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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Save file location - multi disc game (FF8)

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    • mituM
      mitu Global Moderator @simongeoghegan
      last edited by

      @simongeoghegan said in Save file location - multi disc game (FF8):

      I'm not sure where my saved files would be - i'm assuming on the memory card within the Raspberry Pi itself?

      The save files should be alongside the ROM files, but I don't see one in the listing your posted. Did you re-configure the save files location ?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • EfriimE
        Efriim @simongeoghegan
        last edited by

        @simongeoghegan
        @mitu
        That is a backup folder no? The save file should be on the RetroPie memory card as you suggest they will be sidebyside with the .CUE file and use the same filename.
        So when you start Disc 2 it will load "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).srm" when you need to load the ~(Disc 1).srm

        Savestates for multidisc games, if the wrong disc is inserted when loading the savestate will usually 10 of 10 freeze the psx.

        And for the solution. Creating symlinks to the first (primary) memory card. This can be done on the consoles terminal. If SSH is enabled, you could access it using SSH on windows 10 open up the command prompt and use ssh like one of these examples should work. Replace retropie and the IP address with the pi's IP address or hostname

        ssh pi@retropie
        ssh 169.254.xxx.xxx
        ssh pi@169.254.xxx.xxx
        

        accept the key and log in with user and password credentials. Hopefully you remember your password, the default pass is raspberry.

        Once on the PI's commandline type in the commands after pi@retropie:
        note that linux filesystems are case sensitive, using Tab-Completion is a great aid to make sure you have typed the filename correctly. It would be a good idea to have a backup, because rm will delete the .srm (Psx Memory Card) and I am only assuming the first disc is the one that we will keep.

        pi@retropie:
        cd RetroPie/roms/psx
        #This will make a copy of the disc 1 srm
        cp "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII.srm.bak"
        
        #This will delete the saves for the Disc2 Disc3 and Disc4 .srm, I assume that there isn't anything saved to them if you haven't been able to load disc2.
        #Be careful not to remove the .CUE or .BIN or the (Disc 1).srm
        rm "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 3).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 4).srm"
        
        #Removing the .srm is necessary to clear the namespace so that we can create the symlinks in their place, the three commands will make a links to the (Disc 1).srm
        ln -s "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).srm"
        ln -s "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 3).srm"
        ln -s "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 4).srm"
        

        I hope that provided enough information to understand, but feel free to ask any questions and remember to backup the .srm.

        mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • mituM
          mitu Global Moderator @Efriim
          last edited by

          @Efriim It's all nice and good, but there's no .srm file in ~/RetroPie/roms/psx - as you can see from the screenshot.

          EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • EfriimE
            Efriim @mitu
            last edited by

            @mitu It is a backup folder on OPs windows drive.

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            • S
              simongeoghegan
              last edited by

              Thanks for both your help on this.

              I've been following @Efriim workaround however I've got this far... (Apologies, I tried to attach a photo from my phone but couldn't figure it out).

              pi@retroepie:~/RetroPie/ROMs/psx $ cp "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII.srm.bak"
              pi@retroepie:~/RetroPie/ROMs/psx $ rm "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 3).srm" "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 4).srm"
              rm: cannot remove 'Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 3).srm' : No such file or directory
              rm: cannot remove 'Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 4).srm' : No such file or directory
              pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/psx $
              

              I decided not to carry on with the next step just incase (and wasn't sure if it would work anyway given I had the error about discs 3 and 4 not exist.

              EfriimE mituM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • EfriimE
                Efriim @simongeoghegan
                last edited by

                @simongeoghegan
                That is normal, it is only important that the file is not there so that we can create the symlink in its place.
                No saveram was created for disc 3 and disc 4 because they weren't ever loaded in retroarch.

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                • mituM
                  mitu Global Moderator @simongeoghegan
                  last edited by mitu

                  @simongeoghegan My advice would be to create a .m3u file for the multi-disk game - as detailed in the docs, then rename the .srm you have with the same name as the .m3u file.
                  This way

                  • disc switching is just changing the disc index (no browsing needed).
                  • save file is not disc dependant - it's the name of the .m3u, the same for all discs.
                  cyperghostC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                  • cyperghostC
                    cyperghost @mitu
                    last edited by cyperghost

                    @mitu +1 for this generic solutiuon

                    The symlink as @Efriim mentioned will likely work, too but you are bound to a filesystem that works with it. With a external USB device in FAT32 format this method is a failure.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      simongeoghegan
                      last edited by

                      Thanks for the suggestion @mitu and @cyperghost

                      I've had a read of this in the docs but it didn't seem too clear to them - would I make the filename changes within the menu I've been following the other workaround? If so, could you advise what code I have to use to do that please?

                      I'm not the most advanced of users so this is all very new to me and cautious about not wanting to delete/change anything I shouldn't! 🙂

                      EfriimE mituM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • EfriimE
                        Efriim @simongeoghegan
                        last edited by Efriim

                        @simongeoghegan
                        This can be done using the network share on windows.
                        Save the file as "Final Fantasy VIII.m3u"
                        the m3u contents will look like

                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).BIN
                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).BIN
                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 3).BIN
                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 4).BIN
                        

                        and it will read "Final Fantasy VIII.srm" for the slot 1 memory card. So rename the backup to this.

