Resource icon

PS3 Pop-fe a utility to create PSX Classics packages for PS3 v1.16

Go to download
Overview Extra info Updates (1) History Discussion
Strizay said:
This is an excellent application. It should be stickied in the Must Have Tools section. There isn't much to improve from here. Maybe a fancier GUI, and scanning all the ATRAC3 files and adding them. I have one .pkg with 50 .aea tracks. Maybe find the biggest one and save it. Besides that, it's great. I just cranked out 250 PSX .pkg in about a week.
Click to expand...

Thanks, the GUI is clunky but it has the benefit that it works on all platforms, linux/windows/apple/...
If someone wants to help create a better GUI, I am all for it.

250 PKGs, that is a lot of games. Note that unfortunately youtube in the last few days had a change that break dowloading.
There are patches for this in the upstream pytube library I use (https://github.com/pytube/pytube) but it will take a few days or so until those patches become integrated in pytube, so using youtube links for SND0 unfortunately doesn't work at the moment :-(


When you say scanning and saving the atrac3 files? I don't understand exactly what you mean. Do you mean you want to be able to extract the CDDA audio tracks as files that you can then play in an audio player like VLC?
If so, there is a tool called bchunk (https://github.com/extramaster/bchunk) that can do that for you.
I have a python re-write of it in pop-fe but the upstream link to the real bchunk is probably better as it comes with prebuilt binaries for windows.
 
whenever the app looks for audio, it scans the .bin file and picks up every ATRAC3 file, then it converts it to an aea file and adds it as audio to the pkg. It's not a big deal.
 
This tool is excelent, I've managed to run PAL FFIX on PAL PS3 finally and so far so good!
However, FFVIII it's another case, the game runs but I get a blank screen right after liberi fatali intro, so sad...

However, I was wondering if there's a way via cli to make the same operations to the BIN/CUE img and make a "fixed" BIN/CUE file instead of .pkg or EBOOT.PBP ? That way I could try to load it using webman.
 
lapollarecord said:
This tool is excelent, I've managed to run PAL FFIX on PAL PS3 finally and so far so good!
However, FFVIII it's another case, the game runs but I get a blank screen right after liberi fatali intro, so sad...

However, I was wondering if there's a way via cli to make the same operations to the BIN/CUE img and make a "fixed" BIN/CUE file instead of .pkg or EBOOT.PBP ? That way I could try to load it using webman.
Click to expand...

Which language/which game_id do you have?
You can see the game_id in pop-fe-ps3 window (it sill start with SC... or SL...) once it has scanned the first disk of the set.
FFVIII is protected by libcrypt so it could be an issue with how pop-fe disables libcrypt when building a PKG for that particular game.

Do you know is "after the liberi fatali intro" is where libcrypt would usually kick in and disable the game?
 
It's Spanish PAL version, the game id is SLES02084.

As far as I think from what I can see in pop-fe console, it does inject the lybcrypt patch properly, looking on ps3dev the "magic word" matches with the one used by pop-fe.

This is the full procces console output(disc-1; no xmb sound and no pics, testing purpouse only):

Code: 
Need to create a temporary cue/bin pop-fe-ps3-work/TMPCUEd1.cue pop-fe-ps3-work/TMPIMGd1.bin
Fetching SND0
Creating C:/Users/masal/Desktop/game.pkg
DISC SLES02084
TITLE FINAL FANTASY VIII
Scanning for audio tracks
GameID pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084
Create EBOOT.PBP at pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084/USRDIR/CONTENT/EBOOT.PBP
Injecting MAGIC WORD 0x44bd for disc 0
Injecting subchannel blob of len 408 at offset 0x000b40e0
Create ISO.BIN.DAT pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084/USRDIR/ISO.BIN.DAT
Inject subchannel data for disk 0
Write offset/count at 0x000016d4
Signing pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084/USRDIR/ISO.BIN.DAT
Create ISO.BIN.EDAT
Create PKG
[X] Magic: 7f504b47
[X] Type: 00000001
[X] Offset to package info: 000000c0
[ ] unk1: 00000005
[X] Head Size: 00000080
[X] Item Count: 00000011
[X] Package Size: 000000002bef66f0
[X] Data Offset: 0000000000000140
[X] Data Size: 000000002bef6550
[X] ContentID: 'UP9000-SLES02084_00-0000000000000001'
[X] QA_Digest: 78d55447275ae7995060c11c6051f075
[X] K Licensee: 00000000000000000000000000000000

