Tutorial: How to back up your retail DS game saves. (Difficulty: Hard)

[Igby]

So, I was looking around for a way to backup saves from my commercial games to load to the microSD card. I found a couple of apps, but they had somewhat vague or daunting tutorials, so I'm taking the info I've found and expanding on it based on my experience trying it out. I'm taking the original Tutorial found here and changing it to go in context with the CycloDS Evolution. So, here we go....

How this works is with a DS homebrew app called SavSender that helps transfer the save files to your computer via WiFi. In conjunction with a PC app called SavReceiver, the files can be easily saved to your PC. Most of the steps from the original tutorial will be followed, until we get to where SavReceiver comes into play.

You Will Need

1. Your CycloDS Evolution and microSD.
2. The SavSender homebrew app. Download the "DS binary" file here.
3. The SavReceiver PC app. Download it here.
4. A wireless router for WiFi connection (knowledge of your routers settings is helpful, as well).
5. A retail DS game cartridge that you want to backup the save for.
6. Your DS must already work with other wireless homebrew apps. See this GBAdev thread and this DS-X wiki article for more info.
7. Visible file extensions. In Windows Explorer, go to Tools -> Folder Options, then click the "View" tab. Next uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types". This is important for when we need to change the file types.

Lets Get Started

1. On the root of your microSD, create a folder called "DATA" if not already there.
2. Copy the savsender.nds file that you downloaded earlier into this DATA folder.
3. Now, in this "DATA" folder, create a new folder and call it "SETTINGS".
4. Open Start, then Run and type "cmd" or "command" and hit Enter
5. At the command prompt type "ipconfig" and hit Enter on the keyboard. You should see something similar to this:

   Windows IP Configuration
   
   Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
   
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : your.isp.net
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.101
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

6. Now, open a new Notepad file, on the first line type your IP Address shown in IP Config. Press Enter and type a number on the next line for your port number (I just used 5000 and had no problems). So now your Notepad should have something that looks like this:

   192.168.1.101
   5000
   

7. Save this Notepad in the "SETTINGS" folder on your microSD, then rename it to "savsender.conf". Make sure the file type is CONF and not TXT.
8. Open your router's settings page and find the section for Port Forwarding. Create a new Port Forwarding using the same IP address and Port Number that you typed in your savsender.conf file. If you don't know how to do this, I suggest Googling "Port Forwarding <model of your router>". All routers are different, so I don't know how to do it for every one.
9. Now, go ahead and stick the microSD in your CycloDS Evolution and load it into your Nintendo DS.

Here Comes The Magic

1. If you haven't already, unzip the SavReceiver_0.1b.zip file to your hard drive. You may also want to look over the ReadMe.txt file as well to familiarize yourself with it.
2. By default SaveReceiver is in French. To change it to English, open up the "SavReceiver.ini" and replace "Français" with "English", and save the file.
3. Turn on your DS, start the CycloDS Evolution, and navigate to the "DATA" folder. You should see the SavSender app there.
4. Next, fire up the SavReceiver app and you should see a screen that looks like this:

   
   

5. Enter your IP address and the Port you want to use for the transfer (the same ones that you wrote in the savsender.conf file).
6. Use m3 Simply/R4 as the Linker type. This is compatible with the CycloDS Evolution and will not need to be converted.
7. Click the Download button.
8. Next choose a folder to save the file (I suggest making a new folder on your hard drive and calling it SAVs). When naming the file, it needs to match the name of the corresponding ROM file EXACTLY, and make sure to type ".sav" at the end (So, if the ROM file is "0056 - Super Mario 64 DS (U).nds" then the Save file should be "0056 - Super Mario 64 DS (U).sav").
9. Go ahead and click "Open" then follow the prompts and click OK after each one.
   1. Launch SavSender on your DS. (Your DS will now begin to attempt to connect to your PC via Wifi using the Port Forward you set up).
   2. When it displays to press a button, eject the slot one linker (remove your CycloDS Evolution). (If instead you get a message that says "Could not connect to AP! Aborting.", see below for WiFi tips.)
   3. Insert the game cartridge (the one you want to backup the save for).
   4. Close this message (click OK) and press the A DS button (Not B).
10. Now your save should be being dumped to your PC. When its done, your DS will look like this:

    
    

11. If you feel like it, you can dump another save file, just repeat steps 7-10 from above. Otherwise you can turn the DS off, and remove the microSD and put it in the reader.
12. Now copy your .sav files into the same directory as your NDS ROMs on your microSD.
13. Now you can put the microSD back into the CycloDS Evolution, load up your ROM. You should find that you now have the same progress on your ROM that you do on the retail cart. Yay!

WiFi tips

If you can't get your DS to connect to your PC, or you get a message that says "Could not connect to AP! Aborting." Try the following:

• Try to connect to your WiFi with a normal retail game. If that can connect, you shouldn't have any problems with the SavSender. Go here for help if you have trouble doing this.
• Make sure your wireless router has band B enabled.
• Power cycle your wireless router.
• Temporarily disable any Wireless encryption.
• Delete the DS's WiFi Connection(s) and recreate it.
• Double check your IP and Port settings and make sure everything matches.
• Your DS must already work with other wireless homebrew apps. See this GBAdev thread and this DS-X wiki article for more info.

[l3lu3drag0n]

Nice, but most people dont even own the DS games =P they just download them XD

[Igby]

Originally Posted by l3lu3drag0n

Nice, but most people dont even own the DS games =P they just download them XD

Yeah, well I have 18 DS games, and didn't really feel like starting them all over again to get to where I am in each of them.
Plus its nice to keep your originals to play multiplayer with a friend and they don't have the game, you can just loan them the retail cart.

[mcp2]

This is great. I have Pokemon Ranger and I got a manaphy egg but my bro wants to play the game so I gotta backup the file.

[spen83]

really nice tutorial man thx

[Fozzy]

good job, this should help a lot of people, including me....lol

[Shane R. Monroe]

Cool stuff here ...

As for "everyone just downloads them", sorry, I have well over 100 original game cartridges and I have to keep an old slot 2 device around just to dump game saves or to up them to the original carts.

This will be very useful.

[brenes]

Ooo can you add in your tip section to make sure that wireless band b is enabled. I was running g only and couldn't figure out why my sd wouldn't connect the other day.

[snipperdag]

This does sound really good, I have nearly 50 original games and would love to transfer the Yu-Gi-Oh files over to my evo so I got em all with me.

Cheers for this


Snipperdag

[Igby]

Originally Posted by brenes

Ooo can you add in your tip section to make sure that wireless band b is enabled. I was running g only and couldn't figure out why my sd wouldn't connect the other day.

Good point. My router has both enabled by default, so I didn't have to change that.