Hacking Major_Tom Explains Game Dumping/Mods on 3.60

[Wuigi]

Well the ID in the eboot path is NPXS10027 but I guess you just made a typo.
To access gro0 you have to add an additional uri line line described in the additional steps.

 

[Chrisssj2]

If anyone wants me to dump some games in future i have like 60 PS vita games =)

 

[bache]

Well the ID in the eboot path is NPXS10027 but I guess you just made a typo.
To access gro0 you have to add an additional uri line line described in the additional steps.

I've set it as follows:

The line added to tbl_uri reads

Edit: I overlooked the line of text that says to add the value in tbl_uri to gro0 for carts. Testing it now.

Edit #2: Nope, still nothing. I can see that the game card icon in the top right of the screen now shows molecularShell instead of Freedom Wars now though.

 

[Wuigi]

If you use a certain sqlite browser you were sure to click write changes at the end?

 

[bache]

If you use a certain sqlite browser you were sure to click write changes at the end?

Yep sure did. Seems I'm making progress though; changing the line to NPXS10027 in tbl_uri launches the manual, however I get a new error telling me to "Insert a PS Vita Card that contains this application"

Edit: Just tried it with a digital game on the memory card, and all worked fine. Just no luck with the physical carts for some reason.

Edit 2: And now it's working fine on the physical cart. Didn't change anything, and it's now dumping all the game files. Thanks for all of your help .

 

[Wuigi]

No problem, if you happen to have Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls, that won't be decrypted for some reason so don't waste your time like I did.

 

[fgghjjkll]

No problem, if you happen to have Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls, that won't be decrypted for some reason so don't waste your time like I did.

Also Kantai Collection won't be decrypted either. That's because Kantai Collection closes all processes (including the near app) before launching (molecular shell). It seems like this won't work for EVERY cartridge.

EDIT: This did work for Freedom Wars (digital download) btw
EDIT2: Worked for P4G and Danganronpa 1 too

 

[cwizzy]

Is it possible to use this to install a physical game as a digital one like in this tutorial? http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=45036

 

[dkabot]

Is it possible to use this to install a physical game as a digital one like in this tutorial? http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=45036

That tutorial uses the encrypted files, rather than decrypted ones, so this changes nothing.

That said, I and at least one other have tried it to a resounding lack of success.
The installer for it is no longer functional, and moving it manually (FTP FTW) and rebuilding database leads to further differences and failures.

 

[AIDA]

This is great news. I'm having trouble getting a repacked CPK to run as a patch, however. Specifically, the data.cpk from Persona 4 Golden.
I'm using Cri Packed File Maker to create the new CPK from a directory extracted using quickBMS (no other programs will extract the CPK, saying it's invalid).
I just get an error saying the game is corrupted unless I delete it from the patch directory.

Here's a comparison of the original CPK and the repacked CPK. I did replace a few model files but it shouldn't account for such a big difference. The main problem seems to be the selective compression. I haven't tried without compression though, I will test that shortly.

Anyone know of any other CPK tools?

EDIT: With all this trial and error, it'd be nice if you could duplicate the bubble. Like have one be molecularshell and another actually be the game

I'm having the same issue, but I'm using a fork from an older tool here:

https://github.com/Arks-Layer/CriPakTools

I'll try again without compression.

EDIT: I think I found out what it was - Let the game do a vanilla update and see if the patch CPK is called something different.

 

[dkabot]

Tried inserting JP data.cpk onto my US copy of P4G. Things happened.

Spoiler: Things

Got a whole bunch of JP text and voices.
Can definitely do your undub if you get it running with the changes.
Not everything is JP though, some various system prompts like connecting to PSN and the save/load text boxes are still English.

 

[retrofan_k]

Why does all the good stuff happen when I have massive bills to pay ;-;
Somebody be so kind and gift me a Vita pls <З
I'll love you forever~

Go work some overtime

 

[AIDA]

Okay so dropping the file itself into the update crashed the game. When I update the game via PSN, it says it should be the same CPK name with _patch at the end. However, I can't decrypt it to find out exactly what should be in there D: Either way, it seems like dragging and dropping the replaced files into the update folder doesn't work for every game, which is disappointing.

