Unpacking .sav files

[Locke Cole]

Well... First, sorry for my english. I have a problem with Mednafen. Look the sav files (usually in /home/.mednafen/sav):

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/9260/capturadetelasavesnaveg.png

When I try to extract the files, the system shows an error message. I tried it with Ark too, but it doesn't work...

How can I unpack it?

[DoktorSeven]

Mednafen .sav files aren't archives, they're binary dumps of game saves, used only by mednafen.

So there's nothing to extract.

[Jimleko211]

They aren't just used by mednafen, but by all GBA emulators (and indeed, the GBA itself if you get a flash cart or something). But yeah, that's not an archive.

[Locke Cole]

I sent this question because both Mednafen and VBA-M use .sav files. I would like to play my games in VBA-M, using the old saves created by Mednafen.

The problem: apparently, .sav files of Mednafen and VBA-M isn't compatible.

A regular .sav file in VBA-M is like:

Name - Mario Kart - Super Circuit.sav
Type: unknown (application/octet-stream)
Icon: It's like texts icons made by Gedit

A regular .sav file in Mednafen is like:

Name - Mario Kart - Super Circuit.784a036ff1aae709e90167186639b75e.sav
Type: Gzip Package (application/x-gzip)
Icon: The icon is a package

So, my wish is to play games in VBA-M using the old save slots, created by Mednafen (both .sav).

Is it possible?

[Locke Cole]

Bump.

[DoktorSeven]

Doubtful, different emulators save things in different ways. You could search any mednafen and/or vba-m documentation to see if there is any sort of way to convert back and forth but the two aren't immediately usable in the other.

[BoyOfDestiny]

One, mednafen does compress its save data to gunzip format, unless you specify otherwise.

Look inside ~/.mednafen/mednafen.cfg

;Disable gzip compression when saving save states and backup memory.
filesys.disablesavegz 0


Change that to a 1, and mednafen will no longer compress your .sav.

Mine do open fine however in "Archive Manager", so it's strange that yours does not.

As for using the .sav in different emulators, the answer is yes. With the right hardware, you could even use it in a cartridge. It is simply the save ram, battery backed up memory. Things like save states are different between emulators, save ram isn't :P

P.S. There is also a newer mednafen than the one you have if on ubuntu interpid.
http://mednafen.sourceforge.net/
Also, Locke Cole, your English is excellent.

[Bölvaður]

try installing gzip
it is a shot in the dark, but hey... if the guy above me is correct this might be it.

[Locke Cole]

Thanks, BoyOfDestiny (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=859), your hint worked perfectly!

Now I can transfer saves from Mednafen to VBA-M easily.

So, there is a new version of Mednafen? Thanks to remember it too.