NO$PSX V2.1 Released (20th Aug 2022)

[Squaresoft74]

There's a sequenced audio format used in various 1999+ games where Sony was involved either as developer or publisher:
Alundra 2, Ape Escape, Arc the Lad 3, Koukidou Gensou - Gunparade March, PoPoLoCrois Monogatari II, The Legend of Dragoon, Wild Arms 2.

I've made PSF rips for some of them in the past so i can provide some samples data if you want to study/reverse/document it.

[null]

Btw. did I miss any important/standard PSX File Format in my specs?

I don't know if PSX supports ATRAC but PSP/PS3 supports ATRAC3plus that you can play as music or background music of a game that allows customizing its playlist, I only tried it on my PSP with a GTA game then change the radio songs. GoldWave is the only application I know that can convert audios into ATRAC but you need to download additional codec for that.

Are there any further standard archive, bitmap, model, sound, compression formats that are still unsupported/undocumented in no$psx?

Yes, but I don't know if it's related to PSX CDROM anymore.

[nocash]

ATRAC audio compression? The wiki page says that is something like 1:5 compression ratio, one could perhaps decompress it on PSX and then re-compress it as SPU-ADPCM for playback, but that's having almost the compression ratio (or directly inject it to reverb buffer to avoid the re-compression, but that seems unlikely too).

There's a sequenced audio format used in various 1999+ games where Sony was involved either as developer or publisher:
Alundra 2, Ape Escape, Arc the Lad 3, Koukidou Gensou - Gunparade March, PoPoLoCrois Monogatari II, The Legend of Dragoon, Wild Arms 2.

Which files are that? I've looked at Ape Escape and Wild Arms 2, they have several files with "SShd" at offset 2Ch. The "SShd" string does also occur in Omega Boost. Do you mean those files? And do you have more info on the file format?

Btw. I'm also having some questions about Sony's standard SEQ and SEP files,
http://problemkaputt.de/psxspx-cdrom-fi ... p-sony.htm
The header contains Resolution, Tempo, Rhythm entries, but I don't really know what they mean.
The "score" data seems to be "standard" midi. Or are there some restrictions and special cases?

[Lollie]

I'm not sure what you want to do: Store pocketstation files files on regular memory cards, but why? And do you want to do that on real hardware, or in no$psx, or in any other emulators in general?

Ah no, I was hoping that no$psx supported PocketStation-type memory cards, for PocketStation-related fuctions like transferring games.

To date, there's only one PS1 emulator out there that supports PocketStation functions, Xebra. And I have a feeling that it just treats every memory card like a PocketStation, so that its memory card files can be used in PK201.

[nocash]

Yeah, maybe it would be enough to implement some chip ID and get RTC commands, to unlock the transfers in MuuMuu... and then use the files in PK201 (or no$gba should also work).

Actually implementing a fully-fledged pocketstation emulation inside of no$psx with (invisible) LCD screen and (inaccessible) buttons would feel a bit pointless (as the LCD/buttons are vanishing in the memory card slot).

[Lollie]

Yeah, maybe it would be enough to implement some chip ID and get RTC commands, to unlock the transfers in MuuMuu... and then use the files in PK201 (or no$gba should also work).

If that's enough to get it working, that'd be awesome! PocketStation support tends to get overlooked in other PS1 emulators for some reason, so it'd be nice to have more options.

Worth mentioning, it wouldn't just benefit Pocket MuuMuu, but any game with PocketStation support. Some of the more notable ones are the JP Mega Man (Rockman) games and Final Fantasy 8's Chocobo World (one of the few PocketStation games available in international PS1 releases).

(also, I've found no$gba can't currently save progress in PocketStation games - it needs to write directly to the card)

Actually implementing a fully-fledged pocketstation emulation inside of no$psx with (invisible) LCD screen and (inaccessible) buttons would feel a bit pointless (as the LCD/buttons are vanishing in the memory card slot).

That's my thought too, the PocketStation didn't really get utilized like the Dreamcast VMU. Unless there's a PS1 game out there that displays things on the PocketStation while playing (and if so: oh god, why?), the only thing that the PocketStation does while inserted is flips its display and looks pretty. It doesn't have to run parallel with the PS1.

