Hacking The stupid Save Dongle has ruined my Paper Mario Save!

[Bonny]

I just backupped my Saves from about 10 3ds cards.

I was really careful, using the latest Firmware 1.3 (of the Save Dongle) and Software Verion 1.5 to do so. I was always waiting until the backup process was really complete.

After backing up the 128 K Save of Paper Mario, the data on the card was corrupted as i started the card again with my 3ds xl.

The save of Zelda was also corrupted, but - thanks to god - after writing the backup save a second time to the card, it was working again. I then tried it about ten times with the Paper Mario save - but no success...

There are no Paper Mario Saves in the Database of the Save Dongle Homepage... is the Dongle no longer compatible with new 3ds cards?

 

[Friendsxix]

I don't think it is working anymore. I tried using it with my copy of Tobidase: Doubutsu no Mori, but I didn't restore the saved game. Why? Under inspection with a hex editor, the dumped savegame was just filled with 00s >_>. I emailed the creators but I never got a reply

 

[Bonny]

The Save Dongle was always working for me... and today: The save of the Paper Mario cart really got corrupted ALONE from reading it to the PC, i didn't wrote anything to the card.

Why? Under inspection with a hex editor, the dumped savegame was just filled with 00s >_>. I emailed the creators but I never got a reply

The Dongle sure is no great success for them. I guess it won't get any further updates.

 

[Bonny]

I've uploaded the backupped save file to here:

PaperMarioStickerStar17122012.rar

It is the PAL-Version of the game.

If anyone wants to take a look at it, here it is.

 

[Friendsxix]

The Save Dongle was always working for me... and today: The save of the Paper Mario cart really got corrupted ALONE from reading it to the PC, i didn't wrote anything to the card.

Really? All you did was read from the card? o_o...
Anyways, I inspected the save file quickly and it seems to have actual data. Now if it's trash data or not is beyond me... :|

 

[driverdis]

thats scary, I am going to hold off on getting one and using my AceKard+DSL+DSaveManager to dump and flash saves when i decide to eventually or when the exploit save for 3ds comes out.

 

[raulpica]

Well, I'm pretty sure that the 3DS save format is changing somehow (256KB saves?) and that breaks the Dongle compatibility.

Problem is, don't expect any update, since they're pretty much one of those chinese hit'n'run companies that make a product, get the monies and then disappear after some months of support.

 

[Bonny]

Thanks Friendsxix for taking a look at it... i just wanted to report this. I must accept that my save is gone and i have lost 5-6 hours of progress.

Maybe the Save Dongle is incompatible with some (new) games. But yesterday it nearly also ruined my Zelda save D:. Backing up and also restoring saves from/to the Zelda cart has always worked in the past.

But yesterday:

1. I backupped the Zelda save via the Dongle
2. I erased 2 save slots of this save via my 3ds
3. I backupped this new save via the dongle
4. I restored the first save to the cart
5. Started the cart with the 3ds -> Save was corrupted

I've already finished the original mode in Zelda and i'am as good as done with the Master Quest mode... i then tried to restore the first save a second time to the cart.. It worked If that didn't worked - THIS WOULD HAD BEEN A MUCH GREATER LOSS

 

[Pong20302000]

Thanks Friendsxix for taking a look at it... i just wanted to report this. I must accept that my save is gone and i have lost 5-6 hours of progress.

Maybe the Save Dongle is incompatible with some (new) games. But yesterday it nearly also ruined my Zelda save D:. Backing up and also restoring saves from/to the Zelda cart has always worked in the past.

