Source code and everything needed for compiling

EDIT: A more recent upload of the source code + PSL1GHT can be found here.

I don’t remember by whom but I’m reasonably certain I’ve been asked for this before and I suspect there is probably a handful of people that would find this useful. So here it is.

I’ve uploaded a compressed file that contains the (admittedly outdated) compiled copy of PSL1GHT that I’ve been using (and continue to use) for all of my recent PS3 homebrew. The archive also includes the source code for They Do Not Die 2, We Are Nowhere, The Unmapped Forest, Slime Roll, Sketch Fight, Goodbye World, Don’t Get Crushed, Cascade Beneath and Avoidance. Along with the source code is all of the related media.

You can download it here.

How to use it (well running Ubuntu 32bit):

Just add the following text at the bottom of your bashrc file.

## Setup ps3toolchain environment
export PS3DEV=/usr/local/ps3dev
export PATH=$PATH:$PS3DEV/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$PS3DEV/host/ppu/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$PS3DEV/host/spu/bin
## Setup PSL1GHT Environment
export PSL1GHT=$PS3DEV/psl1ght
export PATH=$PATH:$PSL1GHT/host/bin

Then open up the terminal and install the following libraries (some of these probably aren’t really necessary but some definitely are).

sudo apt-get install autoconf automake bison flex texinfo libncurses5-dev gcc g++ make wget libelf-dev
sudo apt-get install python2.6-dev python-dev zlib1g-dev libtool git-core libgmp3-dev libssl-dev pkg-config
sudo apt-get install libcloog-ppl-dev

Extract the contents of the above ps3dev.tgz archive to the /usr/local/ folder.

Then in the terminal just open the directory for one of the projects (such as They Do Not Die 2).

cd $PS3DEV/MyProjects/projects/TheyDoNotDie2

Finally enter this to compile it (Doing make clean first would probably also be a good idea).

make pkg

What I would like you to do:

Make something. There is an appalling lack of original games being made in the homebrew community and I implore you to take part in changing this.

Give credit when credit is due. Don’t just reskin one of the games or change a couple things and pretend that you have made something new.

EDIT: I’ve re uploaded it (the file was taken down). I’d also like to also take this moment to point out that if you go here you can get the source code for more recent builds of my PS3 stuff along with a bunch of games that aren’t even included here.

The official PS3 SDK v1.92

I was asked to upload the SDK that I was originally using to develop for PS3. So here it is.

Download part 1
Download part 2
Download part 3

But I would like to take this moment to point out that there is little to no real reason to continue using the official SDK. Although I have some complaints (pretty much exclusively relating to documentation and setup) I have found the open source community made tools to be entirely competent. I strongly recommend that anyone planning to develop homebrew use PSL1GHT and NOT the leaked official SDK that is posted above. Even if you are interested in tinkering with the official SDK it is my understanding that equally complete and functional copies of more recent versions then this have already been leaked.

Developing for PS3 – Part 3 – Programing

Writing code is obviously the primary (along with creating art assets) thing that’s involved in game making. But I’m also not sure what exactly your all expecting me to say about it. There isn’t much that is legitimately specific to PS3. If your familiar with C++ and OpenGL then you are pretty much good to go. If there is something you would like to to write about then let me know. Would you be interested in reading a sort of walk through of building a simple game? If so then what kind of game? Platformer? Until then here is… something.

Step 1

Get a copy of Visual Studio and install it. Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express is completely free and just as usable as the full retail package.

People hate on Visual Studio but its a perfectly likable IDE and there is nothing wrong with using it. With the benefit of little things like syntax highlighting it is at the least preferable over writing in a simple text editor like notepad.

Plus it will enable you to compile Windows builds of the stuff you make which will save you a ton of time when it comes to testing anything that isn’t PS3 specific (like collision detection or jump heights). You wont even need to make your own Visual Studio Project files. The testapp along with most if not all of the other samples included with the PS3 1.92 SDK come with their own pre made vcproj and related files.

