Converting saves can be one of the many inherent obstacles of dealing with emulation handhelds. Over time, more emulators arise and some promote different save types versus the ones that came before it.
For instance, some SNES and GBA emulators standardize the .srm file type while others choose to use .sav. As time passes and more consoles enter the emulation space, the need for converters to input and export saves from one type to another becomes more necessary.
Euan Forrester, creator of Save File Converter, sat down with Time Extension to talk about the creation of the site and its roots.
Save File Converter Origins
One of the earliest stories Euan brought up was the aforementioned GBA save file mismatch.
“As time went on, I wanted other converters. In Zelda Four Swords on the GBA, I wanted to play the new single-player dungeon on my cart without having to do the multiplayer part. There are saves on GameFAQs that unlock it, but they’re in a different format,” he says. “To convert the Zelda save, I would have had to download an entire GBA emulator. So instead, I did some poking around to figure out these file formats. I read the code from the GBA emulator… and used that to write my own simpler converter.”
These frustrations are usually dealt with by using various different sites, converters, or as Euan had mentioned, entire other emulators.
If you need to convert a save file type, you can easily find multiple sites that offer the service both free and easy. But if you wanted to have a single place to do all the saves you need to convert, you’d be hard-pressed to find one. Until now.
With Save File Converter, Euan was able to focus on creating a tool for the community at large. The GBA is not the only device that faces similar save troubles, it plagues different types of PS1 saves, Sega Genesis, encrypted PSP saves, and saves from the Nintendo Switch Online service.
By focusing on helping the community, user feedback has assisted Euan in making sure certain file types and formats are supported.
Added Features and Support
Save File Converter UI
Euan recalled, “One day a member of the MiSTer community, birdybro, reached out on GitHub. He said that it was difficult for users to convert Sega Genesis save files to and from the MiSTer and asked if I would consider adding a converter for them to the site.”
Initially, he shot down the idea on the basis that the Genesis itself has some hardware quirks that make various different saves intrinsically different from one another. That and the abundance of things a converter for Genesis would need to add to the site’s design, the UI would have to be altered beyond what he believed would be worth it.
But he relented later and realized that part of his excitement was figuring out what was needed for each converter and how to incorporate those changes into his site. He needed more save files and formats, though, so he asked if birdybro could send those over to him.
“birdybro agreed to give me save files for all of the retro console MiSTer cores, and so the “treasure hunt” aspect of looking through them all to find other quirks was more interesting. I’m glad he did. The MiSTer page quickly became the most-used page on the site, and today it accounts for almost half of the site’s total monthly users,” says Euan.
Over the years, converting saves has always been a somewhat cumbersome process for those who play their games in multiple different places, on different types of emulators, and with different ways of emulation. The Save File Converter aims to cover a good portion for the sake of prosperity in the retro gaming community.
The Community Going Forward
The community thrives the most when its users and members are willing to lend a hand to help preserve the games and content we all want to enjoy in the modern day. The games we are mostly interested in are from decades past, but the ways in which we enjoy them are more relevant now than they ever have been before. Devices have insane resolutions, new texture packs get made for different games and emulators, and memories are able to be relived on modern-day tech.
With the Save File Converter, the future of the games we love playing can easily be transported from cartridge to handheld, past to future.
You can read the entire interview over on Time Extension’s website It covers a great deal of things rotating around Euan’s life including the creation of Save File Converter. It’s a great read to see the mindset behind those who create the invaluable tools we all use.
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