Use of the tools in this guide is fully at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage you may cause to any of your Skylanders. From what I have heard, figures from imaginators are more prone to being damaged by programs due to increased encryption, but I have had no issues dumping and writing them to tags with the methods described. You can NOT change which Skylander a figure is (I.E. make Gill Grunt read as Spyro in game).
This guide will cover:
-Backing up a Skylander figure's progress to Skylanders GUI Tool
-How to fully dump your own Skylanders figures to your computer
-How to write your dumped Skylander files to mifare tags
-Resetting tags to write a different figure
-A potential way to take your Skylanders in tag form while travelling and write your Skylander progress (made on the tags back) back to your Skylander figures when you return home
Purpose:
This guide will enable you to have a complete digital backup of your Skylander figures in the format that allows you to write the backups to mifare tags in the event that the RFID chip inside your Skylander completely stops working (No longer recognised by portal at all). This would allow you to write your Skylander to a tag and stick this tag to your Skylander's base or if you want to, you could remove the bottom of the base and fit in inside.
Tools and Software:
-A portal that can read all of the figures that you would like to dump (Wii, Wii U and PS3/4 should be fine, an XBOX portal won't work with PC. The imaginators portal may also have issues reading tags).
-An ACR122U NFC Reader/Writer US UK
- ACR122U Driver- (Windows 10/11- Select the 2nd one down, I am not sure if this guide will work on Mac/Linux but there are drivers available on the website)
- libusbK Driver
- Skylanders GUI Tool
- The Sky Lib for Skylanders
- Python 3.9
- Mifare Windows Tool
I am unable to add links so please visit the same post on r/Skylanders for these links.
For writing your backups you will also require:
-Mifare Tags/Cards (Must be 13.56MHz, S50, have a Rewritable UID (Block 0) and have 1K Storage)
Guide:
-Backing up and dumping Skylanders
Extract all zips and install any necessary software/drivers.
Plug you portal into your PC. Run Skylanders GUI Tool. Open the Skylanders GUI Tool folder and go to this path: Skylanders GUI Tool\dumps In GUI Tool click portal and connect portal. Turn on auto read and auto save. Place your desired Skylander on the portal. Once it has read and saved the Skylander successfully you will see a file generated in the GUI Tool dumps folder. The 8 character name of the file is your Skylander's UID. Copy the UID or be prepared to type it out. I saved all my UIDs in a spreadsheet for future reference.
Open the Sky Lib folder and run AccessKeyGen.bat. Type the name of the Skylander WITHOUT ANY SPACES (Or whatever you want, as long as you'll recognise it as that figure) and hit enter. Now enter your figure's UID and hit enter. Just hit any key after it has finished to close it.
Plug your ACR122U into you computer and open Mifare Windows Tool (MWT). If prompted to reinstall a driver, allow it to proceed. In file explorer go to Program Files (x86)\AVXTEC\MWT\keys and copy std.keys to TheSkyLib-main\output\KeyAGen
In MWT click tools/options and change the default keys path to TheSkyLib-main\output\KeyAGen Place your Skylander on the ACR122U and select read tag. Select your Skylander's keys file and click start decode & read tag. Wait while the figure is read. Once a window appears showing your figure's sectors, click save dump as, and save your dump wherever you want with a name to easily identify it.
Congratulations you've successfully made a full digital backup of your Skylander.
If you want to dump the same figure in the future with updated progress, all you need to do is use MWT with the keys file that you generated for that figure.
Repeat the process for any other Skylanders you want to backup.
-Writing YOUR Skylander's Dump to a tag
Place your mifare tag on the ACR122U. Click read tag on MWT. Select std.keys and click start decode & read tag. When the sectors window appears, click close. Click write tag and tick Advanced: Enable writing to manufacturer block. Click source dump and select your desired Skylander's dump file and click start cloning. When a message appears saying finished click okay. Double check that the MWT console says "Done, 64 of 64 blocks written", if so you have successfully written the dump to the tag. Now go ahead and test it in game. If it does not work in game, you may have done something wrong so please check you did all the steps correctly.
If the MWT console instead says "Aborting!" instead of "Done, 64 of 64 blocks written" follow the steps below to reset the tag and try again. If it still doesn't work in game, try using a different portal (The imaginators one does not always work with tags).
Do NOT try to write to a Skylander figure using MWT. This will likely irreversibly corrupt the figure.
-Resetting tags to write a different Skylander to them:
In MWT select Tools/Options and click change UID. Enter 00000000 as the new UID and tick format tag. Click the change UID button below that and once the console finishes saying "Received bits: 0a", your tag has been successfully reset. Follow the previous steps to write a different Skylander to the tag.
Do NOT use MWT to reset actual Skylander figures as this will likely irreversibly corrupt the figure.
The overall method should work the same for vehicles, magic items, traps and creation crystals. Written trap tags just need to be placed on the portal, not in the trap slot.
