
Originally Posted by
NeoRizer
For those of you needing help with corrupted save files READ THIS THOROUGHLY PLEASE:
Please don't bother reading this if you know what your doing, I don't want complaints of a wall of text or some shit like that, I'm only trying to help people that are on their wits end with this corruption bullshit... I was one of them.
I noticed a lot of people getting corrupted save files, first of all, I've dealt with this for a good 4 or 5 hours before finally coming upon a solution to the issue using gathered information. I've been asking on these boards for help but I keep getting the same ridiculous answers, every one has a different method of getting things to work, none have worked for me but recently I tried combining a few method's and developed one that works for me. I already had a save file that kept corrupting itself if I tried to save it and I managed to fix it, so if you're in doubt, heed my advice.
I've been tinkering with various scenario's and combinations and I've finally found one that works. I've been playing an edited save for a good 34 hours now, saving and quitting every so often as well as backing up the save (USER_DATA) after every major mile stone (boss battle) and the save has NOT deleted itself, got corrupted or even failed to load / save.
If your save file is already corrupted but you can extract the USER_DATA file out of it, then here's what you should do every time you mod the file:
1. Do not attempt to ever move the file from one location to another, I noticed that this corrupts the data like crazy. If you have the save file on your HD, leave it on the HD, if it's on a USB stick, leave it on the USB stick.
2. Download HORIZON (It just got TWO updates in the past couple days... what for? I have no idea, but it seems to be working better than before)
3. Attach your HD or USB to your PC and load up Horizon. Find your save data to Dark Souls and drag it in to the empty spot in the middle of Horizon. This will open the file directly from your HD. Extract USER_DATA.
4. Make a back up copy of your USER_DATA file. Make sure that the USER_DATA file itself is working. Usually the container file (DRAKS0005) gets corrupt but you can still extract the USER_DATA file from it, this is FINE. If you can actually extract the USER_DATA file out of the CON (DRAKS0005) then you're on the right track.
5. Mod the copy of the USER_DATA file with whatever, make sure to fix the check sum properly (there's video's on this).
[NOTE]
- It doesn't matter if you're online or offline because I've been playing online the entire time while editing my save. I just took my character off the leader boards when I made him so no one would see that I have a level 523 character. Also, I've been invaded only 8 times, kicked all their asses and I never invade any one...ever.
- If you're new to this, DO NOT edit your souls to ridiculous amounts, it WILL corrupt the file. Give yourself a hearty amount, just not too much. A good number in hex is: 00 98 96 7F which is 9, 999, 999 souls. Then waste as many as you can in to upgrading your stats and never go that high again. Usually I give myself about 500K if I die while retrieving my corpse and lose my remaining souls.
- Editing humanity to 99 seems to be fine as well as raising stats. I wouldn't touch the item discovery because it's purely cosmetic...meaning even if you have 10K item discovery, the game still bases the item find % on your stored humanity level. The highest my guy ever had was like 410 or something like that with 99 humanity and some other stuff equipped (ring I think).
- Editing EXISTING items in your inventory is also OKAY so long as you found the item already. I would not even attempt at importing items or replacing items with other items if you're having corruption problems or if you're new to hexing. I've tried this, it screws your save up and will most likely cause corruption. I didn't do it wrong either, the game just doesn't like it's inventory being fucked with. If you have even a single Dragon Scale or Twin Humanity edit those items to 99 and you'll be fine, just don't waste them all. Keep 1 or 2 for future editing.
6. After you've modded the USER_DATA file and fixed the check sum with Hexworkshop, save the file, then save it again just to be sure...I always save the file twice just in case.
7. Now that you have an original copy and a modded copy of USER_DATA, delete your DRAKS0005 save off the Xbox 360 completely. Do not re-insert the USER_DATA in to the old CON (DRAKS0005) file.
8. Plug your HD or USB back in to your Xbox 360 and go make a fresh character. Keep tapping the A button to just pick the default settings and start the game up. As soon as you see your character, do not pick up the key to the cell or open the door, or walk around, just save and exit the proper way.
9. Once you see the Bandai logo hold the middle button on your Xbox (DO NOT DASH OUT) and shut the system off completely. Load your HD / USB back on to your computer and open Horizon.
10. Extract the entire DRAKS0005 file off of your HD / USB and put it in a folder called Fresh CON or something like that. You'll notice the file size is 8.5 megs. Now you should have a copy of your newly created CON on your HD and the original file on your Xbox 360.
10. Go to your HD / USB manager in Horizon and drag the new 8.5 meg file right from the HD / USB to the middle of Horizon to open up the Rehash / Resign / Extraction tool. Replace the USER_DATA file with the modded USER_DATA file from before.
11. Rehash and Resign the file directly on your Xbox 360, don't even bother doing it on your computer, just do it straight on the Xbox 360. I noticed this helps with corruption A LOT. If you move the file around too much and try to over write the previous one, it corrupts more often. You'll notice the once 8.5 meg file will shrink to 4.61 megs or 4.99 megs, can't remember which but that's normal.
12. Exit out of Horizon and load your HD / USB back on your 360. The file should load fine but you're not done saving it from corruption just YET. Press start and go to load game. You'll notice that your freshly made character is still there and your old modded character is no where to be found. Don't worry. Click A on the fresh noob character and BAM. Your old modded character will load.
13. Before DOING ANYTHING, save and quit out right away. This will finalize the modding process and will solidify your character to the save file. I'm pretty sure what this does is updates the USER_DATA0a file which is kind of like a system file of what accomplishments your character has done in the game, such as bosses beat, bon fires found...etc.
14. Load the file up again, if it loads, you're gravy...but just to be on the safe side, save and quit and load it a second time. If it loads a second time, you should be golden.
15. Every time you beat a boss or something, save and quit, take your HD / USB off the Xbox 360 and go extract the USER_DATA file DIRECTLY FROM THE SAVE FILE ON THE XBOX...don't move the file off the Xbox or USB. Just extract the USER_DATA file for a back up and go play again. I've been doing this for the past 4 hours now, and I haven't had the data delete on me or corrupt at all. It may seem kind of annoying having to back the file up over and over but at one point I had to re-do about 3 hours of work...it wasn't cool. So take the precaution and back it up every once in a while just in case.
16. Every time you wanna mod something from here on out follow the previous steps:
- Extract the USER_DATA file & make a copy of it.
- Mod the copy.
- Delete your old 5 meg save off the Xbox 360.
- Drag the backed up Fresh CON file (8.5 megs) right on to the 360. (If this doesn't seem to work for you then go make a fresh one, takes like 15 seconds and it will save you some frustration)
- Replace the USER_DATA file of the Fresh Con file with the newly modded one.
- Rehash & Resign. It will shrink the file from 8.5 to 5 megs.
- Load the game, load your character and save and quit out TWICE just to be sure.
- PLAY for hours...or until you need to mod again.
This is how I'm doing it now and the game loads and saves without error. Like I said, don't get too crazy with the modding if you're a noob, leave it to the people holding back secrets of how they actually mod the file. ;P
Hope this helps some people.