How to sign PSP back-ups bigger than 728 MegaByte

How to sign PSP back-ups bigger than 728 MegaBytes


http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2118/pspslim.png

Developer Takka has incorporated to the last revisions of ISO_Tool the option to sign backups with Fake_NP9

Fake_NP9 is a tool that give us the possibility to sign our own backups so we can launch them in Official Firmware (OFW), and without the need of installing a Custom Firmware (CFW) or Homebrew Enabler (HEN).
With this tool we can take as BASE any game download from the PSN Store (Welcome Back program freebies is a given :)), which this tool will allow us to sign any backup that has the same or inferior size as the BASE game.

In this case I'm going to use ModNation Racers as BASE ... next are some requirements necessaries to be able to sign backups using ModNation Racers as BASE:


Requirements:

• PSP with at least OFW 6.20 installed (newer versions are OK)
• Only backups in ISO format can be signed (sorry but no CSO format allowed)
• For better results it is recommended to use CLEAN backups (you may or may not have problems signing patched backups)
• It is important to copy over to our PC the BASE game and its LICENSE

Before we start

• Make sure you have the latest ISO_Tool ( ISO Tool can be found here : http://goo.gl/EN5uj)
• Make sure the game you want to sign is of equal or lesser size to the one being use as the BASE.
• In this tutorial my European ModNation Racers is 1.3GB from the PSN Store, and I'm gonna sign European Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories which is 1.2GB in size.

First Part : Creation of the FAKE_NP Data File

Spoiler warning:

Move through the XMB menu of our PSP and go to the GAMES tab and launch ISO_Tool

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2950/bugjam196.png


Put the arrow pointing to the game we want to sign

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/8796/bugjam186.png


Press the △ button and a pop-up SYS MENU window will appear.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/6438/bugjam187.png


Now move the arrow next to the Make fake_np Data File option and press X ... a new window will appear

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/2041/bugjam188.png


Move the arrow pointing at the BASE game (UCES01327 ) we are gonna use and press X ... a new pop-up window will appear

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8382/bugjam189.png


Select the YES option and wait until the FINISHED message window appear

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8601/bugjam190.png


Press the X button and the application will return to the Main Menu.

This Step we just did we wont have to do it again, because the BASE game Data has been stored in an ISO_Tool Folder which we can use any time we want to sign a game

Second Part : Signing of the Backup Game

Spoiler warning:

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/8796/bugjam186.png

Again at the Main Menu we select the game we want to sign (Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories in my case) and press X ... a new pop-up ISO MENU window will appear


http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/198/bugjam191.png

Place the arrow next to the Convert fake_np option and press X ...a new Select Data Path window will show up


http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8051/bugjam192.png

Now we select the Data we previously create (ModNation), and press X ... a new pop-up window will appear


http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/488/bugjam193.png

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/7974/bugjam194.png

Select the YES option and wait until the process is done
Process time can vary, in my case it says 15:16 minutes as you can see in the image above, but end up taking around 19 minutes.


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1817/bugjam195.png

When done the FINISHED window will appear, Press the X button and the application will return to the Main Menu.
To Exit from ISO_Tool press the HOME button.

Now in the GAMES tab we can verify that we have our backup game (Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories in my case) SIGNED by checking up the Information

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/4765/bugjam197.png


Game Sharing and Obtaining other Region Licenses

Sharing of Signed games bigger than 728 MegaBytes is possible but some criteria need to be met.

Games signed using a USA version of a game as BASE can only be played on the PSP that owned a license of that same game version.
IE.: If a game is signed with Modnation USA as BASE, only PSP that owned the USA version license of Modnation will be able to play it, people owning the EUR or JAP version of same game will get a message stating that no license was found.
Same goes for the other Regions as each region have their unique GameID.

Because of this if such a signed game is to be shared, the uploader must provide info regarding which game was used as BASE to sign the game to be shared and its region so people wanting to download and play such game know before hand if it will work on thir PSP or not.


I,f as most of us, you only have the license of just one region do not despair ... there are ways to get a legitimate license of other regions. Try googling "Sharing of PSN games on PSP"

Quote:

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Notes, Precautions and Advises

There is the possibility of some backups not working after being signed

It is important to make a backup of our BASE Game (Eboot from PSN) and its License in a safe place on our PC

Once we have made our First Part of the Tutorial we can delete the BASE Game from our Memory Stick or Storage Unit to save space.

Warning : the BASE Game we have to delete it via PC ALWAYS, because if it is done from the PSP directly it will also delete the License from the Memory Stick and any game signed with the BASE Game will be unplayable

Do not intent to use a PSX/PSOne Classic Game as BASE because it will not work for this.

