A tool to backup HG/SS saves

[Aroenai]

I have, I can connect fine with everything else.

[harryohh]

Hi,

does this work using a DSi?

I want to take my .sav from the game cart onto my pc. Nothing happens after, when prompted, I remove my acekard and put in the pokemon game.

Edited January 9, 2011 by harryohh

[Noko]

Is the restore function broken?

My cart's save file got deleted when I tried to restore.

[Pokedoc]

Thanks for all the feedback, good to know that FTP mode is more reliable than 3in1 mode. However...

I have found an old MicroSD card while cleaning and used it to revived my old (back-up) EZFlash Vi. This allowed me to nail down the reason why 3in1 mode does not work here - it's an issue with the EZFlash DLDI driver, which is continuously stealing access rights to the 3in1. Maybe it is looking for a slot 2 DLDI-able device (EZFlash IV perhaps?), maybe it is using the extra RAM to cache something, or maybe it is simply a bug in the driver. Fortunately, fixing it was quite easy. So here (i.e. at the first post) is the latest release, V0.2.1, that fixes 3in1 mode on an EZFlash Vi (and perhaps some other cards exhibiting similar issues as well). I have tested 3in1 mode on my collection of Flash cards, and it should now work on the M3 Real, Cyclops DS Evolution, EZFlash Vi and Acekard 2i. (And that's my own small collection of cards. M3 for Ruby/Saphire/Emerald, Cyclops because it is much better, EZ Vi because it got the earliest fix for DSi firmware 1.4, and Acekard for AKAIO.)

@Soladept: Action Replay DSi... now that is an interesting question. I know that the ARs ship with their own microSD slot, but afaik, no one knows how to access it. All I know is that the AR is somewhat different from regular flash cards, so I'm inclined to say no, it is not possible.

@barklight: If it doesn't work on your R4, I am afraid I do not know what might be going wrong. I have heard too many different things about R4 and its various clones, maybe you have a "bad" clone. I have never heard of *buttons* not working, though.

@Pingouin: No, "save too small or no save chip" is a part of a security mechanism I have put in to prevent people from flashing a wrong file to a game cartridge. It means either of two things: a) you have a flash cart inserted (i.e. "no save chip"), which always comes up after restarting the tool, or b) you are trying to write a file that is too small to your cartridge (e.g. a 247 bytes-file to a 512 kB save chip). In this case, just eject and reinsert the target game cartridge, press "a" again and it should work.

@harryohh: I'm afraid that this tool does not yet work on a DSi yet, and no one seems to understand why. I have done some preliminary research into this, and it seems like the different DSi Bios/Firmware is to blame. When you swap a cartridge on the DSi, the device automatically does some initialisations that are missing on the old DS. Somehow it manages to lock out the entire hardware required to access the save chip. In the future, when the iEvolution is released, I expect that the community can figure out how it ticks, and how to unlock the same cartridge, but at the moment, you are out of luck.

@Aroenai: WiFi mode should give you a rather exhaustive feedback on what stage the backup mechanism currently is in. The backup process works roughly in the following order: 1) Login to the AP. This uses your DS WiFi connection settings. 2) Connect to the FTP server. This makes use of the IP address in the ini file. If it fails here, you may have typed in the wrong address - it must be the address of the computer on which the FTP server is running, not the IP address of your AP. Or you may have to verify that the port at which the FTP server is running is not blocked by your AP, and that you are using the correct port. 3) Login to the FTP server. This is where your username/password from the ini file are used. After this, everything should be up and running.

@Noko: Deleting the savegame is intentional; it is the first part of the restore process. On large save chips (such as those used by Pokemon games), the save must be deleted first before a new game may be written (it's for technical reasons). After this, the new save should be written to the freshly erased chip. Are you using the 3in1 restore mode? Do you get the "blue screen of corrupted save", or does your cartridge beheave as freshly out-of-the-box? If you are using a 3in1, then maybe your flash card is messing around with slot 2 as well. In this case, you should try the latest version and restore again.

[Noko]

Yup, I'm using 3in1 restore mode and I get both screens; when I try to restore an edited save file I get the blue screen, but when I try to restore my unedited save file my cart behaves like a brand-new one.

