Save File Converter

Web-based tool to convert save files from retro game consoles to different formats

Production instance found at https://savefileconverter.com

Instructions:

1. Find the file you want to convert
2. Choose which kind of file it is from the top of the window
3. Click the arrow for which way you want to do the conversion
4. Choose the file to convert
5. Change the output filename if necessary
6. Click Convert!

Upcoming features

• Be able to autodetect the format of a given save file (note that raw files need their size checked, unrecognized size means invalid file)
• PS2 formats (check out https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/536777-suikoden-iii/saves for a potential list)
• GameCube formats (check out https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gamecube/533008-soulcalibur-ii/saves for a potential list)
• Saturn formats
• What are the 64kB .srm files for SNES etc on thetechgame.com? Want to extract a 'normal' .srm file from them
• I need suggestions!

Usecases for further thought

• Automatically add/remove header added by some flash carts (e.g. EZ Flash) given an example file
• Be able to change the size of a raw GBA save to help move between emulators

Emulators with incompatible save formats

• (GBA) Pizza Boy GBA files incompatible with mGBA (believe mGBA uses raw files)
• (PS1) Beetle HW incompatible with DuckStation
• (Saturn) SSF incompatible with Mednafen/Beetle Saturn
• (N64) Mupen64Plus Next files incompatible with Wii64
• (Genesis) Everdrive is incompatible with MiSTER core (see #80)

Other cartridge readers

• Open source/Arduino: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader

Save file formats

• Retron5
  • https://www.retro5.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=67&start=10
• GameShark (GBA)
  • (partial): https://gbatemp.net/threads/converting-gsv-or-sps-files-to-sav.51838/#post-664786
  • (reading): https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/blob/master/src/gba/GBA.cpp#L1025
  • (writing): https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/blob/master/src/gba/GBA.cpp#L1146
  • (partial): https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/blob/master/src/gba/sharkport.c
• GameShark SP (GBA)
  • (reading): https://github.com/visualboyadvance-m/visualboyadvance-m/blob/master/src/gba/GBA.cpp#L1078
• GameShark (PS2)
  • (partial): https://www.ps2savetools.com/documents/xps-format/
• PS2
  • Save Tools: https://www.ps2savetools.com/
  • Save tool:
    • http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/mymc/
    • https://github.com/ps2dev/mymc
  • Memory card format: http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/mymc/ps2mcfs.html
  • Use PS2 files on PS3: https://github.com/bucanero/apollo-ps3
  • Convert PS2 formats: https://github.com/bucanero/psv-save-converter
• Wii Virtual Console save game format (note that the files are encrypted)
  • https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_Savegame_Parser
  • https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Savegame_Files
  • https://wiibrew.org/wiki/FE100
  • https://hackmii.com/2008/04/keys-keys-keys/
  • https://github.com/Plombo/segher-wii-tools
  • (writing) https://github.com/Plombo/segher-wii-tools/blob/master/twintig.c
  • https://github.com/Plombo/vcromclaim
  • https://github.com/JanErikGunnar/vcromclaim
• PSP save file decryption/encryption (note that some files require a per-game key):
  • https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/PSP_Savedata
  • https://github.com/BrianBTB/SED-PC (PC application that decrypts/encrypts saves)
  • https://github.com/cielavenir/psp-savedata-endecrypter (improvement to SED-PC that works with "mode 4" (whatever that is???))
  • https://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=37556 (PSP plugin that dumps a game's key)
  • https://github.com/TheHellcat/psp-hb/blob/master/SavegameDeemer_620TN/deemer_hooker/main.c#L204 Code for a plugin that does this. It intercepts the call to save the game, and writes out a copy of the save in plaintext, plus the key
  • https://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?p=137153&sid=37bd385d91e7c2d89cf1ff8d70e8c640#p137153 Discussion saying that you need to either use a plugin, or parse the executable for look for code around a certain system call to figure out what value is being passed to it
  • I can't seem to find an online list of game keys, and requiring users to install a plugin on their PSP then type a gamekey into the interface seems like too much to ask.
  • https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp PSP emulator
    • https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/blob/master/Tools/SaveTool/decrypt.c This decrypts a savegame file
    • https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/blob/81b5e080ff885e98b5761632158457ce3e5d1fb5/Core/HLE/sceKernelModule.cpp#L1251 The code before here decrypts the executable
    • https://github.com/euan-forrester/psp-encryption-webassembly Copy of the relevant code in PPSSPP, compiled into webassembly
• NES/SNES Classic save game format
  • https://github.com/TeamShinkansen/Hakchi2-CE (tool used to write games onto the devices)
  • https://github.com/JanErikGunnar/ClassicEditionTools (scripts to convert raw saves to/from NES Classic format)
  • http://darkakuma.z-net.us/p/sfromtool.html (convert SNES ROMs and/or saves to the SNES Classic ROM and/or save format)
  • I'm not sure there's enough demand for a web-based tool that does this. The devices aren't available for sale anymore and you already have to run a Windows program to transfer the games. Also the Windows tool for the SNES Classic has the ability to convert saves already.
• PS1:
  • https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/PS1_Savedata
  • MemcardRex format: https://github.com/ShendoXT/memcardrex/blob/master/MemcardRex/ps1card.cs
  • DexDrive format: https://github.com/ShendoXT/memcardrex/blob/master/MemcardRex/ps1card.cs
  • Signing a PSP .VMP file: https://github.com/dots-tb/vita-mcr2vmp
  • PS3 format: https://psdevwiki.com/ps3/PS1_Savedata#PS1_Single_Save_.3F_.28.PSV.29
• N64:
  • https://github.com/bryc/mempak
    • https://bryc.github.io/mempak/ (online preview)
  • https://github.com/bryc/mempak/wiki/DexDrive-.N64-format
  • https://github.com/bryc/mempak/wiki/MemPak-structure
  • https://github.com/heuripedes/pj64tosrm (convert raw save to emulator format)
  • http://micro-64.com/database/gamesave.shtml (list of games which use each save type)
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/n64/comments/ezhleg/guide_how_to_backup_your_n64_saves_to_your_pc/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpolokImIeU (convert individual note to .eep format)
  • https://github.com/ssokolow/saveswap Swap endianness of N64 saves to move between Everdrive/emulators/etc
  • Game serial codes:
    • https://niwanetwork.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_64_games_by_serial_code
    • https://meanwhileblog.wordpress.com/n64-game-code-list/
• Goomba emulator
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/everdrive/comments/qcgus7/using_a_gba_x5_goomba_sram_save_file_on_a_gbc_x7/
• 3DS Virtual Console
  • SNES games: https://github.com/manuGMG/3ds-snes-sc
  • The tool above apparently works on some WiiU VC games as well: https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-3ds-snes-save-converter.574927/
  • Pokemon saves: https://sav2vc.fm1337.com/
• Sega Saturn
  • https://github.com/hitomi2500/ss-save-parser
• Gamecube
  • https://github.com/kwsch/PKHeX (Save editor for Pokemon games. Can apparently parse GCN files among others. Needs a closer look)

