Today, I bring a Tutorial I developed to convert/transfer PSOne savegames. My main objective is to finish a PS1 game only in one platform (PSX, PS2 or PSP) and spread this savegame among the others. These savegames can also be used in (or be imported from) many PSOne emulators. I'm focusing on playing the PS1 games on PSP (PSOne Classics). When it's not possible, I play it on PS2. In the end, I'll share my savegames on GameFAQs (if they accept them) or here in my blog.
There are some procedures I won't explain because there are so many tutorials on the internet explaining them way better than I would. Also, if you're not familiar with some terms I'm about to use, don't be afraid to google them. They're not that hard to understand.
So, let's start! That'll be long!
# HOW TO TRANSFER A PSP PSONE CLASSICS SAVEGAME TO A PS1 MEMORY CARD #
>> TOOLS NEEDED:
- PSP with Memory Stick PRO Duo
- PC running Windows (I used Windows 10)
- Memory Stick PRO Duo Card Reader or mini-USB Cable
- USB Flash Drive
- Playstation 2 that can run uLaunchELF
- PS1 Memory Card
>> APPLICATIONS NEEDED:
- MemcardRex 1.8 (PC)
- uLaunchELF 4.42d (PS2)
>> STEP-BY-STEP
1) Navigate on PSP XMB and check if your wanted savegame is appearing normally on system and running normally on your game.
2) Connect your PSP Memory Stick to your PC. There are two ways to do it:
a) by removing the Memory Stick out of your PSP, connecting it to a Card Reader and, then, connecting the reader to your PC; or
b) with the Memory Stick inside your PSP, by connecting your PSP to your PC with a mini-USB cable and, at the PSP XMB, choosing 'USB Connection'.
3) On your PC, find the PSP PSOne Classics game virtual memory card file (.VMP format) in your Memory Stick.
Each game has its own virtual memory card and this file can be found on folder ms0:\PSP\SAVEDATA, inside a subfolder named with the Game ID (e.g. SLUS00067 is the Game ID for Castlevania Symphony of the Night).
If you don't know what is the Game ID, keep looking in every subfolder by opening the icon (ICON0.PNG) that matches with the wanted game.
Inside this subfolder, you'll also find two files (SCEVMC0.VMP is the game Memory Card Slot 1 and SCEVMC1.VMP is the game Memory Card Slot 2). Next, copy the .VMP wanted and paste somewhere in your PC.
4) On your PC, open MemcardRex, go to 'File > Open...' and select the .VMP file extracted from your Memory Stick. With it, you'll see the savegames inside the virtual memory card.
NOTE: From this point on, you can transfer your savegame to many PS1 emulators by saving it to the respective format. You can also start from this step if the savegame is from a PS1 emulator and you want to insert it into a PS1 Memory Card.
5) On MemcardRex, choose the wanted savegame file, right click and select 'Export save...'. Choose file type 'RAW single save (B??????????*)'. The program will suggest the file name automatically with the Game ID and save number, but also it will insert incorrectly the extension '.mcs'. Delete the extension .mcs, leaving the savegame file with no extension and keeping the suggested Game ID name. Save it. Your savegame is now on RAW format (i.e., without extension), and this is the format PS1 Memory Cards work with.
6) Get the RAW file, copy it and paste inside your USB flash drive.
7) On your PS2, insert your flash drive on first slot and your PS1 Memory Card in any slot.
8) On uLaunchELF, choose 'FileBrowser', go to 'mass:/', find your RAW file, select it by pressing X button, press R1 button and select 'Copy' with O button.
NOTE: Use uLaunchELF version 4.42d or lower. The version 4.43a doesn't read PS1 Memory Cards.
9) On uLaunchELF, go back to FileBrowser by pressing Triangle button, choose your PS1 Memory Card Slot (mc0:/ for Slot 1 or mc1:/ for Slot 2) by pressing O button. Next, press R1 button and select 'Paste' (or 'mcPaste') with O button. After the copy is finished, restart your PS2.
CAUTION: This step doesn't work if you copy the savegame file to a PS2 Memory Card. If you insist, your PS2 Browser will report that the file is a Corrupted Data.
10) On your PS2, go to the Browser and check if your PS1 Memory Card savegame is being recognized by the system.
11) Load the PS1 game to check if your savegame is working properly.
END.
NOTE: Since PS1 Memory Card space is very low, you may want to copy your PS1 savegames to a PS2 Memory Card. However, you may not copy the PS1 savegames in a PS2 Memory Card directly to a USB Flash Drive because they are not in RAW format. To restore the RAW format to your savegames in a PS2 Memory Card, you must copy them back to a PS1 Memory Card and, after that, copy these savegames to a flash drive using uLaunchELF.
