Is there any way or a device you can use to backup SNES *GAME SAVES*?

[dhowerter]

Is there any way or a device you can use to backup SNES *GAME SAVES*?

I'm really wondering if there is a way to backup Super Nintendo game saves stored on a SNES cart with a save battery. (presumably backing them up on some kind of flash media device or on your PC, tho whatever works...)

That way when the save battery for the cart inevitably dies, you could simply transfer the game save data back into the cart, after replacing the save battery of course, and then you would never lose any game saves. ^_^


I didn't even think this was possible until I recently discovered a third party cart called the "N64 Passport Plus III" (3) that when combined with a N64 Dex Drive lets you move the game saves IN a N64 cart to the controller pak and then to a PC. :-) (and BACK into the cart again so you could restore them later ). :-O

So does anyone know of any way to backup SNES game Saves from a actual SNES cart?

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[shadowkn55]

A game doctor sf7 will let you backup saves. It will also allow you to upload a save to a cart.

[SkiDragon]

This is really useful information. Is the SF7 the only model that will work?

[Thrillo]

My Super UFO Pro 7 has that ability as well.

[shadowkn55]

The sf7 is the only copier I know that works and is readily available. There may be many others that can do it as well.

[Sailorneorune]

What about the Naki Game Saver? There's one sitting at a local store fairly reasonably (will be even cheaper at the next holiday sale)... it's been there for a while since no one seems to know what it is.

Let me know if that would help at all.

[Jorpho]

That way when the save battery for the cart inevitably dies, you could simply transfer the game save data back into the cart, after replacing the save battery of course, and then you would never lose any game saves. ^_^

If I am not mistaken, it is possible to leave the battery disconnected for some time (an hour or something, maybe) without losing the save data. At least, that's the case for PC motherboards and CPS2 suicide boards.

[rbudrick]

What about the Naki Game Saver? There's one sitting at a local store fairly reasonably (will be even cheaper at the next holiday sale)... it's been there for a while since no one seems to know what it is.

Let me know if that would help at all.

Well that just saves states...and runs on batteries to keep em.

-Rob

[exit]

If I am not mistaken, it is possible to leave the battery disconnected for some time (an hour or something, maybe) without losing the save data. At least, that's the case for PC motherboards and CPS2 suicide boards.

Well if you leave the cart in the system, the save won't go away. I had a copy of LTTP with a bad battery and the save file wouldn't get erased, as long as I kept the game in the console.

[shadowkn55]

If I am not mistaken, it is possible to leave the battery disconnected for some time (an hour or something, maybe) without losing the save data. At least, that's the case for PC motherboards and CPS2 suicide boards.

The second you disconnect the battery is the second you lose the save file. I tried to do a quick hotswap ( < 5 seconds) and I lost my save when I turned it back on.

[dhowerter]

Well that just saves states...and runs on batteries to keep em.

-Rob


Hmm any clue how long the Naki Game Saver (is that its offical name?) could save the save states on 6 AAs? (1 year, 5 years, 10 years ,etc.?)

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[dhowerter]

Well if you leave the cart in the system, the save won't go away. I had a copy of LTTP with a bad battery and the save file wouldn't get erased, as long as I kept the game in the console.


That is interesting. Did the SNES cart keep the save even if you never turned the system on?
(I'm assuming the system was still plugged in ;)

Any clue how long you can do that? :-)

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[dhowerter]

The second you disconnect the battery is the second you lose the save file. I tried to do a quick hotswap ( < 5 seconds) and I lost my save when I turned it back on.


Ouch. You are talking about SNES carts there, right? (or an arcade board)

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[shadowkn55]

It was an nes game but it uses the same sram chip as snes games. Sram chips only retain their information when they have voltage supplied to them.

[dhowerter]

BTW, once you HAVE a SNES game save either on one of the copiers or on a PC, how do you get it back into a REAL SNES cart? :-)

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[shadowkn55]

BTW, once you HAVE a SNES game save either on one of the copiers or on a PC, how do you get it back into a REAL SNES cart? :-)

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The copier can take care of that. The gd7 works both ways. You may need to use ucon64 to convert a pc emulator save to the appropriate copier format first.

