Hacking R4 + EZ 3 in 1 question. Regarding GBALdr.

[Euphoria]

I have a retail cart of Final Fantasy VI Advance and I wanted to transfer the saved game file from the cart onto the R4.

I used GBALdr and performed a dump. It dumped DUMP.GBA and DUMP.SAV. The rom was then trimmed to it's original 8MB form using GBATA.

Now my problem is how do I get the saved game from the retail cart to load with GBALdr after the dump? I tried writing the DUMP.SAV file to the SRAM... but this doesn't seem to do anything for me.

I tried searching for this answer all day yesterday and came up with nothing...

Is there any sort of tutorial out there for this?

 

[Destructobot]

What size is the dump.sav file?

 

[Euphoria]

What size is the dump.sav file?

The size is 512kb.

When I patched the ROM to allow it to save games, it said Final Fantasy VI Advance save type was SRAM 256kb. This is odd, because SRAM saves should work without a problem right?

 

[Destructobot]

GBALdr's cart dumping feature is designed to dump the data from the 3-in-1, it just happens to work for dumping the ROM data from retail carts as well. It was put in there in the first place to test that GBALdr was writing the data to the 3-in-1 correctly. The reason that DUMP.SAV is 512KB is that GBALdr is trying to dump the entire 512KB of SRAM from the 3-in-1. GBALdr was not designed to dump saves from retail GBA carts, but it may work with some types of SRAM saves.

Assuming GBALdr actually managed to read the save from the FF6 cart (DUMP.SAV might just contain 512KB of garbage), you will need to trim the .sav file down to 256KB so that GBALdr can deal with it properly.

If you're using windows, you can do it with this program: http://www.mynikko.com/trimmer/

If you're not using windows, you can trim the file manually with a hex editor.

BTW, the FF6 save type is 256 kilobits (Kb), I'm talking about kilobytes (KB).

 

[Euphoria]

BTW, the FF6 save type is 256 kilobits (Kb), I'm talking about kilobytes (KB).

The .SAV file size is 512KB.

 

[Destructobot]

Yes, I know. Trim it to 256KB and see if GBALdr can use it.

 

[Euphoria]

Yes, I know. Trim it to 256KB and see if GBALdr can use it.

I trimmed it down to 256KB and it does nothing.

I even tried loading the save I made by backing up my SRAM with Rugolphs 3 in 1 tool while playing the ROM and GBALdr won't use it either.

Do I choose "Write to File" or "Copy to SRAM"? Although both don't seem to have any effect anyways.

 

[Destructobot]

'Write to File' will overwrite the save file with the save from the 3-in-1. 'Copy to SRAM' will copy the save from the file to the 3-in-1.

The file probably doesn't actually have the save data in it (at least, not all of it in an uncorrupted state). As I said, GBALdr was not designed to read saves from retail carts.

There is a program called cart_save that was specifically designed to transfer saves to and from retail GBA carts, but I don't know if it will work on the 3-in-1. It was designed for a DLDI compatible slot 2 cart. I'll check it out and report back here.

 

[Euphoria]

'Write to File' will overwrite the save file with the save from the 3-in-1. 'Copy to SRAM' will copy the save from the file to the 3-in-1.

The file probably doesn't actually have the save data in it (at least, not all of it in an uncorrupted state). As I said, GBALdr was not designed to read saves from retail carts.

There is a program called cart_save that was specifically designed to transfer saves to and from retail GBA carts, but I don't know if it will work on the 3-in-1. It was designed for a DLDI compatible slot 2 cart. I'll check it out and report back here.

I looked into cart_save myself and I am pretty sure it is not compatible with the 3 in 1.

Now if I were to just break down and purchase a slot-2 card other than the 3-1, which would I buy that would allow me to dump/write my game saves from Retail GBA and DS carts and have them compatible?

 

[Destructobot]

It looks like cart_save could be used to transfer saves from the 3-in-1 to a retail cart, but not the other way around.