Oh, I'm using an Acekard 2i and the latest savegame_manager version*, if that helps.

*Edit: I didn't realise there was a new version, gonna try and post results as soon as possible!

Edit numero 2: Still won't work.

Edited January 10, 2011 by Noko

[Poryhack]

Pokedoc, any comment on the 3in1 issue where saves are being written with trash data? A lot of people (myself included) have had the issue and kuronot even noticed that there was some kind of pattern to it.

[harryohh]

Thanks for all the feedback, good to know that FTP mode is more reliable than 3in1 mode. However...

@harryohh: I'm afraid that this tool does not yet work on a DSi yet, and no one seems to understand why. I have done some preliminary research into this, and it seems like the different DSi Bios/Firmware is to blame. When you swap a cartridge on the DSi, the device automatically does some initialisations that are missing on the old DS. Somehow it manages to lock out the entire hardware required to access the save chip. In the future, when the iEvolution is released, I expect that the community can figure out how it ticks, and how to unlock the same cartridge, but at the moment, you are out of luck.

That's a shame.

Thanks for the info.

[katsuya]

I'm using R4sdhc and smallftpd, but have stopped with the first screen...

There is not reaction even if I push the B button.. What should I do?

Please upload at Youtube how to use it.

I'm sorry for my poor English.

[Aroenai]

@Aroenai: WiFi mode should give you a rather exhaustive feedback on what stage the backup mechanism currently is in. The backup process works roughly in the following order: 1) Login to the AP. This uses your DS WiFi connection settings. 2) Connect to the FTP server. This makes use of the IP address in the ini file. If it fails here, you may have typed in the wrong address - it must be the address of the computer on which the FTP server is running, not the IP address of your AP. Or you may have to verify that the port at which the FTP server is running is not blocked by your AP, and that you are using the correct port. 3) Login to the FTP server. This is where your username/password from the ini file are used. After this, everything should be up and running.

I figured out what it was, apparently official games work just fine when you have SSID broadcasting turned off on the AP but this tool needs it turned on to even recognize that the wireless network is there and connect.

@katsuya

That happens when you don't have the correct DLDI patch applied, it sounds like your R3sdhc isn't doing it automatically like most other flashcarts. I'm not familiar with yours (I have an Acekard 2i) but you can probably find the information you need here: http://dldi.drunkencoders.com/

Edited January 12, 2011 by Aroenai

[Guest]

Doesn't work on DS2.

Also, the latest version 0.2.1 doesn't let me restore my save file.

I get the same error I got from the latest version.

[Zelda4]

Hello can you tell me how to reinsert my sav SS SS in my cartridge?

Because I tried to reinsert my sav I retrieve my cartridge in SS but my cartridge sav SS was deleted!

PS: I'm not EZ Flash 3in1

Edited January 19, 2011 by Zelda4

[Zelda4]

No answer?

It's urgent !

[Rinduri]

People are pretty diligent in monitoring these forums from what I've seen. If you haven't got an answer it's usually because someone doesn't have the time/interest/knowledge to answer.

In my case I don't understand what you're asking.

[Zelda4]

It's simple !

I Reinsert my Sav SS in my cartridge how I make?

explain in french:

Je veux réinsérer ma sauvegarde Pokémon SoulSilver dans ma cartouche comment je fais?

[Rinduri]

Well I understand that part (I actually can read French by the way) but the .sav file is part of the cartridge, so what do you mean 'reinsert'? What are you trying to take the save file from?

[Zelda4]

I want to reinsert a backup SS PKM: I extracted a cartridge save my SS and then I changed the backup Pokesav.

So I put (reintegrate) into a backup changed my cartridge SoulSilver Pokémon.

Have you understood better?

Explain in french:

Je veux réinsérer une sauvegarde de PKM SS:j'ai extraite une save de ma cartouche SS et j'ai ensuite modifié la sauvegarde par Pokesav.

Donc je mettre (réinsérer) une sauvegarde modifié(pkm SS) dans ma cartouche Pokémon SoulSilver.

As tu mieux compris?

