Journey of a Noob in the PS3 World

[habib]

Btw @bguervile @habib @esc0rtd3w that ELF files inside lines.qrc (the wave and sparks animations) could be good candidates for experiments

I didn't know that there are elf's loaded from dev flash.
If they are elf's and not encrypted they are indeed very good candidate for testing

 

[DeViL303]

@pinky @sandungas @bitsbubba

Please, Oh please, dont tell me that my entire digital collections of PSP and PS1 will not work with PS3 CFW ?????????

PS1 = VCD
PSP = CSO

Please?
Ive tried several games from each system with no luck.

However, my PS2 collection seems to work without issue, in ISO format.

I still need to get to Gamestop and score an actual PS3 game, so I can test that as well.
But, Crap! lol

You will need to convert your PSP CSOs to ISOs again, and for PS1 I believe cue+bin are preferred but ISO will work too.

 

[UniqueUserName]

You will need to convert your PSP CSOs to ISOs again, and for PS1 I believe cue+bin are preferred but ISO will work too.

CRAP !

Why are bin/cue preferred?

If I must, I may convert a few, before I start building my PS3 collection.
Just to have some games in the PS3 other than PS2 games, which doesnt make much sense to me, because I have four units that could already play ALL of those games ( plus ALL the PS1 games as well ).
My rips have ALL previously been converted to whatever format in which they needed to be, to work with my their default gadgets, where they are native.

Examples:
My PS1 obviously doesnt have a hard drive in it, so my entire collection of PS1 games was converted years ago, for use with POPStarter in my PS2 HDD, which will only recognize them in VCD format.

My PSP only has two 16GB microSD cards in a dual-slot adapter, so I converted my entire PSP collection into CSO format due to storage space limitations ( roughly 29GB after formatting ).
The files were just too large in ISO format to be efficient, so there was no choice at all in the matter.
Basically, I had the ability to bring nearly 100 games with me portably, or only a dozen-ish. No choice.

Is there really no way around this issue ?
Plugin ? Mod ? Different CFW ? Dropping CFW for a specific OFW ? Et Cetera.
Im definitely NOT completely re-converting two of my three largest game collections. LOL
The only console I have more games? The original NES.
Ironic as it is, the console Ive used absolutely the most for the past 17 years straight, the PS2, is the one I have the least amount of games. LMFAO!
( The PS3 dont count in the above figures, since I just got it )

It has been at least 5 years since Ive done any converting, so I dont even recall what I used.
What is the appropriate/best conversion apps for PS1 and PSP, when using the converts in a PS3 ?

\o/ let me explain the purpose of the table with the lines.qrc versions
At the left column appears the firmware versions that used the same exact lines.qrc file, as example you can take the lines.qrc from firmware 4.60 (and any version in between) and use it in 4.82 because is the same exact file
If someone made a lines.qrc modification (the modifications made in this file are usualy related with the XMB wave) using a lines.qrc from 4.60 as base... you can use it in 4.82 because it should be 100% compatible

But if we step down to 4.55... you can see in the table the file is different (are grouped by its MD5 btw, to be 100% sure that are the same file)
So if you use a modifyed lines.qrc from 4.55 in 4.82 the results can be unexpected

And i say "unexpected" because we dont really know what was modifyed exactly after 4.55 inside lines.qrc file
The table in wiki has room at the right column to add this kind of details (like a changelog) but i never filled that info (maybe some day) because to make that accuratelly is needed to extract all the files inside lines.qrc (that works as a container and has more than 100 files inside), then check MD5 of all them, compare with previous firmware version, and after identifyed which files has changed... take a look at them to know exactly what they did

Lot of people thinks in the lines.qrc file as if it where simply "the wave" but it contains more than that, a couple of executable .elf files (the wave and sparks animations), 60+ FPO and VPO (program objects) under a "library" path, some tenths of MNU settings for the .elfs (this files are the ones modifyed to make custom waves) and others less important like some images (DDS TGA)

With the DDS and TGA there are not incompatibility problems... unless sony added a new one in between versions, this is obviouslly a problem if you take an old verions where is missing an image needed for 4.82 is not going to work fine

With the MNU files there is no problem either... unless the case mentioned before... if they added some new setting and you take a file without it in a firmware that needs that setting = problems

The changes in FPO and VPO are very important, if there is some change in them is hard to check (i dont even know how to deal with them, is some openGL stuff)

The ELF files i have not checked them, but i guess was not much updated, and even if it was updated, all versions should work in other firmware versions because is an .elf

-----
So as a resume to get the idea...
We know that groups in the wiki table are 100% compatible, there are 27 groups since firmware 1.00 up to 4.82
But we dont know which "groups" are compatible with other "groups" because nobody compared them in detail (if someone does, please add the info in that table in wiki), as example (i think pinky and me was talking about this before and we verifyed it for a couple of firmwares)... it could happen that the only change made in between versions of lines.qrc is simple a color adjustment (small changes in the MNU files)... in this case the groups are compatibles is just the visual effects are different
But as said, we dont really know, personally i prefer not to risk in using a incompatible file

NICE EXPLANATION !!
I totally understood all of that without googling anything. Sweet!

