Transferring Game Saves

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This guide will explain how to transfer game saves between:

  • a Wii/Wii U(vWii),
  • Dolphin Emulator,
  • GameCube memory cards,
  • and (Nintendont) emulated memory cards.

What you need
  • an SD card formatted to FAT32/MS-DOS
Instructions
  1. Insert your SD card into your Wii/Wii U.
  2. In the Wii Menu, select the Wii Options at the bottom left.
  3. Select Data Management (if on Wii), Save Data, then Wii.
  4. Select a save you would like to transfer, then select Copy.
    • If the Copy button is greyed out, you will need to install Priiloader to disable the copy protection.
  5. Repeat the previous step for each save you would like to transfer.
  6. Once you are finished, put the SD card into your other Wii/Wii U.
  7. In the Wii Menu, select the Wii Options at the bottom left.
  8. Select Data Management (if on Wii), Save Data, then Wii.
  9. Select the SD Card tab at the top right.
  10. Select one of the saves you have copied to your SD card, then select Copy.
  11. Repeat the previous step for each save you have copied to your SD card.

Make sure you have installed cIOS before following this!

What you need
Instructions
  1. Extract SaveGame Manager GX to the root of your SD card or USB drive, and put it into your source Wii/Wii U.
  2. Launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch SaveGame Manager GX.
  3. Ensure that the source is set to Wii.
  4. Find and select your save, then Extract, then Default.
    • Repeat this for the rest of the saves you would like to copy.
  5. Press the HOME button and exit SaveGame Manager GX.
  6. Put the SD card into the target Wii/Wii U.
  7. Create a new save file for each game. This is needed so that SaveGame Manager GX can overwrite it.
  8. Launch the Homebrew Channel, and launch SaveGame Manager GX.
  9. Ensure that the source is set to your SD or USB.
  10. Select each save you copied and click Install.

By importing your NAND backup into Dolphin, you effectively copy everything on your Wii (at the time of the backup). This also has the benefit of allowing access to Wiimmfi, as well as carrying over RiiConnect24 patched channels.

If you have already done this, consider the SaveGame Manager GX method to save time.

What you need
Instructions
  1. After making your NAND backup, put your SD card into your PC and open Dolphin Emulator.
  2. Select Tools > Manage NAND... > Import BootMii NAND Backup.
  3. In the file dialog that opens, go to your SD card and select nand.bin.

Make sure you have installed cIOS before following this!

What you need
  • The Homebrew Channel on your Wii/vWii
  • SaveGame Manager GX
  • An SD card or USB drive
  • Latest beta version of Dolphin Emulator
Instructions
  1. On your Wii/Wii U, launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch SaveGame Manager GX.
  2. Find and select the save you would like to transfer, select Extract, then select Default.
    • Repeat this for all the saves you would like to transferred.
  3. Once you have extracted all your save files, press HOME and exit SaveGame Manager GX.
  4. Insert your SD card or USB drive into your PC.
  5. Open Dolphin Emulator.
  6. Select Tools > Import Wii Save....
  7. In the file dialog that opens, go to the savegames folder on your SD or USB, and select each .bin file inside it.

Unfortunately, you can only select one at a time, so you must repeat the last step for each .bin file.

All methods here assume you have the latest Beta or Development version of Dolphin Emulator.

What you need
  • an SD card
Instructions
  1. Open Dolphin Emulator.
  2. If you exporting a select game’s save, right click the game inside the Dolphin window and select Export Wii Save.
    • If you are exporting all your Wii saves from Dolphin, select Tools > Export All Wii Saves.

  3. In the folder dialog that pops up, select your SD card. (Don’t go inside any other folder!)
  4. Safely eject your SD card, then put it into your Wii/Wii U.
    • If on a Wii U, be sure to launch Wii Mode.
  5. Select the Wii Options button at the bottom left.
  6. Select Data Management (if on Wii), Save Data, then Wii.
  7. Go to the SD Card tab at the top right.
  8. Select each save that you would like to copy to your Wii/Wii U and select Copy.

Make sure you have installed cIOS before following this!

What you need
Instructions
  1. Open Dolphin Emulator.
  2. If you exporting a select game’s save, right click the game inside the Dolphin window and select Export Wii Save.
    • If you are exporting all your Wii saves from Dolphin, select Tools > Export All Wii Saves.
  3. In the folder dialog that pops up, select your SD card/USB drive. (don’t go inside any other folder!)
  4. Safely eject your SD card/USB drive, then put it into your Wii/Wii U.
    • If on a Wii U, be sure to launch Wii Mode.
  5. Launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch SaveGame Manager GX.
  6. Ensure that the source is set to your SD or USB.
  7. Select each save and click Install.
What you need
  • a Wii with GameCube ports and the Homebrew Channel installed
  • An SD card or USB drive
  • GCMM
Instructions
  1. Open Dolphin Emulator.

  2. In the main menu, select File > Open User Folder.

  3. In the folder that opens, navigate to GC > [Save region] > Card A.
  4. Copy the .gci files you would like to put on your Memory Card.
  5. Create a folder named MCBACKUP on your SD card or USB drive, and place the .gci files you copied into it.

