Hacking M3 Movie Player and GBA SAV files?

[nick15]

Howdy y'all! I need a little help with this...

OK so I bought an M3 Movie Player flash cart from a friend so I can play GBA games, as a replacement for my XROM 512mb flash cart which crapped out on me. However, it's in Chinese, so I don't know how to use it. What I'm trying to do is copy GBA SAV files from my computer to the M3 itself, seeing as copying the .SAV files with the .GBA game files doesn't work.

Anyone know what I need to do in order to make that happen? I do have a USB-to-GBA cord that came with my XROM, would that be used to access SAV files from the M3?

SIDE QUESTION: Is there any way to fix a crapped out XROM? Save games don't stay saved, and I even replaced the battery.

Thanks for your help!

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It is called, replace the battery. You can either solder a new battery on or use the tape method.

M3 gba stuff uses dat files. converting stuff is mostly a pain if your far into a game.




tape method : http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=132872

unreliable if the tape comes off during play.

Soldering:
Follow the first link in sig and goto the bottom, under maintainace you will find a USA listed battery with tabs that you can use.

 

[nick15]

how_do_i_do_that
It is called, replace the battery.

It is called "reread my original post and see where I said 'I even replaced the battery'"

M3 gba stuff uses dat files. converting stuff is mostly a pain if your far into a game.

I don't mind. Painful is better than impossible.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

http://filetrip.net/f2397-M3-Game-Manager-36a.html


Well if it completely died, you probably hit the write limit on the flash assuming you used it alot. I did that to the FlashAdvance I got.

 

[nick15]

Weird, I didn't realize there's a flash limit. Oh well.

OK, so the M3 Game Manager is probably what I'm looking for, thanks!

BTW, just for my own information, is there a M3 GBA Movie Player manual online somewhere or something? I want to know what the option menu is--again, I have the Chinese version and can't read Chinese. I'm trying to see if any of those options are to begin with, and to see if any one of them will allow me to save .DAT files into the SAVEGAME folder.

Thanks again!

 

[nick15]

OK, so I managed to import my SAV file into a game's particular DAT file inside SAVEDATA, and when I turn on my M3 in my GBA and load a particular game, it apparently is asking me if I want to import or use the DAT file for my game... because once the game starts, my SAV is loaded. HOWEVER, when I save from a new location, and then restart my game, I think the DAT file is reloaded and replaces my new saved game with the original SAV from the DAT file.

So... how can I make a SAV file stick?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Play a game first then swap your real dat for the one that the game wants to use.

 

[albertar]

Play a game first then swap your real dat for the one that the game wants to use.

Hey again, I'm completely lost on how to get my .sav files to play on my m3.

I'm not sure what to do like the save manager doesn't really seem to work for me

 

[albertar]

Update: i'm trying to copy my save files from my nds's gbaexploder to my m3's save file

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

If your using the slot1 M3 Sakura interface, then the transfers of saves from exploader to the m3 is straight forward. You have to use the M3 game game manager to import your save. I haven't used it in 2 years to tell you off the top of my head.

 

[albertar]

If your using the slot1 M3 Sakura interface, then the transfers of saves from exploader to the m3 is straight forward. You have to use the M3 game game manager to import your save. I haven't used it in 2 years to tell you off the top of my head.

I'm using the m3 Game Manager v.36 for the m3 perfect. Does the sakura work for it too? Maybe i'll try that out

 

[albertar]

If your using the slot1 M3 Sakura interface, then the transfers of saves from exploader to the m3 is straight forward. You have to use the M3 game game manager to import your save. I haven't used it in 2 years to tell you off the top of my head.

Oh I just realized what you typed. Yeah I'm not using the m3 real. I use an r4 pro. I don't know how to use the save manager on the m3 game manager

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

The M3 perfect uses DAT files instead of SAV files. The DATs are 1MB in size and stored on the SD/CF you got in a folder named GAMESAVE.

You right click on the gba file and pick save manager.

I don't have it installed on my new comp to be able to tell you what you have to do to get the import to work.


On the SD/CF you will have the 2 save folders, GAMESAVE and NDSSAVE.

There was a tool to convert the dat to sav files, it was called m3savetool. It is a VB program, your going to need XP to run this.

Uploaded a copy of the program here. You might want to scan it and decide if you want to use it or not.
http://filetrip.net/gba-downloads/tools-utilities/download-m3savetool-1-0-f33050.html




A really old instruction on importing your sav file to m3 dat, I don't remember where I got it from. I cut and pasted it a long time ago to a text file.

Quick guide to converting VBA .sav files to M3 .dat
 
- clear the M3 SRAM of any GBA save, easiest way to do this is turn on the M3 wait till it finishes it's auto-backup, then turn it off again.
- Open the gamemanager
- Browse to your GBA games
- Double click on the game your adding the .sav file to
- highlight the .dat save file to overwrite
- click write .sav
- find your .sav and double click it
- done
 
The important thing to do is ensure the GBA save is not in the M3 SRAM when you edit it, 
because if you edit it then turn the M3 back on when the save is in SRAM it will auto-backup 
the SRAM save over your modified save.