Okay, so to sum it up, most people think the lines.qrc file is just the wave, but really its bigger on the inside ( like the file is really a file-cabinet ), and when you split that atom, a BUNCH of really important stuff is crammed inside, and in MANY different formats.
Some confusing formats from how it sounds too.

Do all the files/paths remain static throughout firmware releases ?
Like, any idea if the lines.qrc file ALWAYS has the SAME EXACT number of inner-files, or have some of those inner-files been removed, replaced, added upon, etc. between releases ?

Regarding the OpenGL you mentioned, are you saying the same graphics backend is used in the PS3, that is commonplace in todays emulators ( such as the Dolphin Wii Emulator ) ?

Im really surprised someone hasnt ripped apart every firmware there has ever been, to find all the goodies and determine what is what, and with what has changed.
Thats seems like a really important, yet overlooked step, considering the firmware goes back over the whole past decade.

If this sole file is as important as it sounds, I dont see why with just a few people involved, you couldnt get a good jump on it, simply starting by just comparing sizes/modified-dates of all its internal files between each of those 27 groups, and basically initially just taking note of any files that were altered between groups.
All the other, unaltered, dozens of files, simply marked as "unchanged" may help someone greatly, in the future, and could be set-aside/weeded-out within the first few days alone.
Should get a pretty good idea, in just a short period of time, really.

Im really brand new to the PS3 world, so if you ( or ANYONE ) could let me ( and the rest of the community ) know what apps/proggies are needed, to get started peeking inside any of those files, Id actually love to start a running list of that alone.
Basically, a "What Opens What" thread.
Always a necessity to me, before attempting any of my trademark trial and error approach, which always seems to work so well for me.
Then starting with this curious lines.qrc file, which really sounds like something out of Doctor Who to me.

I already have a growing-daily list of a few dozen projects ( in which Id like to at least have a hand getting off the ground ), but I could totally set some time aside every day to work on any of this ( as Im now retired ), IF it is really as important to future Devs as it sounds.
Would need a crash course in PS3 basics though, if someone with superior knowledge was willing to chat with me a bit, I am like a sponge when it comes to absorbing information.

Regarding the ELF files you mentioned, are these the same format as the ELFs I am used to working with on the PS2 ?
Or is it a totally different format altogether, and simply sharing an extension name ( .elf ) ?

All the information you guys have taught me in just the past few days is VERY much appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[DeViL303]

I cant answer any of these very well but I will tell you what I know.

Why are bin/cue preferred?

I am not sure exactly, I think it is to do with the audio tracks, with a bin and a cue you get every bit info needed to completely rebuild the disc if need be, with ISO you don't, but they still work on ps3, and IMO ISOs are handier as its one file per game, and everything else works in ISO so its nice to have all files the same format if you're OCD

Is there really no way around this issue ?
Plugin ? Mod ? Different CFW ? Dropping CFW for a specific OFW ? Et Cetera.

With PSP no, afaik there is no way to run CSOs, with HDD space so cheap it was never a priority I suppose, or maybe not possible, PSP compatibility is not great anyway. For PS1-VCD I am not sure, maybe some backup manager supports them, but I have not heard about it, you could try Managunz and webMAN mod FULL, they would be your best hope for supporting rarer formats. It is possible aldostools or someone could add support for VCD, I do not know what that would involve though, I think both he and deank have added support for new formats before based on a request.

What is the appropriate/best conversion apps for PS1 and PSP, when using the converts in a PS3 ?

For PSP CSO to ISO conversion just use whatever tool you normally would, nothing special required. For PS1 I am not sure with VCD format, but whatever tool supports converting it to ISO should do, If I cant find a tool that supports converting images easily what I sometimes do is mount the image in a virtual drive and rip it again, no good if you have a big collection to do though.

 

[sandungas]

NICE EXPLANATION !!
I totally understood all of that without googling anything. Sweet!

