PS3 How does the PS3 interpret filenames ending with a dot?

A

AlexRhine

Member
I was taking a look at a Minecraft IRD file, and I noticed that there is a file called "tutorialDiff." (with a dot) in the /PS3_GAME/USRDIR/Common/res/TitleUpdate/ directory. Now, if you were to rip a Minecraft disc to a FAT-32 device as a JB Folder, the file would probably be renamed to "tutorialDiff" (without the dot), and it would remain with that name even if put into ISO format. Now, my question is, if one leaves the file with this new "tutorialDiff" name, would the PS3/game recognize it as the original "tutorialDiff." (with dot) file, or would the file not be found when needed by the game and cause some problems? (I do not own the game to test myself).

Also, if a Minecraft ISO was extracted to a Windows machine, would the dot be automatically removed and impossible to add without creating another ISO with an edited ISO creation tool? (or is it possible to create files ending in a dot in Windows using command line?)

(Or, must all file names in a Blu-Ray header contain an extension/dot?)

Minecraft IRD files: http://jonnysp.bplaced.net/info.php?file=ird/BLUS31426-67D1B08B82F02BDB79A93D75A8243A73.ird
 
AlexRhine said:
I was taking a look at a Minecraft IRD file, and I noticed that there is a file called "tutorialDiff." (with a dot) in the /PS3_GAME/USRDIR/Common/res/TitleUpdate/ directory. Now, if you were to rip a Minecraft disc to a FAT-32 device as a JB Folder, the file would probably be renamed to "tutorialDiff" (without the dot), and it would remain with that name even if put into ISO format. Now, my question is, if one leaves the file with this new "tutorialDiff" name, would the PS3/game recognize it as the original "tutorialDiff." (with dot) file, or would the file not be found when needed by the game and cause some problems? (I do not own the game to test myself).

Also, if a Minecraft ISO was extracted to a Windows machine, would the dot be automatically removed and impossible to add without creating another ISO with an edited ISO creation tool? (or is it possible to create files ending in a dot in Windows using command line?)

(Or, must all file names in a Blu-Ray header contain an extension/dot?)

Minecraft IRD files: http://jonnysp.bplaced.net/info.php?file=ird/BLUS31426-67D1B08B82F02BDB79A93D75A8243A73.ird
Click to expand...
the dot will stay. it is okay to have a dot as last character. PS3, windows, linux, probably almost everything will allow it.
 
Huh, I was under the impression that FAT-32 didn't allow filenames ending with dots. At the very least, on my linux machine, any file I create on a Fat-32 device with a name ending with a dot gets renamed to the the same name but without the dot, at least using a GUI file manager. Using touch in a terminal let's me create a file ending with a dot, but trying to create another file with the same name but without the dot either tells me that the file already exists, or it does create a "new" file, but in reality both files are the same and any change on one is reflected on the other (not really sure why sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't).

In any case, I've often seen files ending with a dot get changed to a file with no dot at the end using FAT-32. If that does happen (for any reason) on a game dump, would the PS3 differentiate between "tutorialDiff." and "tutorialDiff", or would they be treated as the same file?
 
If You will change name of any file, game will not find this file. It is not human with abstract thinking. ;p

I don't think PS3 renaming but each file manager renaming.

What is "Blu-Ray header", what do You have in mind?

If Your Linux doesn't allow that, it means that Your file manager doesn't allow that. You can write into FAT32 fs table anything, including illegal symbols for that filesystem (i.e ":" is illegal for FAT32). Personally my distro of choice is Linux Mint with DE called Cinnamon, which I recommending to everyone.

Now, if you were to rip a Minecraft disc to a FAT-32 device as a JB Folder
Click to expand...
Use disc images if You do not want modding and testing game. "JB format" is obsolete and have many problems which doesn't exist with *.iso.
 
Berion said:
If You will change name of any file, game will not find this file. It is not human with abstract thinking. ;p

I don't think PS3 renaming but each file manager renaming.

What is "Blu-Ray header", what do You have in mind?

If Your Linux doesn't allow that, it means that Your file manager doesn't allow that. You can write into FAT32 fs table anything, including illegal symbols for that filesystem (i.e ":" is illegal for FAT32). Personally my distro of choice is Linux Mint with DE called Cinnamon, which I recommending to everyone.
Click to expand...
I'm using Debian with XFCE, but I'm mainly talking about using the touch command in terminal. For example, let's say you run (on a Fat-32 device):

touch ./txt.
touch ./txt

Running ls, it only lists the "txt" (with no dot) file. Running "nano ./txt." and writing to that file will result in everything being written to the "/txt" file. GUI file manager (in this case thunar) shows only the "./txt." file. Thunar won't allow you to create a ./txt file because it says it already exists.

In any case, what I'm getting at is that, at the very least, Linux in a lot of case treats "/txt." and "/txt" files equally, even with command line tools. It's not that the computer has abstract thinking, but rather limitations/standards for filenames probably lead to these compromises where a file ending with a dot may be treated as a file that isn't. Of course, I guess that you could manually edit your fs table to force your will on your Fat-32 device, but what user will want to do that? I was mostly asking if the PS3 made any such "compromise" to treat files that end with a dot the same as files that don't (considering that running ISOs from FAT-32 isn't normal behavior).