[Squaresoft74]

Which files are that? I've looked at Ape Escape and Wild Arms 2, they have several files with "SShd" at offset 2Ch. The "SShd" string does also occur in Omega Boost. Do you mean those files? And do you have more info on the file format?

Yes those are the ones.
I don't really have any verified info as i'm not into bgm format reverse engineering at all.
When i'm doing PSF rips, i'm just basically locating/using bgm related functions and simply feed them with expected bgm data so they do all the work for me to load/play them.
So here's a wild guess that is probably inaccurate/incomplete about the SSsq/SShd format:

SSsq (Sequence):
0000h 2 Default sequence volume ?
0002h 4 Tempo ?
0006h 6 Unknown (always zero ?)
000Ch 4 File ID ("SSsq")
0010h ? Actual sequence data start ?
... ?


SShd (Samples bank header):
0000h 4 SShd data size
0004h 4 SSbd data size
0008h 4 Unknown (always zero ?)
000Ch 4 File ID ("SShd")
0010h 70h pointers table ? (4h each if any, else 0xFF filled)
... ?

SSbd (Guessed name given here, Samples bank body):
Just regular .vb data

I've attached some sample data from PoPoLoCrois Monogatari II if you want to give a closer look.
Also included a .PSF file and its original .EXE form.
If you're interested into adding .psf/.minipsf loading support to no$psx, you can find the specs here:
PSF Format Specification
PSF1 Format

[Squaresoft74]

You can find some seq2mid and sssq2mid conversion tools with source code here if that can help.

[nocash]

000Ch 4 File ID ("SShd")

The ID is at offset 00Ch? Ah, yes, I see. The files I had looked at did have some extra header in front of the actual sound files. Like this...

Code: Select all

Ape Escape Sound Archive (MagDemo44:KIDZ\KKIIDDZZ.HED\DAT\1Bh-1Dh,4Fh-59h,..)
  000h 5*4   File Sizes   (can be odd) (can be 0 for 2nd and 5th file)
  014h 5*4   File Offsets (28h and up, increasing by sizes rounded to N*10h)
  028h ..    File Data area (first file usually/always contains "SShd")

And... in Wild Arms 2... the files start with some values that look like RAM addresses, followed by the SShd file, followed by whatever other stuff. I don't know how to parse that.

The SSsq files that I've seen are always starting with these three halfwords: 0064h,01E0h,00xxh. Which, yes, might be volume and tempo, perhaps with separate multiplier/divider values for tempo... if the 01E0h value is related to 60Hz NTSC framerate then it might differ in PAL games.

You can find some seq2mid and sssq2mid conversion tools with source code here

Yup, that looks like a good place for finding further info about sound formats. I haven't checked the various tools, but I'll add a link to that page.

There's another sound format used by at least 5 games:

Code: Select all

DNSa/PMSa/FNSa/FMSa

Used by several games (usually inside of BIGFILE.DAT):
  Akuji (MagDemo18: AKUJI\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa)
  Gex 2 (MagDemo08: GEX3D\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa)
  Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (MagDemo20: G3\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa)
  Legacy of Kain 2 (MagDemo13: KAIN2\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa)
  Legacy of Kain 2 (MagDemo26: KAIN2\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa,FNSa,FMSa)
  Walt Disney World Racing Tour (MagDemo35: GK\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa)
There are four four file types:
  "DNSa"  (aka SouND backwards)         ;sequence data
  "PMSa"  (aka SaMPles backwards)       ;samples with small header
  "FMSa"  (aka SaMples-F... backwards)  ;samples with bigger header   ;\Legacy
  "FNSa"  (aka SouNd-F... backwards)    ;whatever tiny file           ;/of Kain

"PMSa"  (aka SaMPles backwaords)
  000h 4     ID "PMSa"
  004h 4     Total Filesize
  008h 8     Zerofilled
  010h ..    SPU-ADPCM data (usually starting with zerofilled 10h-byte block)

