Pokemon Ultra Moon importing a .sav

[iHex]

Hi guys! I'm posting this here but not too sure if this is the right place. If It isn't, please let me know where I'd be allowed to post this! I posted this same message on Reddit but I'm trying here too cause I'm getting kinda desparate.

Context:
So I own the software version of Ultra Moon, and not a physical copy. I have an old save file that I managed to extract off a corrupted SD card. I was unable to play my copy and would sometimes get max 40 seconds of gameplay before it would crash on me, I was also unable to move to any new areas or save the game.

The SD card, when plugged into my laptop, is read-only. No, the slider isn't on the wrong setting and I've tried everything (command prompt, 3rd party software, file explorer) to format the SD card or whatever but it looks like it's futile. I extracted my save data (the .sav) file from USUM and have it saved on my laptop.

I now have a new SD card in my 3ds with a new copy of UM and have modded this card and my console. I've got homebrew and JKSM (Save manager), etc set up and have been playing around with multiple save files as well as genning pokemon.

Now, my question:
Is there any way I can import/convert my .sav file from my old UM save and import it into my new copy on my new DS? If not, can I somehow salvage (or at least view) the Pokemon I had on that previous save file so I can recreate them using PKHeX?

I've already tried:
1. Copy-pasting my old save file over my new save file > "Save file outdated" error (downloading different software updates for Ultra Moon did not help)
2. Opening my .sav in PKHeX (switched my generations around, only get error messages)
3. Forcefully smacking my .sav into my game through JKSM, but JKSM handles in .main files so I should've known that wouldn't work lol

If there's any extra/specific error messages you guys would like me to provide, I'd be happy to. If I need to provide the actual .sav I'll also gladly do that.

 

[SkyLink98]

How did you menage to extract your save from the corrupted SD card? 

I don't know any tools can menage .sav files. Did you use a Gateway 3DS?

If so, do you have the possibility to run the gateway with the new SD? In that case I think you can decrypt the .sav into a main save file.

Edited June 16, 2020 by SkyLink24

[theSLAYER]

7 hours ago, iHex said:

2. Opening my .sav in PKHeX (switched my generations around, only get error messages)

It sounds like your original .sav is in fact not a decrypted .sav file.
If you managed to save properly in-game and JKSM extracted it properly, no reason PKHeX wouldn't read it.

As was said above, how did you obtain the .sav from the old game?
Is it a 00000001.sav file you found on the SD? If so, it is an encrypted save. (PKHeX deal with decrypted saves).

If you have not formatted your 3DS (not SD card) between the old game and the present load out,
you should try decrypted the old save (by placing the save back on your 3DS, then use a save manager to dump it), before placing it onto your cart:

Note: if it is indeed an encrypted save, the 3DS has to be the same 3DS. It cannot be reformatted between the time of the time the SD card corrupted, till now.
 

If it's not the situation I described, kindly answer the original question:
how did you obtain the .sav from the old game?

[iHex]

7 hours ago, SkyLink24 said:

How did you menage to extract your save from the corrupted SD card? 

I don't know any tools can menage .sav files. Did you use a Gateway 3DS?

If so, do you have the possibility to run the gateway with the new SD? In that case I think you can decrypt the .sav into a main save file.

I put the old SD card into my laptop and extracted the 0000001.sav file. Sorry, I seem to have forgotten to mention that my previous SD card was not modded, and therefore I didn't have anything like a save manager, I only installed everything on my new SD card. I'm also unable to install anything on my old SD card because it's corrupted/read-only.

 

2 hours ago, theSLAYER said:

It sounds like your original .sav is in fact not a decrypted .sav file.
If you managed to save properly in-game and JKSM extracted it properly, no reason PKHeX wouldn't read it.

As was said above, how did you obtain the .sav from the old game?
Is it a 00000001.sav file you found on the SD? If so, it is an encrypted save. (PKHeX deal with decrypted saves).

