Hacking Emulation POPS on PSP/Vita - Config Research

[Webardo]

A few things to note about your post:

- You don't need cdda_enabler in Adrenaline, and it can't really be "disabled", Adrenaline contains the CDDA enabling patch built-in and it's always applied (https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/...2f93176f210bc4c5f4a08/cef/popcorn/main.c#L158).

- You can't use "Force Extra Memory" with Pops (or XMB for that matter, only PSP games/homebrew), enabling it has no effect. No CFW ever will let you actually do this as it crashes POPS due to how much use of static addresses it has. (https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/...c4c5f4a08/cef/systemctrl/main.c#L403C6-L403C6).

Really? Didn't know that, so thanks for telling me. I will edit that post as to not confuse anyone with bad settings.
Also, I don't have a Vita, so that bit about the built-in CDDA is news to me. Sound really neat honestly.

@Webardo and @The_Ho

Hello colleagues, thank you for the links to these latest fixes through ppf patches. I understand that Mortal Kombat Trilogy with that patch would be functional in adrenaline?

I have also reviewed the thread on psx-place and I can notice that the developer of Pop Fe is there, because I wanted to tell you if you could report an error that occurs when converting these 3 games:

LEGO Rock Riders PAL
Santa Claus Saves the Earth PAL
The Great Battle VI JP

These games work correctly when converted with PSXPSP but since they include audio tracks I am trying to reduce their weight by converting the tracks to AT3.
In general, since I don't speak much English, I ask you if you could comment on the dev in that forum, maybe this way he can fix them and little by little Pop Fe improves for everyone.

Thank you and I hope I have explained myself.

What problem do those games show?

 

[The_Ho]

@Webardo @Snowbro88

It appears that POP-fe has difficulties dealing with EXE files.

I only analyzed one of these games that @Snowbro88 says he doesn't convert, in this case the Great Battle VI game. You need to force a new ID via command line or open Track 1 in a HEX editor and edit the BOOT line, in sector 23. In the case of Great Battle VI, Replace psx.exe;1 with the game ID in PSXDATACenter, SLPS_007.19 ;.. this will make the game be converted normally by POP-FE. If the game does not work, in sector 22, also change the PSX.EXE with the same ID. I believe it will solve the problem.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Also, I don't have a Vita, so that bit about the built-in CDDA is news to me. Sound really neat honestly.

Sorry I thought this was Adrenaline-only, I forgot that PSP pops can also have issues. Except for the cdda_enabler thing, the rest is also valid for PSP.

One more thing I forgot to mention: you can't really change CPU clock speed for POPS, only VSH and PSP Games. Reason for this is that Pops will always run at 333MHz (Overclock) and lowering it results in slow gameplay.

So basically, "Force Extra RAM" and changing CPU speeds don't have any effect in Pops.

 

[Webardo]

You need to force a new ID via command line or open Track 1 in a HEX editor and edit the BOOT line, in sector 23. In the case of Great Battle VI, Replace psx.exe;1 with the game ID in PSXDATACenter, SLPS_007.19 ;.. this will make the game be converted normally by POP-FE. If the game does not work, in sector 22, also change the PSX.EXE with the same ID. I believe it will solve the problem.

Tried that, and although the game does convert, it softlocks at the PS logo. Most likely because the game can't run its executable this way.

Will report this in the github now, so that proper psx.exe support can be added.

Also, i tried Alien Resurrection, and the framerate issues are from the game itself. The PSP appears to run it properly.

 

[Snowbro88]

@Webardo

Thanks, I was also thinking of reporting the Pop Fe conversion problems on github in those specific games.

In fact, only The Great Battle VI has "psx.exe" instead of a Game ID, LEGO Rock Riders and Santa Claus Saves the Earth do have the corresponding Game ID and the problem in the conversion is immediate and seems to be the same.

I hope that the dev will review this issue now that it is an active project.

 

[TheBlobber]

Hello I have the games which are Ninpu Sentai Harikenger (SLPS-03493) and Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger (SLPS-03353). I injected it with the setgui program and changed the ID in PSX2PSP. Unfortuantely it didnt work and I dont know if these games work on the PSP. I used Popsload 3.51 but the PSP crashed.

 

[mrjaredbeta]

Hey all, cool stuff going on here. I just want to share that PSP POPS external configs, similar to how the newly discovered ps1_netemu configs on PS3 work, are now a thing thanks to the research put in by kozarovv. When changing title ID, the internal config for the selected title is enabled, but now it should be possible to supply a custom config inside the EBOOT instead of resorting to title ID changes, giving greater control on what config commands are being enabled.

