Save file location - multi disc game (FF8)

simongeoghegan

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.

Efriim

@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.

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.

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.

simongeoghegan

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! 🙂

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

mitu

@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.

simongeoghegan

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!)

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.

simongeoghegan

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 :)

Efriim

@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*\

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.

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 :)

mitu

@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.

simongeoghegan

@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

Efriim

@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.