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sega saturn save converter
aznbkmami - May 18, 2021

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  aznbkmami May 18, 2021
Hi everyone!

I've been trying to finish Shining the Holy Ark but the game freezes (using yabasanshiro 3.3.2) at a certain "knight" boss in the mansion in the woods. I was hoping to use either Medfanen or RetroArch to finish the game, but unsure on how to transfer either my save state (preferred - during the boss animation) or the save game (okay, too - at the town before the mansion). I downloaded Sega Saturn RAM Backup parser 0.9.5, but I have no clue what I'm doing. I saw another thread, but it was to use SSF. Would someone please help me with this?

Thanks a lot!

Cin

 dibz May 18, 2021
The tool you have can do it, but I'm not sure on the details. You could also try:


For the above, per it's instructions, you drag and drop the save onto it. It'll spit out all the formats in the same directory, then you just take the one you want that matches the emulator you want.

 aznbkmami May 18, 2021

dibz said:

Thanks, but nothing happens when I open SaturnSaveConverter

 Knight0fDragon May 18, 2021
you do not open it, you simply drop a file on it

 aznbkmami May 19, 2021

Knight0fDragon said:

thanks for replying knight0fdragon, i did that, but don't see the file anywhere. any idea where it might be? sorry, i'm really new to all of this!

 Knight0fDragon May 19, 2021
you need to install the .net5.0 runtime files. If you grab my latest SaturnPatcher, it should prompt you to install

 hitomi2500 May 19, 2021
Physically on a real hardware saves are stored as a small "metafiles" inside a bigger storage (either internal, cart or floppy). There are 2 kinds of emulators: first ones use entire storage image as a file, second ones store each "metafiles" as an independent file. IIRC both Yabause and Mednafen are the first kind, while SSF is the second. That's why for migrating to/from SSF you actually need to extract/insert those metafiles, while for yab-to-mednafen path does not need this theoretically. You'll need to rename the storage image file to what mednafen expects is to be. Worst case, you'll additionally need to change the storage format, that's just load/save in RAM Backup parser.

Sadly, i cannot elaborate further at the moment, maybe i need to write a simple guide for this. Oh, and it's irrelevant, but 0.9.5 is not the last one. Get last one here : Release 0.9.8-windows · hitomi2500/ss-save-parser...

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

Knight0fDragon said:

that did exactly what you said. i dragged the "bkram.bin" file from my yabause folder into the saturnsaveconverter app and it generated the different types of save files for each emulator. however, when i place the medfanen file in the medfanen "sav" folder and load the game it says i have no save files. any thoughts as to why it won't recognize? again, thanks for all your help so far.

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

Jameson said:

so, i did think it was the naming convention that was the issue. so, i started a new shining the holy ark file in medfanen by playing through to the first save point. it spewed out a file called "Shining the Holy Ark (USA) (DW0578).5a02e50857e89c381c151e3aabc3e6ca.bkr" (as well as two other files: 1) a .bcr file with the same prefix and 2) a .smpc file with the same prefix). i then copied that entire name to the converted save file previously titled medfanen.bkr, but nothing happened! :-(

 privateye May 20, 2021
*.bcr = External cartridge backup memory (512KB)
*.bkr = Internal memory (32KB)

These are the file sizes when using the Beetle Saturn core for RetroArch but, if I remember correctly, the standalone version of Mednafen trims these files. Therefore, the bkr file created by Saturn Save Converter might not be compatible with standalone Mednafen, so please try loading the converted save file in Beetle Saturn. If that doesn't work, I will suggest an alternate method.

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

privateye said:

i tried to do this, retroarch will only load games based on the recommended cores. for shining the holy ark the recommended cores are yabause and yabasanshiro.

maybe i'm overthinking this by using medfanen or retroarch... would be more practical approach be to go from yabasanshiro to ssf (apparently plays the game 100%). i have a "ssf_bkram.bin" file from the process outlined by knight0fdragon. however, i once place it in the internalbackup folder of ssf the game says there aren't any saved adventures. did i do something wrong?

 privateye May 20, 2021

aznbkmami said:

Not sure what you mean by that, because Shining the Holy Ark loads fine for me in the Beetle Saturn core.


aznbkmami said:

That should work but Saturn Save Converter only converts to SSF's "non-hook" save format, so you will have to make sure that SSF is set to non-hook mode. To do that, uncheck the option named "Hook Backup Library" somewhere in SSF's settings. And of course, the converted save file needs to be named correctly.