[Abel]

Salut, un conseil: arrête de te prendre la tête avec ce logiciel. J'ai essayé de le faire fonctionner avec un M3 Perfect SD, et je n'ai même pas réussi à extraire la sauvegarde. J'ai commandé une clé qui permet de faire des sauvegardes sur Pokémon, ici. Je pense que c'est le plus simple pour faire des sauvegardes, et cela t'évite de sortir et de réinsérer tes cartouches DS pour chaque sauvegarde. Bien sûr, cela coûte un peu d'argent, mais tu risques d'attendre longtemps que l'auteur du sujet mette à jour son logiciel, et il n'est même pas sûr que cela fonctionne.

[Rinduri]

Salut, un conseil: arrête de te prendre la tête avec ce logiciel. J'ai essayé de le faire fonctionner avec un M3 Perfect SD, et je n'ai même pas réussi à extraire la sauvegarde. J'ai commandé une clé qui permet de faire des sauvegardes sur Pokémon, ici. Je pense que c'est le plus simple pour faire des sauvegardes, et cela t'évite de sortir et de réinsérer tes cartouches DS pour chaque sauvegarde. Bien sûr, cela coûte un peu d'argent, mais tu risques d'attendre longtemps que l'auteur du sujet mette à jour son logiciel, et il n'est même pas sûr que cela fonctionne.

Yeah if you (Zelda) are doing what I think you are then I'd follow his advice.

With the retail cart, you can transfer it back and forth using the Adapter Plus quite easily, but as Abel said it is pretty pricey for what it offers.

Without the EZ 3-in-1 I'm not sure how you'd get the save back onto the DS using this method.

[Juan-K]

can you make this tool can make the back up to the micro SD of the action replay dsi??

[Eon-Rider]

I'm having trouble using the WiFi/FTP and the 3-in-1 modes. In the former, when trying to dump the save file of HeartGold, it starts to backup but stops saying "Error: wrote 512, got X" where X is a variable. It managed to dump Platinum without any troubles though.

In the latter, it successfully produces a save file for both HeartGold and Platinum but when opened in Pokesav, everything in the Storage is corrupt and when opened with PokeGen, it said the save file are invalid. This was run using my CycloDS Evolution and my EZFlash 3-in-1 (lite, not +).

[Pokedoc]

Yesterday my free Cyclops iEvolution sample arrived. Well, at least I think it did, 'cause I won't get my hands on this package until Friday evening (but it is from the correct region of the world). There is already a shiny new microSD-card waiting for its slot to arrive. This weekend, I will have a look into everything and see what can be improved without too much work.

Other than this, I did not make much progress in the past weeks (as this is not my only pet project). I have tried out some ideas to get the current code working on the DSi, but it did not work. I have a few more things to try out, but it may still take some time before everything falls in place. As usual, I can't promise any fixed dates, but I hope to get something working in the next two weeks. Still looking into various other issues, too.

Other than this, I have started to write a Readme file, including a list of flash cards which do work and those which don't, which ones don't automatically apply DLDI patches, where to get exotic DLDI drivers, etc. If you can contribute anything, it would be great - in these days, you just can't afford do buy every possible piece of hardware yourself. This should help preventing people from blindly trashing their saves.

@Aroenai: Funny that you mention this, I experienced the same issues during my own experiments. I'll add it to the readme file I am working on.

@Eon-Rider: This (WiFi) error means that your connection did get a damaged packet (i.e. it tried to read 512 bytes, but got a different number). I encountered the same issues during development of this mode, but it seemed to disappear after some time. Maybe you could try the following: Don't have anything running in the background that might interfere with your FTP server. Get as close as possible to the antenna of your AP. Or: restart Windows or at least your FTP server, its networking subsystem can be quite weird sometimes. And finally, please try to restore it again, maybe the glitch automagically vanished in the meantime. Windows can be really weird sometimes. And on your issues with the 3in1: weird, it did work on my own 3in1-non-plus. I'll try and look into it again. (Since you are also using an Evolution: did you change any settings related to the 3in1, such as rumble mode?)

@Zelda4: So, you say you were able to rip the file correctly, but not get it back, right? And you seem to be using WiFi mode? Are you getting error messages during the restore process, does your original cartridge come up with a blue screen claiming your save is corrupted/deleted/anything, or does your original game restart as if fresh out of the store?