IMPORTANT : The backups game that we signed with this method will ONLY WORK in the PSPs that have Bought, Download and Activated the same BASE Game from the PSP

Because of this, it is important that if any backup is signed with the intent of SHARING with others, let's them know which game was used as BASE to sign any backup game.

But more important will be for sharing communities like this one, to pick a BASE game in common for the signings of games that need a License ... hopefully whoever decide to sign a game we can only hope that they do it with either one of the PSP Welcome Back program Free games as the one used in this tutorial (The other one would be Little Big Planet, which is actually Bigger than ModNation Racers.)

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Thanks for the guide, added to our index in the Sony Section :)

Cant wait to give this a try! Great work!!

Just signed Star Ocean - First Departure, and all seems good so far! Moogie, you rock!

by the way, the requirement about "PSP with at least OFW 6.20 installed" is not for signing the game, is for running/launching the game, because ModNation Racers need at least that firmware version to be playable (PSP Firmware requirements DataBase).

As long as you can launch and access Iso Tool, you will be able to sign the games.

Thanks man! This tutorial helped and now I have 5 games running!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thecloudmaster

Thanks man! This tutorial helped and now I have 5 games running!

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It will be a good idea if you can upload your signed games so we can try it to see if it can be play on others people PSP.

BTW which game did you used as BASE for the signings ?

I've used God of War Chains of Olympus to sign Gran Turismo PSP, Valkyria Chronicles II, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, and Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness. GoW is 1.2 GB when downloaded from the PSN and all the games signed were under that limit. DLC from PSN works for signed games when naming the folder using its game code. For example, name the Gran Turismo game folder to "UCUS98632".
I have Locoroco2 from PSN which is 1.6GB. Any game I throw at Locoroco2 to sign does not work, it gives me an error that the game cannot be started. LBP PSP also gives me the error.
I've also used Modnation Racers US to sign Amagami PSP, I found it weird that it worked because Modnation is 1.1GB and the game I signed was 1.5GB.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thecloudmaster

I've used God of War Chains of Olympus to sign Gran Turismo PSP, Valkyria Chronicles II, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, and Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness. GoW is 1.2 GB when downloaded from the PSN and all the games signed were under that limit. DLC from PSN works for signed games when naming the folder using its game code. For example, name the Gran Turismo game folder to "UCUS98632".
I have Locoroco2 from PSN which is 1.6GB. Any game I throw at Locoroco2 to sign does not work, it gives me an error that the game cannot be started. LBP PSP also gives me the error.
I've also used Modnation Racers US to sign Amagami PSP, I found it weird that it worked because Modnation is 1.1GB and the game I signed was 1.5GB.

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Wow, a lot of games you have you as BASE xDD

Well about the error it gives you, remember that some games will give us problem to sign, this happens even with the Fake_NP version 5.
I will try signing with little big planet later on, i'm still waiting for it to download :(



PS.: Not sure, but i think there may be a way ro get the free games for people that didn't have a PSN account before the 20th of april ... gotta try some stuffs first ..... crossing fingers

I agree with cloudmaster about signing games that are bigger than the base license. I'm using Modnation as my base, and I have managed to sign Legend Of heroes - Trails in the Sky. Modnation is 1.3gb, where LoH - TinS is 1.32gb. its only smal size difference, so I'm currently downloading Crisis Core (1.6gb) to test it properly.
Moogle, I'm still trying to upload a Modantion signed game for you to test, but Megaupload isn't letting my uploads complete!

Crisis Core - fully working :D Looks like the sky is the limit now!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mangaphile

I agree with cloudmaster about signing games that are bigger than the base license. I'm using Modnation as my base, and I have managed to sign Legend Of heroes - Trails in the Sky. Modnation is 1.3gb, where LoH - TinS is 1.32gb. its only smal size difference, so I'm currently downloading Crisis Core (1.6gb) to test it properly.
Moogle, I'm still trying to upload a Modantion signed game for you to test, but Megaupload isn't letting my uploads complete!

Crisis Core - fully working :D Looks like the sky is the limit now!!

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That's weird ... i tried signing ML 2k11 (1.66 GB)with modnation (1.3 GB) and little big planet (1.5 GB) and non of then work, ISO tool show a message saying the game is too big.

I would honestly give up on Crisis Core. ;_;

It's 1.6 GBs. LBP is 1.5 GBs. I can't see it as being possible. And I only got ModNation Racers & Killzone Liberation which kinda limits me in a bad way. ;_;

But why did you get KillZone, when you could get it other way (ISO, CSO, SIGNed) :?

anyway, i heard that you could get PSN games that you have not bought (or download in this case of free games) to work on your PSP as legits ... it all has to do with the account activation in diferent PSP consoles ... hope you get a friend that download it so you could try the "Sharing of PSN games".

