Tutorial  Updated

Importing Gateway saves to cia games

Switching from Gateway to CFW can be a pain, especially since all your saves were created on Gateway. There's only one way to get those saves to be usable on cia games, and that's to decrypt the saves and eventually import them in the end. It's a very tedious process, but worth it in the end to be able to keep all your saves you worked hard on for so long. Gateway has become more and more obsolete, with CFW being more convenient to work with. ESPECIALLY Arm9loaderhax!

This will guide you on how to convert Gateway saves, and import them into cia games. For those who want to abandon Gateway, or those who still want to keep Gateway but use CFW.
No other guide for this existed so I figured I had to create one.
Be sure you have PLENTY of time to work on this, you'll also need a ton of patience for this!

Thanks to @zhdarkstar for the tip about using JK Save Manager for just about everything! Made the guide ten times easier than it was before.




Requirements
JK Save Manager
CTRXplorer (Can also use FBI)





I. Preperation Steps

1. Right click and copy all your .sav files, paste them anywhere on your computer as backup

2. Make a new folder on your SD card, call it something like "Gateway saves"

3. Copy one of your .sav files into this folder

4. Look up that save file on 3DSDB to see what game it is

5. Rename that .sav file to
0004000002C23200

6. Make a new folder and name it to whatever game it is
Example:
SD:/Gateway saves/Super Mario 3D Land/


7. Place the 0004000002C23200 sav file in this new folder you just created

8. Repeat steps 3-7 until every game is setup this way. Can take a while to go through depending on how much saves you have, be really patient.

9. Download JK Save Manager.cia, and CTRXplorer.cia then place them anywhere on the SD card






II. Exporting & Importing the saves with JK Save Manager

1. Install all the cia games you need, for the games you're going to import saves with

2. Launch each and every game one time, allowing it to initialize which creates save data. Again, this takes a LOT of patience to go through

3. Install JK Save Manager and CTRXplorer cia's using any cia manager you like. Assemble them near the game cart icon on the home menu for quick access.

4. Open CTRXplorer and browse into the Gateway saves folder, then into one of the game folders

5. Copy the 0004000002C23200
sav file (Instructions on top screen, should be Y to copy), then press B twice until you're on the SD's root. Paste the file here using the Y button (Say yes to replace if the file already exists)

6. Press home and close it. Press select to open Gateway's rom menu and choose the game you're about to work on, but don't go into the game

7. Open JK Save Manager, go to "Cartridge", then choose "Export save". Name it anything such as a date ex: 5-8-16

8. Once you exported the save, go back to the main menu and choose "SD/Cia". Find the game and choose "Import save"

9. Repeat steps 4-8 until every game's save is exported then imported. You'll need extreme patience for this, as this is the only way to decrypt the .sav files.

10. Launch some of the games to confirm that the save did indeed transfer successfully.
11. PLEASE make a backup of ALL the backed up saves from JK Save Manager, by uploading them to Google Drive or Dropbox!! This way your saves are forever safe!



About Card2 games
Certain games are card2 type games, where the save file is stored inside the cartridge. In our case, the save is stored inside the rom itself. Games like Pokemon XY/ORAS, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Tomodachi Life, Zelda Tri Force Heroes are card2 games. They don't produce a .sav file on the SD card like card1 games.
To export card2 saves, carry on by selecting the rom then using JK Save Manager to export the cartridge's save. Then import the save in SD/Cia.






Trivia
- Gateway saves are encrypted, so you can't export the save until you first renamed it to 0004000002C23200 and place it on the root. Since you can't have more than one of the same file name in one directory, you gotta work on these one by one. In this process, you're decrypting the saves.


- Some games like Fantasy Life and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy store their primary save data in "Extdata". If you plan on using the same NAND in the end, you don't have to worry about exporting/importing that.


- Saves from JK Save Manager, can be used by just about ANYBODY, from any region. They're highly universal and valuable to share on saves threads. Post them if you like to contribute!
 