Step 2

Developing with the official SDK leaves you with two APIs to choose from in terms of rendering. GCM and PSGL. GCM is specific to the hardware and is as low level as it gets and as a result what you make with it will (or should) preform somewhat better then if you use Sony’s implementation of OpenGL. But that being said PSGL is pure awesome. Its all that I use and its what I highly recommend using.

PSGL is OpenGL ES 1.0 complaint meaning that if your noobish there are tons of resources available online with information about writing for it. It also means that you wont be teathering yourself to PS3 for ever. OpenGL exists in some form or another on effectively every platform in existence so its a good idea to become familiar with it and it will make it a lot easier to port anything you write. It also supports a lot of stuff that isn’t a standard part of OpenGL ES 1.0 like vertex buffer objects and NVIDIA Cg shaders.

If your using PSGL then there is no need to start completely from scratch. That testapp you compiled uses a really great frame work that is included with the SDK and there isn’t any reason to not continue using it. So make a copy of the testapp folder and lets begin editing it.

Step 3

Open up the contained and pre made Visual Studio project.
Agree to all the update/configuration junk.

Now under “build” select “Configuration Manager” and in the window that pops up set the “Active solution configuration” to “Win32Release” and click close.

Under “Build” again select “Build Solution” and it should now compile a version of the program to run on Windows (you should still be using MSYS when compiling for PS3).

Unfortunately your likely to get some errors that you will need to correct.

If when attempting to compile you are informed that “LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file ‘dinput8.lib'” then download and install this. Then under “Project” select “TestApp Properties…”, then “Configuration Properties”, then “Linker”, then “general”, then “Additional Library Directories” and add the address “C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (November 2008)\Lib\x86”. That address may differ if you get a different version of the DirectX SDK. You should probably run a search on your computer for “dinput8.lib”. You might already have it.

If you run into any other compiler errors then post them in the comments and I’ll try to help. Be sure to also check CoachLDE’s comments bellow for some additional guidance.

There should now be a “Win32Release” folder containing an windows executable of your program.

Step 4

Remember how I said that the frame work the testapp used was worth reusing? It is. But the testapp uses more of it then your going to want. Your going to want to take control over the camera system and create your own so you might as well remove the camera system that is in place now and with it strip out a few unnecessary layers of that frame work. Well we are at it we can cut out that wire frame grid.

and at the moment I don’t really feel like writing out every line that should be changed to accomplish this. I’m not even sure that anybody cares. So I’m not going to for now. Yay I’m a horrible tutorial writer.

You can download an edited version of the testapp here or here.

Along with striping out the old camera system and the grid I also made some other slight changes including adding binding for sixaxis controls and all keyboard keys (instead of only the space key as it is in the original testapp) so your setup to use them. Additionally I removed the use of debug text which admittedly is something you may have found useful.

Both the original testapp and my lightly edited copy are short enough for you to be reasonably expected to read so you should read them. Once you’ve read them then start editing them. Make small edits of your own, recompile, see what changes when running the final executable, lather, rinse, repeat. Trial and error is often the best way to learn.

Developing for PS3 – Part 2 – Packaging

Disclaimer: As with any guide there is the risk of information becoming outdated and tools deprecated. This is a perfect example of it. The text bellow explains the process I used for packaging homebrew when I was still using a jailbreak device. But since then CFW has become the predominant method for enabling homebrew and at the time of writing this disclaimer no CFW will support the use of the eboot.bin files generated using the executable mentioned bellow in Step 2. At the moment it is my understanding that geohots tools are a necessity if you wish to play your homebrew on CFW.

Another mildly boring but necessary thing that you are going to need to be able to do is package that newly compiled testapp and anything else you make.

You can temporarily get around the need for making installable PKGs by using programs like PS3Load. It didn’t seem to work for me the few times I tried it but I assume it must work in some conditions. Its certainly worth looking into. I had found its Wii counterparts helpful. But in any case your often still going to want or need to package your PS3 homebrew.

As usual I’m sure there are better ways to go about this but this is what I have been doing.

Step 1

Grab a copy of CFWProphet’s PS3 PKG Tool. The latest release of it has been renamed ACID v1.0 and can be found here.

