PS3 sMAN (webMAN + sLaunch) combined into a single plugin by deank

We have seen developer @deank cooking up some nice brew lately, the latest creation of sLaunch has now evolved into a new plugin called sMAN, bringing the original vision of the developer to this single plugin containing webMAN & sLaunch, rather then having two separate plugins loaded at boot time (like the preview releases) deank uses a single plugin slot while making sLaunch an even faster sprx loaded dynamically. For simplicity, he concatenated into just one file called sman.sprx the various sprx parts of the app (rawseciso/netiso/slaunch/sman) as well as the html parts of the XMB "Sman Games" feature. If you like to use this alternative UI for loading games, then you should use the sMAN plugin going forward, if you like the traditional way (w/ My Games) then you can use the XMB feature or simply switch to the webMAN plugin as both version will still available for users.

sMAN Release Quote via deank Additional Notes/Comments from deank Video/Screenshot (preview version "sLaunch")

• 
  Now, let's move forward to the next step...
  
  Later today I'll release the "sMAN" - which is webMAN + sLaunch in one plugin. The reason - this is what webMAN was supposed to be - the way I wanted to be since day one:
  
  • Use only one plugin slot
  • Use about 128KB less vsh memory (about 384KB total vsh memory)
  • Support for /dev_usb000 to /dev_usb128
  • No need for boot delays for scanning usb drives
  • No need for XML generation, "refresh xml" or other complicated tasks
  • No need for the "My Games" entry in XMB (no need for custom category_game.xml)
  • Simplified setup page, eject/unmount/rescan/grouping options available within sMAN's front-end (sLaunch)
  • Support for over 1000 games
  • FTP/WEB/NTFS/NETISO support by the sMAN's back-end (webMAN)
  • Simple use in any cobra compatible CFW by adding sman.sprx to boot_plugins.txt without modifying other files
  • The front-end (menu) is not using resources when not active (opposed to slaunch.sprx)
  • Updated - it now supports switching groups/content-type (ALL/PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP/VIDEO) - press the [SQUARE] button.
  
  sMAN: http://deanbg.com/sman.sprx
  
  Dean
  
  p.s. The features in bold will be gradually introduced for easier transition for the users who decide to switch to sMAN.
  
  Edit: eventually deank decided to add the XMB "Webman Games" feature to sMan as many end users were asking for it.
  It brings back the old XML creation problem he originally wanted to get rid of however it works quite well.
  The only real glitch in sMan 1.11n (& in the latest wMM actually) is found with a limited number of ntfs hdd where the partition cannot be read using the libntfs_ext library port. Hopefully this bug should get fixed after investigation...
  
  The XMB Game list remains optional however, to be toggled in the sMan settings page.
  
  
  ​
• 
  Random Comments about sMAN from deank
  
  • The good thing about sMAN is that it doesn't require large amounts of memory no matter how many games you have. It can handle 2000, 3000, 5000 games even.
  • sMAN is working a bit faster than sLaunch (at least it looks that way).
  • If you decide to use sman.sprx - remove webftp_server.sprx and slaunch.sprx from your boot_plugins.txt. It is not possible to use them at the same time.
    
  • Yes, fan-control is still there, because it is "webMAN" in the background. For languages - there is nothing different to webMAN - you'll have to compile it yourself with proper gui.h.
  
  
• 
  

  Video (POC Version)​	ScreenShot (from preview version)​
  --------------------------------------------------------------------​	​

Download: sMAN -> http://deanbg.com/sman.sprx
Source: psx-place.com (via deank) (2) (3)​

 

Btw @self_slaughter, the issue with split isos might be related to the sfo file extraction failing somehow. As a result, sMan might use the filename in the game list because it cannot read the game information properly...
Have you checked in the tmp folder if your sfo files got extracted ok from any split iso?

 

ah, I see @bguerville . I knew the redirection syscalls, but I guess they're no longer needed with cobra?

