Hacking .sav not working

[f1error]

I'm new at this, but I have tried the search function and the wiki, I may have missed something there is a lot of information available here.
I have an acekard2 with akaio the lastest firmware installed. Games do run, but .sav doesn't seem to work.
I have tried switching from .sav to .nds.sav, didn't work. I went back to .sav didn't work either.
I've tried all the different save slots, just in case, and that didn't work. File size as well. Defaults, no go.
I saw an old post about holding down the A button when loading, that didn't work.
I've reformatted, downloaded, and reinstalled everything on the card.

I may be ignorant here, but shouldn't it work? If I highlight and select (A button) either a .sav or a .nds.sav I get "back up save?" So I tried backing up the save, it didn't work. I select the rom, and things start over from the beginning, with no save.

Now, I've never used anything like this before, but shouldn't a .sav just pick-up where I left off in the game? What I'm getting is the game starting over from the beginning again, and again. I've tried a few different games, and it's all the same. Do I have to do something "extra" to make things save?

 

[Leonidas]

Where did you get the save files? You may have to convert them before they will work on Acekard. Also, they have to have the exact same name as the ROM, and be in the same folder. And btw, does the game save properly if you use a new save file?

 

[f1error]

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. These are the .sav and .nds.sav files that acekard/akaio make when you play a game.
They do have the same name as the rom (except for the .sav or .nds.sav extension), and are saved to the same folder on the SD card as the roms.
So far, I have not been able to get a working save file at all. I figure this is a problem due to my own lack of foresight or too much ignorance on my part.

 

[Leonidas]

Download a fresh copy of AKAIO & the latest loader, put on your card only 1 game, and test it out. The core word is "fresh", don't use any old files or saves. If that works, try to debug your way towards a problem. It's also possible you have too many games in one folder.

 

[f1error]

Ok, I've done that, and still no luck.
Just to confirm; it should just "happen" if a .sav file exists right? Or do I have to do something else to enable the .sav file?

 

[Another World]

you simply play and save and akaio takes care of the rest. the problem is not with akaio as its the only firmware i use on multiple acekard 2's. try running the panasonic formatter on your micro sd card. put on a fresh copy of akaio, if you use an old copy delete the optionslist.bin file before you boot it up. it can, at times, become corrupt and cause some problems. tho it was assumed to be working after the fixes in 1.4/1.4.1 it is still something that you can try.

don't mess with save slots, .nds.sav, or making save back-ups. none of that is needed for the normal everyday user. just play and save as tho you were running the game off a retail cart.

try some of the less popular games. some of the more popular games have their own issues which might require some tweaking of the firmware to get working. most of these type of issues have been ironed out and hardcoded, but some might still pop up.

by the way you can find a link to the panasonic formatter in the akaio wiki's links section.

good luck,
-another world

 

[iFish]

save slots are only use full for pokemon games, or games that have only 1 save slot.

 

[MarkDarkness]

It should join files automatically, yes.

 

[f1error]

Ok, I used the Panasonic Formatter. Downloaded new files. Didn't have to worry about optionslist.bin because it wasn't in akaio 1.5.1 and it's still not working. I tried both new super mario bros and desktop tower defense.
I figure this has got to be a PEBKAC or ID-10T error.
When I look at my sd card it should have _aio folder, akmenu4.nds and a games folder. Nothing else right (besides the stuff in the folders)?

 

[Another World]

do you have another msd card you can test with? got a friend you can borrow one from?

all you need is the _aio folder and everything inside it
akmenu4.nds

and 1 rom placed anywhere on your msd card.

-another world

 

[penthaler]

The problem is that the games you describes has NO AUTOMATIC SAVE like car racing games or others...
In MARIO you have to done a whole mission or more to NOT START FROM THE BEGINING AGAIN and AGAIN... (trying many times - done one location and NOT SAVED after fresh start) - it shows you - EXIT? All progress will be lost without save...

The next problem is that you so many times testing SAV and NDS.SAV ... AKAIO works like old windows - you must at least browse some folders to get changed settings working - or restart DS...
Try to use only one of them - it doesnt matter which one

btw. A button on game start does nothing with AKAIO

 

[f1error]

Thats a good idea, I don't know why I didn't try it earlier. However it created a new wrinkle in this endeavor.
New msd card, formatted with the Panasonic formatter. One game, new mario bros. Come to a save point, it locks up. Have to do a hard reset.
Second try, format card, game: desktop defender, try to make profile, locks up. Hard reset.

So with new card, save not working. Locks up the device.
Old card, save worked, but it wouldn't load the save file when restarting.

I'm more than beginning to feel really dumb about this, this should be easy. There just aren't that many options available to make this work. Any new ideas?

Edit:
I do know about the save points in Mario, and I would play until I saved at one. With Desktop you have to create a profile right away, which should then save.

 

[cogitech]

I was having the exact same issue with 3 new AK2 (actually 2, because one didn't work at all). I tried all the same things as suggested in this thread and saves just wouldn't work.

I've read a lot of threads that mention this and there is never a clear answer on how to solve it.

I solved it by trading my AK2 carts for DSTT carts. Everyone thinks I nuts for doing so, but guess what? They work.

 

[f1error]

Giving up and trying another product may be your solution, but not mine. Not yet any way.

An update: I was finally able to get the other msd to not lock up at a save point. But upon restarting the game, akaio does not read the save file.
I have now tried this with some homebrew games (BTW those look and play good too) and I have the save issues with homebrew. I have tried many more games now, all are having the issue. So I think we can eliminate games from the list of causes. Which leaves only two possibles; user error, or there is something wrong with the acekard which is preventing saves from loading.
Does anyone have any ideas to eliminate user error or acekard malfunction?

