PS3 [Research] Modifying the Coldboot/Gameboot Sequence (custom_render_plugin.sprx/rco)

[sandungas]

Surely i'll but i can report only by tomorrow evening, i'm going to bed now

Thanks for your efforts guys

Hehe, good, i enjoy this kind on huntings
Is important to see the results of the test in my previous post, because it allows to make the patches more simple (not needed to load the problematic settings from PARTICLES_UI that we dont know what they are doing but doesnt seems needed)

Also, the next thing we should try is to remap only coldboot2 (not coldboot1)

 

[DeViL303]

Please try this one, is a test to see if the theory i wrote before is right... incase im right the result should be exactly the same than the previous file i uploaded (when i was remapping PARTICLES to PARTICLES_UI)
FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/2h1u7r

The patches applyed in this test are (im replacing his size = zero in this 3 files):
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000000

SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000000

SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000000

No higgs with that, but it does seem to show more particles during the coldboot than normal. Also shaking controller has no effect during coldboot now. So basically we can rule out that theory, it seems the "_UI" is important,

 

[sandungas]

No higgs with that, but it does seem to show more particles during the coldboot than normal. Also shaking controller has no effect during coldboot now. So basically we can rule out that theory, it seems the "_UI" is important,

Hmmm... i dont get it

Please reboot the PS3 a few times to check again before returning to the previous lines.qrc
In my oppinion the result of this test is very important to understand how it works

Are you sure the particles was reacting to the dualshock sensors with the previous version of lines.qrc but in this test are not ?

 

[sandungas]

Please try this one too (is the last test of this experiment)
FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/humlwn

Sorry to insist but is something a bit different, what im trying to do in this test is to load only the first 9 bytes of the PARTICLES.mnu files, they starts like this

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  23 4D 4E 55 5F 31 2E 30 0A                       #MNU_1.0.

The first 8 bytes are real info, and the 9th byte (with the 0x0A) is the linefeed
I want the firmware to load that 9 bytes because this is more correct, the 9 bytes im loading can be considered a real .mnu file because starts and ends like a real .mnu file

So for this test im applying this 3 patches:
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009

SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

 

[DeViL303]

Hmmm... i dont get it

Please reboot the PS3 a few times to check again before returning to the previous lines.qrc
In my oppinion the result of this test is very important to understand how it works

Are you sure the particles was reacting to the dualshock sensors with the previous version of lines.qrc but in this test are not ?

I can confirm that the dual shock sensors are effecting it a lot with the qrc from post #431. They are not effecting it at all with the last qrc. There are more particles than normal though so that patch is having some effect. I cant make a video as my capture device wont record for about 20 seconds after getting a signal.

BTW I have just noticed something else. If I remove this line from the rco animation I get no higgs particles, So this line is related (along with the patch from post #431).

<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_BootBG2" />

Removing that removes higgs ^^

Removing this does not remove higgs:

<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_NormalBG2" />

Please try this one too (is the last test of this experiment)
FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/humlwn

Sorry to insist but is something a bit different, what im trying to do in this test is to load only the first 9 bytes of the PARTICLES.mnu files, they starts like this

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  23 4D 4E 55 5F 31 2E 30 0A                       #MNU_1.0.

The first 8 bytes are real info, and the 9th byte (with the 0x0A) is the linefeed
I want the firmware to load that 9 bytes because this is more correct, the 9 bytes im loading can be considered a real .mnu file because starts and ends like a real .mnu file

So for this test im applying this 3 patches:
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009

SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

I will try this now.

 

[DeViL303]

Please try this one too (is the last test of this experiment)
FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/humlwn

Sorry to insist but is something a bit different, what im trying to do in this test is to load only the first 9 bytes of the PARTICLES.mnu files, they starts like this

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00000000  23 4D 4E 55 5F 31 2E 30 0A                       #MNU_1.0.

The first 8 bytes are real info, and the 9th byte (with the 0x0A) is the linefeed
I want the firmware to load that 9 bytes because this is more correct, the 9 bytes im loading can be considered a real .mnu file because starts and ends like a real .mnu file

So for this test im applying this 3 patches:
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009

SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

Ah, ok, that works. I am getting higgs, no other changes. So it is the same as the patch from #431 as far as i can see. So you were right and it needed to get a correct header or something.

 

[DeViL303]

So I guess we can assume that we are just disabling the normal overrides and getting the coldboot animation "untouched" in a way? Also I think we can assume that the normal overrides includes something that disables the dual shock sensors at boot up.