But yesterday:

1. I backupped the Zelda save via the Dongle
2. I erased 2 save slots of this save via my 3ds
3. I backupped this new save via the dongle
4. I restored the first save to the cart
5. Started the cart with the 3ds -> Save was corrupted

I've already finished the original mode in Zelda and i'am as good as done with the Master Quest mode... i then tried to restore the first save a second time to the cart.. It worked If that didn't worked - THIS WOULD HAD BEEN A MUCH GREATER LOSS

Paper Mario and some J games use a new chip
the connection to the console is the same so should be able to be dumped but there will most likely be a firmware update for it and it will dump it correctly
i will ask the team tho

 

[McHaggis]

Paper Mario and some J games use a new chip
the connection to the console is the same so should be able to be dumped but there will most likely be a firmware update for it and it will dump it correctly
i will ask the team tho

Reading the save shouldn't cause the data to become corrupt, though. Writing the data back to the card is usually the problem. When I was working on 005tools, I didn't come across any that wouldn't read out of my 10 3DS games and 15 DS games. Granted, that's not a large pool of games to test with, but the general rule was that all of them would read, some of them needed a little extra work to write.

Thanks Friendsxix for taking a look at it... i just wanted to report this. I must accept that my save is gone and i have lost 5-6 hours of progress.

Maybe the Save Dongle is incompatible with some (new) games. But yesterday it nearly also ruined my Zelda save D:. Backing up and also restoring saves from/to the Zelda cart has always worked in the past.

But yesterday:

1. I backupped the Zelda save via the Dongle
2. I erased 2 save slots of this save via my 3ds
3. I backupped this new save via the dongle
4. I restored the first save to the cart
5. Started the cart with the 3ds -> Save was corrupted

I've already finished the original mode in Zelda and i'am as good as done with the Master Quest mode... i then tried to restore the first save a second time to the cart.. It worked If that didn't worked - THIS WOULD HAD BEEN A MUCH GREATER LOSS

If you don't mind using a command line program, you could try my 005tools software. The link is in my sig, it works on Linux, Windows and―if anyone wanted to compile for it―probably Mac. Since I released the latest version I've never had any problems backing up or restoring my 3DS games, and I back them up often because I loan them out.

 

[Bonny]

If you don't mind using a command line program, you could try my 005tools software.

Thanks! - I just did! I used your Tool under Windows 7 and it worked great with Mario Tennis Open! Download/Uploading and Erasing - it all worked great! The "Erase" function is also a thing that is not available with the R4i Software, and if you use it, it's like the game just runs the very first time ("Preparing Data"-Message appears!) I don't know if the original Software would have also worked with Mario Tennis Open, or if it had ruined my save as it did with Paper Mario. But anyways... for future games i rather use your Software first. Really great work!

 

[Mthodmn101]

Thanks! - I just did! I used your Tool under Windows 7 and it worked great with Mario Tennis Open! Download/Uploading and Erasing - it all worked great! The "Erase" function is also a thing that is not available with the R4i Software, and if you use it, it's like the game just runs the very first time ("Preparing Data"-Message appears!) I don't know if the original Software would have also worked with Mario Tennis Open, or if it had ruined my save as it did with Paper Mario. But anyways... for future games i rather use your Software first. Really great work!

try making a new save on paper mario and see if this tool properly reads and writes the save file.

 

[McHaggis]

Thanks! - I just did! I used your Tool under Windows 7 and it worked great with Mario Tennis Open! Download/Uploading and Erasing - it all worked great! The "Erase" function is also a thing that is not available with the R4i Software, and if you use it, it's like the game just runs the very first time ("Preparing Data"-Message appears!) I don't know if the original Software would have also worked with Mario Tennis Open, or if it had ruined my save as it did with Paper Mario. But anyways... for future games i rather use your Software first. Really great work!

Thanks, I added the erase option to make my life a bit easier. It's cool to be able to loan games out without my saves on them, and just restore them when the game is returned. Mario Tennis Open is one of the games I don't have, so thanks for confirming that it worked (not that I thought it wouldn't ).

 

[Thunder Hawk]

I always thought the save dongle didn't work, until I found out about the new save encryption. That dongle ruined my SM3D save. Good thing I got this from the giveaway one or two years ago. I never figured out what the paper that says that you as supposed to check dsmonkey or whatever to win a free r4i 3ds. I went to that site and saw no way to enter that code anywhere.

Also, is it possible to decrypt the SM3D, get the key, decrypt the other persons save, use your key, etc. I haven't been reading into this lately.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Some 3DS tools resources you can use: http://3dbrew.org/