psx_screen_dumper

Dump data from a psx (Sony PlayStation) through the screen

See screen_data_reader for the reader.

Demo video

Requirements

• NTSC PlayStation and ability to capture cleanish video from it. The video must have the correct aspect ratio and decent lighting. A phone camera with focus lock on a flatscreen TV or a capture card can work. A CRT probably won't work. Otherwise it can be tested with an emulator.

• Method of booting psx homebrew i.e modchip, FreePSXBoot, tonyhax, swap trick, etc.

• A copy of psx_screen_dumper depending on booting method.

• screen_data_reader. For small videos you may be able to use the web app linked on that page.

• [Optional] For easily converting the raw dumped memory card save images psx_mc_cli

Dumping a Memory Card Save via video camera

1. Launch psx_screen_dumper on your PlayStation.
2. Select Dump mc# saves where # refers to the card number that has your desired save (Press X)
3. Scroll to your desired save if needed
4. Hold up your camera and verify you have a good picture; correct aspect ratio, clear and visible text. On devices[phones] with autofocus you may need to lock the focus so that it doesn't go crazy when the data patterns changes.
5. Start recording, try to keep the camera as steady as possible centered on the TV.
6. Press X to start the data patterns, record until you return to the menu.
7. Run screen_data_reader on your video file. If all goes well it should create a raw memory card file such as BASLUS-01066TNHXG01 and print the crc32.
8. If it didn't go well check the log to see if it printed any append frame messages. Possibly adjust video camera settings and retry.
9. [Optional] Convert your save to mcs or make a mcd memory card image with psx_mc_cli

Dumping your psx BIOS via capture card

1. Launch psx_screen_dumper on your PlayStation.
2. Verify output from your capture card is legible
3. Start recording from capture card.
4. Select Dump bios
5. Stop recording
6. Run screen_data_reader on your video file. ./screen_data_reader.py -i cap.avi. If it worked it should create PSX-BIOS.ROM and print the crc32.
7. If it didn't go well check the log to see if it printed any append frame messages. Possibly adjust video capture settings and retry.
8. [Optional] Verify your bios crc32 with FreePSXBoot BIOS CRC32 table to confirm you got a good dump. If you have a custom or patched bios it probably won't match.

LICENSE

MIT, see LICENSE.

BIOS charset usage and crc32 adapted from tonyhax.

Help

Feel free to ask in the PSXDEV discord

Building (Linux)

Install the MIPS toolchain

sudo apt-get install gcc-mipsel-linux-gnu g++-mipsel-linux-gnu binutils-mipsel-linux-gnu

Download the nugget submodule

cd thirdparty/nugget && git submodule init && git submodule update && cd ../../

Install the converted PsyQ 4.7 libs. Currently SHA1 36E7A1D606568363F1EBE67E1B499E61FA48DE00

wget http://psx.arthus.net/sdk/Psy-Q/psyq-4.7-converted-full.7z

7z x -o./thirdparty/nugget/psyq/ psyq-4.7-converted-full.7z

make builds a .ps-exe

make iso builds an iso

make nocash builds a .ps-exe with .exe extension instead for loading in no$psx

make actualclean cleans

Thanks

Nicolas Noble for build environment. ABelliqueux for easy PSYQ setup tutorial. Many others in the PSXDEV discord.

Wishlist

• PAL support