Last edited by MattKimura,

godreborn

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u should be all set without having to convert them. all you're doing really is mounting the game and its save, so that the save can be exported. the reason for this is that the games and the saves are encrypted with gateway. they're exportable once they're mounted though.
 

shahanshah

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I used MattKimura's instructions. I had trouble the first time when trying to convert Fire Emblem .sav's, getting export errors. But I think I finally got the jist of things.
Post or pm me your sav file. I will try to convert it.
Here you go
 

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shahanshah

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I used MattKimura's instructions. I had trouble the first time when trying to convert Fire Emblem .sav's, getting export errors. But I think I finally got the jist of things.
Post or pm me your sav file. I will try to convert it.
Are you still here?
 

jos90

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EDIT: Deleted my previous post, it was kinda confusing! :wacko:

It should be enough to just move 00000001.sav from the data folder of your EmuNAND to the respective data folder of your SysNAND. I did this before with Alpha Sapphire and while the game claimed my save was corrupted, deleting the secure value with SaveDataFiler fixed it.

How did you fix the corrupted problem? I'm having the same problem with 2 different CIA saves (.sav files had in an older SD card with emuNAND).

Do I need to do this if my sav is from a CIA?

I'm following Chickensalad's post: is it possibile to import save if the savedata I own comes from a previously installed CIA?

Thanks all in advance
 
Last edited by jos90,

bjaxx87

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How did you fix the corrupted problem? I'm having the same problem with 2 different CIA saves (.sav files had in an older SD card with emuNAND).
The answer is actually in the post that you quoted! :D I used SaveDataFiler (google for it) and deleted the secure value. Once you import your save, go to the "user" tab and highlight your game's save (look up the ID if necessary --> http://www.3dsdb.com/), then press R + Y to delete the secure value. Your SaveDataFiler needs to be r53438 or newer to delete it.

Since using SaveDataFiler is a little outdated (there are legal alternatives), you might use a different app. I can't describe how to use them, though.
 

jos90

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The answer is actually in the post that you quoted! :D I used SaveDataFiler (google for it) and deleted the secure value. Once you import your save, go to the "user" tab and highlight your game's save (look up the ID if necessary --> http://www.3dsdb.com/), then press R + Y to delete the secure value. Your SaveDataFiler needs to be r53438 or newer to delete it.

Since using SaveDataFiler is a little outdated (there are legal alternatives), you might use a different app. I can't describe how to use them, though.

Thanks for the answer, but it seems that you can delete the secure value only for uncorrupted saves: in the exact moment I've copied the .sav file in the proper directory in which I exported the temporary save file, the savedata became corrupted and, as such, its secure value couldn't be deleted; the only choice I had wast to restore the factory settings for that specific game savedata's.
Howver, I've managed to recover old CIA saves by copying the previous emunand, where they were stored, in sysnand with godmode.
 

bjaxx87

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in the exact moment I've copied the .sav file in the proper directory in which I exported the temporary save file, the savedata became corrupted
Did you boot the game to check if it worked before attempting to delete the secure value? That might have been the moment the save became corrupted.
 

jos90

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Did you boot the game to check if it worked before attempting to delete the secure value? That might have been the moment the save became corrupted.

Yeah I've tried it a couple of times: each time I've started the title, the result has been always the same as trying to delete the secure value: the savedata was found as corrupted and the title warned me that it was going to delete it to create a new one.
 

jamz

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hello everyone.

I' been a gateway user untill yesterday, when I decided to install sighax and luma 8.1, for two reasons: I want to play online and gateway is not updatig anymore. So I try following the mattkimura but Im stuck at step 6: "Press home and close it. Press select to open Gateway's rom menu and choose the game you're about to work on, but don't go into the game" cause my sysnand is at 11.5 and launching sysnand in gateway mode will left you with a unhacked console, and also I don't have and spare micro sd to use with the gateway card.

So long story short can someone convert a sav file for me? it's monster hunter 4U
 

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RickyEarl

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So I have used a GW since I got my 3dsXL back on 4.4.0 firmware. I was looking at my saves list from the SD, and some of them are for DS games (Oracle of Seasons, SMB3, etc.). I honestly don't recall how I played those, but chances are they were through GW somehow since I never really took it out of the 3ds.

Since they're all on the root of the SD, does that mean they were all GW encrypted and I need to do this for those saves as well?

Thanks
 

phreaksho

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On 11.5, updated without thinking about gateway card not working. Want to play bravely default but don't have the actual game, just the gateway card and the CIA installed.