# HOW TO TRANSFER A PS1 MEMORY CARD SAVEGAME TO A PSP PSONE CLASSICS GAME #
>> TOOLS NEEDED:
- PS1 Memory Card
- PlayStation 2 that can run uLaunchELF
- USB Flash Drive
- PC running Windows (I used Windows 10)
- Memory Stick PRO Duo Card Reader or mini-USB Cable
- Memory Stick PRO Duo
- PSP running CFW (I used 6.60 PRO-C) and with CWCheat installed (I used 0.2.2 REV D).
>> APPLICATIONS NEEDED:
- MemcardREx 1.8 (PC)
- uLaunchELF 4.42d (PS2)
>> STEP-BY-STEP:
1) Check if your wanted savegame is on PS1 Memory Card and if it is working properly on game.
CAUTION: This step doesn't work if the PS1 savegame is in a PS2 Memory Card.
2) On your PS2, insert your flash drive in the first slot and your PS1 Memory Card in any slot.
NOTE: Use uLaunchELF version 4.42d or lower. The version 4.43a doesn't read PS1 Memory Cards.
3) On uLaunchELF, choose your PS1 Memory Card Slot (mc0:/ for Slot 1 or mc1:/ for Slot 2) by pressing O button. Next, find your wanted savegame. Select it with X button, press R1 button and choose 'Copy' with O button.
NOTE: If there are more than one savegame in your PS1 Memory Card and you are having trouble to know what is your wanted savegame, press L1 button and select 'GameTitle+Details' by pressing Square button. After this, press Triangle button and the savegames will be shown by their game title names.
4) On uLaunchELF, go back to FileBrowser by pressing Triangle button, then go to your flash drive by selecting 'mass:/' with O button. Next, choose a folder where you'll leave your savegame, press R1 button and select 'Paste' (or 'mcPaste') with O button. When the copy is finished, the savegame will be in RAW format (without extension) in your flash drive. Turn your PS2 off and remove your flash drive.
5). On PC, connect your flash drive and check your RAW savegame file. The file name normally has the Game ID. Copy it and paste it somewhere in your PC.
6) On MemcardRex, go to 'File > New', click with right button over a 'Free slot' and select 'Import save...'. Next, select your RAW savegame file. MemcardRex will show icon, region, title, product code (Game ID) and savegame identifier.
NOTE: From this point on, you can transfer your savegame to many PS1 emulators by saving it to the respective format. You can also start from this step if the savegame is from a PS1 emulator and you want to insert it into a PSP PSOne Classics game.
7) If everything is fine, go to 'File > Save as...' and choose file type (extension) 'DexDrive Memory Card (*.gme)'. Write the savegame file name with its Game ID in the following standard:
EXAMPLE:
Game ID: SLUS-01013 (Legend of Mana)
Savegame Name: SLUS_01013-0.gme or SLUS_01013-1.gme or SLUS_01013-2.gme or SLUS_01013-3.gme, etc.
This step is important because CWCheat only recognizes imported savegames if they are in the right format and correctly named.
NOTE: Although CWCheat says it's compatible with .mcr format, it doesn't recognize .mcr files created by MemcardRex or PSXGameEdit applications. Moreover, the .mcr file created by CWCheat is reported as an invalid savegame file by the cited applications. However, this problem doesn't occur with savegames on format .gme.
8) Connect your PSP Memory Stick to your PC. There are two ways to do it:
a) by removing the Memory Stick out of your PSP, connecting it to a Card Reader and, then, connecting the reader to your PC; or
b) with the Memory Stick inside your PSP, by connecting your PSP to your PC with a mini-USB cable and, at the PSP XMB, choosing 'USB Connection'.
9) On PC, copy the .gme format savegame, open your PSP Memory Stick, go to the folder 'seplugins\cwcheat\mc' (create it if it doesn't exist) and paste your savegame. After the copy finishes, disconnect the Memory Stick from PC.
10) On PSP, start the game for the PSP system to create the game files, which includes the virtual memory cards on .VMP format. When the game starts playing its presentation, you can close the game and go back to PSP XMB. These files will remain on the PSP Memory Stick, inside a subfolder named with the Game ID on directory ms0:\PSP\SAVEDATA.
11) On PSP XMB, enable CWCheat.
NOTE: If your PSP is running CFW 6.60 PRO-C, for you to enable CWCheat, you must press SELECT button, choose 'RECOVERY MENU', then go to 'Plugins' and check if 'cwcheat.prx [GAME]' and 'cwcheatpops.prx [POPS]' are with status 'Enabled' by pressing X button. If so, go back to XMB pressing O button.
