Ps2reality MCLoader

[Kamilion]

Okay, so far I've got jum's mc loader as boot.elf on my card, my title.db works, I can boot up jum's loader, select NETLOADER.ELF (what I renamed ps2reality's mcloader.elf) or PS2LINK.ELF (What I renamed the original exploit's BOOT.ELF)
and load either.

Now, With the PS2reality mediaplayer, they also included a OGG player based on Tremor, and load it with the memory card.

If you look at the copy2.cnf that comes with the ps2reality 1.50 rar, it's got some interesting bits in there...

Check it out:

TITLE PS2Reality OGG AudioPlayer Alpha 0.96
RUN ogg.rar
NOERROR
REBOOT
LOAD rom0:SIO2MAN
LOAD rom0:MCMAN
LOAD vmc:\PS2REALITY\unrar.irx
REN cdrom0:\CDVD.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[cdvd.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar
REN cdrom0:\SJPCM.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[sjpcm.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar
REN cdrom0:\LETTER.CHR;1 vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/letter.chr
REN cdrom0:\IDIOMA.TXT;1 vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/idioma.txt
REN cdrom0:\PS2VFS.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[ps2vfs.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar
REN cdrom0:\PS2IP.IRX;1 unrar:128KB[ps2ip.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar
REN cdrom0:\PS2SMAP.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[ps2smap.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar

Take a look at those REN commands -- they appear to be extracting the files within the rar to the cdrom0: namespace -- without a real CD in there...

Now, who's got the documentation on these commands -- I think many other applications like naplink and possibly even things like the PS2 linux RTE bootloader could be tricked into loading from the memory card like this -- and at the same time be compressed with RARv2 -- a very efficiant compression format.

So, anyone wanna help me document how to rewrite this copy.cnf?

I'mma try and figure out all this...

so, here goes documentation revision 0.1 -- continued next post.

[Kamilion]

Okay. Let's start off with the basics.

The memory card's filesystem IS CASE SENSATIVE! Remember this when naming your files. You may even need to place a version number to be compliant with the ISO spec if you are working with cdrom0: -- so beware.



TITLE -

This command sets the string you wish to represent this on the memory card application list.

Example:

TITLE PS2Reality OGG AudioPlayer Alpha 0.96

TITLE PGen 1.0b superhypermonkeyonatricycle edition

Next.

RUN -

This command specifies either a .ELF to directly run, or a RAR 2.x archive containing an .ELF and it's supporting files (eg, additional .IRX files, or possibly something like IPCONFIG.DAT or MENUTUNE.MOD)

A RAR 2.x archive may also optionally contain a single .ELF, as seen with ps2media.rar -- In any case, if an executable is within a RAR 2.x archive, the file must be named the same as the RAR 2.x Archive.
E.G, a RAR named buffy.rar must contain within it a file named buffy.elf and a elf named fluffy.elf should be placed in a rar named fluffy.rar. Capitalization probably matters here, even inside the RAR 2.x archive. (If I've said RAR 2.x Archive too many times here, it's cause I'm trying to drill it in your head -- get a older version of WinRAR, or whatever RAR software you use -- under Version 3.XX. Versions past 3.00 write different RAR files that are incompatible with older programs -- they also compress a little better.)

Example:

RUN JUMLOADER.ELF

RUN ogg.rar

RUN pgen10b.rar

Next.

NOERROR

Thanks to some new information relayed via aussiewan -- NOERROR command just makes the system ignore any loading errors when loading IRX files so that it will continue to load if there is a problem.

Next.

REBOOT

Thanks to some new information relayed via aussiewan -- REBOOT resets the IOP so that programs that expect it to be untouched can use it with no problems.

Next.

LOAD -

This command appears to be able to load a .IRX module contained on either rom0: (The playstation2's internal rom filesystem abstraction, containing several versions of modules current when the PS2 was shipped)
or from another filesystem abstraction, such as mc0:\PATH\FILE.IRX or vmc:/PATH/FILE.IRX or even cdrom0: would be possible.