Okay, so to sum it up, most people think the lines.qrc file is just the wave, but really its bigger on the inside ( like the file is really a file-cabinet ), and when you split that atom, a BUNCH of really important stuff is crammed inside, and in MANY different formats.
Some confusing formats from how it sounds too.

Do all the files/paths remain static throughout firmware releases ?
Like, any idea if the lines.qrc file ALWAYS has the SAME EXACT number of inner-files, or have some of those inner-files been removed, replaced, added upon, etc. between releases ?

Regarding the OpenGL you mentioned, are you saying the same graphics backend is used in the PS3, that is commonplace in todays emulators ( such as the Dolphin Wii Emulator ) ?

Cool, i tryed to explain it in plain words, thought my english sucks a bit, and usually my mesages sounds too much rude or strict (im bad at making jokes or winks in english, but im a master clown in my native language, lol)
Yes, the QRC format is a container format and there are a bunch of files inside them, there are only 7 QRC files inside PS3 firmware, and from them lines.qrc is the best known and probably the most interesting
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Qt_Resource_Container_(QRC)
There are not tools to rebuild QRC files, but there is one to extract its contents, the problem is that tool extracts the files giving them names of the offsets (such 0FFF35E.bin) so is hard to identify them and are hundreds of extracted files, the tool is just some code posted at bottom of this page, named "CXML decompiler"
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/CXML_Containers#CXML_decompiler (/!\warning/!\ this wiki page is a huge mess, the info in it is correct overall but is chaotic)

I guess there was some versions of lines.qrc where was added/removed files, this is why the table in wiki has columns with the fileformats inside it (ELF, FPO, VPO, MNU, DDS, TGA), with counters, but i just took a look at the latest versions
And im sure there was versions where there was one or more settings added/removed from the MNU files, the point is inside that MNU files you can use a lot of settings (more than the ones used in ofw), if you dont use a setting inside an MNU file the elf just uses the default value for it
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Lines.qrc

There are lot of stuff in PS3 XMB that works under openGL... is not the standard openGL but some kind of PSGL (playstation GL) where they removed and added some small details
Is basically what was used in the 90's to make videogames, so it supports for 3D objects, animation paths, textures, light effects, etc...
Actually i think XMB wave is a 3D object, is like a cloth or like the sea surface when you look at it from the beach
And the MNU files stores the settings used inside the .elf as variables, this way they was able to modify the wave aspect externally by modifying the MNU settings

Im really surprised someone hasnt ripped apart every firmware there has ever been, to find all the goodies and determine what is what, and with what has changed.
Thats seems like a really important, yet overlooked step, considering the firmware goes back over the whole past decade.

If this sole file is as important as it sounds, I dont see why with just a few people involved, you couldnt get a good jump on it, simply starting by just comparing sizes/modified-dates of all its internal files between each of those 27 groups, and basically initially just taking note of any files that were altered between groups.
All the other, unaltered, dozens of files, simply marked as "unchanged" may help someone greatly, in the future, and could be set-aside/weeded-out within the first few days alone.
Should get a pretty good idea, in just a short period of time, really.

Im really brand new to the PS3 world, so if you ( or ANYONE ) could let me ( and the rest of the community ) know what apps/proggies are needed, to get started peeking inside any of those files, Id actually love to start a running list of that alone.
Basically, a "What Opens What" thread.
Always a necessity to me, before attempting any of my trademark trial and error approach, which always seems to work so well for me.
Then starting with this curious lines.qrc file, which really sounds like something out of Doctor Who to me.

I already have a growing-daily list of a few dozen projects ( in which Id like to at least have a hand getting off the ground ), but I could totally set some time aside every day to work on any of this ( as Im now retired ), IF it is really as important to future Devs as it sounds.
Would need a crash course in PS3 basics though, if someone with superior knowledge was willing to chat with me a bit, I am like a sponge when it comes to absorbing information.

Regarding the ELF files you mentioned, are these the same format as the ELFs I am used to working with on the PS2 ?
Or is it a totally different format altogether, and simply sharing an extension name ( .elf ) ?

All the information you guys have taught me in just the past few days is VERY much appreciated.
Thank you!

The biggest problem to document all this is needed to have a sample of all versions to start working with them, and for this is needed to download and extract contents from all the firmware PUP versions... and this is lot of files, lol
I was lucky at the time we was making that tables eussNL gave to me that lines.qrc files (and some more), because he had the full collection of all the firmwares extracted, decrypted, etc...
We could make that kind of "changelogs" for some of the PS3 firmwares thanks to him, but we only did it a few times... 6 or 7 times as much (with some files we considered was good guinea pigs), i should have that files somewhere but i dont remember and i cant find them now

I realized you are trying to catch all wave mods that was published for PS3 along the years
But this is not going to be easy, the first problem you are going to find is usually people doesnt tells from which firmware it was taken the file (so you are not going to know the compatibility, but right now im thinking in a trick to know it though, long to explain)
Initially nobody cared because PS3 scene was stucked for couple of years in 3.55... so everybody was in 3.55 and there was not incompatibilities with the waves. Later people continued releasing files without advising of compatibility ust because everybody was used to do it this way
And there has been some attempts to make "wave collections" but im not so sure how hard was to make that or how successfull it went

The good way to make a "wave collection" would be to keep a record of the list of settings that was changed for every mod
Usually there are not much... like 6 or 7 settings only (repeated tenths of times, because the wave uses specific settings for every "enviroment" where it appears and there are like 15 "enviroments")
The point is when making a wave mod, everybody uses the same settings for all the "enviroments"... so the amount of info needed to store to recreate that wave is small (as said, just 6 or 7 settings)

But to make this the most efficient way to "port" that waves (to any firmware version) automatically (so no room for mistakes) is with some app or script, but we dont have anything like this

With managunz you can convert CSO to ISO... and after that use cobra or mamba to mount the ISO
Iirc in PSP the ISO and CSO support is related with a file named umd9660.prx
The PS3 firmware has this file too, as a part of the PSP emulator files (is a .sprx instead a .prx but should be the same code overall)
But i guess is more complex than that because is needed to modify also cobra and mamba, and well... maybe even other problems i cant imagine

I been thinking in lines.qrc compatibility, and wanted to verify is this i said was right, i thought we dealed that there was two compatible groups because we extracted the files to compare, but we never did that

But we dont know which "groups" are compatible with other "groups" because nobody compared them in detail (if someone does, please add the info in that table in wiki), as example (i think pinky and me was talking about this before and we verifyed it for a couple of firmwares)

Read my messages in this thread (up to the end), i forgot about them but i been reading them right now and i think is well explained
http://www.psx-place.com/threads/ga...-installer-by-bitsbubba.468/page-2#post-18962


And while thinking in it i realized about an easy way to identify custom waves for all firmware versions (aka any modifyed lines.qrc files)
Is so simple that i facepalmed when i realized about it, but there is a good explain about why this identifying method works XD

Spoiler

Based on the file size in bytes !!!

Columns from left to right in table http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Template:Lines.qrc
-First column indicates the compatibility groups
-Second column indicates how to identify them

We need to care about the groups since 3.40 firmware, becaue this is the first time when the PS3 was jailbroken... so is the minimal firmware posible where someone could publish a custom wave, are 10 groups
3.40~3.42 firmware = 183.874 bytes
3.50 firmware = 183.980 bytes
3.55~3.56 firmware = 183.981 bytes
3.60~3.66 firmware = 183.980 bytes
3.70~3.74 firmware = 183.984 bytes
4.00~4.01 firmware = 185.047 bytes
4.10~4.11 firmware = 185.115 bytes
4.20~4.31 firmware = 185.115 bytes
4.40~4.55 firmware = 185.116 bytes
4.60~4.82 firmware = 185.105 bytes

And the reason why this identification method work accuratelly is because it doesnt exists any tool to rebuild QRC files
All the custom waves that exists are made by replacing bytes of the file either with a hexeditor or an script
The point is because all them was made by replacing bytes... this means the modifyed file has the exact same size than the original
So is posible to start collecting custom waves, then create that 10 folders, and placing all the files with the same size together in his folder

The only problem i see is there are 2 groups with the same size = 185.115

This is an initial grouping method intended to be very accurate
As mentioned before... if later someone verifyes what sony changed exactly in between two different verions and is something minor (that doesnt breaks compatibility)... what can be made is another parent level of folders on top, something like this:

• 350-366
  • 350
  • 355-356
  • 360-366
• 370-374
• 400-401
• 410-482
  • 410-411
  • 420-431
  • 440-455
  • 460-482
• etc...

Edit:
Damn, is not going to work so well because lines.qrc has an overal zlib compression, and zlib sizes varies based on the data, as example, compressing something like 88888888 is going to have a smaller size than 12345678
So it cant be made so easy... is needed to decompress the custom ones, and then check the size
And the sizes in the table in wiki cant be used for this identification method, is needed to get the sizes from the official ones but decompressed :/

Ops, i had to edit the message because i forgot to put the link to the thread where i was talking about this, lol
Check again if someone is interested

And @UniqueUserName btw im posting this here because you was taking a look at collecting wave mods, not asking you to do it, im mostly thinking loud how can be made in a easy and accurate way because maybe you could find it usefull
Is not as easy as i thought when i started writing the previous message... but this is the way XD
Is just is needed to make an intermediate step to decompress them with zlib

And for the originals... i have 6 or the 10 groups i listed in my previous message, i can decompress them and get the sizes... and repeat that table in wiki
With luck... is all the sizes are different then it can be made as i explained

This went out of the purpose of your thread though, lol
Not sure if this derrail with waves went too far, for more waving we could use other thread, so this one returns to your guide-and-suggestions for cfw rookies

 

[pinky]

yes, I think the differences in size are due to compression. there might be minor changes here and there, but iirc, the lines file is 550KBs (somewhere around there) decompressed. it's around 180KBs compressed, and with all black backgrounds, it's around 110KBs compressed. all 4.xx should be compatible with each other. you can usually tell what's compatible by the first 8 bytes. there seems to be some correlation there. the bytes are different with 3.xx. there are definitely other differences between the two such as the proc_iridescent.tga file being at different offsets. I think using the goto function in HxD with the offset of current waves leads to the middle of a file. lol

 

[UniqueUserName]

@UniqueUserName btw im posting this here because you was taking a look at collecting wave mods

You may post anything about the PS3 you like in this thread, without any complaints from me, at all, as Im going to fill it up with as much info as I can, and then start adding stuff the to hacking the PS3 thread when its done.

Then Ill move on to the PSP and PS2 with the same.
Basically, I have to learn or relearn a lot, so Im taking my time with this.

Post it up, anything, dont be shy.

Confusion: I wasnt looking at collecting waves at all, I was offering help if you needed someone to sort through mass quantities of data (which is kind of my specialty) and sorting as needed, if it would help Devs in the future.
If it will, simply post up what info you have and I will get to it as time permits.

I havent had the chance to get back to the PS3 in a few day because of the holiday, so I havent sifted through all the posts of late in this thread yet, but I will, and respond when Im done, just seen I was tagged so came back to respond to you.
Keep up the great work my friend!

 

[complexusername]

I've ripped all of my PSX games as BIN+CUE to ensure no audio issues with games. I'm interested in converting them to CSO to save space but do PSX ISO's play well on Full BC PS3? It would make sense to convert BIN+CUE to CSO and then to ISO to really compress the games and save a bit of space! I'd love to do something similar with my PS2 ISO's.

 

[Berion]

@complexusername CSO is designed for ISO. PSX games are in mode2 with subchannel data, sometimes with leap sectors, it must stay in format which support it (ISO doesn't). If You want compression of PSX games on PS3, You should keep them in PSAR (which means PlayStation Store PS3/PSP style packages). In case of PS2 DVD games, this also not good idea because we need tool which preserve LBA (often used as a security layer from games level, and sometimes even not used besides executable + cnf for CDVDMAN).

And TBH, we as a scene need some kind of uber format (like IPF for FDD) which would support few different compression algorithms and covering up all console disc designs. All known commercial and non-commercial formats fail in this matter and from year to year we face the same problems across all the platforms...

In PS3 case, we even don't have solution for perfect copy. There are "hidden" data, which can be read only by PS3 ODD and executables are encrypted. Disc images for Cobra/Mamba doesn't support proper copy, only rips which are already decrypted with files placed randomly on the disc layout.

 

[krHACKen]

Just FYI, the PS2 POPS "VCD" file is a 1.048.576-bytes header + the raw mode 2 form 1 disc image. No compression, no crypto.
Offset 0h to 3FCh == TOC
Offset 3FCh to 400h == unused, or must be 0.
Offset 400h to 404h == garbage. Is "kHn%01x" in CUE2POPS VCDs, is "SPOP" in the only official file we know.
Offset 404h to 408h == unused, or must be 0.
Offset 408h to 40Ch == disc image size in sectors (2352 bytes per sector), little-endian
Offset 40Ch to 500h == disc image size in sectors (2352 bytes per sector), little-endian
Offset 500h to 100000h == unused
Offset 100000h to EOF == disc image

This file format isn't used in the outside world. So you need to convert your VCDs back to BIN+CUE using POPS2CUE. It's best to re-dump your PS1 discs, cuz early cue2pops builds were piles of donkey sh*t.

 

[UniqueUserName]

I cant answer any of these very well but I will tell you what I know.

No problem, you did great.

I understand, and prefer one file per game myself.
It doesnt really matter to me if all my files are in the same format or not, but it does look neater/cleaner I am sure.
Usually, I just have them in whatever format works best for the platform, or my setup.
I do recall having to alter/rebuild a lot of the PS1 games that had CDDA, in the past.

It is possible aldostools or someone could add support for VCD, I do not know what that would involve though, I think both he and deank have added support for new formats before based on a request.

If @aldostools, or @deank, would like to give it a go, Im all for it, but Im not going to ask anyone to rework anything just to suit my sole needs lmao.

Cool, i tryed to explain it in plain words, thought my english sucks a bit, and usually my mesages sounds too much rude or strict (im bad at making jokes or winks in english, but im a master clown in my native language, lol)

Everything is understandable, and anything sounding like a joke will be taken as such, so no worries please.

There are lot of stuff in PS3 XMB that works under openGL... is not the standard openGL but some kind of PSGL (playstation GL) where they removed and added some small details
Is basically what was used in the 90's to make videogames, so it supports for 3D objects, animation paths, textures, light effects, etc

PSGL ?
Cool.
Im going to look into that a bit in the upcoming weeks.

The biggest problem to document all this is needed to have a sample of all versions to start working with them, and for this is needed to download and extract contents from all the firmware PUP versions... and this is lot of files, lol

firmwares extracted, decrypted, etc.

i should have that files somewhere but i dont remember and i cant find them now

I realized you are trying to catch all wave mods that was published for PS3 along the years

This is what I thought you wanted help with, in sorting for Devs of the future.

Confusion: I wasnt looking at collecting waves at all, I was offering help if you needed someone to sort through mass quantities of data (which is kind of my specialty) and sorting as needed, if it would help Devs in the future.
If it will, simply post up what info you have and I will get to it as time permits.

realized about an easy way to identify custom waves for all firmware versions (aka any modifyed lines.qrc files)
Is so simple that i facepalmed when i realized about it, but there is a good explain about why this identifying method works XD
Based on the file size in bytes !!!
So is posible to start collecting custom waves, then create that 10 folders, and placing all the files with the same size together in his folder

The only problem i see is there are 2 groups with the same size = 185.115

With only 10 folders, it is sounding much easier than it did a week ago lol.
Two groups with the same EXACT size ????? wth

I've ripped all of my PSX games as BIN+CUE to ensure no audio issues with games. I'm interested in converting them to CSO

I'd love to do something similar with my PS2 ISO's.

I dont think you can convert PS1 games to CSO for use with any of this, as you cant use CSO for even PSP games with the PS3 currently.

Yes, it would be nice if we could compress our whole gaming collections into the smallest sizes possible, but as of now, its not possible Im afraid.
At least, it isnt possbile yet to play them from compressed format CSO.

we as a scene need some kind of uber format (like IPF for FDD) which would support few different compression algorithms and covering up all console disc designs. All known commercial and non-commercial formats fail in this matter and from year to year we face the same problems across all the platforms...

Well said !
Is anyone out there working on solving this common problem ?

In PS3 case, we even don't have solution for perfect copy. There are "hidden" data, which can be read only by PS3 ODD and executables are encrypted. Disc images for Cobra/Mamba doesn't support proper copy, only rips which are already decrypted with files placed randomly on the disc layout.

Or this ? lol

This file format isn't used in the outside world. So you need to convert your VCDs back to BIN+CUE using POPS2CUE. It's best to re-dump your PS1 discs, cuz early cue2pops builds were piles of donkey sh*t.

Does that stand for "CUE2POPS_2_0" as well ??
That is what I used to convert my whole collection a few years back.

Everything plays as it should, the way I did it, with all the other extra steps, like combining of data, MonkeyAudio coversion, and such.
It took weeks and weeks.
Im not going to go through all of that again anytime soon, as I will just use my PS2 with PS1 games if necessary (because it is a completely working setup already).

Is there a list available, of any known games, which specifically require the newer POPS2CUE ?

Hey, I noticed they keep trying to suck you back in, over at AG. lol
If you are still looking through POPStarter improvements for the others, my wishlist hasnt changed.
Note the winky-face, lmao, no pressure, I just always wanted FF7 and FF8 to work properly on my PS2.
Black-screen Battle-scenes & Critical Lock-up, respectively.
Again, no pressure, Im not a pest, but I had to say it while there may be time still.

 

[krHACKen]

Does that stand for "CUE2POPS_2_0" as well ??
That is what I used to convert my whole collection a few years back.

