So what's the deal with Xbox 360 save files??

[FamilleLeone]

The project main page says this supports Xbox 360 saves. But when I copy my Mass Effect save to my PC, the Xbox 360 save files are not in .xbsav format or any format that the program expects. Trying to load any of my Xbox 360 saves just gives an unsupported file error message. So this program doesn't support Xbox 360 save files after all or what?

[mirh]

#4

[FamilleLeone]

Yes I've read this thread, and it does not explain how I'm supposed to open my 360 save file in the editor.

Originally it was said that it's not supported, but why does the project's description specifically mentions 360 compatibility then?

[mirh]

trilogy-save-editor/CHANGELOG.md

Line 33 in 6451f23

- Xbox 360 support for ME2OT and ME3 (You can convert your save by saving it with the other file extension)

As for ME1OT.. after some tinkering I found out that they are STFS files which you can extract with modio.
Putting aside the icon, signature and whatnot, you are then left with the normal player.sav, state.sav and WorldSavePackage.sav also present in the pc version.

Endianness seems fine actually.. and then that's it? There seems only a few differences like the lack of a RGMH header/padding.

[FamilleLeone]

Thank you, I managed to extract the player.sav, state.sav and WorldSavePackage.sav files, but all 3 of those files still give an unsupported file error message when I attempt to open them in Trilogy Save Editor. How am I supposed to "repackage" them into a single file that the save editor will accept?

This is for Mass Effect 1 by the way. And I just want to mention that I'm doing this because it's my last option. Every single trainer for the game does not work with my game version's MediaID as it's different from the US-English version, and the barebones ME1 save editor that was made in 2011 literally doesn't work with my saves, it just corrupts them. Hence why I'm very determined to get this editor working for 360.

[mirh]

I believe Arisen Studio can resign saves, but idk.
Also obviously the save editor only accepts the normal .MassEffectSave files (and it's interesting to see how they are handled).
But in turn they should just be zips with extra steps.

[FamilleLeone]

Alright, I tried some more testing based on what you told me and here's what I found.

Since you told me that the PC save files are just "zips with extra steps", I downloaded a random PC save then extracted the player.sav, state.sav and WorldSavePackage.sav files. Then, with Horizon, I successfully injected them into a 360 save then rehashed/resigned the save. I loaded the save on the Xbox 360 but unfortunately there is an error message when I try to load the save. The link you sent me mentions that we must edit an entry starting with "PK" in a HEX editor, but on a 360 save that wouldn't apply here given that 360 save files have a different structure than PC save files, and there isn't any bytes that spell "PK" on the 360 save.

So, once again, this project advertises Xbox 360 compatibility, so are there clear steps to getting a 360 save working in the editor or was this all just a theoretical idea that was never even tested?

[mirh]

Yeah, the "container" on the xbox side isn't these makeshift zips with .MassEffectSave extension but those CON files.
But idk really then how much you can mix and match individual parts within those files (not last, even just vanilla save files in a different game installation can go wrong unless you set m_bIgnoreDLCRequirements=true)

For this reason maybe you could try to see if you can get at least TSE to accept a converted xbox file?

p.s. I wonder if m_bUseNewSaveSystem=TRUE has any bearing to our situation

[FamilleLeone]

Yes well that's the thing, no matter what I tried, I never managed to get TSE to accept a "converted Xbox file". There are no clear instructions on how to "convert a Xbox file" other than everything I mentionned above.

I'm giving up at this point. I've instead started the Definitive Edition on PS4 and I'm using TSE with this instead.
But in the future it would be great to have TSE directly accept a decrypted 360 save, especially for ME1, as otherwise we are forced to complete the game 3 times fully and 3 times partially to get all the achievements. Same applies for PS3. Using TSE would allow us to do just one playthrough of ME1 since we can switch character classes at will (allowing to clear all the stupid and grindy powers-related trophies/achievements) and increase the counter for number of missions done with every companion (allowing to clear all the stupid and grindy squad-related trophies/achievements). This would also be useful to avoid doing ME2 and ME3 on Insanity and doing 2 playthroughs of ME3, a requirement for their trophies/achievements on PS3/360.