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

aznbkmami said:

ok, so by putting together what you guys suggested and what is in a similar thread started by saturn32beats i was able to do load the saves.

for anyone else that has this type of issue (going from yabasanshiro to ssf), you simply need to do the following:

1) download the sega saturn ram backup parser tool
2) download the sega saturn save converter tool
3) drag and drop your bkram file (found in C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\yabause) into sega saturn converter tool. this will generate several new files based on the emulator you desire to use.
4)(open sega saturn ram backup parser tool and load the ssf bkram file that was just generated. select all the files you wish to be in your new save and click insert and browse to the ssf directory (SSF_PreviewVer_R17\Backup\InternalBackup)

insert cd or load image and start ssf application. have fun.

thanks to all of you for your help.

i have one more request for support - is there a way to convert or use save states from yabasanshiro to ssf?

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

privateye said:

i deleted all the cores and tried again... beetle is the only one installed and it tells me no cores available. i also tried loading it through the file > load core > load content and it said could not load content.

 Knight0fDragon May 20, 2021
I do not support Memory Card backups. So for beetle/mednafen/whatever, with system ram you need to rename the BKR to match that of the hash that mednafen will generate. For SSF. I do not support Hook files yet, so you need to disable the hook option.

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

Knight0fDragon said:

sorry, i'm not sure i follow. what i want to do now is convert a save state - is this possible from yabasanshiro to ssf?

i have .yss files which i believe are the save states produced by yabasanshiro.

are you referring to save states as a memory card backup in your message?

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021

privateye said:

figured the beetle loading issue out. it was an issue with the bios.

still trying to figure out the save state conversion from yabasanshiro to medfanen or to retroarch

 aznbkmami May 20, 2021
i was able to convert from yabasanshiro to ssf to medfanen due to performance issues on ssf with shining the holy ark. for anyone looking to do the same, below are steps in layman's terms for how to do it. i hope this helps anyone else looking to do something similar.

yabasanshiro to ssf:
1) download the sega saturn ram backup parser tool
2) download the sega saturn save converter tool
3) drag and drop your bkram file (found in C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\yabause) into sega saturn converter tool. this will generate several new files based on the emulator you desire to use.
4)(open sega saturn ram backup parser tool and load the ssf bkram file that was just generated. select all the files you wish to be in your new save and click insert and browse to the ssf directory (SSF_PreviewVer_R17\Backup\InternalBackup)
5) insert cd or load image and start ssf application (if you plan on only using ssf). otherwise, follow next steps.

ssf to retroarch beetle (medfanen):
1) boot the game in medfanen without any saves, so it creates the three placeholder files (bkr, bcr, and smpc).
2) open sega saturn ram backup parser tool and load the placeholder bkr file.
3) click insert and click on the SSF save file. that will insert the save data into the placeholder file.
4) export to the directory of your choice, rename exactly as the placeholder file, and override the placeholder file.
5) load retroarch beetle and have fun.

if anyone figures out how to convert SAVE STATES from yabasanshiro to medfanen, i would greatly appreciate learning how to do that.

 saturn32beats May 21, 2021
I dont have any idea of mednafen but I did transfered the internal save of Yaba Sanshiro to SSF just by using Jameson's Backup Parser Tool. I didnt need the saturn save converter tool at all. This was explained to me by the marvelous Jameson and privateye:

1) Start Saturn Backup Parser Tool. Open bkram.bin from yaba (better a copy of it).
2) Check in Setup that export mode is set to SSF.
3) Select the blocks regarding the game you want to copy and click Export and select destination folder.
4) Add to the name of the obtained files .bin at the end and copy/paste them in the Backup/Internal Backup folder inside your SSF folder. Overwrite if necessary.
5) Voilá. Open SSF and keep on playing where you left in Yaba.

Btw I would be also quite interested in converting Save states. I am also glad you found a way to convert internal saves to Mednafen. I have to give a try to this emulator at some point.

 aznbkmami May 21, 2021

saturn32beats said:

the issue i am having with the save states that is that they are in .yss format. the bkram file doesn't seem to have them. doesn't seem to work for me. it kind of sucks, because i will have to do some grinding back to where the save state was, but it will probably be for the best, since it was during a fmv sequence... who knows if it will even load. nevertheless, i am sure there are others, like us, who would like to know the specifics of save state conversions from emu to emu.

As for the conversion to medfanen, it will work for both retroarch beetle and medfanen base. personally, i'm using retroarch beetle because it has a better UI and has more options. your post helped me troubleshoot, so thanks.

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