PS3 Updateless PS3 ISO to PKG... Is it possible?

[OM3GA]

Before saying the usual "dude, just use MultiMan or WebMan": I like having my games stored as though they were digital. The closest I've got was some kind of "forwarder" that mounted the ISO to the PS3's virtual drive and autobooted it; however, it barely worked. Most of the time I had to manually boot the game and that's just dirty looking. I don't like things to look dirty.

Been browsing for the past few days about some tools that let you convert a PS3 ISO/Folder game to a PKG one. However, the one with the most available documentation (CFW2OFW Helper) requires a PS3 disc game with title updates, which my target game (Hyperdimension Neptunia, US region) does not have, thus its incompatible.

There are many anecdotes on this forum regarding some "methods" to get your updateless ISO game converted to a PKG. Due to the "secretive" nature of PlayStation homebrew, though, I haven't been able to find a solid, easily understandable solution.

I'm quite new at PS3 homebrewing, so if possible, please dumb any explanations down as much as you can. Teach me like I were an ape.

Thanks in advance, and... Happy New Year!
PS: If this is of any relevance (I'm guessing it is), my PS3 uses PS3HEN.

 

[aldostools]

The conversion of ISO to PKG relies on updates, because the EBOOT.BIN in the PKG are already signed a npDRM-free and the paths in the EBOOT point to /dev_hdd0.

It is possible to convert an ISO to PKG, but it depends on the game.
- If the game only have an EBOOT.BIN and resource files, it may work only decrypting the EBOOT and resigning the ELF as npDRM-free.
- Some games additionally require to patch the paths in ELF search the resources in /dev_hdd0.
- If the game contains SELF and SPRX, they need to be resigned too using the same dev_klicensee used internally by the EBOOT.
- If the ISO contains SDAT files, they need to be converted to .EDAT. But even doing that could not load without additional patches.

In ape's words: you can try resigning the EBOOT from retail to PSN format. If that doesn't work, you probably will need to get more experience or simply use the ISO or skip that game.

 

[OM3GA]

The conversion of ISO to PKG relies on updates, because the EBOOT.BIN in the PKG are already signed a npDRM-free and the paths in the EBOOT point to /dev_hdd0.

It is possible to convert an ISO to PKG, but it depends on the game.
- If the game only have an EBOOT.BIN and resource files, it may work only decrypting the EBOOT and resigning the ELF as npDRM-free.
- Some games additionally require to patch the paths in ELF search the resources in /dev_hdd0.
- If the game contains SELF and SPRX, they need to be resigned too using the same dev_klicensee used internally by the EBOOT.
- If the ISO contains SDAT files, they need to be converted to .EDAT. But even doing that could not load without additional patches.

In ape's words: you can try resigning the EBOOT from retail to PSN format. If that doesn't work, you probably will need to get more experience or simply use the ISO or skip that game.

Is there any solid guide for doing the resigning process? You seem to know much more than me.

Also, I know I won't die if I simply use the ISO. It's just... mildly annoying. Unfortunately, I'm a perfectionist at heart.