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)​

 

Deleted the covers of the corresponding dev_hdd0/PS3ISO games for testing purposes.

- The icon0.png is correctly displayed in the absence of a cover.
- The game title is still listed as the *.iso filename while browsing games in sMAN.
- Checked dev_hdd0/PS3ISO and no param.sfo was extracted (assuming it was supposed to be extracted).

Everything else is flawless.

Many thanks!

The icon/SFO are extracted in wmtmp folder. The names will be from the SFO at next boot.

 

The icon/SFO are extracted in wmtmp folder. The names will be from the SFO at next boot.

I can confirm the correspondent *.PNG and *.SFO files in dev_hdd0/tmp/wmtmp to the games in dev_hdd0/PS3ISO but somehow sMAN is still not reading their title in the SFO.

I'm probably missing something/doing something wrong (yet again).

These are just non-pressing cosmetic aspects and I know I have been picky lately.

Let's just hope you don't get bored by this

Thanks as usual.

 

I changed the code a bit an hour ago - if you wish you can test again. Make sure you don't have content scan disabled.

Also copying icon0.png from nethost folders is fixed (was broken few builds ago).

 

I changed the code a bit an hour ago - if you wish you can test again. Make sure you don't have content scan disabled.

Also copying icon0.png from nethost folders is fixed (was broken few builds ago).

What can I say? It's working now.

You rock! (I'm running out of "thank yous").

 

Thanks I got covers display properly but noticed 1 problem--when i entered password & selected start in network settings wifi connection suddenly sman ui appeared,i entered O to exit then was back at network settings passwd screen,looks start button for sman is too aggressive on other menus then?...

 

@deank did you try to get the official icons for optical media (CD, DVD, BD, SACD, etc...) from explore plugin rco ?
By using the "paf" vsh exports, is partially documented here
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Resource_Container_(RCO)#VSH_access_to_RCO_contents
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/VSH_Exports#paf

To replace the smiley icons by the official "optical disc" icons

I'll try it later when I get back from work. One thing that makes me wonder - I guess I should know the exact dimensions of the texture... also in what format will be the texture that I get (PNG or raw ARGB decoded)...

I'll try it and will post with more info. I'm going to do something like:

uint32_t load_rco_texture(uint32_t* texture, const char *plugin, const char *texture_name)
{
   return (paf_3A8454FC(texture, (paf_F21655F3(plugin)), texture_name));
}

...

  load_rco_texture(ctx.text, "system_plugin", "tex_notification_info");

edit: Well it returns an address/id of a texture, but it can't be used directly. It has to be passed to some other paf/vsh functions for display in xmb. It doesn't return the actual image, so I can't use that at the moment.

 

Deank, if it's possible please do same thing with webMAN smiley icons.

 

I seem to be having an issue scanning. sman doesn't seem to recognize any other image format for PS1 and PS2 other than .ISO. Has anyone else had this issue and how would I go about correcting it.

Thanks

 

My PS1 games are only in BIN+CUE format and all show and load fine. Have in mind that sMAN/webMAN doesn't support subfolder scanning like wMM and expect PS1 games to be in /dev_hdd0/PSXISO or /dev_usb***/PSXISO or /dev_ntfs/PSXISO listed as files and not in separate subfolders.

 

@deank; All PSX image files are in the PSXISO and PS2ISO folder directly not in sub folders ( BIN, MDF, IMAGE and ISO no CUE files ) and they used to show and load in webMAN.

 

Under the sman it works with me so:

dev_usb006/PSXGAMES(folder) =Destruction Derby 2(folder) ---->Destruction Derby 2.CCD,Destruction Derby 2.img,Destruction Derby 2.sub,COVER.JPG

dev_usb006/PSXISO(folder) --->Destruction Derby 2 PAL.BIN,Destruction Derby 2 PAL.CUE,Destruction Derby 2 PAL.jpg
or
dev_usb006/PSXISO(folder) --->Medal of Honor.ISO,Medal of Honor.jpg

/dev_hdd0/PS2ISO(folder) --->FIFA 2003.ISO,FIFA 2003.CUE,FIFA 2003.jpg

/dev_usb006/PSPISO(folder)--->FlatOut Head On GER.iso,FlatOut Head On GER.png

/dev_usb006/GAMEZ(folder)--->(folder)BCES00006-[MotorStorm]) "JB games"

/dev_ntfs00/PS3ISO(folder)--->Armored Core 4.iso.ntfs[PS3ISO],Armored Core 4.PNG(Armored Core 4.JPG),Armored Core 4.SFO

And so everything is displayed at the sman!