12) Start your game on PSP. Let the game run awhile (about 10 seconds), then go to the selection screen ("Press Start Button" screen or similar). Press and hold SELECT button for about 3 seconds until CWCheat menu appears. Select 'Manage Memory Cards' by pressing X button.
13) On POPS Memory Card Manager screen, press R button until the .gme extension appears at the end of the option 'Currently selected Memory Card file'. Observe that CWCheat only recognizes .gme files if their names matches the standard cited on Step 7 above. By clicking right or left, you change the last number of the savegame file name. Choose the .gme savegame you left in the folder 'seplugins\cwcheat\mc'.
Next, select 'Load Memory Card 2 from Memory Stick' and press X button.
If everything worked fine, the message 'Last operation : OK!!' must appear. Now, your imported savegame is "temporarily" available on Memory Card Slot 2, but it's not yet written on Memory Stick .VMP game file. Close CWCheat by pressing O button and go back to game selection screen.
WARNING: If any of these steps described above was not done correctly, the messages 'open error 0x80010002' or 'Unable to find mc. contact weltall!!' may occur. This could be the .gme savegame file is not with a valid name, or the .VMP files are not found on Memory Stick, or there is a CWCheat installing error.
NOTE: The funcion 'Save Memory Card from Memory Stick' of CWCheat doesn't work with .gme extensions. If you try, the message 'Last operation : this operation isn't supported for this' will appear.
14) At the game selection screen, press Home button (or PS button), choose 'Memory Card Utility', then 'Memory Card Slot 1' and select 'Import'. At the right side, choose the game Memory Card Slot 2 and check if your savegame appears. Select it pressing X button and it will be imported. When finished, return to the game selection screen and load your savegame to check if it's working properly. Now, your savegame is saved in the Memory Stick .VMP game file (SCEVMC0.VMP) and you can disable the CWCheat at the PSP XMB.
NOTE: If you want your savegame also available in virtual Memory Card Slot 2 (SCEVMC1.VMP), go back to PSP XMB, start the game again, press Home button and go to 'Memory Card Utility'. Select Memory Card Slot 2 and observe that now it's empty. Choose 'Import', select the game Memory Card Slot 1 and copy your savegame to slot 2.
END.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I'd like to thank the people who shared their own tutorials concerning on how to handle with PS1 and PSP savegames, especially Nikola, Versatile, bryanx_2 and boredguy123. Their contributions were very important for me to reach my objectives.
Thanks for your (long) reading and I hope it helps!
"What your mind can believe, what your mind can perceive, your body can achieve."
- PSP running CFW (I used 6.60 PRO-C) and with CWCheat installed (I used 0.2.2 REV D).
>> APPLICATIONS NEEDED:
- MemcardREx 1.8 (PC)
- uLaunchELF 4.42d (PS2)
>> STEP-BY-STEP:
1) Check if your wanted savegame is on PS1 Memory Card and if it is working properly on game.
CAUTION: This step doesn't work if the PS1 savegame is in a PS2 Memory Card.
2) On your PS2, insert your flash drive in the first slot and your PS1 Memory Card in any slot.
NOTE: Use uLaunchELF version 4.42d or lower. The version 4.43a doesn't read PS1 Memory Cards.
3) On uLaunchELF, choose your PS1 Memory Card Slot (mc0:/ for Slot 1 or mc1:/ for Slot 2) by pressing O button. Next, find your wanted savegame. Select it with X button, press R1 button and choose 'Copy' with O button.
NOTE: If there are more than one savegame in your PS1 Memory Card and you are having trouble to know what is your wanted savegame, press L1 button and select 'GameTitle+Details' by pressing Square button. After this, press Triangle button and the savegames will be shown by their game title names.
4) On uLaunchELF, go back to FileBrowser by pressing Triangle button, then go to your flash drive by selecting 'mass:/' with O button. Next, choose a folder where you'll leave your savegame, press R1 button and select 'Paste' (or 'mcPaste') with O button. When the copy is finished, the savegame will be in RAW format (without extension) in your flash drive. Turn your PS2 off and remove your flash drive.
5). On PC, connect your flash drive and check your RAW savegame file. The file name normally has the Game ID. Copy it and paste it somewhere in your PC.
6) On MemcardRex, go to 'File > New', click with right button over a 'Free slot' and select 'Import save...'. Next, select your RAW savegame file. MemcardRex will show icon, region, title, product code (Game ID) and savegame identifier.
NOTE: From this point on, you can transfer your savegame to many PS1 emulators by saving it to the respective format. You can also start from this step if the savegame is from a PS1 emulator and you want to insert it into a PSP PSOne Classics game.