Despite having the same name it should not be confused with CFWProphet’s PS3 Acid CFW. When actually running them both ACID v1.0 and PS3 PKG Tool v0.6 still refer to themselves as PS3 PKG Tool v0.5. I don’t know why it is the way it is.

If you don’t already have and don’t want to make a ps3news.com forum account you can alternatively get the older 0.5 version here.

Step 2

Copy or move “testapp.elf” into the PKG Tool’s folder.

create a shortcut to “make_fself_npdrm.exe”.

Its included with all versions of the PS3 PKG Tool. With “ACID v1.0” it sits in the folder at all times but with “PS3 PKG Tool v0.5” it is only accessible when the tool is running. I assume “make_fself_npdrm.exe” is contained in PS3_PKG_Tool_v0.5.exe and gets extracted when the program runs and then deleted when its shut down. I don’t know why. Similarly I’m unsure why several other files that come with the tool including the MSYS related installers are set to be hidden. There seem to have been a lot of odd choices made in creating the tool. Maybe it was intended to make it seem more organized in some way.

In any case “make_fself_npdrm.exe” is also included with the SDK and should now be located at “C:\usr\local\cell\host-win32\bin”.

Edit the shortcut to add ” testapp.elf EBOOT.BIN” to the end of its target address. Then run the shortcut.

The “EBOOT.BIN” file that should have just been generated is the actual software that will run on your PS3. Inside of the PKG Tool folder create a new folder called “USRDIR” and move “EBOOT.BIN” into it. Any media that your program will use (like 3D meshes or textures) should go into that “USRDIR” folder. Everything in that folder gets included in the final PKG.

Step 3

Start up the PKG Tool and enter 7 to launch the SFO Editor. The editor is fairly self explanatory.

Under “Catagory/Patch” set its category to “HDD Boot Game”.

Under “general Parameters” enter a four letter word first part of the “Title ID” and enter five numbers for the second half. This text will dictate where on the hard drive the package will be installed to. If for example you entered “CUBE” and “66666” then everything in your “USRDIR” folder will show up at “/dev_hdd0/game/CUBE66666/USRDIR/”. This also means that its important that you pick a name that’s unique to the program your packaging. You obviously cant have two programs installed at the same address.

You can enter whatever you want for the “Title (default)”. That is the text that will appear next to the icon in the XMB.

You can use whatever you like as your programs version number but it will cause problems generating the PKG if your inconsistent about what version number your labeling it as.

Don’t forget to tick any/all resolutions and audio formats that you will be supporting.

Save your SFO in the PKG Tool folder as “PARAM.SFO”.

Step 4

Return to the PKG Tool and enter 8 to make the necessary “package.conf” file.

type in 6 random characters
followed by a dash
then enter both parts of the Title ID you used in your SFO (no dash or space between the two parts)
followed by an underscore
followed by two zeros
followed by a dash
followed by 16 random characters.

Hit enter.
It will generate some random numbers.
Hit enter again.

Enter “Free”.

Enter “GameExec”.

Enter the version number of whatever it is your packaging.

If you would like to you could really just do this step in notepad or some other similarly simple text editor. The contents of the “package.conf” file should end up looking something like this.

Content_ID=OPSY4K-CUBE66666_00-1648597256315895
K_Licensee=0x2255AB56E3EE459A011A6167528425F2A22
DRMType=Free
Content_Type=GameExec
Package_Version=1.0

Step 5

Load up your favorite image editor and make a 320×176 PNG and name it “ICON0.PNG”. Place it into the PS3 PKG Tool folder (NOT the “USRDIR” subfolder). This image will be used as the icon in the XMB.

You can also add the following images but they aren’t really necessary.

“PIC0.PNG” 100×560 this image is best suited for a larger title or logo. It fits on screen bellow the horizontal cross media bar and to the right of the vertical one. Unlike with the background you shouldn’t need to worry about parts of this one getting cropped off screen for people with 4:3 TVs. If you include one of these then when its loaded and being drawn on screen the text that says the programs name is turned off.

“PIC1.PNG” 1920×1080 This image is used as the background. Keep in mind when making this one that a non trivial amount of the left and right sides will be cropped off in 4:3 mode.

