zodttd
Solving your premature emulation since the Tapwave
Tinnus is quick with the responses. Good thing he's usually right. 
Thanks Tinnus!
Thanks Tinnus!
Playstation Emulation
- Thread starter zodttd
- Start date
This might be a dumb question, but I don't have a PSP so I don't follow things that closely. I know you said that you're considering implementing EBOOT support for the compression benefits. I've seen stuff around the internet where certain games need certain hacked versions of the PSP firmware to run the PSX eboot files. The main one I'm thinking of is Chrono Cross, where it says that loader 3.72 pops version (whatever that means) is required. Is that just to actually emulate the game properly that it needs this newer version of the firmware? Or are there differing versions of eboot files? (I guess I'm just trying to determine if something like this will apply to eboot implementation in a Pandora PSX emulator.)
plopperz
Huh?
I'm about 90% sure that there are no different types of eboot files. ROM sites don't mention any firmware requirement in the description of the eboot (at least, not on the site I go to)
Prophet
God I'm old.
I've compiled many PSX eboots for my PSP.
The eboot format has nothing to do with Popsloader & Pops versions - that's an emulation matter limited to the PSP only. Basically some games work better with old versions of Sony's emulator (Pops), so a utility called Popsloader (the name makes sense now eh?) was created to allow people to launch different games with different versions of the emulator.
Eboot format is basically just a compressed container format. The game CD image and a few GUI related files are contained. Pandora's PSX emu (when programmed to do so) can decompress and read the data from an eboot just like the PSP does.
Also - I recommend making your own eboots if you can. It can make a difference if you want to be sure you get a good disc image, with complete CDDA tracks and level 9 compression etc. No guarantess with pre-compiled eboots from ROM sites.
The eboot format has nothing to do with Popsloader & Pops versions - that's an emulation matter limited to the PSP only. Basically some games work better with old versions of Sony's emulator (Pops), so a utility called Popsloader (the name makes sense now eh?) was created to allow people to launch different games with different versions of the emulator.
Eboot format is basically just a compressed container format. The game CD image and a few GUI related files are contained. Pandora's PSX emu (when programmed to do so) can decompress and read the data from an eboot just like the PSP does.
Also - I recommend making your own eboots if you can. It can make a difference if you want to be sure you get a good disc image, with complete CDDA tracks and level 9 compression etc. No guarantess with pre-compiled eboots from ROM sites.
Straightforward .CSO would be my preference. Less fluff. Eboot format has only become popular because that's what Sony's PSX emulator in the PSP uses - the eboot launches the emulator which launches the ISO, rather than the usual way around of the emulator just launching the ISO.
Prophet
God I'm old.
Recompiling eboots to CSO (which is a compressed ISO format used on PSP) would be pretty valueless. Can't use them on PSP that way - with eboot format, the user can use the same file on Pandora and PSP. That's the beauty of it. Many people already have dozens or hundreds of PSX games compiled in eboots.cools said:
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Vollgasasi
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would we have that preview we see on the psp when browsing the crossmediabar by using eboots on the pandora? because i really like these nice previews before selecting a game.
crazedover
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That preview on the PSP is not a preview of the game. It's a custom made movie that's in the eboot file. So if you want to see those movies on the Pandora, then 1) the emulator will have to have support for the movie file (unlikely) and 2) someone will have to make the movie file for each game (again, unlikely).Vollgasasi said:
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Chip
[Insert Custom Title Here]
EDIT: Nevermind. Tinnus confirmed EBOOT in another thread today. My post was based on old info.
On a slightly related note: Would it be possible to get a "Delete Post" button?
On a slightly related note: Would it be possible to get a "Delete Post" button?
cools said:Agree wholeheartedly, I'm just very fussy about file formats. Supporting eboots is one thing, just as long as it's not exclusive.Prophet said:
Think No-intro rather than Goodtools
I can't see where people are getting the idea that it makes sense to de-support file formats...
