PS3 [PSP Launchers] Problems and Research

[Joonie]

Ok. I just sqeezed in another test: Im on 4.82.2 and psp (specificaly ffcc) didn't boot. I changed system mode from normal to rebug, and now it works. So 4.84.1 is not the problem . Sigh...

That's really strange, changing normal to rebug only swaps VSH (well they are duplicated and the same)

 

[shodan2k]

Sorry for the delay, been a busy few days of doing some repairs.

This is how I do...

As I described above the .pkg writing methods I have used, including the one in that video, haven't worked. They still use the launcher.

Weird, I am also on Rebug and my PSP launcher worked fine with the newest version of wMM. Can you try one of the games I tested with this launcher, perhaps Soul Calubur Broken Destiny? I got this launcher, I installed it, and it worked, I never had to adjust any settings.

I'll keep it in mind, do you remember the source/version of this launcher?

1. PSN Patch / SEN / webMAN MOD + syscall disabled <- please don't. This breaks / disables most COBRA features and I assume the OP didn't do that.

2. I use webMAN MOD to mount PSP games
3. https://store.brewology.com/get/homebrew.php?id=247&fid=1239 <- this is the one that I use for testing PSP games.
4. Compatibility with PSP games is horrible.

I haven't touched any PS patchers or disabled any syscalls since installing CFW. Also thank you for the suggestion, I'll be sure to try it out as soon as I can.

@shodan2k btw you are not running 4.84.2 because I just released it.. lol

You would be correct, I'm currently sitting on 4.82.2 :p the recent HFW is what was on my mind haha.

I'm seeing a common occurrence that the chances of even getting it to work without REBUG are scant at best so I'll do some work on it tonight and see where I get. Hopefully will get back sooner rather than later.

 

[shodan2k]

Can you two list all the changes you made to your system recently? Specifically for Ecto, in between the games working and when the blackscreen issue started happening? Odds are the update broke patching PSP games like Joonie said, but it can't hurt to investigate and if you two are having the same issues, maybe we can find something you both did to your system recently, a setting changed or perhaps an update. That would be a good place to start investigating the issue.

I haven't honestly tried to emulate PSP until now through REBUG, and honestly I haven't been doing much to modify the system lately. The most I have done is upgrade my REBUG from 4.81.1 to 4.82.2, however I first initially installed CFW about a year and a half ago, so possibly somewhere in the process my Cobra ended up breaking? The most I have done as of late to modify my Toolbox settings trying to achieve anything past a black screen, however, as mentioned above, it was to no avail until I used the stock Cobra launcher + Priority ON that I was able to boot into Work Time Fun! and MHFU (both NA), with similar cursor stutter/stuckage when on menus, but with good performance. I'm going to try what Joonie has recommended and I'll report back with what results I have.

I think somehow they keep mounting PSP ISO while running PKG games which confuse COBRA. PSP ISO should be unmounted when running PKG games.

Also, missed this too. I'm aware of this and would boot into black screens through .pkgs without priority on. Same problems as using the launcher with the games I have tested. I will also try a few different games, preferably any ones that are well documented to have great compatibility. Any suggestions?

 

[imkira3]

I'll keep it in mind, do you remember the source/version of this launcher?

Sorry, I'm not too sure, I grabbed this one because of the icon, maybe someone else will recognize it if I describe it. It's a good simple icon, no images, it simply says NO GAME in white text on a black background until you mount a game.

I haven't honestly tried to emulate PSP until now through REBUG, and honestly I haven't been doing much to modify the system lately. The most I have done is upgrade my REBUG from 4.81.1 to 4.82.2, however I first initially installed CFW about a year and a half ago, so possibly somewhere in the process my Cobra ended up breaking? The most I have done as of late to modify my Toolbox settings trying to achieve anything past a black screen, however, as mentioned above, it was to no avail until I used the stock Cobra launcher + Priority ON that I was able to boot into Work Time Fun! and MHFU (both NA), with similar cursor stutter/stuckage when on menus, but with good performance. I'm going to try what Joonie has recommended and I'll report back with what results I have.

Well, if your Cobra broke, maybe you should try re-instaling or upgrading your OS if what Joonie suggested doesn't work. Lol this console should be in about the same state, I started a year and a half ago too, I started on 4.81.1 too, and I upgraded to 4.82.2 as well lmao. Weird

 

[ecto]

That's really strange, changing normal to rebug only swaps VSH (well they are duplicated and the same)

It is strange. And sure enough: I just tried FFCC again and got a crash again. I didn't do anything at all since yesterday...
Now I only installed priority on for the launcher, and just like that ffcc runs again. Lets se for how long...
But now I'm really looking forward for your newest 4.84.2! Yeah! Right on!

 

[Joonie]

It is strange. And sure enough: I just tried FFCC again and got a crash again. I didn't do anything at all since yesterday...
Now I only installed priority on for the launcher, and just like that ffcc runs again. Lets se for how long...
But now I'm really looking forward for your newest 4.84.2! Yeah! Right on!

