Memory card configuration

[Taser9090]

I'm playing two GameCube games that require two separate memory card files (.raw) since the two games are from different regions. The games are Pokemon (USA) and Animal Crossing (JPN). I'm on 5.0.

Under Dolphin Configuration > GameCube > Device Settings, I have the USA data in slot A and the JPN data in slot B.

My issue is, is that sometimes, if I try to change the settings (like controller and graphics) and play the games, the screen will say that the data saves. When I go back to play, the data hasn't actually been saved. Upon further inspection, when I go back to Dolphin Configuration > GameCube > Device Settings, slots A and B will be using the same .raw file. Like, if I play the Japanese game, both slots will be using the Japanese .raw file. If I play the English game, both slots will be using the USA .raw file.
Even if I have slot A or slot B set to Nothing, that will happen. If I'm playing on a region free Wii, putting an JPN Animal Crossing memory card in slot B and a USA memory card in slot A runs smoothly with no issues.

I just want to know why this happens. It sucks to lose all that data and it's a bit stressful to know whether the data gets saved properly.

[LPFaint99]

on boot dolphin looks for a memory card with the region of the game

so boot usa game and current setting is MemoryCardA.USA.raw, dolphin will use MemoryCardA.JAP.raw

https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/blob/bf2241ccd2586f7c3d7c84737b0112461b56a08b/Source/Core/Core/ConfigManager.cpp#L1054

In other words this part is expected behavior.

Can you be more specific about losing data? when you boot the USA game it should go back to using the USA memory card and same with the JPN

[Taser9090]

I'll try to explain the best I can without being too confusing.

When I boot up Pokemon XD, it says something like "Warning: Opening the graphics configuration will reset settings and might cause issues!". That potentially may not by why it's not saving correctly. I'll just have to be careful not to accidentally click it or anything! :P

Or, it could be because where my save data was located.

What I did now was create separate folders for each USA and JPN .raw data file. It's not having any issues so far, so I'm crossing my fingers.
I previously had them both in the same directory. So when I check the folders, it looks like this:
JPN Memory card folder:

• MemoryCardA.JAP.raw (Japanese Animal Crossing data. I set this to slot B)
• MemoryCardA.JAP
• MemoryCardA.USA.raw (I didn't put this there, Dolphin automatically created this file. This has no save data whatsoever)
• SRAM.raw
  

USA Memory Card folder:

• MemoryCardA.USA.raw (USA Pokemon XD data. I set this to slot A)
• MemoryCardA.JAP.raw (I didn't put this there, Dolphin automatically created this file. This has no save data whatsoever.)
• MemoryCardA.USA
  

When I save the AC data, it says Wrote memory card B contents to (file location). When I save the PKMN data, it says Wrote memory card A contents to (file location). If both of them say that, then I know the game saves correctly.

Previously, when I had the .raw files in the same folder, saving the AC data would sometimes say Wrote memory card A contents to (file location). That shouldn't be correct since I have my AC data set to slot B. If I booted up the game again, my progress would not have been saved.
So my initial save directory looked like this:

• MemoryCardA.JAP.raw (Japanese Animal Crossing data. I had set this to slot B)
• MemoryCardA.JAP
• SRAM.raw
• MemoryCardA.USA.raw (USA Pokemon XD data. I had set this to slot A)
• MemoryCardA.USA
  

(08-06-2017, 03:04 AM)LPFaint99 Wrote: Can you be more specific about losing data? when you boot the USA game it should go back to using the USA memory card and same with the JPN

Sure, I'll give an example:
Say I have an initial game save with 00:05 minutes of play time. I play for 20 more minutes and save the game. At that point, the game says I have a play time of 00:25. Once the game saves, Dolphin says it wrote the contents to the .raw file. When I come back later and boot up the game, the game will say I have a play time of 00:05. Of course, if I boot up the game, the progress is exactly the same of the initial game save.

[KHg8m3r]

I think in this situation it would benefit you to switch over to the GCI Folder option. this unpacks the memory cards into a folder where each game saves the .gci file for each game individually without needing a memory card, so this way each game gets a save and you don't need to deal with memory cards

[LPFaint99]

(08-06-2017, 04:00 AM)Taser9090 Wrote: I'll try to explain the best I can without being too confusing.

When I boot up Pokemon XD, it says something like "Warning: Opening the graphics configuration will reset settings and might cause issues!". That potentially may not by why it's not saving correctly. I'll just have to be careful not to accidentally click it or anything!

nah, this is unrelated

Quote:Or, it could be because where my save data was located.

