[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] darkeagle03:
MAA Restore Success!

The following write up is geared towards people that want to backup and restore their MAA game for the purposes of rooting and/or flashing their phone. The big item here is that your Device ID will change and you need to restore it. I have covered a couple different scenarios, depending on at what stage in the process you find this thread. For myself, I had already rooted my phone before I even knew about the Device ID, so I did not know my original ID, but had to restore to it to get MAA to work properly. This is in the last section, which is a bit complicated.

Actually, this can be done. I just did it myself, though it takes a bit of effort if you're not rooted at the start. I'll outline the steps below. If you are rooted, it should be simple. Use Titanium Backup to backup your phone (move the backup off your phone if you have a Nexus / something w/out an SDCard), then after you flash, etc. use Titanium Backup to restore your phone. It will detect that the DeviceID changed and ask if you want to restore the original one. Obviously say yes. That should be all that's needed!

Disclaimer: I am providing these steps to assist others who feel, as I did, that they were being screwed by the poor application design and customer support of Playdom and/or who feel that their hands are tied regarding backing up, rooting, and modding their phones as desired. I am not providing this information to assist anyone in cheating the game, which I am strongly against. Nor do I provide any claim or warranty that the below steps will work when restoring between different phones, to earlier versions of the game backup, or in your particular instance. Nor am I 100% certain that this is undetectable by Playdom and will not result in a ban from PVP. I am simply posting what worked for me when I attempted to do a simple root of my Nexus 4 following the instructions in the thread referenced below. Attempt these steps at your own risk. I highly suggest that you perform the best backup you are capable of prior to following them.

If you're not rooted, here's what you need to do:

If you got to this thread prior to attempting any rooting / flashing

Go here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2109484 and install the app posted there

Run it on your phone and backup the Device ID

Backup your phone

Do your rooting / flashing (good guide here: http://xdaforums.com/nexus-4/help/guide-ultimate-nexus-4-root-guide-t2018179/post53125727?nocache=1)

Restore your phone's apps

Run that app again and restore the original Device ID

Restart your phone. You should be good to go and MAA should work correctly

If you, like me, find this thread only after you've rooted/flashed your phone and do not know your original Device ID

*If you did not backup your MAA Application's data prior to rooting/flashing, you may be screwed. I can't help you

Restore the game data from your backup if you have not already done so

Was your backup done w/ encryption? (did you enter a password?) If so, you will need to:

Go here http://nelenkov.blogspot.com/2012/06/unpacking-android-backups.html, follow the instructions to download his program and run it on your backup. This is easier said than done, and is much easier if you have access to a linux-based environment. It will remove the encryption and turn it into a regular tar file.​

If you did not use encryption, or you were able to remove the encryption from your previous backup to get the regular tar file then continue

Install 7zip on your PC if you have not already done so. (Alternatively, install some program that can open tar and gzip files)

Open the tar file using 7zip

Find your avengers alliance backup.

My adb backup had it located at \apps\com.marvel.avengersalliance_goo\ inside the tar​

Titanium Backup of just the game data had it located at AA2.tar\data\data\com.marvel.avengersalliance_goo\.\shared_prefs\ inside the gzip (note that I called my backup AA2 for that one)​

Open the shared preferences folder of your MAA backup.

My adb backup had it located at \sp\ inside the MAA folder for a full path of: \apps\com.marvel.avengersalliance_goo\sp\​

My TB backup had it located at \.\shared_prefs\ for a full path of: \AA2.tar\data\data\com.marvel.avengersalliance_goo\.\shared_prefs\​

From there, find and open the openudid_prefs.xml file in a text editor (in 7zip, right click and say edit)

Look for a string element that says openudid. The value of that XML tag is your original Device ID

Example from mine (this is the new Device ID that I no longer use): <string name="openudid">f192c53ca7abb2a</string>​

Go here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2109484 and install the app posted there

Run that app and restore the original Device ID. You will have to manually enter it. Be careful

Restart your phone and launch MAA. You should be good to go!