Hacking Gamecube save transfer to 1st party memory cards

[Servdogg]

Please don't "clarify" things by spreading false information suloku. If you think it's impossible to copy saves to a first party gamecube memory card, then don't bother. I am not lying and I know what a 1st party memory card is. If I had time and was by my computer, I'd make a video of myself copying saves to a 1st party memory card to prove this dumbass wrong.

Heres a quote from the wiibrew discussion page that shows that other people seem able to use this app to copy saves.

Yeah, gettting the same error. Shame, I had hoped this would finally be the program to let me actually copy the saves back to the GCN card that I copied from the card using mcbackup (GC homebrew, which also fails in writing the saves back correctly). ~ Pikachu025 13:06, 26 April 2008 (PDT)
Same here, even after reformatting. Has anyone gotten it to work?
Apparently someone got it to work by renaming his zelda savefile from "zelda.gci" to "WW.gci". Two letter names work for some reason?
Oh wow, that worked. File named "A.gci" copied perfectly. Awesome. ~ Pikachu025 11:00, 3 May 2008 (PDT).

If Pikachu025 can do it, and I can as well, it must be suloku who is a lier or a dumbass.

 

[jarop]

I'm just gonna go ahead and bump this, coz it's been a few months and i've got no definitve answer / solution.

CAN YOU TRANSFER GAMECUBE SAVES FROM SD CARDS TO THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MEMORY CARDS?

 

[marc_max]

To clarify this a little: any attempt to mount a frist party (nintendo original) memory card fails due to it not being properly unlocked.

I dunno about nugasa author, but gamecube_saver author does not own any official memory card.

Last time I checked 1st party mc's weren't working, so Servdogg is either lying or he deosn't own a real nintendo card. He could also have a really strange setup, but the problem seems to reside in libogc, so any changes in the wii shouldn't affect the app's functionality.

The only thing I can think of is the program running on a strange IOS and for some reason being able to unlock the memory card.

Does anyone know which IOS does a HB app use if none is forced with IOS_reload()?

IOS36.
You can change that by modifying this hex string:
2B 0A 00 24

to:

2B 0A 00 xx

Where xx is the IOS you want to use (note that 24h is 36d).

 

[Riley]

So as of now is there anyway of mounting 1st party memory cards ? Ive searched and haven't found an answer anywhere.

 

[dronesplitter]

I gave NuGasa a try for the first time with an official GCN card. It allowed me to make a backup of two save files but they won't restore (I tried restoring them with Gamecube Saver but won't work that way either). After working that one time, I can't get the program to enter the backup mode again no matter how much I try, even with a different card. I don't think the backup file that it wrote is corrupt, though. I downloaded a save for that same game from gamefaqs and compared what I found with a hex editor to my backup and the backup is at least very similar in content (some of the same ascii appears). The sizes match up, too.

 

[marc_max]

The bug was on libogc, maybe it's already fixed and we only have to recompile the old applications.

 

[dn_angel000]

I've got it 2 work many times (On 1st Party Memory Card)!

Here's what I did...
1) Download Gamecube_Saver off the Homebrew Browser instead!! (4 some reason it doesn't work if u just download it off WiiBrew (Had the same prob with DeSmuME at the time!))
2) Rename ur .gci file 2 xxx.gci (Worked 4 me when I used 3 letters on each save!)

If this doesn't work 4 u then copy all ur SD Card content 2 ur computer then Reformat ur SD Card (DO NOT SELECT 'QUICK FORMAT') then copy all the stuff back 2 it!! lol

EDIT: Just checked, if u navigate 2 the Gamecube Saves directory on the Wii the hover ur Wiimote over the empty square and a White bubble with no text in it should appear (that is ur copied save) click on it (it should have a bunch of ''iiiiiiiii"s) then delete it!! lol Load Gamecube_Saver again then test 2 c if it works or not!! lol

 

[Riley]

Ive tried renaming the files , formatting the card, it all ends in code dump

 

[dn_angel000]

Ive tried renaming the files , formatting the card, it all ends in code dump

Try redownloading the save or download a different 1!! lol

 

[HiroshiYamauchi]

I also can confirm that the GameCube_Saver works with Official Nintendo memory cards. To make it work, i do the following:

1 - Start the Wii and go to the GameCube memory card management screen, your saves will be listed. Do nothing and return to the Wii main menu.

