PS3 [Update] Apollo Save Tool v1.8.4 released

bucanero · Oct 30, 2020

ashura said:
Got it bucanero it worked to me without the cheat codes thanks a lot

Thanks for reporting back the results.

if you have a chance, try applying the cheats you wanted with aldo's Bruteforce Savedata. If the cheat-edited savegame works using BSD, then let me know so I can keep track of the bug in Apollo and hopefully fix it in a future version.

bucanero · Oct 30, 2020

tps said:
well, that was easy!
thanks for the steps to proceed, it did the trick from first try. fine work, btw!

so copy to hdd when working with usb saves should be avoided.
indeed, the copy via xmb reports file corrupted if the save isn't signed accordingly.

I had the copy protection removed at origin and it worked anyway so that part seems fine.

thanks for reporting, good to know it worked !

the XMB validation is quite useful, if it says the savegame it's corrupted, then there's no way the game will load the file, even if you transfer it with FTP, file manager, etc.

Also, IIRC, the xmb will also say something if you're trying to copy a savegame from a different user... like "hey the save you're copying is not from this user, do you want to copy it anyways?"

any chance you could capture the key from cwf_settings.log on the fly somehow? could involve guiding the user to enable dumping it.
anyway, it would just be nice to have.

thanks again, it works like a charm.
the step-by-step guide should be copied in the wiki or a tutorial if not already done, case in which I apologise for having missed it.

one last thing: it seems this is valid for games.conf

[NPEB01324] secure_file_id:*=C9EDDFAB58734784B3C8463610772CC2

capturing keys from the cfw.log is possible, but it would also involve handling and validating the games.conf text file for duplicates, etc... to do it properly it would involve a lot of work

Another option would be to use the original pfdtool's bruteforce option to break the secure_id encryption for any unknown file. The source code is already in Apollo, but I never tested if the PS3 can handle the bruteforce process properly.

I guess that the easy way is to add some notes on the Readme file, and explain just how to capture the secure file id's and adding them to the games.conf file.

Regarding the tutorial, sadly there's no tutorial for Apollo and it seems that nobody in the PS3-scene cares to make one. (yet, you have tons of youtube videos on how to download "free ps3 games")

btw, thanks for sharing the secure id, I'll add it to the Apollo database. :encouragement:

tps · Oct 30, 2020

bucanero said:
I guess that the easy way is to add some notes on the Readme file, and explain just how to capture the secure file id's and adding them to the games.conf file.

Regarding the tutorial, sadly there's no tutorial for Apollo and it seems that nobody in the PS3-scene cares to make one. (yet, you have tons of youtube videos on how to download "free ps3 games")

it should be fine just to copy/paste the steps you mentioned in the wiki page for the github project. creating a specialized page for this would be perfect if not overkill.
same goes for the guide about obtaining the key.

my suggestion on capturing it from cwf.log was just because it is cumbersome to update games.conf since you need to use FTP and make sure you won't break it.
unfortunately, nothing comes to mind now about a simple/fancy way to do it.

Berion · Oct 30, 2020

Or USB. FTP is not mandatory.

Regarding the tutorial, sadly there's no tutorial for Apollo and it seems that nobody in the PS3-scene cares to make one

I would like to create one but I hear that this GUI is not the final form. It would be shame to makes later all screens twice.

Oh, and I feel this poison in Your soul. I have experiencing the same for some time, some time ago. Well, that's the reality of "scene" today. Most of the peoples are interesting only in even not a game backups but piracy. We can do nothing with it and messing with this thorn in head brings only sadness. The facts are that Apollo is the only one and the best app for save/license managing for PS3 and her emulation. I'm sure this will never change as no one will ever invest so many time to makes something similar. And of top of that, majority of peoples no longer care about their saves or trophies. In example for me it is super important as part of my Asperger's OCD ;p but the rest are ready to start the game from scratch instead read about some app by few minutes...

tps · Oct 30, 2020

Berion said:
Or USB.

