Hacking Emulation POPS on PSP/Vita - Config Research

[ciarli-b]

Off-tangent but maybe interesting still.

These patches are absolutely useful and I plan to add them to pop-fe at some stage.
We don't need them for PS Classics on PSP or PS3 because we recently found out that sony had added special fields in EBOOT.PBP/ISO.BIN.DAT to provide to inject data to handle libcrypt.
In fact, sony did not just add a way to inject the libcrypt data into EBOOt/ISO.BIN, they provided TWO different ways to do so!!!
You can either inject the actual subchannel data, basically a not quite identical but close enough equivalent of an SBI file or you can alternatively just inject the "magic word" at a special place in the EBOOT/ISO.BIN.

So, libcrypt should be solved once and for all now for PSP and PS3.
Your PPF patches for libcrypt will still be very valuable because there are a couple of targets I support that do not support either sony's format or even SBI files, for example PS2 and PSIO, and for those the only option is to apply a PPF.

Post automatically merged: Oct 8, 2023

Don't use the latest release. This is still very much a work in progress so I am not creating releases for this until it is ready for general use.

If you want to test it you will need to download the build artefacts for the most recent automatic build that is available under the Actions tab.

Ok, thanks. I did as you suggested and now the game works. Thank you again

 

[wad11656]

I did just test a disc swap for Fear Effect without any config using a pop-fe EBOOT. Everything worked fine for me, no unknown disc error, so probably just some older issue on PSX2PSP. I assume Fear Effect 2 is the same, neither need any config and work properly if converted through pop-fe.

I actually had tested a pop-fe build of that game last night before making my post here, and still got the error.

I'm guessing you're on Vita. I just tested on Vita, and the error didn't occur there, so it must be a Vita vs. PSP issue. (Fear Effect 2 same thing -- pop-fe build has same 'unknown disc format' on psp, but not vita.) I'll add a Vita column to the spreadsheet, which we've been needing anyway. (Though the vast majority of the time I assume/hope the compatibility will match between 6.61 psp & Vita w/ pop-fe builds. But i'd still prefer we verify on both devices individually before marking down their compatibility in the spreadsheet)

 

[The_Ho]

I tested some CONFIGs and so far they are all perfect. @Webardo, as for Bugs Bunny, did you use a specific GAMEID to create the CONFIG or did you use a configuration crossover? It's working perfectly, with no sound, speed, language or loading problems as far as I've played.

I tested the Brain Dead config in Driver 2 which has problems changing discs, from disc 1 to 2 it seems to change even if forced, without the game asking, but from disc 2 to 1 when the game asks for a change, it doesn't work , just restarting. I don't know if at the end of CD1 the exchange will be normal for this reason.

And yes, visit @wad11656 compatibility list, it was practically most of the time a solo work of tremendous effort, see the tireless testing on Star Wars and Valkyrie Profile that he did. When I opened this topic on the forum, I was unaware of the list, but when I found it and saw that it matched my findings, it was a huge help to start finding new methods of fixing GAMEIDs.

Today we have the possibility of assembling configurations precisely and everything has evolved once again, with an incredible collaboration.

s2

 

[mrjaredbeta]

I'm guessing you're on Vita. I just tested on Vita, and the error didn't occur there, so it must be a Vita vs. PSP issue.

Correct. Any testing that will be done on my end is on Vita as I do not have a PSP at the moment. Thank you for re-testing and verifying!

 

[Webardo]

I tested some CONFIGs and so far they are all perfect. @Webardo, as for Bugs Bunny, did you use a specific GAMEID to create the CONFIG or did you use a configuration crossover? It's working perfectly, with no sound, speed, language or loading problems as far as I've played.

It was a crossover. Used both SLPS-01724 and 01222. Believe or not, SLPS-01222 was literally 1 bit away from getting the game to run perfectly.

I tested the Brain Dead config in Driver 2 which has problems changing discs, from disc 1 to 2 it seems to change even if forced, without the game asking, but from disc 2 to 1 when the game asks for a change, it doesn't work , just restarting. I don't know if at the end of CD1 the exchange will be normal for this reason.

Didn't think to try it on Driver 2, mainly because it has a patch to fix that. Or does the patch have any issues? (this is the patch: https://www.speedrun.com/driver_2/guides/ex07q).

And yes, visit @wad11656 compatibility list, it was practically most of the time a solo work of tremendous effort, see the tireless testing on Star Wars and Valkyrie Profile that he did. When I opened this topic on the forum, I was unaware of the list, but when I found it and saw that it matched my findings, it was a huge help to start finding new methods of fixing GAMEIDs.

Indeed, must have been really time consuming, but it turned out really useful to a lot of people, who most likely are grateful too .
And about Valkyrie Profile, could you tell a few useful ID's if possible? I know that if one ID has good sound, it either crashes or looks really bad for example. It may be possible to mix a few configs and get it to finally run perfectly.

