Tonyhax International

PS1 Tonyhax International: Backup Loader For All Japanese, USA, and PAL PS1 Consoles/Early PS2 Consoles v1.6.3

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Massive update now available, Tonyhax International v1.1.1i.
https://alex-free.github.io/tonyhax-international
https://github.com/alex-free/tonyhax/releases/download/v1.1.1i/tonyhax-v1.1.1-international.zip

Many, many things have been changed and improved. But the biggest feature of this update is the new system to bypass the additional anti-piracy copy protection routines found in some later PSX games. Since the beginning of Tonyhax International, Japanese consoles that were not the SCPH-1000 or early SCPH-3000 models could not play games with anti-piracy features such as i.e. Dino Crisis. This included Japanese PS2s.

The American and European consoles could play **some** but not all games with additional anti-piracy copy protection routines with the original Socram8888 bypass BIOS patch method found in the last version of the original Tonyhax project by Socram8888.

Now thanks to @MottZilla 's method to apply gameshark codes from inside Tonyhax International, this all changes. Initial support has been added for the new anti-piracy bypass system. Many games are already supported, and when a game is supported with a bypass, every version of it that I can test is supported. Rev 0, Rev 1/Greatest Hits, Demo, doesn't matter. If it contains additional anti-piracy copy protection routines which prevent the game from working on a stock console using Tonyhax International, I want it supported. Please see the website's section on this new support for more info and a complete list of currently supported games:
https://alex-free.github.io/tonyhax...games-with-additonal-copy-protection-routines

For those of you who are curious of how this works, give this source file a look: https://github.com/alex-free/tonyhax/blob/master/loader/patcher.c
I have wrote many gameshark codes (as noted in the above source file) to progress this support further, and plan to add more in the future. I actually have found something like a 'backdoor' in the standard implementation of these copy protection routines which I have been levering to add this support faster then otherwise possible. I plan on doing a writeup explaining more on that soon.
 
alexfree updated Tonyhax International with a new update entry:

v1.1.1i - New System To Bypass Additional Anti-Piracy Copy Protection Routines Found In Some Games

Changes:
  • A completely new system to bypass additional anti-piracy copy protection routines found in some later PSX games which works on all consoles, including Japanese ones has replaced the old Socram8888 bios patch. This improves Tonyhax International by giving it the ability to play many more games then ever before, and makes support just as good on the...
Click to expand...

Read the rest of this update entry...
 
Version 1.1.2 (11/9/2022)

Changes:
 
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Thanks for all your work on this project and for your attention to anti-piracy edge cases. I came across a game that triggers an anti-piracy screen and isn't handled by APrip.

tonyhax international version: 1.1.2
Game name: Beatmania Append 5thMix - Time to Get Down (Japan)
Game code: SLPM-86322
Executable hash: SHA1 of disc: A07006B6ADE8BB5181CE1CBFD0AB40478FE9686C
Triggered at: The game is an "append disc" that must be swapped to from another Beatmania game. I used an original disc 1 of Beatmania (SLPM-86126) as the base disc. After swapping the disc and pressing start to proceed, a "still loading" screen comes up, then the anti-piracy screen appears.
Is the console chipped?: No, unmodified SCPH-300001 PS2
Is it an original disc or a burned copy?: Original

I have a few original copies of these append discs, and I've observed that the append disc that comes as disc 2 of the original Beatmania, Append 3rdMix, Append 4thMix, and Append GottaMix don't trigger anti-piracy screens. Those are all older than 5thMix, so I speculate that newer Beatmania append discs and possibly Pop'n Music 3 and 4, which are also append discs, may have anti-piracy checks that are not currently accounted for too. I expect to have original copies of all other Beatmania/Pop'n Music/Dance Dance Revolution append discs in my possession in the very near future so I could do more testing then, or if it doesn't actually matter whether it's an original or burned copy, I could go ahead and check these other potentially affected games if it'd be helpful.
 
