Patreon link button
PayPal donation button
Ko-fi button
Poster for "Ghost in the Shell"

Anime

Manga

Movie poster for "Seven Samurai"

Movies

Album cover of "Loveless"

Music

Box cover of "F-Zero GX"

Video Games

Home » Guides (Category) » SRW: Alpha Gaiden Save Editor

Super Robot Wars: Alpha Gaiden – Save Editor

Box cover for "Super Robot Wars: Alpha Gaiden"

Published:

Edited:

Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories:

A source for and explanation on how to use Playtown Queen’s save editor for ‘Super Robot Wars: Alpha Gaiden.’

Contents collapse
Save Editor: Not Functional?
UPDATE: Fixed!?
The Fix
Save Editor Tips & Issues
Manual Part Generation

Save Editor: Not Functional?

For posterity, here’s a link to a save file editor tool for Super Robot Wars: Alpha Gaiden, uploaded by GameFAQs user MoRmEnGiL. It was developed by Fiigu, who also made tools for the numbered Alpha games. The .exe was created in Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition. This is a perfectly legal tool to use, as it’s essentially just a graphical user interface for single-player video game cheat codes.

After a friend and I messed around with it for a while, we could not get it to work on a modern computer. My main reason for making this page is to draw attention to that in hopes that someone may be able to come up with a solution.

Specifically, it appears that any modern PC attempting to use the .exe will be able to run it, but will not get a response from clicking the “Open” button, which would normally prompt the user to select their save file. Naturally, not being able to do this makes the editor essentially nonfunctional.

On my end, I tried running the .exe in every compatibility mode Windows offered me, but I received no better results. I even attempted to open the save file via Windows Explorer, manually selecting the save editor as the program to open it. No dice!

From my research, which was further substantiated by my friend, the issue seems to be that the program doesn’t work on 64-bit architecture. My friend attempted opening it in a virtual machine and still had no luck.

I thought I would try and track down Fiigu and see if they had a solution, but it seems any trace of them has vanished from the internet. Their personal website is a now-dead Geocities link, and the save editor’s readme.txt lists a Japanese Yahoo email that I have even less faith in. I’m sure they’re out there somewhere, likely under a different handle, but I haven’t located them.

So, there you have it. Whether anyone can find out a way to run this, modify the program, or whatever else, please let me know so that the SRW community can once again access this very handy tool.

It would be great to use route-exclusive secrets, if nothing else!

UPDATE: Fixed!?

A while after posting this article, I was looking around 4chan’s /m (mecha) board for a patch that would fix Super Robot Wars J‘s Shield Defense bug, because I knew their Super Robot Wars General thread had a Pastebin for SRW game mods.

I did find the Shield Bug patch, but I noticed something else while reading the link descriptions. When I was originally trying to find the @G save editor, I did look at this very Pastebin. However, at the time, I didn’t know that the editors’ developer signature was “Playtown Queen.” So when I read “Playtown Queen save editors” back then, I thought it might be for some specific game or fan mod. Knowing what it meant now, I had to download those editors and see if there was a functional version of the Alpha Gaiden save editor.

Their upload appeared to be the same version I had, but the pack also contained its own readme .txt file. This provided a possible solution for making these save editors functional on modern hardware.

The Fix

The readme’s steps:

Step 1: Install .NET Framework 3.5
Step 2: Download the “mscomctl.ocx” file and put it in the “C:\Windows\SysWoW64” folder.
Step 3: Open a command line with admin rights.
Step 4: Enter “regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWoW64\mscomctl.ocx” in the command line.
Step 5: Enter “C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Ldr64.exe SetWoW” in the command line.
Step 6: ????
Step 7: Profit!

Revert
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Ldr64.exe Set64

If everything is ???? then install japanese language into your PC

Now, to cover my ass, I am not responsible for anything that happens as a result of you attempting to follow these directions. As far as I can tell, nothing bad happened to my PC, but you’re taking a risk by following anyone’s advice online.

