Wii game won't recognize save files (Medal of Honor Vanguard)

[ScryHobbit]

Hi guys. Just recently started using Dolphin and I need help getting Wii saves sorted out.

I am able to start Medal of Honor Vanguard, and I can create profiles that are saved to C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\Wii\title\00010000\524d5645\data. But when I reopen the game, the game doesn't recognize any of the save files it created and prompts me to make a new profile.

For added context, I have not dumped a Wii NAND into Dolphin, so it is using the virtual NAND set up by Dolphin. The Wii NAND root path is set to the default location. I also have all user account permissions set to Full Control and run Dolphin as an Admin.

I have not had this problem with any Gamecube saves yet. Only with Wii saves (this is the only Wii game I currently have on Dolphin).

Picture showing the situation below:

[color=unset]https://imgur.com/0ldjThn[/color]

I haven't been able to find any solutions elsewhere on what is going wrong, and updating to the latest Dolphin build didn't fix the issue. I probably could use save states instead, but I prefer to use the normal save system.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ScryHobbit]

[UPDATE]

To test and see if other Wii games are affected, I've just gotten Super Mario Galaxy set up for Dolphin on my PC.

Fortunately, SMG is saving and loading save files with no errors.
MoH Vanguard, on the other hand, still refuses to recognize its save files.

I'm guessing the saving problem occurs with certain titles - depending on how each game is programmed to save data to the NAND.
(Or even developer oversight - MOHV's aspect ratio is broken on the Wii U, for example.)

If anyone wants to look further into this, or has answers to getting MOHV running correctly, I'd greatly appreciate it.

https://imgur.com/9PyATdR

[mbc07]

I checked the wiki page for Medal of Honor Vanguard, we have no reported issues with this game and one test result saying the game runs perfectly. So, perhaps, try checking the integrity of your ISO (right-click the game on Dolphin's game list => properties => "Verify" tab) to see if everything is alright?

[ScryHobbit]

(04-11-2020, 02:47 AM)mbc07 Wrote: I checked the wiki page for Medal of Honor Vanguard, we have no reported issues with this game and one test result saying the game runs perfectly. So, perhaps, try checking the integrity of your ISO (right-click the game on Dolphin's game list => properties => "Verify" tab) to see if everything is alright?

Thank you for responding.

Verify results:
https://imgur.com/R5459zl

According to the results, it looks like the integrity of the ISO is fine. I've run the Verify test a few times and each time has said no problems were found.
I can still make a new rip of the game if needed to see if that helps.
Otherwise, is there anyone else who has MOH Vanguard set up on Dolphin who can report if the same thing is happening on their machine?

[mbc07]

There's no need to redump your game, your ISO hashes matches a known good dump of the game (Redump database for Wii games aren't publicly available to everyone yet but one of our forum members maintain a slightly outdated mirror here).

Have you actually tried progressing a little in the game campaign before attempting to save? Or are you just creating a new, empty profile in-game and assume it's broken because it's not there on the next play through? From all the details you've provided so far, there's nothing wrong neither with Dolphin nor with the game (good ISO dump, save files are being written to the NAND, game banner recognized on Dolphin's game list, etc), so I find puzzling the game doesn't find its save data on subsequent runs...

[ScryHobbit]

Created a test profile and played through the first campaign, Husky

https://imgur.com/FCqd2ne
https://imgur.com/x5oAGot
https://imgur.com/qAZa3dX

Closed first session. Opened second session, profile was missing in-game.

https://imgur.com/3lsEXbJ

Third and fourth session. Created two different accounts. Same story.

https://imgur.com/qqmHxkL
https://imgur.com/sMSkQId

Fifth session. Tested erasing a profile from in-game. Save file is deleted from folder when erased in-game. But in sixth session, profile list is blank, yet the file for the remaining profile is still in the folder.
(Note time in corner and in folder)
https://imgur.com/daqYVsX
https://imgur.com/mvGcpJp
https://imgur.com/wNn9xwA
https://imgur.com/sX3xizQ

I don't have anyone on my end who can test the game using a different machine and/or dump, so I have no way of knowing if this only affects my machine or if it is a widespread issue with MOHV unless someone here has a copy of the game and is willing to test it themselves. At this point, I'm suspecting the latter.

[mbc07]

Okay, it's very old at this point but if you run the game on Dolphin 5.0 Stable, does it work? Can you save properly?

[JMC47]

I swear I tested an issue just like this and was able to save and load it fine.

[ScryHobbit]

(04-11-2020, 08:48 PM)mbc07 Wrote: Okay, it's very old at this point but if you run the game on Dolphin 5.0 Stable, does it work? Can you save properly?

Save loading works correctly on 5.0 Stable.

https://imgur.com/ODh0frG
https://imgur.com/SZwvTd6
https://imgur.com/NHnTowt

I'll play around a little bit with the dev version I currently have (5.0-11832) to see if anything changes if I tweak folder locations, etc.
(Both versions are installed to my Desktop. Dev version uses Global User Directory, while Stable uses its own Local User Directory)

[ScryHobbit]

Tested two different dev versions to compare:

One is 5.0-11836, the latest version.
The other is 5.0-10886, a version from about 7 months ago.

For comparison, the version I currently use is 5.0-11832.

Found some interesting results - 10886 works correctly. 11836, however, does not.
Both builds are using their local user directories.

Just my theory, but somewhere within the last 7 months MOHV's save system must have gotten broken starting in one of the dev builds.

5.0-10886

https://imgur.com/2x4SFj6

5.0-11836

https://imgur.com/EET89FT