GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[Kode-Z]

Today, I thought that I'd play Ocarina of Time for the first time in, well years.

I turned on the N64, and the Nintendo logo came on - but then the screen went blank. I switched the console off, then on again and it loaded - as if it was the first time!

I had to select the language, then I saw a game select screen with NO saves! I had my file on there since I got the game in 1998!

Can a game that hasn't been played in a long time lose data? It hasn't happened to any of the other games that I have - very weird!

[EternallyAries]

Well maybe the memery battery died Kode-Z. Unlest you can still save then that is weird. but maybe wen the screen went blank it may have crash your save data on it and restart back the day you got the game.
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There totally nothing to read here.

[radorn]

Zelda OOT is one of the luckily few N64 games that use the SRAM save type
SRAM is a type of memory that uses BATTERIES to keep data. It seems your battery has ran out, which is normal taking into account that 12 years have passed.
I'm surprised mine is still there, but could disappear any day...

I THINK that AR/GS can save SRAM to controller pak, although controller paks are SRAM too, so unless you can somehow transfer that somewhere else they are going to disappear sometime anyway...

Fortunatelly the rest of the N64 gamepak saves are based arround EEPROM and FLASH memories, which don't rely on batteries and will keep data for longer periods.

Here's a partial list of games that use SRAM
http://n64.icequake.net/mirror/www.elitendo.com/n64/usa_boot_save_faq.html#s5
Even though this list only includes NTSC-U releases, equivalent releases for PAL and NTSC-J markets surely use the same save types (there could be exceptions, but I'm not aware of any)

[Kode-Z]

It seems to be saving fine, having just completed meeting Princess Zelda!

It's just that the old files had EVERYTHING! Oh well, never mind!

[acceptable67]

I haven't played that game in 2 years. I used to pretend I was an adventurer and grab some milk and the horse and ride around for miles. So much fun. Still functionable.

I'm sorry about your loss man. It's a large game, quite hard to beat.
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Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Kode-Z wrote:

It seems to be saving fine, having just completed meeting Princess Zelda! It's just that the old files had EVERYTHING! Oh well, never mind!

I'd still be cautious, I've had carts that would save fine but certain saves would semi-randomly get erased. I'm guessing in those cases the battery still has some power, but not enough to prevent some of the RAM from being corrupted. Since most (all?) game saves have checksums, one byte changes and the game kills it entirely.

[radorn]

Dragonsbrethren wrote:

[...]Since most (all?) game saves have checksums, one byte changes and the game kills it entirely.

And if they didn't and that one bit or byte changed you could end with a wrong save that could prevent you from further advance or crash the game.
It'd be nice if the game at least had the deference to say "Your saved game has been damages and it's no longer valid, so it needs to be deleted. Your advancement will be lost" and a "Proceed" button or something like that.

Last edited by radorn on Wed May 05, 2010 10:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

[fantsu]

You have to use the cart inside few times a year, so the battery loads up. With this method you can have your saves (basically) forever (depends from the structure of the battery).

My friend still have the Super Mario Kart saves on his SNES cart. He inserts the cart every now and then. He is kinda obsessed with this save, 'cause it holds the world record of many courses in Time Trial mode.


Sadly there is no way to recover your saves.
I was so pissed of many years ago, when I noticed that my NES Open Golf save was erased on my NES cart. That save also had at least the local record of all the courses, something like -17 or -18 on every course...


If you plan to still play the game and make yourself new save for the future, it might be good idea to change the battery. Just open the cart and insert new one. Internet is full of new batteries on most consoles.
Never done this on N64, but I think it works the same than on NES, SNES, 32X and Genesis.

[EternallyAries]

Well if you ever need to open it up Kode-Z you will need the Tool to do the job for you i forgot what it call but google it and maybe you will find it.
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There totally nothing to read here.

[fantsu]

I think N64 holds the same screws than many other consoles, the 4,5mm gamebit screw. Most hardware stores sell those, but there is multiple ways of opening those (if you don't mind using dirty tricks).

Video sites like YouTube is full of tips how to replace dead batteries of old game cartridges.

edit: forget it, it is an 3,8mm version actually, found it here:
http://www.nintendorepairshop.com/n64_game_cleaning.htm

[acceptable67]

I think my controller pack is falling apart. I powered up TWINE a few days ago and I didn't have my saved file and I was like "WTF" so I powered on Perfect Dark and allllllllll my data was erased and I'm like "What the hell is happening?" And I just restarted it and my files were back but I saved a combat simulator file earlier and when I went to load it, it said "Controller Pack Corrupt" "All saved data erased", of course, it meant all saved data for that day. But still, it's just messed up.
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Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[fantsu]

Yours have lasted quite long I think (if you bought it when N64 was out).
I don't have any controller pack anymore that is working actually, and I have something like 10 of those. 2 originals, and bunch of different kind of 3rd party ones, most of them 4 or 8 times bigger than the nintendo one, 2 with LED numbers and rumble paks in same.

The are all very unreliable.
Some can hold files from specific games, some cannot hold anything.
I think one of the originals still can hold Blast Corps files, but if you try something else, it fails.


Also all of my originals controllers are in quite bad condition. I have like 10 of those also, almost all in different colors too.

Few 3rd party controllers with metallic analog sticks still work, those are great.

[zoinkity]

I'm sort of stunned, concidering just now I'm starting to have problems with my old NES battery-backed games. One GB game failed, but otherwise had very good luck with it.
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(\_/) Beware
(O.o) ze
(> <) Hoppentruppen!

[fantsu]

zoinkity wrote:

I'm sort of stunned, concidering just now I'm starting to have problems with my old NES battery-backed games. One GB game failed, but otherwise had very good luck with it.

You probably clean your place too often. The dust doesn't ruin your games.

[EternallyAries]

I have my N64 sents the day come out and we got the Super mario 64 and i never has a problem yet thank god lol
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