Save Editor Tips & Issues

All testing has been done on the Premium Edition (SLPS-03577) unless noted otherwise.

Manual Part Generation

After entering quantities for Parts in my inventory, I attempted to equip them to my units only to discover that the game considered them already equipped to an invisible GP-03. Attempting to equip them regardless, which should normally simply unequip the unit with the Part, results in a crash. No solution as of yet.

HEY, YOU!

Yeah, you! Did you know you can enter your email to receive FREE, daily updates containing the newest articles on Noah’s Barks?

Why not support independent, AI-free writing instead of brain-destroying slop? I’m not going to sell your information. Frankly, I don’t even know how to do that (nor do I want to).

Enter your email below to demand something better. It’s what you deserve.

DON’T MISS A BARK!

Enter your email address to receive FREE updates whenever there’s a new article on Noah’s Barks!
Your info is kept completely private. I’m literally just one guy, not a corporation.

Share my content to show your support!

Did you enjoy reading this or other articles?

This article is worthless.

This article is worth at least $1.00!

Responses

  1. MoRmEnGiL Avatar
    MoRmEnGiL

    Just discovered this, thanks for posting about the possible fix. If you do use the editor, be careful, it can brick the save.

    It can also help debrick a save too! (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/580758-super-robot-taisen-alpha-gaiden/57253400 for an example)

    @gaiden is notoriously glitch prone, and with poor memory managment, if you for e.g. farm the endless reinforcements in one stage, it can cause memory issues that make the game unplayable.

    Reply
    1. Noah Avatar
      Noah

      Thank you for your wonderful comment! Your username looks familiar; I think I’ve seen you around on GameFAQs. Hopefully, my post spared you some of the headaches I experienced.

      I remember falling prey to that exact glitch back in the day. I wasn’t even trying to farm that stage, but my team was so efficient at getting kills that the game crashed before I could reach the target point. It’s a shame @G is marred by so many technical issues, since it’s such an otherwise excellent game.

      Reply
  2. Jericho82 Avatar
    Jericho82

    Well i can open it BUT upon after click open the save editor gone blank, i actually made my self a few codes PSX SRW ALPHA GAIDEN include adding clone trio getter for getter normal and shin getter but the codes method i used is maybe the one who make error in later episode because i used REPLACE METHOD, i.e at episode one after choose ryouma and benkei go you will add kammile (zeta gundam), usso(v-dash), and marbel (ark) i replace zetta gundam into Psyco Gundam Mk-II because the zetta gundam can morph, i cannot added psyco gundam mk II into bazaar because it will crash upon buy or if i replace by NON-MORPHABLE it cant be morph into Jet, Thus i replace the chapter (yea i create episode and chapter session codes too and then i create all pilot’s id and mecha id as well) so if i create and replace more and more it seems the game cannot accep MUCH MECHA & PILOT extra without replacing them if not mistaken its only 150 or below BUT i cannot make sure safe size mecha and pilot how much game will accepting because it always error at near end game later like in sometimes error start at episode 27, 30, etc it random the error its blank after choose getter to battle or sometimes after intro new chapter (when start to place mecha) but about cloning trio getter i did fix because the game has a few trio getter accessible line so trio getter one in normal getter while trio getter other in shin getter, only how much size game can accept the size of pilot and mecha that we can keep it in roster it became my final trial error so i used this save editor to search actuall size game can accept or maybe i rewind too much chapter because i often replace kammile and zetta gundam morph into other pilot and mecha, but save editor itself not open upon click save, it show blank, can you help me?

    Reply
    1. Noah Avatar
      Noah

      Thank you for commenting! I’m having some trouble understanding your problem, but it sounds like most of what you’ve described is using cheat codes, and for the save editor itself, you’ve never managed to have it work?

      I remember the save editor not opening/saving things properly before I applied the fix in this article. Did you do everything listed below “UPDATE: Fixed!?” If that didn’t work, I’m unsure of how else to help. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about Alpha Gaiden’s code. I’ll leave your comment here in case someone else comes by and can help.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *