Savefile on multiple copies of game

[rem3sam]

So I was playing GTPSP the other night, when the UMD drive started clicking and making all sorts of strange noises. The UMD would not spin, and none of my other games work now either; apparently my drive crapped itself. Seeing as how I can't justify the $90 to fix my PSP (the only reason I started playing it was for GTPSP and the promise of car transfers into GT5) and I can't replace the device without losing my savefile with the F2007 and others, I was wondering if I were to buy the PSN version and run it off the memory card, on the same console, would GT recognize the saved data? I know that the saves are locked to a unique console, but are they locked to one copy of the game? It's kind of a ******** workaround, seeing as how I did the UMD to memory card install thing, that I can't boot the game without the UMD (even though I did indeed buy it), but it is what it is. I've emailed Sony and PD, none gave me answers other than to send my long out of warranty console in for $90. If anyone knows the answer to save me $50, that'd be wonderful.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[rem3sam]

Nobody has any sort of answer? Guesses?

 

[Glubags]

It should definitely recognize your save data. I've read posts on other forums from people who had the game early (take a wild guess) whose save data from that worked with the UMD and PSN versions they bought later.

Like you said, it's console-specific, so if you use that same PSP, you should be good to go.

 

[jimftr]

You know, it only takes 1-2 hours to replace your umd drive. They cost about £15 or $30. Just look for a guide on the internet. Wait, actually seeing as you own the game you could just get custom firmware and download a copy of the game of the internet. Which isn't illegal becuase you own the game. I backup all my games onto my memory card because they run much faster and i get better battery life. If you can't do this then replacing the umd drive is the best way in my opinion. Or buy the game off the psn, it's your choice anyway.

 

[SportWagon]

Um, but, if, for whatever reason, you get another PSP you cannot move your game progress to that new PSP?

That's a side-effect of the encryption used? (which is presumably console-specific to prevent widespread dissemination of decryption software?)

Can I use a PC to copy Memory Stick contents to another stick? Will the copy work in my PSP?

 

[slowman]

Actually, it is technically illegal to download it period. Owning it or not doesn't matter. The way the law is written allows you to make and use a backup from your original, but not someone else's original.

Not that I'm defending the DMCA as it is a very flawed and nebulous document, but I'm just saying.

Um, but, if, for whatever reason, you get another PSP you cannot move your game progress to that new PSP?

That's a side-effect of the encryption used? (which is presumably console-specific to prevent widespread dissemination of decryption software?)

Can I use a PC to copy Memory Stick contents to another stick? Will the copy work in my PSP?

There's nothing preventing you from copying a savegame to another PSP. The only thing that is encrypted is in the PSP/LICENSE folder and that would be downloadable content. As far as it working? I'm not sure, I've never tried. All of the older PSP games work though; trading savegames is quite common.

 

[SportWagon]

The DMCA says I can't use my backup of my data on an equivalent new machine I later purchase (I guess there's two cases; let's assume the case where the old machine died)?

Edit: Perhaps you didn't realize I was talking about copying from my own machine only to reuse on my own machine.

Isn't that half the point of making backups?

(The other half point being that the main copy of the data may get corrupted somehow).

Hmm.

I think you're saying a complete card copy won't work, but if I formatted a card in my new PSP, I'd then be able to copy everything but the encrypted info to it, and it should work if I was careful not to damage the kay info. And/or the game data wasn't surprisingly encrypted for the specific console also

 

[rem3sam]

Thanks for your help everyone, I really appreciate it. I had my PSP on CFW a long time ago, but wiped it when I got some game and wanted to play it immediately. I'll probably just try to return the UMD copy and buy the PSN version, but failing that I'll put CFW back on and download a copy from the internet. Thanks again,

Robert

 

[slowman]

SportWagon, I was replying to jimftr's post above yours. When I hit reply, my post would've been next. But you posted while I was typing my reply to him which is why I ended up below yours.

He had mentioned that:

Wait, actually seeing as you own the game you could just get custom firmware and download a copy of the game of the internet. Which isn't illegal becuase you own the game.

which is still illegal because it isn't his original backup copy, it's someone else's.

 

[CirclesCenter]

SportWagon,
which is still illegal because it isn't his original backup copy, it's someone else's.

Actually that's where Fair Use and the DMCA have a bit of a head on collision. DMCA says no and Fair Use says yes. Courts as of late have been siding more strongly with fair Use when the two overlap than DMCA. Frankly it's all murky, and will remain that way for some time, and I prefer to not be directly involved in anything that is not completely clear.

If sony had just provided a way to deal with this that did not involve spending > 50% of the console's replacement cost we wouldn't even be discussing this however. (This is the reason DRM is fundamentally broken, it restricts those who pay money and in no way harms or slows thieves.)

 

[NLxAROSA]

Not that I'm defending the DMCA as it is a very flawed and nebulous document, but I'm just saying.

Remember: to anyone outside the US, the DMCA means zero, zilch, nothing. Over here in NL we have the right to make a backup copy of any software we own. There is a restriction: the backup must be used exclusively, which means you must put the original in a safe place and use the backup instead or vice versa. You can't use them at the same time.

 

[SportWagon]

SportWagon, I was replying to jimftr's post above yours. When I hit reply, my post would've been next. But you posted while I was typing my reply to him which is why I ended up below yours.

He had mentioned that:



which is still illegal because it isn't his original backup copy, it's someone else's.

That was a case where it might have been okay if you risked double-posting. I.e. your quoting of my article in the same post confused things. And/or you can go back and edit and add a quote for the message the first portion did pertain to. I do that every now-and-then for various reasons. (E.g. new page).

Edit: 2009/Oct/22 - I only just last night noticed the "game save data" utility in PSP "Home" versus "Memory Stick" utility. The "Memory Stick" utility appears to to little but tell you the free space. The "game save data" utility does let you copy your [size=+1]GT[/size] data to another Memory Stick (though I don't currently have another one to try with). So my previous impressions and questions were based on not knowing about that. However, a PM I just received suggests that even if you use that copy utility the card is still tied to your PSP? Or will it write another person's (PSP's) Memory Stick wtihout changing the encrypted ID information?