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Topic: DSiWare Game Saves and SD copying...what's the story?

Posts 1 to 20 of 21

Sean_Aaron

After our own resident Drakan Noire reported that she feared losing game save info from her downloads due to having to get her DSi repaired I figured that any DSiWare game copied to SD and then deleted from my DSi LL would suffer a similar fate. Given the large number of downloads I've been doing to bring previews of Japanese DSiWare titles to you fine folk I simply had to accept that some scores and such would be lost on games I actually wanted to play in future, like the G.G. Series.

Today I decided just for fun to copy one of these back onto my DSi LL from the SD card to see if that was in fact the case, but lo and behold after copying back G.G. Series Z-ONE my score and highest stage reached was still there! Now Dragon had noted that she would get a warning message stating that game save data would not be copied (or words to that effect) when doing the game copy, so I'm wondering if possibly this is only true of certain games or not because I see the same advisory every time I do a copy and yet clearly I've not lost anything (though I'll admit I cannot read most Japanese so I have no real clue what's being stated, only that one choice is "hai" and other is "iee").

It could also be that the LL is just that much more clever than a bog-standard DSi, so I'm wondering what other folk's experiences are with copying and deleting stuff off your DSi to make room for other games: have you copied them back; if so have you lost scores and which games did this happen with?

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Oregano

No, it keeps the save unless it states that it can't copy it all(like with the browser) otherwise but for some reason Castle of Magic can't be copied to my SD Card...weird.

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LzWinky

If the game has internet capabilities, the DSi cannot copy the data over to the SD Card. Same for the Wii

Current games: Everything on Switch

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irken004

I keep DSiware that uses wifi access (like MvsDK: MMA) on the system memory since it won't copy properly to an SD card.

Sean_Aaron

I didn't realise there were that many DSiWare titles that had Wi-Fi Connect support. I don't think anything I've got so far does so I'm well chuffed!

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theblackdragon

I've had to do a lot of shuffling games around between system memory and SD, and i think we crossed some wires someplace in that repair thread, Sean. Here's how it works:

Most games, you can copy over to SD just fine. If you delete them from your DSi afterward and then re-copy them over later, your save data will be intact, just as if you'd never deleted it from your DSi at all. The advisory you're probably seeing is the normal 'data will be copied to SD, is this ok?' confirmation message.

Some games (Robot Rescue was one, and note that it has no Wi-Fi capabilities; i think i'll go through what i've got sometime and see what else gives that message), when you attempt to copy them over to the SD card, will give you a different confirmation message instead of the 'data will be copied' one, like 'some of the save data can not be copied, is this OK?' and it'll give you the option to continue or cancel. In the case of Robot Rescue, when i deleted it from my DSi and re-copied the game to the system memory, all the levels i'd unlocked before were no longer unlocked; it was as if it were a fresh download. Again, it's only certain games that do this (most of what i had copied over to SD just fine when i was backing everything up before i shipped it out for repair).

in fact, i think i'll check through the games i've got now, lol.

Edited on by theblackdragon

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Mange

The DS and the Wii really need a decent backup system. Games can be copied (encrypted) to SD and copied back (decrypted) to system memory. What is the problem with save data? Use some cryptation ffs.

Mange

theblackdragon

OK, these are the games I own that copied to/from the SD card with all save data intact (message will say "Copy to SD Card?"):

101 MiniGolf World (corrupted as it was, lol)
4-TRAVELLERS: Play Spanish
5-in-1 Solitaire
Animal Puzzle Adventure
Arcade Bowling
Art Style: Aquia
Art Style: Base 10
Art Style: Boxlife
Art Style: Digidrive
Art Style: PiCTOBiTS
Aura-Aura Climber
Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs - Fight for Survival
Bird & Beans
Castle of Magic
Dragon's Lair
Electroplankton: Beatnes
Electroplankton: Hanenbow
Electroplankton: Lumiloop
Electroplankton: Luminarrow
Electroplankton: Marine-Crystals
Electroplankton: Sun-Animalcule
Electroplankton: Varvoice
Elemental Masters
Escapee GO!
Extreme Hangman
Faceez
Flipnote Studio
Flips: The Bubonic Builders
Foto Face: The Face-Stealer Strikes
Game & Watch: Chef
Game & Watch: Judge
Globulos Party
Glow Artisan
Hot and Cold: A 3D Hidden Object Adventure
Legends of Exidia
Mario Clock
Prehistorik Man
Rock 'n' Roll Domo
Spaceball: Revolution
Sparkle Snapshots
Sudoku (EA)
Sudoku 4Pockets
Sudoku Challenge!
Sudoku Master
Sudoku Sensei
Touch Solitaire
Word Searcher
VT Tennis

These are the games that lost save data (message will say "A portion of the save data cannot be copied to an SD Card. Copy the software anyway?"):

Ball Fighter
Littlest Pet Shop
Robot Rescue

Edited on by theblackdragon

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Sean_Aaron

Ah that clears it up. So it's the exception to the rule then and probably down to poor coding or Wi-Fi support restrictions.

I just need to try to note if I get a different advisory message then.

Thanks for the responses folks!

