3DS GBA Save Backup and Restore with GodMode9

[InsaneNutter]

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https://3ds.guide however if you hacked your 3DS a long time ago then its quite possible your version of GodMode9 is out of date.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:

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:

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:

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:

Press A on AGBSAVE options:

Select Dump GBA VC save:

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

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:

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:

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:

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:

Now navigate to Sysnand Virtual:

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

Then inject GBA VC Save:

The save game will then be injected:

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:

Hopefully this tutorial has been some help to you.

 

[wikedsuperlink]

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]

@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.

 

[Hamouda55]

Please help , when I tried to inject sav file it told me " injection failed" so how can i fix it?

 

[InsaneNutter]

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.

 

[SpaghettiPig64]

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?

 

[InsaneNutter]

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.

 

[Darkxys]

A question : wich GBA Emulator should I use to open those files? Thanks in advance!

 

[InsaneNutter]

A question : wich GBA Emulator should I use to open those files? Thanks in advance!

I use VBA-M personally and have no issues.

 

[haryor]

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.

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.

 

[InsaneNutter]

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?

 

[haryor]

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?

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.

 

[Mike123456789]

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?

 

[InsaneNutter]

Is the save file 128k in size? if not that could be the issue.

 

[TREBOL]

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...

 

[InsaneNutter]

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.

 

[TREBOL]

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.

Awesome man! Thanks
What a noob am I..

 

[Pablo_CL]

This works the same way if it's a snes save file right?

 

[InsaneNutter]

This works the same way if it's a snes save file right?

You can use Checkpoint or SaveDataFile for Snes games. GBA games are a bit different as the 3DS is not emulating those.

 

[NoahLayta495]

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?