Yes. 2.0 is known to generate invalid MSFs in TOC in some cases. But if your CDDA tracks play fine, then the bugs weren't triggered and your VCDs are fine I guess...

Is there a list available, of any known games, which specifically require the newer POPS2CUE ?

You meant CUE2POPS ? Nope, no list.
The only game title I recall, which requires the newest version (2.3), is Rage Racer NTSC J. Anyway, this game is incompatible with POPS, but it allowed me to track down and fix the last CUE2POPS bug.
POPS2CUE had no updates and it works fine. It only accepts VCDs converted by CUE2POPS 2.0 and higher.

Hey, I noticed they keep trying to suck you back in, over at AG. lol
If you are still looking through POPStarter improvements for the others, my wishlist hasnt changed.

Yeah. Have not changed my mind. And since I've totally lost motivation into coding for the PS2, I'll just commit a few changes on POPStarter, per request of the PS2Netbox & PS2USB maker. No improvement to come, the project is dead until I clean and liberate the source code.


Speaking of PS1 CDDA games and PS3, does the stuff you use to launch your PS1 BIN+CUE on PS3 do support pregaps ?
I've been told that Tomb Raider 1 and 2 are incompatible, due to the pregaps not being reproduced. So I've patched the TR1 game EXE, and according to the feedback, that made the game work perfectly.
Strange, cuz that game is on the PS Store as PSone Classic.

 

[UniqueUserName]

Yes. 2.0 is known to generate invalid MSFs in TOC in some cases. But if your CDDA tracks play fine, then the bugs weren't triggered and your VCDs are fine I guess...

ALL except one played as expected, when originally tested (unless already noted by compatibility lists).
The only exception I recall was BLADES OF STEEL 2000 but one of the patches fixed it.
And I dont even remember if that one even had CDDA or not ?
If I recall correctly, I had converted everything into one single track (sorry, its been years lol).

You meant CUE2POPS ? Nope, no list.
The only game title I recall, which requires the newest version (2.3), is Rage Racer NTSC J. Anyway, this game is incompatible with POPS, but it allowed me to track down and fix the last CUE2POPS bug.
POPS2CUE had no updates and it works fine. It only accepts VCDs converted by CUE2POPS 2.0 and higher.

Yes, that is what I meant.
Must have been looking into reverting (the game mentioned below) when I typed that. LMAO
Dont have any J-version games.
Only used POPS2CUE once (to convert Blaster Master: Blasting Again, back to Cue/Bin), for my initial PS3 test.
The rest of my PS1-collection will not be reverted, as I will play them on PS2, with your work, always.

Yeah. Have not changed my mind. And since I've totally lost motivation into coding for the PS2, I'll just commit a few changes on POPStarter, per request of the PS2Netbox & PS2USB maker. No improvement to come, the project is dead until I clean and liberate the source code.

O I C.
Okay, no problem.
Thank you for all your hard work over the past half decade+ !!!
On this site, I may have enjoyed POPStarter more than anyone else, as I seem to be alone in the PS2-world here.
However, trust me when I say, I may have played enough for every person here.
TWICE ! lololol
It really was a great project !!!!
Thanks again.

-Uni

 

[sandungas]

@UniqueUserName my talk about the waves was because i noticed you was caring about the forum uploads related with waves, and i thought you was planning to make some kind of "custom waves the complete collection", later i did realize that was just a part of your manteinance of the forum downloads, so you was not specifically interested in it

Doing something like that would be very usefull for all the scene users because the waves are cool, lol, yeah thats personal oppinion but i bet there is lot of pleople that would like to try some... and because looks like something easy to do but in the practise is a bit problematic

The real problems are two... there is not a good way to identify the compatibility of the old custom ones... and there is not an easy way to "port" that incompatible waves to latest firmwares

After the brainstorming i had in this thread i realized to identify them is needed to zlib decompress them... and after that to group them under that 10 groups or so... but this is still speculative because i have not made it, is needed to see if after the zlib decompression if there are groups with the same size, if this is true it sucks because it will be needed to make more steps (extract the hundreds of files and compare them with officials)
What i wanted is to find an easy way to make all this, but identifying them is just the first step and maybe is not so easy, lol.... and to "port" the old waves to latest firmwares are needed more steps
So well... i guess is needed a tool to automatize at least a part of the processes

 

[UniqueUserName]

@sandungas
A "tool"?

Do you mean a PC script to automate something that you have planned out already ?
Batch / VisualBasic / Etc ? (WSH ?)
Or does someone have to write a program for what you suggest ?

