Today’s guide will quickly run you through writing your Playstation 1 save game files onto an actual memory card. This method is perfect if you have downloaded save games from the internet or even if you have save games from an emulator, that you want to use on the real hardware.
One more benefit to this, which RetroGameDepot’s latest YouTube video will show, is that you can actually transfer Pocketstation games onto the Pocketstation with this method. You no longer need to track down those rare Japanese titles, to get your Pocketstation fix.
What you need (Hardware)
- Sony Playstation 2 capable of loading ULaunchELF
(If the above doesn’t make any sense to you, please look into the Playstation 2 Memory Card Exploit or an alternative to loading ELF files and begin researching) - Sony Playstation 1 Memory Card (with free space for a save game)
- Flash Drive/Memory Stick/MMC or SD Card, any USB device you can drop the saves onto
What you need (Software)
- PSXGameEdit (Download link #1, Download Link #2)
- PSX Raw Convertor (Download link #1)
- Playstation 1 save files (Lots here)
Make sure the save game file you are using matches the region of the game you wish to use with it. For example a save game from the US version of Breath of Fire IV is not compatible with the PAL version of the game.
Let’s begin!
To begin we need to extract the save game from the current memory card image it is in.
1. Open up PSXGameEdit and select ‘File -> Open MemCard Image’
2. Select the save game file and click ‘Open’.
3. Here you will see the save game name, the region of the save game (to the right) and other details such as how many blocks the save game will take up on your Memory Card.
Now click in the empty circle (radio box) beside the save name to select it
4. Select ‘File -> Save Single Game Save’
5. Save the Single Game Save to a folder of your choice
Now we have the Single game save, we need to convert the Sony Playstation Single game save into a format that is understood by the Memory card.
6. Locate the Single Game Save File you have just created. In the same folder, place the ‘PSX Raw Converter’ application we recently downloaded
7. Drag the save game file onto PSXRC.exe and let go. It will create a raw save file that the memory card will understand
The final step involving the PC is to put the raw Save Game file onto your Flash Memory/Camera Memory Card/USB Drive in a folder where you will remember its location. My recommendation is to drop it on the root of the drive where it is easy to access.
Here is where the magic begins, time to transfer the save game over.
8. Taking the USB device you just loaded the save file onto, plug it into one of the USB slots on your Playstation 2
9. Boot up the Playstation 2 and load ULaunchELF. (As mentioned before, if you are unsure what this is, you will need to read into it before attempting this guide)
10. When ULaunchELF boots up, select Filebrowser
11. Select your USB device, which will be labelled as ‘mass’
12. Inside the USB device, navigate to the folder you placed your Save game files in
13. On the save you want to transfer over, press R1 and a menu will pop up. From this menu, select ‘Copy’
14. Navigate out of the folder, back to the file browser. From here, find the memory card you wish to copy the save game to. The memory cards will be labelled as mc0 and mc1. Note that mc0 is Memory Card 1 and mc1 is Memory Card 2. Open the one you want.
15. In here you may see a list of files. These are your current save games on the memory card. From here, press R1 again to be greeted by another menu.
16. On this menu, select mcPaste. This will begin transferring the save game from the USB Device to your selected Memory Card.
Once it has finished, you may repeat the above steps for other save files you wish to transfer. When happy, reset your Playstation 2 and navigate to the Memory Card manager (Browser on the Playstation 2). You should find a new save game file sitting there.
What if I want to backup a save game from my Memory Card onto the PC?
This guide can also be used in reverse to copy PS1 Save files onto the PC. Follow most of the steps backwards, copying the save file from the Memory card to the USB device.
Transfer the file onto your PC and drag it back onto PSXRC.exe. This will create a mcs file (Single Game Save) which you can then open in PSXGameEdit. Once opened in PSXGameEdit, select ‘File -> Save MemCard Image’, select the format you want (most likely .gme) and you’re done!
