Hacking restoring save game from GBA exploader

[DSatisfied]

CycloDS + EZ 3-in-1

With no help file, some of the stuff seems kind of cryptic, and I believe I've also discovered a bug... dunno how to report it to Rudolph. Here's the non-bug (but "I dunno what I'm doing!") scenario:

1. Load up Final Fantasy VI
2. Get to first save point; save file to 'slot 1' (in-game)
3. Turn off DS
4. Turn on DS and run exploader
5. It says that "FF6.sav" (not actual filename) is in SRAM

at this point in time, which button am I supposed to press? Does it matter which mode I'm in? No matter what, when FF6 starts, I only see the "New Game" option, not the "continue/load" option

Then, the bug:

I farted around seeing if I needed to go into other directories (I'm sure I don't, but just in case...), and somehow it got "stuck". The top screen shows a message "GBA ROM not found", but you can't go up a directory level. Power off the machine and back on, and it automatically goes to the last directory you were browsing... which exhibits the same error. There's no way around it; therefore it is some sort of code or workflow bug. I'm sure I can delete some sort of file somewhere to get'er going again but that's not the ideal scenario.

I tried doing a forum search, but even the responses seemed cryptic or not exactly what I'm describing; or, they were for other flash carts. I need a "restoring your GBA SaveGame for Dummies" here, if anyone would be gracious enough to humour a numpty like me.

Cheers!

 

[eldaddio]

Which version of exploader are you using?

Have you tried deleting the GBA_ExpLoader.sav file? not sure if this will sort the directory problem, but don't have mine to hand to experiment.

 

[DSatisfied]

I believe it's 0.4. I'll try the .sav idea.

[edit:] there was no .sav to be found, actually.

 

[eldaddio]

A couple of ideas for the ff6 save problem:

1. Rename the .sav file (assuming there is one) within the GBA_SAVE folder in your flash card's root to be the same as the ROM name.

2. Rename the ROM to whatever the .sav file is being saved as.

Option 2 is probably best if I've understood the problem rightly.

 

[DSatisfied]

2 things--

1, I was wrong-- it was 0.3; I'm off to try 0.4
2, I don't see any .sav anywhere at all. I'm not even sure where to expect it to be?

For example, I have:

root:\GBA Exploader.nds

For running the loader. And then I have the games in

root:\GBA\

I tried using his old tool, so it might have left behind some of its own directories. I'm just trying to figure out where to expect the directories from this one.

Thanks for your continued assistance!

[edit:]

Update-- I was trying to blow away all traces of both loaders, and it won't let me delete 2 folders from root: "GBA_SAVE" and "GBA_SIGN". It says they are corrupt or unreadable. I unchecked the "read only" option from the Properties view, but that didn't help.

[edit 2:]

I can rename the folders... weird... something to do with a permission level that the Windows API doesn't understand?

 

[eldaddio]

0.4 should sort you out.

There should be two folders in the root of your card (other than GBA):

root:\GBA_SIGN\
root:\GBA_SAVE\

All the .sav files should appear in the *SAVE folder. As far as I can see the sign folder is used to store assigned names for the saves (this is just speculation though).

When you're using v.0.4 it will give you two options on boot, one lets you select a save, the other lets you start-up with no .sav selected. It's pretty straightforward, as long as you check what the button assignmnets are at each juncture.

 

[DSatisfied]

I sort of got it half-@$$ed working, but I'm not sure I'm doing it right.

Deleted the old directories (used chkdsk utility), started a game (this time, Fire Emblem 2). It was in "NOR" mode by default. Now, when I restart the DS, I can just choose the GBA Game option, as long as I'm only playing the one game.

I'm still not 100% sure about trying different games and different saves, but 0.4 already seems somehow more sensical; I'll give it a better try now that I'm on 0.4, but until then I guess no need to trouble-shoot further. Thanks for your help so far!

 

[eldaddio]

Be careful switching to and from NOR mode, used to have loads of problems with saves when I did that. Stick to the one mode and you'll be fine, though I'm sure whatever caused my problems is ironed out now.

Anyhow, I recommend having a good play about with it before you get too far into anything so as not to lose progress.

 

[DSatisfied]

Good advice!

What's the difference between the two modes? To me, they might as well be called "Steak" mode and "Bubble Tea" mode. One has blue borders and one has green, and beyond that I haven't a holy clue.

Greg

 

[DavidBowman]

Hey guys,

Is there a way to restore my GBA save files from within GBA ExpLoader (v0.55)? I see the physical save files on the micro sd card, however I have done something in the menu by accident and now I can't get my saves to load. I only see under the NOR mode (where I was playing my game).

This is quite frustrating for me, because this is the third time this has happened. I can't honestly say I know what I did, however GBA ExpLoader only says "SRAM save data not found. Can't process to SAV file" when I try to use the Load SAV file to SRAM option.

If I had to venture a guess, I think that I may have accidentally switched to PSRAM mode and done something there, and now nothing shows up.

** EDIT **
Nevermind, I just got it.

I'm going to leave this up in case anyone else has the same problem. This is so counter-intuitive that it makes me want to cry. If this happens to you and you know the files are still physically there, do this. If you were running the game in NOR mode, select the game again and hit A to copy the game to your NOR flash again. GBA ExpLoader should ask you to pick a SAV file to write. Do this and BOOM, you're back!

I also now know how this happened. I don't know if it's just something I don't fully understand yet about the NOR menu or if it's a bug, but the way the Load SAV file to SRAM works, it looks as if it has erased your save from the game if you don't actually write the whole game back to the NOR flash again.