Hacking Emulation POPS on PSP/Vita - Config Research

[The_Ho]

So guys, I looked around and never saw anything about it.

We know that PS1 games not working properly on PSP or Adrenaline (Vita), we have some means of repair like:

- Compression level
- GameID change
- Use of POPsLoader (PSP)
- Games with more than 1 CD may work better in some cases with separate EBOOTs.

etc...

But I bumped into something curious that apparently worked and I don't know how far it goes.

It all started with PS1 Winning Eleven games for PSP and Vita, these games when you make MODs on them or apply translations, some things stop working like Master League.

So I decided to analyze the MOD game and the original game with the same ID in a HEX Editor and I noticed that there were big changes in the BOOT sector.

I copied the BOOT sector from the original and rewrote it over the same sector (offset) from the MOD game and saved.

Then I converted it to EBOOT and tested it on Vita and PSP, to my surprise the game worked apparently perfect, both translated and totally modified, without problems in Master League and others.

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I took it further and tested it in another problematic game but now in a different way, at least on Firmware 6.60/6.61 which is Dragon Warrior VII where we know the game does not display the subtitles and on PSP it is playable thanks to Pops as on Adrenaline it does not because it gives the same error.

So using the Japanese version of the game I copied the same sector from BOOT(?) in the Hex Editor of CD1 and CD2. Then I pasted the data on the same sector of CD1 and CD2 of the American game and saved.

After doing this PSX2PSP recognized it as a Japanese game (probably because it changed the ID in the code), I converted anyway. I ran the game on Adrenaline and apart from the fact that the game appears as Japanese, all the rest of the game was American when running and with the subtitles correction appearing perfectly as far as I played.

I also performed other different tests with the game Dragon Valor etc. where I was successful, working well in Adrenaline. In the case of Dragon Valor I replaced the GameID as recommended in the compatibility list, but as there is no PopsLoader on Vita giving a black screen at 6.61 I used the PopBios plugin which I happened to discover that it does more than just show the nostalgic PS1 intro , he is able to correctly boot some games that are in black screen on Adrenaline and PSP 661. The game worked without slowdown and without the fire drop bug on the purple plant.

Well I'll stop here so I don't get too long, I even created a patch for DQVII based on this but for now because I'm new I can't post anything yet.
But anyone who wants to test the methods and post new results would be interesting.
And whoever understands more deeply what happens in these cases would be interesting to have an opinion..

Hugs.

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Attention:

I recommend everyone to see this topic about an excellent work done by wad11656, he created a GUI for the SetRegion program that is used a lot for corrections / PS1 games compatibility increase with PSP and PSVita, with this work, now all may try to repair their own games and share our attempts.

SetRegion GUI by wad11656
GitHub


edit:

Old title "New(?) mode to Fix(??) PS1 games for PSP and PSVita."

 

[kristianity77]

Surprised there aren't more replies here to be honest as there are quite a few ps1 games that won't play on vita due to a lack of pops. Dq7 is one of them as you mentioned. Mortal kombat trilogy is another that doesn't work and I know there are dozen of others. If you care to share what you did so I can get dq7 to work on vita I'd be eternally grateful!

 

[The_Ho]

Surprised there aren't more replies here to be honest as there are quite a few ps1 games that won't play on vita due to a lack of pops. Dq7 is one of them as you mentioned. Mortal kombat trilogy is another that doesn't work and I know there are dozen of others. If you care to share what you did so I can get dq7 to work on vita I'd be eternally grateful!

So I even patched it and I don't know to what extent the method made the game playable, but it actually seemed to work very well, unfortunately I still can't post download links and videos to be better explained. Well, I can say that this method I used in DQVII seems to also work with Winning Eleven among other games I've tested, but due to lack of time I didn't go into much depth. So I'll leave a walkthrough below for the DWVII:

You will need:

Dragon Warrior VII (USA) CD1 and CD2 [REDUMP Preference]
Dragon Quest VII (Japan) 1.1 CD1 and CD2 [REDUMP Preference]
HxD
PSX2PSP

Open CD1(bin or img) of Dragon Quest VII (Japan) and CD1(bin or img) of Dragon Warrior (USA) in HxD and copy CD1 Japan offset from > [0 to D3AF], now select them the same offset sectors on CD1 USA and paste over it rewriting that part and save the modified CD1 USA.