Finished. C:/Users/masal/Desktop/game.pkg created

I think the overall process is right (or almost right) investigating over the net, I have a possible theory for this to be happening, that is PS3 forcing game to run at 60Hz, and so it being PAL and 50Hz version it freezes in the very start of the game (after liberi fatali intro, this is the first point when the game start to render polygons, textures etc...)

My only hope is try to load the game using multiman / webman emulation that I think may avoid this issue, however, lybcrypt games doesn't run unless you patch them (I've tried the ppf method but no luck...) that's why I'm trying to make it happend using pop-fe to make the very same process to obtain a "fixed" image (bin / cue) instead of .pkg file
 
lapollarecord said:
It's Spanish PAL version, the game id is SLES02084.

As far as I think from what I can see in pop-fe console, it does inject the lybcrypt patch properly, looking on ps3dev the "magic word" matches with the one used by pop-fe.

This is the full procces console output(disc-1; no xmb sound and no pics, testing purpouse only):

Code: 
Need to create a temporary cue/bin pop-fe-ps3-work/TMPCUEd1.cue pop-fe-ps3-work/TMPIMGd1.bin
Fetching SND0
Creating C:/Users/masal/Desktop/game.pkg
DISC SLES02084
TITLE FINAL FANTASY VIII
Scanning for audio tracks
GameID pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084
Create EBOOT.PBP at pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084/USRDIR/CONTENT/EBOOT.PBP
Injecting MAGIC WORD 0x44bd for disc 0
Injecting subchannel blob of len 408 at offset 0x000b40e0
Create ISO.BIN.DAT pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084/USRDIR/ISO.BIN.DAT
Inject subchannel data for disk 0
Write offset/count at 0x000016d4
Signing pop-fe-ps3-work/SLES02084/USRDIR/ISO.BIN.DAT
Create ISO.BIN.EDAT
Create PKG
[X] Magic: 7f504b47
[X] Type: 00000001
[X] Offset to package info: 000000c0
[ ] unk1: 00000005
[X] Head Size: 00000080
[X] Item Count: 00000011
[X] Package Size: 000000002bef66f0
[X] Data Offset: 0000000000000140
[X] Data Size: 000000002bef6550
[X] ContentID: 'UP9000-SLES02084_00-0000000000000001'
[X] QA_Digest: 78d55447275ae7995060c11c6051f075
[X] K Licensee: 00000000000000000000000000000000

Finished. C:/Users/masal/Desktop/game.pkg created

I think the overall process is right (or almost right) investigating over the net, I have a possible theory for this to be happening, that is PS3 forcing game to run at 60Hz, and so it being PAL and 50Hz version it freezes in the very start of the game (after liberi fatali intro, this is the first point when the game start to render polygons, textures etc...)

My only hope is try to load the game using multiman / webman emulation that I think may avoid this issue, however, lybcrypt games doesn't run unless you patch them (I've tried the ppf method but no luck...) that's why I'm trying to make it happend using pop-fe to make the very same process to obtain a "fixed" image (bin / cue) instead of .pkg file
Click to expand...

The EBOOT that is generated should set it as PAL/50hz. If is set through one of the parameters in the PARAM.SFO and pop-fe should be doing this automatically. Otherwise you will also have issues with music crackling if it is set to the wrong value.

