[sandungas]

Originally Posted by svenmullet Hey @sandungas , did you still want me to send you the 12GB .DAT file that Playonline creates on PS3? I actually gave up on this and deleted all of them, but I could get it all set up again if it helps any. I think this is cool what you're working on

12Gb its huge but you can crop the first partition (is always 128mb and 95% of it is filled with zeroes so after compression this is like 2mb)
First partition if from 0x00000000... to 0x08000000

[svenmullet]

It compresses to 5.79MB

http://www.filefactory.com/file/5ypq.../SCUS97269_rar

[sandungas]

Good then, this way others can take a look because the socom installation is different (in the stuff inside the PFS filesystem)

I cant mess with this stuff inside the filesystem because i was used to ps2 scene years ago but as a user, i know names of some apps related with this (and not much more), i never used a HDD in PS2


Edit:
Btw, i have edited the partition structure in the previous page, there is an .elf in the first 128mb partition (without filesystem)... and another inside a PFS filesystem (im talking about socom... in ffxi maybe there are more .elf's in the filesystem)

[richi902]

APA partition 0 (__mbr) <--- 128 mb contains partitions, but also the mbr-kelf, i think the mbr kelf is not there, on the ps3. APA partition 1 ( __net) <--- 128 mb contains network configurations, but also information needed by playonline to determine if the hdd and ps2 are the ones used for installation off playonline, that information is generated during the playonline installation. APA partition 2 ( __system) <--- 128mb contains either the "elfhosdsys.elf" in "osd100" folder, or the psbbn "osdboot.elf" in "p2lboot" folder. booth are magicgate encrypted. i guess they are not there on the ps3 vhd image. APA partition 3 ( __sysconf) <--- 128 mb contains different system settings from psbbn and hdd-osd. also some modules(i think) used by some games/software. it also contains a japanese word dictinary. APA partition 4 ( __common) <--- 128 mb contains folders used for save games only, as far as i know. APA partition 5 ( __empty) <--- 128 mb |- header APA partition 6 ( __empty) <--- 256 mb |- header APA partition 7 ( __empty) <--- 1 GB |- header

thats it i guess about the partitions what they contain on a normal ps2.
but on the playonlone vhd there should also be atleast a playonline partition
something like "PP.SCUS-95269.PLAYONLINE." or similiarm, cant remember.
you should try replace the "dnasload.elf" in that partition with for example a
"hacked-ule" injected into a region-free DVDELF.BIN.
either edit the elf name in the partition header or, rename the "hacked-ule" to
dnasload.elf, and it should work i guess.
but first youneed to be able to mount the vhd to replace the main elf in the
partition , as i said pcsx2 might the right one, if you use it with a
not injected "hacked ule" which can access sony password protcted
partitions just as normal for write/read access.

[svenmullet]

Is there a pcsx2 plugin for HDD? I can't find one...

[richi902]

yes there is one, but the problem was, as far as i remember, that you cant use network and hdd at the same time, i dont know if it changed now....
the plugin uses HDD images, so the ps3's ps2-hdd image might work with it.

[samson]

i did a bit of googling and MegaDev9 looks like the hdd plugin you want.. http://emulationrealm.net/modules/sm...php?itemid=239

[lewy20041]

i just checked it out with pcsx2 and hacked ulelf. i can acces the image.dat from there! this must lead to ssomething

[sandungas]

My first test (and probably the last one) replacing OSD by uLaunchELF failed
Remember i was talking about to replace the osd (where the mbr points with "osd start" offset that contains an ELF)...This is what i called "target 1"

Originally Posted by sandungas I will try to explain what i did for others to replicate (and correct my mistakes), but first the calculations: 1 HDD sector = 512 bytes (0x200) resized ULE ------------------ original osd size ---> 0x78200 = 492.032 bytes ule original size ---> 0xE0084 = 917.636 bytes ule needed size ---> 1793 sectors*512 = 918.016 bytes = 0xE0200 cropped OSD -------------------- osd start = 40 0000 osd end needed = 4E 0200 (this is the osd start offset + the size needed by ule) Step 1 (crop the first APA partition from "FF XI" or "SOCOM" IMAGE.DAT) ------------------------------------------------------- From 0x0... to 0x800 0000 Step 2 (resize ULE to a fixed HDD sector size) -------------------------------------------- Open ule_440h_hacked.ELF and add some zeroes to the end of the file to fit in 0xE0200 bytes Step 3 (crop the first 0xE0200 bytes of the osd area in the APA partition) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From 0x40 0000... to 0x4E 0200 Step 4 (inject ule_440h_hacked.ELF at osd position) ------------------------------------------------------- same offset than previous step 0x40 0000... paste the file there Step 5 (correct the "osd size" value in the header to match the new bigger osd area) --------------------------------------------------------------------- At offset 0x134.... the value "C1 03 00 00" is the old "osd size" (in HDD sectors) The new injected ulaunchelf has 1793 sectors = 0x701(in hex)= "01 07 00 00"(in little endian)... change it Step 6 (correct the checksum of the whole IMAGE.DAT file) --------------------------------------------------------- The first 4 bytes of the file (before the "APA" magic) i have no idea how to do it, neither his format

I know, its a noob approach to the boot process, but this is the idea
I dont know if the whole thing has failed because the checksum, or there are other mistakes (probably)
Also, im not 100% sure if this ulaunchelf is in the correct format to be placed there (but there is a ELF inside the original osd in this area)
Additionally i tested this with a ps3 slim, but like i said before this tryes to boot even in a slim, but the error message i have today is the same one Lady Anne Blunt and me was having weeks ago when we was doing tests with the category "2G" (we had no IMAGE.DAT inside USRDIR), this makes me think my IMAGE.DAT is not recognized at all

[svenmullet]

You think you have problems? I can't get hosdsys.elf to work on my ps2. Followed @richi902 's guide for getting the HDD OSD running with non-sony HDD to the letter, I launch it, the HDD briefly flashes then it either blackscreens or returns to the ps2 browser (with no hdd icon, just the mc)

I don't know what I'm missing here. It's a non-modified 30001 ntsc u/c with network adapter and 80GB Maxtor HDD installed, I formatted with the hacked ule (it creates the __system partition automatically) I copied the hosd110 folder into it and boot the hosdsys.elf from within the folder... no joy.

[edit] I just found a hacked atad.irx file, gonna play around with that and see what happens...