Hacking Some questions

[Windows_10_User]

that's installing directly to the external hdd, but doing that requires the drive to be in fat32 format. I don't think that's what you meant. sorry to have confused you.

No, sorry, it was my fault since I made a typo that confused you and edited the post afterwards (I noticed it too late). I meant, installing game data from a .iso (or folder file format) from an external HDD vs. installing game data from a .iso (or folder file format) from the PS3's HDD. Since .pkgs from the PS3's HDD install game data faster than the ones from an external HDD, it's the same thing regarding .iso (and folder file format) games.

ISO has about 99% compatibility. some games have issues if just in jb format. you can tell which files are missing by looking at the ird. if you have any psarc files that have been extracted, there will be a folder in there named after the psarc.

And are there games which have issues in .iso (I've been told Persona 5 does) or if not running from the PS3's HDD? Sorry, but how can I see the .ird?

 

[godreborn]

I've never personally come across a game that didn't work.

 

[Windows_10_User]

I've never personally come across a game that didn't work.

On .iso? I've been told certain games only run from the PS3's HDD but I want to avoid wasting its space as much as possible so I'm using an external HDD and trying to avoid .pkg games. Should I use multiMAN, PS3 ISO TOOLS, PS3-ISO-REBUILDER or GenPS3ISO to create the .isos or it doesn't matter which one I use? If still using PS3 ISO TOOLS, should I keep using the makeps3iso setting or the genps3iso one?

 

[godreborn]

keep the settings the same, yes. ps3 iso rebuilder is what I used to convert jb format games.

 

[Windows_10_User]

keep the settings the same, yes. ps3 iso rebuilder is what I used to convert jb format games.

So, I can't find a .psarc folder but especially on my big games I have some .psarc files. I guess The Last of Us's and Uncharted 3: Drake's Fortune GOTY's pak23.psarc are split since I have 3 of those in each game (although these versions don't have the black screen problem, which may be weird since the mentioned files are split). Also, my Red Dead Redemption GOTY has two files named rdr2_layer0.rpf. Does it mean they're split too? I also don't have a black screen problem with this game.

 

[godreborn]

split games usually have .6660x extensions from what I remember. there's no need to split game files anymore though. I think people realized something was wrong with the last of us rip, and instead of reripping it, they wanted you to extract the psarc and replace a few files. that's why it was so difficult to find a game with that psarc intact. the xml that you normally get when extracting doesn't seem to exist or was deleted. like a lot of dumps for systems, there's usually only one or two dumps circling the internet. stuff is never redumped unless there's a major problem with the dump, rendering the game unplayable.

 

[Windows_10_User]

split games usually have .6660x extensions from what I remember. there's no need to split game files anymore though. I think people realized something was wrong with the last of us rip, and instead of reripping it, they wanted you to extract the psarc and replace a few files. that's why it was so difficult to find a game with that psarc intact. the xml that you normally get when extracting doesn't seem to exist or was deleted. like a lot of dumps for systems, there's usually only one or two dumps circling the internet. stuff is never redumped unless there's a major problem with the dump, rendering the game unplayable.

Maybe these spits files are related with not only the black screen problem and/or with the problem where I'm kicked to the XMB when I run a game. I have the latter problem with God of War: Ascension.

 

[godreborn]

in my experience, a black screen is usually the result of a sprx or self issue. if it's the EBOOT, it usually throws an error when you click on it. the self/sprx may not be resigned to the correct firmware.

 

[Windows_10_User]

Maybe if I move the game folder in multiMAN from my external HDD to the PS3's HDD it merges the split parts automatically and I stop having this problem where I'm kicked to the XMB. After that I'd move the game folder to the external HDD, convert it to .iso using PS3 ISO TOOLS and move it to the external HDD. Finally, I'd run the game to see if I still had the problem.

in my experience, a black screen is usually the result of a sprx or self issue. if it's the EBOOT, it usually throws an error when you click on it. the self/sprx may not be resigned to the correct firmware.

