3DS GBA Save Backup and Restore with GodMode9

Discussion in 'Nintendo 3DS Guides' started by InsaneNutter, Mar 24, 2018.

  1. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    If you have followed my previous tutorial on Nintendo 3DS GBA Game Injection to play GBA games on the 3DS then you might be wondering how you can backup your save games or even restore a save game from an emulator or from a real GBA game cartridge.

    You can do this quite easily with GodMode9 once you know how.

    If you have injected some GBA games on to your 3DS then you have CFW and should have GodMode9 installed as this is used during the process to install CFW on your 3DS when following the popular https://3ds.guide however if you hacked your 3DS a long time ago then its quite possible your version of GodMode9 is out of date. The ability to backup GBA savegame is quite a new feature on GodMode9, so first download the latest version of GodMode9.

    Unzip this to your 3DS's SD card in the luma\payloads folder, overwriting the existing payload:

    3ds-godmode9-update.jpg

    Your all set to backup your GBA save games on the 3DS now.

    Backing up GBA Saves on the 3DS:

    Keep in mind you can only backup the save of the last GBA game you played, so launch the GBA game you wish to backup:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-0.jpg

    Let the game load, then press the home button and exit back to the 3DS home screen before powering the 3DS off.

    Now hold the start button and press the power button to turn the 3DS on, this should launch GodMode9 by default. If it doesn't you have likely assigned a different button to hold when powering the 3DS on to load GodMode9.

    When GodMode9 loads go down to Sysnand Virtual and press A:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-1.jpg

    Press A on agbsave.bin, this is the save game which was restored to the 3DS's nand when you loaded the last GBA game you played up:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-2.jpg

    Press A on AGBSAVE options:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-3.jpg

    Select Dump GBA VC save:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-4.jpg

    The GBA save should be dumped to gm9/out on the SD card:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-5.jpg

    As you can see the save game has been dumped with the title ID of the installed GBA game with .gbavc.sav as the file extension:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-6.jpg

    You have now backed the save up and can use it on an emulator, or even restore it to a real GBA game cartridge if you have a DS / DS Lite with a Flash Card and GBA Backup Tool. Either way i'd suggest copying it to somewhere safe on your computer.

    Restore GBA Saves on the 3DS:

    You are almost doing the reverse of what you have just done to backup a save.

    Again keep in mind you can only restore the save of the last GBA game you played, so launch the GBA game you wish to restore the save to:

    gba-3ds-save-backup-gm9-0.jpg

    Let the game load, then press the home button and exit back to the 3DS home screen before powering the 3DS off.

    Now hold the start button and press the power button to turn the 3DS on, this should launch GodMode9 by default. If it doesn't you have likely assigned a different button to hold when powering the 3DS on to load GodMode9.

    Go to the SD card and find the GBA save you wish to restore:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-1.jpg

    Press Y on the save you wish to restore and it will be copied to the clipboard, you will see [Clipboard] in the top right of the bottom screen when you have done this, as shown below:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-2.jpg

    Now navigate to Sysnand Virtual:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-3.jpg

    Press A on agbsave.bin, then on the bottom screen select AGBSAVE options:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-4.jpg

    Then inject GBA VC Save:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-5.jpg

    The save game will then be injected:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-6.jpg

    You now know how to restore a GBA save, you can restore a save from an emulator, or even from a real GBA cartridge if you dump the save with a tool such as GBA Backup Tool using a DS or DS Lite.

    I have personally been enjoying playing my GBA games on a much larger screen:

    gba-3ds-save-restore-gm9-7.jpg

    Hopefully this tutorial has been some help to you.
     
  2. wikedsuperlink

    wikedsuperlink New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2018
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    1
    thank you so much this really helped now i can play my fan translated mother 3 cartridge on my 3ds without having to take my gameboy with me on the go
     
    InsaneNutter likes this.
  3. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    @wikedsuperlink Enjoy, i'm doing this with Pokemon Emerald on my 3DS. I will eventually restore the save to my cartridge so I can trade Pokemon and such. However its nice playing it on the go, with a much larger screen in the meantime.
     