Example:

LOAD rom0:SIO2MAN

LOAD rom0:MCMAN

LOAD vmc:\PS2REALITY\unrar.irx

LOAD mc0:\BADATA-SYSTEM\unrar.irx

LOAD mc0:\SHAREDMOD\ps2smap.irx

LOAD cdrom0:\LIB\CDVD.IRX

Next.

REN -

Now this command is really interesting.

Let's delve into it a little, shall we?

Example first this time.

REN cdrom0:\CDVD.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[cdvd.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar

Okay. Looks like the first arguement ( cdrom0:\CDVD.IRX;1 ) is the destination mapping of the file.

The second arguement, however, is a little more complex.

unrar:64KB[cdvd.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar

Now, it's obvious here that this is unraring a file, but how?

It looks like it's specifying the archive last, through the vmc: namespace.

Before that, in braces ( [cdvd.irx] ) it appears to be specifying the name of the source file within the archive.

But the number 64KB... I do not know what this means -- amount of space to allocate in memory for this? dictionary size for the unrar .irx to function? In one of the other REN commands

REN cdrom0:\PS2IP.IRX;1 unrar:128KB[ps2ip.irx]vmc:/PS2REALITY/OGG/ogg.rar

The file is 68KB -- over the amount of 64KB specified in our original example.

So, once again, could this be either rar dictionary size, or the amount of space to allocate on certain size boundarys?

Not sure.

Now, there may be more commands that have not been exposed yet, and most of the ones that have been exposed are mystifying.

Need more help on this, we do.

-----
Aug312003--V0.1

Initial data.

Sept012003-V0.2

Added information on REBOOT and NOERROR. Doing more research on REN and 'POKE'.

End of changes.

[Kamilion]

Here's a clipping from the FAQ:

Posted by CaveMan, apparently authored by Hermes.
Aug 24, 2003 3:43 pm
Q: How to Install PGEN using the MCLoader?

A: 1) Download PGEN from http://pgen.gamebase.ca/ (Beta v1.0 )

2) put in a folder the following files: PGEN10B.ELF, SJPCM.IRX, AMIGAMOD.IRX, CDVD.IRX

3) rename PGEN10B.ELF to pgen10b.elf

4) compress all the files in format RAR 2.X. The files must be in root and the file must be called pgen10b.rar

5) put in the folder files mcloader.elf and unrar.irx

6) create a file named copy.cnf. this is a TXT file with the following data:


TITLE Genesis Emulator 1.0B
RUN pgen10b.rar
LOAD rom0:SIO2MAN
LOAD rom0:MCMAN
LOAD vmc:\PS2REALITY\unrar.irx
REN cdrom0:\MODULES\CDVD.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[CDVD.IRX]vmc:/PS2REALITY/PGEN/pgen10b.rar
REN cdrom0:\MODULES\SJPCM.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[SJPCM.IRX]vmc:/PS2REALITY/PGEN/pgen10b.rar
REN cdrom0:\MODULES\AMIGAMOD.IRX;1 unrar:64KB[AMIGAMOD.IRX]vmc:/PS2REALITY/PGEN/pgen10b.rar


7) create the file mcupload.txt as follows:


{}
<unrar.irx>
{PGEN}
<pgen10b.rar>
<copy.cnf>


run mcloader.elf in this folder using NAPLINK / PUKKILINK or use PS2VFS and select this folder or create a CDROM with all files ... choose by yourself

9) Select Memory Card Manager-> Install files ... (host for Naplink / Pukklink, CDROM or PS2VFS)

10) After the installation press TRIANGLE select Applications In The MC and press X on 'Genesis Emulator 1.0B'.

That's easy ..

Hermes
_________________
Bye,

CaveMan.

