Hacking Just Gimme that SAV M3

[DennisDad]

I just can't seem to get my Animal Crossing .sav off of the retail cart.
I have the M3 DS Real and the GBA Expansion Pack.

NDS_Baskup_Tool_Slot2 doesn't seem to like the GBA Expansion Pack. It won't give me the option to dump anything.

NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi will dump the ROM, but fails to write the .sav file. I don't get it. Watching the FTP status on the PC looks like the backup tools is trying to get the file instead of put. Then it say's the file was sucessfully sent, but it's not there on my PC. The DS say's something like "fail - do it over".

Eepinator can't send anything bigger than 64kb to my slot 2.

I'll try savsender, but I don't think it can transer saves larger than 256kb.
My Animal Crossing sav is 512.

Anybody have any ideas?
I was really hoping the GBA Expansion pack would work with the NDS Backup Tool.

 

[DennisDad]

NDS_Backup_Tool_Wifi will dump the ROM, but fails to write the .sav file. I don't get it. Watching the FTP status on the PC looks like the backup tools is trying to get the file instead of put. Then it say's the file was sucessfully sent, but it's not there on my PC. The DS say's something like "fail - do it over".

So... got this part working. Turns out you have to complete the full ROM dump before before NDS Backup Tool Wifi will dump the .sav. Funny I never got that from any of the tutorials or forum posts. So this may be helpful to anyone working with this tool.

After fully dumping the ROM (ANIMAL_CROSS_ADME01.nds), the tool was able to dump the .sav also. It produced a 256kb save file (ANIMAL_CROSS_ADME_00.sav).

I took that file and converted with Shuny's Savegams Converter Website.
FROM: Acekard RPG | EZ Flash V | RAW Format
To: G6 DS Real | M3 DS Real (.0)

This resulted in a 512kb file named - ANIMAL_CROSS_ADME_00.0
I Renamed that file - ANIMAL_CROSS_ADME01.sav

Put it back on the SD card and that save worked with the ROM it created.



Now I'd like to figure out how to move that .sav back on to the retail cart. Does anyone know what conversion settings to use for that?

 

[prowler]

I know nothing of this, but are you sure you can put saves back onto the cart?

With it being a ROM, it would be read only, so no write.

 

[DennisDad]

I know nothing of this, but are you sure you can put saves back onto the cart?

With it being a ROM, it would be read only, so no write.

Well, if it were true read-only you could never save your in-game progress.

 

[Destructobot]

I don't know what setting to use on Shuny's site, but if it's a 256KB save you can just chop off the second half of the 512KB save file with a hex editor or a program like File Trimmer.


Edit: I just looked at Shuny's converter, and I think Acekard RPG | EZFlash V | RAW Format [Force 256kb] (.sav) is what you want.

 

[DennisDad]

I don't know what setting to use on Shuny's site, but if it's a 256KB save you can just chop off the second half of the 512KB save file with a hex editor or a program like File Trimmer.


Edit: I just looked at Shuny's converter, and I think Acekard RPG | EZFlash V | RAW Format [Force 256kb] (.sav) is what you want.

Good point about the hex editor, and I think you are right about the [Force 256kb] setting (although I have tried that and it didn't work for me)

Here is why I think it's not working...

When NDS Backup Tool dumps the sav, it is creating a human-friendly name for that save - matching (somewhat) the name it chose for the ROM it dumped.
The retail cart, on the other hand, is not using a human-friendly name for the sav file.
I've noticed Eepinator dumps saves with a strange looking name that includes a lot of underscore characters (I don't have an example in front of me right now).
So I think what I need to do is find out what the retail cartridge thinks the name of the save file should be and rename my modified sav file to that.

 

[Destructobot]

Retail carts don't store save data in save files in a filesystem like flashcarts do, so from the retail cart's point of view the filename doesn't even exist. The backup tool however may need the file to be named a certain way. Did you try renaming the save file back to exactly what the backup tool named it when it was first dumped?

 

[DennisDad]

Yes. Even tried restoring the original file that the backup tool dumped.

 

[DennisDad]

Got it!

Here is the fix for getting the .sav back on the retail cart using NSD_Backup_Tool_Wifi.

You have to dumb the ROM again. Then dumb the save file again. Then replace the dumped save file with another that has been converted with Shunny's Converter to a RAW (force 256kb) .sav and renamed to the same name as the original dumped save file.
You have to upload it twice with the backup tool.

Done.