What I meant by header is the part of the Blu-Ray that contains the information about the files inside (dumped to the IRD file). Though, I must admit I am not very familiar with the Blu-Ray format, and that this is merely second hand info.

Edit: I do rip all my games as ISOs, I was more asking for anyone else who didn't (either because of having always had them as Folders, or because of preference).
 
Last edited:
my guess is the file wouldn't be found. it may be like it is with ulaunch.elf on the ps2 to where some save names are renamed when put on a fat32 drive. the original name and the rename are mentioned in a txt file it creates. I think I only had one save like that. it was from a tales of game, and it used >< as part of the filename or something. can't recall if windows allows that in the filename.

btw, there are four different filename characters iirc that will not copy with a jb game to fat32 due to restrictions in the filename. I know one of them was @. I can't recall all four of them, but it was when I was really testing stuff with the ps3 like 7+ years ago.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'll check this scenario on my distribution. It is not something related specifically to fs but the way how filemanager or any other programs treating such case. I never experienced any uncommon file naming in PS3 games, but such thing is using by game developers from time to time (i.e in Tales of Eternia they named save with ">" symbols to makes life of peoples which copying saves to PC harder).

Anyway, with disc image, such problem doesn't exist.
 
Last edited:
dunno. here's the txt file as I still have it:

upload_2021-7-3_9-35-21.png
 
I discovered something interesting pertaining to this issue today. While both Zar's ird_tools (log) and Johnny's ird library state that the file tutorialDiff contains a dot at the end of its name, I looked at the header of the game directly (from the IRD) with a hex editor and found that the file in reality does not have a dot in its name; it is simply called "tutorialDiff". So, I see 3 possible things that may have happened:

a) IRDs, due to a bug, are generated incorrectly and put a dot at the end of files that have no extension when listing files and calculating hashes.
b) Both Johnny' IRD Library and Zar's tools have a bug that makes them put a dot at the end of files that have no extension when reading the IRD.
c) The PS3 does interpret files with no extension as having a dot at the end, and when building the IRD this is the filename that is read.

I have tested using the IRD found in Johnny's Library, and the IRD hosted on Zar's own server. Since I do not own the game, I can't check to see what filename is shown in a file manager when the disc is inserted into the PS3. Maybe someone here owns the game and can test? If the file name has a dot when displayed in a file manager, then "c" is probably the answer. If not, then maybe @Zar may want to look into possible bugs with MGZ and ird_tools when reading (and possibly generating) IRDs.
 
It's a bug I noticed it on another game which have lot of these files. EDIT : I chose to keep it to generate the same ird, to not have duplicates... ... With a second thought, I can fix it, it won't change the IRD ... -_- ... Maybe It's for another reason, I can't remember...

I noticed it, when I mounted the header of a backup (from ird) on windows for something else. Just rename the ird.header.bin to ird.header.iso and mount it.

If you are looking for more information about the issue look at http://target0.be/madchat/coding/filesystems/introduction_to_iso9660.pdf page 12.

Long story short, ISO 9660 identify files like [filename] . [ext] ; [file_version] it must have the dot and the semi-colon. But what if the file doesn't have an extension ? the dot remain. The issue come from this remaining dot inside the file identifier.
 
Last edited:
Zar said:
It's a bug I noticed it on another game which have lot of these files. I chose to keep it to generate the same ird, to not have duplicates...

I noticed it, when I mounted the header of a backup (from ird) on windows for something else. Just rename the ird.header.bin to ird.header.iso and mount it.

If you are looking for more information about the issue look at http://target0.be/madchat/coding/filesystems/introduction_to_iso9660.pdf page 12.

Long story short, ISO 9660 identify files like [filename] . [ext] ; [file_version] it must have the dot and the semi-colon. But what if the file doesn't have an extension ? the dot remain. The issue come from this remaining dot inside the file identifier.
Click to expand...
Oh, so that's where the semicolon comes from. I was also looking at the IRD for Assassin's Creed (I was curious about the ASSASSIN_ISO folder) and I noticed that all files names ended with a semicolon. The Minecraft ISO probably uses a different standard since it doesn't have any semicolons in its header. A way to keep the bug for compatibility while also making sure IRD verification doesn't fail for some games could be to treat filenames ending with a dot as files that do not have one.

By the way, I guess the ASSASSIN_ISO folder isn't needed if you rebuild the game with an IRD, since it's already in the header, right?
 
Last edited:
AlexRhine said:
Oh, so that's where the semicolon comes from. I was also looking at the IRD for Assassin's Creed (I was curious about the ASSASSIN_ISO folder) and I noticed that all files names ended with a semicolon. The Minecraft ISO probably uses a different standard since it doesn't have any semicolons in its header. A way to keep the bug for compatibility while also making sure IRD verification doesn't fail for some games could be to treat filenames ending with a dot as files that do not have one.

By the way, I guess the ASSASSIN_ISO folder isn't needed if you rebuild the game with an IRD, since it's already in the header, right?
Click to expand...

