Decided to spend a few minutes this morning checking out some other stuff to try and get more solid info on the problem.
1) When the APF2K8 editor saves a file after edit the popup specifically says, "Save complete. File still needs to be Re-signed in order to work in the game." I know you said that's just an xbox thing but I also found a website that says you must re-sign user save files for PS3 and gives very specific instructions for how to do so (
http://wonderpierrot.blogspot.com/20...ame-saves.html).
2) So I made a fresh download from PS3 to my USB stick and loaded my file to the editor in "offline" mode...all the player names were present and looked fine. I changed a couple players names then saved and encrypted through Bruteforce. Decided to alter another player before sending back to PS3 so decrypted again and reloaded to the editor. All the names were garbage again (even though I specifically set history to "None" for the new players as you suggested).
3) Tried the same as #2 above but all editor loads in "online" mode. Everything worked as expected...with no garbage player names and the changes I made still present.
4) Was able to repeat the "offline" mode garbage name error with the file altered in #3. I decrypted and this time reloaded in "offline" mode. Garbage names. This is why I can't use the editor for my purposes at this time. I don't play online and I have to be able to use "offline" editor mode so I'm not restricted on player names. Super disappointed but I just can't use it at this time...perhaps I'll give it another shot when the offline mode errors are corrected