  4. Hamouda55

    Hamouda55 New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2018
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Please help , when I tried to inject sav file it told me " injection failed" so how can i fix it?
     
  5. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Is the save the correct size? for example if its a Pokemon game are you injecting a 64k save in to a custom GBA game which is expecting a 128k save?

    Latest version of Godmode9?

    More info needed.
     
  6. SpaghettiPig64

    SpaghettiPig64 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2019
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Does this work with BizHawk? I want to transfer my ROM saves to my N3DSXL so I can play my Metroids and Zeldas on the go. I was wondering because from what I can tell BizHawk used .SAVERAM and not .sav
    Is this important or will it still work? Or am I just wrong about it not using .sav?
     
  7. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    The emulator is probably just using a different file extension for the save, you could rename it and see what happens. Regardless of the format you should be able to convert the save if its an issue.
     
  8. Darkxys

    Darkxys New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2019
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    A question : wich GBA Emulator should I use to open those files? Thanks in advance!
     
  9. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    I use VBA-M personally and have no issues.
     
  10. haryor

    haryor New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2019
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    1
    Hello! I followed the instructions you posted for importing/injecting a ".sav" file into my GBA VC Game (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past). I get the "Savegame inject success" message from Godmode9, but when I load up the game afterwards, it's like nothing has been done. I checked that both the save file and the injection is using 64k save files. I know the latter is true because I made the injection myself with New Super Ultimate Injector, and set the memory type to EEPROM 64k. I could upload my save file and check properties from my ROM/Injection if that would help.

    Also, I tried loading the save file in VBA but it didn't work, though it did work in no$gba. It's worth noting that, after no$gba loads it successfully, the size changes from 64k to 2k.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2019
  11. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Try making a save on the GBA VC game first, then injecting your emulator save after.

    If your original save doesn't work in VBA that could be the issue, what emulator was it created on?
     
  12. haryor

    haryor New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2019
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    1
    I already had a save in the GBA VC.

    I solved it, though! I had to byte flip the save file with Hex Editor and trim it from the end so that it was reduced from 64k to 8k. After that, the injection worked.
     
    InsaneNutter likes this.
  13. Mike123456789

    Mike123456789 New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2020
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hello, I'm having trouble with the part of putting save files from an emulation to the 3ds, I followed everything it said and even though it says save game inject success, the save file for Pokémon emerald wouldn't be there and it would still just open up with new game and option. Do I need to use the gba backup tool for this?
     
  14. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Is the save file 128k in size? if not that could be the issue.
     
  15. TREBOL

    TREBOL New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2020
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hey man!
    Thanks a lot for the tutorial,I finally manage to play my old cartridges saves on 3ds

    Now I tried editing the save on PKSM from Emerald VC ,but when I inject the save back Into VC,it shows the previous unedited save .Where is the VC saves folder located? Maybe I'm injecting the wrong save...
     
  16. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    You need to export your save with Godmode 9 before you can edit it, so it will be in the gm9/out on the SD card.

    After you need to import the save again.
     
  17. TREBOL

    TREBOL New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2020
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Awesome man! Thanks
    What a noob am I..
     
  18. Pablo_CL

    Pablo_CL New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2020
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    This works the same way if it's a snes save file right?
     
  19. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2007
    Messages:
    12,252
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    You can use Checkpoint or SaveDataFile for Snes games. GBA games are a bit different as the 3DS is not emulating those.
     
  20. NoahLayta495

    NoahLayta495 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2020
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hey, so I tried doing all this with a Rom Hack of Emerald, I did everything right, I loaded the VC, Went to Home, turned off my 3ds, turned on godmode9, exported the save, editted it, reloaded the VC, exited via home, reloaded the game, but when I did, the games save data was corrupted.

    what did I do wrong?
     

Share This Page