Tutorial  Updated

Recovering Games Saves from *NAND using NXNandManager and JKSV

This gets asked often enough that I figured I'd show how I do it.

Open to constructive feedback...if there are better ways to do this, pleae let me know. This is just what works for me.

Here is my current installation of Cuphead.

55B68577-33A9-4E33-81E5-8C1606DFA0AC.jpeg
I have a “special” 200% save that is about to have an unfortunate “accident”*

*(I’m going to delete both of my current saves for the purpose of this demonstration.)

Let's also simulate destruction of my game saves from Tunic as well (they are a little bit different content so it's worth it for demonstration sake.)

image.jpg




<tragic accident happens here>


Oh noes!

image.jpg

image.jpg

Everything is gone!


Fortunately I have a backup of my emunand. I extract all my data from the backup of my *NAND using NXNandManager and a copy of my prod.keys that I retrieved using LockPick_RCM. (can also use a Sysnand backup here)

1666457166714.png

Following the red numbers in the graphic above we will:
1) supply the prod.keys file
2) Highlight the USER partition
3) Click the Yellow folder to explore the USER partition. (folder greyed out? Check your keys in step 1)


You will now see the following (you might have to hit DropDown labeled "A" to get to the /saves directory)

1666457404334.png

Highlight the games you want to pull from your backup and then right click and select "Save as..."

You will get a popup asking which directory you'd like to extract files into. I typically create a new one (based on the date/time) so I can keep track of my extractions.

You should see the following if everything was done correctly so far..

1666458343685.png

Click the little red X on the progress popup so you can dismiss the window. you should now click File and then Unmount your backup. It’s important to do this if you have mounted a real filesystem...corruption hazard. Finally select Exit as we’re done with XNandManager.

You should now have a directory full of a bunch of files that start with "00000..." like so (I'm only doing two games for this demonstration...)

1666458433935.png

Grab the .rar file from here and unrar it unto a new directory.
(I creatively named mine "extract nand gamesave.")

Copy your 00000.. files into "extract nand gamesave/save/" directory.

Mine looks like this now:

1666458679909.png

Now go back up one level and click run.bat.

A black Command window will pop up and a whole bunch of text will stream by but once it disappears you will have the extracted saves in your out directory like this:

1666458885402.png

Back on your switch, fire up JKSV. In my case, you will see that since I’ve had a tragic accident and just reinstalled my games I have no game saves

jksv.jpg

You will need to press (X) User Option (see the bottom right.)

Now select Create All Save Data and press (A)

create.jpg

Press AND HOLD (A) for Yes to create your directory structure.

hold.jpg

Press (B) once it’s done and you should have some new icons in JKSV like so:

all.jpg

press (+) to exit out of JKSV and (Home) to get out of HBMenu.

Now comes the tricky bit…

Copy the contents of the .../out directory above onto your Switch under the /JKSV/<game name>.

I use sys-ftpd-light on my Switch to move files around but you could remove the SDCard and copy them using Windows just as well.

In my example the first set of files (Cuphead) look like this:

1666465037036.png

That data needs to be moved here:

74561337-E342-4BC5-A34B-542272FF383E.jpeg
(Directory path)

E65BDB3B-9F10-48A7-A71A-314DFA154977.jpeg
(Files)

And this set of files (Tunic):

1666465138370.png

Will go here:

481D5B08-E309-4998-AD95-B12308119AE7.jpeg
(Directory path)

2BFEABF2-687E-4B8F-9777-98F21549DD0F.jpeg
(Files)

The finale…

Now we fire up JKSV once more but this time things look a little different.

Click (A) on your profile and then (A) again on the game you want to select to restore:

image.jpg
(It’s our save directory we extracted from the Nand backup.)

Slice down to our restored directory but this time click (Y) again to restore it.

image.jpg

Press and HOLD the (A) button to confirm that Yes, you want to restore the backup games saves to the actual game installed on your Switch.


and

voila!

image.jpg

All that hard work is restored!