Can we try apply this latest patch to the standard qrc from 4.85 OFW. This way we can see if its anything to do with the ps3 pro mod patches or not. Or if this higgs particle is in the standard wave.

 

[sandungas]

Ah, ok, that works. I am getting higgs, no other changes. So it is the same as the patch from #431 as far as i can see. So you were right and it needed to get a correct header or something.

Yes !, im not specially happy for being right, but mostly because this means we have "the magic" much better isolated
You know... before this test we was replacing some settings (from PARTICLES) by other (FROM PARTICLES_UI) but we was not sure if "the magic" was a consequence of the additions... or the removals
Now we know are the removals

I can confirm that the dual shock sensors are effecting it a lot with the qrc from post #431. They are not effecting it at all with the last qrc. There are more particles than normal though so that patch is having some effect. I cant make a video as my capture device wont record for about 20 seconds after getting a signal.

Maybe the interactions of particles and the dualshock in coldboot was partially broken when i replaced the sizes of PARTICLES by zero... dunno are different files but shares the same name, so maybe are managed by the same function and the function stopped when found the zeroed PARTICLES

About the increment of particles... maybe is because the default values (hardcoded inside spline.elf) for a settings like "particles amount" is bigger than in the .mnu files

BTW I have just noticed something else. If I remove this line from the rco animation I get no higgs particles, So this line is related (along with the patch from post #431).

<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_BootBG2" />

Removing that removes higgs ^^

Removing this does not remove higgs:

<FireEvent object="event:native:/anim_coldboot_NormalBG2" />

Nice, this is very important (for some reason i dont get well)

 

[DeViL303]

You know... before this test we was replacing some settings (from PARTICLES) by other (FROM PARTICLES_UI) but we was not sure if "the magic" was a consequence of the additions... or the removals
Now we know are the removals

That all makes a lot of sense.

Maybe the interactions of particles and the dualshock in coldboot was partially broken when i replaced the sizes of PARTICLES by zero... dunno are different files but shares the same name, so maybe are managed by the same function and the function stopped when found the zeroed PARTICLES

That's what I was thinking too, That previous patch had broken the entire animation anim_coldboot_NormalBG2 So it was not activating at all, that is my guess. So during that 4 seconds delay inside the rco it was doing nothing basically.

About the increment of particles... maybe is because the default values (hardcoded inside spline.elf) for a settings like "particles amount" is bigger than in the .mnu files

That makes sense too, so it is like we are getting the original default settings now. If this is true, then maybe we can find the exact setting that is causing the higgs boson particle and increase the value in the override, and add it to other overrides for the main XMB and gameboot. Move over LHC, we have QRC.

 

[sandungas]

Yes, at some point is needed to make some test modifying the contents of the PARTICLES.mnu files (instead of remapping them in the qrc structure)
We now is needed to remove some setting from them, the problem we have now is there are tenths of settings, for a good overview look at this list in wiki, are 52 settings
Deleting one (or more) of them enables the higgs (and probably deleting others increases the particle number you was asking for)
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Lines.qrc#PARTICLES.mnu

There are still 4 tests worthy to do by remapping the qrc structure in the way i was doing:
test 1) reduce to 9 bytes PARTICLES.mnu (coldboot2) only
test 2) reduce to 9 bytes PARTICLES.mnu (coldboot2) and PARTICLES.mnu (base)
test 3) reduce to 9 bytes PARTICLES.mnu (coldboot1) only
test 4) reduce to 9 bytes PARTICLES.mnu (coldboot1) and PARTICLES.mnu (base)


*im suggesting to test that in opposite direction (big prize first) because incase test 1 is successful there is no need to test the next ones.... and incase test 2 is successful is not needed to test the next ones... and so on
*we know reducing to 9 bytes PARTICLES.mnu (base) only is not going to work, becuse is pretty much the same i did in the test of post #378 in this link https://www.psx-place.com/threads/r...der_plugin-sprx-rco.25952/page-19#post-215671

 

[sandungas]

Ok lets complete this research, this test are 4 different lines.qrc with patches applyed in the way i explained in my previous post
FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/3s9pzu

Try them in this order (based in his name), you know, is needed to rename them to lines.qrc

patched4cb2 (test 1)
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

patched4cb2&base (test 2)
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

patched4cb1 (test 3)
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009

patched4cb1&base (test 4)
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

------------------------
My winner horse is test 2... but i hope test 1 could work because it would be a lighter patch

 

[DeViL303]

Ok, this is tricky to see the exact differences and to explain. So with the standard sprx patch and with your post#431 patch it always looks the same, particles grouped around centre, and a few higgs particles going from right to left. So that is patch 0 we will say. (the working patch that looks like luans video)

So with patch0 it looks kinda like this but with higgs:

patched4cb2 (test 1)
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

With this first patch I do see some higgs particles, but its different, ALL the particles are way more active, and they are all kind of moving fast in every direction a bit like my crazy particles patch , the higgs that are there are not as pretty looking. I am happy with this test though as it proves the higgs particles are not static animations and can be influenced.

