PS2 MemCard fomat

[-MIPs-]

Alright, I've read thru the documents over at ps2savetools.com but theres still some information that I need to filled in if you guys could help me out.

The documents I read over on the site all dealt with the formats that cheat devices save in. I was just wondering if the format of the save file(as it is on the memcard) was documented somwhere. Or am I just misunderstanding some details?

On a side note, my reason for questioning is a file I pulled off my memory card from the game Phantasy Star Universe. There is a regular game data file and a system file. I was just kind of curious as to what the game stores in that system file.

[dlanor]

The documents I read over on the site all dealt with the formats that cheat devices save in. I was just wondering if the format of the save file(as it is on the memcard) was documented somwhere. Or am I just misunderstanding some details?

Normally a gamesave folder contains at least three files, and normally only two of those have standardized content. Those are the "icon.sys" file, which causes the PS2 browser to accept the folder as a valid gamesave, plus the icon file(s) it may indicate for use by that browser. Both the "icon.sys" file and any icon files it refers to must follow rigid formats, or the PS2 browser (and the games) may consider that gamesave 'corrupt'.

None of those files contain any of the real gamesave data, however. That is all held in one or more additional files stored in that folder by the game, in whatever format its programmers fancied. There are NO standards for such usage.

It is common usage to let one of those files have the same name as the containing gamesave folder, but even that usage is not enforced, and there are no restrictions whatever on the contents of game specific save files.

On a side note, my reason for questioning is a file I pulled off my memory card from the game Phantasy Star Universe. There is a regular game data file and a system file. I was just kind of curious as to what the game stores in that system file.

If you mean "icon.sys", this mainly defines how the gamesave should be treated by the PS2 browser, which includes the SJIS-encoded game title (unlike Ascii, the SJIS code supports japanese characters too), as well as the usage of one or more icons for display of that gamesave in the browser. Note that this file contains no in-game data at all.

Best regards: dlanor

[-MIPs-]

Ok so no paticular format, just a bunch of data with a shitty excuse for a header ^_^. But about the Phantasy star system file I mentioned. I don't mean the icon.sys file. This file is in the same format as the game save data. I believe its main use is for the online portion of the game(patch data and what not). I was jus hoping to pull something interesting from it.

[gothi]

In that case you should just open it up in a hex editor and check it out

All the developments and programs I've made have been by sitting in front of a hex editor with the files open looking for structures and obvious data sections.

[-MIPs-]

In that case you should just open it up in a hex editor and check it out

All the developments and programs I've made have been by sitting in front of a hex editor with the files open looking for structures and obvious data sections.

Yup, thats the plan . This is going to be my heaviest hex reverse to date. This file has no readable strings that I've seen. This should be fun

Also, could I bother you for an example of what one of the structures that you've come across looks like?

*EDIT* Nevermind, I see your notes from the .psv file.

[gothi]

I was going to suggest you look at the docs/structures I released on the .psv format. They're out of date but you can use them to see how I located structures in the file.

Note that by "out of date" I mean that the structures in the file are actually different to those that I released but they do work fine for PS2 .psv files, just not PS1 .psv

[southpole560]

anyone know the file system on a ps2 memory card?

[gothi]

Define file system.

If you mean at the raw level I did some preliminary work which you can at my blog.