game data on two path

[x23are]

Hi.
when i write a game folder in GAMES folder and when i play it, in some games it wants to install game data and it stores at hdd0\game\game_id

for example in far cry 4 it has about 9-10 GB and when i play it, it installs about 7.4GB.
when i compare file in these two path some files are exactly same.

my question is :
1- is there a way to cheat ps3 to prevent no install data?
2- or after data installed can i delete files as same in GAMES\game_id folder
3. are psn games need installation data?(i know they store in game folder like installed data of games)
4. some file not copy to installed data folder and they remain in GAMES folder. what are they?


5. and what's your suggestion to play games and have a optimal HDD size?

 

[ISAK.M]

Hi.
when i write a game folder in GAMES folder and when i play it, in some games it wants to install game data and it stores at hdd0\game\game_id

for example in far cry 4 it has about 9-10 GB and when i play it, it installs about 7.4GB.
when i compare file in these two path some files are exactly same.

my question is :
1- is there a way to cheat ps3 to prevent no install data?
2- or after data installed can i delete files as same in GAMES\game_id folder
3. are psn games need installation data?(i know they store in game folder like installed data of games)
4. some file not copy to installed data folder and they remain in GAMES folder. what are they?


5. and what's your suggestion to play games and have a optimal HDD size?

1. There is no way to "cheat" this as the files simply need to be installed to the internal drive.
2. No you can not delete the files
3. No as they are already installed on the HDD.
4. Simply games that does not need to install files to internal HDD. Plug and Play.
5. (Internal HDD)
Optimal HDD size is 1 TB I would say, as you probably won't need more. 2 TB is the maximum size you can have I think.
(External HDD)
Probably 1 TB here aswell, I am not sure but I think PS3 can't connect drives larger then 1 TB or maybe it's just 500 GB
Maybe someone else can share some knowledge?

 

[lmn7]

There is a trick you can do that involves symbolic links, though compatibility with all games is NOT guaranteed. But with Far Cry 4 in particular, you can save some space by deleting some of the localization files.

 

[DeViL303]

In theory PS3 doesn't need 2 copies of same files, So I suppose there might be a way to delete the files that have already been installed to dev_hdd0/game/ from the disc files, I mean delete them from the ISO or GAMES. because surely once they are installed it doesn't need to read those from disc side anymore does it? and it will check dev_hdd0/game folder first. Downside is if you ever need to install again you need to make another backup from original disk, or just use original disk for install, then stripped down ISO for playing.

They might need to be symlinked or dummied as ISO might still be checked for them..don't know.

 

[Berion]

"dev_hdd0/GAMES/" containing extracted files from optical discs which is not official way to get the games. So You cannot cheat CellOS or game to stop caching data in "/dev_hdd0/game/" (which is the official place for cache (aka game installations)). In theory, if game caching exactly the same data (less or equal to original), You could create simlink but it is waste of time and unnecessary messing up with fs table (which by the way could end data loss "if something goes wrong").

BTW: "JB Format" is obsolete. Use disc images and Cobra support in CFW.

 

[Coldheart2236]

Probably 1 TB here aswell, I am not sure but I think PS3 can't connect drives larger then 1 TB or maybe it's just 500 GB
Maybe someone else can share some knowledge?

I believe 2TB is the limit for external drives, without running into issues. I have a Seagate 2TB with 2 partitions (one FAT32 and one NTFS) and I have no issues, but I believe going beyond 2TB can have issues but I'm not 100% on this.

 

[x23are]

There is a trick you can do that involves symbolic links, though compatibility with all games is NOT guaranteed. But with Far Cry 4 in particular, you can save some space by deleting some of the localization files.

how can i create simbolic links?

In theory PS3 doesn't need 2 copies of same files, So I suppose there might be a way to delete the files that have already been installed to dev_hdd0/game/ from the disc files, I mean delete them from the ISO or GAMES. because surely once they are installed it doesn't need to read those from disc side anymore does it? and it will check dev_hdd0/game folder first. Downside is if you ever need to install again you need to make another backup from original disk, or just use original disk for install, then stripped down ISO for playing.
They might need to be symlinked or dummied as ISO might still be checked for them..don't know.

what's your mean of dummied iso?