Let’s see it again for Tunic (because the files are a little different in their format…I’m simply showing the process is still the same,)

Fire up JKSV again, navigate to our game saves and click (Y) to restore again…

image.jpg

Press and hold (A) again to confirm restore processes…

exit out of JKSV and HBMenu, fire up Tunic and…

image.jpg

Once again all our save data has been restored!
 
Last edited by binkinator,

Zouge

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When you go online with saves like this, there is a relatively high chance getting banned I would say. You can inject them into the sysMMC, but I wouldn't recommend that.
Wouldn’t injecting a save this way be the same as users just using cfw sysnand and using JKSV to backup and restore said save? Plenty of users reporting no bans using that strat. I was just trying to avoid using cfw on sysNAND if I can.
 

hippy dave

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Wouldn’t injecting a save this way be the same as users just using cfw sysnand and using JKSV to backup and restore said save? Plenty of users reporting no bans using that strat. I was just trying to avoid using cfw on sysNAND if I can.
Yeah injecting saves into sys is safe if you do it right. The risk would be using obviously modified saves in online games.
 
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oli200110

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Hey Guys! I followed the steps, and I restored around 80% of my saves successfully, but some games like Pikmin 3 and Animal Crossing weren't successful... I would really appriciate some help with those!

One thing i might have to add is that I had my girlfriend's AC save linked to her Switch User(offline), but that got lost since i restored the save; it did not get restored for some reason... Is there some way to transfer her save to a new Switch User somehow?

Thanks in advance!
Post automatically merged:

Okay, so just after replying, i got Pikmin 3 to work, but i still REALLY need Animal Crossing, and it doesn't show up in JKSV....
I still have problems concerning the save for my girlfriend's missing emuMMC user...
1675936360525.png

If you could help in any way, I would be really grateful!! Thank you!
 
Last edited by oli200110,

binkinator

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Hey Guys! I followed the steps, and I restored around 80% of my saves successfully, but some games like Pikmin 3 and Animal Crossing weren't successful... I would really appriciate some help with those!

One thing i might have to add is that I had my girlfriend's AC save linked to her Switch User(offline), but that got lost since i restored the save; it did not get restored for some reason... Is there some way to transfer her save to a new Switch User somehow?

Thanks in advance!
Post automatically merged:

Okay, so just after replying, i got Pikmin 3 to work, but i still REALLY need Animal Crossing, and it doesn't show up in JKSV....
I still have problems concerning the save for my girlfriend's missing emuMMC user...
View attachment 352214
If you could help in any way, I would be really grateful!! Thank you!

AC is a different animal. I’ve honestly not dealt with it much.

As I understand things AC uses a single save per device and save files are watched closely for suspect changes (big jumps in values could be considered cheating.) Hence my apprehension to muck w/ them much.

I recall some AC threads where some folks with more expertise on the topic were talking about AC saves and their recovery. I will take a look later today if you’ve not found anything.
 

oli200110

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AC is a different animal. I’ve honestly not dealt with it much.

As I understand things AC uses a single save per device and save files are watched closely for suspect changes (big jumps in values could be considered cheating.) Hence my apprehension to muck w/ them much.

I recall some AC threads where some folks with more expertise on the topic were talking about AC saves and their recovery. I will take a look later today if you’ve not found anything.
Any kind of help or pointing in general direction is appreciated! Thank you so much binkinator! You guys know how precious these AC worlds are…:D

I’ll be sure to make weekly JKSV/Checkpoint saves from here on…
 

binkinator

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Any kind of help or pointing in general direction is appreciated! Thank you so much binkinator! You guys know how precious these AC worlds are…:D

I’ll be sure to make weekly JKSV/Checkpoint saves from here on…

I’m not familiar w/ how Device level game saves work…

Maybe this will help?


Post automatically merged:

This looks very promising. Perhaps you could try this out?