2 - Start the GameCube_Saver application and select the desired option. Some codes will apear until the stack dump.

3 - Finally, return to the memory card management screen and your save file will be there.

That's it, always works for me and at the first try!

 

[FenrirWolf]

I'll have to give that a shot sometime and see what happens.

 

[Dark-Aries]

Wait...people have problems moving saves from SD to Mem on official Ninty cards? Can anybody explain exactly why? I always got third party ones due to the fact they are bigger (size and mb wise) and were funky colors, oh and cheaper.

 

[Sanoblue]

yeah they do work but u have to keep trying over and over. ull get it to load eventually

 

[dronesplitter]

The bug was on libogc, maybe it's already fixed and we only have to recompile the old applications.

I'm not sure, but the bug is probably still there as I just compiled GCMM with the latest devkitpro and the behavior persists. The function CARD_Mount in libogc is what GCMM relies on to start communication with the device in slotB. CARD_Mount must return 0 in order for GCMM to allow access to the contents of the card, but even with the build I just made it always returns with -5 (internal EXI I/O error).
I found this post on the devkitpro site http://www.devkitpro.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1631 discussing it. I am befuddled as to why the timing error, if that's the problem, would still allow unofficial cards to work without issue.
NuGasa has worked at least a handful of times with my official card - I would love to see what the difference in the code is

 

[dn_angel000]

Well I read that the difference is that GCMM was only tested on 3rd party cards, and Nugasa was tested on 1st party cards! lol Though I could b confused/wrong however!!

 

[s3phir0th115]

The bug was on libogc, maybe it's already fixed and we only have to recompile the old applications.

That's what I'd like to know. You'd think they'd have fixed it by now, since they're rather crucial for the gamecube, and most people I know, including myself now, use official cards. (I have backups from my third party card before it failed, but I have no way to restore them currently.)

 

[Linuks]

In GCMM :

UPDATE HISTORY :
# Fixed restore bug (yes, savegames will restore properly)

Did anyone try it ?

EDIT : ah I didn't see the information about official cards :\

 

[dronesplitter]

The bug was on libogc, maybe it's already fixed and we only have to recompile the old applications.

That's what I'd like to know. You'd think they'd have fixed it by now, since they're rather crucial for the gamecube, and most people I know, including myself now, use official cards. (I have backups from my third party card before it failed, but I have no way to restore them currently.)

Gamecube Saver does work with official cards, so you can restore those saves if you want.
You will need to:
1. Download the Gamecube Saver app
2. Create a directory at the root of your SD card named "gc_saves"
3. Copy a .GCI file (the app only handles one) that you want to restore to "gc_saves" and rename it "A.GCI" (the readme for the app will explain)
Now, run the app. If the GCN card you want to copy to is in slot A, you need a Gamecube controller attached to the first port then just press A. In my experience, if you see "File Read Successfully" show up then it worked. When the program has finished and you see a code dump, hold Z on the Gamecube controller until you reload to the Homebrew Channel. Check your card and make sure the file copied - otherwise you'll have to try again until it works.

I hope that is helpful.

 

[dn_angel000]

Hey I copied the Zelda: Wind Waker save 2 my 1st party Mem card! All I did was renamed the save as ZWW.GCI (All in CAPS including the file extention) then ran Gamecube_Saver and tada!! lol

 

[dronesplitter]

This was probably well known, but launching GCMM in gamecube mode gives full compatibility with first party cards. This requires an SD Gecko and a way to run homebrew in GCN mode.

I had an SD Gecko in storage that I stumbled upon which is what sparked my interest in testing this. I ran into a problem with Gamecube Homebrew Launcher (what I used to run homebrew in gamecube mode) where it would always fail to load "start.dol" from the front SD slot. You can modify the source for it and get it working, though.

I made a small change to GCMM to detect the L trigger on the gamecube controller, which does a full backup of the card in one go. No need to do each file at a time

EDIT: Here's a pack I put together that offers a workaround so that saves can be transferred from official cards to the front SD slot:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?l42wuvh1li6b1ys
Consult the included readme.txt - this process expects you to have a cMIOS to launch GCN homebrew.