It could also be that either the disk image is bad or perhaps this particular game is not compatible with the emulator on the ps3.
You can find PPFs for the spanish version of this game here:
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/tree/master/libcrypt

You can either apply them using your choice of ppf tools, or you can also use pop-fe to force them to be applied. Though this is only available from the command line version.
Something like: pop-fe.exe --ps3-pkg=f8.pkg --ps3-libcrypt final-fantasy-8-disk1-cue

EDIT: pop-fe has ppf's for this game but does not automatically apply them for PS3 since the maagic-word should work.
You can use pop-fe to patch the image with the PPF file and get a *.img file that I think webman can use by pretending to install the game on a PSIO (which does not support sbi files or magic word so applying the PPF is the only solution):

pop-fe.exe --psio-dir=. FF8-dis1.cue

This will create a directory called "FINAL FANTASY VIII" and inside it you will have the img file that has been patched with the ppf.
 
Last edited:
Ronnie Sahlberg said:
The EBOOT that is generated should set it as PAL/50hz. If is set through one of the parameters in the PARAM.SFO and pop-fe should be doing this automatically. Otherwise you will also have issues with music crackling if it is set to the wrong value.

It could also be that either the disk image is bad or perhaps this particular game is not compatible with the emulator on the ps3.
You can find PPFs for the spanish version of this game here:
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/tree/master/libcrypt

You can either apply them using your choice of ppf tools, or you can also use pop-fe to force them to be applied. Though this is only available from the command line version.
Something like: pop-fe.exe --ps3-pkg=f8.pkg --ps3-libcrypt final-fantasy-8-disk1-cue

EDIT: pop-fe has ppf's for this game but does not automatically apply them for PS3 since the maagic-word should work.
You can use pop-fe to patch the image with the PPF file and get a *.img file that I think webman can use by pretending to install the game on a PSIO (which does not support sbi files or magic word so applying the PPF is the only solution):

pop-fe.exe --psio-dir=. FF8-dis1.cue

This will create a directory called "FINAL FANTASY VIII" and inside it you will have the img file that has been patched with the ppf.
Click to expand...

OK i thought i would take a look at this, i have tested FF8 PAL UK before so i thought i would test again and with a new package i made it also crashes after the games opening fmv (at the point you are about to wake up in the infirmary), so i thought maybe i had done something wrong i grabbed my old PKG i made a year or 2 ago on a earlier version of Pop-Fe and it worked, so i then decided to use a older version of Pop-fe to make a new pkg again and it works still, so im guessing something has broken FF8 in the later Pop-fe builds ? this needs further testing to see if or when it broke.
Also on a side note Ronnie the libcrypt first check is at the very start of the game (after the Playstation logo but before the squaresoft text), if it does multiple checks maybe there is another after the opening ? but it is odd that it works on old versions of Pop-fe but not new ones (for me).
Also i did try using the PPF (the correct one for my game) and Pop-fe just to see and the game just black screened (only did 1 test though so that would need further testing too) but the patched image did load in a emulator (which it didn't previously) so im guessing the patch is ok but maybe doesn't go well in a PKG or with the ps3's emulator ?

@lapollarecord could you try a old verison of Pop-fe and see if you can get past the opening, just go to the official github and click on releases and find a old version (i tested with 0.2), or here is a direct link for it
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/releases/download/v0.0.2/windows-pop-fe-ps3.zip
then just make a ff8 pkg and see if it works and let us know, Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Devildwarf said:
OK i thought i would take a look at this, i have tested FF8 PAL UK before so i thought i would test again and with a new package i made it also crashes after the games opening fmv (at the point you are about to wake up in the infirmary), so i thought maybe i had done something wrong i grabbed my old PKG i made a year or 2 ago on a earlier version of Pop-Fe and it worked, so i then decided to use a older version of Pop-fe to make a new pkg again and it works still, so im guessing something has broken FF8 in the later Pop-fe builds ? this needs further testing to see if or when it broke.
Also on a side note Ronnie the libcrypt first check is at the very start of the game (after the Playstation logo but before the squaresoft text), if it does multiple checks maybe there is another after the opening ? but it is odd that it works on old versions of Pop-fe but not new ones (for me).
Also i did try using the PPF (the correct one for my game) and Pop-fe just to see and the game just black screened (only did 1 test though so that would need further testing too) but the patched image did load in a emulator (which it didn't previously) so im guessing the patch is ok but maybe doesn't go well in a PKG or with the ps3's emulator ?

