LITELOAD

A simple but very lightweight serial loader tool for the PS1. LITELOAD also improves upon most loaders by supporting a number of new features such as uploading binary files to set memory locations (a feature that was present in Caetla and official development tools) and CRC32 data integrity verification.

As of version 1.2, LITELOAD has been ported to the 100% free and open source PS1 SDK called PSn00bSDK, making this homebrew loader completely free and is also the very first PS1 homebrew to be ported from the official SDK to PSn00bSDK without any features lost in the porting process. The move to PSn00bSDK also reduced the size of the program by over 50%, as PSn00bSDK's libraries are more efficiently written than the official libraries.

Use mcomms to upload binary files and PS-EXE executables to LITELOAD.

Features

• Supports PS-EXE size up to 1964KB (assuming PS-EXE loads at 0x80010000).
• Supports uploading binary files at set memory locations, be careful not to overwrite the loader.
• CRC32 checksums to verify data integrity, eliminating the possibility of program bugs caused by data corruption during upload.
• 100% free and open source as of version 1.2.

Compiling (PS-EXE)

This tool can only be compiled using PSn00bSDK on Windows or Linux.

You will also need the following:

• MSys2 & PSn00bSDK.
• mkpsxiso (get it here).

This assumes you already have PSn00bSDK setup with MSys2.

1. Open up the MSys2 terminal or Command Prompt.
2. Run "make" to compile.
3. Run "make iso" to build the ISO image using mkpsxiso.

The ISO image will be generated without license data, as the original Sony license data is most likely still copyrighted. You can however patch the license data yourself with a licensing utility.

Obviously a modchip is required in order to boot burned discs.

• All NTSC US systems will accept discs without license data.
• PAL systems accepts discs without license data up until the SCPH-5552.
• All NTSC JP systems will not accept discs without the correct license data until SCPH-9000 and onwards.

If you downloaded a pre-built package of LITELOAD, the ISO image would lack license data normally. Be sure to patch the image before burning to a disc if you want to include license data.

Compiling (cartridge ROM version)

Creating a ROM version of LITELOAD requires the loader to be compiled first.

You will also need the following:

• GCC compiler targeting your host (for the exe2bin utility)
• ARMIPS Assembler (get it here).

1. Compile exe2bin in the rom/util directory as a PC side program.
2. Run make in the rom directory and it should produce a liteload.rom file.

The liteload.rom file can then be flashed to a cheat cartridge with X-FLASH or with an external EEPROM programmer. The loader boots instantly through this method and is recommended if you use LITELOAD regularly.

Upload protocol

If you wish to write your own upload tool, the following describes LITELOAD's communication protocol. The protocol is designed to be as simple and efficient as possible for simplified integration and provides the fastest upload rate possible on the already slow serial interface.

LITELOAD always communicates at 115200 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity and no handshaking, as serial cables for connecting to the PS1 typically provide only TX, RX and ground.

Legend:

[S]  - Send.
[R]  - Receive.
[D]  - Delay.
int  - 32-bit word.
char - 8-bit byte.

Uploading an executable:

[S] char[4] - Send command: MEXE
[R] char[1] - Acknowledge: K
[S] int[16] - Executable parameters & checksum.
				First 15 elements are EXEC parameters (same format as
				EXEC struct in SDK). The 16th element in the array is
				the CRC32 checksum.
[S] int[1]	- Executable flags.
				bit 0   : Set BPC on executable entrypoint (for debug
				          monitors installed through a patch binary).
				bit 1-31: reserved.
[D] 20ms
[S] *       - Executable data.

Uploading a binary file.

[S] char[4] - Send command: MBIN
[R] char[1] - Acknowledge: K
[S] int[3]  - Parameters.
			  int[0] - Data size.
			  int[1] - Load address.
			  int[2] - CRC32 checksum.
[D] 20ms
[S] *       - Binary data.

Uploading a patch binary (similar to uploading a binary file).

Patch binaries are basically just raw binary programs and is always loaded at 0x80010000. It is called by the loader as a C function as soon as it has finished downloading and checksum verification. The binary is executed outside of critical section mode so you'll have to call the relevant BIOS functions yourself.

The main purpose of this mechanism is for patching debug monitors into the system kernel for use with homebrew debuggers. This feature was implemented into this loader during the development of PSn00bDebugger.

LITELOAD with patch nops to $C000-$C008 just before the loaded program is executed. This is so that debug monitors that use the serial interface can remain 'inactive' by having the first 2 instructions jump back to the kernel exception handler. The reason for this is so that the loader can still use the serial interface as otherwise the debug monitor would take all incoming bytes as commands before LITELOAD, rendering it unable to receive a PS-EXE.

[S] char[4] - Send command: MPAT
[R] char[1] - Acknowledge: K
[S] int[3]  - Parameters.
			  int[0] - Data size.
			  int[1] - Must be zero.
			  int[2] - CRC32 checksum.
[D] 20ms
[S] *       - Binary data.

Patcher binaries

During the development of PSn00bDebugger a patch binary mechanism was implemented to allow for debug monitors to be patched to the kernel before uploading a program, to allow for debugging capabilities.

Patch binaries are simply little binary programs that are always loaded to 0x80010000 and executed by the loader as a C function, from there the patch can do modifications to the kernel.

A patch binary is simply raw executable binary code and can be created easily using ARMIPS:

.psx

.create "patch.bin", 0x80010000

start:

	< do whatever you need to do here >
	
	; Returns to loader (be sure ra is saved and restored before this point)
	jr	ra
	nop
	
.close

Changelog

Version 1.3 (09/28/2019)

• Updated debug patch activation logic. Now writes 4 nops from 0xC000 instead of 3 for the new debug monitor patch of PSn00bDEBUG.

Version 1.2 (07/19/2019)

• Ported to PSn00bSDK, reducing the loader size from 38KB down to 18KB.
• Patch binary and ROM building guides updated for ARMIPS.
• Loader address changed to 0x801faff0 (upper 20KB).
• Updated exec logic to set stack on loaded programs to 0x801ffff0 (top of main RAM which is standard).
• Improved readme file.

Version 1.1 (12/07/2018)

• Changed protocol when uploading EXEs to allow break on entrypoint for debuggers. This also means you're going to need to use a new version of mcomms that uses the updated protocol. Trying to use an older version of mcomms will likely result in incomplete download or CRC32 error.
• Added special patch binary support for installing debug patches to the PS1 kernel.
• Fixed progress bar overflowing when uploading large executables.
• Included tools and ROMstrap code for creating a cheat cartridge bootable version of LITELOAD.

Version 1.0 (6/22/2018)

• Initial release.