Josh Nichols

More PSP hackery: Ripping PS1 games in OSX

What’s the fun of having a PSP if you can’t play your old Playstation 1 (PSX) games on it? None! That’s why I decided to write this handy guide on ripping and converting a PSP game for play on a PSP with custom firmware 3.40 OE.

Now, before you decide to give me a lecture on game piracy, I want to let you know that I actually own original copies of all the games I’m emulating on my PSP, so lay off. Also, I won’t give you any PSX rips, so don’t ask.

Things that you need

• PSP with custom firmware 3.40 OE
• PSX game disk that is compatible with the custom firmware
• Memory stick larger than the PSX game
• PrometeusPro 0.10.1
• libusb

The process

1. Install libusb
2. install PrometeusPro
3. Put the PSX CD in your mac
4. Click the ‘PSX -> PSP’ tab
5. Click the little button labeled ’Rip’
6. Tell it where to save the disk image (it will be a .bin and a .toc file)
7. Wait for it to do it’s thang (if the red light is flashing on the PSP it’s working)
8. A confirmation message will tell you it’s done
9. Go back to ‘PSX -> PSP’ tab
10. Click the little button labeled ’Open’
11. Select the .bin file you just created
12. Have PrometeusPro find the Game ID Number for you
13. Insert an icon, background, etc. if you want (download them here or see below on how to create them yourself)
14. Set compression to 9 (highest level of compression)
15. Uncheck ‘Pal -> NTSC’
16. Click ’Start’
17. When it’s done, connect your PSP to your mac
18. Drag the folder it created to your PSP in PSP/GAME folder
19. Play the game!

A note on multi-disk games

If you are ripping a game that spans more than one disk, be careful. You have to make sure that the ‘Game Name’ and ‘GDIN’ are exactly the same for all the disks or you won’t be able to transfer your save data between them. Also you can only do this transfer on games that prompt you to save before a disk change. Games that make you swap disks mid-game won’t work. Metal Gear Solid is one of the games that won’t work, so you may want to skip that one.

How to make your own game icon and background image

• ICON0.PNG: Icon for the game - image size: 144x80 pixels, PNG format
• PIC1.PNG: Background Image shown when you select the game - image size: 480x272 pixels, PNG format
• TITLE.PNG: Small title image - image size: 310x180 pixels, PNG format (I just create a transparent png to override the default one Prometeus uses
• The other files are for an animated icon and background music. I have no idea on how to create those. I think they’re overkill anyway.

And that’s all you have to do to get started playing PSX games on your PSP using OSX software. Not too tough, huh? If you liked PrometeusPro, then register it for a buck and help out the developer.