[Kwyjor]

Here's my town moved to the new sd card - You rock, Kwyjor!

Something seems to have gone wrong with your post, but I guess everything else worked..?

JKSM is actually very old and most people prefer to use Checkpoint if they have b9s+Luma. (JKSM is primarily useful in this particular case to back up save data without having to install b9s+Luma.)

Instead of it doing the 3ds splash screen, I press launch on ACNL and it's instantly:
An error has occurred. Hold down power to turn off the power, then turn it on again and try again. For help [link]

If the new SD card doesn't have any errors, and ACNL still wouldn't work properly after redownloading it, then that suggests the SD card reader in your unit may be faulty. People seem to replace that part without too much trouble. (It's really not conceivable that something corrupted would otherwise get transferred from one card to the other.)

 

[CitrusRain]

If the new SD card doesn't have any errors, and ACNL still wouldn't work properly after redownloading it, then that suggests the SD card reader in your unit may be faulty. People seem to replace that part without too much trouble. (It's really not conceivable that something corrupted would otherwise get transferred from one card to the other.)

Oh that was me explaining the old sd card, I thought that's what you asked for. The random string of letters and numbers was previously a picture showing everything's working now.

I'm gonna try and load it up in citra to do some recording, thanks for the help!

 

[Kwyjor]

Oh that was me explaining the old sd card, I thought that's what you asked for. The random string of letters and numbers was previously a picture showing everything's working now.

I'm gonna try and load it up in citra to do some recording, thanks for the help!

I mean, you would presumably like to keep using your 3DS instead of Citra, wouldn't you?