                        You could also make multiple m3u files with differing indices that will load the disc first in the index.

                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).BIN
                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 1).BIN
                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 3).BIN
                        Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 4).BIN
                        

                        and save this file as "Final Fantasy VIII (USA) (Disc 2).m3u", this would also use the same symlinks if they were already made previously for the associated (Disc #).CUE.

                        In this situation I think you could delete the .CUE files since the disc is only a single .BIN

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                        • mituM
                          mitu Global Moderator @simongeoghegan
                          last edited by

                          @simongeoghegan said in Save file location - multi disc game (FF8):

                          I've had a read of this in the docs but it didn't seem too clear to them - would I make the filename changes within the menu I've been following the other workaround? If so, could you advise what code I have to use to do that please?

                          No, you can browse to the \\retropie\roms\psx share folder do the modifications there - rename the .cue files and add a FF8.m3u file containing the CD discs entries. Rename your .srm and .state files to FF8.srm and FF8.state.
                          Then your restart Emulationstation and a new FF8 entry will pop-up, which is the game. Scrape it so the name and info will change to the right name and that's it.

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                          • S
                            simongeoghegan
                            last edited by

                            Thanks for this, I've renamed as follows - so I just need to put the memory stick back into my Raspberry Pi and restart Emulation Station? (assuming I've done the name right!)

                            878ceca2-1e20-482f-b199-6263f036b2ef-image.png

                            EfriimE mituM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • EfriimE
                              Efriim @simongeoghegan
                              last edited by Efriim

                              @simongeoghegan
                              I didn't realize you were using a USB drive. I don't know if it will work, but the symlinks won't be able to be created on the usb default filesystem.

                              I think you will need to copy the Final Fantasy VIII.srm to the USB, usually it will look in the content directory so the .srm is always loaded in path to the rom media. If this default is different for USB I don't know.

                              And there is an extra disc, you would know more about it than me but FF8 is only a 4 disc game.

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                              • S
                                simongeoghegan
                                last edited by

                                I have the memory card that is within the Raspberry Pi itself however I cant find my USB card reader so figured (possibly wrongly!) that I could replicate the m3u scenario on the memory stick instead as I believe everything on the memory stick copies across to the Raspberry Pi upon start up?

                                Again, I could be wrong - this was just my somewhat limited knowledge of things :)

                                EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • EfriimE
                                  Efriim @simongeoghegan
                                  last edited by

                                  @simongeoghegan Though I think the usbromservice could make use of a menu for options like that, it doesn't yet have this function as it will instead copy the RetroPie folders from the sdcard to the USBdrive.

                                  Samba is enabled by default, it is probably what you used transfer roms in the first place. Samba is basically a windows network share, so you can access it from the local network. Similar to SSH, you need the hostname or ip address of the pi and with it simply open windows explorer and in the address bar type one of:

                                  \\169.254.ip.address\
                                  \\retropie\
                                  \\hostname*\
                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • mituM
                                    mitu Global Moderator @simongeoghegan
                                    last edited by mitu

                                    @simongeoghegan Judging by your picture, I don't think it's right. You renamed some FF7 .cue files to .cdX and now there's a FF8.cue (?).
                                    Again, you should be able to do this over the network, via file shares, there's no need to move the USB around.

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                                    • S
                                      simongeoghegan
                                      last edited by simongeoghegan

                                      @mitu, yes that's my fault - in my "psx" folder, I had both FF7 and FF8 games - I wasn't paying attention and thought i'd duplicated them so deleted some, luckily I took a back up so its corrected this now.

                                      I'm not sure I am confident enough to try the SSH so if it wont work through correcting things on the memory stick, I guess i'll have to wait until I track down my card reader and make the changes through the Raspberry Pi memory card :)

                                      mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • mituM
                                        mitu Global Moderator @simongeoghegan
                                        last edited by

                                        @simongeoghegan said in Save file location - multi disc game (FF8):

                                        I guess i'll have to wait until I track down my card reader and make the changes through the Raspberry Pi memory card :)

                                        I don't understand why, but I'm not going to repeat my advice the 3rd time.

                                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • S
                                          simongeoghegan @mitu
                                          last edited by

                                          @mitu apologies, as I say, I'm not the most confident of users so some of the steps involving network/file share are things I don't really understand - I've renamed the files now as advised and plugged my memory stick in but still no joy.

                                          I've a version of the game where I can cycle through discs (but without the original saved game), or I have 4 instances (1 for each disc), where I have saved game data one Disc 1 but no ability to cycle to the next disc to continue.

                                          I'm obviously doing something wrong myself, and don't want to waste anyone's time further so I'm going to start the game again I think - I've appreciated everyone's help with trying to resolve for me

                                          EfriimE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • EfriimE
                                            Efriim @simongeoghegan
                                            last edited by

                                            @simongeoghegan
                                            As long as you take a backup of the .srm you needn't worry about anything.
                                            The network share is the easiest and it only shares user data folders for retropie like: roms bios and configs.

                                            The folder will be displayed like a windows directory in explorer, the local network doesn't need any configuration, it could be either through a router or directly connected through the ethernet.

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