List of Games with Game Saves that are Locked to the Original PSN ID

Digital-Nitrate

Digital-Nitrate

1955-2011 R.I.P.
Premium
6,009
United States
Austin, Texas
D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
For those that may not be aware, one of the nice features with the PS3 is the ability to easily copy your game saves, either to share with others, or as *back-up copies.

*Making back-up copies is something I highly recommend. for the following reasons:

  • In case someone uses your PS3 and instead of using their own account, uses yours and saves over or changes your game save(s).
  • In case you want to experiment with different strategies in a game, and want to be able to go back to the same save point.
  • In case you want to have multiple game saves for a game that limits the number of game saves you can have for each PSN ID.

Obviously, as long as you use the same PSN ID, you can use any game save that was created by that PSN ID, but the same is not always the case when trying to use a game save created by a different PSN ID.

Fortunately, it appears that the vast majority of games allow anyone to use a game save created by another PSN ID than the one currently being used, as long as they are from the same region and same format (BRD or PSN)

However, the question I, and many others have had, is what games do not allow you to use game saves created by other PSN ID accounts?

I have searched for and asked around on this and other sites on whether or not there is a source on the internet somewhere that has a list of such games, but so far I have come up empty, nor have I received any replies to my inquiries.

So the next logical step is to perhaps attempt to make our own list here on GTP.

I have the following games, and will be testing them out to see if by coping game saves from one account to another, it will allow me to play those game saves:

BRD Games
  • Assassin's Creed
  • Blazing Angels
  • Dirt
  • Eye of Judgment
  • F1CE
  • Folklore
  • Genji: DotB
  • Godfather: DE
  • GT5P
  • GTA4
  • Heavenly Sword
  • Hot Shots Golf: OOB
  • Lair
  • Lego Indiana Jones: OA
  • MotorStorm
  • MX vs ATV Untamed
  • Ratchet & Clank Future: ToD
  • Simpsons Game
  • SingStar
  • Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
  • Warhawk

PSN Games
  • Blast Factor
  • Calling All Cars
  • Cash Guns Chaos
  • Echochrome
  • flOw
  • Go! Puzzle
  • Go! Sports Ski
  • GripShift
  • GTHD
  • High Stakes Poker Edition
  • Joust
  • Lemmings
  • LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
  • Operation Creature Feature
  • PixelJunk Racers
  • Piyotama
  • Q*bert
  • Rampage World Tour
  • Super Rub 'a' Dub
  • Super Stardust HD
  • Trials of Topoq

Unfortunately though, this just barely scratches the surface as far as the more than 200 games that are currently out for the PS3 :eek:.

So if you have other games and would not mind testing them out to see if you can use a game save from another account, and posting your results here, that would be VERY helpful! 👍

BTW: The process of testing is not at all difficult.

All you need are at least two PSN accounts, which are very easy to create, in case you only have one.

Then simply log in to the account that created the game save(s), and go to the Saved Data Utility folder located near the top of the files listed under Game in the XMB.

Now highlight the game save you wish to copy, and press the triangle button. This will bring up the options menu for that both the folder (Sort By & Group Content) and the file (Copy, Delete, & Information).

Select Copy and then select the account you wish to copy the game save to.

If the account you wish to copy it to already has a game save with the *same file name, then you'll either have to copy over it or copy it to a different account.

*In other words, a game that only allows one game save file per user ID.

Once you copy the game save(s) over, then simply change to that user account, and start the game. If it automatically loads that game save, or allows you to load that game save from the game menu, then you know it isn't locked to the original PSN ID. 👍


BTW: In case someone asks, while it is true that if you select "Information" for a game save file, it does have a category called "Lock", which one could reasonably assume it would tell you there whether or not that game save is "locked" to a specific user... Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that is the case, or more specifically, it appears no game developer has yet to implement that option.

So just to sum this up, I will be testing out the game saves of the titles listed above, but if any of you already know about any games, including the ones listed above, that lock game saves to the PSN IDs that created them, and or are willing to test out your own games to see if they do or not, PLEASE share your information here. 👍

Thanks!


