Homebrew Using the Inject GBA saves on an emulator?

[YamiJustin]

I am interested in playing the gen 3 Pokemon games on my 3ds, and can easily install them.
Issue is that they don't seem to save properly, they always give you a "save is corrupt, previous save will be loaded" message, but it seems as if the save if fine. Also the save is saved as 64kb when I thought the native save type was 128kb.
I used godmode9 to make a backup of the save, but I can't properly import it into something like VBA without it saying the battery is dry and then not showing up at all.

Is there a better way to make a backup and eventually restore the save files of the GBA inject games?
I don't want to play them on my 3ds if I can't eventually trade them away (I can trade them away from the emulator to my real cartridge)

 

[ThoD]

Let me guess, you converted the .gba roms to CIA and installed them, no? As it's been stated countless times in the past in all the release pages of the converters, some games (mainly the Pokemon ones) need some extra steps in order to fix the save issues. You need to patch the game to fix it as well as convert the rom. Can't find the instructions exactly, but they are somewhere in the hundreds of posts in various threads asking about it...

As for injecting the saves, use JKSM to dump the save, move the file to your computer, change the file extension from .dat (or whatever it is) to .sav and you can use it in the emulator just fine! Also, if you want to move the save from the emulator to the 3DS, then do the opposite, however there will probably be slight compatibility issues (some bytes will be off making the save unrecognizable).

 

[YamiJustin]

Thanks for the reply. I will look for that thread. I never tried JKSM for copying the gba saves, I thought you had to run the gba game, then close it, and then make a backup using godmode9. I will look into this. If it's as easy as fixing the rom and the cia, and then using JKSM and changing the dat, then I'm happy

 

[ThoD]

Thanks for the reply. I will look for that thread. I never tried JKSM for copying the gba saves, I thought you had to run the gba game, then close it, and then make a backup using godmode9. I will look into this. If it's as easy as fixing the rom and the cia, and then using JKSM and changing the dat, then I'm happy

GodMode9 can only copy the encrypted save file, you need the unencrypted one! To do anything with the file you get from GM9 you need the OTP.bin and other things, making it a huge hassle. JKSM makes the process take hardly a minute. Open the game you want to get the save from at least once and play up to the first point that gets saved (if it doesn't autosave then save manually once), then use JKSM to get the save file.

 

[YamiJustin]

GodMode9 can only copy the encrypted save file, you need the unencrypted one! To do anything with the file you get from GM9 you need the OTP.bin and other things, making it a huge hassle. JKSM makes the process take hardly a minute. Open the game you want to get the save from at least once and play up to the first point that gets saved (if it doesn't autosave then save manually once), then use JKSM to get the save file.

Alright sounds awesome! Thanks for baring with me, some aspects of the homebrew scene I haven't looked into in a long time. The only other issue I've run into is gba games have odd rendering issues on my 3DS. Apparently, this is because I'm using a memory card thats 128gb. Despite my allocation size being 32k, I read there was no fix for this issue short of using a smaller SD card.

 

[fr3quency]

Alright sounds awesome! Thanks for baring with me, some aspects of the homebrew scene I haven't looked into in a long time. The only other issue I've run into is gba games have odd rendering issues on my 3DS. Apparently, this is because I'm using a memory card thats 128gb. Despite my allocation size being 32k, I read there was no fix for this issue short of using a smaller SD card.

If you find the thread with the instructions on how to fix this save issue, can you share it? I'm asking for a friend.

 

[ThoD]

Alright sounds awesome! Thanks for baring with me, some aspects of the homebrew scene I haven't looked into in a long time. The only other issue I've run into is gba games have odd rendering issues on my 3DS. Apparently, this is because I'm using a memory card thats 128gb. Despite my allocation size being 32k, I read there was no fix for this issue short of using a smaller SD card.

I'm using a 128GB SD card too and literally never had any problems because of it! Care to explain what you mean by odd rendering issues so I can understand what you mean? Because when converting them it's possible to make them run in full bilinear rendering for example which is the best looking one, while others can be blurry and have artifacting...

PS: I'll try and look for the instructions myself and if I find them I'll post the link here.

