Impact of deleting DLC / updates?

[David Wonn]

While browsing older topics, I curiously stumbled upon this thread. In a nutshell, deleting DLC and / or updates can be useful for purposes of solo mode play, such as completing challenges or improving high scores. It could also be handy for testing earlier glitch discoveries that were later patched, such as the very handy Master Orders glitch from version 1.02 or various character-specific exploits.

Out of curiosity, has anyone thoroughly tested the impact of deleting DLC and / or updates on recent versions, while maintaining score data? I ask because several enhancements were added to the game since such threads were created. I'd presume a much older version might not properly handle the extraneous data we've accumulated in recent versions, such as DLC character customizations, scores, and even downloaded Mii fighters, stages, and replays.

Here are examples of my concerns before attempting to delete anything:

1. If DLC characters are deleted, and then you play the game normally for a while, and later re-downloaded them, do your solo mode scores return? I would be curious for all impacted modes, including Classic, All-Star, Event Matches, Crazy Orders, Stadium modes, and Multi-man modes. Or are these scores lost, or perhaps erroneously moved somewhere else in the game, say to a built-in character? Smash Bros. Melee was notorious for saving scores to the wrong characters.

2. If you had created custom fighters with the DLC characters, and then delete these characters without first deleting any customizations, do they "lock" your ability to delete equipment that was formerly assigned to the DLC fighters? Or does such equipment vanish, assuming it wasn't already equipped on non-DLC characters?

3. Let's say I have several replays from the current version, plus some from the previous version that I have not yet deleted. Some are my own creations, while others were downloaded. Additionally I have some downloaded Mii fighters and stages from the Share options online. If updates are then deleted, does the original version of the game know what to do with these features? Do they get corrupted? Do they return if I re-download updates?

Any insights on these scenarios would be greatly appreciated, especially from anyone who has deleted updates or DLC content. I am hesitant to attempt such things yet, as I do not want to risk losing scores or progress. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

You have to keep the update data, since removing it prevents you from accessing your game data until it's reinstalled; the update data is also required to utilize any DLC materials. As for DLC, deleting it won't cause any harm to your game data; the DLC data will still be saved, and will return when you redownload all of your purchased contents.

Also, replays will NOT be affected if you delete your DLC data, since the DLC data is actually stored in the update data. When you purchase DLC, you're actually purchasing a key that enables you to use the DLC materials that are in the update data.

 

[David Wonn]

If game data is inaccessible when reverting to an earlier version, then certainly the point becomes nearly moot, though I've heard of people intentionally doing so for other reasons. I'm not at all surprised that DLC characters would be inaccessible from the original version.

However point #2 above still concerns me. Let's say for instance I equip a custom Mewtwo in slot 1 with a specific piece of equipment that is not equipped on any other fighter. Normally when such equipment is taken off the last remaining fighter, it is then eligible to be sold. My question is this: If I leave that customization as is, then delete the DLC containing Mewtwo, what happens to the equipment that was formerly set to Mewtwo? Does it remain impossible to sell this equipment since it is occupied by a "ghost" fighter? Or does it become eligible for sale since none of the remaining available fighters have it equipped? If the latter is the case, and the equipment is sold or vanishes due to the 3000 piece limit, then I'd imagine this could potentially corrupt data when Mewtwo is re-activated.

Thoughts?

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I'm probably guessing that any equipment that's equipped onto the DLC characters can't be sold, even after you delete your DLC keys.

 

[LancerStaff]

Yeah, I deleted my DLC for All-Star reasons and when I redownloaded it the sets were still there. If you can junk the equipment on it I imagine they made sure to implement something so the set doesn't get corrupted or whatever.

 

[David Wonn]

I decided to experiment in order to satisfy my curiosity on question #2 in my original post. It went as follows:

First, I deleted my existing custom fighters for Cloud just to play it safe. I then gathered some garbage low- and mid-tier equipment for test purposes. I equipped both a Protection Badge and Super Suit onto a new custom Cloud. I also equipped the Protection Badge on a new slot for a non-DLC fighter. Satisfied with this initial setup, I also took a snapshot of my Stats in order to get a count of total equipment and custom fighters for sake of reference later.

Next, I deleted my DLC file, as per instructions in the thread that I originally linked to. I immediately (aside from several eShop connectivity errors) re-downloaded all my DLC fighters except Cloud, ignoring stages for now. Once I could confirm the download after several (hopefully) unrelated communication errors, I then fired up Smash. The Stats section matched everything I noted previously (aside from obvious things like Power Count.) I went to customize the non-DLC character (Sonic in this case) that I set up initially in this experiment. I removed his Protection Badge and it did not vanish from the inventory, but it also was impossible to sell. Likewise, I went to another non-DLC character to verify that the Super Suit was still around and it was also impossible to sell.

After doing all the above, I then re-downloaded Cloud and verified his custom setup was intact. I removed the custom fighter containing the Protection Badge and Super Suit, and presto, these two pieces of equipment were now available to sell! Oddly I also found out that the number of Customized Fighters in the Stats section is an ever-increasing stat which does not decrease as fighters are deleted, so this stat is unfortunately misleading.

TL;DR version: Removing DLC fighters locks existing equipment on customized fighters, so you cannot sell their equipment until you re-download them. Beware of this!