"DNSa"  (aka SouND backwards)
  000h 4      ID "DNSa"   ;aka SND backwards
  004h 2      Offset from DNSa+4 to 8-byte entries (can be odd)
  006h 1      Unknown (3)
  007h 1      Number of 8-byte entries   (N1)
  008h 1?     Number of 10h-byte entries (N2)
  ...  ..     Unknown (..)
  ...  N1*8   Whatever 8-byte entries
  ...  N2*10h Whatever 10h-byte entries
  ...  ..     ... circa 40h 4-byte entries...?
  ...  ..     Unknown (..)
  ...  ..     Several blocks with ID "QESa" or "QSMa"  ;supposedly MIDI-style?

"FNSa"  (aka SouNd-F... backwards)
These are whatever tiny files (with filesize 1Ch or 2Ch).
  000h 4     ID "FNSa"
  ...  ..    Unknown

"FMSa"  (aka SaMples-F... backwards)
  000h 4     ID "FMSa"
  008h ..    Unknown..
  ...  ..    SPU-ADPCM data (usually starting with zerofilled 10h-byte block)

I didn't knew about the PSF format, but if it's basically just a compressed PSX-EXE then it should be easy to implement.

[Squaresoft74]

And... in Wild Arms 2... the files start with some values that look like RAM addresses, followed by the SShd file, followed by whatever other stuff. I don't know how to parse that.

Based on Matrixz's notes who ripped that game, Wild Arms 2 has its SSsq data stored compressed in the game data.
I can send you the notes he shared with me that i also learned from when i got into PSF ripping.
On the other hand i may re-rip this game at some point as his driver doesn't work on real hardware, only with PSF players for some reason.
Also one thing one shouldn't do when getting SSsq data is extracting them from savestates.
That's because the driver modifies bytes in the header of the SSsq while playing.

There's another sound format used by at least 5 games:

Code: Select all

DNSa/PMSa/FNSa/FMSa

Used by several games (usually inside of BIGFILE.DAT):
  Akuji (MagDemo18: AKUJI\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa)
  Gex 2 (MagDemo08: GEX3D\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa)
  Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (MagDemo20: G3\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa)
  Legacy of Kain 2 (MagDemo13: KAIN2\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa)
  Legacy of Kain 2 (MagDemo26: KAIN2\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa,FNSa,FMSa)
  Walt Disney World Racing Tour (MagDemo35: GK\BIGFILE.DAT\*) (DNSa,PMSa)
There are four four file types:
  "DNSa"  (aka SouND backwards)         ;sequence data
  "PMSa"  (aka SaMPles backwards)       ;samples with small header
  "FMSa"  (aka SaMples-F... backwards)  ;samples with bigger header   ;\Legacy
  "FNSa"  (aka SouNd-F... backwards)    ;whatever tiny file           ;/of Kain

"PMSa"  (aka SaMPles backwaords)
  000h 4     ID "PMSa"
  004h 4     Total Filesize
  008h 8     Zerofilled
  010h ..    SPU-ADPCM data (usually starting with zerofilled 10h-byte block)

"DNSa"  (aka SouND backwards)
  000h 4      ID "DNSa"   ;aka SND backwards
  004h 2      Offset from DNSa+4 to 8-byte entries (can be odd)
  006h 1      Unknown (3)
  007h 1      Number of 8-byte entries   (N1)
  008h 1?     Number of 10h-byte entries (N2)
  ...  ..     Unknown (..)
  ...  N1*8   Whatever 8-byte entries
  ...  N2*10h Whatever 10h-byte entries
  ...  ..     ... circa 40h 4-byte entries...?
  ...  ..     Unknown (..)
  ...  ..     Several blocks with ID "QESa" or "QSMa"  ;supposedly MIDI-style?

