PS3 ManaGunZ - PS3 Backup Manager by Zar v1.41

[kozarovv]

Oh i see. So, Ps3, Ps1 and PSP games working great from external HDD too, but the Ps2 backups work only from internal? Am i right?

Yes. PS2 games work only from internal.

(Atelier Iris) I got black screen.

Game is marked on compatibility list as unplayable. Also patch for it don't exist already, but you can always try patches for other games. Maybe one of them will work for AI.

https://web.archive.org/web/2015062...wiki/PS2_Classics_Emulator_Compatibility_List

 

[Zar]

About the 60 FPS patch, i didn't find any database of these patchs, like the widescreen db. So, the best way to do it, it's to build your own pnach file with all the patch you want, and to apply them with MGZ. I don't even know if the PS3 is enough to manage 60FPS on PS2 :p

I'm pretty sure we can use External HDD with PS2 backups but i'm not skilled enough to find a solution. I tried several times with different way without knowing what I was realy doing but I didn't succed.
I'll add a warning when you try to launch PS2 backup from external device.

I don't think i'll add advanced setting of PS2 CONFIG editor in MGZ because it will be too complicated... but I'll add some informations about ID.

 

[kozarovv]

About the 60 FPS patch, i didn't find any database of these patchs, like the widescreen db.

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-60-fps-codes

I'm pretty sure we can use External HDD with PS2 backups but i'm not skilled enough to find a solution.

ps2netemu is lv2 replacement, so cobra redirect syscall don't work there. So you just need to add usb support to that LV2 replacement and redirect mount point to that usb. Or add some syscall to do this. Also ps2netemu can "talk" with LV1 using HV syscalls, maybe there is solution. Anyway without solid reverse enginering solution does not appear.

 

[Zar]

I'm aware of this.

Also, I was talking about a pnatch file collection. If you are ready create every pnach file from this thread I'll gladly add it MGZ :p

 

[kozarovv]

Also, I was talking about a pnatch file collection. If you are ready create every pnach file from this thread I'll gladly add it MGZ :p

Ahh ok. I try to search maybe someone already did it.

 

[sandungas]

Oh i see. So, Ps3, Ps1 and PSP games working great from external HDD too, but the Ps2 backups work only from internal? Am i right?

Not sure if i understood you right, can you explain it a bit ?
I tryed managunz 1.28 in rebug 4.46, please take a read at my message here
http://www.psx-place.com/threads/managunz-ps3-backup-manager-by-zar.1198/page-25#post-78797

But i was trying PS3 game backups from internal hdd (both ISO and JB game formats), and both made the same exact crash
Are you saying PS3 backups in 4.46 from external hdd works fine ?... in that case the problem is related with internal hdd only

When reporting a crash please give details of how it happens... there are like 6 or 7 different types of crash, the one i explained in the message i linked i think is related with the device remapping that uses most backup managers
It seems when the console crashes that way the system loses control of hdd inmediatly and cuts all power from motherboard instantlly, and after rebooting the internal hdd cant be mounted, this is why it shows that scary message about "the hdd needs to be formatted, press start+select to try to recover it" (but after a check all returns to normally btw, no harm in this aspect)

 

[sandungas]

Small bug related with "flow" UI mode
When keeping the dualshock left stick moved to the left or to the right to browse games (happens in both directions) the game covers does a weird movement (like a Dj scratching a vinyl back and forth over the same game), and then it changes to a different weird movement (it jumps some games or keeps moving even after releasing the stick)

With the D-pad all works normally

 

[Zar]

He is using retrogames that's why it didn't crash. I already found the issue and fixed it for the next update.

 

[sandungas]

He is using retrogames that's why it didn't crash. I already found the issue and fixed it for the next update.

Great, vintage firmwares support improved !

 

[sandungas]

Please add BGS.JPG support in "list" UI, not sure if i mentioned it before, if i did sorry for insisting in it
I found a set of 2 background images that matches pretty fine with "list" UI... one for "game" screen and another for "settings" screen
All other UI's supports BGS.JPG but in the actual managunz version "list" doesnt, is marginated :'(

---------------
This im going to say is a sugestion based in my personal experince while playing a bit with managunz themes, this is the complete list of images supported actually (copypasted from the first message of this thread), im going to add BGS.JPG for "list" UI as i suggested above
"List" : BG.PNG, BGS.JPG, BG_ICON0.PNG
"Grid" : BG.PNG, BGS.JPG
"XMB" : BG.PNG, BGS.JPG, SETTINGS.PNG, FAVORITES.PNG, PS1.PNG, PS2.PNG, PS3.PNG, PSP.PNG
"Flow" : BG.PNG, BGS.JPG, BG_TITLE.PNG

The way i see it... there are two groups of images
One group are the full screen backgrounds for game and settings (BG.PNG and BGS.JPG)
The other group are images that are going to be displayed in small sizes overlapped, and in most cases will need transparencies so all them are .PNG