Oh, and as games are discovered that have locked game saves, I will gladly keep an updated list at the end of this post:



Games with Locked Game Saves
  • BRD Games

    1. Rock Band
    2. Warhawk

  • PSN Games

    1. Dark Mist



Games with Unlocked Game Saves
  • BRD Games

    1. Armored Core 4
    2. Army of Two
    3. Assassin's Creed
    4. BlackSite: Area 51
    5. Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War
    6. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
    7. Burnout Paradise
    8. Call of Duty 3
    9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
    10. Club, The
    11. College Hoops 2K7
    12. College Hoops 2K8
    13. Conan
    14. Condemned 2: Bloodshot
    15. Dark Sector
    16. Darkness, The
    17. Def Jam: Icon
    18. Devil May Cry 4
    19. Dirt (Colin McRae: DiRT)
    20. Dynasty Warriors 6
    21. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
    22. Elder Scrolls IV, The: Oblivion
    23. Elder Scrolls IV, The: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition
    24. Enchanted Arms
    25. F.E.A.R.
    26. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
    27. Fight Night Round 3
    28. Folklore
    29. Formula One: Championship Edition
    30. Full Auto 2: Battlelines
    31. Genji: Days of the Blade
    32. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
    33. Gran Turismo HD Concept
    34. Grand Theft Auto IV
    35. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
    36. Guitar Hero IV
    37. Half-Life 2: The Orange Box
    38. Haze
    39. Heavenly Sword
    40. Hot Shots Golf 5: Out of Bounds (Everybody's Golf 5)
    41. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
    42. Lair
    43. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
    44. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
    45. Madden NFL 07
    46. Madden NFL 08
    47. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
    48. Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
    49. MotorStorm
    50. NBA 2K7
    51. NBA 2K8
    52. NBA Live 08
    53. NCAA Football 08
    54. NCAA March Madness 08
    55. Ninja Gaiden Sigma
    56. NHL 08
    57. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
    58. Portal: The Orange Box
    59. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
    60. Resistance: Fall of Man
    61. Ridge Racer 7
    62. Sega Rally Revo
    63. Simpsons Game
    64. Skate
    65. Soldier of Fortune: Payback
    66. Sonic the Hedgehog
    67. Spider-Man 3
    68. Team Fortress 2: The Orange Box
    69. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
    70. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
    71. TimeShift
    72. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
    73. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
    74. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
    75. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent
    76. Tony Hawk's Project 8
    77. Transformers: The Game
    78. Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
    79. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
    80. Unreal Tournament 3
    81. Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
    82. Virtua Tennis 3
    83. Viking: Battle for Asgard
    84. Virtua Fighter 5
    85. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008

  • PSN Games

    1. Calling All Cars
    2. Everyday Shooter
    3. flOw
    4. Go! Sports Ski
    5. GripShift
    6. GTHD
    7. High Stakes Poker Edition
    8. PAIN
    9. PixelJunk Racers
    10. Super Rub 'a' Dub
    11. Super Stardust HD
    12. Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection


Games with Unknown Game Saves
  • BRD Games

    1. All-Pro Football 2K8
    2. Armored Core for Answer
    3. Battle Fantasia
    4. Battlefield: Bad Company
    5. Beowulf
    6. Bigs, The
    7. Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII
    8. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
    9. Cars
    10. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
    11. Clive Barker's Jericho
    12. Conflict: Denied Ops
    13. Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
    14. Dragonball Z: Burst Limit
    15. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
    16. Eye of Judgment
    17. FIFA 08
    18. FIFA Street 3
    19. G1 Jockey 4
    20. Godfather, The: The Don's Edition
    21. Golden Compass, The
    22. GRiD (Race Driver: GRiD)
    23. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    24. Hail to the Chimp
    25. Hellboy: The Science of Evil
    26. History Channel: Battle for the Pacific
    27. Imabikisou
    28. Incredible Hulk, The
    29. Iron Man
    30. John Woo Presents Stranglehold
    31. Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
    32. Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore
    33. Kung Fu Panda
    34. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
    35. Lost: Via Domus
    36. Mah Jong Fight Club
    37. Mahjong Taikai IV
    38. Medal of Honor: Airborne
    39. Megazone 23: Aoi Garland
    40. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
    41. Mist of Chaos
    42. MLB 07: The Show
    43. MLB 2K7
    44. Monster Madness: Grave Danger
    45. MX vs ATV Untamed
    46. My Summer Vacation 3: The Northern Chapter
    47. NASCAR 08
    48. NASCAR 09
    49. NBA 07
    50. NBA 08
    51. NBA Ballers: Chosen One
    52. NBA Street: Homecourt
    53. Need for Speed: Carbon
    54. Need for Speed: ProStreet
    55. NFL Tour
    56. NHL 2K7
    57. NHL 2K8
    58. Overlord: Raising Hell
    59. Pro Baseball Spirits 4
    60. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
    61. Railfan: Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line
    62. Railfan: Taiwan High Speed Rail
    63. Ratatouille
    64. Record of Agarest War
    65. Robert Ludlum's Bourne Conspiracy
    66. Sega Golfclub
    67. Sega Superstars Tennis
    68. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
    69. SingStar
    70. Siren: Blood Curse
    71. Socom: Confrontation
    72. Stuntman: Ignition
    73. Surf's Up
    74. Time Crisis 4
    75. Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
    76. Top Spin 3
    77. Turok
    78. UEFA Euro 2008
    79. Valkyria Chronicles
    80. Wall-E
    81. Wangan Midnight
    82. Winning Post 7 Maximum 2007
    83. World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets
    84. World Snooker Championship 2007
    85. Yakuza 3: Kenzan!