trappedinlimbo said:
Thanks for all your work on this project and for your attention to anti-piracy edge cases. I came across a game that triggers an anti-piracy screen and isn't handled by APrip.

tonyhax international version: 1.1.2
Game name: Beatmania Append 5thMix - Time to Get Down (Japan)
Game code: SLPM-86322
Executable hash: SHA1 of disc: A07006B6ADE8BB5181CE1CBFD0AB40478FE9686C
Triggered at: The game is an "append disc" that must be swapped to from another Beatmania game. I used an original disc 1 of Beatmania (SLPM-86126) as the base disc. After swapping the disc and pressing start to proceed, a "still loading" screen comes up, then the anti-piracy screen appears.
Is the console chipped?: No, unmodified SCPH-300001 PS2
Is it an original disc or a burned copy?: Original

I have a few original copies of these append discs, and I've observed that the append disc that comes as disc 2 of the original Beatmania, Append 3rdMix, Append 4thMix, and Append GottaMix don't trigger anti-piracy screens. Those are all older than 5thMix, so I speculate that newer Beatmania append discs and possibly Pop'n Music 3 and 4, which are also append discs, may have anti-piracy checks that are not currently accounted for too. I expect to have original copies of all other Beatmania/Pop'n Music/Dance Dance Revolution append discs in my possession in the very near future so I could do more testing then, or if it doesn't actually matter whether it's an original or burned copy, I could go ahead and check these other potentially affected games if it'd be helpful.
Click to expand...

The append discs are tricky because of where the check is and how it is implemented. This is why there is no current support in tonyhax international, and why aprip also doesn't work with it.

I think the best way would be to figure out a "no-swap" patch. Where instead of first booting beat mania and then putting in the append disc you can just boot the append disc and it works as a standalone disc.

I remember trying stuff with these games until I gave up implementing a bypass. I'll need to take a better look at them.

Also feel free to do more testing. As far as your USA PS2 is concerned a Japanese disc is the same as a burned disc and vice versa ;)
 
I ended up waiting for the legit discs to come in the mail, so here's a belated complete list of append discs with anti-piracy checks:

beatmania Append 5thMix
beatmania Append ClubMix
beatmania Append GottaMix 2
pop'n music 3
pop'n music 4
I wasn't able to test them because the base disc also had anti-piracy, but I strongly suspect Dance Dance Revolution 2nd ReMix Append Club Version Volumes 1 and 2 are also affected.

Additionally, pop'n music 6 boots to a black screen (checked with both a legit disc and a backup), and pop'n music Animation Melody and DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix trigger anti-piracy (both are standalone, not append discs). Here are GameShark codes from aprip for the latter two if you'd like to add them to tonyhax-international's built-in codes, though I don't have cheat cart hardware to test them easily:

pop'n music Animation Melody:
D009E7E8 001E
8009E7E8 0000

DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix (AP v1 and v2):
D01C66B6 0302
801C66B6 0000

D01C6744 001E
801C6744 0000

There may be more obscure Bemani games that have anti-piracy that could easily be patched with aprip, so if I did the process correctly for these, I could check if there are any others missing and try to get codes for them.

As for no-swap patches, they seem to have been made for several of these append discs in the past, but the only one I could actually find a current mirror for is beatmania 3rdMix (found here), which doesn't seem to have anti-piracy code to begin with so it may not be completely informative on its own. I'm minimally experienced with debugging in assembly and not at all experienced with PS1 in particular, but I could try to look into porting the patch to the other games.
 
trappedinlimbo said:
I ended up waiting for the legit discs to come in the mail, so here's a belated complete list of append discs with anti-piracy checks:

beatmania Append 5thMix
beatmania Append ClubMix
beatmania Append GottaMix 2
pop'n music 3
pop'n music 4
I wasn't able to test them because the base disc also had anti-piracy, but I strongly suspect Dance Dance Revolution 2nd ReMix Append Club Version Volumes 1 and 2 are also affected.

