PS2 - "Update Tool for the Debugging Station (EXPANSION BAY Type)"

In the systool_3.0.1.pdf file of the SONY PS2SDK documentation, an "Update Tool for the Debugging Station (EXPANSION BAY Type)" is mentioned.

It seems to be to correct a problem that the DEX unit had:

The weird thing is that the DEX is supposed to be like the CEX unit, which has ROM for everything worth writing to. Does anyone have this tool or have even seen it work? Or even better, know how it works?

 

I used my HDD that was setup by & use in a SPCH-30001 in newest HDD-able Debugging Station & HDDOSD worked no problem.. however the games added by HDLGameInstaller don't boot right.. however that's most likely from how the MiniOPL's KELF files are setup.. using a modify DVD KELF right? (DVD things don't work on Debug units)

However I have a Sony 40gb HDD & HDDOSD setup disc, so maybe I'll try and see if it will work or not.

 

Am I mistaken or is the thread about something else, entirely?

 

I guess that the update, if it really is an update, was meant for the early DEX units.

The modules used in CEX, DEX and TOOL consoles are the same, so technically disks would be transferrable between the three types of consoles without any external help.

Not quite. The KELF is not a SONY DVD player's KELF, although it is flagged as one.

Nah, it won't make a difference.

Yeah, the problem isn't the same problem that I had in mind.
According to SONY, the disk would not be accessed properly.

 

I see, I was thinking it was something on the HDDOSD itself. My bad. Hope someone his that update tool, like to see it myself now.

I was thinking it was something like that as back in the day some older KELF was made from DVD 3.11 KELF.
SCEDoormat NoME can make KELF for DEX Units, so maybe its time to update HDLGameInstaller to be also model free. (PSX & BB need pics added)

By the way, do you have ELF copy of the newest MiniOPL? I like to try using SCEDoormat NoME to make a working KELF for my DEX unit & update some of my games. POPStarter looks to be working on DEX unit just from using the KELF in its download.

P.S. Tested your newest FMCB 1.952(?) on my DTL-H50001 & it works great, have not tested FHDB but I'm sure that worked before now as it was on the HDD end.

 

It is model-free. The problem is likely with the KELF being flagged as a DVD player, but I haven't worked on this tool in quite a while. And so it will likely stay like that for a while longer.

This will require a PFS partition to be added, hence an additional 128MB of space for each game.
But doing this will mean that the installation is not 100% compliant with the HDD specs; rightfully, the icon resources are supposed to be placed on every partition (parent and child). But because the game partition itself is not a PFS partition, that is impossible to do.

"Mini OPL" is just the core modules of OPL itself. If you need a newer version, just copy the newer files from OPL and build a new copy.

 

This new tool fixes that problem now, its has 3 var. of making KELF, one most likely being the the type you used. A other for PSX units & one for DEX units. (DEX var. sames to work on all units as list on apps "Target Machine Type == PS2 (CEX & DEX) + PSX"

Hopefully you'll fine some time to update it someday, its no problem, I just try building that OPL file for now and see how it goes. Great work as always.

 

[OFF_TOPIC]
What we know, as for the DEX PS2 and the PSX, is that the acceptance of the MG decryption regards to both the machine type flag and the application type flag.

There are two machine type values. PS2 and PSX.
A PS2 (CEX and DEX) can ONLY decrypt a KELF/KIRX that is PS2 flagged.
A PSX (DVR) cannot decrypt a KELF/KIRX that is PS2 flagged, unless its application type flag is Dnas_WithHdd. Otherwise it has to be PSX flagged.

The DEX units cannot decrypt a KELF/KIRX that has an application type flag of DVDPLAYER KELF or DVD PLAYER KIRX. The MechaCon uses a mask to detemine the app type, so more values than just 0x05 (DVD Player KIRX) and 0x07 (DVD Player KELF) may be denied.

So the most cross-compatible (model-wise) KELF would be machine==PS2 + app==DNAS, BUT such KELF does not undo sceCdForbidDVDP. The POPStarter KELF is indeed of the same kind. In fact that's a haxed up dnasload.elf KELF of FFXI or some PSBBN downloaded crap.
The KRYPTO.KHN file from 20150413_PSX_PS2_DNAS_NODVD is the one you want to embed your stuff for use with the CEX/DEX/PSX yep.

I hope what I wrote is correct; haven't been into the PS2 juju for a while hehe.
[/OFF_TOPIC]

 

@krHACKen: that's correct indeed! At least, up to my level of understanding.

Although, I think that the KELF that boots on both the PSX and PS2 is actually just a PS2 KELF with a certain header (specifically, the one used for FFXI & PSBB stuff). The "application type" field doesn't have anything to do with it, does it?

 

Hmm yes, I think you're right about the app type.
The PSBBN kernel launcher KELF has the value 0x0B in its app type field, same as for the dnasload KELFs.
As far as I know, the PSBBN KELFs cannot be decrypted with the PSX; so yes, the decryption of the PS2 flagged KELFs with the PSX might be a matter of user header...

User header of a Japanese dnasload.elf :

Code:

01 00 00 04  00 06 00 4A  00 0E 01 00  00 00 00 02

User header of a North American dnasload.elf :

Code:

01 00 00 04  00 06 01 55  00 0E 02 00  00 00 00 06

$ONY did blacklist the DVD Player v1.00 user headers (of the KELF and the KIRX) so they cannot be decrypted. They certainly did the same thing to allow the PSX to decrypt the KELFs of the installed PS2 games. Muh I can't try out things since my PSX is broken .

 

It's not the header that is blacklisted. It's the resulting contents key of using that user header and specific KBIT/KC values. To get that specific contents key on COH KELFs they used a user header that was something like this" 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 " (in ASCII) and bruteforced/generated KBIT/KC which combined with that header would give out the exact same contents key as the DVD 1.00 KELF/KIRX. Considering that after that fuckup they also ARBITRARILY/INTENTIONALLY used the EXACT SAME CONTENTS KEY on ALL COH KELFS...

You see, sir, they were screaming "PLEASE HACK ME"