PS3 PS2 ISO generation on PS3

Rissy

Rissy

Member
I'm about to embark upon the journey of backing up my PS2 games library with the intention to make these into a format for play on a PS3 Slim (CFW). I'm aware I may have some problems with a lot of my PS2 games due to the use of a CFW software emulation approach to running these without a fully backwards compatible Phat PS3. But despite this, I'd still like to see which ones I can get working, and archive all of my games/demos irrespective of playability on the PS3 console I have.

I've previously been advised that this tool may be my best approach to this: https://www.psx-place.com/resources/ps2-classics-gui.638/update?update=1375

Just checking if this is still so, and what I should look out for along the way.

I'm presuming that I have to take dumps of the PS2 game discs in a similar way to how I've been doing it with my PS1 game/demo library, first using either Imgburn or in some cases, RetroArch on my laptop (Windows 10), and then using pop-fe-ui to create installable packages of these dumps for use on the PS3. Instead of using pop-fe-ui of course, I'd be using ps2-classics-gui instead. Have I got that mostly correct?
 
So i've had a shot at this with a randomly first picked up game. Devil May Cry. Bearing in mind i've never ever played a PS2 game on a PS3 before.

I've created a .ISO from the disc using Imgburn. That seems to play straight out on the console, except is it normal for the console to sort of reboot either side of playing a PS2 game? Meaning you have to power up the joypad in each case again? The quality of the game didn't seem too bad for this one. I was fairly impressed.

I also tried making a .pkg from DMC, and this is where things are a bit weird. I created a package using the previously mentioned app ps2-classics-gui. Instead of coming up on the XMB something akin to how the PSone games appear, this example comes up with a generic PS2 classics (Enjoy your favorite PS2 games on your PS3 today!) folder cover, meaing you have no clue of what game it actually is. Have I done something wrong to achieve this with the package creation? The game loads up seemingly exactly the same as using the .ISO (meaning i'm right now not sure of the benefit other than with the .ISO, I at least know the identity of the game with the .ISO!)

Any assistance?
 
Charles_n_town said:
All of it.
Click to expand...

Oh right!

How do people tell which game is which if they've created a whole bunch of them and installed them on to the console then? For instance, I have about 50 PS2 games. If I'd done all 50, not just one, then I seemingly wouldn't have a clue which one is which for playing purposes. Is there no way or "personalizing" each one so that they become identifiable on the console?
 
Rissy said:
Oh right!

How do people tell which game is which if they've created a whole bunch of them and installed them on to the console then? For instance, I have about 50 PS2 games. If I'd done all 50, not just one, then I seemingly wouldn't have a clue which one is which for playing purposes. Is there no way or "personalizing" each one so that they become identifiable on the console?
Click to expand...
You can add boxart to at least iso. PS2 classics might be able to use artwork. Those normally use the placeholder icon0.png, I think. Normally PS2 classics each have their own icon0.png, but the placeholder may be the same for all games that are custom made. I don't really remember enough about it.
 
Charles_n_town said:
You can add boxart to at least iso. PS2 classics might be able to use artwork. Those normally use the placeholder icon0.png, I think. Normally PS2 classics each have their own icon0.png, but the placeholder may be the same for all games that are custom made. I don't really remember enough about it.
Click to expand...

Oh right ok. I'll check it out again. Thanks.

Also, there were many options to choose from on the packaging making software, and I just fumbled my way through, randomly doing stuff, which seems to have worked with this first game I've experimented with, but is there a definitive instruction for how to properly use it or configure stuff properly, and manage any troublesome titles down the road?
 
Rissy said:
Oh right!