For CD 2 it will do pretty much the same thing.

After the modifications just create your EBOOT and play on Adrenaline, as I said at the beginning PSX2PSP and Adrenaline will identify as a Japanese game, just ignore it, this happens because the ID was changed in the HEX code, just run the game and it will be functional ..

I think it's possible to do a lot more, who knows, I know about the MKT case, I haven't stopped to look yet, but with help and people who understand, maybe create some patches based on that.

....
Dragon Warrior VII Patch Adrenaline

 

[kristianity77]

Working perfectly. You have to compress your eboot in order for adrenaline to boot it

 

[goma341]

Nice post, now its possible to do the same.with mk trilogy and bugs bunny lost in time?

 

[AxlSt00pid]

So would this fix PAL DIno Crisis that crashes when aiming with a shotgun or PAL Ape Escape that straight out refuses to acknowledge inputs (even on PS3)?

 

[The_Ho]

Working perfectly. You have to compress your eboot in order for adrenaline to boot it

Thank you very much for the feedback, and yes the ideal is to use level 1 compression.

Nice post, now its possible to do the same.with mk trilogy and bugs bunny lost in time?

MKT is a game that everyone talks about and I know that it crashes on towers, I haven't stopped to test these methods on it or on Bugs Bunny yet.

So would this fix PAL DIno Crisis that crashes when aiming with a shotgun or PAL Ape Escape that straight out refuses to acknowledge inputs (even on PS3)?

About Dino Crisis, why not use the PSN version?
Ape Escape PAL doesn't have emulation problems I believe, it has an anti-piracy libcrypt protection, there is a PPF patch to apply to the game and fix this, maybe you can find it on the Console Copy World website or the PSDEVWIKI.

 

[AxlSt00pid]

About Dino Crisis, why not use the PSN version

PSN Version was only released in NTSC territories, PAL versions have different language options depending on the country they were released

I'm from Spain so my PAL copy is in Spanish

 

[Humanfly138]

It's working on PSP3003 and PSP Go, both running 6.20 PROB10fix (Both systems without Popsloader)

[EDIT] I used compression 9 in PSX2PSP
If you are using game name titles instead of title ID in PSX2PSP shorten the 'main game' title to Dragon Quest VII and each 'game title' to 'Dragon Quest VII D1' and 'Dragon Quest VII D2', respectively

 

[mrgone]

isn't that just the same as loading a game into a pops builder an changing it's Sony-Code to the one of the japanese version?
ok, admitted. i don't know what is inside of this so called boot sector, but is that more than pointer to "file-to-load-first" and the game id ?

 

[Snowbro88]

Could something similar be done for Brave Fencer Musashi?, since it doesn't work in adrenaline or retroarch

 

[kristianity77]

Could something similar be done for Brave Fencer Musashi?, since it doesn't work in adrenaline or retroarch

Does it not? I have it on vita and it boots fine unless you mean it hangs at a certain point? I have a save about an hour in and it's OK?

 

[Snowbro88]

First sorry for my English I speak Spanish, I hope you can understand what I mention.

In adrenaline I remember that it hangs in the intro, if you avoid it with start you can get to play but at a certain point that I don't remember very well it hangs, in retroarch changing some option of the cpu clock you can see the intro but after playing for a while When you get to the part where you get the lumina sword, the famous error c-128 appears and takes you out of retroarch.

Maybe someone else here can tell you exactly where the adrenaline crash occurs in this game.

Here they talk more about the subject and propose a solution with saves exchange between retroarch and adrenaline but it seems quite tedious, maybe with your method a definitive solution can be obtained

Brave fencer fix

 

[The_Ho]

PSN Version was only released in NTSC territories, PAL versions have different language options depending on the country they were released

I'm from Spain so my PAL copy is in Spanish

Got it, it's true and a good reason to want the PAL version in this case, I saw that all regions of this game the problem occurs and it seems to be more successful on the PSP with pops 4.01. But it's worth trying the method, at first it's very simple, you can follow the same steps of the video I left for DQVII if the game has the entire BOOT sector of the CNF and ID files right in the beginning sectors, it won't be very difficult to perform the procedure. The problem I'm away from home (Spider-Man xD) right now is without any of my files and neither would my usual PC if I wouldn't try it now.