[roushimsx]

Ive done that with my Super Wildcard DX2...but yea..the GD7 would be the cheaper, easier, and just as reliable route. Either way, you're going to be fucking with Ucon64 :)

Not to thread hijack, but what's a good way to back up DS saves? I picked up an EZFlashV to throw all of my games on, and then after I started loading it up I realized that I neglected to think about how I was going to extract my save games :( I guess I don't really need a flash cart or anything similar, just a device to hook up via USB or parallel port to dump the save data.

[dhowerter]

Originally Posted by dhowerter
BTW, once you HAVE a SNES game save either on one of the copiers or on a PC, how do you get it back into a REAL SNES cart? :-)

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The copier can take care of that. The gd7 works both ways. You may need to use ucon64 to convert a pc emulator save to the appropriate copier format first.




Wait a sec.. If the Game Doctor SF 7 AND the Super Wildcard DX 2 can both copy game saves FROM a SNES cart to a PC, why would you need to convert PC Emu SNES game saves into a SNES cart save format?

I mean if you can copy a SNES cart format save FROM the actual cart, can't you just copy that save BACK to the cart? :)

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[shadowkn55]

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Wait a sec.. If the Game Doctor SF 7 AND the Super Wildcard DX 2 can both copy game saves FROM a SNES cart to a PC, why would you need to convert PC Emu SNES game saves into a SNES cart save format?

I mean if you can copy a SNES cart format save FROM the actual cart, can't you just copy that save BACK to the cart? :)

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The copiers can copy saves to a floppy, not pc. PC emulators such as zsnes have save files that have extra information that need to be removed before it can be uploaded to a cart.

[ccovell]

Are we all talking about save RAM files, or savestates? It depends on the copier, but some save the 8K (or more) SRAM file on disk with an extra 512-byte (or so) header. That seems to be the only difference between how copiers and emus use save files.

[dhowerter]

The copiers can copy saves to a floppy, not pc. PC emulators such as zsnes have save files that have extra information that need to be removed before it can be uploaded to a cart.




Ok then ;)


Theoretically speaking using the Game Doctor SF 7 or the Super Wildcard DX 2
Couldn't you:

1. Copy the saves (normal S-RAM saves btw, NOT save states) from an actual SNES cart to a floppy

2. Put the floppy in a floppy drive on your PC.

3. Copy the saves to the PC's hard drive. (to back them up)


and then when you want to restore the saves into the actual snes cart:


1. Copy the SAME saves (unmodified) from the PC's hard drive to a floppy disk in the floppy drive of the PC.

2. Put the floppy back into the game copier

3. Copy the game saves from the floppy into the actual SNES cart?

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[ccovell]

Yes, that's the basic method (and BUNG, etc's sole argument for the legitimacy of their SNES copiers.) :-)

[JLukas]

Theoretically speaking using the Game Doctor SF 7 or the Super Wildcard DX 2
Couldn't you:


Yes, you can sort of think of it like a Dex Drive. With the GDSF7 you enter a special cheat code to transfer a SRAM file to/from the cart.

[heybtbm]

The second you disconnect the battery is the second you lose the save file. I tried to do a quick hotswap ( < 5 seconds) and I lost my save when I turned it back on.

Not true at all.

I've swapped 10+ batteries from SNES cartridges over the past few years and have never had the information dissappear. If you disconnect the old battery, remove it and replace it with a new battery in under a minute (the act of switching batterires takes 1-2 seconds realistically), you will be fine.

The only dissappearing save I've had was from an old FFII cartridge where I took out the old battery and didn't replace it for 1/2 hour or so.

[dhowerter]

Yes, you can sort of think of it like a Dex Drive. With the GDSF7 you enter a special cheat code to transfer a SRAM file to/from the cart.


Do you happen to know this cheat code? :)

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[shadowkn55]

Do you happen to know this cheat code? :)


(use modify game option)

NVRAM in CART -> GD7 'BRAM':
10005XXXXXXXX1

GD7 'BRAM' -> NVRAM in CART:
10006XXXXXXXX1

[SkiDragon]

I am resurrecting this because I am thinking of buying one. I have only found one website that sells them, http://www.tototek.com/. Are there any others?

It seems that they come in different RAM sizes. What difference does this make? I only intend to backup game saves. If I wanted to play a game on my TV I'm sure there would be many other options.

[rbudrick]

Well, there's no others you'll find easily. Also, you can trasnfer saves via parallel port with the SF7, but ymmv.