 

[cogitech]

We all have our own priorities and preferences, of course. I just wanted to let you know that I had the exact same issue and nothing I tried would fix it. I wasted 2 days of my life on those cards and that was enough for me.

I do wish you luck and I will visit the thread to see if there is an actual solution to this problem. I do hope there is, because it nearly drove me nuts and I think you are feeling pretty frustrated by now too.

 

[zcmack]

i have the exact same problem as described. i am using two brand new DS Lites, both with brand new 8gb transcend msd cards (class 6).

I format with the panasonic tool, add the __aio folder and the akmenu4.nds and add two roms that I have been using for testing (mario kart and nintendogs:daschund).

With this setup, each time the game tries its first save (in mario kart after confirming your name is correct and that you dont want an emblem, in nintendogs after selecting a dog) the system locks up (or is it stuck in an infinite loop?). Music continues to play but nothing happens with video or button presses (i sat at this screen for a half hour, so its not just 'taking a long time to create first save file').

Troubleshooting
I tried using the most recent loader for release 1.5.1 to no avail.
I reformatted the card many times on different PCs and a MAC and tried with only one rom at a time on the card.
I tried both different extensions for sav files. Something I noticed, Nintendogs stopped freezing after I created both a .nds.sav and a .sav file. However, neither file loads when i open the rom to play after having saved previously.
I renamed the roms to all one word and lower case (i.e. mariokart.nds) and this made no difference.

Workaround
What I ended up doing is loading an old version (4.08) of the official firmware to the ak2loader folder of AKAIO and using that to run the game. This allows me to play the game as expected with no locking up at save points, and it even retains my save games when i restart the game.

This obviously poses a problem because newer games require newer loader releases, and that doesn't seem like an option for me as games freeze during saving.

I am a software developer and have a high understanding of the concept at hand, so it strikes me as odd that these simple instructions aren't yielding results for me. Is there anything else I am failing to test?

 

[cogitech]

i have the exact same problem as described. i am using two brand new DS Lites, both with brand new 8gb transcend msd cards (class 6).

I format with the panasonic tool, add the __aio folder and the akmenu4.nds and add two roms that I have been using for testing (mario kart and nintendogs:daschund).

With this setup, each time the game tries its first save (in mario kart after confirming your name is correct and that you dont want an emblem, in nintendogs after selecting a dog) the system locks up (or is it stuck in an infinite loop?). Music continues to play but nothing happens with video or button presses (i sat at this screen for a half hour, so its not just 'taking a long time to create first save file').

Troubleshooting
I tried using the most recent loader for release 1.5.1 to no avail.
I reformatted the card many times on different PCs and a MAC and tried with only one rom at a time on the card.
I tried both different extensions for sav files. Something I noticed, Nintendogs stopped freezing after I created both a .nds.sav and a .sav file. However, neither file loads when i open the rom to play after having saved previously.
I renamed the roms to all one word and lower case (i.e. mariokart.nds) and this made no difference.

Workaround
What I ended up doing is loading an old version (4.08) of the official firmware to the ak2loader folder of AKAIO and using that to run the game. This allows me to play the game as expected with no locking up at save points, and it even retains my save games when i restart the game.

This obviously poses a problem because newer games require newer loader releases, and that doesn't seem like an option for me as games freeze during saving.

I am a software developer and have a high understanding of the concept at hand, so it strikes me as odd that these simple instructions aren't yielding results for me. Is there anything else I am failing to test?

As I discussed in my own thread about this problem, I also found that the official firmware solved some of my issues (New Mario Bros would save), but then a bunch of other games wouldn't load. I was too impatient to accept an "either/or" situation and got rid of the cards. I too have had plenty of experience troubleshooting issues like this, and I followed the Wiki exactly as written, and I couldn't get saves to work at all with the latest AKAIO. I suspect a bad recent batch of AK2.1 carts.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Can I hazard a guess that everyone been using AKAIO 1.5.1 by any chance ????

Apparently there's been several problems with it (especially with Z:ST) but perhaps it also affects other game saves as well

Any chance you try AKAIO 1.5 instead ?? and see if that makes a difference. If so you can most probably say it the 1.5.1 loaders causing the problems

 

[Lizz0784]

I've also been having the same problems with the AK2.1 card I just got a week ago. First none of the games would work... Well they froze at saving but I got that to work with the new ak2loader. Still have the save problem though. Game saves but wont load after ds shutdown or soft reset. The only one that works is new super mario bros (although it says File 1 New game) it does load the sav.

I've tried various things and nothing seems to work with saving. I'll have to try the official firmware again though as I recall it didn't even help the freezing. I know you can use (not sure exact purpose for this) the Akaio version and the official firmware loader by putting the akmenu4 from the official into the akloader folder in the _aio folder. Have not tried that and not sure if it would solve the probelm.

I'm assuming if you did that you'd still have to load the newer games with akaio and the saves would still not work.

I can't seem to find many people with this problem or find a fix. If you find on please let me know. I'm not ready to send this back for a replacement. Maybe I should of gone for the Acekard 2.i..

 

[Lizz0784]

I've tried v1.5 and v1.4.1. with the loaders that came with it and with the newest loader. I got coraline to work though I was trying 3 different methods at once so I'm not sure which worked. I was frustrated!

Coraline: V.1.4.1 Akaio, Cheat file deleted, Old loader http://akaio.gbatemp.net/loaders/ Dated 01/06/2009. Could be the old loader. Tried this again though and it didn't work. =/