That's even worse

)

ashura · Oct 30, 2020

bucanero said:
Thanks for reporting back the results.

if you have a chance, try applying the cheats you wanted with aldo's Bruteforce Savedata. If the cheat-edited savegame works using BSD, then let me know so I can keep track of the bug in Apollo and hopefully fix it in a future version.

sure bucanero i will give it a try and i will let you know

ashura · Oct 30, 2020

hello bucanro this is the error that i am getting when i try to apply the cheats on apollo only just remains on a loop and after that thesavedata gets corrupted, i hope that this one will work to you

bucanero · Oct 31, 2020

Berion said:
Or USB. FTP is not mandatory.

I would like to create one but I hear that this GUI is not the final form. It would be shame to makes later all screens twice.

one day I'll have to pay attention to that tiny3D code and actually fix the UI scaling issues
I guess I can't imagine the pain for you, but believe me I didn't do it on purpose

Oh, and I feel this poison in Your soul. I have experiencing the same for some time, some time ago. Well, that's the reality of "scene" today. Most of the peoples are interesting only in even not a game backups but piracy. We can do nothing with it and messing with this thorn in head brings only sadness.

yes, I shouldn't give a damn, because in the end it will just poison my mind. I also know it's not only related to PS3, I remember recently with the 6.72 hack on PS4, all the questions were about "can I play XYZ game now?!?!"... also someone said "I haven't seen any new homebrew with 6.72, just more pirated games", and that's sad but true.

Anyways, in these cases (like @tps issue) I'm just sorry because I imagine that other users might had the same problem or question, and because they couldn't find an answer they just gave up.

The same goes for Artemis... Apollo & Artemis are powerful tools, but you need to understand how to use them properly. For these brothers, a lot of users might use them in a wrong way, get disappointed and never use it again.

Still, they're unique and powerful: I'm still grateful for Artemis and a patch/cheat to defeat the last boss in Drakengard 3. I've seen difficult settings, but that boss for me was insane. You died with 1 hit, and you had to sync your hits with the tune at the right time. I was so pissed off at first... but then Artemis solved it, with a code that actually fought the boss for you.

The facts are that Apollo is the only one and the best app for save/license managing for PS3 and her emulation. I'm sure this will never change as no one will ever invest so many time to makes something similar. And of top of that, majority of peoples no longer care about their saves or trophies. In example for me it is super important as part of my Asperger's OCD ;p but the rest are ready to start the game from scratch instead read about some app by few minutes...

talking about trophies, that's something that I wanted to focus on Apollo, but I ran out of time... a basic trophy listing and resigning feature was my first idea, since flatz's code can already handle trophies and alike. No idea if I have Asperger, but I do care about trophies too!

bucanero · Oct 31, 2020

ashura said:
hello bucanro this is the error that i am getting when i try to apply the cheats on apollo only just remains on a loop and after that thesavedata gets corrupted, i hope that this one will work to you

oh well if it also fails in Bruteforce data then the issue is in the cheat code itself... maybe the cheat is meant for a different file or something, can't tell for sure.
Perhaps Artemis has some cheat for 99999+ money that you can try instead?

Berion · Oct 31, 2020

bucanero said:
oOne day I'll have to pay attention to that tiny3D code and actually fix the UI scaling issues.
I guess I can't imagine the pain for you, but believe me I didn't do it on purpose.

I know that, I just joking. ^^ However indeed I don't like blurry image, I'm definitely with team pixel perfect, but of course I don't blame You. We don't even know if this is even possible.

For some time now I don't have access to my PS3 so I cannot even check any new builds, so I also cannot make any tutorial. I remember Your questions about CFW so when I have it back, I'll let You know.

yes, I shouldn't give a damn, because in the end it will just poison my mind. I also know it's not only related to PS3, I remember recently with the 6.72 hack on PS4, all the questions were about "can I play XYZ game now?!?!"... also someone said "I haven't seen any new homebrew with 6.72, just more pirated games", and that's sad but true.

