I dont know how many users have already the original article on this or already possess an indepth knowledge about the compression of the games .. bt i just thot posting this on TE ..
Found This Tut at Black Cat Games .. full credit to the original writer..
peppered up the tutorial a lil only to make it an interesting read
Happy Ripping ..
What you will need:
-- An ISO file
-- A program which opens the ISO. On Windows, I have read you can just use WinRAR to open the ISO and extract all of it's contents (test, someone?). On a Mac, just use Prometeus and the ISOgen tab.
-- A program to do the final compression from ISO -> CSO. According to Ephumuris, Windows users should use UMDGEN for for compression and ISO rebuilding. On Macs, use Prometeus' ISO -> CSO tab.
Step 1
Getting Started:
If you are on Windows, extract all the files.
If on a Mac, load the ISO in Prometeus so you can see all the files within it.
What you will see is a "PSP_GAME" directory, some files and some folders. These files make up all the images/music/videos that you'll see in-game. Most of these you want to leave alone.
The UPDATE directory :
Browse to the folder "SYSDIR".
The ones in the root (boot.bin and eboot.bin) should NOT be deleted because they are what launch the game. What you are looking for here is a folder called "UPDATE", which contains files that will update your PSP to a Sony firmware. Which isn't cool.
In the vast majority of titles, you can just delete the "UPDATE" folder completely - thus saving about 20 MB of space, already! I have heard of one case that removing this folder causes problems... but I haven't encountered any personally.
Step 2
PADDING :
After you remove the "UPDATE" folder, you will want to do a quick scan for any file with the extension ".PAD". These files are only used in conjunction with loading from a UMB, so they can be deleted off the bat. They are generally in the "USRDIR" directory.
Step 3
FILLER :
The other files to look for are known as filler-files. These aren't too common... but when they appear they can save HUGE amounts of space. A good example is the Prince of Persia torrent which went up today - it contains two such files (FILLER1.BF and FILLER2.BF) which account for ~700 (!!!) MB of data. You definitely want to get rid of these.
If you really want to save space, you can goto the "USRDIR" and cleave through some of the actual game files. This is where, if you really want to save space, you can do the most hacking. This process is called "dummying" because it involves making fake files 0kb in size to replace ACTUAL game files (ie. music and video). How this is done depends on the kind of file you want to replace.
Step 4
MUSIC FILES :
This will remove the in-game music... and generally save you a ton of space (but probably less atmosphere). In EA games, there is a directory called EATRACKS/EATRAX. Other games might reference the BGM (background music). Some companies are creative so, if you don't know where it is, feel free to ask in the forums. The music files themselves are .bat extensions.
barnesB discovered an awesome way to easily dummy all the music files.
His process is as follows: "open up notepad and copy the following text into it.
IF NOT EXIST DUMMY mkdir DUMMY
FOR %%A IN (*) DO TYPE > DUMMY\%%A
Del DUMMY\dummy.bat
Save the file as dummy.bat in a new folder on your desktop.
The file should show up as a batch file rather than a text document. Copy and past all of the music into the new folder and double click on the dummy.bat. This should now create a new folder called dummy. Enter this folder and you should find copies of all the songs. but if you check they are 0 kb.
Then just replace the original files in the ISO with these 0 kb duplicates and there you go! This can save substantial amounts of space.
Step 5
MOVIES and FMV :
Replacing the FMV is slightly trickier because the PSP must play something when a cut-scene is supposed to play. The easy work-around is to find the smallest .pmf file (that is the movie extension) and use it to rewrite all of the other movies in the game. For example, if the company logo movie is the smallest, use it to replace all the full-length cut-scenes.
The .pmf files are generally found in PSP_GAME and can be labeled like "INTRO1.pmf", "INTRO2.pmf", etc. All you have to do is scan for the smallest one, copy it to a new directory, change its name to the larger movies filename and then copy it back - overwriting the larger file. Or, the more creative solution, would be to create YOUR OWN .pmf file and have whatever cut scenes you'd like in your game! The possibilities are, really, endless.