What I did now was create separate folders for each USA and JPN .raw data file. It's not having any issues so far, so I'm crossing my fingers.
I previously had them both in the same directory. So when I check the folders, it looks like this:
JPN Memory card folder:

• MemoryCardA.JAP.raw (Japanese Animal Crossing data. I set this to slot B)
• MemoryCardA.JAP
• MemoryCardA.USA.raw (I didn't put this there, Dolphin automatically created this file. This has no save data whatsoever)
• SRAM.raw
  

USA Memory Card folder:

• MemoryCardA.USA.raw (USA Pokemon XD data. I set this to slot A)
• MemoryCardA.JAP.raw (I didn't put this there, Dolphin automatically created this file. This has no save data whatsoever.)
• MemoryCardA.USA
  

That's it right there, when you set
MemoryCardA.JAP.raw as memory card B
and MemoryCardA.USA.raw as memory card A

dolphin on boot would...

USA:
slotA: looks at filename  MemoryCardA.USA.raw it has a matching region <USA> so read/write to this file
SlotB: look at filename MemoryCardA.JAP.raw is does not have a matching region so replace the wrong region with the right one and it becomes MemoryCardA.USA.raw

uhoh, here's a problem... we're reading and writing to the same file from two different places...
so if slot B was the last one to write to disc it blew away whatever progress you made playing the game (assuming you chose to load a save from slot A)

pretty much the same thing happens with JPN


so... apparently there are no checks for "choosing" the same file for both memory card slots...
and unfortunately this is a case where better docs about how memorycards are handled for different regions (Allowing you to essentially choose a file twice is not a good experience) 

the default use case (not changing where the memory card is stored)
works as expected across regions USA games get .USA.RAW and JPN games get .JAP.RAW

[LPFaint99]

(08-06-2017, 06:13 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: I think in this situation it would benefit you to switch over to the GCI Folder option. this unpacks the memory cards into a folder where each game saves the .gci file for each game individually without needing a memory card, so this way each game gets a save and you don't need to deal with memory cards

it's a cool feature and all (I wrote it   ) but as long as the .raw files are the default setting we should try resolve the issues it has

[ExtremeDude2]

(08-06-2017, 07:42 AM)LPFaint99 Wrote: dolphin on boot would...

USA:
slotA: looks at filename  MemoryCardA.USA.raw it has a matching region <USA> so read/write to this file
SlotB: look at filename MemoryCardA.JAP.raw is does not have a matching region so replace the wrong region with the right one and it becomes MemoryCardA.USA.raw

uhoh, here's a problem... we're reading and writing to the same file from two different places...
so if slot B was the last one to write to disc it blew away whatever progress you made playing the game (assuming you chose to load a save from slot A)

pretty much the same thing happens with JPN

So is this a dolphin issue that could be fixed?

[Taser9090]

(08-06-2017, 06:13 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: I think in this situation it would benefit you to switch over to the GCI Folder option. this unpacks the memory cards into a folder where each game saves the .gci file for each game individually without needing a memory card, so this way each game gets a save and you don't need to deal with memory cards

I'm not sure how this works since I don't see an option for it. Additionally, the Japanese version of Animal crossing uses several .gci files (town data, designs, letters, NES games). I'm afraid the emulator may get confused if it's trying to access these different files at different points during a playthrough.

(08-06-2017, 07:42 AM)LPFaint99 Wrote: USA:
slotA: looks at filename  MemoryCardA.USA.raw it has a matching region <USA> so read/write to this file
SlotB: look at filename MemoryCardA.JAP.raw is does not have a matching region so replace the wrong region with the right one and it becomes MemoryCardA.USA.raw

Hmm, do you think my current configuration is safe (having two separate directories)?

I appreciate your guys' help, by the way!

[LPFaint99]

(08-06-2017, 08:58 AM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote: So is this a dolphin issue that could be fixed?

yup, we already do it if you choose exactly the same file for slot A & B     . Just needs to be extended to check if they are essentially the same (same path except .USA.raw vs .JAP.raw vs PAL.raw)

bug has been added to the tracker

(08-06-2017, 09:59 AM)Taser9090 Wrote: I'm not sure how this works since I don't see an option for it. Additionally, the Japanese version of Animal crossing uses several .gci files (town data, designs, letters, NES games). I'm afraid the emulator may get confused if it's trying to access these different files at different points during a playthrough.

GCI folder should work for AC, if you want to use it

Quote:Hmm, do you think my current configuration is safe (having two separate directories)?

two directory's is fine

Personally I'd just put them in the same folder

maybe C:\Users\<your name>\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\GC

set slot A to the USA.raw, set slot B to <Nothing> (or make a file MemoryCardB.USA.raw and select it)


and let dolphin do it's thing. USA games get the .USA.raw and JPN games get .JAP.raw and PAL games get PAL.raw



(anyone reading this looking for a good setting, just don't change the defaults)