Post by cos8o on Apr 17, 2020 5:37:35 GMT -5
It is known that GD servers sometimes fail to backup the savedata, either because it's too big, or because the server itself is down for maintenance.
A solution for that is to make local backups, which is trivial on windows: simply access a folder, and copy the files somewhere else. That, though, can't be done on android, at least not that easily: android files are stored in a hidden directory, which can't be accessed without root. However, there's a powerful tool called adb which can help us to achieve backups, without root involved. In this guide I'll show you how to make backups of savefiles on android, without root, using windows; you can follow this guide from os x/linux aswell, however not all provided software might have a port for your machine, so you'll have to find similar tools.
I won't talk about the root way, because if you have root, I think you're good enough to figure out yourself where the files are
Here's the requirements for this guide:
-Device drivers (important, adb will not work otherwise)
-Android platform tools, which include adb
-HxD hex editor
-WinRAR, or any other unpack software that supports tar.gz
-Obviously, USB debugging has to be enabled on the device
Step 1: software setup
First, we want to install all the stuff we need:
-Platform tools: developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools
-HxD: mh-nexus.de/en/downloads.php?product=HxD20
-WinRAR: www.win-rar.com/download.html?L=0
While I can provide the links where to download the software, mobile devices are all different between each other, so it's up to you to find and install a working driver. In some cases, the default windows driver may work, so no external driver is needed.
Step 2: connecting to device
Now that we have all the tools, let's open the command prompt, and head to the platform-tools directory, where adb.exe is (pro tip: you can write "cmd" in the upper bar to directly open a command prompt instance in the platform-tools folder).
Let's initialize adb, by typing
Now we check that adb is connected to the device, we type
If neither the box, nor the device list appear, that means the connection has failed. Close adb using
then check that USB debugging is enabled, and retry.
Step 3: dumping the savefiles
If the connection succeded, you're now ready to dump the savefiles. Type the command
and hit enter:
On your device, you now have to allow the backup. Very important: don't put any password, else we wont be able to extract the savefiles.
Step 4: fixing the backup
After the backup has finished (it takes few seconds), we will see a new file called "gdbak.tar.gz" in the platform-tools folder. If you try to open it using winrar, it shows an error. We must fix the archive using hxd. Let's open the archive using hxd, and edit it like so: first 3 bytes have to be:
These are followed by 5 null bytes:
Then, you have to delete the data that's between those null bytes and the end of the string "none." (notice the final dot).
Here's a graph for better understanding:
When you're done, save the edits.
Step 5: extract the savefiles
Now, if you try to open the file with winrar, you'll see that it works, and there's a folder called "apps", open it, then go to "com.robtopx.geometryjump/r" and BOOM, here's your savedata!
There's also your saved songs in the "f" folder.
Conclusion
This guide may seems a bit tricky to follow, but it's nothing hard. I haven't yet found a method to restore the backups, not without root. With that said, I hope this lil guide will be helpful to someone.
A solution for that is to make local backups, which is trivial on windows: simply access a folder, and copy the files somewhere else. That, though, can't be done on android, at least not that easily: android files are stored in a hidden directory, which can't be accessed without root. However, there's a powerful tool called adb which can help us to achieve backups, without root involved. In this guide I'll show you how to make backups of savefiles on android, without root, using windows; you can follow this guide from os x/linux aswell, however not all provided software might have a port for your machine, so you'll have to find similar tools.
I won't talk about the root way, because if you have root, I think you're good enough to figure out yourself where the files are
Here's the requirements for this guide:
-Device drivers (important, adb will not work otherwise)
-Android platform tools, which include adb
-HxD hex editor
-WinRAR, or any other unpack software that supports tar.gz
-Obviously, USB debugging has to be enabled on the device
Step 1: software setup
First, we want to install all the stuff we need:
-Platform tools: developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools
-HxD: mh-nexus.de/en/downloads.php?product=HxD20
-WinRAR: www.win-rar.com/download.html?L=0
While I can provide the links where to download the software, mobile devices are all different between each other, so it's up to you to find and install a working driver. In some cases, the default windows driver may work, so no external driver is needed.
Step 2: connecting to device
Now that we have all the tools, let's open the command prompt, and head to the platform-tools directory, where adb.exe is (pro tip: you can write "cmd" in the upper bar to directly open a command prompt instance in the platform-tools folder).
Let's initialize adb, by typing
adb start-serverA message box should popup on your devices, simply click allow/ok.
Now we check that adb is connected to the device, we type
adb devices
on the cmd, and it will look like this:
If neither the box, nor the device list appear, that means the connection has failed. Close adb using
adb kill-server
then check that USB debugging is enabled, and retry.
Step 3: dumping the savefiles
If the connection succeded, you're now ready to dump the savefiles. Type the command
adb backup -noapk -noshared -nosystem -f gdbak.tar.gz com.robtopx.geometryjumpand hit enter:
On your device, you now have to allow the backup. Very important: don't put any password, else we wont be able to extract the savefiles.
Step 4: fixing the backup
After the backup has finished (it takes few seconds), we will see a new file called "gdbak.tar.gz" in the platform-tools folder. If you try to open it using winrar, it shows an error. We must fix the archive using hxd. Let's open the archive using hxd, and edit it like so: first 3 bytes have to be:
1F 8B 08These are followed by 5 null bytes:
00 00 00 00 00Then, you have to delete the data that's between those null bytes and the end of the string "none." (notice the final dot).
Here's a graph for better understanding:
When you're done, save the edits.
Step 5: extract the savefiles
Now, if you try to open the file with winrar, you'll see that it works, and there's a folder called "apps", open it, then go to "com.robtopx.geometryjump/r" and BOOM, here's your savedata!
There's also your saved songs in the "f" folder.
Conclusion
This guide may seems a bit tricky to follow, but it's nothing hard. I haven't yet found a method to restore the backups, not without root. With that said, I hope this lil guide will be helpful to someone.