"dev_hdd0/GAMES/" containing extracted files from optical discs which is not official way to get the games. So You cannot cheat CellOS or game to stop caching data in "/dev_hdd0/game/" (which is the official place for cache (aka game installations)). In theory, if game caching exactly the same data (less or equal to original), You could create simlink but it is waste of time and unnecessary messing up with fs table (which by the way could end data loss "if something goes wrong").

BTW: "JB Format" is obsolete. Use disc images and Cobra support in CFW.

yes i know the JB format is obsolete but i have problem whit iso in some GAMES like Red dead redemption goty edition. when i play it in iso format i have texture problem!!

how can you create is? with multiman or iris or with pc in windows/??

I believe 2TB is the limit for external drives, without running into issues. I have a Seagate 2TB with 2 partitions (one FAT32 and one NTFS) and I have no issues, but I believe going beyond 2TB can have issues but I'm not 100% on this.

i use a 3TB western my book hdd and no problem with it.

 

[DeViL303]

what's your mean of dummied iso?

It depends on type of checks done, but in some cases when stripping down a game , for example removing language files you don't need, in some cases when you delete a file, you need to replace that file with a dummy 0kb file with same name. its just to pass the file list check. I don't know what type of checks the game you want to strip down has, so you might not need to do that at all, or it might not work at all.

 

[lmn7]

how can i create simbolic links?

You can use multiMAN's file manager. Copy the folder/files you want to symlink but instead of pasting it in the location, just select the option to create a symbolic link. I don't know if you know what symlinks are, but they're basically a shortcut to the files instead of a hard copy. Again, no idea if this even works for Far Cry 4, but I know it does for some games.

 

[x23are]

You can use multiMAN's file manager. Copy the folder/files you want to symlink but instead of pasting it in the location, just select the option to create a symbolic link. I don't know if you know what symlinks are, but they're basically a shortcut to the files instead of a hard copy. Again, no idea if this even works for Far Cry 4, but I know it does for some games.

thanks bro.
but a question :
whick folder is for symlinks? i search forum and found two methods:
in multiman i must delete files in the GAMES\BLxx-xxx and create symlink in this folder or i must delete files in the game\BLxx-xxx folder and create symlink on it?

 

[lmn7]

thanks bro.
but a question :
whick folder is for symlinks? i search forum and found two methods:
in multiman i must delete files in the GAMES\BLxx-xxx and create symlink in this folder or i must delete files in the game\BLxx-xxx folder and create symlink on it?

I guess you could do it either way but what I had in mind was creating the symlink in dev_hdd0/game, if that doesn't work you could try it the other way.

 

[Berion]

@DeViL303 Dummies shouldn't be empty files. For best compatibility (we never know what kind of security checks developers was add) they should be header for target replacement + void (1s of black video, 1s of silence etc.). Of course it is often sufficient but I have trauma from PS2 time. Sick bastards making crazy sec those times.

@lmn7 As I remember, mM called it "Shadow Copy".

@x23are You should know that You risking destroying fs table "if something goes wrong".

 

[psykosis]

Honestly, it'd be a good idea just to grab a 1tb laptop drive and install it.

 

[sandungas]

@DeViL303 Dummies shouldn't be empty files. For best compatibility (we never know what kind of security checks developers was add) they should be header for target replacement + void (1s of black video, 1s of silence etc.). Of course it is often sufficient but I have trauma from PS2 time. Sick bastards making crazy sec those times.

@lmn7 As I remember, mM called it "Shadow Copy".

@x23are You should know that You risking destroying fs table "if something goes wrong".

In general, you can use 0kb empty files... and with this i meant for any file that is not going to be loaded by the game (as example, there could be files with custom file extensions that are repeated "by language")
Also, following this same rule you can replace any other file that is not going to be loaded, as example, the mutiplayer maps of a game just because you are not interested in playing in multiplayer, or because the game servers are already closed

What you was mentioning happens with videos... but only with the videos that are going to be played (lol, i know im repeating myself but this is a key concept to remember)