Step 6
Rebuilding the ISO :
So, you have removed the UPDATE folder, stripped any filler files/padding, and decided to keep (haha) all the movies and music. The next step is putting all the pieces back together...
If you are on Windows, you will need to rebuild the ISO. This can be done with a program called UMDgen. Make sure to save as an ISO! As ephumuris wrote, "once you have deleted all the files you want to remove you just drag the PSP_GAME folder and the UMD_DATA.BIN file into UMDGEN and choose "save as" .ISO."
On Prometeus, all you'll need to do (after you have deleted/replaced all the files in the ISOgen tab) is click "Generate" and Prometeus will output an ISO for you, in whatever working directory you specified.
Now, you are thinking... "Damn, those are some sweet tips" and, really, they are. You have cut-down the file size pretty extensively.... BUT you are not done!
Step 7
Final Compression :
The next step is to take that ISO you created and compress it to CSO format, using a program designed to do this for you (it really is a painless process).
For Windows users, you can do this from within UMDGEN, all you need to do is open the .ISO in UMDGEN and you can choose, under "save as", the .CSO extension. If given the option, I would normally recommend compressing to Level 9 (the maximum). If you run into problems with in-game lag, try again at smaller degree.
Prometeus does this process with ease: click on the tab "ISO -> CISO", select your ISO as the input, tell it where the output should be placed (the cso), select "Compression Level 9" (9 is maximum compression, 1 is minimum/no compression) and hit "Compress!" That's it!
Compressing the file usually will strip off about 15-25% of the filesize... so really, this process will save you a TON of space. I have, at the moment, 2 PSX games (both full ISOs, with music & FMV), 4 full PSP titles (with music/FMV retained), 2 emulators (NES and Sega Genesis, both with about 20-30 titles) and a few other homebrew apps... all on one 2 GB card! If I was less discerning, I totally could fit even more on there. Which is totally sweet.
So, get ripping !
Resources :
BlackCatGames.net
PSP-Hacks.com / Guide To Shrink Your Iso
Found This Tut at Black Cat Games .. full credit to the original writer..
peppered up the tutorial a lil only to make it an interesting read
Happy Ripping ..
What you will need:
-- An ISO file
-- A program which opens the ISO. On Windows, I have read you can just use WinRAR to open the ISO and extract all of it's contents (test, someone?). On a Mac, just use Prometeus and the ISOgen tab.
-- A program to do the final compression from ISO -> CSO. According to Ephumuris, Windows users should use UMDGEN for for compression and ISO rebuilding. On Macs, use Prometeus' ISO -> CSO tab.
Step 1
Getting Started:
If you are on Windows, extract all the files.
If on a Mac, load the ISO in Prometeus so you can see all the files within it.
What you will see is a "PSP_GAME" directory, some files and some folders. These files make up all the images/music/videos that you'll see in-game. Most of these you want to leave alone.
The UPDATE directory :
Browse to the folder "SYSDIR".
The ones in the root (boot.bin and eboot.bin) should NOT be deleted because they are what launch the game. What you are looking for here is a folder called "UPDATE", which contains files that will update your PSP to a Sony firmware. Which isn't cool.
In the vast majority of titles, you can just delete the "UPDATE" folder completely - thus saving about 20 MB of space, already! I have heard of one case that removing this folder causes problems... but I haven't encountered any personally.
Step 2
PADDING :
After you remove the "UPDATE" folder, you will want to do a quick scan for any file with the extension ".PAD". These files are only used in conjunction with loading from a UMB, so they can be deleted off the bat. They are generally in the "USRDIR" directory.
Step 3
FILLER :
The other files to look for are known as filler-files. These aren't too common... but when they appear they can save HUGE amounts of space. A good example is the Prince of Persia torrent which went up today - it contains two such files (FILLER1.BF and FILLER2.BF) which account for ~700 (!!!) MB of data. You definitely want to get rid of these.
