PS3 ps1_netemu - External Configs and Ad Hoc Params

[Ronnie Sahlberg]

For completeness, it would be nice if the frontend could apply PPF patches.

There are a few games that I only could make work using PPF. e.g. Tomb Raider I and II
https://www.psx-place.com/resources/tomb-raider-i-and-ii-patches.965/

Also some games with LibCrypt protection that require a custom CRC16 in the subchannel. e.g. Ape Escape
Even applying the custom CRC16 to the subchannels, ps1_netemu seems to calculate it internally. It's only solved with a PPF.

A couple of missing options are: manuals & ICON1.PAM

I support PPF files in pop-fe but so far only use it for libcrypt.
In case of generating PS3 PKGs it defaults to not apply any PPFs because I have not yet found a game that needs them. (but there are overrides for the command line to force them to be applied also on ps3.)

I do apply PPFs for the games I know need them on the targets for PS2 and PSIO since these lack a way to provide the subchannel data that libcrypt needs.

I haven't even thought about applying PPF patches to fix non-libcrypt game issues. If anyone has a game that requires a PPF in order to be playable, let me know the game and the PPF and I can add it.

(Manuals are missing on PS3. I handle manuals for PSP but the PS3 uses a slightly modified format where it looks like there are 40byte signatures inserted at various places in the file. That needs to reverse engineer the ps1_netemu emulator to figure out the algorithms and keys to use and is outside of my skills :-( )

 

[Ronnie Sahlberg]

Tomb Raider I and II work fine as is with pop-fe. They do not need any patching as the CDDA is converted to AT3. Every game I have tested works properly in EBOOT format with CDDA converted to AT3, including the Tomb Raider games, Swagman, Rascal, Alien Trilogy, and more, which don't function properly in netemu when mounted as BIN/CUE. Possibly Sony developed this method to not only save on storage space, but also to mitigate issues with CDDA/pregap sensitivity for their PS Store releases.

I believe the Libcrypt games also work fine with adding necessary info to ISO.BIN.EDAT, but I haven't tested Ape Escape personally.

EDIT: Just tested Ape Escape (SCES-05163) and everything works fine. Controller still accessible at menu and after. Also works with PAL->NTSC command.

Thankyou so much for testing this.
I have added links to all the configs that you sent me so far so all those games should be improved now.

EDIT: one fun fact about the CDDA tracks is that IF you both have the CDDA tracked in the full disk image in the EBOOT but also have the tracks as AT3.
It seems the ps1_netemu on PS3 will play only the AT3 audio and ignore the CDDA track.
I default to still include the entire disk image in the EBOOT for PS3 since there were people that asked for that so that they could extract the original disc image from the EBOOT.
On PSP however, it seems that the emulator will play BOTH the cdda track and also the AT3 track if both are present. That causes problems on some games that have pregap issues and playing the CDDA track just generates noise.
I handle that by truncating the disc image that is stored in the EBOOT so that ONLY track #1, the data track is written to the EBOOT. Thus the emulator on PSP can not play tracks that are just not there and onyl plays the AT3 audio instead. lol

Emulator on PSP, haha, the CDDA track is missing, you can't even try to play it. haha, checkmate.

 

[Rock77]

It won't work, when the ps2emu loads, it will remove the HEN payload.

What i ment was if we put some kind of modded ps2emu on 'dev_hdd0' and load that instead of original one from 'dev_flash' could we then in theory load ps2 games in .iso format?

 

[aldostools]

What i ment was if we put some kind of modded ps2emu on 'dev_hdd0' and load that instead of original one from 'dev_flash' could we then in theory load ps2 games in .iso format?

The paths redirections are done in LV2 memory by HEN payload.

HEN only works on GameOS (LV2 kernel). The ps2_netemu unloads GameOS to maximize the memory and CPU resources.

As Louis Garry said: "when the ps2emu loads, it will remove the HEN payload."

The PS2 classics work on HEN because the data is prepared on GameOS and ps2_netemu supports the encrypted ISOs natively.

 

[Rock77]

The paths redirections are done in LV2 memory by HEN payload.

HEN only works on GameOS (LV2 kernel). The ps2_netemu unloads GameOS to maximize the memory and CPU resources.