If this works for you, let me know.

 

[albertar]

The M3 perfect uses DAT files instead of SAV files. The DATs are 1MB in size and stored on the SD/CF you got in a folder named GAMESAVE.

You right click on the gba file and pick save manager.

I don't have it installed on my new comp to be able to tell you what you have to do to get the import to work.


On the SD/CF you will have the 2 save folders, GAMESAVE and NDSSAVE.

There was a tool to convert the dat to sav files, it was called m3savetool. It is a VB program, your going to need XP to run this.

Uploaded a copy of the program here. You might want to scan it and decide if you want to use it or not.
http://filetrip.net/gba-downloads/tools-utilities/download-m3savetool-1-0-f33050.html




A really old instruction on importing your sav file to m3 dat, I don't remember where I got it from. I cut and pasted it a long time ago to a text file.

Quick guide to converting VBA .sav files to M3 .dat
 
- clear the M3 SRAM of any GBA save, easiest way to do this is turn on the M3 wait till it finishes it's auto-backup, then turn it off again.
- Open the gamemanager
- Browse to your GBA games
- Double click on the game your adding the .sav file to
- highlight the .dat save file to overwrite
- click write .sav
- find your .sav and double click it
- done
 
The important thing to do is ensure the GBA save is not in the M3 SRAM when you edit it,
because if you edit it then turn the M3 back on when the save is in SRAM it will auto-backup
the SRAM save over your modified save.

If this works for you, let me know.

Yeah I found that exact same note! it was on another website that I feel might not be recently updated lately, but yes. I tried that and to no success. My problem is is that when I get to here,

I don't know what to do after that. There is nothing for me to click on to write the .sav to.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

You might want to try changing the GBA source directory in the config menu option.

 

[albertar]

You might want to try changing the GBA source directory in the config menu option.

change it to what?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

what do you have it at currently have it at?

If your SD/CF is say J drive, you should pick the drive and not a subfolder.

To make the dat files show up like below your GBA games should be in the root directory of your GBA Game Source Directory.

Organizing your games by folders is because we have so much room now with HC/XC that folders and subfolders, space in the file system table is at a premium in a 2GB or less world.


Other than that you should be able to import your saves and write any saves after that now.

 

[albertar]

what do you have it at currently have it at?

If your SD/CF is say J drive, you should pick the drive and not a subfolder.

To make the dat files show up like below your GBA games should be in the root directory of your GBA Game Source Directory.

Organizing your games by folders is because we have so much room now with HC/XC that folders and subfolders, space in the file system table is at a premium in a 2GB or less world.


Other than that you should be able to import your saves and write any saves after that now.

Okay so I did just that, and I thought it worked! I put the source directory to my drive and not a subfolder, and right when I pressed okay I immediately found my game on the right box. I clicked save manager, and this time i actually had something to write my .sav file to. However when I ejected my usb, and I put the sd card into my m3 and loaded it up, I found that the save did not back up after all.

So then I put the sd card back into the usb to try again. I pressed the m3 game manager and this time it went straight to the menu. It didn't let me choose my game sources directory anymore, and I don't know how to put games into the root directory of my gba game source directory.

*As a matter of fact, i'm not sure how I was able to find my game, because the game I wanted was in a folder, but when I pressed "okay" from the game source menu I was immediately able to find my game on the right side without having to browse through folders

 

[albertar]

Okay so I did just that, and I thought it worked! I put the source directory to my drive and not a subfolder, and right when I pressed okay I immediately found my game on the right box. I clicked save manager, and this time i actually had something to write my .sav file to. However when I ejected my usb, and I put the sd card into my m3 and loaded it up, I found that the save did not back up after all.

So then I put the sd card back into the usb to try again. I pressed the m3 game manager and this time it went straight to the menu. It didn't let me choose my game sources directory anymore, and I don't know how to put games into the root directory of my gba game source directory.

*As a matter of fact, i'm not sure how I was able to find my game, because the game I wanted was in a folder, but when I pressed "okay" from the game source menu I was immediately able to find my game on the right side without having to browse through folders

** Update so I resolved the issue: I created a GAMESAVE folder on any hard drive or empty flash drive, at the root, for example C:\GAMESAVE and placed the GBA game and .SAV into the new GAMESAVE Folder and browsed to it from M3 Game Manager. However, it doesn't work on anything else other than the gamesave folder from the hard drive

 

[albertar]

what do you have it at currently have it at?

If your SD/CF is say J drive, you should pick the drive and not a subfolder.

To make the dat files show up like below your GBA games should be in the root directory of your GBA Game Source Directory.

Organizing your games by folders is because we have so much room now with HC/XC that folders and subfolders, space in the file system table is at a premium in a 2GB or less world.


Other than that you should be able to import your saves and write any saves after that now.

Hey what's the difference between write .sav and read .sav?