Hacking Physical games with SD2Vita

Carlos_DobleC

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At last I decided to buy an SD2Vita, and I saw that you can not play physical copies of the games when it is installed as ux0 (which is what I want to do).
My question is, is there any way to dump my physical games so that the bubble they have already left installed is from which to load this copy and also keep the save?
 

Bu2d85

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In order to dump the game you have to remove the SD2Vita from your system. Where do you plan on dumping the game to? Your stock Vita memory card?

You could do that and then transfer it to your SD2Vita after I guess.
 

Carlos_DobleC

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I do not even have the adapter yet, but what I want before it arrives is to dump my games keeping the bubble that already installed the physical copies the first time you play them and also keeping the saves. All this obviously on Vita's standard memory card, and then transfer everything to SD2Vita.
 

Bu2d85

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I haven’t done it but I think it’s as simple as setting up nonpdrm and copying the game cart files to your app folder on the memory card.

You may have to find the nonpdrm game keys but it shouldn’t be too hard. A quick google search should suffice.

All of this will be done in vitashell.

EDIT: I will try it today during lunch and will get back to you. It is 6:30 JST here now. I want to know if this will actually work.
 
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Carlos_DobleC

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I haven’t done it but I think it’s as simple as setting up nonpdrm and copying the game cart files to your app folder on the memory card.

You may have to find the nonpdrm game keys but it shouldn’t be too hard. A quick google search should suffice.

All of this will be done in vitashell.

EDIT: I will try it today during lunch and will get back to you. It is 6:30 JST here now. I want to know if this will actually work.

Thanks mate, I'll wait for your answer, although here in Spain it's about to be 12 at night, so I'll read to you tomorrow. If your theory put into practice works, you are a boss. Just tell you, make a backup copy of the game save just in case.
 

Bu2d85

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1. Setup nonpdrm and power down/up the system. (You may have done this already.)

2. Open VitaShell.

3. Copy the contents of gro0:app/ to ux0:/app.

4. Copy or move the contents of ux0:nonpdrm/license/app/ to ux0:license/app. (There will be a license for every physical game you played since installing nonpdrm. You can copy them all or just the game you are moving over. It really doesn't matter.)

That's it, very simple.
Everything is still functioning including updates, DLC, and game saves.
 
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Carlos_DobleC

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1. Setup nonpdrm and power down/up the system. (You may have done this already.)

2. Open VitaShell.

3. Copy the contents of gro0:app/ to ux0:/app.

4. Copy or move the contents of ux0:nonpdrm/license/app/ to ux0:license/app. (There will be a license for every physical game you played since installing nonpdrm. You can copy them all or just the game you are moving over. It really doesn't matter.)

That's it, very simple.
Everything is still functioning including updates, DLC, and game saves.

I guess I'll need to dump the game, right? Because I imagine that in gro there will only be the bubble and when I pass it to uxo I have to put the files of the game inside.
 

Reploid

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heck, just download existing dump that have same region (which mean same game code for savegame data) and that's it.
 

Bu2d85

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I guess I'll need to dump the game, right? Because I imagine that in gro there will only be the bubble and when I pass it to uxo I have to put the files of the game inside.
Do exactly what I said. That's it. No extra steps, no dumping. Just do what I said.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

heck, just download existing dump that have same region (which mean same game code for savegame data) and that's it.
A lot of people are using PKGI now for their games. If you already played the physical cart PGKI will not let you install it.

If you download a nonpdrm dump of the game it is exactly the same as copying gro0:app/ to ux0:app/.
 

Carlos_DobleC

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3. Copy the contents of gro0:app/ to ux0:/app.

In gro0 there are more folders apart from app, do not I copy those?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Okay, I've done the whole process, but when I press the game bubble, it asks me to insert the cartridge
 

Bu2d85

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You should only have to copy what is in the gro0:/app/ folder. It should be the title of the game like PCSE00561 or something like that. The entire folder needs to be copied, not just the contents.

In your ux0:app/ folder you should see all of your games listed by title id and nothing else.

This process worked for me earlier today with Borderlands 2.
 

Carlos_DobleC

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You should only have to copy what is in the gro0:/app/ folder. It should be the title of the game like PCSE00561 or something like that. The entire folder needs to be copied, not just the contents.

In your ux0:app/ folder you should see all of your games listed by title id and nothing else.

This process worked for me earlier today with Borderlands 2.

Wow, I thought I had answered you. Basically I did that (I even tried using the official license that comes inside the cartridge), but nothing, it does not work. (The game I'm trying is Tales of Hearts R)
 

Bu2d85

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If everything copied over but you do not have the correct license you will get an error telling you to download the game again. Since it is telling you to insert the card it means that the system is not seeing your game in ux0:app/.

Compare the contents of gro0:app/[GAMEID] and ux0:/app/[GAMEID] and make sure they match, including the file size. If the eboot.bin is there it should try to load. You could also try refreshing the live area by going back to the main screen on vita shell (the one that shows both the ux0:\ and gro0:\ drives) and pressing the triangle button.

I only have the one physical cart to test with so I can only go by what worked for me the one time.
 

Carlos_DobleC

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I finally uninstalled the game (having made a backup of the save) and installed the same version from PKGi. In the change I lost 3 dlc costumes, nothing important.

PS: Fuck you sony
 

Bu2d85

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Enigma Hall

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You could also just backup the saves, dowbload the games and forget the dump process since is a copy of a game you own. I think is not a problem, correct-me if Im wrong.
 

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