Stuff is still being worked out by kozarovv. I will be opening a thread soon on PSX-Place about this POPS config research soon as I am not active on this site, but letting you all know before I do.

 

[Webardo]

Hey all, cool stuff going on here. I just want to share that PSP POPS external configs, similar to how the newly discovered ps1_netemu configs on PS3 work, are now a thing thanks to the research put in by kozarovv. When changing title ID, the internal config for the selected title is enabled, but now it should be possible to supply a custom config inside the EBOOT instead of resorting to title ID changes, giving greater control on what config commands are being enabled.

Stuff is still being worked out by kozarovv. I will be opening a thread soon on PSX-Place about this POPS config research soon as I am not active on this site, but letting you all know before I do.

I've been following that forum for ps1_netemu and can only say that you're all doing a great job! And now this about POPS external configs is just a lovely surprise. Thanks to all of you .

Post automatically merged: Sep 29, 2023

Hello I have the games which are Ninpu Sentai Harikenger (SLPS-03493) and Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger (SLPS-03353). I injected it with the setgui program and changed the ID in PSX2PSP. Unfortuantely it didnt work and I dont know if these games work on the PSP. I used Popsload 3.51 but the PSP crashed.

Which ID did you use? If you used a japanese one (say, SCPS or SLPS) there's no need to patch your japanese game. Patching is only needed if you want to use an ID from a different region.

I used ID SLPS-01222 for both games, and left popsloader on original from flash. Everything worked fine that way.

 

[The_Ho]

@Webardo >> The ID SCPS10087
It worked perfectly for me also in Gran Turismo 2, and this time without needing POPsLoader like on the PSP where I use 6.10, so it also works for PSVita users.

#
But given the new discoveries, I think that betting on GAMEIDs may now be a waste of time. POP-FE will certainly come with several improvements in the future and the corrections based on ps1_netemu for PS1 on PSP will give us more configuration accuracy than using GameIDs. I think now I will wait a while and I thank everyone so far.
I'll still be here with you, but maybe less intense in search of GAMEIDs. I think the focus on new things like pop-fe etc... will be more promising.

Thank you to everyone who supported my post, commented and has been here forever, bringing news, new corrections, information, etc... you are incredible.
#

@mrjaredbeta It would be incredible in the future to see a list like this from the PS1 Classic for PS3 also on the PSP, with so much detail.

So I'm gonna be that guy but has anyone fix the graphical glitches with Bubsy 3D?

@PacBunnyXV07

Yes, there has been a fix for Bubsy3D for some time: SetRegionGUI for the Japanese region and apply GAMEID SLPS01343

 

[mrjaredbeta]

@mrjaredbeta It would be incredible in the future to see a list like this from the PS1 Classic for PS3 also on the PSP, with so much detail.

I have plans for a list like this soon on the PSP Dev Wiki. I am thinking of having a format that includes what Title ID fixes games will be great to help document games and configs.

For now, kozarovv has been reversing and compiling a ton of information for POPS. I can't share links, but PSP Dev Wiki now has a page for POPS that goes through config commands, a list of internal configs, and more. Look up "POPS" on the wiki.

But given the new discoveries, I think that betting on GAMEIDs may now be a waste of time.

I actually think this method has been fantastic for config research purposes. For example, SCPS-10087 has an internal config that uses 8 separate commands. I am sure Gran Turismo 2 does not need all 8, but this can certainly help with discovering what these commands do/fix, and also can help test other games with a lump sum of config commands instead of going one by one.

For now, we do not have an easy way to insert custom external configs into the EBOOT, but it should be happening soon. I have been compiling a ton of configs that we can use with POP-FE in the future, but a little more reversing still has to happen, as well as Ronnie implementing it into POP-FE. In any case, I still think testing via Title ID can be very beneficial, and we can add all of this info to the POPS compatibility list when it is created.

 

[Webardo]

In any case, I still think testing via Title ID can be very beneficial, and we can add all of this info to the POPS compatibility list when it is created.

I was actually thinking about that. Checking setting by setting would be a pain in the ass, however, if we used the built-in presets we could test what settings help with specific games. It'd be funny to know that Sony just set everything on for RE2 .

Can't tell for sure, but both SLPS-01156 (Momotarou Densetsu 7) and SLPS-01724 (Mobile Suit Gundam - Char's Counterattack) appear to underclock the emulated cpu? I got to read from the dev of an abandoned POPS decompilation that there are traces of a recompiler used, mainly because of the PSP's lack of an MMU (there's an MMU, not a proper one however, due to its lack of a TLB), so instructions may not be run off as "natively" as usually thought.