 

[YamiJustin]

I'm using a 128GB SD card too and literally never had any problems because of it! Care to explain what you mean by odd rendering issues so I can understand what you mean? Because when converting them it's possible to make them run in full bilinear rendering for example which is the best looking one, while others can be blurry and have artifacting...

PS: I'll try and look for the instructions myself and if I find them I'll post the link here.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/q-gba-cia-on-emunand-not-rendering-screen-correctly.397084/
I have this exact issue with my 128gb. This issue doesn't happen on my 16 or 32gb cards.
The thread ended with people saying it might be the SD issue, but no resolve was found. I'd love a solution! Otherwise I'll have to change SDs to play the games.
Thanks for all the help~

 

[Majickhat55]

JKSM cannot dump saves from AGB firm so that's wrong. The ONLY way to dump GBA saves is with specific tools or Godmode9; they don't dump "encrypted" and most definitely don't require the OTP. There are scripts to automate this process. That said, half the information in this thread is outdated. All of these issues with the pokemon games have been solved; no patching required, and saves work fine as they use the proper 1M now without patching. The new converter handles them just fine if anyone here that's offering suggestions bothered to check the GBA Injection thread they would know that. (I wasn't trying to be rude, just correcting the misinformation). It's obvious you've never messed with GBA VC saves before; they are dumped as "gbavc.sav" they aren't dumped as .dat files, that's only GB(C) games.

Then all you have to do is copy "gbavc.sav" from SD:\GM9\out to your desktop and rename it the same as your ROM i.e "Pokemon Emerald.sav" and the emulator will load it automatically if it's in the directory.

When you use the proper injector to do it, your saves will be 128kb like they should and you won't have to use a hex editor to change anything when swapping from emulator to the VC.

As the program hasn't been released yet, the dev will 100% send you the beta if you ask.

Also, the SD card issue is well known as well with cards above 32GB. Most of them are already formatted correctly, but if you get the weird "top of the screen is showing on the bottom, loop thing" you have to reformat your card to FAT32 using a 64k cluster size, not 32. All SD cards are not the same.

 

[geheim]

https://gbatemp.net/threads/q-gba-cia-on-emunand-not-rendering-screen-correctly.397084/
I have this exact issue with my 128gb. This issue doesn't happen on my 16 or 32gb cards.
The thread ended with people saying it might be the SD issue, but no resolve was found. I'd love a solution! Otherwise I'll have to change SDs to play the games.
Thanks for all the help~

I was able to solve this rendering issue on my 128gb sd by formatting it with 16kb Cluster Size. Loading times were not affected by this, but on the downside home menu themes do not work anymore with 16kb Cluster size.

 

[YamiJustin]

JKSM cannot dump saves from AGB firm so that's wrong. The ONLY way to dump GBA saves is with specific tools or Godmode9; they don't dump "encrypted" and most definitely don't require the OTP. There are scripts to automate this process. That said, half the information in this thread is outdated. All of these issues with the pokemon games have been solved; no patching required, and saves work fine as they use the proper 1M now without patching. The new converter handles them just fine if anyone here that's offering suggestions bothered to check the GBA Injection thread they would know that. (I wasn't trying to be rude, just correcting the misinformation). It's obvious you've never messed with GBA VC saves before; they are dumped as "gbavc.sav" they aren't dumped as .dat files, that's only GB(C) games.

Then all you have to do is copy "gbavc.sav" from SD:\GM9\out to your desktop and rename it the same as your ROM i.e "Pokemon Emerald.sav" and the emulator will load it automatically if it's in the directory.

When you use the proper injector to do it, your saves will be 128kb like they should and you won't have to use a hex editor to change anything when swapping from emulator to the VC.

As the program hasn't been released yet, the dev will 100% send you the beta if you ask.

Also, the SD card issue is well known as well with cards above 32GB. Most of them are already formatted correctly, but if you get the weird "top of the screen is showing on the bottom, loop thing" you have to reformat your card to FAT32 using a 64k cluster size, not 32. All SD cards are not the same.