 

[ronniesahlberg]

I actually had tested a pop-fe build of that game last night before making my post here, and still got the error.

I'm guessing you're on Vita. I just tested on Vita, and the error didn't occur there, so it must be a Vita vs. PSP issue. (Fear Effect 2 same thing -- pop-fe build has same 'unknown disc format' on psp, but not vita.) I'll add a Vita column to the spreadsheet, which we've been needing anyway. (Though the vast majority of the time I assume/hope the compatibility will match between 6.61 psp & Vita w/ pop-fe builds. But i'd still prefer we verify on both devices individually before marking down their compatibility in the spreadsheet)

Ok, sounds like a psp vs vita issue then.
If you have tested and confirmed then that is good enough for me.
Please send me a config and I will add it

 

[wad11656]

It was a crossover. Used both SLPS-01724 and 01222. Believe or not, SLPS-01222 was literally 1 bit away from getting the game to run perfectly.

Oh my gosh, frankensteining gameID fixes?? You are a mad genius!!! I can't fathom how you'd know which bits to operate on.

Didn't think to try it on Driver 2, mainly because it has a patch to fix that. Or does the patch have any issues? (this is the patch: https://www.speedrun.com/driver_2/guides/ex07q).

Yep! I think that patch works, at least my old self claimed it did on my sheet

And about Valkyrie Profile, could you tell a few useful ID's if possible? I know that if one ID has good sound, it either crashes or looks really bad for example. It may be possible to mix a few configs and get it to finally run perfectly.

I don't think my Valkyrie Profile sheet has anything useful, other than laying out some potential pitfalls I'd noticed:

"How nostalgic" crash

Between-chapter voice lag

Yumei crash

World Map visual lag

Load/New Game chime lag

But I see in my PSX2PSP spreadsheet notes that JAP-Injected (combined ISO) with GameID SLPS-01490 has good audio & gets past the intro crash, but laggy overworld and screen-transitions, and does not get past the Chapters 2-4 Yumei recruitment cutscene (without needing to switch to POPS 6.20 temporarily to get past it).

SLES-00972 gets past the intro crash and has good overworld speed, but has audio cut-offs and lag, like in the "inter-chapter dialogue". It also requires switching to a different POPS (e.g. 6.39) to get past the Yumei cutscene.

Most GameID's get past the Yumei cutscene, but not the intro cutscene. If a GameID can get past the intro cutscene, then it can't get past the Yumei cutscene, and vice versa--99% of the time, it's either one or the other. (But now that you guys found the Game ID patches, we have a lot more IDs we could test..)

 

[mrjaredbeta]

@wad11656 Do you have a save file for the chapter 2-4 freeze somewhere? I have good audio + intro pass at this point.

 

[Webardo]

@wad11656 Do you have a save file for the chapter 2-4 freeze somewhere? I have good audio + intro pass at this point.

I believe it's the fourth save.

 

[wad11656]

I believe it's the fourth save.

haha yeah that's my save! i guess it's already made the rounds

 

[Webardo]

haha yeah that's my save! i guess it's already made the rounds

Indeed it is, I had saved the link a few months ago to try a fix eventually . Guess that now is the time for that.

 

[wad11656]

Ok, sounds like a psp vs vita issue then.
If you have tested and confirmed then that is good enough for me.
Please send me a config and I will add it

I haven't done any new tests with configs yet, but my next goal is to test the BrainDead13 disc-swap config with the games I listed like you suggested. (As you've noted I also have a lot of updating of the spreadsheet to do I think )

 

[mrjaredbeta]

I have been getting decent audio and nostalgia fix on Valkyrie Profile, but I think this game will need some type of 0x0C or 0x0D command to fix Hai Lan. Hai Lan works without any adjustment to command 0x00 (which fixes nostalgia intro), and 0x0C + 0x0D adjusts these settings at specific addresses in memory.

EDIT: Great! I have a fix for both hangs working on Vita/6.61 using command 0x11! The last thing would be to fix audio crackling. Also, I have only been strictly testing the nostalgia and Yumei hang, so potentially there could be other issues (did not even test a battle yet).

 

[Webardo]

I have been getting decent audio and nostalgia fix on Valkyrie Profile, but I think this game will need some type of 0x0C or 0x0D command to fix Hai Lan. Hai Lan works without any adjustment to command 0x00 (which fixes nostalgia intro), and 0x0C + 0x0D adjusts these settings at specific addresses in memory.

EDIT: Great! I have a fix for both hangs working on Vita/6.61 using command 0x11! The last thing would be to fix audio crackling. Also, I have only been strictly testing the nostalgia and Yumei hang, so potentially there could be other issues (did not even test a battle yet).