Im going to show you an example from the game killzone 2 (i played it past week and ripped it too a bit, this game is a nice candidate to be ripped btw, it has lot of video "garbage")
The first video files that can be deleted are the intro videos for each language (there are 16, around 200mb each), and you only need to keep 1
Next videos that i ripped are the ones that appears on the "press start" screen (only after some minutes of inactivity in the dualshock, the game starts a loop sequence where are played 6 videos)
Some of that "press start" videos are duplicateds, you have a version where the KILLZONE2 logo have a "trademark" charater, and the other version have a "registered" character (lol, yeah is retarded)... i guess are intended to be played by region
I noticed when i was booting the game it was using the "registered" everywhere (for all europe regions i guess), so i deleted the others with the "trademark"
Later i realized (by renaming one of them) that the video player of the "press start" screen it was not crashing when it was trying to play a "missing" video... so i deleted all them (are the files named Attrac*.avi)

Anyway, i just kept the video of the intro (with a nazi like speech of the supervillain) but the reason why i decided to delete them is because in this game the video player doesnt crashes if the video is missing

But as a general rule... is needed to do what you said
To replace a video file is needed to use another video file with the same exact format (but only containing a few frames in black)
This way the game can actually play the video normally... is just you only see on screen a "poof" with a black frame (faster than a second, is mostly like an interference)
I never remove of replace the "ingame videos" neither the intro... but this is handy to remove the "press start" videos i mentioned (and also the "how it was made" extra videos from some triple AAA games like dunno, god of war, heavy rain, uncharted, etc...)

*Funny fact... the game KILLZONE2 have a "dummy.avi" video you can use to replace the others (and you can play them in PC btw, this "dummy.avi" is an audio test used in development)

---------
Also, keep in mind all this experiments needs to be tested before giving your rip the "quality control passed" label
For it is needed to uninstall the gamedata... and install it again (because sometimes that gamedata instalaltion is going to do something with the files you have been modifying)
I use to unstall the savedta too just incase (most games creates and loads savedata automatically in every boot)

 

[Cypher_CG89]

It depends on type of checks done, but in some cases when stripping down a game , for example removing language files you don't need, in some cases when you delete a file, you need to replace that file with a dummy 0kb file with same name. its just to pass the file list check. I don't know what type of checks the game you want to strip down has, so you might not need to do that at all, or it might not work at all.

Some games don't like it when you remove files, for example I remove all the game posters that are displayed on the xmb, simply because I don't need to have a massive poster across my xmb to tell me which game am about to play lol. But in the case of FarCry 3 you remove even this png file off the disc and it breaks the game lol, I found that quite amusing, since when does the game need this to play it lol.

 

[rocknard]

To replace a video file is needed to use another video file with the same exact format (but only containing a few frames in black)

Hello, Sandungas.

Do you now how to create a video with 1sec or some frames in black? I'm not very well versed with video editor tools. Only a hint.

Thanks.

 

[sandungas]

Hello, Sandungas.

Do you now how to create a video with 1sec or some frames in black? I'm not very well versed with video editor tools. Only a hint.

Thanks.

yes but it depends of the video format, and that depends of the game engine

In PS3 there are a lot of games that uses BIK format (specially if are game companies associated or property of sony), this format is pretty nice and you can deal with them using the "RAD video tools" http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm

Some games uses generic video formats (like KILLZONE2 that uses AVI, very unfrequent btw) so can be created in PC with any tool

And the most tricky is when is some weird/custom format, in this case what you can do is to take one of the other videos (the smallest size wins) and use it as a replacement for the others (this also works with different games made by the same company, because uses the same game engine)

 

[sandungas]

Some games don't like it when you remove files

Most doesnt likes it, as a general rule you should avoid removing files
The example i mentioned with the killzone2 videos is an special case, and is aceptable just because the video player is searching for the file and then is "skiping" it so internally the PS3 is getting an error, but the error is not critical, only happens one time, and after it everythng continues working normally
I made this with "ingame" audio files too, and some games doesnt complains, but i did it by mistake and i dont like to "damage" the gameplay experience like that

A different thing is if you want to remove audio from different languages... in this case the files are not going to be loaded (because you boot the game in a different language), so is much better to replace the audio files for other languages by 0kb dummies
Obviouslly, this should not be made if the audio is going to be played... because most probably the PS3 will try to load the 0kb file and is going to complain (either it will crash, or internally is going to generate lot of errors in a infinite loop, maybe not critical, but you know... is happening)