"FNSa"  (aka SouNd-F... backwards)
These are whatever tiny files (with filesize 1Ch or 2Ch).
  000h 4     ID "FNSa"
  ...  ..    Unknown

"FMSa"  (aka SaMples-F... backwards)
  000h 4     ID "FMSa"
  008h ..    Unknown..
  ...  ..    SPU-ADPCM data (usually starting with zerofilled 10h-byte block)

Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Interactive games.
I've ripped Akuji, Gex 2, Gex 3 and Legacy of Kain - Soul Reaver in the past aswell.
Looked like they share a same sound engine base that was upgraded among games.
And yes, while bgm .SND/.SMP data are found in all of these games, their headers/specs were changed from a game to another so i had to rip their dedicated drivers.

I didn't knew about the PSF format, but if it's basically just a compressed PSX-EXE then it should be easy to implement.

That's basically it so would be neat if you could implement support for those.
Would be really convenient not having to convert back to EXE first when uploading to hardware with no$psx.
Which makes me think, nocashio driver only works with x86 OS it seems, up to Windows 10 from what i could test.
Any chance to get it to work with x64 ones ?

Hopefully you'll get Parasite Eve 2 to work at some point.
Currently trying to rip that game using Mednafen's debugger but i'm not as comfortable with it compared to yours.

[nocash]

Good to know that the Crystal Dynamic Eidos sound format varies in different games.

I've implemented loading/decompressing .PSF files in no$psx...

The upload to hardware function should work automatically as for uncompressed EXE... I currently don't have a speaker attached to the console... but uploading the PSF or EXE file does both produce the same "video output" (white/blue stripes) after uploading. For whatever reason it's just a black screen without those stripes in no$psx. Anyways, it's just a sound engine and I guess it wasn't supposed to produce any meaningful video output.

I don't have the [TAG] stuff implemented. Do you know how "length" and "fade" are supposed to interact? I guess it should be either one of these:
- fadeout starts at "length-fade", total duration is "length"
- fadeout starts at "length", total duration is "length+fade"

Oh, and is the file extension always .PSF, or do some people also use .PSF1 for Playstation 1, or whatever else?

[Squaresoft74]

I've implemented loading/decompressing .PSF files in no$psx...

That's great, many thanks for this !

The upload to hardware function should work automatically as for uncompressed EXE... I currently don't have a speaker attached to the console... but uploading the PSF or EXE file does both produce the same "video output" (white/blue stripes) after uploading. For whatever reason it's just a black screen without those stripes in no$psx. Anyways, it's just a sound engine and I guess it wasn't supposed to produce any meaningful video output.

Yes, it's expected to not display anything as it's mainly making use of the sound system related stuff.
(Dedicated PSF players are basically just emulating that).
You can find some documentation about the PSF ripping process here.

I don't have the [TAG] stuff implemented. Do you know how "length" and "fade" are supposed to interact? I guess it should be either one of these:
- fadeout starts at "length-fade", total duration is "length"
- fadeout starts at "length", total duration is "length+fade"

You may want to give a look at kode54's Foobar2000 PSF Decoder source code for this.
(Previously provided .psf file doesn't have those tags, i didn't time it yet).

Oh, and is the file extension always .PSF, or do some people also use .PSF1 for Playstation 1, or whatever else?

.psf when the driver and bgm data are contained into a single file (like the one i provided in previous post).
.minipsf when the driver and/or bgm data are splitted into separate .psflib file(s).
I've never used .psf1 or .minipsf1 for Playstation 1 nor have seen anyone do.

Psf/Minipsf files below do have timing tags added for you to check.

Oh and regarding the issue described my Dragon Ball rip's notes, it's still there with no$psx 2.1.
Check Bgm-29 attached file.

[PolygonSlayer]

New user of this emulator here. I mainly found it while looking if there was an emulator that did link cable emulation and this seems to be the only one doing it properly at the moment! Which is awesome

I've been playing around with it a bit now and found a few issues that I'd like to report in case you can fix them as I'm not sure how many people are testing the link function on PS1 games these days haha.

Most games with link support that I tried just works great! However four games are essentially unplayable currently (not exclusive to link mode):

In Doom none of the walls are rendering:
https://ibb.co/PgYGFPc
https://ibb.co/wBJp59T
https://ibb.co/QcSMrT2

Duke Nukem has a similar issue, but instead the void is filled with previous frames of the game:
https://ibb.co/cQf1Knm

Pro Pinball: Big Race USA doesn't seem to load at all currently.

