PSP game save tweeks

[Ludikhris]

Its possible... and very easy I might add to squeeze a couple extra k outta your memory card saves. This may be general knowledge at this point but I may as well state it for the newbs anyways.

When you connect your PSP via USB you get into the folders for game saves / music / video etc...... When you go into the game saves they are multiple files, not just the saves themselves. Youll notice all games have a "ICON0.PNG" file and some have additional files. For instance Dynasty Warriors has:

DATA.BIN: This is the actual save part of the folder
ICON0.PNG: This is the icon that you first see when viewing the game save in the game save viewer before labeling it.
PARAM.SFO: Call it the glue that holds it all together, remove this and the file goes corrupt until you put it back in.
SND0.AT3: Definitly an atrac-3 file, music that begins playing when you label the game save
ICON1.PMF: This is a short movie in PMF format that plays when you label the save.

These are all the files that I have run into on my games. Here's the catch to this info.

You can delete all but DATA.BIN and PARAM.SFO and the saves still work... meaning you save a nugget of space.. in the case of Dynasty Warriors thats half a mb per game save (youll probably only have one though)

Your other option is to replace those other files with custom files to show off to your friends. Just remember to make little folders for each game on the desktop and store the originals there.

Some general rules of thumb

The new files must match name with the old ones, therefore the old files must be moved to the PC if you want to save them.

DONT TOUCH DATA.BIN or PARAM.SFO IF YOU WANT THE SAVE TO WORK!!!

You can convert pretty much any image file (jpeg, gif, etc) into a PNG file... just do it through bitmap, but remeber the resolution for Icons is 144 X 80 and backgrounds is 480 X 272. You can be a little off but don't over or under do it cause it will look funny.

I havent done any testing with PMF files but I imagine if you find a converter it will transform just about any video to PMF.

You can also drop in a atrac-3 file song into the file if you want, just name it the same as the existing one.

I have not found anyway to make a file execute when there isnt an original i.e. there is no sound file or movie file that plays during untold legends file save, therefore I would not know how to make one exist. I have only been able to swap out existing files for new ones.

(UPDATE) I must have never tried it because I recently added music and a video file to a save that had previously never had it. Good news indeed!!

Neat trick though.

Ludikhris

[PS3 News]

Nice informative post Ludikhris!

[Ludikhris]

Update:

It seems as though once you make changes to the files they stay that way... even if you save a game over that one. This means that the files affect the pictures and movies seen in the save game viewer are only created once when creating a new save game. Therefore it is kind of cool to mod them and change them. I had to check this because I got thinking that it would over write when you saved the games again..... it doesnt though. When I get some spare time I may look into adding new files to include music and or motion pictures if they dont already. In fact when I get a chance (this weekend) Ill write a whole guide for the process I have found so far including what software to use. I still need to mess with the video files etc.

For those with bigger sticks that dont mind using a few mb on save game files... you could probably make these look impressive to show off to friends.

Ludikhris

[Ludikhris]

Ok apparently the AT3 files is not an Atrac file but a type made specifically for PSP games. I have some hints that I will be able to make them and when I do... ill post about it. Ill mess with the video stuff sometime soon.

I also found the SFO files are font files... not sure why they cant be removed... but they cant at this point.

The reason, it seems, that some dont have the cooler options is because some games create multiple saves per game. Untold legends for instance uses only an icon... that would be because like me, many users have 3 or more saves..... extra movie and sound bytes would burden the memory badly, especially for such a mundane option.

Ludikhris


FIGHT THE MAN!! DONT BUY PSP GAMES THAT HOLD FIRMWARE UPDATES!!!

[Ludikhris]

Wow my bad.... apparently you can just drop files in as long as the name matches up to add elements that dont currently exist on file saves.....

Example:
My Dynasty Warriors files now play fine along to my Untold Legends game save.... let me check video......

Yepo... video too.. This means the firmware on the PSP is set to look for those particular files.... I also noticed this...

ICON0.PNG image file for icon
ICON1.OMF movie for icon after labeled

it appears as though there is an order in which they play... I wonder if I could string up more movies or something.... Ill run more tests....

But good news indeed, you can now customize the save files better.

I will be nice to put my character names for Untold Legends on the save file they belong to.

Ludikhris


FIGHT THE MAN!! dont update firmware