Problem copying save games to USB mass storage

[CShadowRun]

The problem is simple, as far as i can see uLaunchElf only supports the FAT file system. But the FAT filesystem does not allow any of the following characters in a file name: " * / : < > ? \ |

Certain game saves use these characters. For example The God Father has files called icons\copy.ico, icons\delete.ico, icons\save.ico, also XMen:TOG's folder name is BESLES-54066XMen:TOG. None of these are valid and thus can't be copied properly, expecially when a PC is involved.

I propose we switch to ext3

As a workaround for now, i guess i'll have to rename the files.

[Jones23]

That's one of the reasons why game saves should always be copied with the psuPaste command.
PsuPaste will create a single *.psu file for each game save folder, containing all files of that save. This will not only preserve special characters, but also all timestamps, which is very important for some games.
The normal Copy/Paste action can't preserve the original timestamps, so when you copy that save back to MC again it will have new timestamps (time and date of copying process). Some games don't accept saves with invalid timestamps and will tell you the save is corrupt.
To use psuPaste simply browse to MC, mark your save, R1-->Copy, browse to mass, R1-->psuPaste. To copy the save back to MC go to mass, R1-->Copy, browse to MC, R1-->psuPaste.
This solves all problems with illegal characters and invalid timestamps.

best regards Jones23

[CShadowRun]

aha, thanks.

Hopefully none of my games get upset about timestamps as the original copy was copied without psuPaste.

[dlanor]

The problem is simple, as far as i can see uLaunchElf only supports the FAT file system.

Homebrew drivers for USB storage only exist for FAT32 (FAT16 support is not to be relied on, as most older softwares have drivers bugged for FAT16). This is not a limitation specific to uLE, but applies to all PS2 homebrew software.

But the FAT filesystem does not allow any of the following characters in a file name: " * / : < > ? \ |

That limitation is not unique for FAT filesystems but also applies to most others. To some extent it applies to all filesystems, as the reserved characters needed to identify and separate devices and paths in a complete pathname string cannot also be allowed inside the file/folder names. Though the choice of reserved characters may vary the principle does not.

Certain game saves use these characters. For example The God Father has files called icons\copy.ico, icons\delete.ico, icons\save.ico, also XMen:TOG's folder name is BESLES-54066XMen:TOG. None of these are valid and thus can't be copied properly, expecially when a PC is involved.

Because like I said above. The principle applies to ALL filesystems, including NTFS etc.

I propose we switch to ext3

That wouldn't help one bit. We must still specify device names and paths in pathname strings in some way that is compatible with the fileio system of PS2 device drivers, and that automatically excludes a few characters from being used in file/folder names. At risk of being horribly boring, I must again repeat: "This principle applies to ALL filesystem usage." Whatever characters are needed to separate pathname components (file/folder names) cannot be tolerated as part of such components.

As a workaround for now, i guess i'll have to rename the files.

There is absolutely no need for that. Simply make your gamesave backups in PSU form instead, which creates new and guaranteed legal names for each gamesave at need. The names created by the psuPaste command do not need to be identical with the name of the original gamesave folder, since that name is preserved inside the ".psu" file, for future restoration.

Using the psuPaste command with a non-MC destination transforms each complete gamesave folder selected into a single ".psu" file (one such file per gamesave folder), and that file contains all of the separate files from that gamesave including their original names, timestamps and PS2-specific attributes.

Using the psuPaste command with an MC destination transforms each selected ".psu" file into a complete gamesave folder identical to the original one, which includes restoring the original names, timestamps and PS2-specific attributes of each component file of the gamesave as well as the containing gamesave folder itself.

You can even configure uLE to add the gamesave 'title' (as shown in Sony Browser) and a complete time-stamp to the name of the backup ".psu" file. Such a huge name will then contain all of folder_name+game_title+time_stamp+".psu", as in the following examples.

BESLES-50891_Legaia2DuelSagaGameData_2007-04-27_21-29-16.psu
BASLUS-21604_Grim Grimoire_2007-07-10_14-52-04.psu

Any 'illegal' characters in either the folder name or in the game title will naturally be suppressed (as underscore == "_") in the generated PSU filename, to ensure valid storage both on all writable PS2 media as well as on normal PC filesystems. (I normally handle my PSU backups over LAN, using the host: device in uLE FileBrowser.)

For more details on how to configure this stuff, read the heavily commented "LAUNCHELF.CNF" that is included in the uLE release package. This specifies how the huge name usage can be configured (only possible by text editing your own CNF).


NB: Your workaround of renaming files would not work well for several reasons. One is that copying files by normal paste from a PC does not restore all original timestamps and attributes, causing games who check such things to refuse the save as invalid. (The mcPaste command helps against that, but is obsolete compared to psuPaste.) Another reason is that there is no rename command for PS2 MC devices. We hope to change that in an upcoming new uLE release, but in the current release it is impossible to rename files on MC. (All current PS2 software, homebrew and commercial, has this limitation.)

Edit: @Jones23:
I was too slow again...

Best regards: dlanor

[flo]

Is there any way to make an USB stick show up in the standard PS2 browser , and copy/paste with MC there ?

[Bootlegninja]

none yet.