@ EVERYONE
Does anyone have any suggestions for ANY recommended PS3 goodies (I will check them out and test today) ??
Basically, I just wasted another two days trying to get the SMB shares working with SMS on PS2 and would like to get back to this thread.
Give me a good place to start please ?
Otherwise, Ill just start testing out emulators I guess.

Also, how do I buy a legal version of a PS3 game that people are saying is DLC-ONLY ??
Does that mean I wont get the original disc ( IF SO, W T F ) ??
Doctor Who: Eternity Clock.

 

[lord3490]

Haven't read your whole journey so far, but if you check out emulators, have a look at retro arch and dosbox
I have played some dos classics on ps3 (even multiplayer). Some need you to configure gamepads some work just fine out of the box.
Oh, and "retro xmb creator" creates an xmb icon for starting any specific game, great tool.

Also, now that you talk about smb shares...
@everyone: is there a smb or ftp client for ps3?
I know several ftp servers, but client?
(Sorry for highjacking your thread with my own noob question @UniqueUserName )

 

[UniqueUserName]

@lord3490

have a look at retro arch and dosbox
Oh, and "retro xmb creator" creates an xmb icon for starting any specific game, great tool.

I will totally check all those out today, thank you for those, and any future suggestion.

@everyone: is there a smb or ftp client for ps3?
I know several ftp servers, but client?

For PS3, I use FlashFXP v5.4.0 b3970 (awesome app !!).
Description: Windows FTP Client
Its not free however (Im on a 30-day trial currently).

(Sorry for highjacking your thread with my own noob question @UniqueUserName )

No problem, as long as something in the post is on topic, I never have a problem with a little hi-jacking. lmao
For example: In this thread, anything-PS3-related, is fine.

 

[lord3490]

For PS3, I use FlashFXP v5.4.0 b3970 (awesome app !!).
Description: Windows FTP Client
Its not free however (Im on a 30-day trial currently).

I use filezilla as ftp client on PC, it's free and easy to use. But I have another ftp server on my lan (raspberry pi) and I would like to connect to it from ps3.
I used to have ps3netsrv running on the pi as well that would allow to mount games or transfer files via lan, but ATM I don't have it installed and I was wondering if there is another way to copy files using the ps3 as a client.
BTW if you have a server on your lan check ps3netsrv out
I used it on a windows PC before too. You can use webman mod or multiman to connect to your network share

I think it makes more sense if you have a server running 24/7 anyway rather than having a PC running just to play ps3 backups.

 

[kozarovv]

I did not read full thread but I'm sure you will be strongly interested into PS2 emulation as less than 2 moths ago it was your current gen console. ;P

I also suggest you to check XMBPD by @DeViL303 as a one of your first homebrews.

Here are files I have, but have not used, so far:
( COMMUNITY = Please Give Advice On These )

4.82 PS3Xploit- Release v1.0- NOR Dumper.zip
PS3 EXTRA Fonts Collection Disc.iso
PS3 ISO Tools v2.2
PS3P (PKG Ripper) v1.4.1
sMAN (webMAN + sLaunch- combined plugin -deank).sprx
CFW Extras Category Installer v1.01.pkg
ManaGunZ FileManager v1.31.pkg
ManaGunZ v1.31.pkg
prepNTFS 1.18 (sMAN+webMAN PLUGIN = for USB HDD).pkg
PS3 4K Pro (PT-BR) v1.91.pkg
PS3 EXTRA XMB Mods Collection.pkg
PS3 Mame.pkg
RetroArch PS3 v1.6.0 +CEX.pkg
XMB LOCK v2.05+.pkg

NOR dumper is not needed for you now, you can dump nor directly from ps3 apps, like Rebug toolbox, multiman.
sMAN is great plugin, but is possible that can be not enough for you, then you need to decide to use webmanMOD.
CFW Extras is also great xmb add-on
prepNTFS is needed only in webmanMOD lite iirc. sMAN with n in version number support ntfs without it, webmanMOD full also don't need it.
PS3 EXTRA Fonts Collection Disc.iso, PS3 4K Pro (PT-BR) v1.91.pkg, PS3 EXTRA XMB Mods Collection.pkg are visual mods so use what you like
ManaGunZ v1.31.pkg must have
ManaGunZ FileManager v1.31.pkg just file manager stripped from full managunz
RetroArch PS3 v1.6.0 +CEX.pkg why so old :P
XMB LOCK v2.05+.pkg never used it as only person that should have locked access to ps3 in my house is myself.

 

[bitsbubba]

I also suggest you to check XMBPD by @DeViL303 as a one of your first homebrews.

I'm almost done with the update to this