@Poryhack: I thought I had tracked it down to the DLDI driver doing weird things with Slot-2. Every time some file-related function was run, the following 3in1 accesses turned out garbled. It does work now on my own EZFlash Vi. Anybody still experiencing these issues?

@Pingouin7: Okay, in this case I need more information to pinpoint the problem. Did you try WiFi mode, 3in1 mode, or both? Did the tool give any error messages? Does it freeze (if so, what it the last thing it is telling you), or does it simply dump garbage files?

[Poryhack]

@Poryhack: I thought I had tracked it down to the DLDI driver doing weird things with Slot-2. Every time some file-related function was run, the following 3in1 accesses turned out garbled. It does work now on my own EZFlash Vi. Anybody still experiencing these issues?

You're probably right, but I've never experienced DLDI problems before with Acekard/AKAIO, even with the other 3in1 save backup tool out there.

[Zelda4]

@Zelda4: So, you say you were able to rip the file correctly, but not get it back, right? And you seem to be using WiFi mode? Are you getting error messages during the restore process, does your original cartridge come up with a blue screen claiming your save is corrupted/deleted/anything, or does your original game restart as if fresh out of the store?

Well, the sav of my cartridge is removed there is no corrupted sav ect ..

I put my sav changed in how I do my cartridge?

PS: I use the linker Acekard2i I have no 3in1

FR: Et bien la sav de ma cartouche SS est effacé il y a pas de message d'erreur.

Je veux remettre ma sav SS modifé dans ma cartouche SS comment je fais?

PS: j'utilise le linker Acekard2i et j'ai pas de 3in1

[Pokedoc]

You're probably right, but I've never experienced DLDI problems before with Acekard/AKAIO, even with the other 3in1 save backup tool out there.

Yeah, I did't experience anything like this either. But then, who knows what Rudolph had to go through to get it working correctly; his program is not open source, unfortunately, so we can't check.

Anywaqy, I just made some progress on the 3in1 issues that still seem to persist. Placing the code aside for a few days really helps to make place for new ideas, and I think I may have fixed it this time. Essentially, there are *two* bugs which appear when addressing the 3in1. The first bug (which was fixed in 0.2.1) happens on *some* (but not all) flash cards and produces random garbage in the save file. This means that your flash card is doing some stuff with the 3in1 all by itself; it should be fixed by disabling interrupts while accessing the 3in1.

This allowed me to finally reproduce the second bug, which appears on *some* (but not all, "plus"-version seems to be clear) hardware revisions of the 3in1, and which inserts non-random data at regular intervals (as reported earlier in this thread). Now that I could reliably reproduce the bug, I *hope* I finally managed to fixed it. (In a nutshell, I had to *format* an unrelated region of the 3in1 if I wanted to *read* anything on a freshly initialised 3in1. Not quite the most obvious thing to do. Probably some initialisation stuff that was missing from the 3in1 "read" code.)

Anyway, here is a snapshot of the program. I have just finished seting up my iEvolution, and I want to do some tests this weekend. Therefore, I am releasing not a "full" new version, but only a development snapshot; the source will follow in a few days. Since this is not an official release, I am attaching the file here instead at the first post.

Tested and working on:

- Cyclops Evolution, Cyclops iEvolution (on a DS) EZFlash Vi, M3 Real, Acekard 2i, on 256M and 512M versions

Tested and sort-of working on:

- Cyclops iEvolution (in DSi mode on a DSi, results in freezes, needs more tests)

I seriously hope that the 3in1 method now (finally) works.

Oh, btw, some more breaking news from GBAtemp. Team Twiizers have released the first DSi-mode exploit that allows you to launch nds files from the SD card. You just need a certain DSi-ware game (Sudoku by EA), patch it with the exploit, and you can start a random application from the SD card. Full SD support is siupposed to be entering libnds while I write this. Unfortunately, Nintendo has already taken this game down before I could get it

snapshot.zip

[Poryhack]

Great work! I'm getting clean backups with the 3in1 method now.

Unfortunately, I'm having a whole new problem. Diamond backs up fine but I'm getting an error every time with SoulSilver; I get "ERROR backing up file!" as soon as it hits 6% in the writing save to NOR step.

EDIT: Just tried 0.2.1 and it works (ignoring the junk data in the save) with SS. Should be a pretty easy bug to peg down!