Correct. If I remove the save then the ROM will take me to the tutorial and everything. I hadn’t done an md5 check but your first question had me try something else: i removed the save, started a new game on my phone and saved it the first moment I could. Closed retroarch and restarted it on my phone again, and I got the error again, even though the sage was created by that exact retroarch instance. Then i tried the mew save on the deck and it loaded fine. Seems like I just have an issue with retro arch on my other devices but not the save itself.
Few times I’ve had this and the doctor just cleaned my ear and it was gone. In ear headphones can cause that by pushing earwax back. I stopped using in ear headphones and haven’t had that happen in years. Just giving you a reason to stay positive, tinnitus can cause by some easily fixed things.