It's working on PSP3003 and PSP Go, both running 6.20 PROB10fix (Both systems without Popsloader)

[EDIT] I used compression 9 in PSX2PSP
If you are using game name titles instead of title ID in PSX2PSP shorten the 'main game' title to Dragon Quest VII and each 'game title' to 'Dragon Quest VII D1' and 'Dragon Quest VII D2', respectively

I recommend always using the lowest possible compression, in case 1, above that the game can give more bugs.

isn't that just the same as loading a game into a pops builder an changing it's Sony-Code to the one of the japanese version?
ok, admitted. i don't know what is inside of this so called boot sector, but is that more than pointer to "file-to-load-first" and the game id ?

I thought so too when I was making this up, but it's not, I just tried changing the Japan ID on the PSX2PSP and it didn't work the same way as changing this whole sector. This change goes deeper, in addition to changing the base CNF file, it also appears to change the SCE and file ID.

First sorry for my English I speak Spanish, I hope you can understand what I mention.

In adrenaline I remember that it hangs in the intro, if you avoid it with start you can get to play but at a certain point that I don't remember very well it hangs, in retroarch changing some option of the cpu clock you can see the intro but after playing for a while When you get to the part where you get the lumina sword, the famous error c-128 appears and takes you out of retroarch.

Maybe someone else here can tell you exactly where the adrenaline crash occurs in this game.

Here they talk more about the subject and propose a solution with saves exchange between retroarch and adrenaline but it seems quite tedious, maybe with your method a definitive solution can be obtained

Brave fencer fix

I can check too once I get home there for Sunday maybe. but as I said above, the basic method is very similar to DQ for most games, some the sector is already at the end of the game or in the middle and it's more complicated, but it's worth checking, usually they are in offset from 0 to D3AF.

 

[cvskid]

For ps1 games on vita that don't work right due to not having popsloader you can use retroarch on the system from what i've heard.

 

[goma341]

For ps1 games on vita that don't work right due to not having popsloader you can use retroarch on the system from what i've heard.

Its not the same, i prefer having them on adrenaline with cover art and such things, also on retroarch, there are bugs and some games doesn't run at full speed

 

[The_Ho]

For ps1 games on vita that don't work right due to not having popsloader you can use retroarch on the system from what i've heard.

Yes, it's true thanks for the collaboration.

Its not the same, i prefer having them on adrenaline with cover art and such things, also on retroarch, there are bugs and some games doesn't run at full speed

I also like Adrenaline for the same reason.

 

[darksweet]

Dude can you look on the Brave Fencer Musashi (US)... they only release the Japanese Version on PSN... US version stuck on on the The Prologue it freeze and after you beat Skullpion a scene should play but is just a black screen... this is a Gem of a Game im still want to play it... thanks in advance.. (NO pressure)

 

[Deleted member 42501]

Dude can you look on the Brave Fencer Musashi (US)... they only release the Japanese Version on PSN... US version stuck on on the The Prologue it freeze and after you beat Skullpion a scene should play but is just a black screen... this is a Gem of a Game im still want to play it... thanks in advance.. (NO pressure)

Was about to ask the same thing!

More info on this one as its always been an iffy title for PSX on PSP:

Hahaha or you can do the REAL EASY FIX BFM is an old well known problematic game since the darkalex days and got a permanent fix years ago is not an adrenaline related is PSP hardware related problem fix is next: 1.-Get popstation plugin and use 5.00m33-6 popstarter version 2.- Get BFM from Redump (VERY IMPORTANT) 3.- Convert it with Popstation GUI 300 BETA or PSX2PSP 1.3 ONLY using game ID SLPS-01156(VERY IMPORTANT) 4.-Enjoy
It's not perfect tough because one issue remain sometimes the intro movie crash the game but if you skip it the rest of the game plays flawlessly

Getting this classic working properly would be amazing. You also need to keep the disc speed at standard as fast makes it very buggy.

 

[The_Ho]

Does anyone have a save file close to Skullpion to upload?