See how they are all spread out more.

Its a bit like someone is shaking the controller all the time, but slightly different.

patched4cb2&base (test 2)
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

This one seems to be the sam although maybe slightly different higgs particles, hard to tell, It might be 100% the same.

patched4cb1 (test 3)
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009

This one is strange, it seems to show the extra larger particles for a while, and looks like it might show some higgs particles, but then just goes into normal coldboot particles in about 1 second, so there is a small difference to stock, but its not what we want.

patched4cb1&base (test 4)
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

This one is the same. Looks like it might go somewhere for a second but then nothing.


Conclusion: I have no idea what is going on now but none of those are perfect, test one and 2 seem to be the same and are the closest to what we want, just it seems to have the crazy particles patch too in those 2, so that is messing it up, I think without the crazy particle patch it would be what we want but hard to know. .

 

[sandungas]

Btw, this 2 files are identical (same MD5) and contains the same settings:
override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu

And another btw... the coldboot1 (old) and coldboot2 (new) animations plays together in the OFW, this is something i realized while doing experiments with the custom_render_plugin.rco, the fact is you can display the old coldboot and the new coldboot.raf together... are actually played together in all OFW's (but the old coldboot if fully transparent, you cant see it but is there playing together with the gameboot.raf in all official firmwares :P)

Im writing this because im wondering how this "double coldboot" could affect the coldboot's PARTICLES.mnu
Later i will try to write something related with your results of the latest test1,2,3,4.... im thinking in it, hmmm

 

[DeViL303]

And another btw... the coldboot1 (old) and coldboot2 (new) animations plays together in the OFW, this is something i realized while doing experiments with the custom_render_plugin.rco, the fact is you can display the old coldboot and the new coldboot.raf together... are actually played together in all OFW's (but the old coldboot if fully transparent, you cant see it but is there playing together with the gameboot.raf in all official firmwares :P)

That makes sense. That is why it is so easy to enable the old coldboot.

Im writing this because im wondering how this "double coldboot" could affect the coldboot's PARTICLES.mnu
Later i will try to write something related with your results of the latest test1,2,3,4.... im thinking in it, hmmm

Cool. I was thinking we could try patch the main XMB with this patch , and then I could add some anim_coldboot_BootBG2 events while on the main XMB with delays in between. Also I would need to remove the anim_coldboot_Finished line. It would be cool to prove these can be shown anywhere if its possible.

 

[sandungas]

That makes sense. That is why it is so easy to enable the old coldboot.

Is easy to see when you get the concept, the official "anim_coldboot2" (for modern firmwares) inside custom_render_plugin.rco starts with this line:

<Fade object="object:scelogo" time="0" accelMode="0x0" colorScaleA="0" />

Is changing the scelogo.gim image alpha to zero (invisible), and his transparency is not restored along the animation
The funny thing is scelogo.gim is the logo of the old coldboot, you know this image:

In plain words... the official modern firmwares plays "anim_coldboot2" (with coldboot.raf)... but also it hides the logo from the old coldboot permanently

The only reason why sony used that "dirty" fix to hide the old logo is because the firmware is playing both coldboot animations together

 

[sandungas]

Ok, this is tricky to see the exact differences and to explain. So with the standard sprx patch and with your post#431 patch it always looks the same, particles grouped around centre, and a few higgs particles going from right to left. So that is patch 0 we will say. (the working patch that looks like luans video)

So with patch0 it looks kinda like this but with higgs:
View attachment 21218

Ok thats our start point, btw in my oppinion the winner (by now) is patch #444 from this post.
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/r...der_plugin-sprx-rco.25952/page-23#post-216026
Right now we have the standard patch in the .sprx, the patch #431, and patch #444 that gives the same result, the good thing of patch #444 is we are not messing around with the settings of PARTICLES_UI, we have the higgs boson better isolated in #444
But in my oppinion thats not good enought, the result of patch #431 and #444 is the same than deleting the settings inside this 3 files:
52 settings from lines.qrc/override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
52 settings from lines.qrc/override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
52 settings from lines.qrc/PARTICLES.mnu

Our goal is to find how to enable the higgs particle, but to achieve it we are nuking 156 settings in total, is like fishing with dynamite lol

patched4cb2 (test 1)
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

With this first patch I do see some higgs particles, but its different, ALL the particles are way more active, and they are all kind of moving fast in every direction a bit like my crazy particles patch , the higgs that are there are not as pretty looking. I am happy with this test though as it proves the higgs particles are not static animations and can be influenced.