I think somehow this confuses COBRA, I don't ever use this thing and never had an issue like yours

 

[ecto]

Hmmm.. I just remembered that I also have priority on for multiman installed. But I never had an issue before.
Maybe I better deinstall them both.
I will post my results as soon as I have them.

 

[sandungas]

Make a backup of the PARAM.SFO of the PSP launcher before and after installing the priority patch and compare them... or upload them here

 

[ecto]

Make a backup of the PARAM.SFO of the PSP launcher before and after installing the priority patch and compare them... or upload them here

What I was able to do was this:
I made a backup of both PARAM.SFO of the PSP Launcher and of Multiman with Priority on. Then I deinstalled and reinstalled both without priority. I did it this way, because I was not sure if running "priority off" would be enough,
But sure enough, Even with the new installation of PSP launchers (official COBRA 2.00 plus the jjkkyu modded remaster launcher) I had my old problem back:
One day it works, next day it doesn't...
Well, I'm preparing for a full reinstall of CFW from scratch. Maybe I "played around" too much with my system.

 

[DEX357]

"Added experimental auto-play for PSPISO. Requires the PSP Launcher added to the PSP group."

Yes its a marked on this video

 

[aldostools]

Yes its a marked on this video

I watched the video again I didn't see you showing the section "Scan for content"...

Anyway if you say that it's marked, make sure that the PSP Launcher has the title id: PSPC66820 like one these:

PSP Remasters Launcher Fixed [jjkkyu]
https://store.brewology.com/get/homebrew.php?id=247&fid=1239

PSP Launcher [Official by COBRA]
https://store.brewology.com/get/homebrew.php?id=247&fid=1179

EDIT:
The PSP Launcher Fixed [jjkkyu] that has a different title id, is not listed by webMAN.

 

[sandungas]

What I was able to do was this:
I made a backup of both PARAM.SFO of the PSP Launcher and of Multiman with Priority on. Then I deinstalled and reinstalled both without priority. I did it this way, because I was not sure if running "priority off" would be enough,
But sure enough, Even with the new installation of PSP launchers (official COBRA 2.00 plus the jjkkyu modded remaster launcher) I had my old problem back:
One day it works, next day it doesn't...
Well, I'm preparing for a full reinstall of CFW from scratch. Maybe I "played around" too much with my system.

Calm down, not needed to reinstall firmware, i think i got it

And i dont think using the option to change "priority off" would be enought to restore the original SFOs btw (not sure thought, but is not made in a "failproof" way)

For multiman there is no problem, lets say the PARAM.SFO files (with and without priority) are compatibles, so by swapping them the only change is the priority in XMB... that doesnt have any importance, is just a visual effect

But with the PSP launcher/s the PARAM.SFOs has a lot of differences, the most important is the CATEGORY
The original (without priority) is category PE (for "PSP Remasters"), this makes the PSP emulator to run in a different mode (with more powerfull performance, but lower compatibility with games)
And when you enable the priority it changes the category to MN (for "PSP Minis")

So it seems there you have the solution... by changing the CATEGORY of the PARAM.SFO you have different compatibility, and that game seems to be working fine in "PSP Minis" format (and doesnt works in PSP Remaster format)

--------------
As i mentioned... it seems the apps you are using to change priority are not made in a "failproof" way
What they does is to overwrite the PARAM.SFO completly by a different one

But technically.. to enable priority what is needed to do is to "update" the original PARAM.SFO to add the entry named PRIORITY... but preserving all the other original info of the file

 

[psykosis]

I watched the video again I didn't see you showing the section "Scan for content"...

Anyway if you say that it's marked, make sure that the PSP Launcher has the title id: PSPC66820 like one these:

PSP Remasters Launcher Fixed [jjkkyu]
https://store.brewology.com/get/homebrew.php?id=247&fid=1239

PSP Launcher [Official by COBRA]
https://store.brewology.com/get/homebrew.php?id=247&fid=1179

EDIT:
The PSP Launcher Fixed [jjkkyu] that has the title id PSPM66920, is not supported by webMAN nor IRISMAN. Funnily it's the launcher with more downloads in brewology. I moved it to the section old versions to avoid more issues.

Most people see the word "Fixed" and think the other one is broken?

 

[sandungas]

We have an small/big mess with that PSP launchers and the addons to enable priority, i was looking a bit at it and posted it here
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/problems-with-psp-launcher-s.23235/page-2#post-169557

I include myself because i had lot of doubts about what does, and im going to advise @Zar because i guess he would like to take a read at all this

 

[DeViL303]

We have an small/big mess with that PSP launchers and the addons to enable priority, i was looking a bit at it and posted it here
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/problems-with-psp-launcher-s.23235/page-2#post-169557

I include myself because i had lot of doubts about what does, and im going to advise @Zar because i guess he would like to take a read at all this

It would be nice if we could just come up with one Launcher that does it all. I know that might not be possible, but needing different launchers for different games really put me off trying PSP as it just seemed like hassle figuring out which ones were best for each game.