Red Asphalt doesn't seem to load at all currently.

The next problem I found is when it comes to configuring the controllers. So if I configure P1 and P2 they will work for machine 1 and 2 fine, but some PS1 games allow for 4 players, with split-screen on both machines (Andretti Racing for example). Currently this does not seem to work as P3 and P4 do no do anything at the moment.

The last issue I've noticed is probably very unique to my planned use for this. So I got it all set up to launch from a frontend currently and while this works fine I also try and make it neat appearing. So I use a program called Opti to load a alpha mask overlay (like a bezel) over some of my emulators (I do the same for mGBA linked for example). Now this doesn't seem to work currently as the controller input for Player 1 does not pass through to the emulator if there is an overlay (always-on-top), even if the emulator loaded after and should theoretically be the one in focus. However Player 2 inputs do pass through and work fine which is odd. Would it be possible to have the emulator listen for controller inputs for all gamepads when not in focus?

So far though I'm having a blast being able to play games with link-up cable again! Haven't done that for years so thank you so much for implementing this feature !

[Administrator]

Finally, you're back NO$CASH! Thanks for adding the Psy-Q symbol support

I have found bugs in your emulator (to the point where the games wouldn't even boot), but I thought your emulator was abandoned so I didn't bother writing them down.

If I remember them, I'll reply here so you're aware of the issues

[Squaresoft74]

Which makes me think, nocashio driver only works with x86 OS it seems, up to Windows 10 from what i could test.

I gave another try with Windows 10 x64.
Installing/removing nocashio.sys from no$psx menu seems to work fine at first look BUT
While it's supposed to be installed/removed to/from C:\Windows\System32\drivers, it's actually installed/removed to/from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\drivers
Could this be the reason why i'm getting a Nocashio driver failure when i'm trying to upload to PSX ?

[MottZilla]

Heya, I've been away from psx scene for a while, anyways here's a new no$psx & psxspx update.
...

I tried out version 2.1 and when using an original Sony BIOS without the Skip BIOS Intro option, the BIOS is getting stuck on the White Screen for some reason. The TTY debug window with CDROM commands enabled looks like this. It looks as though it's stuck waiting for GetID to generate a response maybe?

CDROM Command: 19 20 - Test
System Controller ROM Version 99/02/01 c3
CDROM Command: 01 - GetStat
CDROM Command: 1A - GetID
CDROM Command: 1E - ReadTOC
CDROM Command: 01 - GetStat
CDROM Command: 1A - GetID
CDROM Command: 02 00 02 04 - SetLoc
CDROM Command: 15 - SeekL
CDROM Command: 0E 80 - SetMode
CDROM Command: 06 - ReadN
CDROM Command: 09 - Pause
CDROM Command: 02 00 02 05 - SetLoc
CDROM Command: 15 - SeekL
CDROM Command: 0E 80 - SetMode
CDROM Command: 06 - ReadN
CDROM Command: 09 - Pause
CDROM Command: 1A - GetID

I tried with the low level cdrom and it shows GetID generating the INT2 response. But again nothing happens afterwards. It's very strange. When using Skip BIOS Intro things seem to work fine. Also using the NoCash BIOS clone without skip intro works fine.

Also a separate problem I've had with No$PSX is the program doesn't close when you hit the X on the window or select Quit on the debugger window. I have to use Task manager to kill the process. On the previous version I had to open a Cue file it didn't like to make the program terminate.

[Administrator]

I muted NO$PSX in Windows 10 and when I went to un-mute it, the audio never came back. Every time I launch NO$PSX it starts muted and un-muting it does nothing. Tried rebooting my computer but nothing works. I have no idea what's happened but it's very annoying.

Also, whenever I close NO$PSX, the program never closes properly. It closes the game window and disassembler, but the TTY output window hangs and I need to force kill it from task manager. One time my computer had 45 instances of NO$PSX running before I was aware of this bug.