I haven't tried it myself, but as far as I know any slot 2 cart with full DLDI support should work for getting saves off of a retail cart with cart_save. The slot 2 G6, M3 (not the professional version), and Supercard (not the rumble version) carts, and the EZ-4 (not the compact version) should all work.

I know for sure that it works on the G6 Lite, a bunch of people were using their G6 Lites to transfer their pokemon emerald saves to retail carts so that they could migrate their pokemans.


For DS saves, you'll want to use eepinator or savsender. I know at least one person was able to get the save off of a retail pokemon diamond cart with eepinator on a G6 Lite. Savsender should work with the R4, but it requires you to be able to connect homebrew apps to your PC via wifi.

 

[Euphoria]

So, although G6 Lite seems to be the most expensive of Slot-2 devices, it is the best available?

If so I might just buy it so I can backup and use my GBA and DS saves properly.

 

[Destructobot]

That's probably what I would get. It should work for all of your save transferring needs.

Keep in mind that that's the Chinese version of the G6 lite, so the menus will be in Chinese. That shouldn't be too much of a problem though, I had a G6 lite for a while, and it was pretty simple to use.

Edit: I'm referring to the Chinese G6 for $45 at dealextreme.com. I wouldn't pay $85 dollars for a G6 at this point.

 

[Euphoria]

That's probably what I would get. It should work for all of your save transferring needs.

Keep in mind that that's the Chinese version of the G6 lite, so the menus will be in Chinese. That shouldn't be too much of a problem though, I had a G6 lite for a while, and it was pretty simple to use.

Edit: I'm referring to the Chinese G6 for $45 at dealextreme.com. I wouldn't pay $85 dollars for a G6 at this point.

So the one I originally linked to at dealextreme is a G6 Lite but in Chinese? I thought it was something different so I took down the link.

So if that guy was correct, this may allow me to possibly backup my Pokemon Pearl Save?

If so, then I would much rather spend $45 on a chinese version than $85 for an English version.

By the way, thanks for all your help.

 

[Destructobot]

I'm pretty sure that's the G6 lite, even though it doesn't call it that on the page. It shows the lite sized shell, and says it comes with 3 lite size shells plus the GBA size shell, and that's what the G6 Lite came with when I got it.

That flashcart should allow you to back up and restore saves to retail DS and GBA carts. I can't guarantee that from personal experience, but everything I've seen indicates that it will work as well as any flashcart for that purpose.

 

[SkH]

WHAT?

It can (or something else) can dump retail GBA carts save game to R4 DS??! 2M FLASH too??

Anyways guys, what's with M3 Lite? I think it's better than G6 Lite!

 

[Destructobot]

It can (or something else) can dump retail GBA carts save game to R4 DS??! 2M FLASH too??

No. Cart_save can dump saves from retail GBA carts to DLDI compatible slot 2 flashcarts. It's a GBA program, so it can't access slot 1. GBA games don't have 2Mbit flash saves, only 512Kbit and 1Mbit.

Eepinator can get 2 and 4Mbit flash saves from retail DS carts, but not with just an R4. I'd think it would work best to run it from a DLDI compatible slot 2 cart.

If you have a wifi connection that works with homebrew, you can transfer saves from retail DS carts directly to your PC with SavSender.

The G6 Lite can transfer saves to and from many (but not all) retail DS carts by itself without any extra software.

Anyways guys, what's with M3 Lite? I think it's better than G6 Lite!

The M3 Lite and G6 Lite are very similar in terms of hardware, except for the internal memory in the G6 vs microSD cards for the M3. The important thing is the price, and right now the Chinese G6 is a lot cheaper than the M3 Lite.

For the purposes of running these save transfer apps, all slot 2 flashcarts with GBA capabilities and full DLDI support should work equally well.

 

[chuckstudios]

WHAT?

It can (or something else) can dump retail GBA carts save game to R4 DS??! 2M FLASH too??

Anyways guys, what's with M3 Lite? I think it's better than G6 Lite!

STOP BOLDING SHIT