Hacking M3DS Real, GBA Save Data Problem

[KingKK]

I have encountered an odd problem with my M3 DS Real. Note that other then this problem, my M3 works fine and I am very happy with it. =)
So anyway, it's with GBA Roms. They run fine. I have the GBA expansion in the slot, and the roms I use are fine (I think. They work on VisualBoyAdvance, anyway). But with some of the games, I encounter a problem. They run fine, they save, everything. But when I turn it off and turn it back on again... the save data is 'blank'. The SAV file still exists, but my data is gone. It happens infrequently with some games, not at all with other games, and every single time with a few others. I have gotten to the point that I am afraid to play my GBA games because I am afraid that it will delete my hard-earned saves.
So. Is anyone familiar with my problem? Do you know what's wrong or how to fix it? It would be much appreciated if you could help. Thanks.

 

[ENDscape]

Did you load the m3 menu again to backup the sav to your microsd?

 

[KingKK]

Did you load the m3 menu again to backup the sav to your microsd?

What exactly does that mean? Is there a way to bring up the menu without turning it off?

 

[ENDscape]

After you finish playing, turn on the ds again to go to the m3 menu. Before you get to the menu it will askyou to wait because it is backing up the save from the expansion to your micro.

 

[KingKK]

After you finish playing, turn on the ds again to go to the m3 menu. Before you get to the menu it will askyou to wait because it is backing up the save from the expansion to your micro.

Yes, that always happens.

 

[Densetsu]

Did you try setting the ROMs for patch loading?

 

[Goshogun1]

The same thing happened to me too. I fixed it by erasing abandoning all my old saves and starting over.

It has to do with newer versions of the M3 Real firmware not being compatible with GBA saves from an old firmware.

You can go back and try an older firmware, and see if it works with your saves. But, I decided to just abandon my old ones, because I would rather have the higher NDS compatibility of the new Firmware versions. Anyway, good luck.

 

[DunkrWunkah]

The same thing happened to me too. I fixed it by erasing abandoning all my old saves and starting over.

It has to do with newer versions of the M3 Real firmware not being compatible with GBA saves from an old firmware.

You can go back and try an older firmware, and see if it works with your saves. But, I decided to just abandon my old ones, because I would rather have the higher NDS compatibility of the new Firmware versions. Anyway, good luck.

Leave the Gba Expansion in the DS and charge it? That might work.. IDk...

 

[LowEnergyCycle]

I'm having this exact same problem, only with ALL my GBA games. They all play fine, but not a single one actually saves. To recap, I've made sure of the following:

1) The GBA expansion is firmly inserted
2) The ROM is set to "Patch Load"
3) I've followed the steps whereby you re-boot your DS and go back into the GBA directory (on the original M3 firmware anyways... Sakura seems to do this automatically)

Looking on the SD card, there are .SAV files for all my games, so it's doing something right. They're just empty of any save data though. I've tried 3 different firmwares (M3 Real, M3 Sakura, iTouch - all of which I obtained from the brilliant Sakura FAQ on this site), I've reformatted my SD card, I've cleared the .SAV files and started again. I've basically tried everything that I've found on forums like this.

Also, Real Time Saving doesn't work either. It appears to save ok (just like the regular method does), it even leaves an .IS0 file in the GBA directory. But when I try to load it back in, I get a blank blue screen and the DS crashes.

I've got an M3 Real Sakura cart (it has the Sakura label on the front) and a 4Gb Kingston SD card formatted to FAT32 if it makes any difference.

Have I just picked up a duff GBA Expansion? Every thread I've checked regarding this problem has come up with no solution so far, and not that many people seem to have the same woes.

 

[Cheater388]

The same thing happened to me too. I fixed it by erasing abandoning all my old saves and starting over.

It has to do with newer versions of the M3 Real firmware not being compatible with GBA saves from an old firmware.

You can go back and try an older firmware, and see if it works with your saves. But, I decided to just abandon my old ones, because I would rather have the higher NDS compatibility of the new Firmware versions. Anyway, good luck.

I cannot find a gba save converter anywhere. I think that this might be close but I'm not sure.

When converting save files from older to newer firmware, you would just have to change the extension from .0 to .sav .