If you really want to save space, you can goto the "USRDIR" and cleave through some of the actual game files. This is where, if you really want to save space, you can do the most hacking. This process is called "dummying" because it involves making fake files 0kb in size to replace ACTUAL game files (ie. music and video). How this is done depends on the kind of file you want to replace.
Step 4
MUSIC FILES :
This will remove the in-game music... and generally save you a ton of space (but probably less atmosphere). In EA games, there is a directory called EATRACKS/EATRAX. Other games might reference the BGM (background music). Some companies are creative so, if you don't know where it is, feel free to ask in the forums. The music files themselves are .bat extensions.
barnesB discovered an awesome way to easily dummy all the music files.
His process is as follows: "open up notepad and copy the following text into it.
IF NOT EXIST DUMMY mkdir DUMMY
FOR %%A IN (*) DO TYPE > DUMMY\%%A
Del DUMMY\dummy.bat
Save the file as dummy.bat in a new folder on your desktop.
The file should show up as a batch file rather than a text document. Copy and past all of the music into the new folder and double click on the dummy.bat. This should now create a new folder called dummy. Enter this folder and you should find copies of all the songs. but if you check they are 0 kb.
Then just replace the original files in the ISO with these 0 kb duplicates and there you go! This can save substantial amounts of space.
Step 5
MOVIES and FMV :
Replacing the FMV is slightly trickier because the PSP must play something when a cut-scene is supposed to play. The easy work-around is to find the smallest .pmf file (that is the movie extension) and use it to rewrite all of the other movies in the game. For example, if the company logo movie is the smallest, use it to replace all the full-length cut-scenes.
The .pmf files are generally found in PSP_GAME and can be labeled like "INTRO1.pmf", "INTRO2.pmf", etc. All you have to do is scan for the smallest one, copy it to a new directory, change its name to the larger movies filename and then copy it back - overwriting the larger file. Or, the more creative solution, would be to create YOUR OWN .pmf file and have whatever cut scenes you'd like in your game! The possibilities are, really, endless.
Step 6
Rebuilding the ISO :
So, you have removed the UPDATE folder, stripped any filler files/padding, and decided to keep (haha) all the movies and music. The next step is putting all the pieces back together...
If you are on Windows, you will need to rebuild the ISO. This can be done with a program called UMDgen. Make sure to save as an ISO! As ephumuris wrote, "once you have deleted all the files you want to remove you just drag the PSP_GAME folder and the UMD_DATA.BIN file into UMDGEN and choose "save as" .ISO."
On Prometeus, all you'll need to do (after you have deleted/replaced all the files in the ISOgen tab) is click "Generate" and Prometeus will output an ISO for you, in whatever working directory you specified.
Now, you are thinking... "Damn, those are some sweet tips" and, really, they are. You have cut-down the file size pretty extensively.... BUT you are not done!
Step 7
Final Compression :
The next step is to take that ISO you created and compress it to CSO format, using a program designed to do this for you (it really is a painless process).
For Windows users, you can do this from within UMDGEN, all you need to do is open the .ISO in UMDGEN and you can choose, under "save as", the .CSO extension. If given the option, I would normally recommend compressing to Level 9 (the maximum). If you run into problems with in-game lag, try again at smaller degree.
Prometeus does this process with ease: click on the tab "ISO -> CISO", select your ISO as the input, tell it where the output should be placed (the cso), select "Compression Level 9" (9 is maximum compression, 1 is minimum/no compression) and hit "Compress!" That's it!
Compressing the file usually will strip off about 15-25% of the filesize... so really, this process will save you a TON of space. I have, at the moment, 2 PSX games (both full ISOs, with music & FMV), 4 full PSP titles (with music/FMV retained), 2 emulators (NES and Sega Genesis, both with about 20-30 titles) and a few other homebrew apps... all on one 2 GB card! If I was less discerning, I totally could fit even more on there. Which is totally sweet.
So, get ripping !
Resources :
BlackCatGames.net
PSP-Hacks.com / Guide To Shrink Your Iso