The third issue the game has is freezing when checking the equipment of any character.

I didn't get as far as you did yesterday, but did notice that command 0x00 set to 0x07 fixes the audio lag and intro, but crashes at Hai Lan (maybe I have it backwards though? I was somewhat sleepy).

 

[mrjaredbeta]

The third issue the game has is freezing when checking the equipment of any character.

Got it. That freeze is still there, so I may need a bit more time and then I will post my progress.

I didn't get as far as you did yesterday, but did notice that command 0x00 set to 0x07 fixes the audio lag and intro, but crashes at Hai Lan (maybe I have it backwards though? I was somewhat sleepy).

That sounds right. Command 0x00 has potential to slow the game down a bit, but combinations of 0x0E + 0x13 values can also help this when in tandem with 0x00.

 

[Webardo]

Got it. That freeze is still there, so I may need a bit more time and then I will post my progress.


That sounds right. Command 0x00 has potential to slow the game down a bit, but combinations of 0x0E + 0x13 values can also help this when in tandem with 0x00.

Sounds plausible.

And sorry, I had it wrong, 0x00 set to 0x0F fixes the intro and audio lag, along with the equipment screen. However, the overworld lags and the Hai-Lan crash is still present.

 

[mrjaredbeta]

Okay, I just found address to fix all three freeze. Here is the current config:

70 00 07 06 00 00 06 06 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
CC 23 01 80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00 00 00 00 CC 23 01 80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF

You can paste (write) to 0x68420 in POP-FE EBOOT to test. Current side effect is somewhat of a slowdown when opening menu, and maybe short ones when transitioning between screens. Feel free to continue and try to find a good audio fix that runs full speed at all time, I may call it quits at this point...

 

[Webardo]

Okay, I just found address to fix all three freeze. Here is the current config:

70 00 07 06 00 00 06 06 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
CC 23 01 80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00 00 00 00 CC 23 01 80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF

You can paste (write) to 0x68420 in POP-FE EBOOT to test. Current side effect is somewhat of a slowdown when opening menu, and maybe short ones when transitioning between screens. Feel free to continue and try to find a good audio fix that runs full speed at all time, I may call it quits at this point...

I'd say the lag is fine. Jumping Flash! 2 uses 0x11, and it lags a lot. Guess that this is due to having to execute a check.

Either way, this is great! Submitting it as is would be fine.
I'll keep trying if any alternatives show up to solve those small hitches, but by this point improvements aren't to be expected much...

 

[mrjaredbeta]

Submitted the config for now. Another game (partially) down!

 

[The_Ho]

It was a crossover. Used both SLPS-01724 and 01222. Believe or not, SLPS-01222 was literally 1 bit away from getting the game to run perfectly.


Didn't think to try it on Driver 2, mainly because it has a patch to fix that. Or does the patch have any issues? (this is the patch: https://www.speedrun.com/driver_2/guides/ex07q).


Indeed, must have been really time consuming, but it turned out really useful to a lot of people, who most likely are grateful too .
And about Valkyrie Profile, could you tell a few useful ID's if possible? I know that if one ID has good sound, it either crashes or looks really bad for example. It may be possible to mix a few configs and get it to finally run perfectly.

Yes, I saw your Bugs Bunny LT fix and there was really only 1 bit missing at 0x00, SLPS01222 had everything to be the perfect ID.

Driver 2 works with this Patch, but the FMVs on the first disc stop working after applying it.

I apologize for not being as active as all of you, every time I come back here everyone has already jumped.

I'll try to at least leave a contribution for now, my life is a bit tiring (again), but it will pass... well...

I made this configuration for GT2, based on SCPS10087 and as @mrjaredbeta said, it doesn't actually seem to need all 8 commands for the game to work well. For now I tested it on a PSVita, Arcade and Simulation discs.

70 00 07 06 00 00 06 06 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF F3 FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 03 00 00 00 FF FF 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
F3 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 03 00 00 00
FF FF 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF

Regarding Digimon 2003 (EU), I haven't tested it yet, but I think the Lost In Time fix might work in the game.

As I'm without the PSP for now and I'm not very sensitive to slight FPS drops, if anyone could test this GT2 config a little more before sending it, I'd appreciate it.

====================================

I saw that there is some compatibility confusion between VITA and PSP. And these differences from what I have already tested are 4:

> Vita Seems to play CDDAs better, having fewer problems with crashes caused by songs. NOTE: DUCATI

> Vita Seems to have less problems with FMVs. NOTE: Worms Armageddon

> Vita seems to have less problems with Disk Swapping. NOTE: Psychic Detective

Against:

> Vita seems to have more problems with creating save files on startup than the PSP. NOTE: International Super Star Soccer, (for this game to work I created a VMP save file on the PC and transferred it to the Vita, otherwise the game would freeze on the data creation screen.)