To help yourself, do check for this small list, it has some of the most useful IDs.

@Webardo >> The ID SCPS10087
It worked perfectly for me also in Gran Turismo 2, and this time without needing POPsLoader like on the PSP where I use 6.10, so it also works for PSVita users.

Nice to know! Didn't even cross my mind to try it on GT2 . I do know that both GT2 Plus and the combined disc mod work with SLPS-02480, so I hope those two also works with this .

Thank you to everyone who supported my post, commented and has been here forever, bringing news, new corrections, information, etc... you are incredible.

Hey, most of us here should be thanking you too. You've really helped a ton this past year and a half!

 

[Snowbro88]

I remember that there is a Game ID that fixes the Lego Island 2 game for PSP, but I can't currently find that information on the internet.

Does anyone know or remember what that Game ID is?

 

[Webardo]

I remember that there is a Game ID that fixes the Lego Island 2 game for PSP, but I can't currently find that information on the internet.

Does anyone know or remember what that Game ID is?

It works with disc speed set to fast, although it takes sometime to load new dialogue.

You could also use the ID SLPS-00025 and fast disc speed, seems to load the voices faster.

It appears that "The Great Battle VI", "Santa Claus Saves the World" and "LEGO Rock Raiders" have been fixed in this release of pop-fe.

 

[PacBunnyXV07]

@Webardo >> The ID SCPS10087
It worked perfectly for me also in Gran Turismo 2, and this time without needing POPsLoader like on the PSP where I use 6.10, so it also works for PSVita users.

#
But given the new discoveries, I think that betting on GAMEIDs may now be a waste of time. POP-FE will certainly come with several improvements in the future and the corrections based on ps1_netemu for PS1 on PSP will give us more configuration accuracy than using GameIDs. I think now I will wait a while and I thank everyone so far.
I'll still be here with you, but maybe less intense in search of GAMEIDs. I think the focus on new things like pop-fe etc... will be more promising.

Thank you to everyone who supported my post, commented and has been here forever, bringing news, new corrections, information, etc... you are incredible.
#

@mrjaredbeta It would be incredible in the future to see a list like this from the PS1 Classic for PS3 also on the PSP, with so much detail.

@PacBunnyXV07

Yes, there has been a fix for Bubsy3D for some time: SetRegionGUI for the Japanese region and apply GAMEID SLPS01343

What about for Terracon? Also is Digimon World 2003 problematic on the Vita? There a NTSC patch for it and wanna try it out.

 

[TheBlobber]

Hello I have the games which are Ninpu Sentai Harikenger (SLPS-03493) and Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger (SLPS-03353). I injected it with the setgui program and changed the ID in PSX2PSP. Unfortuantely it didnt work and I dont know if these games work on the PSP. I used Popsload 3.51 but the PSP crashed.

Does someone knows a solution for these games?

 

[mrjaredbeta]

I have created a new list on PSP Dev Wiki for a POPS compatibility list. Still cannot post links, but you should be able to find it. It is titled "PS1 Classics Emulator Compatibility List" on the wiki.

Anyone, everyone, feel free to edit in what is compatible, what is not, anything. I think it may be better to keep this list as a 6.61 POPS compatibility list for uniformity, or you can add notes about POPS versions in notes section per game.

 

[Webardo]

I have created a new list on PSP Dev Wiki for a POPS compatibility list. Still cannot post links, but you should be able to find it. It is titled "PS1 Classics Emulator Compatibility List" on the wiki.

Anyone, everyone, feel free to edit in what is compatible, what is not, anything. I think it may be better to keep this list as a 6.61 POPS compatibility list for uniformity, or you can add notes about POPS versions in notes section per game.

Here ya go:
https://www.psdevwiki.com/psp/PS1_Classics_Emulator_Compatibility_List

Does someone knows a solution for these games?

ID SLPS-01222 for both games, and popsloader on original from flash.

 

[Snowbro88]

Hello, I can see that recently many new fixes have been found, some not reported anywhere like Bubsy 3D, so I want to ask if any of you have found a solution for the following games on adrenaline?

Swagman
T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger
Road Rash Jailbreak
Eggs of Steel

Thank you.

 

[mrjaredbeta]

Swagman

What is the issue for this game? I just tested, every track plays properly in music test, including track 4. Is there an issue later on?

 

[Snowbro88]

What is the issue for this game? I just tested, every track plays properly in music test, including track 4. Is there an issue later on?

The game starts and seems to work well, but moving forward a little in the game, when it reaches the garden part, it freezes and from that point on you can no longer advance. I have only tried it on Adrenaline, on PSP I never tried it with Popsloader.