Convert Memory Card Savegame PAL to NTSC

[Itze]

Hey Guys!

First of all this is my first time at the PCSX2 Forum. So i would like to say hello first and send out a BIG THANK YOU ALL to the great support i found in this community
.....
Anyway there is a problem that i have not solved yet and i hope you can help me with.
I've bought the the last 3 parts of the "Dot.Hack series" but did not notice that they were in NTSC. I have the first one myself in PAL. Now i wanted to play the second part with the savegame from the first part. Problem is that the second part in NTSC won't work with the savegame from the first part which is in PAL.
The question i have: Is there any way to convert the PAL savegame to a NTSC savegame or any other way that would make it work so that i can play with my char from the first "Dot.Hack Part?"

Note: I also changed the BIOS to make the NTSC version work.

Hope WE can fix it!

[MyDreamName]

Short answer: Nope, sorry.

Edit: This is taken from a short experience of battling with this game and not every game in general. As pointed out below, savegames sometimes do save the same data between regions. This is somewhat similar to how a flash game saves on different sites.

[miseru99]

Converting of save states is possible in some cases, actually in most(it actually needs only "mymc" and "ps2 save builder" as mostly they differ by filenames inside the save), unless the save games were changed by some additional info or something. For example if the game was enhanced like FFXII->FFXII international then it cannot really be made easily(well bad example as it can with FFXII editor), but most games released in same time have compatible savegames.
Give me that save of yours from pal version and I can try converting it, can't say if it's 100% possible with .hack couse only savegames I found on gamefaqs were ntsc.

[Amak]

Short answer: Nope, sorry.

Always thought the difference, given the games themselves weren't changed, was the title id. and http://caws.ws/forum/topic/213759-converting-ps2-saves/ seems to back that up.

[vsub]

Not every game region save the same data but some games do save the same things and the only difference is the Root/ID and the save name.

God of War games are like that for example,you can use PAL save on the NTSC version of the game(and the other way around)as long as you rename the Root/ID and the save name.

[nosisab Ken Keleh]

Yes, most times this can be done and as miseru99 pointed out, all you need is MyMC to import the output from PS2Savebuilder.

The procedure is simple, first you need the actual name of your game, the easy way to find it is making a save on memcard and looking which name show up on MyMC. Afterward open the desired save on PS2SaveBuilder and change the name that appear on the main file AND that field called "root" to match yours own. Save it afterward in any format MyMC can import (cbz, max.. etc), import it on your actual memcard and try to load the game from it, if it works you are good to create a memcard save, which will grant everything is alright afterward.

Good luck.

PS: The point is than although the actual games might have substantial differences, the save procedure and data structure is the same for all versions of the game. For that same reason, it's easier to convert from regional differences of the "same" game than convert from different versions of the actual game, even if they are from the same region (or TV standard)... that example of FFXII and it's zodiac version is a good example.

[Itze]

Thank you for all the fast answers.
I've tried the procedure with MyMC and PS2Savebuilder. It sure was easy to do like nosisab Ken Keleh said. The outcome is that the NTSC version is now able to "read/show" the save but not to "load" it. It always says "corrupted file". I've also tried it vice versa. I've converted a save from gamefaqs (NTSC to PAL) to load it with the PAL-Version...same error. So i think that the savefiles from the .Hack series could not possibly be converted in any way .

PS: And miseru99 ... it might be my failure, so if you still want to try converting it for me i will sent you a copy of my save + my result per PM

[miseru99]

Ok, gimme a try:3.

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In the meantime for anyone that have problems with such conversion, I'll add a short screenshot based tutorial how to convert saves using "ps2 save builder" and "mymc".

Firstly, you need ofc the save you want to convert and a save from the version you want to convert to. If they're inside memory card file(ps2) use program called MYMC to export it to .psu or .max

Now run two instances of "Ps2 save builder" open those two saves inside.

In my example this is based on FFX NTSC and PAL versions. Now save game files have usually a few files inside in this case - an .ico .sys and one named same with ID - this is actual raw save data and this is what interests us:
   
like you see above, we firstly need to check if raw save data is same size, if it is, we most likely can convert the savegame without any problems. If it's not, well you better find similar save from someone else:].

Ok, if they're same size, continuing - the "conversion" will be simply renaming ID and raw save file name:
   
Just copy those, if you wish to convert your PAL save to NTSC, just copy the NTSC save ID into PAL one.

Do same for raw save file name:
   
You can simply edit the name of this raw save game file by clicking twice slowly, just like with any file name in windows explorer. So do that and copy from one to another.

Save the file to .max and with MYMC again, import it back to your .ps2 memory card. Just a note, if MYMC will give an error the same save already exist, you'll need to delete the existing one first OR go back to ps2 save builder and change last number in both root/ID and raw save game file name.

For example if you have something like that BASLUS-20312FF090600 - the last number is a save game slot number, with 0 as first and soo on. Soo you can just change it to BASLUS-20312FF090601 to put it into second slot, BASLUS-20312FF090602 to put it into 3'rd etc. Just remember that raw save game file name and root/ID must be same=].

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Unfortunately this game was changed a bit, PAL version have bigger raw save data and cannot be converted like that:C. It's a good example to add to this tutorial through:
   
The raw save game data for this game is saved in lots of files, named differently, soo be sure to look over similar looking files that can be raw save data while comparing sizes. If they differ it's a bummer ;/ game changed or at least it's save system was updated and isn't really compatible.

[Menji]

I have the same problem...=(
i cant convert my infection flagdata.. it says "there's no .hack infection file in this memorycard"

I've tried converting my savedata to NTSC with save builder but I cant, because I dont know the root/ID...

@miseru99: can you help me converting this savedata? >_>

thx~

[miseru99]

Like I had it that last post I added a small tutorial:

Code:

Unfortunately this game was changed a bit, PAL version have bigger raw save data and cannot be converted like that:C

So can't really convert this game saves, they are just different soo will not work.