__________________________________________________ _____________
End of clipping.

Okay, so that's as much official documentation as I can find, and still does not answer too many more questions, but outlines how this might be used for other programs.

[ton23]

if you check in ps2reality's english forums, hermes has been posting now and then instructions on uploading various emulators to the MC. each has its own topic. you might need to go to the 2nd page or so as people are posting quite frequently.

CaveMan simply copied and pasted what Hermes wrote in one of those topics.

[aussiewan]

I have just been reading the ps2r site, with info from Hermes, in particular this page:
http://www.ps2reality.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26190

One of the points I'm really interested in is the POKE command. As far as I can follow (it's not perfect english), it appears to let you "poke" information into various memory areas. Does this mean that we could possibly do AR2/GS2 type cheats with it? Or perhaps even modify IOP memory, cracking the ATAD.IRX file all on-the-fly? Or, for that matter, we could potentially use the system to replace the ATAD.IRX file on an original CD the same way as it has virtual IRX files redirected from the CDROM device. Is it possible to boot original games off CD with this program? I have still not got a working PS2 to check this out.. can someone investigate this?

btw, the REBOOT command does not reboot the PS2, it resets the IOP so that programs that expect it to be untouched can use it with no problems. The NOERROR command just makes the system ignore any loading errors when loading IRX files so that it will continue to load if there is a problem. The REN command sounds incredibly useful: it lets you make alias's for files. ie, if you do REN file1 file2, then whenever a program tries to load file1, it will actually load file2, regardless of whether they are IRX or ELF. This could also potentially be used to make games load a custom ATAD.IRX from mc instead of CD... maybe. Again, someone please test this. It's so frustrating having all these ideas and not being able to try them!

[Kamilion]

Well, it could in theory be possible to write a module that one could replace an original module with, that provides the same API calls to the program, but does something completely different behind the scenes without the real program knowing. EG,
It would be possible to pick a .irx file with a known interface, then code something that would pick the data from a different place -- such as making a compliant API to where a program is concerned, it's still the same IRX -- accepts the same commands, returns the same responses. Take CDVD.IRX. Since source for this is availible to someone, somewhere, replace the backend code with a translation layer that calls ATAD.IRX and reads a config file to place things in an exacting way -- like for instance, mapping a game once on a cd to access files from the harddrive, essentially performing like what I've heard an X-Box can do, storing games on the harddrive... But there is something almost exactly similar to this -- only it's amiga. Amiga had a lot of floppy games... Evenually, harddrives came around and people wanted to keep some of these games on their drives instead of wearing out the magnetic media of their copy-protected discs.
So someone came up with the program hdload. This program intercepted calls and created a 'package' file containing the game, to be placed on a harddrive, or even a CDROM or floppy disc (Perhaps imaging an 800K disc game to a hdimage then placing the resulting image file onto a 1.44MB floppy or something).

But it's been done before, it can be done again.

Also, I've noticed something else in the link aussiewan posted -- the copy.cnf file can only be 4K -- 4096 bytes. Keep that in mind.

[aussiewan]

I think one of the most interesting things about all this, is the fact that if you want to say patch just that atad.irx file on a game so that you can use the hdd, you could just use MCLoader and not have to patch the original disc. The thoughts about using the HDD as a virtual CDROM using this method are great, there is a lot of potential there, and some people have reverse-engineered some drivers so could make new ones with the same API calls relatively easily... but the thing is, the people that are able to have to want to. Can you imagine how quickly all this would progress if DMS and PS2Reality teamed up? It's a shame there is so much politics in the scene...

[Kamilion]

Well, I just downloaded mcloader 1.10 -- it comes with documentation.

Is there no point to this thread, further?

Anyone want me to keep this current?

[aussiewan]

I don't object Good conversation tho.

[manaox2]

Would anyone be able to make a cut and paste copy.cng for cogswap loader. That would be something that could really help me boot these discs along with programs off of the memory card... Id really appreciate it since I keep running into a black screen when I try.

Thanx