@lapollarecord could you try a old verison of Pop-fe and see if you can get past the opening, just go to the official github and click on releases and find a old version (i tested with 0.2), or here is a direct link for it
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/releases/download/v0.0.2/windows-pop-fe-ps3.zip
then just make a ff8 pkg and see if it works and let us know, Thank you.
Click to expand...

It works with older versions but not current. That definitely sounds like a regression.
I won't have time until maybe the weekend but if I can reproduce then git bisect should show where it broke and give an indication what the bug is.

I will look into it. Not now but in time.
 
Hi, I tried C12 Final Resistance and the game crashes randomly. Specifically, it is SCES-03364. Does the game have some copy protection that no one knows about? I've tried several different images, from different sources, and they all have some issues. Black screen, missing dialogs, etc... but this particular version can at least be played from save to save
 
Devildwarf said:
OK i thought i would take a look at this, i have tested FF8 PAL UK before so i thought i would test again and with a new package i made it also crashes after the games opening fmv (at the point you are about to wake up in the infirmary), so i thought maybe i had done something wrong i grabbed my old PKG i made a year or 2 ago on a earlier version of Pop-Fe and it worked, so i then decided to use a older version of Pop-fe to make a new pkg again and it works still, so im guessing something has broken FF8 in the later Pop-fe builds ? this needs further testing to see if or when it broke.
Also on a side note Ronnie the libcrypt first check is at the very start of the game (after the Playstation logo but before the squaresoft text), if it does multiple checks maybe there is another after the opening ? but it is odd that it works on old versions of Pop-fe but not new ones (for me).
Also i did try using the PPF (the correct one for my game) and Pop-fe just to see and the game just black screened (only did 1 test though so that would need further testing too) but the patched image did load in a emulator (which it didn't previously) so im guessing the patch is ok but maybe doesn't go well in a PKG or with the ps3's emulator ?

@lapollarecord could you try a old verison of Pop-fe and see if you can get past the opening, just go to the official github and click on releases and find a old version (i tested with 0.2), or here is a direct link for it
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/releases/download/v0.0.2/windows-pop-fe-ps3.zip
then just make a ff8 pkg and see if it works and let us know, Thank you.
Click to expand...

I've just tried the 0.0.2 version as you suggested me and it works!

Thank you very much guys!
 
A great application and converter! This allows games that lock up or freeze due to pregap sensitivity when ran as BIN/CUE (Core Design games [Tomb Raider, Swagman, Ninja], Rascal, Vib-Ribbon, etc...) to run perfectly.

I did notice pkg size is still large, and larger than BIN/CUE, when converted using pop-fe-ps3. It seems like CDDA tracks are still there or something, but it looks like the "whole-disk" argument is not enabled by default, so not sure what is happening. For example, PSN package of Vib-Ribbon is only about 25mb, but pop-fe is a few hundred.

Would this indicate whole-disk is still enabled for some reason? I am using pop-fe-ps3 GUI from latest release on GitHub.
 
mrjaredbeta said:
A great application and converter! This allows games that lock up or freeze due to pregap sensitivity when ran as BIN/CUE (Core Design games [Tomb Raider, Swagman, Ninja], Rascal, Vib-Ribbon, etc...) to run perfectly.

I did notice pkg size is still large, and larger than BIN/CUE, when converted using pop-fe-ps3. It seems like CDDA tracks are still there or something, but it looks like the "whole-disk" argument is not enabled by default, so not sure what is happening. For example, PSN package of Vib-Ribbon is only about 25mb, but pop-fe is a few hundred.