See how they are all spread out more.
View attachment 21220
Its a bit like someone is shaking the controller all the time, but slightly different.

This was the most interesting test, and in some way it was successfull... the most important thing of it is we know the higgs boson can be enabled just by modifying only this file
His intensity and how the other particles reacts is something secondary by now... we need to think in it, by now i dont get why it happens, but i have to mention in what you said... sometimes this kind of changes are hard to see while looking at the animation, and the animation have some randomization... so is needed to reboot the PS3 several times to try to see the differences (recording videos could help a lot, this way you can capture some static frames to compare)

patched4cb2&base (test 2)
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

This one seems to be the sam although maybe slightly different higgs particles, hard to tell, It might be 100% the same.

Nice, i hope is 100% the same
If thats true it means we dont need to mess around with PARTICLES.mnu (base), we are modifying it but it seems is not needed to modify it

patched4cb1 (test 3)
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009

This one is strange, it seems to show the extra larger particles for a while, and looks like it might show some higgs particles, but then just goes into normal coldboot particles in about 1 second, so there is a small difference to stock, but its not what we want.

Well... i ws expecting this one was not going to be even used by the firmware (because it belongs to the old coldboot1), the fact you are reporting some visual changes means the firmware is loading it

patched4cb1&base (test 4)
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009
SEARCH ---> 000833200000050E = PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0008332000000009

This one is the same. Looks like it might go somewhere for a second but then nothing.

Great, this seems to be another confirmation that we dont need to mess around with the PARTICLES.mnu (base) located at root of lines.qrc

Conclusion: I have no idea what is going on now but none of those are perfect, test one and 2 seem to be the same and are the closest to what we want, just it seems to have the crazy particles patch too in those 2, so that is messing it up, I think without the crazy particle patch it would be what we want but hard to know. .

I really thought one of them (test1 or test 2) was going to display a coldboot animation exactly like the .sprx patch, patch #341 and #444 but it seems are not

Long story short... i think we need to make another test with this (same than #444 but without the patch to the base):
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

 

[sandungas]

Long story short... i think we need to make another test with this (same than #444 but without the patch to the base):
SEARCH ---> 00001C0000000510 = override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 00001C0000000009
SEARCH ---> 0000276000000510 = override/coldboot2/PARTICLES.mnu
REPLACE ---> 0000276000000009

FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ptneav


Edit:
The goal of this test is to have a confirmation that it looks the same than the .sprx patch, #341 patch, and #444 patch

 

[sandungas]

Conclusion: I have no idea what is going on now but none of those are perfect, test one and 2 seem to be the same and are the closest to what we want, just it seems to have the crazy particles patch too in those 2, so that is messing it up, I think without the crazy particle patch it would be what we want but hard to know. .

Just a theory, not sure if correct...
I think the new coldboot animation is loading the PARTICLES.mnu for both, coldboot1 and coldboot2 in a sequence (first it loads one of them, and at some point it loads the other)
This is why that files are identical in OFW (same MD5)... the animation does a "jump" in between that settings, but are the same so we cant notice any "interruption" in the animation

But in test 1 and test 2 i was not patching lines.qrc/override/coldboot1/PARTICLES.mnu
So... the firmware is doing a transition because the values changes in the middle of the coldboot animation
This is what "spreads" the particles... the result should be pretty much the same that shaking the dualshock as you mentioned

Imagine... we play an animation starting with "particles spreading=0.1"... and at some point in the middle of the animation we change it to "particles spreading=0.8"... that would spread the particles violently at the middle of the animation

-------
Dunno, but in the last file i uploaded we are sure the PARTICLES.mnu for coldboot1 and coldboot2 have exactly the same values, so doesnt exists that interruption

 

[DeViL303]

FILE: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ptneav


Edit:
The goal of this test is to have a confirmation that it looks the same than the .sprx patch, #341 patch, and #444 patch

Works, looks good. Looks the same as the sprx patch

 

[Louay]

Works, looks good. Looks the same as the sprx patch

the Same patch used in sprx of 4K pro mod ??