  • PSN Games

    1. Blast Factor
    2. Cash Guns Chaos
    3. Championship Sprint
    4. Echochrome
    5. Fatal Inertia EX
    6. Gauntlet II
    7. Go! Puzzle
    8. Go! Sudoku
    9. High Velocity Bowling
    10. Joust
    11. Lemmings
    12. LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
    13. Mainichi Issho
    14. Mortal Kombat II
    15. Novastrike
    16. Nucleus
    17. Operation Creature Feature
    18. PixelJunk Monsters
    19. Piyotama
    20. Q*bert
    21. Rampage World Tour
    22. Rampart
    23. Rocketmen: Axis Of Evil
    24. Sky Diving
    25. Snakeball
    26. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
    27. Toy Home
    28. Trials of Topoq
    29. Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3
 
Add Rock Band to that list of locked saves, CoD4 isn't though.

From,
Chris.
 
Thanks Wallrunner51, I've added Rock Band to the "Locked" list and CoD4 to the "Unlocked" list. 👍

Keep'em coming!
 
UPDATE:

Popeye
It seems that the game saves for this game are i.d. locked.
I was after one so that I could see peoples set ups and try Jerez.
I downloaded this and with the PS3 being region free for blu ray games PAL or NTSC should not matter, but it does display id so I can only presume they are id locked.
Click to expand...

Just like Popeye and many others, I had always assumed that game saves for Formula One: Championship Edition were locked because when you look at the game save files for that game in the Saved Data Utility folder, each one lists the player name and unique ID number under it. That, and like Popeye, perhaps others were trying to use game saves from a different region. Which is why I am guessing many assumed the game saves were locked to that ID.

As it turns out, this is not at all the case.

I've been hosting a rather in-depth home theater equipment shoot-out over the last couple weeks, and as such I am currently in possession of a friend's PS3 as well as my own (both 60GB Launch models) that we are using as identical sources material for doing blind A/B testing for the group.

So tonight I went ahead and not only copied my F1CE game saves to his PS3 and to one of his user accounts, but my replays as well... and guess what? They all worked just fine! 👍

So I did a little more testing, and found out that even for the same User ID, whenever you create a new profile in F1CE, that new game save is assigned a new and unique ID number. So this has nothing to do with the PSN ID, it's just some ID the game uses to identify that profile.


This now makes me wonder if there are really any game saves that are truly "locked".

I don't have Rock Band, but I do have Warhawk, so I'll give that a test tomorrow on both PS3's.


BTW: There are some games, like F1CE, Uncharted, GTAIV, etc that allow multiple, but limited number of game save files for each user, while others are limited to just one, like GT5P. Would anyone find it helpful to have a list showing how many game saves you can have for each game inside each account's Saved Data Utility folder?
 
You can not copy Dark Mist save file at all, so I guess that's locked then. (Just checked the information for the save file and it does say it's locked.)

LocoRoco Cocoreccho has also locked save file, so you can not even transfer it.

Pixeljunk Monsters has unlocked save file, works just fine with other account.

That's all I can provide at the moment. This is a great idea by the way!
 
FoolKiller
Does that go for the DLC too?

Or is it because of the DLC?
Click to expand...

I do believe that it's because of the DLC, so you don't go download everything and upload it all over the internet.

From,
Chris.
 
Looks like you can add MGS4 to the locked list. Tried to load a friend's MGS4 game save, and it shows up fine on the SAVE DATA PS3 HDD but no sight of it once the game is loaded.

Try if for yourself and let me know if it works or not.

Note: File is too big for GTP

MGS4:Stealth Camo Save - Easy Level

Remember to use WinRAR Archiver to unlock and uncompress it.
 
Solid Lifters
Looks like you can add MGS4 to the locked list. Tried to load a friend's MGS4 game save, and it shows up fine on the SAVE DATA PS3 HDD but no sight of it once the game is loaded.

Try if for yourself and let me know if it works or not.

Note: File is too big for GTP

MGS4:Stealth Camo Save - Easy Level

Remember to use WinRAR Archiver to unlock and uncompress it.
Click to expand...

Have you tried it under a different user account yet?

From,
Chris.
 
Wallrunner51
Have you tried it under a different user account yet?

From,
Chris.
Click to expand...

Nope. I'll give that a shot. 👍

Nope. Didn't work. Not only that, but my game save didn't even show up on a different user account. So, it's both user and console locked.