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Vollgasasi
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i know that you have to make these previews yourself, but as i own a psp and love psx, i have many of them ready to be played on the pandora on my hddcrazedover said:
what about background sound and maybe these preview movies? would this be possible? (just asking for the possibility)Tinnus said:Supporting just a preview image shouldn't be hard though
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The original question implied EBOOT or CSO were being considered. Out of the two I'd go for CSO every time.Tinnus said:
Both would of course be far superior
I don't mind stripping the extra crap off the eboot to give a clean file Movies in an eboot are PMF. Sound is Atrac3.Game_over said:
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Tobriand
Well-Known Member
Just a thought re: previews, as an alternative to adding lots of extra video support, I wonder how onerous it would be to add in emumovie (or whatever they're called) support instead - i.e. user hits record, emu generates a savestate at the requisite point and records all button inputs and their time of input for until the user hits stop. This then gets saved in the header somewhere (if that's possible - if not, just create an extra file), and the preview then is displayed realtime emulated.
Of course, done this way, every user would still have to generate their own previews, I imagine, but they could be done on the fly within the emulator.
Potential problems, as ever, may abound though. The most obvious is whether those writing the emu want to include such a feature at this stage - it's the sort of thing that adds professionalism to it, but is hardly a major win beyond flashiness. There are, however, also issues of stability (this is of course very similar to the way savestate previews worked in DrMD and others, and there, whilst it mostly worked, there were definitely instances where savestate previews caused the whole thing to crash), and time (ISOs are big things - doing a preview like this might take a little while to load - however long it takes a game to load in the first place - which might reduce the attraction somewhat). There's also the question as to whether the average user will want the menu of the emulator to end up taking up as much battery as the emulator itself, though seeing as the time spent watching previews is likely to be fairly slim, I don't see this as an especially dire issue. Oh, and finally, whether you want to end up with lots of generated files not in the eboot that need to hang around with it in order to keep the preview, if it's not possible to store the data inside them.
Anyway, an interesting possibility that's worth raising.
Of course, done this way, every user would still have to generate their own previews, I imagine, but they could be done on the fly within the emulator.
Potential problems, as ever, may abound though. The most obvious is whether those writing the emu want to include such a feature at this stage - it's the sort of thing that adds professionalism to it, but is hardly a major win beyond flashiness. There are, however, also issues of stability (this is of course very similar to the way savestate previews worked in DrMD and others, and there, whilst it mostly worked, there were definitely instances where savestate previews caused the whole thing to crash), and time (ISOs are big things - doing a preview like this might take a little while to load - however long it takes a game to load in the first place - which might reduce the attraction somewhat). There's also the question as to whether the average user will want the menu of the emulator to end up taking up as much battery as the emulator itself, though seeing as the time spent watching previews is likely to be fairly slim, I don't see this as an especially dire issue. Oh, and finally, whether you want to end up with lots of generated files not in the eboot that need to hang around with it in order to keep the preview, if it's not possible to store the data inside them.
Anyway, an interesting possibility that's worth raising.
Prophet
God I'm old.
I agree completely. Reading png for a small preview would be enough. PSP's movie/audio previews are very cute, but ultimately unimportant - after seeing them a couple of times they lose their charm anyway.Tinnus said:...and we're not going to support PMF and Atract3 decoding just for that. PNG is something, but that's just too much for an emulator... I believe you'd want we working in the emulation instead
Emulation compatability is what matters most.
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Lobo
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I think the coders would be better spending there time on the actual emulation, instead of shiny, flashy but ultimately gimmicky and pointless features like this.
I mean really, why do I need to see a preview of a game I own before I play it? It's not like I've never played the game before and don't know what it's about.
And even if it was some pirate ROM I randomly downloaded off the net, after the first time I played it I would know what it's like, thus eliminating the need for previews.
I mean, we are talking about big PSX roms here, it's not like you're going to have 300 of them on your SD card and not know which game is which.
My €0.02
I mean really, why do I need to see a preview of a game I own before I play it? It's not like I've never played the game before and don't know what it's about.
And even if it was some pirate ROM I randomly downloaded off the net, after the first time I played it I would know what it's like, thus eliminating the need for previews.
I mean, we are talking about big PSX roms here, it's not like you're going to have 300 of them on your SD card and not know which game is which.
My €0.02