As Louis Garry said: "when the ps2emu loads, it will remove the HEN payload."

The PS2 classics work on HEN because the data is prepared on GameOS and ps2_netemu supports the encrypted ISOs natively.

Thank you for clearing this up for me.

 

[mrjaredbeta]

FIRST BATCH OF CUSTOM CONFIGS:

Roland Garros French Open 2001 (SLES-03449)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 13 00 00 00 01 00 00 00

Fixes hanging when loading into a match.


Shrek Treasure Hunt (SLUS-01463, SLES-03996)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 01 00 00 00

Fixes hangs when loading into minigames.


Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (SLUS-01160, SLPS-02468)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 64 00 00 00

Fixes black screen after intro FMV.


Vampire Hunter D (SLUS-01138, SLES-02731, SLPS-02477)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 84 03 00 00

Experimental config. Should fix hangs during door transitions/loading and other weird issues, but needs more testing.


Alien Resurrection (SLUS-00633, SLES-02913) (PS3 and PSP) and Roland Garros French Open 2001 (SLES-03449) (PSP) PPFs made by kozarovv(!) are also to be added into POP-FE soon! Alien Resurrection's fatal door bug finally fixed on PS3 after ~16 years! Many thanks to him!

 

[Ronnie Sahlberg]

FIRST BATCH OF CUSTOM CONFIGS:

Roland Garros French Open 2001 (SLES-03449)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 13 00 00 00 01 00 00 00

Fixes hanging when loading into a match.


Shrek Treasure Hunt (SLUS-01463, SLES-03996)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 01 00 00 00

Fixes hangs when loading into minigames.


Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (SLUS-01160, SLPS-02468)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 64 00 00 00

Fixes black screen after intro FMV.


Vampire Hunter D (SLUS-01138, SLES-02731, SLPS-02477)

00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 84 03 00 00

Experimental config. Should fix hangs during door transitions/loading and other weird issues, but needs more testing.


Alien Resurrection (SLUS-00633, SLES-02913) (PS3 and PSP) and Roland Garros French Open 2001 (SLES-03449) (PSP) PPFs made by kozarovv(!) are also to be added into POP-FE soon! Alien Resurrection's fatal door bug finally fixed on PS3 after ~16 years! Many thanks to him!

Great work.

I added the PPFs to pop-fe as well as the new configs.
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/actions/runs/6141342254

Now we just need people to test them.

 

[Omage]

Can fix Captain Commando (SLPS_01567) boss graphics issure ?

 

[mrjaredbeta]

Can fix Captain Commando (SLPS_01567) boss graphics issure ?

I will take a look.

 

[LuanTeles]

Nice work guys, @mrjaredbeta and @kozarovv

Do these settings only work via PS Classics or will Cobra take care of them in the future?

 

[mrjaredbeta]

Nice work guys, @mrjaredbeta and @kozarovv

Do these settings only work via PS Classics or will Cobra take care of them in the future?

I think since configs are located in ISO.BIN.EDAT, there wouldn't be an easy way to implement it in Cobra. Something like applying the config commands to the emulator internally would have to be done. Additionally, Cobra seems to have a bit more problems with games as is, such as 102 Dalmatians hard crashing the console at points, issues with CDDA games like Alien Trilogy, various Core Design Games, and most likely others, where POP-FE handles them just fine. POP-FE is the "go-to" way at this point in time for full compatibility.

The PPF patches should at least translate over 1:1 to Cobra, though, so Alien Resurrection should now be fully playable with a mounted BIN or burned backup with PPF applied, as well as other games that are fixed with this method in the future, and they will be playable with both ps1_emu and ps1_netemu in this method.

 

[Desz5]

I'm a new member here and i love what you guys are doing to the PSX emulation on PS3!
Thank you so much!

I haven't even thought about applying PPF patches to fix non-libcrypt game issues. If anyone has a game that requires a PPF in order to be playable, let me know the game and the PPF and I can add it.

The PAL version of Metal Gear Solid - Special Missions (VR Missions) requires a PPF patch to play the game.
You need to swap the game for disc 1 of Metal Gear Solid and when the check passes you need to insert the Special Missions game again.
I've tried to make a PKG with MGS disc 1 as disc 2 and load it up but on PS3 this always results in an error.
So when patching the game with this PPF patch: dl.consolecopyworld.com/?id=psx&file=inc-mgs2!zip (sorry i can't post links) the game skips the check and plays the game.