@mangaphile. about signing games bigger that the BASE games ... i dont know :? but i took some pics of me trying to sign Dantes Inferno (1.68GB or 1.812.723.712 bytes) and i was not able to do
But i did notice something.

My ModNation Racer eBOOT file is 1.3GB but ISO Tool show it as being 1.54GB (or 1.652.129.792 bytes)

Spoiler warning:

http://i.imgur.com/ZOzPJ.png

Meanwhile my Little Big Planet eBOOT file is 1.30GB, but ISO Tool show it as being 1.40GB (or 1.508.179.968 bytes)

Spoiler warning:

http://i.imgur.com/JE6ot.png

In both cases Iso tool is allowing me to sign games actually bigger than the one i have because it recognize (other region header maybe) those BASE games as being bigger than the ones i own, but will not sign any games that surpass that size.

Thats wierd. I don't know if I'm really lucky in that case then. I am only using Modnation Racers to sign stuff with, and yet I signed Legend Of Heroes 2 this morning. That game is showing as 1.66gb. Would it make any difference that my version of Iso_tool is showing OFW on the top line, where yours is showing CFW. Am I using a different version? Both mine and yours are version 1.976...

it's a mystery to me...

But still ig you got the EUR modnation that means you will be able to sign games up to 1.67GB which is bigger than 1.66Gb :D ... and i do have ISO Tool 1.976 too.

Ok guys, here some bad news regarding sharing of signed games that needs a license.

As we know, at the moment of creation of the FAKE_NP Data file, ISO tool has to get some info from the header and paran.sfo files.
One part of that info is the game SERIAL or GAME ID which is unique for each region, ie.: ModNation Racers and Little Big Planet has this SERIAL or GAME ID depending on the region

Little Big Planet GameID

• UMD USA UCUS-98744 1.40GB
• UMD EUR UCES-01264 141GB
• UMD JAP UCJS-10107 1.39GB
• UMD ASI UCAS-40262 1.39GB

Modnation Racers GameID

• UMD USA UCUS-98741 1.54GB
• UMD EUR UCES-01327 1.67GB
• UMD JAP NPJG-00116 1.37GB
• UMD ASI NPHG-00080 1.53GB

This information is stored in both, the License.RIF and the EBOOT.PBP so when the system does the match-up it can confirm that the information in the license is the same as the information on the eboot.
So, what does it means? it means that thou Modnation Racer USA is the same game as Modnation EUR/JAP, it doesn't have the same license because each version has a different gameid, being USA version UCUS98741 and EUR/JAP versions UCES01327/NPJG00116.

this is my USA license file of modnation so you can see what is inside


ModNation Racers USA License File = UP9000-UCUS98741_00-00000000000MNPSP.RIF

Spoiler warning:

Quote:

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AP݃ÓÇ*UP9000-UCUS98741_00-00000000000MNPSP ª/½¼¦{ÿæé^yé‘QµÃpG'pÌ•&€f4‚?i 0Xø� ™Ieg<èZ)ÝßÒ[µ{Ïò•šì³;³
ŸF´ÆoÈ-b3 Á²vj¦*)Û* ×'Qw|ÓPÇõ¤ŠÎ]*§&»!ç¸ iï�ß½h(»è—/ñ»n—âXJ¤\3ÏÔý�iÇRâeìƒD/¦—îÚäÞ÷Gÿo<—ÓÇ
ºAºYMªd¿¤,&)¦JÊD±~/‘!²(·m��ô)z4¶©`Ü÷ÉB-qC@®4Õsê\Žš}°¨Ír#ísÙxÎaêH&2ywÃŒIü~� ��»É`6Nµct1g‰ §ktt±§E<žÚA&ÃTDL-É�mM&£¶gÚäÌdû³v-¥ý“ps½é´®ü¡õ–UNHš2Fé´vI¬Óïåè8 ¨˜ÍɲÝMáÅ>‰V!žWÅ<%•ô/˜‡—S5Î� SCEA-SCEAPROMO_00-RWD-1223 UP9000-UCUS98741_00-00000000000MNPSP SCEA-SCEAPROMO_00-WELCOMEBACKPSP_2-U001 Welcome Back: Free PSP® Game 2

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• UCUS98741 = point out is the USA version GameID
• SCEA-SCEAPROMO = indicate it is a Promotion from the SCEA or Sony Computer Entertainment of America
• UP9000-UCUS98741_00-00000000000MNPSP = this is the file name of this game license .RIF
• Welcome Back: Free PSP® Game 2 = Indicates is the free game number 2 for PSP from the Welcome Back Program Freebies

So in short, all this means that signed games that need a license will only work on the PSP that have that same region game license.
So in the name of sharing, those interest in sharing their signed games it is a most to point out what game was used as BASE and its region or GAMEID.


I will update the tutorial with this new info for sharing purpose.