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Nintendo ID: sean.aaron

Slapshot

I got something to add here if yall dont mind and maybe someone has some help on it.....

I literally dont use my DSi at all hardly as Im scared of my L and R buttons failing as its a launch day DSi because Im wanting Shantae as soon as it releases. I have about 8 titles or so downloaded on my DSi and if my L and R buttons do happen to fail at some point, I can or cant redownload the games on the new DSi I buy or get from Nintendo?

My understanding is that you can redownload all you want on the same DSi but no to a different one, as I also noticed the other day that some of the titles I own on DSiWare had updates I could download in the DSiWare store buy doing just like you were going to redownload it just downloaded the update to the game. Dont really know what they did but it did something I guess lol.

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theblackdragon

supposedly, if your DSi no longer in working condition, by sending your DSi in to Nintendo along with the replacement DSi you purchase, they'll be able to transfer your data over or link your DSi Shop account to the new one or whatev'. if you choose to send your DSi in for repair instead, though (which would be cheaper, especially if they wind up replacing it outright), they'll either fix the one you sent in or link your DSi Shop account to the new DSi they'll send you back. as i understood the dude on the phone when he was setting up my repair for me, you'll definitely be able to re-download all the games you'd already purchased via the DSi Shop. What's in question is whether or not your backed up save-files will be copy-able to a new DSi should they replace it rather than repairing it for you. Mine copied over fine once i'd re-downloaded each game, but the dude made it sound like it might be possible, it might not.

also, updates for DSi games work just like updates for WiiWare games, you just DL 'em from the shop and you might see a difference, you might not, lol.

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Slapshot

@TBD.... Game saves really arent that big a deal as the games arent too incredibly large, or anything I wouldnt mind replaying I guess. Thanks for the reply though. Hopefully my DSi will not fail like so many have seemed too.

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HolyMackerel

Being unable to copy DSiWare save data has nothing to do with WFC. Number Battles can be copied to my SD card just fine and that has WFC multiplayer. I'm glad I haven't bought any of the non-copyable-save DSiWare games because I swap my games out pretty often.

Has anyone actually successfully sent in their old broken DSi and a new one to transfer their DSiWare account data to the new one? I keep reading that it's possible but I've never read of anyone actually doing it.

Also you know how you can transfer your WFC data to another DS in the WFC menu? I did that when I got my DSi after my Lite broke. I wonder if that's the way to transfer your DSiWare account information - it may be linked to your DS's Nintendo WFC ID. If it is, then it's possible to do the transfer yourself.

HolyMackerel

theblackdragon

@HolyMackerel: here's one such account of nintendo being willing to transfer DSiWare across systems if you send both in, and there was another where the system was actually busted, but i can't for the life of me find that article at the moment. i know i've linked to it a few times here on the forums, but i seriously cannot find it :/

Edited on by theblackdragon

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SpentAllMyTokens

@Holy Mackerel,

I'm sure if it was possible to transfer the downloads along with the WFC connection info, the step by step process to transfer games yourself would be all over the internet. Since it's not, I'd imagine that you can't do it yourself (or at least unless you're better then all the other hackers trying to mod the console and figure it out).

I am way too lazy to think of something clever.
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Slapshot

Im not trying to praise another company, but I really hope Nintendo will learn from Sony on this issue and allow your account to activated on more than one system. Sony allows activation on 5 PS3s (this one is simultaneous because you have multiple accounts per system) and 5 PSPs (this is only on one PSP at a time, as only 1 user can access the PSPs account at a time). Basically if you buy a new PSP, you just go to your "Account Management" and "Download List" wich shows EVERTHING you downloaded and redownload it all to your new system. ALSO on your old PSP you go back into you Account Settings and can Deactivate the systems yourself to free up you slots as well. Its a really nice system, that really makes your Downloads feel like you actually own them and not at fear of constantly loosing them. I like feeling like I own things I buy. I know DSi links to your account so maybe this will be the somewhere in the future for Nintendo, I really hope so.

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HolyMackerel

slapshot82 wrote:

Im not trying to praise another company, but I really hope Nintendo will learn from Sony on this issue

Is this site so full of fanboy love that you can't praise other companies? But seriously I've found the community on this site is far more moderate and reasonable than most others.

Yes, Nintendo could do a lot of work on their digital store and network gaming.

@Token Girl Well I was thinking perhaps no one with a DSi - who had also bought software from the DSiWare store - had tried transferring their WFC ID since the console and service are still fairly new, or maybe from fear of losing their purchases. If I had another DSi I'd be willing to try but unfortunately I only have a spare Lite.

HolyMackerel

HugoSmits

okay it's pretty simple;

there are 2 directories for savegames 'public' and 'private'. The 'public' directory can be
copied to SD card, the 'private' cannot.

Developers are recommended to make their game save in 'public', but it's not required.
Because of this, some games save in 'private' and cannot be copied.

I'm not sure if online games MUST save in private (and therefore aren't able to copy to SD).

Edited on by HugoSmits

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Supermegaman

This only happens when you get that message. I couldnt copy the save data only for robot rescue and the internet thing, but all the others work fine. This is on DSi by the way, im not sure about the XL/LL

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