kozarovv
Developer
Today i show you how to remove epilepsy warning on older firmwares. This process will make that your PS3 boot faster, is not old replacing method that [MENTION=3657]pinky[/MENTION] described in one of his tuts, this method really disabling, giving 2-3 second faster boot of console.
- scetool
- HxD
- Hashcalc (cobra cfw only)
Every cfw that currently have this message enabled. Doesn't matter that is cobra or not, and that message was edited before. This patch will remove it completely. Excluding Rebug REX and D-REX Cobra. Non cobra Rebug REX/D-REX, Rebug Lite and Rebug Cobra Lite can be done that way if needed. Only REX/D-REX cobra not.
Decrypt vsh.self file from PUP or copy it from your PS3 (dev_flash/vsh/module/vsh.self), PUAD can extract these files for you, but you have to decrypt them via scetool , unself, or breakself. In my tutorial i use scetool as i followed that way without problem. To decrypt vsh.self put file in scetool/tool directory open cmd navigate to tool folder using comand:
And now use command:
Now you should have decrypted vsh.elf file in tool directory, and we gonna edit that file.
Open vsh.elf in HxD and search for that string in hexadecimal:
CEX CFW:
DEX CFW:
After done editing, you need to re-sign file properly, put edited vsh.elf and your ORIGINAL vsh.self to scetool folder, and use scetool command:
For non cobra cfw that was last step, now you can just replace your vsh.self in dev_flash/vsh/module/ and after next boot you shouldn't see annoying epilepsy warning message.
Cobra CFW need one additional edit to keep full cobra functionality. If you done previous steps this one shouldn't be hard for you.
Ok, there is one more thing to edit if you're a COBRA user, it's editing STAGE2 file.
Now this time you need to use 64 bit hash calculator.
To do that you need to have all needed files in hashcalc folder. Now type in cmd:
And type:
Now you have calculated hashes of ORIGINAL vsh.self and then search those hashes in stage2.bin in HxD (search for HEX string, starting from A0XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (fill X with your hash)). So basically you need to update those hashes to make them work with Cobra, otherwise COBRA won't dynamically patch VSH, that will break COBRA's functions. Also is good to check that hash is only in one place in stage2 file if it occurs more time then all places need to be changed to new hashes.
So next, do same thing using hashcalc with edited vsh.self and change hash in stage2.bin to that one from your edit vsh.self
To do this open stage2.bin in HxD, and search for hash from your original vsh.self (search for hexadecimal) now override this hash with hash from your edited vsh.self and save file. Now you need to exchange stage2.bin file in dev_flash/sys (or similiar) to this you modified now. To check that hashes are correct run ps2 and PSP iso, if it work then all is ok. But remember to use compatibile isos.
Warning: From 7.02 to 7.1 cobra was improved a lot, and now cobra patching a lot more thing in vsh than in first versions. This mean that in newer cobra versions bad hashes can do serious damage to your ps3, including semibrick.
You can also use mfwbuilder to apply patches to pup but i don't know it patch also cobra hashes, here is link to task: [TCL] patch_epilepsy.tcl - Pastebin.com . All credits to mysis for the reversing, and the people at #casabonita channel in efnet irc for betatesting and brainstormings. @sandungas for tip on psx-place @Ezio for mfwbuilder task. Sorry if i forgot mention someone.
Tutorial was founded by copy-paste from my other tut :p
NOTE FROM 2017: Some new cobra cfw don't need to have fixed hashes, so cobra part steps from this tutorial are not needed for them. Example of that kind of firmware is: Rebug 4.81.2 and Starbucks Cobra 4.81 7.50. Generally all firmwares with cobra 7.50 or newer.
Needed tools:
- scetool
- HxD
- Hashcalc (cobra cfw only)
Which CFW i can patch?
Every cfw that currently have this message enabled. Doesn't matter that is cobra or not, and that message was edited before. This patch will remove it completely. Excluding Rebug REX and D-REX Cobra. Non cobra Rebug REX/D-REX, Rebug Lite and Rebug Cobra Lite can be done that way if needed. Only REX/D-REX cobra not.
Manual patching:
Decrypting VSH:
Decrypt vsh.self file from PUP or copy it from your PS3 (dev_flash/vsh/module/vsh.self), PUAD can extract these files for you, but you have to decrypt them via scetool , unself, or breakself. In my tutorial i use scetool as i followed that way without problem. To decrypt vsh.self put file in scetool/tool directory open cmd navigate to tool folder using comand:
Code:
cd <your path to tool folder>
example: cd c:\scetool\tool
Code:
scetool -d vsh.self vsh.elfPatching:
Open vsh.elf in HxD and search for that string in hexadecimal:
CEX CFW:
Code:
000000020000000102010101FFFFFFFF
And change it to:
000000020000000102000101FFFFFFFFDEX CFW:
Code:
000000000000000001010100FFFFFFFF
And change it to:
000000000000000000010100FFFFFFFFEncrypting VSH:
After done editing, you need to re-sign file properly, put edited vsh.elf and your ORIGINAL vsh.self to scetool folder, and use scetool command:
Code:
scetool --template vsh.self --sce-type=SELF --compress-data=TRUE --encrypt vsh.elf vsh.selfFor non cobra cfw that was last step, now you can just replace your vsh.self in dev_flash/vsh/module/ and after next boot you shouldn't see annoying epilepsy warning message.
For Cobra CFW:
Cobra CFW need one additional edit to keep full cobra functionality. If you done previous steps this one shouldn't be hard for you.
Finding hash that need to be changed.
Ok, there is one more thing to edit if you're a COBRA user, it's editing STAGE2 file.
Now this time you need to use 64 bit hash calculator.
To do that you need to have all needed files in hashcalc folder. Now type in cmd:
Code:
cd <your hashcalc folder>
Example: cd c:\scetool\tool
Code:
hashcalc vsh.selfChanging hashes in stage2
So next, do same thing using hashcalc with edited vsh.self and change hash in stage2.bin to that one from your edit vsh.self
To do this open stage2.bin in HxD, and search for hash from your original vsh.self (search for hexadecimal) now override this hash with hash from your edited vsh.self and save file. Now you need to exchange stage2.bin file in dev_flash/sys (or similiar) to this you modified now. To check that hashes are correct run ps2 and PSP iso, if it work then all is ok. But remember to use compatibile isos.
Warning: From 7.02 to 7.1 cobra was improved a lot, and now cobra patching a lot more thing in vsh than in first versions. This mean that in newer cobra versions bad hashes can do serious damage to your ps3, including semibrick.
You can also use mfwbuilder to apply patches to pup but i don't know it patch also cobra hashes, here is link to task: [TCL] patch_epilepsy.tcl - Pastebin.com . All credits to mysis for the reversing, and the people at #casabonita channel in efnet irc for betatesting and brainstormings. @sandungas for tip on psx-place @Ezio for mfwbuilder task. Sorry if i forgot mention someone.
Tutorial was founded by copy-paste from my other tut :p
NOTE FROM 2017: Some new cobra cfw don't need to have fixed hashes, so cobra part steps from this tutorial are not needed for them. Example of that kind of firmware is: Rebug 4.81.2 and Starbucks Cobra 4.81 7.50. Generally all firmwares with cobra 7.50 or newer.
Last edited:
