Importing Saves
Folder Structure
You can add your own saves, from the internet, friends, or emulators directly to the SD card. For GameID and DisplayID see [Importing for use with GameID] below.
The folder structure is shown above. For example, if your SD card is drive H:\ on windows, to create a new VMC called MySaves the path would be: H:\Dreamcast\MySaves\MySaves-1.vmu or for channel 2, channel 99, etc: H:\Dreamcast\MySaves\MySaves-2.vmu H:\Dreamcast\MySaves\MySaves-99.vmu
The .vmu file must be 128kb (131,072 bytes).
Invalid Examples: H:\Dreamcast\ABC\ABC.vmu No channel number. H:\Dreamcast\ABC\XYZ-1.vmu ABC and XYZ do not match. H:\Dreamcast\ABC\XYZ-1.bin The extension should be .vmu.
Q: Can I use a .vmi or .vms file? A: .vmi and .vms pairs are individual saves (as opposed to a whole memory card). To convert them for use with the Dreamcast, open the .vmi or .vms in the EVMU Emulator, open the menu with the Mode button, and it Save as a full .vmu with the correct folder layout. It will now be available in the [VMU Browser].
Importing for use with GameID
When the folder name matches the ID of the game you are playing, the VMUPro can automatically load the correct .VMC for that game. Take for example the fictional title: 8Bit Mods Adventures in MemcardLand With game ID: AB-1234-56 Strip any dashes and spaces from the ID leaving AB123456 Which gives the path: /Dreamcast/AB123456/AB123456-1.vmu
Q: Are partial matches supported? A: Yes! If there are multiple similar versions of a game, with differences in the last 2 digits, those last 2 digits may be omitted. E.g. Two versions of a game with IDsAB-1234 50 and AB-1234 88 Both match to: AB-1234 Which would be: /Dreamcast/AB1234/AB1234-1.vmuon your microSD card.
Q: Where do I find the Game ID? A: Community driven sites like Redump have extensive databases of all retail titles. kevh182 on Github also maintains an extensive `.csv databse. https://github.com/kevh182/Redump_GameID For third party/homebrew titles you can try launching the software to see what is created, or use third party tools to explore the disk/disk image.
Bulk Import
Trusted developer K3zster has created a tool to automatically identify the contents of .VMU or .BIN files and split them into the correct folder/.vmu structure for each game on the VMUPro. It is written in Python and so works cross-platform. https://github.com/K3zter/vmu-save-splitter