-Rob

[remowilliams]

You can use the Tototek Super Flash Programmer to backup/restore battery SRAM saves as well. I've done it in the past. Pretty cool. :)

[SkiDragon]

I am resurrecting this because I am thinking of buying one. I have only found one website that sells them, http://www.tototek.com/. Are there any others?

It seems that they come in different RAM sizes. What difference does this make? I only intend to backup game saves. If I wanted to play a game on my TV I'm sure there would be many other options.

I'd still like to have an answer to this question. Does anybody know the answer or can anybody point me to a better place to ask?

Thanks.

[SkiDragon]

I finally have one of these devices. I am powering it with a Genesis power supply, which complies with the voltage/polarity requirements. I am using it on my model 1 SNES, and I have a formatted floppy disk.

Unfortunately, when I turn it on, I get the message "Disk Error (WCM) !", and I am unable to do anything. How can I fix this? Is this a major problem? The floppy disk was hard to insert, which makes me think the drive may be bad. If so, can a standard floppy drive replace it?

Thanks.

[Soviet Conscript]

I finally have one of these devices. I am powering it with a Genesis power supply, which complies with the voltage/polarity requirements. I am using it on my model 1 SNES, and I have a formatted floppy disk.

Unfortunately, when I turn it on, I get the message "Disk Error (WCM) !", and I am unable to do anything. How can I fix this? Is this a major problem? The floppy disk was hard to insert, which makes me think the drive may be bad. If so, can a standard floppy drive replace it?

Thanks.

i had the same problem with mine (which i also bought from tototek). even after trying diffrent drives it wouldn't work properly. never did get it to work. ended up buying a confirmed working one from Shadowkn55 which worked like a charm.

i should also add i have almost totally given up on copiers. just to archaiec and unreliable. i just use flash carts these days.

[SkiDragon]

Well, all I want to do is backup my game saves. Preferably I would be able to convert the saves to a format that could be used by an emulator.

I don't know if I will be able to get any help from Tototek; I think they are from Hong Kong. I want to open it up and see if there are any obvious problems, but there is a seal that I would have to break first.

If you have any information that may help, please pass it along.

[JLukas]

There is no conversion needed for battery save data. Simply give the save file a .srm extension and it will work fine in an emulator.

Are you sure it's a Genesis Model 1 power supply? Remove the GDSF7 from the system and unplug the power cord from the back. Plug the power cable into the back of the GDSF7 again you should hear a faint drive motor noise. If you don't hear it, either the AC adapter is dead, or possibly the drive. Yes, it's a regular floppy drive, and IIRC the 4 pin power cable and floppy data cable are removable, so it would be just like swapping the floppy drive in a PC. If I were you, I'd just open it up and have a look. The insides aren't complicated.

Also, hold the R shoulder button when powering up to get to the GDSF7 main menu. If you press Select it should get rid of the error warning. IIRC, with a parallel cable and the TSF2/3 software, you should be able to transfer saves that way.

[SkiDragon]

Ok, I made an amateur mistake. The power strip that my power supply was plugged into was not turned on.

Now I can turn it on and navigate the menus. The disk is still hard to insert, and when I try to format the disk, I get another error "Disk Error (RDST) !". Is formatting even necessary? I could try the parallel port method as soon as my computer is in range, but for now all I have is a disk.

EDIT: It also says to insert a disk at certain points, so I think the drive may be broken. I was however able to load Super Metroid into the internal memory and play it from there, but that's not why I bought this thing.

EDIT2: Installing a new disk drive seemed to fix the SF7, although I'm not sure if I can reassemble the SF7 or not.

I have been able to get my game saves onto my PC, but unfortunately, at least one of my saves (Secret of Evermore) was wiped out for no apparent reason. If I copy a game onto the SF7's internal RAM, I can play it without the cartridge and it retains my save. Is it possible to get the save from the internal RAM like this onto a disk?

Final question for now: Is there a way to get the game saves off of the DSP chip games? Specifically, it does not even detect Super Mario RPG as a game. Lucky it didn't delete my save.

Final Note: I backed up up all of the games I cared about, but it should be known that the device erased BOTH my copies or Secret of Mana, and Secret of Evermore. Those are the only games it erased. I don't know if it is coincidence or not, but you should be careful.