-Swap Force Figures:
The top and bottom of Swap Force characters have separate UIDs. In Skylanders GUI tool place the bottom on the portal on its own and follow the dumping guide as above, using only the bottom on the ACR122U. For GUI Tool to read the top it needs to be on a bottom. I had issues readings tops on their own bottoms but placing the top on a different characters bottom seemed to let it read and save the top. You can always check if it has read the top or bottom by checking which one is shown in GUI tool. Repeat the steps to dump the figure. Hold the top on its own on the ACR122U with the magnets touching where a normal Skylander base would. When writing you need a separate tag for the top and bottom.
-Transferring progress on tags back to the figures:
There may be risks associated with this, please test with figures you do not mind damaging first. I have only tested this with a duplicate figure for the purpose of determining if it would work. Be especially cautious with imaginators figures due to the risk mentioned at the start of the guide.
This can only be done if the tag has the same UID as your figure therefore you tag needs to have been written with a dump of your own figure as described in the methods above. Lets say you travel and cannot bring your whole figure collection with you but you can bring the games and some tags. Before leaving home you write dumps of your figures to the tags as described in the guide. While away you play using the tags and make progress such as upgrades, levels, heroic challenges, etc. When you return you want to move this progress over to your original figure.
Open GUI Tool. Click portal and connect portal in the top left. Turn on auto read and auto save. Place the tag on the portal. Once it has been read and saves, check that the information for the Skylander looks correct in GUI Tool. If all is correct take the tag off. Turn off auto save. Place the figure on the portal and select read figure. Now click on the saved version of the figure in the list on the left. Check that the data displayed is what should be expected for the progress you made on the tag. If this is correct, click portal and write figure. Now test your figure in a game. This did not happen to me but if the game says the figure is corrupted press recover and it then should appear in game correctly (I believe this is only an option in Swap Force, SuperChargers and Imaginators).
If this worked, you have successfully transferred your progress back to the figure.
-Why I have made this guide?
After my boomer figure's chip completely died I got concerned that the same could happen to more of my figures in the future and I would lose all of my own progress that I have made on the figures such as heroic challenges. Tools like Skylanders GUI Tool allow you to backup this progress and can restore it if a figure becomes corrupted, HOWEVER, in the event that the figures chip completely dies GUI Tool Backups will not help and they do not allow progress to be written to another figure of the same Skylander (It has to have the same UID). My method allows you to backup the complete data from the figure, not just its progress. I had been looking for a guide for this and couldn't find anything so I figured it out myself using various Skylanders tools and am now presenting it to the community so that anyone else looking for how to do this will be able to follow this guide. I am not an expert on any of this, but I will try my best to help if anyone has any issues. All credit goes to the people who made the various tools that I have used.
This guide will cover:
-Backing up a Skylander figure's progress to Skylanders GUI Tool
-How to fully dump your own Skylanders figures to your computer
-How to write your dumped Skylander files to mifare tags
-Resetting tags to write a different figure
-A potential way to take your Skylanders in tag form while travelling and write your Skylander progress (made on the tags back) back to your Skylander figures when you return home
Purpose:
This guide will enable you to have a complete digital backup of your Skylander figures in the format that allows you to write the backups to mifare tags in the event that the RFID chip inside your Skylander completely stops working (No longer recognised by portal at all). This would allow you to write your Skylander to a tag and stick this tag to your Skylander's base or if you want to, you could remove the bottom of the base and fit in inside.
Tools and Software:
-A portal that can read all of the figures that you would like to dump (Wii, Wii U and PS3/4 should be fine, an XBOX portal won't work with PC. The imaginators portal may also have issues reading tags).
-An ACR122U NFC Reader/Writer US UK
- ACR122U Driver- (Windows 10/11- Select the 2nd one down, I am not sure if this guide will work on Mac/Linux but there are drivers available on the website)
- libusbK Driver
- Skylanders GUI Tool
- The Sky Lib for Skylanders
- Python 3.9
- Mifare Windows Tool
I am unable to add links so please visit the same post on r/Skylanders for these links.
For writing your backups you will also require:
-Mifare Tags/Cards (Must be 13.56MHz, S50, have a Rewritable UID (Block 0) and have 1K Storage)
Guide:
-Backing up and dumping Skylanders
Extract all zips and install any necessary software/drivers.
Plug you portal into your PC. Run Skylanders GUI Tool. Open the Skylanders GUI Tool folder and go to this path: Skylanders GUI Tool\dumps In GUI Tool click portal and connect portal. Turn on auto read and auto save. Place your desired Skylander on the portal. Once it has read and saved the Skylander successfully you will see a file generated in the GUI Tool dumps folder. The 8 character name of the file is your Skylander's UID. Copy the UID or be prepared to type it out. I saved all my UIDs in a spreadsheet for future reference.
Open the Sky Lib folder and run AccessKeyGen.bat. Type the name of the Skylander WITHOUT ANY SPACES (Or whatever you want, as long as you'll recognise it as that figure) and hit enter. Now enter your figure's UID and hit enter. Just hit any key after it has finished to close it.
