GTA San Andreas - San Andreas ID Converter (Report Abuse)

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About this File:

All credit of this section goes to pdescobar, quoted from this gtaforums link. I simply copied this text and formatting from his post on the forums in an attempt to serve our community better - fiddlydee
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"A while back, wolf86k suggested that helpers who have v1 of SA might be able to do SnP requests for v2 users if they used the v2 scripts. Eventually, someone listened and ChrisGuy supplied the v2 scripts. Initial tests were favorable as it allowed the helpers to load v2 saves into v1. Unfortunately, after the game was saved in v1, it wouldn't reliably load back into v2.

Recently someone asked about v2 savegames, and it was brought to our attention that mikeswi's v2 savegames (made on v1 using the v2 scripts like the SnP workaround) also weren't properly loading into v2, so I came up with an idea on how to force them to work. Part of the save file contains a version ID and apparently v2 was rejecting saves which had another ID (while v1 doesn't care.) I have written a small converter program which changes this ID for a save file and preliminary results are promising (MastaCheefa confirmed 4 of mikeswi's converted saves work in v2 and srk38 confirmed a converted SnP save works in v2).

So, I am releasing the conversion program for SnP helpers to use when handling v2 SnP requests. The program can be downloaded from http://pdescobar.home.comcast.net/gta/sa_id_convert.zip The zip is around 96kb and contains only the executable and a README. The short version of the instructions are to simply complete the request like you normally would () and then once you are done, drag the save file onto the converter before you upload it. The long version of the instructions is quoted below.

Note that there was apparently a failure of some kind when ajkhan316` tried to use it for srk38 so I've modified the program slightly to give better output. If you have any questions/problems with this, feel free to PM me or post in this thread.

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San Andreas ID Converter

by P. D. Escobar

This is a simple program which changes the version identifier of a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas saved game to be the id of PC version 2.0

It is *not* a general-use file conversion utility and will only be useful when used in conjunction with the version 2 script files. The inteneded users are helpers in the Save N Play area of GTA forums who have version one but need to help people who have version 2.

USAGE:

The easiest way to use this program is to extract it into the SA saved game directory and then drag any files you want to convert onto it. The original save will be backed up with an added ".bak" extension and the new save will be written. For example, if you drag and drop "GTASAsf1.b" onto the program icon, it will create a backup called "GTASAsf1.b.bak" and write out the converted save to "GTASAsf1.b" You may drag and drop multiple saves at once. A command prompt window will spawn with the output summary so you can check for any errors. Simply type [Enter] or [Return] to dismiss the window.

You can also call it from the command-line within an existing command prompt window, specifiying the filename of the save(s) to convert as arguments. For example, to convert "GTASAsf1.b" and "GTASAsf3.b" you would open a command prompt window, change to the saved game directory, and enter the command "sa_id_convert GTASAsf1.b GTASAsf3.b". The output when using this method is simply displayed in the command prompt window.

EXTENDED USAGE for Save N Play:

This assumes that a helper has version 1 of the game and the requester has supplied a version 2 save file. Instructions are for helpers.

-- This part of the process remains the same as previous --
1) Backup original v1 main.scm and script.img
2) Replace them with the v2 main.scm and script.img
3) Download the requester's save
4) Launch the game, load the save, complete the mission.
5) Save the completed mission.
-- This part of the process is new --
6) Extract sa_id_convert.exe somewhere useful like your saved games directory.
7) Drag the save from part 5 onto sa_id_convert.exe
8) Upload the converted save (the .b file, not the backup.)

That's it! The additional conversion step should be enough to get the save working on the requester's version 2 game. Please inform PDEscobar of any problems related to the conversion.
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Acknowledgements.
This process wouldn't be possible without the work of the following people (and probably more):

* wolf68k for originating the script-switching idea and doggedly pursuing it until we got ahold of the scripts.
* ChrisGuy for being the one to contribute the v2 scripts.
* mikeswi for going back and redoing his saves for v2 and now converting them all as well.
* CyQ for providing the savefile description that prompted me to think of changing the ID and showed me what needed to be changed.
* MastaCheefa for being the v2 guinea pig and testing all the experiments with mikeswi's converted saves.
* ajkhan316` for making sure we got an SnP test done as well.
* srk38 for testing the converted SnP save.
* All the SnP helpers who provide such a nice service in Mission Help which I'm happy to support with this.
* GTAF staffers for the unexpected gift of karma

Edits
- After seeing Mxy's post, I decided to put my own acknowledgements in and also put in the links to the v2 scripts." - end quote

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