“PIC2.png” 310×250 I don’t actually know what this image is for and haven’t bothered checking yet. The few games that have one just leave them blank. Feel free to use one and post the results in the comments.

Although retail games tend to use 24bit images for “PIC1.PNG” it supports the use of 32bit PNG files for all of them. This means that you can use alpha channels for all of them. So you can layer the images and leave peoples background themes partially visible.

Its my understanding that “PS3LOGO.DAT” and “SND0.AT3” relate to adding audio and using video in place of the icon. But I haven’t looked into that yet.

Step 6

Return to the PKG Tool one last time and enter 9. If all goes well it should generate an installable PKG for you. Copy it to a USB mass storage device, install it and have some fun toying around with it on your PS3.

Developing for PS3 – Part 1 – setup

I got an email requesting a tutorial on how to develop for PS3. Its something that other people have previously asked me for assistance with which leads me to believe that there are probably more people lurking around here that want to get into homebrew development but need a little help doing it. So I figured I would write up a series of short tutorial and post them here for public consumption.

This initial tutorial covers how to first get everything setup. Its something that’s already been covered repeatedly but regardless its still something that you obviously cant begin developing without doing.

Step 1

The first thing you need to do is decide what software development kit you are going to use. I use the leaked official PS3 SDK v1.92 so that is what this tutorial will focus on. But its worth noting that PSL1GHT is definitely more appealing for ideological and legal reasons, is catching up with the official SDK in terms of functionality and is what most other developers in the PS3 homebrew community are either already using or moving towards using. There have also been more recent versions leaked then 1.92 of the official SDK which may differ slightly.

Also worth noting is that I use Windows. Things may vary depending on your OS of choice but unless I’m mistaken it should be possible to get any of the available SDKs working on almost any major platform.

You can find still active links for the 1.92 PS3 SDK at the address bellow. Its not where I got my copy (I don’t remember where I got it) and the image included in the post is of community made software that isnt actually included with the SDK which makes me think that the person who posted it didn’t actually know what they where posting. But I’m fairly certain the files linked to are correct.

http://www.katzforums.com/showpost.php?p=3433726

If anyone requests it I’ll upload the SDK elsewhere. Sony seems to have made some amount of effort to purge the SDK from the internet. There are a lot of dead links floating around to hosting services that have removed it for copyright reasons.

Step 2

At the root of your C drive create a folder named “usr”. Within that create another folder named “local” and within that one make a folder named “cell”.

Extract the contents of the rar file you just downloaded and copy it all to “C:\usr\local\cell”.

Step 3

The following two (inclusive of this one) steps can be found in PS3_SDKDoc_e.chm which should now be located at C:\usr\local\cell\doc\SDK_doc\en\chm. If you get stuck on anything then try consulting that document.

Download and install
MinGW-3.1.0-1.exe
then
MSYS-1.0.10.exe
then
msysDTK-1.0.1.exe

You might as well download CFWProphet’s PS3 PKG Tool now as it includes the three installers and your going to want it later anyways.

Step 4

Edit your environment variable (Right-click on “My Computer”, select “Properties”, open the “Advanced” tab and click the “Environment Variables” button) to include the following.

name: CELL_SDK
value: /c/usr/local/cell

name: LANG
value: C

name: DTNETM
value: hostname or IP address of the Reference Tool

name: PATH
value: c:\msys\1.0\bin;
c:\usr\local\cell\host-win32\bin;
c:\usr\local\cell\host-win32\ppu\bin;
c:\usr\local\cell\host-win32\spu\bin;
c:\usr\local\cell\host-win32\Cg\bin

Step 5

Start MSYS and enter “$ cd /c/usr/local/cell/samples/fw/testapp/” (without the quotation marks). That will change MSYS’s current working directory to that of a simple test program that is included with the 1.92 SDK. Next enter “make”. That will make it compile the test program.

Now just wait for it to finish compiling.

If all has gone well you should have a newly generated “testapp.elf” file and a “testapp.self” file located at “C:\usr\local\cell\samples\fw\testapp”.