Anyway... one of the most important reason why removing files should be avoided is because the "gamedata" installer could cointain a list of the files that needs to be installed and your dummies are in the list of files that are going to be installed
If the file doesnt exists the gamedata installation is interrupted... so the game cant even boot
This is why i always delete the gamedata installation at the end to verify it works normally

I remember a game where i repaced some files by dummies and the gamedata installer was copying my dummies to hdd (this means it doesnt checks the file contents or sizes, at least on that game)
And the game was working fine

*But i remember another game where the files copyed to hdd did not exist in the disc (this means the gamedata installer was extracting them from a compressed file ?), i could not identify how it was made though or which file was the "source" that was generating the other files :/

 

[Cypher_CG89]

Most doesnt likes it, as a general rule you should avoid removing files
The example i mentioned with the killzone2 videos is an special case, and is aceptable just because the video player is searching for the file and then is "skiping" it so internally the PS3 is getting an error, but the error is not critical, only happens one time, and after it everythng continues working normally
I made this with "ingame" audio files too, and some games doesnt complains, but i did it by mistake and i dont like to "damage" the gameplay experience like that

A different thing is if you want to remove audio from different languages... in this case the files are not going to be loaded (because you boot the game in a different language), so is much better to replace the audio files for other languages by 0kb dummies
Obviouslly, this should not be made if the audio is going to be played... because most probably the PS3 will try to load the 0kb file and is going to complain (either it will crash, or internally is going to generate lot of errors in a infinite loop, maybe not critical, but you know... is happening)

Anyway... one of the most important reason why removing files should be avoided is because the "gamedata" installer could cointain a list of the files that needs to be isntalled
If the file doesnt exists the gamedata installation is interrupted... so the game cant even boot
This is why i always delete the gamedata installation at the end to verify is made normally

I remember a game where i repaced some files by dummies and the gamedata installer was copying my dummies to hdd (this means it doesnt checks the file contents or sizes, at least on that game)
And the game was working fine

Yeah, generally its not a good idea to remove anything from the disc, just the PS3 update data taking up 200MB of HDD space and if you have 10 games with this still on this =1GB of HDD space that could be put to better use.

All the games I have you can delete the ICON0.PNG or others, some have three but as the numbers generally dictate where they appear on the XMB. I remove the "originals" and replace them with custom ones where I can, some games will let you delete them, but not add custom ones, for example>

Instead of having a game poster for the game I replaced them in favour of the Game case cover, so they more or less display the same way as MultiMAN does it>game icon> game cover art.

In the case of FarCry 3 the game must have a super 100% check of all files before booting as I say when you remove this one poster .png form the disc you get a disc damaged or dirty message on boot of the game, which make's me think that this is actually using it in game as the main loading screen is this exact image. but its not inside the USRDIR folder and I have not got around to pulling this games graphics archive to bits yet and experimenting with the game, though I do have the Cry Enigne on my PC for developing with this game and Crysis as it uses the same engine.

 

[sandungas]

The ICON0_01.PNG, ICON0_02.PNG, ICON0_03.PNG, etc... ?
That numbers are the language codes, some games have an icon with some texts (so the game developers needed to make different icons with different texts for each language), is not usual though
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Template:PlayStation_Languages
The same happens with the TITLE_01, TITLE_02, etc... (inside PARAM.SFO)
The PS3 only loads one of them (the one that matches with the language you have configured in the XMB settings)
Incase there is no file for your language it loads the defaults (without the 2-number-code tail)

For the other images next to ICON0.PNG works in the same way, here is a list of everything you can add as "XMB preview" images (before the game is booted)
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Content_Information_Files#Disc_Game

I used to modify some of that (i never liked the game titles in uppercase, it looks like troll mode), but at some point i decided to stop doing it and restored them in all my games (i didnt had much games, so not much work)

And what you mentioned about a protection to ICON0.PNG in far cry 3 is very interesting, actually i had that same problem with the game "the orange box" (is a collection that contains half life 2 and some addons + portal 1)
What i was trying is to make an ISO of portal 1 (only)... so i was trying to use a pretty cool icon i made for portal 1 but the game stopped working (well actually it took me lot of time to realize wtf was happening)
That game have an special protection, veeeeery unusual, and very interesting because is supported by some rare firmware functions, im very used to PARAM.SFO and long story short... that PARAM.SFO hides some mistery
I guess far cry 3 could be doing the same