Plug your ACR122U into you computer and open Mifare Windows Tool (MWT). If prompted to reinstall a driver, allow it to proceed. In file explorer go to Program Files (x86)\AVXTEC\MWT\keys and copy std.keys to TheSkyLib-main\output\KeyAGen
In MWT click tools/options and change the default keys path to TheSkyLib-main\output\KeyAGen Place your Skylander on the ACR122U and select read tag. Select your Skylander's keys file and click start decode & read tag. Wait while the figure is read. Once a window appears showing your figure's sectors, click save dump as, and save your dump wherever you want with a name to easily identify it.
Congratulations you've successfully made a full digital backup of your Skylander.
If you want to dump the same figure in the future with updated progress, all you need to do is use MWT with the keys file that you generated for that figure.
Repeat the process for any other Skylanders you want to backup.
-Writing YOUR Skylander's Dump to a tag
Place your mifare tag on the ACR122U. Click read tag on MWT. Select std.keys and click start decode & read tag. When the sectors window appears, click close. Click write tag and tick Advanced: Enable writing to manufacturer block. Click source dump and select your desired Skylander's dump file and click start cloning. When a message appears saying finished click okay. Double check that the MWT console says "Done, 64 of 64 blocks written", if so you have successfully written the dump to the tag. Now go ahead and test it in game. If it does not work in game, you may have done something wrong so please check you did all the steps correctly.
If the MWT console instead says "Aborting!" instead of "Done, 64 of 64 blocks written" follow the steps below to reset the tag and try again. If it still doesn't work in game, try using a different portal (The imaginators one does not always work with tags).
Do NOT try to write to a Skylander figure using MWT. This will likely irreversibly corrupt the figure.
-Resetting tags to write a different Skylander to them:
In MWT select Tools/Options and click change UID. Enter 00000000 as the new UID and tick format tag. Click the change UID button below that and once the console finishes saying "Received bits: 0a", your tag has been successfully reset. Follow the previous steps to write a different Skylander to the tag.
Do NOT use MWT to reset actual Skylander figures as this will likely irreversibly corrupt the figure.
The overall method should work the same for vehicles, magic items, traps and creation crystals. Written trap tags just need to be placed on the portal, not in the trap slot.
-Swap Force Figures:
The top and bottom of Swap Force characters have separate UIDs. In Skylanders GUI tool place the bottom on the portal on its own and follow the dumping guide as above, using only the bottom on the ACR122U. For GUI Tool to read the top it needs to be on a bottom. I had issues readings tops on their own bottoms but placing the top on a different characters bottom seemed to let it read and save the top. You can always check if it has read the top or bottom by checking which one is shown in GUI tool. Repeat the steps to dump the figure. Hold the top on its own on the ACR122U with the magnets touching where a normal Skylander base would. When writing you need a separate tag for the top and bottom.
-Transferring progress on tags back to the figures:
There may be risks associated with this, please test with figures you do not mind damaging first. I have only tested this with a duplicate figure for the purpose of determining if it would work. Be especially cautious with imaginators figures due to the risk mentioned at the start of the guide.
This can only be done if the tag has the same UID as your figure therefore you tag needs to have been written with a dump of your own figure as described in the methods above. Lets say you travel and cannot bring your whole figure collection with you but you can bring the games and some tags. Before leaving home you write dumps of your figures to the tags as described in the guide. While away you play using the tags and make progress such as upgrades, levels, heroic challenges, etc. When you return you want to move this progress over to your original figure.
Open GUI Tool. Click portal and connect portal in the top left. Turn on auto read and auto save. Place the tag on the portal. Once it has been read and saves, check that the information for the Skylander looks correct in GUI Tool. If all is correct take the tag off. Turn off auto save. Place the figure on the portal and select read figure. Now click on the saved version of the figure in the list on the left. Check that the data displayed is what should be expected for the progress you made on the tag. If this is correct, click portal and write figure. Now test your figure in a game. This did not happen to me but if the game says the figure is corrupted press recover and it then should appear in game correctly (I believe this is only an option in Swap Force, SuperChargers and Imaginators).
If this worked, you have successfully transferred your progress back to the figure.
-Why I have made this guide?
After my boomer figure's chip completely died I got concerned that the same could happen to more of my figures in the future and I would lose all of my own progress that I have made on the figures such as heroic challenges. Tools like Skylanders GUI Tool allow you to backup this progress and can restore it if a figure becomes corrupted, HOWEVER, in the event that the figures chip completely dies GUI Tool Backups will not help and they do not allow progress to be written to another figure of the same Skylander (It has to have the same UID). My method allows you to backup the complete data from the figure, not just its progress. I had been looking for a guide for this and couldn't find anything so I figured it out myself using various Skylanders tools and am now presenting it to the community so that anyone else looking for how to do this will be able to follow this guide. I am not an expert on any of this, but I will try my best to help if anyone has any issues. All credit goes to the people who made the various tools that I have used.
Last edited by Zackcog,
