Easiest way to access the 3DO Save Manager?

[Rick Dangerous]

This is the number one thing that drives me nuts about the 3DO; saving. There is very little save memory (32kb sram); and no way to get in to manage saves unless you are playing a game and run out of memory. THEN you have to guess what you are deleting since most of the file names are nonsense.

 

Does anyone know a fool proof easy disk to get into the memory manager? I believe it's on one of the demo/sample disks but I went into three the other day and couldn't find it. Why they would not allow you to access this when no disk is inserted is beyond me.

 

There is the "japan only" 256 KB memory unit but it's like $200 bucks, which is a joke. Anyone have one?

 

Also---If you remove your optical drive with the SD Card unit; i wonder if you can do save states to that unit; or if it still goes into the system sram?

 

Oh well; any help appreciated as this frequently irritates the hell out of me when going on long 3DO gaming bouts.

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by travistouchdown

[Austin]

I thought the Game Guru had a save manager?

[Rick Dangerous]

It does but i don't have a copy and they are as rare and expensive as the actual memory units now. Only copy on ebay going for $150. AND they don't actually add any memory just a file manager. Maybe I can find a repro of it on Etsy?

[Austin]

I find that hard to believe. I tried selling one here last year and it sat. I think I had to part it for $20. Just be patient and others will come up.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Or just burn a copy, 3DO handles backups well........

[Austin]

Or just burn a copy, 3DO handles backups well........

This, times ten.

[+madman]

$200 bucks is a lot of dollar bucks indeed. Don't all the demo discs have a memory manager?

[Montrealer]

Hell and Wolfenstein have memory managers you can access.

I think maybe Phoenix 3 does, too.

 

 

Get and FZ-10 and you'll have it built in.

[UHATEIT]

I burned a copy of the Game Guru. It let's you access the save Manager on the FZ-1 but I don't think it ADDS any extra storage right? Just allowing access to it? Been a while since I messed with it. But I do agree that the storage size on the 3DO is ridiculously low. I had to delete some of the larger games like "Hell" because it fills the whole damn thing up!

[Taijigamer]

Save data is stored on the on board SRAM (not sure of capacity). This is maintained by the battery when powered off. I think there is an external NVRAM add-on block that could be purchased to increased save storage. I saw one on eBay a while back.

[+madman]

I burned a copy of the Game Guru. It let's you access the save Manager on the FZ-1 but I don't think it ADDS any extra storage right? Just allowing access to it? Been a while since I messed with it. But I do agree that the storage size on the 3DO is ridiculously low. I had to delete some of the larger games like "Hell" because it fills the whole damn thing up!

Of course a CD-ROM cannot add extra memory. It does have a compression/decompression feature so you can compress save file games to increase storage and uncompress when you want to play them.

[UHATEIT]

Of course a CD-ROM cannot add extra memory. It does have a compression/decompression feature so you can compress save file games to increase storage and uncompress when you want to play them.

I've compressed basically everything. It is too bad the memory is so small on that thing. Especially for a console with large CD sized files. Another strike for the 3DO I guess

[Taijigamer]

I've been looking into the storage on the 3DO. The on board storage is a paltry 32kB. The memory addon pack cited above is 256kB. I have found some 128kB and 512kB 5V SRAM chip datasheets which could probably be swapped in (with a bit of adjusting) and give a boost in memory capacity. I'll test when I get a chance.

[UHATEIT]

I've been looking into the storage on the 3DO. The on board storage is a paltry 32kB. The memory addon pack cited above is 256kB. I have found some 128kB and 512kB 5V SRAM chip datasheets which could probably be swapped in (with a bit of adjusting) and give a boost in memory capacity. I'll test when I get a chance.

You're talking about swapping in chips/soldering I guess? I still have yet to learn how to properly solder. A simple plug in box like the one posted above would be nice, if they weren't so ungodly pricey!

[Taijigamer]

Learning to solder well is definitely recommended, especially as our beloved consoles are getting older and more prone to failure. But be sure to practice on junk circuit boards until competent.

 

The SRAM upgrade idea isn't simple and may not work. A plug in option would be easier. Maybe the memory addon module could be cloned if someone opened one up and documented the insides.

[twoquickcapri]

The FZ-FV1A VCD Adapter adds a Save Manager to the FZ-1. It's not the cheapest way but the most convenient way that's if you don't mind plugging in the extra power brick it comes with.

[UHATEIT]

Rehashing this old one. I'm literally playing a game right now and want to save a game state. But it pops up "not enough storage space please delete something". BUT I'm in a game trying to save, how would you exit the game and delete something without losing the game progress I'm playing by having to exit? Boy the 3DO save manager is bad.

 

And on a USB modded one how do you access the save manager? Would be awesome if as part of the USB drive upgrade to the 3DO if it could bypass the spam internal save and create something on the flash drive/USB itself.

[Wing_Commander]

On 4/25/2019 at 1:38 PM, Rick Dangerous said:

This is the number one thing that drives me nuts about the 3DO; saving. There is very little save memory (32kb sram); and no way to get in to manage saves unless you are playing a game and run out of memory. THEN you have to guess what you are deleting since most of the file names are nonsense.

 

Does anyone know a fool proof easy disk to get into the memory manager? I believe it's on one of the demo/sample disks but I went into three the other day and couldn't find it. Why they would not allow you to access this when no disk is inserted is beyond me.

 

There is the "japan only" 256 KB memory unit but it's like $200 bucks, which is a joke. Anyone have one?

 

Also---If you remove your optical drive with the SD Card unit; i wonder if you can do save states to that unit; or if it still goes into the system sram?

 

Oh well; any help appreciated as this frequently irritates the hell out of me when going on long 3DO gaming bouts.

 

 

 

Get a game Guru for 30 - 40 bucks rather than spending almost 250 -300  on one of those memoy units. 

[Wing_Commander]

6 hours ago, UHATEIT said:

Rehashing this old one. I'm literally playing a game right now and want to save a game state. But it pops up "not enough storage space please delete something". BUT I'm in a game trying to save, how would you exit the game and delete something without losing the game progress I'm playing by having to exit? Boy the 3DO save manager is bad.

 

And on a USB modded one how do you access the save manager? Would be awesome if as part of the USB drive upgrade to the 3DO if it could bypass the spam internal save and create something on the flash drive/USB itself.

This is why I only play like 3 games that require saving at any given time. Otherwise this is a good reason to get a memory unit.

[Rick Dangerous]

Just going to pick up a memory unit I think.  Got the VCD expansion and no regrets there so may as well. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Rick Dangerous

[UHATEIT]

I have a Goldstar with the MNEMO USB mod and was trying to make sense of some Youtube videos I saw yesterday from a guy that has one of these. he was trying to show how to move save states around in a folder called NVRAM on the USB drive. What I was wanting to figure out, is if there is a way to pull the save states from the internal storage (which is only 32kb) and put them onto the USB drive in that folder so they are still available and do not have to delete them. This way the internal storage has additional free space, since the 32kb fills up quickly. Unless there is no way to do that if saves automatically generate ONLY to the internal drive and cannot be moved from there. Anyone know?