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Many people have been wondering exactly what the differences are between Development and Retail PlayStation 3 Systems, and we figured now would be a great time to clarify these along with reporting some new findings.

Aside from the different hardware revisions of the PS3's motherboard, the systems are virtually the same as mentioned in previous posts. We have examined multiple PS3 TEST's, Retail PS3's, Demo Unit PS3's, and even Factory Mode PS3's, and found that there are no hardware differences between them at all.

Mind you, there are differences, but they are due to the hardware revision, not due to the systems themselves. To make that more clear, the units are identical to their counterparts of the same hardware revision.

So, the question is- what's the difference? Software!

We all know the difference is in the software, and after examining countless dumps from these systems, on top of flash dumps given to us by you, our loyal re... More »  


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Four new expansions are now listed on the "coming soon" section of the new Criterion Games Web site today.

While at the moment they're simply numbered packs 4-7, they will be unveiled, one by one, over the next four fridays, starting on October 31st.

The only other information available about these packs is that users can expect to see them arrive in Spring 2009. To quote:

Burnout Paradise Pack 4: We'll be unveiling the full content of our next downloadable pack on 31st Oct '08. Of course, we'll bring you all the detail here on www.criteriongames.com. You can expect this pack in Spring '09.

Burnout Paradise Pack 5: Will be announced on 7th November 2008. Check back to www.criteriongames.com on that day for all the detail. You can expect this pack in Spring '09.

Burnout Paradise Pack 6: Will be announced on 14th November 2008. Check back to www.criteriongames.com on that day for all the detail. Yo... More »  


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We recently purchased a new 80GB PlayStation 3 console, and our very own PS3 Dev Courier dissected his new system.

The item that peaked his interest the most was that it had one single 56-pin Flash chip, the S29GL128N90TFIR2, and was 128MB in size in contrast to older PS3 consoles utilizing dual (2x256MB) 48-pin chips totaling 512MB. So, he bought a new adapter, and some blank chips and proceeded to pull the 56-pin flash, and dumped it.

To our surprise, he was unable to dump more than 16MB of it! At first, we believed that the other blocks in the flash were protected via password, however there was something else brewing.

He took the 16MB dump that was made and flashed it onto a completly blank chip, and reinstalled it in the PS3.

To our surprise, it worked!

Now, if you recall, newer version PS3 Firmwares have ask... More »  


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Since today all the owners of a PS3 with infectus could begin to experiment with the firmware patching. :)

Please share ideas questions and feedbacks in this thread comments, it would be appreciated.

Download: PS3 NAND Flow Rebuilder v3.50 BETA

NDT ;-)

From ReadMe: PS3 NAND FLOW REBUILDER v3.50 (including ECC Algo by RPS).

This tool allows to unscramble the blocks of a PS3 dumps ordering them in a way that the dumps become readable and extractable!

It also allow you to re-scramble back to the original order once you modified the data you wants, then from now on it include the ECC recalculation algorithm that was private until today.

It's for study and tests purposes, for experienced people only (devs) that this way can manage the files inside the flashes and patch sensible areas.

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Update: A brief guide and F.A.Q. are available HERE and NDT posted a more detailed walkthrough.

Guys,

I need a little help from the community, if possible i'd like to have from all of you uploaded somewhere (example: rapidshare) the first 2048KB of the HDD partition. Specifically i need a test conducted this way:

Power up the ps3, go to the formatting utility, and format the ps3 HDD with the option of 10GB for the ps3 system.

Power off the ps3, remove the hard disk, attach it to the PC and dump the first 2048KB.

Compress the 2048 with the program you actually prefer (rar, zip whatever) and upload and post a link here.

For the dumping part winhex (for windows) or dd (unix and windows), if any problem or question rise, feel free to contact me or other devs, thanks a... More »  


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Well this week we have some exciting news that we hinted about last week.

First, a small technical explanation. We were not able to modify any data on the PS3's flash chips due to the ECC. The ECC is a checksum basically, that ensures whatever data is in the block is not changed or corrupted, and if it is it errors.

So, the problem was since when we tried to alter data, the ECC would then in turn be invalid, causing errors, making the system not boot.

We did develop a way around this, however, it was time consuming and quite slow. We used the PS3 to write data to the flash, then dump it, with its proper ECC, then rewrite to where we needed it. This would take hours on end! We were not able to regenerate the ECC since we did not know the proper algorithm.

But now, we can!!

After multiple tests done by NDT to see what the ECC... More »  


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This is just a short post to let everyone know we're still alive. Its been a quiet summer, most people were off on vacation (or on holiday, for our friends across the pond), including many of our own PS3 Devs.

However, the summer is over and we all went back to work in full force on the PS3, adding some new and very talented Devs along the way who will be helping out!

For starters, our very own ggparallel spent the past month or so along with NDT testing countless edited PS3 Firmwares on the PS3, and has been able to drastically refine our knowledge of the PS3's bootup procedure.

Below is a clear flowchart of the current theory of operation, the basic procedure is the same as we previously posted, that the system is booted in a "chain" so to speak. LV0 loads lv1ldr, which loads lv1.self (the Hypervisor).

Then depending on th... More »  


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Update: PS3 NAND Flow Rebuilder v3.36 BETA is now out, which fixes a tiny bug.

This tool, although in beta stage, allows you to unscramble the blocks of a PS3 dumps ordering them in a way that the dumps become readable and extractable!

From now on it also allow you to re-scramble back to the original order once you modified the data you want!

It's for study and tests purposes, for experienced people only (devs) that this way can manage the files inside the flashes.

Download Link: PS3 NAND Flow Rebuilder v3.35 BETA

In this updated version you'll find some good news:

1) It's more compatible, it support a larger number of dumps, please try it with your one and if something goes wrong please let me know (through irc, on Efnet, my nick is NDT).

2) It now... More »  


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