Hacking strange problem with saves

[barnsleyfan]

Not sure if it a DSTT specific problem, but
On thursday night i put a new rom (Zelda) in my games folder. I started the game to see if it worked ok, and a SAV file was created. My son played on it friday and saturdday, each day carrying on from where he left off (so the SAV was being updated). However, when he went to it today, all his progress had disappeared, and the DSTT card showed the last save as thursday night. Don't know how this could happen. If anything i would expect the SAV file to disappear, not revert to an earlier SAV - how can this happen. Is there any obvious things to check. I have all my games inside a GAMES subfolder, am running the latest kernel, and have space on my micrsd card.

TIA

 

[Bri]

The modify date of a save file isn't always a valid indicator of when the file was modified. Some flash carts don't update the date of save files. As far as I know, there's no way the official DSTT menu can "revert" a save file to a previous version since it only keeps one save file and overwrites it each time you save.

The only possibility I can think of (other than someone making a prior backup of the save file and then restoring it) would be that the save was restored from within the game itself. Most games have multiple save slots, so perhaps your son made a copy of Thursday's save and then overwrote Sunday's save with it.

-Bri

 

[barnsleyfan]

Thanks Bri

It has happened on a few other games also. He was playing Mario Kart yesterday and today it was as though there was no save at all. I see what you mean about the modify date - there is a game which i know saved this morning (23/11) but the microsd card shows it as last modified on 21/11, but other ames have save files modified 23/11. my drive currently has 500mb free, consists of 22 games and 22 sav files inside a '\games' subfolder. on closer inspection It doesn't look like it is reverting to a prior save - i think it is working as though there is no original sav file. I think i will format my card and try again

 

[Bri]

I think the save date will be the date the save was created, not the date it was modified. I believe for speed it bypasses some of the libraries that automatically update the modify date when a change is made.

As for why your saves might be getting replaced:

Are you using at least version 1.15 of the firmware?

Is there some free space on your microSD card for the save files and other system files?

Do the problem ROM's happen to have names that are shorter than 8 characters?

Do your save files get created with ".SAV" instead of ".sav" as the extension?

-Bri

 

[barnsleyfan]

i was using v1.15, but i just reformatted using the panasonic formatter and installed v1.16

all my filenames were over 8 characters

my microsd card had 1.86GB of which 1.36GB was used

all saves ended in .sav (not .SAV)

 

[Bri]

Check to make sure you don't have a clone DSTT before you install 1.16. There are rumors that 1.16 contains fake-killer code that will damage your flash cart if it's not real. There aren't any improvements in 1.16 that most people should worry about anyway (it has a fix for one Japanese game I believe).

I don't know what could be wrong with the saves, but hopefully the reformat will help!

-Bri

 

[barnsleyfan]

Thanks Bri

I don't think i have a clone. It was bought from Dealextreme - is there any chance that they have dodgy carts.

So generally, are the sav files quite reliable on a good cart. my impatient 10 year old is getting a little perplexed that his many hours gaming are getting lost.

Thanks

 

[Bri]

Yes, there is a decent chance that you could get a clone from Dealextreme instead of a real one, depending on when you ordered. There have been several occasions when their supplier gave them fakes and they didn't know it and sold them as real ones. Look at the following page to see if yours is fake or real: http://www.ndstt.com/en/anti_fake.html

If it's fake, return it to Dealextreme and they should give you a real one (they will also pay return shipping).

I never had any problems like you describe with saves on my DSTT. I have one of the original DSTT's and used it for about 6 months without any major problems before getting an Acekard 2 (I like the Acekard 2's menu system much better).

Are you sure that your son is saving his games correctly? Some games will let you quit without saving, and of course it's possible to turn off the DSTT without saving. Have you noticed the problem yourself after you've saved a game?

-Bri