How do people tell which game is which if they've created a whole bunch of them and installed them on to the console then? For instance, I have about 50 PS2 games. If I'd done all 50, not just one, then I seemingly wouldn't have a clue which one is which for playing purposes. Is there no way or "personalizing" each one so that they become identifiable on the console?
Click to expand...
You can set the image in ps2classicsGUI, just click Make PKG then a preview image comes up, right click to set a image (click on the part you wish to change and right click and it will preview it in the app.
upload_2024-11-15_9-58-24.png

You can also edit the title name by right clicking it too
 
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Rissy said:
Which part is normal? The rebooting? The generic image for a PS2 game when packaged, meaning you don't know what game it is?
Click to expand...
VSH is fully unloaded and emulator getting all resources. Consider them as VM instances (vsh, ps2 emulator, other os), managing by HV like eg. XEN on PC.
 
I'd like to get some clarification on this software with you all if I can.

I'm uncertain of the process required to make PS2 packages. I'll run you through what I have done, and the outputs and modifications I've had to go through to make it work. I'm still faffing around with Devil May Cry while I attempt to understand what I'm doing properly before I move on to any other PS2 games in my library.

Step 1
I've created a file called "DEVIL_MAY_CRY.ISO" using Imgburn

All following steps use "PS2Classics_GUI.exe" software

Step 2
Opening up the software and highlighting the "Encrypt" tab, Click on the black folder icon and point the software to the above mentioned .ISO image file.

Step 3
I then click on the "Encrypt" button on the bottom right. Upon doing so, the following pop up message appears:

"Do you want to patch the LIMG segment (last 0x4000 bytes) with the current image size?"

Not knowing if I do or not, I select "Yes" (Can someone explain to me very simply, what this question is, and what the proper answer is please? I have no idea what this means or what the correct answer is or what the result of saying Yes versus No would be.

Step 4
After selecting "Yes" at the popup explained above, the software then after a period of time creates a file called "ISO.BIN.ENC.BIN.ENC.BIN.ENC" in the same folder location as my .ISO image file.

Step 5
On the software window, I then highlight the "Make PKG" tab.
I manually select my chosen images from the internet for both "ICON0.PNG" and "PIC0.PNG" by right clicking on each default image displayed by the software and selecting "Set image..." I don't know what the other options like "Set ICON1.PAM" or "Set PARAM.HIP". Can someone explain these to me and when I might want to use these?

Step 6
I click the "Make PKG" button on the bottom right hand side. When I do this, the software prompts me to find a file called "ISO.BIN.ENC", which of course I don't have, so what i do is I go back to my "ISO.BIN.ENC.BIN.ENC.BIN.ENC" file created in Step 4 and rename this to "ISO.BIN.ENC", and then back at the software, I then select this newly renamed file.

Step 7
After doing the above, another popup appears. This time the software wishes for me to select a "CONFIG" file. Using the pop up, I navigate to following folder "\ps2classics_GUI_2.2.3\CONFIGS\ORIGINAL\SOFT" where I then select the following "CONFIG" file:
"SLES_503.58.CONFIG". I do this because the Game ID for Devil May Cry is "SLES-50358". I presume I'm doing the right thing here. I have no idea what all the sub folders within "\ps2classics_GUI_2.2.3\CONFIGS\" do or what they're for or what the differences are between locations, but I have seen that there is more than one config file called "SLES_503.58.CONFIG" within these different folders. I don't know why? Can someone explain to me?

Step 8
The result of all of the above is the following pkg file:
"Devil May Cry [PS2 Classics] [SLES50358].pkg"

Further questions:
1. While messing around with different options, I managed to create a PS3 formated game folder structure called "SLES50358" with such subfolders as "USRDIR" etc. How did I do this please as I can't replicate this again now...?!
2. What is the "Content ID:"? eg. For DMC, it auto populates with "2P0001-PS2U10000_00-0000111122223333"
3. What is the "Klicensee:" eg. For DMC, it auto populates with "E4E54FD67C16C316F47829A30484D843"
4. When would I want to use the "Decrypt" tab on the software? When I try using it by selecting my DMC "ISO.BIN.ENC" file, I get the following messages:
Code: 
Image: C:\Users\Chris\Documents\Since Last Backup\PS3\PS2 Games\DVD Dumps\Devil May Cry\ISO.BIN.ENC
Image size: 4,708,024,320 bytes (4,489.9 MB)