 

sMAN is now updated to support last group/last game after restart. It will show the last title you selected and the last group it was the last time you used it.

 

So where can I find now the sman on the plate around the xmb icon change?
Because the "my games folder" is so ugly
In the webman mod I could always under wm_icons and the icon icon_wm_root!
Only I find since nothing to the sman.
What I find is the rest of the webman, which runs further in the background underm sman!

@deank
How can I change the icon "my games folder" to another icon?
Where can I find the sman under / dev_hdd0 /?

 

You can't change the icon.

***

sMAN is updated for faster page browsing. When you hold L1 or R1 it will skip to prev/next page without drawing all game covers/images - it allows users to browse large game collections a lot faster (about 150 games/15 pages per second).

The [TRIANGLE] button will be used to open a side-menu, where you'll be able to select some options. I'm still working on it.

 

I'll try it later when I get back from work. One thing that makes me wonder - I guess I should know the exact dimensions of the texture... also in what format will be the texture that I get (PNG or raw ARGB decoded)...

I'll try it and will post with more info. I'm going to do something like:

uint32_t load_rco_texture(uint32_t* texture, const char *plugin, const char *texture_name)
{
   return (paf_3A8454FC(texture, (paf_F21655F3(plugin)), texture_name));
}

...

  load_rco_texture(ctx.text, "system_plugin", "tex_notification_info");

edit: Well it returns an address/id of a texture, but it can't be used directly. It has to be passed to some other paf/vsh functions for display in xmb. It doesn't return the actual image, so I can't use that at the moment.

Ok, thanks for the try anyway, it was mostlly a question to know if you thought in it, also an small hint about how to acess the rco contents
At some point when researching about rco format i realized most of the paf functions (probably all) are related with rco access, but as far i know nobody used them unofficially
So is needed more research to make it work, not the best timing for you now you are busy with other things, but i thought maybe you could make it work with some magic skills

For the tests is better to prepare a custom rco with 3 different image formats (uncompressed PNG, GIM ARGB based, and GIM DXT based), and try to see if is posible to access them
Or alternativelly... try to access one of the official .rco that contains this 3 interesting formats

Basically (short explain, i dont want to make this message too long because at this point of the sMAN development is a bit offtopic)
Inside .rco format is posible to store 6 different image formats, at the TOC on top of the rco are indexed with a value that indicates that format:
0x0=PNG
0x1=JPEG
0x2=TIFF
0x3=GIF
0x4=BMP
0x5=GIM

Is important to say rco format is inherited from PSP, so some of those image formats are not used in PS3 firmware (TIFF and GIF)... is unknown if PS3 can even display them
PNG and JPG, can be stored inside the rco as a raw file, PS3 firmware does this in some rco's like eula_net_plugin.rco newstore_plugin.rco etc... http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Template:RCOXML_contents_PS3
BMP also can be stored as a raw file, but latest PS3 firmwares doesnt does this (maybe was used in old PS3 firmwares, or in PSP firmware)
And then is GIM... GIM should be considered a "container", when building a GIM you can choose between some tenths of settings and this results in thousands of posible combinations of formats with small differences

But as far ive seen in PS3 firmware there are only 2 types of GIM, based in the setings used when was build... one is ARGB based and the other is DXT based
For a initiall test to find how to use the correct functions to access images i think is better to ignore GIM format and just try to load a raw PNG file... this removes one step in the process because is a direct access to the image so the firmware doesnt needs to make any GIM conversion or use any of the posible functions that could be specific for GIM management

Edit:
In the "paf" functions there are some that seems also related to images and uses the codename "surface", so additionally to "texture" it seems the "surface" ones are also very related... specially when are used the 2 codenames together (surface + texture)
This is a blind shoot just based in names, but i think is worthy to mention it

And btw... i have no idea what means "paf" (looks like an acronym of 3 words) if someone knows or has an idea please tell

 

Deank, if it's possible please do same thing with webMAN smiley icons.