I edited my previous message, I can fix ird_tools. And there is nothing to do for IRD creation because filenames aren't stored in the IRD, I mean out of the header.

about ASSASSIN_ISO, inside the header, you have the whole structure of the ISO, including directories. So, even if you don't have the directory ASSASSIN_ISO inside your JB folder, it doesn't matter, because it already exists inside the ISO build with the header of the ird. The only things missing is the content of the files.
 
Last edited:
I had some struggle to find out exactly how I could fix it...and after reading this thread, I just understood something. Windows doesn't accept the dot as last character ! (I didn't know that ><) . It rename the file by removing it. I created a file on the ps3 finishing with a dot, I tranfered it on my computer, windows remove the dot then and I transfered it back to the PS3, the dot completely disappeared. (I though maybe it was just hidden, on windows).


I assumed it was a bug because when I mounted it on windows the dot disappeared, I trusted too much windows. Maybe it's not bug, I'll investigate deeper...
 
Last edited:
File name finishing with a dot is not something unusual. This is the result from the ird db (with notepad++) :
Search ".*\.\r?\n" (2444 hits in 243 files)

I think it's maybe a way to fight against JB format ? They probably aware the HDD sometimes are connected to windows which remove every dot.
 
Linux and disc filesystems dont care at all about file extensions. The purpose of a file extension is to "tell the system which program reads that specific file". On Windows it accepts files with no extensions (like any system), but if you try to put a dot on the end it expects you to put a extension to add on the Windows Registry so it can be tied to a program it can be read. I dont know the specifics on Linux, but since PS3 games are somewhat intended to run from a disc, it doesnt matter because files on a disc filesystem are not exactly stored that way, it creates a table of contents first then "burns" all the data as a continous string. The table of contents just says where a file starts and ends physically on the disc.
 
Zar said:
File name finishing with a dot is not something unusual. This is the result from the ird db (with notepad++) :
Search ".*\.\r?\n" (2444 hits in 243 files)

I think it's maybe a way to fight against JB format ? They probably aware the HDD sometimes are connected to windows which remove every dot.
Click to expand...
Which files are you using to do the search? Logs generated by ird_tools? I assume there are a number of files which do end with a dot due to the ISO 9960 format. But still, in the case of Minecraft, it seems it isn't in ISO 9960 format (there are no semicolons), and mounting the header (at least on Linux) shows there is no dot at the end of the filename. Looking at the header with a hex editor shows the same thing. So, it's probably a bug with how ird_tools/MGZ are reading the header (I don't know exactly how Johnny's ird library reads the header, but it seems to have the same bug).
 
If some one can check if these game have file with a dot. With an original disc inserted, open a filemanager, then go to dev_bdvd and see if they really exist.
- Escape Dead Island a lot usrdir
- Minecraft
- dead or alive 5 (a lot inside usrdir)
- Almost every lego games have a file named USRDIR/__DISC__.
- some singstar game : USRDIR/DiscInfo.
- battlefield / army of 2 : USRDIR/Data/initfs_Ps3.
- lot of EA games (especially NBA 2K8 to 2K16) have these : USRDIR/0A.


I really think the dot exists but i'm still not sure at 100% :p
 
Zar said:
If some one can check if these game have file with a dot. With an original disc inserted, open a filemanager, then go to dev_bdvd and see if they really exist.
- Escape Dead Island a lot usrdir
- Minecraft
- dead or alive 5 (a lot inside usrdir)
- Almost every lego games have a file named USRDIR/__DISC__.
- some singstar game : USRDIR/DiscInfo.
- battlefield / army of 2 : USRDIR/Data/initfs_Ps3.
- lot of EA games (especially NBA 2K8 to 2K16) have these : USRDIR/0A.


I really think the dot exists but i'm still not sure at 100% :p
Click to expand...
I checked mounting the NBA 2K16 header on Linux, and the filename of those files ("1#") do not contain a dot. Looking at the header with a Hex editor was confusing though. There is a section of the header where each file inside USRDIR is listed twice. In this section, the "1#" files do end with a dot (the character 0x2E). However, there is another section where the files inside USRDIR are only listed once, and the "1#" files do not end with a dot. It would be interesting if someone who had the game could share how they look like when mounted to the PS3 (I think they will not have a dot since the PS3 resembles a *nix OS).

@Zar, you are probably more familiar with the Blu-Ray format. Why do you think there are two sections for file listing in the header, with one having the files listed twice?

Edit: Sorry, I meant the "1#" files, not "0#" files. I changed it.
 
Last edited:
Where it's written "0A.;1" (full caps, it's the file identifers)
They are listed twice because they are big files, overs 1024MB. They are 'splitted' inside the iso.

The "real name", with lower and higher case is written in u16. With a hex viewer you can search text in "unicode UTF 16", this one contains the dot.


Now that you talk about it, I didn't notice the part where the filename doesn't have the dot (or should I write period ?). I think it's in an extension area (made by sony?), I don't think it's standard, maybe I'm wrong, I'm just guessing. I think this area is a meta data, It's probably not used at all. Something for sure, this part isn't created by any software I know... but I don't know a lot ^^'
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top