Phantasy Star Online (DC) save transfer

[spiritplx]

OK, here's my dilemma. I'm pretty sure I am just out of luck on this one, but I thought I would run it by you guys...

I have been playing PSOv2 for DC lately (offline mode) in an attempt to play through Ultimate. Anyone that has played PSO knows that this takes quite some time. I was quite a ways in (I could get to the final boss in Ultimate).

However, tonight when I start playing, my DC dies. Just my luck, second DC to die on me in about 6 months. I plan on fixing it later, and I pop in PSOv2 into my third DC and try to load my game. It asks me for my serial again... I look online, and it appears as though you are only allowed to play the one character per DC. Yikes. I wanted to make sure that going through with entering my serial/access keys won't erase my save game file. Or, if I can instead just move my save to my PC, and play on an emulator instead. It looks like you can't copy the save file through normal means, otherwise I would put it on my Nexus memory card and all would be fine. However, do the emulators have this same prevention as well?

I guess my questions are:
1. Can you play a save file from another DC of PSOv2 on an emulator?
2. How can I transfer my PSO save file from my non-Nexus memory card to my Nexus memory card?
3. Can I safely enter my serial/access for my new DC, and continue where I left off? Or will that start me over?
4. My issue with my DC is: Press power and power led flashes briefly, then goes dark, and no other activity. I have tried a different power cable (though both work in my third DC), a different PSU, bending the power pins, a different controller port (just for fun), and I also cleaned off some corrosion near the power pins on the motherboard (maybe it's already shot?). Any other ideas on what I should try to replace? Or does anyone know what PSO looks at for DC uniqueness? Maybe I can swap that one piece over to another DC and hope it'll work (don't tell me it's the motherboard).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Flake]

I think you might be able to just swap power boards on your DC. It is really easy and only requires a Phillips screwdriver.

Ask Hobie-Wan for details - he helped me swap power boards on a DC that was giving me trouble last year.

[spiritplx]

Well I'll be damned, I just tried swapping GDROM units, and that fixed the issue. I guess I need to try and combine the two bad GDROM units and see if I can get one good one. Luckily it let me load up my game, so it must be based on the motherboard (I hope this doesn't go bad).

So I guess if you see a flashing power light, you might also think GDROM unit in addition to PSU.

Thanks for the suggestion Flake. I called it a PSU (power supply unit) instead of a power board. Perhaps my terminology is off, but that's what I meant when I said PSU. You're right, taking apart the DC is very simple. I have taken the whole thing apart and swapped out parts from others with ease. If you have some screwdrivers, you are in luck.

I guess the original question still stands, as I would like to make a backup save of my game. My nexus card typically lets me do this, but PSO has anti-cheating techniques to not allow duplicate saves. I've looked a bit at Dream Explorer (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/rele ... en&menu=on) if that could perhaps solve my dilemma. If anyone has any experience copying PSO save files, I'd love to hear from you.

[Flake]

Whoops, and here I was all proud of my suggestion! Just goes to show how little I know about the inner workings of our magic gaming boxes!

Oh and someone answer this mans question: I have actually run into the same problem myself.

[spiritplx]

Just a quick update: I narrowed the problem down to the GDROM's board. More details can be found here.

I have been able to continue playing PSO, but I am scared what might happen when my DC's motherboard dies. I would still be very grateful if anyone has any solutions for copying a PSO game and getting it to play on an emulator, or if that is even possible.

[spiritplx]

I have half of my problem solved. I found this, which details how to copy a PSO save between VMUs. I saved it to my Nexus card, and now have it on my PC.

So now I have my save backed up, but what if my DC dies? Is there anyway to trick another DC to load up this save? What about getting it to play in an emulator?

I've tried nullDC, and I am unable to get the file to load. On the load screen, it doesn't even allow the VMU with the save file to be selected. Newly created saves work fine. Does anyone have any experience getting another save file from another DC to work on nullDC (for PSO)?

I feel like my save isn't truly backed up unless I can play it once my DC dies (and at my rate, it will happen soon enough).