With webman is much easyer because is known how it works (by using icon_rsc in mygames.xml) but there are 3 problems

1)
In webman those smiley icons represents folders (of a folder tree) and there are children items under them (the games itself)
Using the official "optical disc icons" for the games itself is ok... but using them for the folders could be a bit weird because it looks like you are clicking in a game (but is a folder)
An ideal solution for this would be to find a way to display an icon on top of another icon... this way we could use the default "tex_album_icon" (this is the common plain folder icon) with one of the "optical disc icon" on top, this way is obvious it represents a folder that contains game backups of a specific format, but there is not a known way to do this (thought i been thinking in it time ago and im still wondering if is posible)
Alternativelly... the official rco files includes icons for some special folders for game formats (are the ones that are shown when you click in square button in the XMB columns to order the installed contents under folders), but they sucks so much that are not usable (are not intuitive, some formats needed for webman are missing, etc...)
And another alternative is to use this icons http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/images/1/11/Icon_ps3.png the official firmware contains all the ones needed by webman, but are going to be stretched when displayed so will look a bit weird (i never tryed though, maybe are not so bad)

2)
There is not any official icon for "PSP UMD optical disc"... thought this can be solved by choosing one of the icons with a PSP silouette, but is not going to match in the style with the others

3)
If you want to use images for the different "optical disc" formats at the folders level of the tree... either official or custom... webman has a problem in how the contents are ordered in folders because it displays together the DVD-video and BD-video under the same folder so there is not an specific icon for a common folder that contains both "video" disc formats... technically the way is made webman now it should use an icon that represents a "video folder" in a generic way not using the image of any disc
A generic bluray disc is the light blue icon... and there is another light blue icon for PS3-BD-video that is the same with a video frame on top and is used by PS3 disc games that contains PS3_EXTRA video content
This can be solved by separating Blu-ray-video and DVD-video contents in different folders to use the official icon for each of them, or by using the icon for PS3_EXTRA video for both but represents a bluray disc in light blue and doesnt matches with DVD that officially is another colour

-------------------------------------
This message is not directlly related to you @algua and is offtopic, but i been thinking in this time ago and i wanted to write it somewhere
Hope this helps a bit to understand the problems related with those folder/smiley icons in webman

 

sman.sprx is updated. The side menu is functional - it is quite simple for now with only four options (Refresh / Unmount / Restart / Shutdown), but since the refresh option is the most important it will do for now - that way you won't have to go to the Setup page to do a "refresh" nor will need a PC. Also it means that you can disable startup scan and only refresh when you decide - it will speed the boot process gratefully.

 

sman.sprx is updated. The side menu is functional - it is quite simple for now with only four options (Refresh / Unmount / Restart / Shutdown), but since the refresh option is the most important it will do for now - that way you won't have to go to the Setup page to do a "refresh" nor will need a PC. Also it means that you can disable startup scan and only refresh when you decide - it will speed the boot process gratefully.

@deank is possible an auto-update for Sman?

 

sman.sprx is updated. The side menu is functional - it is quite simple for now with only four options (Refresh / Unmount / Restart / Shutdown), but since the refresh option is the most important it will do for now - that way you won't have to go to the Setup page to do a "refresh" nor will need a PC. Also it means that you can disable startup scan and only refresh when you decide - it will speed the boot process gratefully.

could you add a sman setup option so custom category_game.xml will not be needed then

 

Access to setup page will be implemented inside sman.sprx and then custom .xml won't be needed. It is the last thing remaining to be implemented from my to-do list. Things seem stable enough.