Additionally, pop'n music 6 boots to a black screen (checked with both a legit disc and a backup), and pop'n music Animation Melody and DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix trigger anti-piracy (both are standalone, not append discs). Here are GameShark codes from aprip for the latter two if you'd like to add them to tonyhax-international's built-in codes, though I don't have cheat cart hardware to test them easily:

pop'n music Animation Melody:
D009E7E8 001E
8009E7E8 0000

DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix (AP v1 and v2):
D01C66B6 0302
801C66B6 0000

D01C6744 001E
801C6744 0000

There may be more obscure Bemani games that have anti-piracy that could easily be patched with aprip, so if I did the process correctly for these, I could check if there are any others missing and try to get codes for them.

As for no-swap patches, they seem to have been made for several of these append discs in the past, but the only one I could actually find a current mirror for is beatmania 3rdMix (found here), which doesn't seem to have anti-piracy code to begin with so it may not be completely informative on its own. I'm minimally experienced with debugging in assembly and not at all experienced with PS1 in particular, but I could try to look into porting the patch to the other games.
Click to expand...

Epic work and notes. Thanks for looking into this and diving into aprip.

It is strange that Pop'N Music 6 boots to a black screen. I did implement an anti-piracy bypass for that game and it worked in the DuckStation emulator. I will look into this by burning a copy myself and seeing if I can reproduce your issue on real hardware.

I appreciate the codes for pop'n music Animation Melody and DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix. I'll double check everything is working right and I'll update the patcher code in Tonyhax International. A new update is due out soon with quite a few upgrades and changes anyways.

Yea, the append disc stuff is where things get complicated and I just haven't figured out a solution for it yet.
 
trappedinlimbo said:
I ended up waiting for the legit discs to come in the mail, so here's a belated complete list of append discs with anti-piracy checks:

beatmania Append 5thMix
beatmania Append ClubMix
beatmania Append GottaMix 2
pop'n music 3
pop'n music 4
I wasn't able to test them because the base disc also had anti-piracy, but I strongly suspect Dance Dance Revolution 2nd ReMix Append Club Version Volumes 1 and 2 are also affected.

Additionally, pop'n music 6 boots to a black screen (checked with both a legit disc and a backup), and pop'n music Animation Melody and DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix trigger anti-piracy (both are standalone, not append discs). Here are GameShark codes from aprip for the latter two if you'd like to add them to tonyhax-international's built-in codes, though I don't have cheat cart hardware to test them easily:

pop'n music Animation Melody:
D009E7E8 001E
8009E7E8 0000

DanceDanceRevolution 2ndReMix (AP v1 and v2):
D01C66B6 0302
801C66B6 0000

D01C6744 001E
801C6744 0000

There may be more obscure Bemani games that have anti-piracy that could easily be patched with aprip, so if I did the process correctly for these, I could check if there are any others missing and try to get codes for them.

As for no-swap patches, they seem to have been made for several of these append discs in the past, but the only one I could actually find a current mirror for is beatmania 3rdMix (found here), which doesn't seem to have anti-piracy code to begin with so it may not be completely informative on its own. I'm minimally experienced with debugging in assembly and not at all experienced with PS1 in particular, but I could try to look into porting the patch to the other games.
Click to expand...

I fixed Pop'n Music 6, confirmed working on my stock SCPH-1001. AP is successfully bypassed and it does not boot to a black screen in this beta version.

BETA is here: https://filetransfer.io/data-package/QlRw7W1V#link (it's too big for the forums)
 
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trappedinlimbo said:
Tested pop'n music 6 on my stock SCPH-300001 with the new beta and also have no issue now. Thanks a ton for the fix!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I successfully implemented a bypass for Pop'N Music Animation Melody as well, but that's not public yet. It looks like DDR 2nd ReMix will also work with the aprip method, I'm implementing and testing that now.