 

[sandungas]

It would be nice if we could just come up with one Launcher that does it all. I know that might not be possible, but needing different launchers for different games really put my off trying PSP as it just seemed like hassle figuring out which ones were best for each game.

Agreed, but we need at least 2 ways to boot them, by changing the category in the sfo to "PSP Minis" or "PSP Remasters"
As far i was looking at the SFOs both launchers are using special flags too, i did not took a look at them (most probably for remote play, i guess are not important)
There is also that "priority on" patch that is doing more things than it was expected, lol

The most important thing to know is how many EBOOT.BIN exists for that launchers... actually i dont know how many launchers exists, which differences they have, etc...
There is some available source code or info about how the launchers works ?

I guess we could make a list of all the apps/tools related with PSP emulation with accurate info about what does everyone of them

--------------------
I advised @Zar because time ago i had an idea that would be pretty cool, the point is actual managunz have this features:
-it can "update" SFO files to add/remove the PRIORITY
-it can create PKGs, and if i remember right ther is some function where it does an "autoinstall"
-it has an option to "create shorcut PKG" of games (this is an small pkg that looks like an installed game, but works as a "proxy" to managunz)

So... i was thinking that managunz could perform the "PSP launcher" installation and update it based in the game settings you choose inside managunz (remaster or mini), and others
The "PSP launchers" needs to be installed anyway, so it fits prety well with that option named "create shorcut PKG" of managunz (that doesnt exists yet for PSP games)

Also, instead of moving the ISO file to the launcher install directory.... i guess it could work by using a symlink

Actually... i guess most of the files installed when using the option "create shorcut PKG" can be replaced by symlinks because are duplicates of the managunz instalation

Dunno, just brainstorming

 

[DeViL303]

Using multiple launchers seems like a hacky work around to the problem really, there must be a better way to set flags.

Can we modify the app database on the console relatively easily? because it would be nicer if we could have universal PSP launcher, and have the backup manager edit the PARAM.SFO info directly in the database, so no database rebuild is required to see changes. This way it can have separate options for every game if required, and not have to have separate launchers.

Bonus of doing it this way, it could update the title of launcher with the name of the mounted game too.

 

[Zar]

Agreed, but we need at least 2 ways to boot them, by changing the category in the sfo to "PSP Minis" or "PSP Remasters"
As far i was looking at the SFOs both launchers are using special flags too, i did not took a look at them (most probably for remote play, i guess are not important)
There is also that "priority on" patch that is doing more things than it was expected, lol

The most important thing to know is how many EBOOT.BIN exists for that launchers... actually i dont know how many launchers exists, which differences they have, etc...
There is some available source code or info about how the launchers works ?

I guess we could make a list of all the apps/tools related with PSP emulation with accurate info about what does everyone of them

--------------------
I advised @Zar because time ago i had an idea that would be pretty cool, the point is actual managunz have this features:
-it can "update" SFO files to add/remove the PRIORITY
-it can create PKGs, and if i remember right ther is some function where it does an "autoinstall"
-it has an option to "create shorcut PKG" of games (this is an small pkg that looks like an installed game, but works as a "proxy" to managunz)

So... i was thinking that managunz could perform the "PSP launcher" installation and update it based in the game settings you choose inside managunz (remaster or mini), and others
The "PSP launchers" needs to be installed anyway, so it fits prety well with that option named "create shorcut PKG" of managunz (that doesnt exists yet for PSP games)

Also, instead of moving the ISO file to the launcher install directory.... i guess it could work by using a symlink

Actually... i guess most of the files installed when using the option "create shorcut PKG" can be replaced by symlinks because are duplicates of the managunz instalation

Dunno, just brainstorming

This is definitly on my todo list from the begining. I didn't work on PSP and PS1 options at all. But these options will be available when I'll work on it !

 

[sandungas]

This is definitly on my todo list from the begining. I didn't work on PSP and PS1 options at all. But these options will be available when I'll work on it !

The way i imagine it is a bit twisted, but it fits pretty well with the "create shorcut PKG"
Also, i like it because i think managunz have all the required functions already working (but used for other tasks), so initially it looks it can be made by repusposing the functions that already exists

The only doubt i have is that "autoinstall" i mentioned, right now im not sure where is used in managunz, but if i remember right you was doing something ike this before in one of the managunz previous versions ?, you was creating a installation of something

That was one of the things that surprised me, because it did look like if you was updating the databases, either by using syscalls, or by rebuilding the database manually

I still dont know how you was doing it, but right now im thinking maybe is not posible to use that syscalls to update dabatase while inside an app (managunz), im guessing there is some restriction and is not posible, dunno

But the alternative way is by parsing and updating the database manually (the file "/dev_hdd0/mms/db/metadata_db_hdd")
Not sure if you have some code to deal with it, right now i dont know any PS3 homebrew able to do it, but in PC the other day has been published this
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/x...ce-your-games-on-console-to-catalogues.23272/
Maybe @horovo_games could help or share some source code related with that database file ?

 

[pinky]

vita shell won't allow you to return to the livearea if you've messed with the app.db. it requires the system be turned off. I've never tried doing that with the ps3's metadata file.