 

ah, I see @bguerville . I knew the redirection syscalls, but I guess they're no longer needed with cobra?

Tweaking the usb path accordingly, one could make 1 self with just that line & another self identical but reversing the paths to go back to normal without having to reboot.
Pkg them properly with a sfo & after installation you would have 2 shortcuts on xmb to enable / disable external gamedata without using any external tool.

Likes I said, I will include it in the next release of xai_plugin anyway so you will be able to tweak the xml to add xmb links for external game data toggling.

About the choice between fat32 & ntfs, if you think you are going to need both, why not try to setup a dual partition fat32/ntfs..?

 

I might do that. I had 2 external ps3 drives. by the looks of it, the one that survived (made a backup of it btw) is the one with all the psn content. when I buy another drive, I might make that an ntfs drive. the same thing happened with my 360 in which one drive died while the other survived. that, too, had all my xbla games on it. I had my dlc and indie games on the internal hdd which I made a backup of as well. what finally killed my 360 hdd, the one I was trying to recover, was windows forcing an update on me while I was using test disk in the middle of the night. the ps3 hdd - I'm not sure what happened to it, but it won't spin at all despite trying to. I have that hdd in a box somewhere in another room of my house. it's not a big deal I guess since I never gamed much on either the ps3 or the 360, but it does suck to lose hdds. games r always recoverable. I just don't have the money to do so though atm. that's y I bought a flash drive for my pstv. lol

 

Btw @self_slaughter, the issue with split isos might be related to the sfo file extraction failing somehow. As a result, sMan might use the filename in the game list because it cannot read the game information properly... Have you checked in the tmp folder if your sfo files got extracted ok from any split iso?

Just copied a game onto my fat32 flash drive and disconnected my ntfs drive and wiped wmtmp to check. It appears to of extracted the sfo fine.

Dunno where it got that time from though. Mustn't take time zone settings into account, lol. Almost midnight here. *yawn*

 

View attachment 9328 View attachment 9329
Just copied a game onto my fat32 flash drive and disconnected my ntfs drive and wiped wmtmp to check. It appears to of extracted the sfo fine.

Dunno where it got that time from though. Mustn't take time zone settings into account, lol. Almost midnight here. *yawn*

And the sfo is readable?

 

And the sfo is readable?

Hard to test without a PC and the PS3 browser wont even let me upload it even after copying it onto my flash drive... but seems to be ok looking at it via the hex editor in multiman.

 

I'll take a look later... It is probably something that can be fixed. I don't have split iso games so I never noticed the bug.

Can you download the sprx and test again?

http://deanbg.com/sman.sprx

This bug may also have caused extracting the png+sfo each time you do a "refresh" despite the fact that both are already extracted (this is valid only for split iso games).

 

DId anyone test it?

 

DId anyone test it?

I have not (very busy this past month myself). I will send out a tweet and get some attention on it. (might be a bit hidden within the thread itself)

 

Also @self_slaughter have you been able to test this?

 

Sorry @deank, I haven't either..

 

Sorry, I've also been pretty busy lately and missed this. Just updated the sprx and copying a game onto a fat32 drive now. I'll let you know shortly.

 

@deank - Just tested it then, Split games are named correctly again.

Also, what do you think of renaming smans temp folder from wmtmp to something else to avoid conflicts with other backup managers that use the same location?

I know it's not really your fault / problem, but after using say irisman to copy files over, wmtmp gets filled with slightly different variations of .ntfs files etc. and ends up making a mess of the game list on the next refresh of sman. Requiring a cleanse of the wmtmp folder and refresh to clean up.

Although, that kinda breaks my workaround for getting ntfs games to work from a drive that sman can't read properly by letting multiman create the shortcuts before refreshing sman.... *doh* -

Maybe not such a great idea.... lol

 

Well, it was "the other backup managers" that started using wmtmp folder, which I initially decided to use. Such a change will require changes in webMAN, multiMAN and prepNTFS and will only add to the general confusion of the less-tech-savy users.