7) If everything is fine, go to 'File > Save as...' and choose file type (extension) 'DexDrive Memory Card (*.gme)'. Write the savegame file name with its Game ID in the following standard:
EXAMPLE:
Game ID: SLUS-01013 (Legend of Mana)
Savegame Name: SLUS_01013-0.gme or SLUS_01013-1.gme or SLUS_01013-2.gme or SLUS_01013-3.gme, etc.
This step is important because CWCheat only recognizes imported savegames if they are in the right format and correctly named.
NOTE: Although CWCheat says it's compatible with .mcr format, it doesn't recognize .mcr files created by MemcardRex or PSXGameEdit applications. Moreover, the .mcr file created by CWCheat is reported as an invalid savegame file by the cited applications. However, this problem doesn't occur with savegames on format .gme.
8) Connect your PSP Memory Stick to your PC. There are two ways to do it:
a) by removing the Memory Stick out of your PSP, connecting it to a Card Reader and, then, connecting the reader to your PC; or
b) with the Memory Stick inside your PSP, by connecting your PSP to your PC with a mini-USB cable and, at the PSP XMB, choosing 'USB Connection'.
9) On PC, copy the .gme format savegame, open your PSP Memory Stick, go to the folder 'seplugins\cwcheat\mc' (create it if it doesn't exist) and paste your savegame. After the copy finishes, disconnect the Memory Stick from PC.
10) On PSP, start the game for the PSP system to create the game files, which includes the virtual memory cards on .VMP format. When the game starts playing its presentation, you can close the game and go back to PSP XMB. These files will remain on the PSP Memory Stick, inside a subfolder named with the Game ID on directory ms0:\PSP\SAVEDATA.
11) On PSP XMB, enable CWCheat.
NOTE: If your PSP is running CFW 6.60 PRO-C, for you to enable CWCheat, you must press SELECT button, choose 'RECOVERY MENU', then go to 'Plugins' and check if 'cwcheat.prx [GAME]' and 'cwcheatpops.prx [POPS]' are with status 'Enabled' by pressing X button. If so, go back to XMB pressing O button.
12) Start your game on PSP. Let the game run awhile (about 10 seconds), then go to the selection screen ("Press Start Button" screen or similar). Press and hold SELECT button for about 3 seconds until CWCheat menu appears. Select 'Manage Memory Cards' by pressing X button.
13) On POPS Memory Card Manager screen, press R button until the .gme extension appears at the end of the option 'Currently selected Memory Card file'. Observe that CWCheat only recognizes .gme files if their names matches the standard cited on Step 7 above. By clicking right or left, you change the last number of the savegame file name. Choose the .gme savegame you left in the folder 'seplugins\cwcheat\mc'.
Next, select 'Load Memory Card 2 from Memory Stick' and press X button.
If everything worked fine, the message 'Last operation : OK!!' must appear. Now, your imported savegame is "temporarily" available on Memory Card Slot 2, but it's not yet written on Memory Stick .VMP game file. Close CWCheat by pressing O button and go back to game selection screen.
WARNING: If any of these steps described above was not done correctly, the messages 'open error 0x80010002' or 'Unable to find mc. contact weltall!!' may occur. This could be the .gme savegame file is not with a valid name, or the .VMP files are not found on Memory Stick, or there is a CWCheat installing error.
NOTE: The funcion 'Save Memory Card from Memory Stick' of CWCheat doesn't work with .gme extensions. If you try, the message 'Last operation : this operation isn't supported for this' will appear.
14) At the game selection screen, press Home button (or PS button), choose 'Memory Card Utility', then 'Memory Card Slot 1' and select 'Import'. At the right side, choose the game Memory Card Slot 2 and check if your savegame appears. Select it pressing X button and it will be imported. When finished, return to the game selection screen and load your savegame to check if it's working properly. Now, your savegame is saved in the Memory Stick .VMP game file (SCEVMC0.VMP) and you can disable the CWCheat at the PSP XMB.
NOTE: If you want your savegame also available in virtual Memory Card Slot 2 (SCEVMC1.VMP), go back to PSP XMB, start the game again, press Home button and go to 'Memory Card Utility'. Select Memory Card Slot 2 and observe that now it's empty. Choose 'Import', select the game Memory Card Slot 1 and copy your savegame to slot 2.
END.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I'd like to thank the people who shared their own tutorials concerning on how to handle with PS1 and PSP savegames, especially Nikola, Versatile, bryanx_2 and boredguy123. Their contributions were very important for me to reach my objectives.
Thanks for your (long) reading and I hope it helps!
"What your mind can believe, what your mind can perceive, your body can achieve."
- Magic Pie, Trick of the Mind, 2007.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
ReplyDeleteI have wasted 3 hours trying to transfer .gme files from usb to pocketstation berofe finally understanding the problem was too new uLaunchELF version that doesn't read PS1 Memory Cards. Now it all works like charm. Cheers!