I do have some troublesome games that i would like to run.
Can i create my own ps3configs and how do i convert this into a working .BIN so i can share it with you?
Is there a guide of some sort?

Thanks

When i try to run Bloody Roar 2 PAL using pop-fe it runs very slow, and there is a ps3config for this version.
When using ForceNTSC the game results in error code 80028F17 at startup.
I can run the NTSC version in Multiman but the PAL version also lags in Multiman.
Using either ps1_emu and Ps1_netemu.

 

[mrjaredbeta]

I've tried to make a PKG with MGS disc 1 as disc 2 and load it up but on PS3 this always results in an error.

Hmm, what error are you getting? An error when running the game and during swap?

When using ForceNTSC the game results in error code 80028F17 at startup.

The PAL config should in theory fix the slowdown issue. The reason that the NTSC version works fine is that the config is already included internally in the emulator's config table, only for the NTSC version. The ported config to PAL should fix the issue, but "force NTSC" also applies another config command to correct game speed, so maybe issue is happening from combining the two configs and causing the game to not boot. There could be some error with the concatenation of the two.

I have not tested it myself, but I can look into it.

@Omage Captain Commando has been fixed and will be posted sometime soon.

 

[atreyu187]

I have added these configs to pop-fe now.
I also added a way where you can add arbitrary configs for specific games in this version of pop-fe: https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/actions/runs/6081132085
As usual, you need a github account and be signed it to access the build.

In this version a bunch of configs are added but you can also provide them directly by naming them the same as the .cue file but with the .ps3config extension instead.
For example:

<game>.bin
<game>.cue
<game>.ps3config

I think at this point anyone that wants to test things, just keep testing. Are there games that don't work properly under ps1_netemu? See if there are any promising commands on the wiki for the issue you see, create a config file and test it.

Not sure if it's been posted but V-Rally 3 has never worked for the PS3

 

[RoboKing's Cosmos]

Is there some way to convert official ps1 classics to bin cue without computer?
Which is why I requested this to be implemented in Apollo save tool for ps3.
I have bought a ton of ps1 games for my ps3.

 

[Ronnie Sahlberg]

Is there some way to convert official ps1 classics to bin cue without computer?
Which is why I requested this to be implemented in Apollo save tool for ps3.
I have bought a ton of ps1 games for my ps3.

If they are single track disks and do not contain any CD-DA tracks, yes.
You need to install python and checkout pop-fe.
In pop-fe there is a pythonscript called popstation.py that can do this.

Get EBOOT.PBP for the title off the PS3 and then run
"python3 ./popstation.py dump_pbp EBOOT.PBP"
and among a bunch of other files you will find a cue/img pair of files for each disk in the PBP.


If the original game contains CDDA tracks it is likely going to be a LOT more complicated.

 

[Ronnie Sahlberg]

I'm a new member here and i love what you guys are doing to the PSX emulation on PS3!
Thank you so much!


I do have some troublesome games that i would like to run.
Can i create my own ps3configs and how do i convert this into a working .BIN so i can share it with you?
Is there a guide of some sort?

Welcome.
And there is no real guide but if you want to try different configs, you can do this by using the latest versions of pop-fe that are built on github.

If on linux/unix/..., just do a git clone and pull the latest version of the sources. See README file for how to install all the dependencies

If on windows you can get pre-built binaries from the lates build on this page
https://github.com/sahlberg/pop-fe/actions
(You need to have an accoutn on github and be signed in to download the build artefact)
Even on windows, it is probably preferable to just set up python and all the dependencies properly and use git clone just like on linux.
See README for how to setup and install all dependencies.

To test different configs, create a file in the same directory as the .cue file and name it the same but use the '.ps3config' extension.
The config in this file will be injected into the ISO.BIN.DAT when you create the PKG.

Look in the ps3configs subdirectory for examples. The first 8 bytes of the file is a version number, just use hexedacimal 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00, it will work. Then there are one of more blocks of 8 bytes that describes a config.
Give it a try and see if you can find a config that fixes the game.