Am I missing any games that are not append discs in this 'category?

I do know that DDR Best Hits currently is incompatible for non-anti-piracy reasons (I did implement a bypass and that in itself works and is completely unrelated to why it doesn't work AFAICT). It currently doesn't work in the original tonyhax or tonyhax international. The original developer of tonyhax has been informed, and I'm waiting for a fix upstream from him for that.
 
Version 1.1.3 (11/30/2022)

Changes:
 
alexfree said:
Thank you. I successfully implemented a bypass for Pop'N Music Animation Melody as well, but that's not public yet. It looks like DDR 2nd ReMix will also work with the aprip method, I'm implementing and testing that now.

Am I missing any games that are not append discs in this 'category?

I do know that DDR Best Hits currently is incompatible for non-anti-piracy reasons (I did implement a bypass and that in itself works and is completely unrelated to why it doesn't work AFAICT). It currently doesn't work in the original tonyhax or tonyhax international. The original developer of tonyhax has been informed, and I'm waiting for a fix upstream from him for that.
Click to expand...

I just now got to testing all of the remaining non-append Bemani games that aren't accounted for and found that the following also have anti-piracy.

I've checked on a real console that these do in fact throw anti-piracy screens:

pop'n music DISNEY TUNES (Japan) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D008A45C 001E
8008A45C 0000

beatmania featuring DREAMS COME TRUE (Japan) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D012255C 001E
8012255C 0000

Oha-Studio Dance Dance Revolution (Japan) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00FAE58 001E
800FAE58 0000

Dance Dance Revolution Disney's RAVE (Japan) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D0192248 001E
80192248 0000

Dancing Stage featuring Dreams Come True (Japan) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D019245C 001E
8019245C 0000

Dance Dance Revolution EXTRA MIX (Japan) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00EB364 001E
800EB364 0000

beatmania BEST HITS (Japan) (rev 1) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D0151448 001E
80151448 0000

I didn't test these on a real console at all, just ran them through aprip's detection:

Dancing Stage Euromix (Europe) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00F5A10 001E
800F5A10 0000

Dancing Stage Fever (Europe) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00EB534 001E
800EB534 0000

Dancing Stage Fusion (Europe) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00EBA6C 001E
800EBA6C 0000

Dancing Stage Disney Mix (Europe) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D01920CC 001E
801920CC 0000

Dancing Stage Party Edition (Europe) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00EB00C 001E
800EB00C 0000

Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix (USA) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D0192078 001E
80192078 0000

Dance Dance Revolution Konamix (USA) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D00EB1AC 001E
800EB1AC 0000

Dance Dance Revolution (USA) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D0102F64 001E
80102F64 0000

beatmania BEST HITS (Japan) (rev 0) (ap v2)
GameShark code:
D0151448 001E
80151448 0000

It's unclear to me whether any of the DDR/Dancing Stage titles here are or aren't affected by the non-anti-piracy issue that's preventing other ones from working since I haven't tested the anti-piracy fixes.

I also realized that I forgot to test GuitarFreaks 2ndMix Append, which does also have anti-piracy. Not sure if I can edit my old post about append discs, so I'm just putting that here.
 
Version 1.1.4 (12/2/2022)

Changes:
  • Added support for bypassing the additional anti-piracy copy protection routines in Pop'n Music: Disney Tunes, Beatmania featuring Dreams Come True, Dancing Stage featuring Dreams Come True, Oha-Studio Dance Dance Revolution, Dance Dance Revolution: Disney's Rave, Dance Dance Revolution: Extra Mix, and Beatmania Best Hits (thanks trappedinlimbo).
  • Controller input in Japanese consoles reverted to proper silent debug_write message polling as in v1.1.2 and below.
Enjoy @trappedinlimbo , I've added bypasses for every game you tested on real hardware so far in the previous list you gave me.
 
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