EDIT: Hold the phone; it looks like this save is a European save and the game is region locked. I'll post one of my saves and somebody in NA can try to see if it works or not.
 
MGS4 works fine so I don't know what you're doing. I downloaded a game save from GameFAQ's not long ago with the stealth suit and bandana and it worked perfectly.
 
dj_hazardous
MGS4 works fine so I don't know what you're doing. I downloaded a game save from GameFAQ's not long ago with the stealth suit and bandana and it worked perfectly.
Click to expand...

If you re-read my post above I indicate the save was a EU game save.
 
I'll see about getting this thread more current, but I'm more than a little addicted to LittleBigPlanet right now. :D

Speaking of which, while you can copy and play other people's LBP game saves, it will then automatically prevent you from earning any trophies. However, everything else is works just fine. I found this helpful if you have kids and want to share with them a lot of the prizes, especially the costumes with them that you have earned on your own rather than during co-op mode. The only catch is that they can't get any trophies, but they don't care about that any way.

If you want trophies, you'll either have to copy back your original game save, or start a new game.
 
I wonder if anybody can help. My problem is that i have downloaded a game save for Folklore (completed game save). I have followed the instructions to get the save onto my PS3 however when I am at the 'load' screen of the game I only get an option to load my personal save, the newly installed one isn't an option.

The downloaded save is showing in the list of Saved Game Data directly underneath my own personal save, so it is in the correct place.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!
 
Are you sure it's a game save from your region, and not a US game save or a game save from another region?
 
No, I'm not sure of the region to be honest. Aren't the PS3 games region free? I know the Blu-Ray movies aren't but thought the games were.... As ever I am not at all clued up on what I have tried to do and inevtiably I have done something wrong! Are the game saves linked to a region for all games? I haven't kept a historical record of the website I downloaded the save from and so can't check in anycase.

I followed the instructions fully after I had unzipped the file and the save does appear perfectly normal in the list of saved game data on my PS3....
 
fuzzybint
No, I'm not sure of the region to be honest. Aren't the PS3 games region free? I know the Blu-Ray movies aren't but thought the games were.... As ever I am not at all clued up on what I have tried to do and inevtiably I have done something wrong! Are the game saves linked to a region for all games? I haven't kept a historical record of the website I downloaded the save from and so can't check in anycase.

I followed the instructions fully after I had unzipped the file and the save does appear perfectly normal in the list of saved game data on my PS3....
Click to expand...

PS3 games are region free, such that you can play games from other regions on any PS3. However, game saves and game data (add-on DLC from PSN stores), have to be associated with the appropriate version of the game, or else all sorts of problems could occur. This is why even if you have a NA disc version of GT5P, game saves made by someone using the NA PSN version of GT5P wont work.

You have to match up game saves and game data to the appropriate version of the game or else in most cases they simply will not work.

So in order for you to be able to use someone elses game save for Folklore, you'll need to find one that is saved from the same version you have presumably the UK/EU version? The person or PS3 doesn't have to be from the UK, just the version of the game has to be. I hope that makes more sense.

BTW: If you do a Google search for PS3 Game Saves, you'll find lots of sites that have PS3 game saves available for download. In each case you'll see they identify the specific version of the game that the game save was made by, so that you can download the ones that match the version of the game you own. 👍
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all your advice/help. I am a bit too quick out the blocks with stuff like this. I found a website, whilst looking through forums for help (not saves!) found a couple of files for Folklore, followed the instructions and didn't think to do any research into compatibility etc. I am off to do things properly....(hmm!!).... thanks again, much appreciated.
 
Game save for Wangan MIDNIGHT (a JP racing game) is locked too. :)

WANGAN-MIDNIGHT.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think MidnightClub:LA is too - because I can't seem to get a "borrowed" game-save to work. Is there a way you can check to see if a gamesave is from the same region as your game?
 
Last edited:
Nevermind -- I ended up dL'ing a euro-spec one.. i didn't check the whole name of the zip before i dL'd it. Anybody have the 100% for US spec?
 

Similar threads

TJ13
PSN ID change now live.
2 3
Replies
73
Views
10K
boshuter
boshuter
B
Can you explain GTS game saves to me?
Replies
9
Views
2K
breeminator
B
Terronium-12
Your Top 10 Racing Games of All Time
2 3 4
Replies
116
Views
36K
TypeRDC5
T
AlexDB9
Our games list by genre
Replies
1
Views
683
Tristan H
T
M
What do you think about the singleplayer and the overall game design of Gran Turismo 7? And how does it compare to the previous games?
2 3
Replies
78
Views
11K
Tommy_D
Tommy_D

Latest Posts

Back