If Dolphin is set to use a .raw memory card, use Tools > Memory Card Manager to export your desired saves to .gci.

  1. Download and extract GCMM to the root of your SD card or USB drive.
  2. Safely eject the SD/USB from your PC, then insert it into your Wii.
  3. Launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch GCMM.

  4. Select the device you have copied the .gci files to.

  5. Press +/X to enter Restore mode.

  6. Select the slot that has your Memory card.

  7. Select the save you would like to restore.
    • If you would like to restore all the saves in MCBACKUP, press 1/R.

  8. When restoration is complete, press any button to continue.
Instructions
  1. Open Dolphin Emulator and select Tools > Memory Card Manager from the main menu.
  2. Click the Open button next to Slot B.
  3. Go to the saves folder on your SD card or USB drive, and select the .raw file named after the game’s ID.
    • If you do not already have a save on Nintendont, select Create and set the Card size to 251 blocks.
    • If you are using one memory card for all games, open the ninmem.raw/ninmemj.raw file on the root of your SD/USB.
  4. If Dolphin is storing your saves in a GCI folder (default):
    • Click Switch to B.
    • Click Import, and navigate to <REGION>/Card A/.
    • Select the .gci file(s) you would like to import. Otherwise, if Dolphin is storing your saves in a .raw file. simply select your saves on the left side and select Copy to B.

All methods here require a Wii with GameCube ports.

What you need
Instructions
  1. Download and extract GCMM to the root of your SD card or USB drive.
  2. Safely eject the SD/USB from your PC, then put it into your Wii.
  3. Launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch GCMM.

  4. Select the device you would like to copy the save file to.

  5. Press B and -/L and Y to enter Raw backup mode.

  6. Select the slot that has your memory card.

  7. When the dump is complete, press any key to continue.
  8. Press HOME/START to exit GCMM.
  9. Insert your SD card/USB drive into your PC.
  10. Copy the .raw file inside MCBACKUP to the root of the device used for Nintendont and name it ninmem.raw.
    • If your games are Japanese, Nintendont will use ninmemj.raw, because Japanese games do not play very nicely when there are other region saves present.
  11. Launch Nintendont and set Memcard emulation to multi [ ? ]
What you need
Instructions
  1. Download and extract GCMM to the root of your SD card or USB drive.
  2. Safely eject the SD/USB from your PC, then put it into your Wii.
  3. Launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch GCMM.

  4. Select the device you would like to copy the save file to.

  5. Press B and -/L and Y to enter Raw backup mode.

  6. Select the slot that has your memory card.

  7. When the dump is complete, press any key to continue.
  8. Press HOME/START to exit GCMM.
  9. Insert your SD card/USB drive into your PC.
  10. Open Dolphin Emulator, and select Tools > Memory Card Manager from the main menu.
  11. Click Open next to slot B.
  12. Go into the MCBACKUP folder on your SD/USB, and open the newly created .raw file.
  13. Click Switch to B.
  14. If Dolphin is set to store saves in a GCI folder (default):
    • Select the saves you would like to copy.
    • Click Export as .gci.
    • Export the .gci files to <REGION>/Card A/.
  15. Otherwise, if Dolphin is set to store saves in a .raw file,
    • Select the saves you would like to copy.
    • Click Copy to A.
What you need
  • a Wii
Instructions
  1. Insert both memory cards into your Wii.

  2. Launch the Wii menu and select the Wii Options button at the bottom left.

  3. Select Data Management > Save Data > Nintendo GameCube.

  4. Select the save you would like to copy and select Copy.

What you need
  • Latest beta or Development version of Dolphin Emulator
Instructions
  1. Insert your SD card or USB drive into your PC.
  2. Open Dolphin Emulator, and select Tools > Memory Card Manager from the main menu.
  3. Click Open next to slot B.
  4. Navigate to the saves folder on your SD/USB, and open the .raw file named after the game ID of your game.
  5. Click Switch to B.
  6. If Dolphin is set to store saves in a GCI folder (default):
    • Select the saves you would like to copy.
    • Click Export as .gci.
    • Export the .gci files to <REGION>/Card A/.
  7. Otherwise, if Dolphin is set to store saves in a .raw file:
    • Select the saves you would like to copy.
    • Click Copy to A.
What you need
  • The Homebrew Channel installed on your Wii
  • An SD card or USB drive
  • GCMM
Individual memcards (.gci files)
  1. Insert your SD card or USB drive into your PC.
  2. Create a folder named MCBACKUP.
  3. Copy the .gci files inside the saves folder to the MCBACKUP folder.
  4. Download and extract GCMM to the root of your SD card or USB drive.
  5. Safely eject the SD/USB from your PC, then insert it into your Wii.
  6. Launch the Homebrew Channel, then launch GCMM.

  7. Select the device you have copied the .gci files to.

  8. Press +/X to enter Restore mode.

  9. Select the slot that has your Memory card.

  10. Select the save you would like to restore.
    • If you would like to restore all the saves in MCBACKUP, press 1/R.

  11. When restoration is complete, press any button to continue.