Thanks for the input! Yeah I did manage to find the 1m gba games that save properly. I also figured out my initial issue with godmode9, I didn't have an Out folder in gm9, so it always failed. Once I put the folder there, it made a perfect backup. I'm able to then use it on an emulator. I'm gonna backup my 128gb SD card and try 64kb cluster. I'm pretty sure mine is set to 32kb, and for some reason I thought that was the only size that worked.

The dev you speak of is the creator of the Ultimate GBA Injector thread? If so I will ask him.

 

[Majickhat55]

Thanks for the input! Yeah I did manage to find the 1m gba games that save properly. I also figured out my initial issue with godmode9, I didn't have an Out folder in gm9, so it always failed. Once I put the folder there, it made a perfect backup. I'm able to then use it on an emulator. I'm gonna backup my 128gb SD card and try 64kb cluster. I'm pretty sure mine is set to 32kb, and for some reason I thought that was the only size that worked.

The dev you speak of is the creator of the Ultimate GBA Injector thread? If so I will ask him.

Yep, that's the one.

 

[YamiJustin]

Yep, that's the one.

Your advice worked perfect!! The 128gb SD with 64kb clusters resolved the odd rendering issue for gba games. Now with my understanding of godmode9's backup and restore save function, this does exactly what I want. I guess the only downside to 64kb clusters is smaller file sizes (like a 15kb file) take up 64kb minimum, no biggie. Is there a speed increase or no? Thanks again

 

[Majickhat55]

Your advice worked perfect!! The 128gb SD with 64kb clusters resolved the odd rendering issue for gba games. Now with my understanding of godmode9's backup and restore save function, this does exactly what I want. I guess the only downside to 64kb clusters is smaller file sizes (like a 15kb file) take up 64kb minimum, no biggie. Is there a speed increase or no? Thanks again

Nothing that would make a noticiable change for real.

 

[fr3quency]

JKSM cannot dump saves from AGB firm so that's wrong. The ONLY way to dump GBA saves is with specific tools or Godmode9; they don't dump "encrypted" and most definitely don't require the OTP. There are scripts to automate this process. That said, half the information in this thread is outdated. All of these issues with the pokemon games have been solved; no patching required, and saves work fine as they use the proper 1M now without patching. The new converter handles them just fine if anyone here that's offering suggestions bothered to check the GBA Injection thread they would know that. (I wasn't trying to be rude, just correcting the misinformation). It's obvious you've never messed with GBA VC saves before; they are dumped as "gbavc.sav" they aren't dumped as .dat files, that's only GB(C) games.

Then all you have to do is copy "gbavc.sav" from SD:\GM9\out to your desktop and rename it the same as your ROM i.e "Pokemon Emerald.sav" and the emulator will load it automatically if it's in the directory.

When you use the proper injector to do it, your saves will be 128kb like they should and you won't have to use a hex editor to change anything when swapping from emulator to the VC.

As the program hasn't been released yet, the dev will 100% send you the beta if you ask.

Also, the SD card issue is well known as well with cards above 32GB. Most of them are already formatted correctly, but if you get the weird "top of the screen is showing on the bottom, loop thing" you have to reformat your card to FAT32 using a 64k cluster size, not 32. All SD cards are not the same.

So we just have to use the beta program? I'm currently trying to edit my Emerald save(using some .cia from that iso site, the thread has literally tons of GBA games), I get an error message that the save is corrupted and the previous save will be loaded as well as the save is 192KB instead of 128 that you mentioned. When trying to dump it, GM9 will tell me that it failed - I can only copy it. :'(

 

[Majickhat55]

So we just have to use the beta program? I'm currently trying to edit my Emerald save(using some .cia from that iso site, the thread has literally tons of GBA games), I get an error message that the save is corrupted and the previous save will be loaded as well as the save is 192KB instead of 128 that you mentioned. When trying to dump it, GM9 will tell me that it failed - I can only copy it. :'(

Make you own .CIA with a ROM of the game you want. None of the ones on those sites have been redone AFAIK other than those save patches that don't work correctly.

 

[fr3quency]

Make you own .CIA with a ROM of the game you want. None of the ones on those sites have been redone AFAIK other than those save patches that don't work correctly.

I tried to but the game would hang on a white screen unfortunately.