 

Just a minor thing but it bugs me, is there a way to re-order the games? I have Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 then Castlevania Lords of Shadow (with a tm on the end) I'd rather Lords of Shadow 1 be before 2. Then there's Resistance 2, Resistance 3 and then Resistance: Fall of Man which is the first one. and the same for Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3 then Uncharted Drake's Fortune which is the first one .

 

Just a minor thing but it bugs me, is there a way to re-order the games? I have Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 then Castlevania Lords of Shadow (with a tm on the end) I'd rather Lords of Shadow 1 be before 2. Then there's Resistance 2, Resistance 3 and then Resistance: Fall of Man which is the first one. and the same for Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3 then Uncharted Drake's Fortune which is the first one .

On the setup page there is an option to use iso file name, instead of the name built into the games param.sfo file.

Use that and rename isos to suit.

 

On the setup page there is an option to use iso file name, instead of the name built into the games param.sfo file.

Use that and rename isos to suit.

I think he's going to have to put 1 in front Uncharted's name, for example, since numerals come before the alphabet alphabetically. the xbox 360 hacked dash has the same problem - u can't place the files in a specific order as it's done alphabetically there as well. also, the xmb has this issue too except it further confuses the sorting method by placing caps and lower case entitled games in separate sections (i.e. recognizing them as separate letters). lol

 

@NoSoul81
It's very hard to satisfy everyone without making available various sorting algorithms. Currently, sMan sorts the games titles according to their release names.
In your specific case, the best way would be to tweak the sman source code but without some basic C programming skills that might prove difficult...

I suppose another option would be to use Aldo's param sfo editor (in PS3 Tools Collection) to edit the game titles in the sfo files of your ISO or JB games. For instance, one could remove the TM symbol in Uncharted's title.
It's not ideal but at the end of the day it's the only way to have every backup manager sorting the games in the manner you wish without editing manually or requesting different implementations from devs.

 

Im thinking in a way to solve that problem, it should work but is not robust and efficient, is needed to make several string comparisons

To simplify my explain im going to consider the way backup managers orders the games (by game TITLE) is the first "pass"
This method has the flaw explained with uncharteds

What im going to suggest is a second "pass" where is checked the TITLE_ID (as example BLES12345, etc...), it needs to be made after the first pass

In the second pass are checked a few of the first characters from the TITLE of all games, starting by the first one lets say 5 characters (with Uncharted should be "Uncha"... we want to know is the TITLE of the next game starts with "Uncha" too), for every game that 5 characters are compared with the first 5 characters of the game located after the one we are analysing

Lets say we find 2 consecutive games that uses the same 5 characters in the TITLE (2 games that starts with the TITLE "Uncha"), now is needed to check the TITLE_ID of them (the BLES12345, etc...) and compare the numeric value... the smaller one is the most older (and bigger one is newer) so... if needed... the positions of the two games we are comparing can be swapped in the list

--------------
One of the problems of this method only works to reorder games of the same region, lets say we have:
BLES11111 (TITLE_ID) Uncharted (TITLE)
BLES22222 (TITLE_ID) Uncharted 2 (TITLE)
BLES33333 (TITLE_ID) Uncharted 3 (TITLE)

In this scenario should work, because the TITLE_ID are like the licenses and are given by sony chronologically to game companies (usually a couple of years or more before the game is published)

The problem is if we add another game from another region (uncharted 1 BLES, uncharted 2 BLAS, and uncharted 3 BLUS)... if this happens then we cant relly in that license numbers and what im suggesting will not work (lucky me all my backups are BLES though :P)

The other problem i mentioned before is the efficiency, i think im duplicating the amount of time needed to order the list because im doing 2 passes, the list is actually reordered 2 times (thought most games are not going to pass the first check of my added pass)