Content ID: 2P0001-PS2U10000_00-0000111122223333
Status: Encrypted
2 [main] rap2rifkey 3260 find_fast_cwd: WARNING: Couldn't compute FAST_CWD pointer.  Please report this problem to
the public mailing list [email protected]
1 [main] rap2rifkey 5240 find_fast_cwd: WARNING: Couldn't compute FAST_CWD pointer.  Please report this problem to
the public mailing list [email protected]

I think that's all for now. I'll see what you come back with for this little lot before I ask anything else.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: As another issue, I've just discovered. When I load up DMC from the created and installed pkg, despite having a virtual PS2 memory card assigned to Slot 1 which contains my DMC save game file, the game doesn't recognise this as exsiting. I cannot load my save game data!?
However, if I load up DMC from the .ISO image stored directly on the console, doing it this way means that the game DOES recognise my DMC save data in my virtual PS2 memory card assigned to Slot 1 and I can load this game data just fine.
Anyone else recognised this issue?

EDIT 2: No one offering me any advice? I created a couple of packages last night from CD based titles. Grooverider and RC Copter Challenge. Neither of these seemed to have an appropriate CONFIG file available within the software library of CONFIGs. So I had to press cancel at this point where the software asks for a CONFIG. To my surprise, despite not pointing it to a CONFIG file, the software created a .pkg file in each case ANYWAY, and further to my surprise, at least in the case of Grooverider (Never tested Copter Challenge yet), the game installed and worked fine anyway. So again, what is this config file all about? What's its purpose?!
 
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yeah, iirc, you want to add the limg. it contains what type of ps2 game it is, cd or dvd, and it calculates the size of the iso, possibly for checksum reasons.
 
well, I think your savedata not being detected is probably because ps2 classics each have their own encrypted memory cards (called vme). they're the same as the vmc or memory cards that you create on the xmb, just encrypted. I've forgotten how to encrypt them for use, but ps3tools ps2 classics app probably has the option.
 
iirc, you can create a vmc by creating a .ps2. you'll have to google it, because I don't remember the app that creates that format. inject your save into the .ps2, rename to .vmc, then try encrypting with ps2 classics app in ps3tools. that should work.
 
Rissy said:
Ok, thanks. What part of my questions is this the answer to please?
Click to expand...

sorry, misread your post. you mentioned saying yes to creating a limg. afaik, it's required. I don't know what would happen if you said no. I'd imagine the game wouldn't boot.

edit: from what I remember, the limg is at the very bottom of the iso.bin.enc. you can see it in hex, which is how we know what it's called, because it says limg iirc.
 
Charles_n_town said:
iirc, you can create a vmc by creating a .ps2. you'll have to google it, because I don't remember the app that creates that format. inject your save into the .ps2, rename to .vmc, then try encrypting with ps2 classics app in ps3tools. that should work.
Click to expand...

Ahr right, i think i see the option now. I didn't even know this was a thing. I just copied all my PS1 (.VM1) and PS2 (.VM2) memory cards over to my PS3 and considered that was it. Obviously from memory cards, there's no such thing as them being encrypted as far as I know, just some save files being copy protected. So as you say, these virtual memory cards are stored here:

dev_hdd0\vmc

Are you saying that if I convert my .VM2 PS2 memory card saves using PS2classics, (I'm using PS2Classics_GUI.exe), then they become encrypted versions, which presumably then would live in the following currenty non existent folder on my PS3:

dev_hdd0\vme

Is this about right?

So one question then. My memory cards are lumped file saves for numerous games. Hence the .VM2 extension (This is a complete memory card extension). How do I extract these saves out to .vmc individual saves before I can then convert them to .vme? Then, on the flipside, do I then have to put them all back into another virtual memory card assembly for storage in the vme folder?
 
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