If you have not formatted your 3DS (not SD card) between the old game and the present load out,
you should try decrypted the old save (by placing the save back on your 3DS, then use a save manager to dump it), before placing it onto your cart:

Note: if it is indeed an encrypted save, the 3DS has to be the same 3DS. It cannot be reformatted between the time of the time the SD card corrupted, till now.
 

If it's not the situation I described, kindly answer the original question:
how did you obtain the .sav from the old game?

Hiya, thanks for you answer! As mentioned in my other response above, my previous SD card wasn't modded so I didn't have JKSM or anything along those lines, the .sav I extracted is straight out of the game directory and, indeed, encrypted. I'll try your method, and the guide you posted later this afternoon as I currently have to go do something, but thank you for the advice, I hope it works!

[theSLAYER]

1 minute ago, iHex said:

put the old SD card into my laptop and extracted the 0000001.sav file.

so yup, it's an encrypted save indeed

1 minute ago, iHex said:

my previous SD card wasn't modded so I didn't have JKSM or anything along those lines

JKSM is for modded 3DS, nothing to do with whether you mod your SD.
If anything, how does one mod their SD card? XD

2 minutes ago, iHex said:

I'll try your method, and the guide you posted later this afternoon as I currently have to go do something, but thank you for the advice, I hope it works!

well as long as it's the same 3DS (and hasn't been formatted since), it should work.
Also, to clarify (in case the question pops into your mind): installing CFW in-between won't matter.
All that matters is the 3DS is the same 3DS, and has not been reformatted since.

To explain: encrypted saves require the specific cart (if extracted from cart) and specifically the same 3DS (if encrypted save is taken from the 3DS) to be decrypted. So moving an encrypted save to another 3DS will render the save useless. Reformatting the 3DS also makes it as tho "it's another 3DS'.

So while decrypted saves will work on any other device or cart, encrypted saves are not so simple.

So as long as your 3DS is the same 3DS, and has not been reformatted since, it should work :3

[iHex]

12 hours ago, theSLAYER said:

so yup, it's an encrypted save indeed

JKSM is for modded 3DS, nothing to do with whether you mod your SD.
If anything, how does one mod their SD card? XD

well as long as it's the same 3DS (and hasn't been formatted since), it should work.
Also, to clarify (in case the question pops into your mind): installing CFW in-between won't matter.
All that matters is the 3DS is the same 3DS, and has not been reformatted since.

To explain: encrypted saves require the specific cart (if extracted from cart) and specifically the same 3DS (if encrypted save is taken from the 3DS) to be decrypted. So moving an encrypted save to another 3DS will render the save useless. Reformatting the 3DS also makes it as tho "it's another 3DS'.

So while decrypted saves will work on any other device or cart, encrypted saves are not so simple.

So as long as your 3DS is the same 3DS, and has not been reformatted since, it should work :3

You, sir, are a hero, thank you. You just saved the collection of Pokemon I've been hauling with me since I started my journey. Gonna get on transfering and banking this shit asap.

Edited June 16, 2020 by iHex
smh

[MajinDJX]

Hello there

First, I'm sorry to bring this topic up, but since I have a very similar problem to the first post, I think it fits more to keep the conversation in here rather than creating a new topic.

So, my problem is pretty much the same of iHex, with a few differences. The common thing is that I had a problem with my SD (it couldn't save anymore) but my Pokemon game said it saved, so after that, the date of the save on the SD and on the pokemon game didn't match. I changed my SD, and pretty much any other game worked fine with a single copy of the problematic SD to the new one and put on the 3DS.
 

On 6/16/2020 at 8:27 AM, theSLAYER said:

Also, to clarify (in case the question pops into your mind): installing CFW in-between won't matter.

The difference are that my game is Pokemon X (digital one, which I don't think it would be much of a problem to do the things to try to recover it). But the other difference is that my 3DS does not have a CFW or homebrew. It's pretty much from the factory (only with the official systems updates).