 

[Ronnie Sahlberg]

The PAL version of Metal Gear Solid - Special Missions (VR Missions) requires a PPF patch to play the game.
You need to swap the game for disc 1 of Metal Gear Solid and when the check passes you need to insert the Special Missions game again.
I've tried to make a PKG with MGS disc 1 as disc 2 and load it up but on PS3 this always results in an error.
So when patching the game with this PPF patch: dl.consolecopyworld.com/?id=psx&file=inc-mgs2!zip (sorry i can't post links) the game skips the check and plays the game

I have never played that game, so can you give me more information?
So, it is a standalone game/disk that fails to run on PS3? What are the symptoms, how/when does it fail? I ask so that I know what to look for if I get time next weekend to test this.

But a PPF exists and when you apply this PPF then the game will work correctly?
So if I create a PKG with just this disk then it will not work but if I create a PKG with this disk and apply this PPF it will work?

I have mechanisms in place where I can automatically apply a PPF based on the disc-id (SLUS12345 for example).
What is the disc-id that the PPF you linked to applies to?

EDIT: also, if you can run pop-fe.py from the source directory (git clone, all dependencies installed and you run it as 'python3 ./pop-fe.py ...')
Then you can test PPFs by putting a PPF in the 'ppf' subdirectory and create a link between the disc-id and the ppf file that should be automatically installed in the file gamedb.py

Example of existing entry:
'SLES02913': {
'desc': 'PPF for Alien Resurrection PAL',
'ppf': 'ppf/SLES-02913.ppf'
},

 

[Desz5]

Hmm, what error are you getting? An error when running the game and during swap?

I have never played that game, so can you give me more information?
So, it is a standalone game/disk that fails to run on PS3? What are the symptoms, how/when does it fail? I ask so that I know what to look for if I get time next weekend to test this.

But a PPF exists and when you apply this PPF then the game will work correctly?
So if I create a PKG with just this disk then it will not work but if I create a PKG with this disk and apply this PPF it will work?

I have mechanisms in place where I can automatically apply a PPF based on the disc-id (SLUS12345 for example).
What is the disc-id that the PPF you linked to applies to?

The game is Metal Gear Solid - Special Missions with game id: SLES-02136.
This is an expansion of the game Metal Gear Solid.
On the game cover it states: "DATA DISC:THIS GAME REQUIRES A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL 'METAL GEAR SOLID' GAME"
When booting up this game it asks to swap the game for Metal Gear Solid disc 1 or disc 2 so it can load textures from it.
Then it's checking and when the game recognises Metal Gear Solid it asks to swap again for Metal Gear Solid - Special Missions and then the game proceeds.
This works on original hardware and on PS2 but never on PS3.
In the process of checking the disc of Metal Gear Solid it always displays: "ERROR: wrong DISC" so the game doesn't proceed.
There is no way you can overcome this on the PAL version on PS3.
The NTSC version of the game Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions doesn't require the disc swap it just boots up straight in the game.
When using the PPF Patch, the PAL version skips the check and also boots straight in the game.

 

[Desz5]

The PAL config should in theory fix the slowdown issue. The reason that the NTSC version works fine is that the config is already included internally in the emulator's config table, only for the NTSC version. The ported config to PAL should fix the issue, but "force NTSC" also applies another config command to correct game speed, so maybe issue is happening from combining the two configs and causing the game to not boot. There could be some error with the concatenation of the two.

I've tried to use ForcePAL but that also results in error code 80028F17 at startup.
I never got the PAL version to work on Multiman using ps1_emu or ps1_netemu.
The gameplay it way to slow.
I think we need a ps3config and like you said maybe it's happening from combining the two configs.

I also have a demo disc Demo One (Version 6) PAL - PBPX-95007 that's not loading it results in a blank screen at startup.
This demo runs in Multiman using the ps1_netemu and running under 576p.
I can't select an emulator ps1_emu or ps1_netemu using pop-fe but Ronnie Sahlberg mentioned that you're working on a config so we can choose with emulator we want to use within pop-fe.
That would be great and maybe select what resolution we want 480p for NTSC or 576p for PAL.
Ps3configs are only used by ps1_netemu and that currently only applies when selecting ForceNTSC if i'm correct?
So when a PAL game needs an config we need to select ForceNTSC but then the speed is incorrect.