In my opinion the full sceen backgrounds should be allowed only in JPG (so the BG.PNG should be replaced by a BG.JPG). When making a theme is a pita to remember that one of them is .JPG and the other is .PNG, at this point after doing several themes i remember which format needs each, but i still need to check it everytime i make a new image because there is no easy "golden rule" to remember that explains why is made this way

The advantage of JPG over PNG is the files have smaller size. PNG is better for transprencies but for a full screen background there are not needed transparencies
So why not to use all full screen background in JPG ?... i think is much better (included some other reasons im not going to explain to not make this mesasage too much longer... unless someone is interested in discussing it)

--------------------
When making a new theme there is a colateral challengue related with design concepts
Before trying to make a theme the first thing needed to do is to get a good idea about a design for a full screen background... the next step is to make the image yourself or to take a look at google to see if you find some image that matches your idea... ok, all this is normal, the problem comes when you have that image and you got it from google
Most probably is an image you like a lot... but to make a theme for managunz (with a complete set of images included) are needed two backgrounds... and is going to be very hard to find another image that matches the one you found in google initially (the one you like a lot). If you are picky like me this is almost imposible unless you find a "set" of images made by the same person using the same design concept
Of course you can make the images yourself and then there is no problem, but being realistic most managunz users are going to pick some images from google and are going to face this problem

The best way to solve this is to have an option to use the same background image for both, "game" and "settings" display modes
Something like... "Use common background" with a "yes/no"
If yes... the "game" background is displayed also for "settings"
This option could be placed as part of the "user interface settings" at bottom, and available for all UI themes

Edit:
Hmmm, by reading myself i realized about a problem
This option "Use common background" im suggesting should reset to "NO" if a new theme is applyed, to avoid being used my mistake incase you had it enabled previously

 

[Zar]

You can use PNG or JPG for every image used by ManaGunZ since 1.26 both are supported. Unfortunatly the first post of this thread isn't updated.

I completly agree with you. But instead of adding an option perhaps it will be better to automatically use the background BG if the BGS do not exist ?
What to you think about this ?

 

[sandungas]

You can use PNG or JPG for every image used by ManaGunZ since 1.26 both are supported. Unfortunatly the first post of this thread isn't updated.

Great, i was about to try it but i been busy with other things and forgot about it :P
Nice, now i can complete the themes i was making, are from google images, i have not asked you about it but are you interested in including in the .pkg some managunz themes from google images ?
If you are not interested is ok, i will upload them here as optional "managunz extras" or something like that
I know, is hard to tell without looking at them, i will send them to you at some point

I completly agree with you. But instead of adding an option perhaps it will be better to automatically use the background BG if the BGS do not exist ?
What to you think about this ?

I thought in that but imo is not good enought, is needed to cover all this variants:
-people that wants to display both backgrounds, and are different images
-people that wants to display both backgrounds, but is the same image
-people that wants only "game" background (so they can make a theme without "settings" background)
-people that wants only "settings" background (so they can make a theme without "game" background)
-people that doesnt wants any background (by using the option "theme"--->"NONE" ?)

Other alternative i thought is to do the selection automatically based in the file names, so you have...
BG_G.JPG
BG_S.JPG
BG_GS.JPG

When BG_GS.JPG is present is used for both backgrounds... else the others are searched (BG_G.JPG and BG_S.JPG only are displayed if exists)
I think this covers all variants too... but adds some complexity to the file names

 

[Zar]

I think the solution i gave u before can handle all your variants with a tricky move.

Let me explain for each:

-people that wants to display both backgrounds, and are different images

2 files. BG.PNG / BGS.PNG

-people that wants to display both backgrounds, but is the same image

1 files : BG.PNG

-people that wants only "game" background (so they can make a theme without "settings" background)

2 files : BG.PNG and the tricky move : 1 transparent picture, 1 pixel is enough : BGS.PNG

-people that wants only "settings" background (so they can make a theme without "game" background)

1 file : BGS.PNG

-people that doesnt wants any background (by using the option "theme"--->"NONE" ?)

2 transparent files or 0 file, it works too. Btw, when i rewrited the menu, i had to remove this value but i'll add it in the next update by adding in MGZ folder an empty folder theme named "None". I wanted to do it for previous update but i forgot :s

 

[sandungas]

Hmm, a full screen background made with a 1x1 pixels fully transprent .png file... good trick
Personally i think the most important is to solve the problem of some themes that only has 1 background, i think all the solutions we have been discussing solves it, so you decide which one is best

Actually what i proposed initially (the added option for "use common background" with a yes/no) doesnt covers all variants i explained later... it was a bit like an intermediate compromise
But because you are going to modify this part of the code is when i thought in making a list of all posible variants thinking in a long term... but being realistic there is not going to be much people that wants a background in the "settings" screen but no background in "game" screen

 

[sanusi]

hi @Zar and thank u for this great app
i am asking about fan control when i am using MGZ did it by rhe app or the sys ? i mean i didnt found any option and i wish to know who is controlling my temp while i am on MGZ? can i use sman fan control(which is the best for me) while on MGZ?
thanks

 

[Zar]

I didn't included any code related to the FAN in MGZ, so, you can peacefully use any other homebrew like sman