I do not think I formatted my 3ds since this problem happened (although I think I uninstalled and reinstalled Pokemon X). But in order to do the tasks to try to recover it, will I need to format it? (specially to put CFW/homebrew on the 3DS).

Edit: just to be clear, since I didn't do anything to my 3DS (in the cfw/homebrew thing), It's an encrypted 0000001.sav file)

Edited September 21, 2020 by MajinDJX

[theSLAYER]

@MajinDJX so you have a 00000001.sav from your 3DS, but you can't load it back, is that the main gist of it?

 

if so:
0) DO NOT FORMAT YOUR 3DS
1) Install CFW on your 3DS
2) Install savedatafiler (can't tell you where)
3) Run savedatefiler, remove the secure value of the game
4) Off the console, place 00000001.sav into where it's supposed to be
5) Now on the console, load the game.

 

Effectively:

 

[MajinDJX]

Yeap, the problem is this, I can't load it back my Pokemon X sav file.

 

So, to install the CFW, is there any tutorial or any recommended one? (I found some site on on google, but not sure if it's the only option or so).

And this guide that you put, is covering all the steps that you said to me after installing the cfw, right?

 

Sorry for this noob questions, but I really didn't do this things many times hehe

 

Edit: also, thank you

Edited September 21, 2020 by MajinDJX

[SkyLink98]

https://3ds.hacks.guide/ universal 3ds hacks guide.

The guide that Slayer provided you cover all steps to recover the save, except where to find the tool needed. I think it's leaked official Nintendo content so not sure if it can be shared into this and other sites 

[theSLAYER]

17 minutes ago, MajinDJX said:

is covering all the steps that you said to me after installing the cfw, right?

yeah, what I sent is for after you install CFW.

What SkyLink98 sent is for installing CFW. The savedatafiler is somewhere in the wild. We can't mention where to find it.

[MajinDJX]

18 minutes ago, SkyLink98 said:

https://3ds.hacks.guide/ universal 3ds hacks guide.

The guide that Slayer provided you cover all steps to recover the save, except where to find the tool needed. I think it's leaked official Nintendo content so not sure if it can be shared into this and other sites 

Ohhh nice, this was the one I found it too. Thanks

 

14 minutes ago, theSLAYER said:

What SkyLink98 sent is for installing CFW. The savedatafiler is somewhere in the wild. We can't mention where to find it.

Uhum I think I got it how it works (and where to find it).  So, probably this week I'll try this thing. (I'm waiting for a solution since 2017, so this isn't many more time). But I'll update here if I can or can't do it.

 

Thanks so much guys

[theSLAYER]

well I hope it works!

Once you get CFW and get the save working, I recommend that you dump all the saves using JKSM/Checkpoint. These are console decrypted saves, so they can be imported into another console, provided the other console has CFW and the save manager. (which isn't too big of a worry, since every 3DS/2DS model can install CFW)

Then you won't have to worry about this ever again ><

[MajinDJX]

10 hours ago, theSLAYER said:

well I hope it works!

Once you get CFW and get the save working, I recommend that you dump all the saves using JKSM/Checkpoint. These are console decrypted saves, so they can be imported into another console, provided the other console has CFW and the save manager. (which isn't too big of a worry, since every 3DS/2DS model can install CFW)

Then you won't have to worry about this ever again ><

Oh nice, I'll do that. Thanks for the tip.

Just another doubt.... If I install the CFW, will I still be able to use online services, like the eshop or Pokemon Bank?

[theSLAYER]

if you don't do illegal stuff, like piracy or theme manipulation, should be fine.

Up to now I can use them despite having CFW.

[MajinDJX]

OMFG IT WORKED AHHHHHH

 

I even did the same process to Pokemon Shuffle (another game that was hit by this problem, but not even close to this importance).

But I got my save file from 2017 of Pokemon X (it was my main game at the time, where I was keeping all my pokemon, legendaries, shinnies etc)

I already put some on pokemon bank to not have any problem, and doing the backup of the save files right now!!

 

Thank you guys sooooooo much