I'm I pretty much screwed on converting my save..?
 

warriosbest

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On 11.5, updated without thinking about gateway card not working. Want to play bravely default but don't have the actual game, just the gateway card and the CIA installed.

I'm I pretty much screwed on converting my save..?
downgrade 11.5 to 11.2....

This is why I prefer to convert my .3ds files to use card 2 saves. Then managing saves is easier than managing them for installed games.
how i can do this ? thank
 
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Dankey Kang

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Hey, is there any way to do this without my Gateway card? Probably should have looked this up before I deleted my Gateway emunand...
 

peat

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I think I messed up. I was following this guide, trying to move my AC: NL (Welcome Amiibo) save over from Gateway to CIA. I was using a regular AC: NL rom on the Gateway and downloaded the Welcome Amiibo update from the eshop. I'm not sure exactly where the saves for this are kept, as it seems like Welcome Amiibo had possibly installed itself as a standalone game? Does anyone know how this worked exactly?

For some reason, following the guide, I forgot all about the Welcome Amiibo update and installed the original AC: NL (not welcome amiibo) game as a CIA, and then opened it. I think this overwrote my Welcome Amiibo save? It had a 'Please do not turn off' message right at the start, and then it only offered me to create a new town.

The next thing I did was opened AC: NL from the gateway and it was asking me to once again migrate my town to Welcome Amiibo, as though I had never been playing it with the update before - I'm not sure why this is, but I'm guessing like I said, the save was stored separately as part of the update CIA, and this was deleted when I opened the base game as a CIA?

Any suggestions for what to do from here? I did back up my entire SD card before I made any changes, is there anything I can restore from that? Would be great if I can keep my save. Thanks in advance
 

peat

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I think I messed up. I was following this guide, trying to move my AC: NL (Welcome Amiibo) save over from Gateway to CIA. I was using a regular AC: NL rom on the Gateway and downloaded the Welcome Amiibo update from the eshop. I'm not sure exactly where the saves for this are kept, as it seems like Welcome Amiibo had possibly installed itself as a standalone game? Does anyone know how this worked exactly?

For some reason, following the guide, I forgot all about the Welcome Amiibo update and installed the original AC: NL (not welcome amiibo) game as a CIA, and then opened it. I think this overwrote my Welcome Amiibo save? It had a 'Please do not turn off' message right at the start, and then it only offered me to create a new town.

The next thing I did was opened AC: NL from the gateway and it was asking me to once again migrate my town to Welcome Amiibo, as though I had never been playing it with the update before - I'm not sure why this is, but I'm guessing like I said, the save was stored separately as part of the update CIA, and this was deleted when I opened the base game as a CIA?

Any suggestions for what to do from here? I did back up my entire SD card before I made any changes, is there anything I can restore from that? Would be great if I can keep my save. Thanks in advance

Can anyone help me out?
 

The Real Jdbye

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I think I messed up. I was following this guide, trying to move my AC: NL (Welcome Amiibo) save over from Gateway to CIA. I was using a regular AC: NL rom on the Gateway and downloaded the Welcome Amiibo update from the eshop. I'm not sure exactly where the saves for this are kept, as it seems like Welcome Amiibo had possibly installed itself as a standalone game? Does anyone know how this worked exactly?

For some reason, following the guide, I forgot all about the Welcome Amiibo update and installed the original AC: NL (not welcome amiibo) game as a CIA, and then opened it. I think this overwrote my Welcome Amiibo save? It had a 'Please do not turn off' message right at the start, and then it only offered me to create a new town.

The next thing I did was opened AC: NL from the gateway and it was asking me to once again migrate my town to Welcome Amiibo, as though I had never been playing it with the update before - I'm not sure why this is, but I'm guessing like I said, the save was stored separately as part of the update CIA, and this was deleted when I opened the base game as a CIA?

Any suggestions for what to do from here? I did back up my entire SD card before I made any changes, is there anything I can restore from that? Would be great if I can keep my save. Thanks in advance
Sounds like your save was probably overwritten when you launched the non-updated game. Updates often make the save incompatible with older versions, but normally they'll just show an error and refuse to load the save. Seems like that might not be the case for Animal Crossing though.
 

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