Well, this is really confusing, .ird, .psarc, EBOOT.bin, .self and .sprx files. There are games which come with more than one EBOOT.bin. Where can I find the .sprx and .self files? So, it has to be resigned even if I'm on CFW, and if so, to my current FW (4.84)?

 

[godreborn]

you can see what they're signed with with scetool gui. self and sprx files will have the same extension (.self/.sprx).

if you're missing files, then it's often times infinite loading. I know the uncharted games behave that way.

 

[Windows_10_User]

you can see what they're signed with with scetool gui. self and sprx files will have the same extension (.self/.sprx).

if you're missing files, then it's often times infinite loading. I know the uncharted games behave that way.

I have games with slow FMVs and it looks like they have a slight lag when being played (it doesn't even reach a second, perhaps). Is it because they're messed up or because they're being run from USB and not the PS3's HDD, which is faster?

 

[godreborn]

that I don't know.

 

[Windows_10_User]

that I don't know.

What do you think about the problem which kicks you to the XMB after clicking on the games' disc icon? Maybe it's caused by some faulty files.

 

[godreborn]

not all games do that?

 

[Windows_10_User]

not all games do that?

No, only God of War: Ascension. I mount it with multiMAN and some seconds after clicking on its disc icon I'm kicked to the XMB. Maybe it has to do with split files.

 

[godreborn]

this is how the last of us look (the pak23.psarc is intact). I keep backups of everything, so this is an iso I made from 3 different dumps by other people:

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

No, only God of War: Ascension. I mount it with multiMAN and some seconds after having clicked on its disc icon I'm kicked back to the XMB. Maybe it has to do with split files.

Why do some users recommend removing the game data and updating the PS3 games via the triangle button when having problems with them?

compare it to its ird with ps3 iso rebuilder or check with mana gunz on the system itself.

 

[Windows_10_User]

this is how the last of us look (the pak23.psarc is intact). I keep backups of everything, so this is an iso I made from 3 different dumps by other people:

View attachment 187398

View attachment 187399

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



compare it to its ird with ps3 iso rebuilder or check with mana gunz on the system itself.

So, like I told you some of my games' pak23.psarc files are split (unlike that one) even though they have the same name and don't have a 666 file extension. I don't understand how can they have the same name while being on the same directory. How big is your pak23.psarc, by the way?

Maybe I can join them somehow (maybe by using PS3-ISO-REBUILDER, I don't know)? How could the dumps be different, how can you know which one/s don't/doesn't have problems and how can you know how's the game's structure supposed to be? Sorry, this is very confusing to me.

But should I do that with all my games even with the ones I don't have problems with? Do I need to extract the ISOs to do it? I don't have ManaGunZ installed and I can't install it right now or compare the game with its IRD since at this time I don't have access to a PC.

 

[godreborn]

you might want to do it with all games. you can't rebuild a psarc without the xml that came with it. it won't know the structure otherwise. .6660x extension was created by Deank. it's for using games on a fat32 drive (before we could use ntfs). the files are merged and transferred to the internal hdd in a cache.

 

[Windows_10_User]

you might want to do it with all games. you can't rebuild a psarc without the xml that came with it. it won't know the structure otherwise. .6660x extension was created by Deank. it's for using games on a fat32 drive (before we could use ntfs). the files are merged and transferred to the internal hdd in a cache.

So, it's not possible to get that .xml file? Also, multiMAN recognizes my external HDD's NTFS partition's games but its file manager doesn't recognize my NTFS partition. Isn't that odd? I thought multiMAN could join the files when copying the games to the PS3's HDD so I wouldn't need PS3-ISO-REBUILDER and the .xml file.

 

[godreborn]

the xml file I'm referring to is for if a psarc file has been decompiled. it sounds like you may have another problem.

ps3 iso rebuilder is one way to check the integrity of the files. it works with jb or iso.