 

[dkabot]

Okay so dropping the file itself into the update crashed the game. When I update the game via PSN, it says it should be the same CPK name with _patch at the end. However, I can't decrypt it to find out exactly what should be in there D: Either way, it seems like dragging and dropping the replaced files into the update folder doesn't work for every game, which is disappointing.

It does, but you can't use an actual patch along with it.
You would need to decrypt the patch files (which is a separate problem, not explained yet) and then insert them in the same way you do these "mods".

 

[AIDA]

It does, but you can't use an actual patch along with it.
You would need to decrypt the patch files (which is a separate problem, not explained yet) and then insert them in the same way you do these "mods".

When I drop the new CPK (NOVA_FileList_Vita.cpk) into the PCSG00351 (PS: Nova's Game ID) folder, it says the update is corrupted. Do I need *just* that file, or another file/folder to give information about the update?

It saying the file is corrupted is what prompted me to try this way, but since I can't decrypt the update yet, I'm kind of stonewalled.

 

[dkabot]

When I drop the new CPK (NOVA_FileList_Vita.cpk) into the PCSG00351 (PS: Nova's Game ID) folder, it says the update is corrupted. Do I need *just* that file, or another file/folder to give information about the update?

It saying the file is corrupted is what prompted me to try this way, but since I can't decrypt the update yet, I'm kind of stonewalled.

Try adding an sce_sys. The one from MolecularShell works for testing (though leaving it there isn't a great idea).

EDIT: Okay, so sce_sys is needed for its param.sfo and nothing else.
Apparently, leaving MAX_SAVEDATA_SIZE in it is causing issues (official patches have it...), but replicating everything else and changing version is cooperative.

I'm also not getting any success trying to make the system think it needs an update to run the game, so not sure if this would work at all for forcing newer FW games to run (assuming there's no technical requirements that changed between versions)

My "Version 1.01" P4G is 90% JP with the JP CPK in it.
I've attached the SFO for "1.01" P4G, date of "patch" set to August 1st for fun.
Use at your own risk (if you do use) as you never know what not setting things may do...
@Shrinefox this may be useful to you

 

[AIDA]

Dropping the sce_sys folder into the patch folder worked, the game doesn't crash anymore.

However, it looks like none of my changes are taking place, but I have a feeling that's on me. Thank you for your help! \ o /

 

[dkabot]

Dropping the sce_sys folder into the patch folder worked, the game doesn't crash anymore.

However, it looks like none of my changes are taking place, but I have a feeling that's on me. Thank you for your help! \ o /

Note that, at least on carts, re-inserting the cart with Molecular's sce_sys causes it to fail.
Similar behavior may happen on reboots with digital.

If you want to avoid it, you can throw out Molecular's and generate a param.sfo based on the original game, as though you were making a patch.
For just messing about and testing, though, there shouldn't be any real issue.

Edit:
In P4G-land, I extracted both CPKs, put JP sound and ENG rest in a folder, ran the same tool as @Shrinefox to repack, and infinite loading screen. Dang.

 

[Shrinefox]

@dkabot Thank you, the param.sfo at least made the game boot but I'm getting infinite loading screen too.
I hope this doesn't have to do with the executable or we're screwed (though it's likely the CPK compression from that program being wrong).
If it was it'd probably be crashing with error messages.

 

[dkabot]

@dkabot Thank you, the param.sfo at least made the game boot but I'm getting infinite loading screen too.
I hope this doesn't have to do with the executable or we're screwed (though it's likely the CPK compression from that program being wrong).
If it was it'd probably be crashing with error messages.

The JP one directly worked, as seen above, so it doesn't accept only the one.
Both had info very similar to one another when looked at though, compression ratios and such.

Looking at the info for the original and re-made, more files are compressed on the repack (~60% compared to ~65% of original total size).
I think it's a problem that the tool we have doesn't pack quite like the original one did.

Files were apparently in the same order once it was done and I re-opened it, though I didn't manually check all of them (just start/end).

EDIT: Elaboration image, left is ENG, mid is JP, right is attempted repack.

Spoiler: Elaboration