 
Last edited by binkinator,

oli200110

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I’m not familiar w/ how Device level game saves work…

Maybe this will help?


Post automatically merged:

This looks very promising. Perhaps you could try this out?


Blinkinator! Thank you so much!! I tried it as soon as you sent this, but with no success...
Trying the whole process a month later, turns out I always pressed 'A' in JKSV, which OVERWRITES the extracted save, and not 'Y', which RESTORES it.
I know, I know.... guess I was too excited to load the saves in JKSV and didn't read the small letters.... :D

Now my girlfriend and I can finally continue working on our precious AC island.... Thank you once again!!!
 
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binkinator

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Blinkinator! Thank you so much!! I tried it as soon as you sent this, but with no success...
Trying the whole process a month later, turns out I always pressed 'A' in JKSV, which OVERWRITES the extracted save, and not 'Y', which RESTORES it.
I know, I know.... guess I was too excited to load the saves in JKSV and didn't read the small letters.... :D

Now my girlfriend and I can finally continue working on our precious AC island.... Thank you once again!!!
Oh wow! Yes, I did a very similar thing. I called it out in the initial post as a result of my repeated errors. Pressing A just feels right!

Glad your sorted and thanks for reporting back!
 

Snake_Swiss

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is there a way to compress save to do the manipulation like that :
Take the save from JKSV -> hactoolnet (to compress them back) -> Goldleaf -> Back to Nand (Stock)
Please ?
 

Stirfry8993

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First off, thank you so dang much for this. I put a crap load of time into BotW (pretty new to the game all things considered) and didn't want to lose it, even though my SD was crapping the bed.

I got my save from NXManager, out of things, but... I'm struggling to find out where to go to learn how to inject it back in.

All I was able to recover was 000000000000003e file. Thats literally all I have.


Totally just read through your post again and figured it out. WOW. LOL, sorry. But thank you so much for putting this together.
 
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k28

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@binkinator

is it also possible to extract user profile? if not, can i use the extracted saves with a new profile? If it is possible to use the savegames with a new profile, can i then transfere them from a modded switch to a non modded switch?

thx alot!
 

aerios169

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dude you save me greatings, my emunand fuckoff after updapte but i could do a copy of my user partition, also for these that made a copy of USER partition, rename it with USER.bin, some times if it isnt with that name you cant mount it on NAND NX, it created me an NxNandManager.exe and i got stuck on it, but it solved after i rename the filer to that
 

XstahSie

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Thanks so much for this tutorial. Tinfoil had corrupted my microSD and I was worried that my Tears of the Kingdom save was gone for good. Fortunately, I was able to dump my emuNAND onto my Windows PC as a file (even after my microSD corruption). And from there, I just followed your instructions.

Talking from my experience with trying to recover and restore my Tears of the Kingdom save, don't start the game as it may create a save file that could interfere with the JKSV's save restore process.

Do the save restore and then start the game.
 

Manzas

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Alternative save extractor orders saves by actual title id on suchmememanyskill.github.io sysmmc extractor guide but works on emummc
 

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rasiel

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thanks for the tutorial!!
Quick question though is it the same process to transfer digital games from stock sysnand to emunand?
 

Diplomaticus

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Just a heads up that it looks like NxNandManager has been updated so you can skip the bit where you download and run the "extract nand gamesave" script.

You can right click on saves in explorer view and click the "List files (from saveFS)", then in the box that appears, right click each of the save files and click "Save file as...". This will extract and save the actual .bin/.sav/.tunic files without needing additional software.

Screenshot 2024-01-22 133930.png

Screenshot 2024-01-22 133939.png


There's also a "Extract files (from saveFS) to directory..." button which in theory would speed this up even more (as you won't need to save each individual .sav/.bin/.tunic file), but it doesn't seem to work at the moment (EDIT: It looks like this option isn't setting the output directory correctly? Seems to try and extract to a new folder at my drive's root but fails with some games).
 
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