Few days more and we get PS5 premiere, we cannot expect that peoples will still massively playing on PS3. That's one thing. Also I'm not sure if compare to PS4 is good because PS4 jailbreak is: unstable, annoying, outdated. With all the respect to all kernel hackers. My point is, that scene cannot bloom in such circumstances. Look at PSV/PSTV, it was in the same agony as PS4. Annoying from ordinary user perspective exploits and on ancient firmwares. Everything has changed after current (back in time) v3.60 firmware was released, and week or two after something similar to permanent solution (using email application) appear. With all of it, real open SDK behind, good documentation and few months later even permanent hack. Vita scene is in glory that more powerful and almost fully hacked PS3 can be jealous (or even more, only Xbox scene could be more proud!). That was unexpecting but happen. So until PS4 exploit doesn't appear for current firmware (to everyone have at least one chance to decide which road they will take, instead of endless waiting on old firmware waiting for unknown), PS4 scene will be limited to piracy (extremely unhandy anyway as Sony put much effort to makes the sceners life harder with ugly idea of PFS containers and databases).

Still, they're unique and powerful: I'm still grateful for Artemis and a patch/cheat to defeat the last boss in Drakengard 3. I've seen difficult settings, but that boss for me was insane. You died with 1 hit, and you had to sync your hits with the tune at the right time. I was so pissed off at first... but then Artemis solved it, with a code that actually fought the boss for you.

You are lucky. I cheated Demon's Souls for unlimited souls to get maximum levels and still cannot defeat base bosses in new game+.

talking about trophies, that's something that I wanted to focus on Apollo, but I ran out of time... a basic trophy listing and resigning feature was my first idea, since flatz's code can already handle trophies and alike

Good to know but it will not be easy as You thinking. Resigning is one thing, rebuilding the global index is another. You can merge power with @pink1 with we have in plans makes some viewer for Windows so the reading phase will share the same obstackles.

No idea if I have Asperger, but I do care about trophies too!

If You have wife and job You are free from ASD curse. ;p

ashura · Oct 31, 2020

bucanero said:
oh well if it also fails in Bruteforce data then the issue is in the cheat code itself... maybe the cheat is meant for a different file or something, can't tell for sure.
Perhaps Artemis has some cheat for 99999+ money that you can try instead?

Actually i gave it a try but games freezes i managed to complete the game but still it will be good to at least to have this money amount on it jaja

SpyroMancer · Nov 14, 2020

Hey, really great tool, as far as I have used it. May I suggest a form of indicator on copying files to/from usb? % or time remaining type?

bucanero · Nov 15, 2020

SpyroMancer said:
Hey, really great tool, as far as I have used it. May I suggest a form of indicator on copying files to/from usb? % or time remaining type?

can you open an "issue" on Github with this request, so I can track it for a future development?
thanks!

sandungas · Nov 15, 2020

bucanero said:
can you open an "issue" on Github with this request, so I can track it for a future development?
thanks!

Btw, irisman displays an official screen with a dark background, the progress bar that looks like "glass" filling with green color, etc...
I dont know how is made, but i guess is relying in syscalls because it looks 100% official
Thats probably a good start point to see how to do it

Managunz has his own progress screen (used when you copy files) where is displayed the average speed, etc... it displays more info but doesnt have an official look

bucanero · Nov 17, 2020

sandungas said:
Btw, irisman displays an official screen with a dark background, the progress bar that looks like "glass" filling with green color, etc...
I dont know how is made, but i guess is relying in syscalls because it looks 100% official
Thats probably a good start point to see how to do it