Would this indicate whole-disk is still enabled for some reason? I am using pop-fe-ps3 GUI from latest release on GitHub.
Click to expand...

You are right. It still defaults to encode the whole disk. In the past there were people that asked for it since it would allow you to extract the full disk image back from the EBOOT.PBP. That is I think the only reason, to be able to extract the whole disk image.
I can easily change it again. Do you use pop-fe or pop-fe-ps3? If the latter I can add a small tick-box to control whether wjole disk is used or not.
 
mrjaredbeta said:
That checkbox idea would be great! I am using pop-fe-ps3 and it's been great so far, no other issues to note.
Click to expand...

I have added a "pic 1 disabled" button and a button to only write the data track, thus truncating the cdda tracks and making the eboot smaller.

I haven't done a new release yet, but a test build is available at https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/actions/runs/5915817293
Note that you need to create a github account in order to download build artefacts like this.

Please try it out. Once I get time to fix the other issues reported recently I will make a new release.
 
Ronnie Sahlberg said:
I have added a "pic 1 disabled" button and a button to only write the data track, thus truncating the cdda tracks and making the eboot smaller.

I haven't done a new release yet, but a test build is available at https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/actions/runs/5915817293
Note that you need to create a github account in order to download build artefacts like this.

Please try it out. Once I get time to fix the other issues reported recently I will make a new release.
Click to expand...
Tested and working. File sizes are drastically reduced on CDDA games. Thanks!

EDIT: It seems as though with the new test build PIC1 is disabled by default when checkbox is *not* checked.

Also, I would like to maybe request a "Force 480p for SCES/SLES" checkbox as well. My TV requires 480p for PAL games, and changing title ID away from SCES/SLES makes Libcrypt magic words not inject.
 
Last edited:
mrjaredbeta said:
Tested and working. File sizes are drastically reduced on CDDA games. Thanks!

EDIT: It seems as though with the new test build PIC1 is disabled by default when checkbox is *not* checked.

Also, I would like to maybe request a "Force 480p for SCES/SLES" checkbox as well. My TV requires 480p for PAL games, and changing title ID away from SCES/SLES makes Libcrypt magic words not inject.
Click to expand...

Can you try the artefacts that should be availalbe here: https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/actions/runs/5995335231
I think I have fixed the DisablePIC1 issue. I also added checkboxes to the ui to force either pal or ntsc
 
Donald_Dump420 said:
Pop Fe just crashes when i try to load it and Pop Fe Ps3 works but the pkg i make has no soundtrack. So the game will play but it has bo soundtrack
Click to expand...
Pop-fe is a command line program (it has no UI) so its not actually crashing, you have to run it in a commandline window for it to stay open. The Pop-fe-ps3 is the GUI version and the version you should be using if you are making a PS3 PKG.
Also its weird that the soundtrack isn't converting, as long as Atracdenc is in the correct place it should convert the CDDA from the image, make sure your CUE+BIN are correct and that all sound entries are in the CUE, if its all fine then when converting in the PS3 GUI post the output here so we can see what is happening (all the stuff in the command window that opens with pop-fe-ps3)

EDIT:- It could also be that Atracdenc isn't loading correctly if you are missing its runtimes, so try running it in a command line window and see if it loads anything or gives any error
 
When starting up pop-fe-ps3 it automatically searches for SND0.
I don't prefer to add sound but i have to wait for it to be found, only to remove it.
Could you maybe add a checkbox to Search for SND0?
 
@Ronnie Sahlberg
is it just me, having problems installing the created Classic package, or is it because of DEV environment? the generated sfo file does not let me install the '1P' pkg, and only if I create a valid 'HG' boot package sfo (with ps3sys) and changing to '1P', the installation works fine. must be because of difference to PSP sfo file format
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top