Able to restore (parts of) a bootleg save file?

[Chonke]

Hey all, 

A while ago I tried the GBA - DSLite backup software (which works awesome on all my legit games) on my bootleg Emerald cartridge. I know, on the page it stated explicitly that it won't work on bootleg cartridges, but I figured since it just backs up the data might as well give it a try. Well, as you would've guessed: the .sav doesn't flash back on the cart, won't load in PKHeX, and doesn't work on emulators (yep, I did change the name, as the bootleg one stores saves with a different name) 

The thing is: I really want to buy an authentic Emerald cart, but I am quite far on my bootleg one now and I'd love to transfer this savefile. 

I was just wondering if someone who knows a lot about the way pokemon data is stored, could take a quick gaze at my (now quite old) bootleg-backup to see if any transferring of sections from bootleg - legit is possible. I tried to take a look myself but even with the wiki and some awesome screenshots/explaination from theSLAYER I can't get the hang on hexed.it 

I also added a screenshot, in case an expert looks at it and knows from this very glance the whole file is useless. 

Many thanks in (Gameboy) advance! 

POKEMON_EMER_BPEE00.sav

Edited April 15, 2024 by Chonke
Minor adjustments for reading comprehension

[theSLAYER]

1 hour ago, Chonke said:

Hey all, 

A while ago I tried the GBA - DSLite backup software (which works awesome on all my legit games) on my bootleg Emerald cartridge. I know, on the page it stated explicitly that it won't work on bootleg cartridges, but I figured since it just backs up the data might as well give it a try. Well, as you would've guessed: the .sav doesn't flash back on the cart, won't load in PKHeX, and doesn't work on emulators (yep, I did change the name, as the bootleg one stores saves with a different name) 

The thing is: I really want to buy an authentic Emerald cart, but I am quite far on my bootleg one now and I'd love to transfer this savefile. 

I was just wondering if someone who knows a lot about the way pokemon data is stored, could take a quick gaze at my (now quite old) bootleg-backup to see if any transferring of sections from bootleg - legit is possible. I tried to take a look myself but even with the wiki and some awesome screenshots/explaination from theSLAYER I can't get the hang on hexed.it 

I also added a screenshot, in case an expert looks at it and knows from this very glance the whole file is useless. 

Many thanks in (Gameboy) advance! 

POKEMON_EMER_BPEE00.sav 128 kB · 2 downloads

If you've read what I've shared before, then you'll know, there's no save data in that file. And just to be sure, I checked. Nothing of use there.
What you should be doing is dumping the ROM, and not the save, of the bootleg cart. (and don't share that ROM here)


Only then, would you be able to extract the save.

 

[Chonke]

Hey man, 

Thank you for your quick response. Sorry I haven't read everything about bootleg cartridges and thus not knowing the save doesn't contain any useful data. A friend suggested "hex editing" so I figured I'd just try and read into that

Love that there is also a tool specifically for my case and that I can use the same GBA backup software for it!

Many many thanks 

[theSLAYER]

5 minutes ago, Chonke said:

Hey man, 

Thank you for your quick response. Sorry I haven't read everything about bootleg cartridges and thus not knowing the save doesn't contain any useful data. A friend suggested "hex editing" so I figured I'd just try and read into that

Love that there is also a tool specifically for my case and that I can use the same GBA backup software for it!

Many many thanks 

For some of the Gen 3 bootleg carts, the save data is actually stored in the ROM.

So using the bootleg ROM dump with that program just may extract the save for you.

Godspeed!

 

[squall1989]

On 4/15/2024 at 6:59 PM, theSLAYER said:

For some of the Gen 3 bootleg carts, the save data is actually stored in the ROM.

So using the bootleg ROM dump with that program just may extract the save for you.

Godspeed!

 

Hello, i would like to ask, since your tool won't work on gb/gbc file, what should i do to extract the save file out of the rom of gb/gbc file ? i got 2 bootleg pokemon red and blue, and the situation is the same as the gba catridge, the save seem to be inside the rom, i tried extract the rom with the save inside it, then erase the save, then dump the rom again, compare the 2 file, and they are different, the thing is, i don't know how to extract the save file out of there, write it to a normal save file that can be write to authentic catridge or store up to backup, could you please give me some guide on this

[theSLAYER]

18 minutes ago, squall1989 said:

Hello, i would like to ask, since your tool won't work on gb/gbc file, what should i do to extract the save file out of the rom of gb/gbc file ? i got 2 bootleg pokemon red and blue, and the situation is the same as the gba catridge, the save seem to be inside the rom, i tried extract the rom with the save inside it, then erase the save, then dump the rom again, compare the 2 file, and they are different, the thing is, i don't know how to extract the save file out of there, write it to a normal save file that can be write to authentic catridge or store up to backup, could you please give me some guide on this

I'm not sure how much I can help. You have a comparison with and without the save, so you know where the save is stored (looks to be location 0x2000).

I took a random save from our site, and the length is 0x8000

 

You could try to use Edit > Select Block (or Ctrl + E)


Start from location 0x2000, select length 0x8000, hit OK.

This will select all the data in that range, and you can copy it to a new file, and save that new file as a "test.sav", and see if PKHeX would open it.

[squall1989]

1 hour ago, theSLAYER said:

I'm not sure how much I can help. You have a comparison with and without the save, so you know where the save is stored (looks to be location 0x2000).

I took a random save from our site, and the length is 0x8000

 

You could try to use Edit > Select Block (or Ctrl + E)


Start from location 0x2000, select length 0x8000, hit OK.

This will select all the data in that range, and you can copy it to a new file, and save that new file as a "test.sav", and see if PKHeX would open it.

thank you very much i will try this

[squall1989]

through trial and error i finally found out where the save on my rom is, it's writen into the rom seperately, here is the address i found out:

1st bank: 000D2000
2nd bank: 000D6000
3rd bank: 000DA000
4rd bank: 000DE000

all 4 bank has length of 2000

so to extract the save have to manual extract the data, paste all 4 part into a new file, then after save it can be read by PKHeX 

i tried to insert another old save file i have in by, well, insert 1 part each into their place, then save change to the rom file, use flashgbx to write the modified rom back to the catridge, and it work.

Honestly, i shoudn't have been able to find these, without the help of BennVenn, he create a tool, which can extract the save file out of the rom, which i use it to look back into the rom and find where those 4 bank are stored, and can insert other save into it, without his program, i woudn't have any way to find out those address

[squall1989]

ok, i just found another way, which is better in my opinion, you can dump the rom, load the rom into a emulator, for example, i just gba link, when the rom run, the emulator will execute the batteryless code in it and load up the save inside the rom, all you need to do is export the battery, and you got your save out of there. However, if you want to insert your save into the catridge, you will have to go through the process that i did, compare each of the 4 save bank (2000 length each) of the save to the dumped rom to find out where the save is in the rom, then split your new save and manually insert them to the correct place, you can try your new modified rom in your emulator to make sure your new save work, before flash the new rom back to the bootleg catridge.