Memory Cards

SplashEdit can write real memory card saves — Sony-format save files that survive a power-off and show up in the PlayStation BIOS memory card manager, complete with your own title and icon.

This is different from Persist, which only keeps data in RAM until the console is switched off. Use Persist for cross-scene state during a session; use memory cards for actual save games.

	Persist	MemCard
Survives scene load	Yes	Yes
Survives power-off	No	Yes
Shows in BIOS	No	Yes
Stores	Numbers only, 16 keys	Whole Lua tables (nested)
Speed	Instant	Blocking disk access

Project Setup

Memory card settings are global to the project (not per-scene). They are packed into every scene's splashpack so the runtime can build standards-compliant save files.

1. Open the SplashEdit Control Panel (PlayStation 1 -> SplashEdit Control Panel).
2. Go to the Memory Card tab.
3. Tick Enable Saves.
4. Fill in the fields below.

Field	Description
Enable Saves	Packs the memory card configuration into the splashpack. Off by default.
Region Code	Two letters: BA = America, BE = Europe, BI = Japan. Used to build the save filename.
Product Code	Up to 10 characters, e.g. SLUS-00000. Combined with the region and your save key to form the Sony filename.
Save Title	Shown in the BIOS memory card manager (ASCII, up to 32 characters). Can be overridden per-save from Lua.
Icon Frames (16x16)	1 = static icon, 2-3 = animated. Each frame is a 16x16 texture. Frames should share frame 0's palette.

Sensible defaults

If a splashpack has no memory card configuration (for example an older project, or saves left disabled), the runtime falls back to built-in defaults so MemCard.Save still works out of the box — you just get a generic title and a blank icon.

Icon palette

The BIOS icon is a 16-colour (4bpp) image. All animation frames share a single palette taken from the first frame, so design your frames against the same set of colours.

Saving and Loading from Lua

The MemCard API is intentionally explicit: port is 0 (slot 1) or 1 (slot 2), and every call returns a result plus an error string so you always know what happened.

-- Save the current game state to slot 1
function saveGame()
    local state = {
        level = Scene.GetIndex(),
        hp = FixedPoint.new(100),
        name = "HERO",
        flags = { metWizard = true, bridgeRepaired = false },
    }

    local ok, err = MemCard.Save(0, "save1", state)
    if ok then
        setStatus("Game saved!")
    else
        setStatus("Save failed: " .. err)
    end
end

-- Load it back
function loadGame()
    local data, err = MemCard.Load(0, "save1")
    if not data then
        setStatus("No save found: " .. err)
        return
    end
    Scene.Load(data.level)
    -- data.hp is a FixedPoint, data.name is a string, data.flags is a table...
end

What you can store

A save is one Lua value (usually a table). Inside it you may use:

• nil, booleans
• integer numbers
• strings
• FixedPoint values
• nested tables (up to 16 levels deep)

Functions, threads and other userdata are rejected with an error. Cyclic tables are rejected by the depth limit. The blob is length-prefixed and checksummed, so a corrupt or foreign file fails to load rather than being silently misread.

A safe save flow

function trySave(port, key, data)
    local present, err = MemCard.IsPresent(port)
    if not present then
        return false, "No memory card in slot " .. (port + 1)
    end

    local blocks = MemCard.FreeBlocks(port) or 0
    if blocks < 1 then
        return false, "Memory card is full"
    end

    return MemCard.Save(port, key, data)
end

Listing and deleting saves

-- Show what's on the card
local names = MemCard.List(0)
if names then
    for i = 1, #names do
        Debug.Log("Save: " .. names[i])
    end
end

-- Delete a save
MemCard.Delete(0, "save1")

Format erases everything

MemCard.Format(port) writes a fresh, empty filesystem to the card, wiping all saves on it — including saves from other games. Only call it behind an explicit player confirmation.

Important Notes

Saving is blocking

Save, Load, Format, List and FreeBlocks block while the card is accessed (tens of milliseconds, sometimes longer on a busy card). Trigger them at deliberate save points — a save room, a menu, a checkpoint — never inside onUpdate.

Slots and cards

Port 0 is controller/memory-card slot 1, port 1 is slot 2. A standard card holds 15 blocks of 8 KiB. Most saves fit comfortably in a single block.

See the MemCard API reference for the full per-function signatures and return values.