Managunz has his own progress screen (used when you copy files) where is displayed the average speed, etc... it displays more info but doesnt have an official look

yes, I'm already using the Irisman code for the standard progress bar in Apollo and Artemis. (when you unzip the database, for example)

on PKGi the vita code already had a custom progress bar that is drawn on the screen, so that could be also recycled for other homebrews

what I would like to check, is how to use the original PS3 progress bar, but with a custom background. I've seen it is possible: for example Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, when it boots first time and installs the data files, it uses the original ps3 syscall progress bar, but using a blue MvC3 background image. The rest is totally stock (white font, green bar, etc)

sandungas · Nov 18, 2020

bucanero said:
yes, I'm already using the Irisman code for the standard progress bar in Apollo and Artemis. (when you unzip the database, for example)

on PKGi the vita code already had a custom progress bar that is drawn on the screen, so that could be also recycled for other homebrews

what I would like to check, is how to use the original PS3 progress bar, but with a custom background. I've seen it is possible: for example Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, when it boots first time and installs the data files, it uses the original ps3 syscall progress bar, but using a blue MvC3 background image. The rest is totally stock (white font, green bar, etc)

Hmm, right now im not sure if i did saw some game using a background different than black in that screen, but yeah that could be nice because the visual look would be something intermediate in between official and custom (the background could be a custom image made specifically for that screen)

I know is a placebo effect... but personally i like when it looks official, it makes me feel like the functions running at the background (copying files) are more relliable, lol

Btw, im really sorry for not being able to give more hints... but the other day i realized the game "the evil within" does something very special in that screen that appears the first time you boot it and the game does the "gamedata" installation
If someone knows or remembers, please comment it
I forgot what is it, all i know is it made me think in "repurposing" it for homebrew because was something handy or/and was looking good

sandungas · Nov 20, 2020

sandungas said:
Btw, im really sorry for not being able to give more hints... but the other day i realized the game "the evil within" does something very special in that screen that appears the first time you boot it and the game does the "gamedata" installation
If someone knows or remembers, please comment it
I forgot what is it, all i know is it made me think in "repurposing" it for homebrew because was something handy or/and was looking good

Another game that does something not usual is "Dragon Age 2". it displays 2 progress bars together, the bar at top is named "Total progress" and the bar at bottom "File progress", both with his percentages (and the bar at bottom and his percentage moves a lot faster than the other)
Nothing specially awesome, but looks good

bucanero · Nov 20, 2020

sandungas said:
Another game that does something not usual is "Dragon Age 2". it displays 2 progress bars together, the bar at top is named "Total progress" and the bar at bottom "File progress", both with his percentages (and the bar at bottom and his percentage moves a lot faster than the other)
Nothing specially awesome, but looks good

yes, in the Irisman source there's also code for the 'double bar' progress bar, it can be useful for batch processes. E.g. you use the first bar for the total progress, the lower bar for the "current" progress

the real challenge is not the progress bar, but calculating the numbers for the progress itself... for example, you need to keep track of "total files that I want to copy", "how many files I copied already", "the file total size", "how many bytes of the files I copied", etc

and you need to keep track of all those values properly, and then keep updating the progress bar so it actually "fills up" ... sometimes those cosmetic details take more time than actual hardcore features

ashura · Nov 21, 2020

bucanero said:
yes, in the Irisman source there's also code for the 'double bar' progress bar, it can be useful for batch processes. E.g. you use the first bar for the total progress, the lower bar for the "current" progress

the real challenge is not the progress bar, but calculating the numbers for the progress itself... for example, you need to keep track of "total files that I want to copy", "how many files I copied already", "the file total size", "how many bytes of the files I copied", etc

and you need to keep track of all those values properly, and then keep updating the progress bar so it actually "fills up" ... sometimes those cosmetic details take more time than actual hardcore features

Maybe on those calculations can help multiman? It is because that i have seen that it does have the option to enable or disable the progress bar so maybe from there can be a file that will allow to get the calculations or a least on how to convert those numbers that are shown into a progress bar

sandungas · Nov 22, 2020

Managunz have some of that functions btw, i dont remember right now how much info is displayed in the file transfer screen, but one of them is the "Average transfer speed" (in MB/s), so i guess is using some kind of timer for it
And based on that same timer it could display also the "Elapsed time" and "Estimated remaining time"

PS3 [Update] Apollo Save Tool v1.8.4 released

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