I've switched to DuckStation in the meantime for debugging until these are fixed because I can't use NO$PSX due to the muted audio

[nocash]

Sound What did you mute how/where? There are several sound/volume options in no$psx emulation setup. And there should be some kind of speaker symbol in your windows taskbar. Those settings should be all "unmuted".

Closing That's normally working fine for me, but some no$gba users have been reporting similar problems once or then. I've made a test version some years ago (but never received any reply with test results). You can get it here:
(outdated link removed)

It should display several message boxes with numbers "1" through "9" during closing. If it doesn't reach the "9" then there's something wrong. Also check the task manager to see if it's really closed.

If it works okay, also try to run a GBA rom-image. And open some child windows (VRAM Viewer, Help screen, I/O Map window, TTY debug messages). And try some different ways for closing (X-button in caption, Alt+X key in debugger).

Crashes I don't know if that's related: If no$xxx is crashing (no$xxx Fatal error message, or Windows page faults) then win98 seems to be left in a somewhat unstable state, restarting no$xxx after the crash does work for a while... but after too many crashes it's somehow refusing to close no$xxx after a while. Rebooting the OS does fix that.

I don't know if that problem does still happen in later windows versions. And... did you encounter any no$xxx crashes at all?

[Administrator]

Sound What did you mute how/where? There are several sound/volume options in no$psx emulation setup. And there should be some kind of speaker symbol in your windows taskbar. Those settings should be all "unmuted".

From the Windows taskbar. Right clicked on the speaker in Windows 10, "Open Volume mixer", went over to NO$PSX and muted it. Now I cannot restore the mute settings. It's bugged.

Closing That's normally working fine for me, but some no$gba users have been reporting similar problems once or then. I've made a test version some years ago (but never received any reply with test results). You can get it here:
http://problemkaputt.de/zsp-gba.zip

It should display several message boxes with numbers "1" through "9" during closing. If it doesn't reach the "9" then there's something wrong. Also check the task manager to see if it's really closed.

If it works okay, also try to run a GBA rom-image. And open some child windows (VRAM Viewer, Help screen, I/O Map window, TTY debug messages). And try some different ways for closing (X-button in caption, Alt+X key in debugger).

When I close that, I don't get any message box. It just hides itself and I need to kill it from task manager.

Crashes I don't know if that's related: If no$xxx is crashing (no$xxx Fatal error message, or Windows page faults) then win98 seems to be left in a somewhat unstable state, restarting no$xxx after the crash does work for a while... but after too many crashes it's somehow refusing to close no$xxx after a while. Rebooting the OS does fix that.

I don't know if that problem does still happen in later windows versions. And... did you encounter any no$xxx crashes at all?

I'm not getting any fatal error crashes.

The Event Viewer does show this however when I kill it from task manager


So I updated the autopilot.dll in system32 from 10.0.19041.2311 to the latest version (10.0.22621.608) which seemed to have fixed it (I needed to manipulate the permissions on Windows in order for me to delete it since it was owned by TrustedInstaller). No idea why Microsoft never updated it on my system.

Anyway, it still hangs (though that autopilot error is now gone) and it's just a plain old clean crash


Further diagnostics showed this


Seems NO$PSX is interfering (or vice-versa) with Macrium Reflect (backup program)

---

[nocash]

Thanks! Here's another test built with new message boxes shown earlier in the shutdown process:
(outdated link removed)
It should display stuff like "debug" and "fonts" when closing/unloading the corresponding windows/data. And should finally display "done" (which means that it's done with the first half of the shutdown process).

For the Sound, make sure that you have these settings in no$psx emulation setup:
- Sound Output Mode = 16bit stereo
- Sound desired sample rate = High (44kHz) (best)
- Sound Volume = should be rightmost slider position
- Volume Control = None (note: "None" will cause the slider to be ignored and always force max volume)
And then click Save options to make sure that they are stored in the no$psx.ini file.
IF that doesn't help, check if task bar has any mute checkboxs or zero slider positions... or try to reboot the PC in case the OS sound driver did hang up somehow... it could be also related to the other problem (no$psx.exe not be closed properly).