 

[sandungas]

This im going to write is for the record, because i think this is the best place to write it, you can think in it as my personal oppinion after meassuring everything and calculating what could be best for the scene standards, this message is also to allow developers to discuss why to choose this strict rules and the users to understand why is made this way
At this point this is not a suggestion for zar/managunz, im not so idiot to make suggestions this way that could look a bit arrogant without a single "please" but let me go to the point to make the message short

Cover and case sizes, scale factors, aspect ratios, and proportions for PS3/PS2/PS1/PSP games
Im going to use one image size as the "golden rule" to calculate all other meassures... this image is the PS3 cover that has been used by the PS3 scene from lot of time ago and is 260x300

The first thing i did was to get real cases of PS3, PS2, PS1, PSP games i had at home and meassure the covers in milimeters with precission, some meassures had decimals (half a milimeter made on purpose by sony... yeah i have a caliper) so i rounded some of them from the beginning to remove that decimals, also i rounded some more meassures later in other of the conversion steps im going to explain

Cover dimensions - real (in milimeters)
PS1 - 120 x 120
PS2 - 129 x 183
PS3 - 130 x 149
PSP - 98 x 168

I noticed the size of the PS3 cover image used as an standard in PS3 backup managers (the 260x300 in pixels) is the double of the real size (the 130x149 in milimeters), this is great actually, whoever that had this idea i approve it completlly because its simplicity and other reasons, and this gave me the scale factor to calculate the other covers... in short is just needed to multiply everything by x2

Cover dimensions - icon (in pixels)
PS1 - 240 x 240
PS2 - 260 x 370
PS3 - 260 x 300
PSP - 200 x 340

As you can see i have rounded some numbers again, is ok because visually is not notable, and is going to help with the next calculations for the case images

Case dimensions - icon + case (in pixels)
PS1 - 275 x 250
PS2 - 270 x 390
PS3 - 270 x 340
PSP - 210 x 360

As a resume... the concept is the case is just a "plastic area around the cover" and to calculate the sizes of the plastic cases images based on the covers what i did is...
For PS1 is added a big area of 30 pixels at left, and a thin area or 5 pixels all around top/right/bottom
For PS2/PSP is added a thin area of 10 pixels at top/right/bottom
For PS3 is added a thin area of 10 pixels at right/bottom, and 30 pixels at top

-----------------------
Note all sizes are proportional because has been calculated by applying the same scale factor to all the meassures taken from real world, this is an important detail at the time of displaying all them together because it will look more realistic if you apply the same scale factors to all them

The best way to explain it is with an example... lets say i take 2 photos of 2 coins, one of them is an euro, the other is a cent, if i want to display them together by scaling them up or down... is needed to keep the proportions because in real world the euro is bigger than the cent
Otherway if i display the 2 coins together at the same size (2 circles with the same radius) it will look weird



P.S.
At the time of applying scale factors to display images scaled up or down is preferable to use rounded numbers, and as far i noticed pair multiplyers gives better results, is something that happens as a consequence of the image filters applyed at the time of scaling, as far i learned last days it happens with the linear filter of tiny3D used in managunz, and i think is the same effect that happens in PC with some image viewers when zooming out/in (like IrfanView)

 

[sandungas]

Found something interesting while searching for other stuff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_Mode_CD#PlayStation_games

It seems the reason why some PS1 games has audio tracks separated was to allow game developers to have "ingame" audio with CD-audio quality (it was an improvement at that time in comparison with other games)
Actually, it seems that PS1 game CDs can be inserted in a standard music player and you can play the audio tracks, the first track is data so you have to skip it, but in second and next tracks music plays as if it was an standard CD-audio

I was not aware of this details, im posting it here incase you want to make some experiment with it
Basically what im thinking is if could be posible to create an image as ISO (this breaks audio tracks) and at the time of mounting it in a backup manager to use some process to re-index the audio tracks virtually with some patches applyed "on the fly"

 

[kozarovv]

Found something interesting while searching for other stuff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_Mode_CD#PlayStation_games

It seems the reason why some PS1 games has audio tracks separated was to allow game developers to have "ingame" audio with CD-audio quality (it was an improvement at that time in comparison with other games)
Actually, it seems that PS1 game CDs can be inserted in a standard music player and you can play the audio tracks, the first track is data so you have to skip it, but in second and next tracks music plays as if it was an standard CD-audio

I was not aware of this details, im posting it here incase you want to make some experiment with it
Basically what im thinking is if could be posible to create an image as ISO (this breaks audio tracks) and at the time of mounting it in a backup manager to use some process to re-index the audio tracks virtually with some patches applyed "on the fly"

How the heck you missed that :P Hehe, Rollcage was more frequently in my CD player than in my PSX. Ok... Maybe equal time .

 

[sandungas]

How the heck you missed that :P Hehe, Rollcage was more frequently in my CD player than in my PSX. Ok... Maybe equal time .

When i was reading it i was thinking in destruction derby raw (i think it was this version not sure though) i liked the soundtrack and i ripped it with a tape recorder and a wire with an audio jack XD