GBA save file size difficulty

• https://zork.net/~st/jottings/GBA_saves.html
• https://dillonbeliveau.com/2020/06/05/GBA-FLASH.html

Devices that can read/write cart saves

• https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Save_Managers

Deployment instructions

Backend setup: AWS and terraform

First we need to create the infrastructure that the system will run on

Install packages

brew install terraform

Create an AWS account

Go to https://aws.amazon.com/ and click on "Create an AWS Account"

Then create an IAM user within that account. This user will need to have various permissions to create different kinds of infrastructure.

Copy the file terraform/aws_credentials.example to terraform/aws_credentials

• Copy the new user's AWS key and secret key into the new file you just created.

Run terraform

Note that this will create infrastructure within your AWS account and could result in billing charges from AWS

Note: Run terraform with the environment variable TF_LOG=1 to help debug permissions issues.

For convenience we will create a symlink to our terraform.tfvars file. You can also import these variables from the command line when you run terraform if you prefer.

In your terraform.tfvars file, fill in the various parts. If you choose to create a domain, do so manually in the AWS console then put the domain name and Route 53 Zone ID created by Route 53 into this file.

cd terraform/dev
ln -s ../terraform.tfvars terraform.tfvars
terraform init
terraform plan
terraform apply

Frontend setup

Install packages

cd ../../frontend
brew install yarn
yarn install

Optional project dashboard

yarn global add @vue/cli
vue ui

Then go to: http://localhost:8000/dashboard

Deploy the frontend

Edit the bucket names in frontend/vue.config.js and frontend/.env.production to be the website s3 bucket(s) created by terraform if necessary. Similarly for the CloudFront IDs.

yarn build --mode development
yarn deploy --mode development

and for production:

yarn build --mode production
yarn deploy --mode production
yarn deploy:cleanup --mode production

Go into S3 to get the domain for your bucket.

Point your browser there and enjoy!