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Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrenalin

Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 5:09 am
by Gensosuikoden
As many will already know Adrenaline is not compatible with those PS1 games that do not run on the default version of pops and theFlow has made it clear that the PSP CFW popsloader utility cannot/will not be ported to Adrenaline. That's not a huge problem if the game works on the Vita version of PCSX Rearmed Retroarch instead, but if that doesn't work well for the particular game in question, or, you just doesn't like using retroarch, then here's a (possible) work-around I stumbled upon where uncompressed PS1 custom eboots work on PSP but do not work on Adrenaline.

There may well be many already familiar with this work-around but I am posting this because it took quite a bit of Googling before I stumbled across it and I suspect that many users will, like me, try an uncompressed PS1 game with Adrenaline and just give up if it fails to launch a few times or else spend hours trawling the net to see if they're doing something wrong just because some other forum user insists said game works fine on their end but can't say why (as was the case with me).

The work-around is *compression*. If the ISO/bin-cue to Eboot conversion (via psx2psp or icetea or what have you) utilises additional compression, then the game should load. . . - or hopefully at least, as that was the case for me with all 4 of my games which ran fine uncompressed on PSP hardware via non-default POPs vesion configuration with Popsloader but would not work on Adrenaline for obvious reasons (no popsloader). Converting the iso or bin/cue into a new eboot with the compression slider set to just level '1' allowed these games to run in Adrenaline. I *think* I also tried converting a CSO into an otherwise uncompressed eboot (so leaving compression level at 0 during the conversion process) and that eboot worked too but I could be misremembering that one as it was weeks ago and I'd just come back from the pub!

The games that I managed to finally get working in Adrenaline via this method have had no issues thus far but
for the unfamiliar, it's worth bearing in mind that there are possible downsides to compression depending on the game and sometimes the degree of compression but these are well documented and easily googled.

TL/DR: If you are desperate to get an uncompressed PSX eboot to work in Adrenaline but can't get it to load properly, try recreating the eboot in question and using some level of compression, or, just try converting an already compressed CSO into eboot.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 1:24 pm
by dmaskell92
Decent write-up, but this won't help sadly. The only way we can get the same compatibility as the PSP is with Popsloader. I don't really know why it's so hard to achieve, but I'm not a coder either.

Oddly I remember Poploader working on early versions of TN (before v5). I specifically remember setting FF8 to 3.71, and a certain TN update broke the support resulting in a black screen.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 8:02 pm
by Gensosuikoden
Well, I did say "potential/possible workaround". I made no claims of a definitive / universal solution.
Regardless, how can you say with certainty that it "won't help" (anyone)? Compression certainly helped me. I can say for a fact that 4 of my otherwise uncompressed PSX eboots which wouldn't load on Vita via Adrenaline and would only load on PSP via POPS loader manipulation, now load and play on Adrenaline after introducing level 1 compression to the psx2psp conversion operation.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 9:03 pm
by dmaskell92
Compression is normal for all custom and PSN eboots, that is the reason uncompressed PS1 games have issues. That being said, just because you got a certain title working means it probably already worked and you just made an error along the way (by not compressing).

There are still titles that NOTHING but Popsloader can fix. It sucks, but this is life.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:36 am
by Gensosuikoden
Edit: The original form of this post disappeared pending moderator approval without me realising hence I reposted again later with a similar comment because I thought this one in its original form had been modded or something. Clearly it has now been approved as I can see it again but now I have two very similar consecutive posts and for some unknown reason I can't delete this one, I am editing this one out for the sake of keeping the thread tidy.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 9:40 am
by Gensosuikoden
dmaskell92 wrote:Compression is normal for all custom and PSN eboots, that is the reason uncompressed PS1 games have issues.
Contrary to your implication, adding compression to the conversion process is by no means necessarily 'correct / best' practice. Plenty of users who aren't concerned with storage space prefer uncompressed where possible because provided the game can load successfully, uncompressed does not risk in-game issues that compression can sometimes cause in (some) games. These issues can range from minor to game-breaking. Depends on the game, of course, and sometimes on the degree of compression, - many titles work fine compressed -, but risks relating to adding compression to the conversion process with eboots and CSOs are well known and well documented.

The vast majority of my own PS1 eboots are otherwise uncompressed (and were converted from ISOs that themselves had no additional compression). They load and run just fine on both PSP and Adrenaline thus far. From my own personal legit/original disc > iso > eboot, at all stages, compression was set to 'off' / level '0'. The few that I did / do compress, I always label as such during conversion so that I know exactly what is and isn't compressed. The only uncompressed eboots that would not load for me thus far on Adrenaline were the 4 games in question and following compression they now load as mentioned previously.

There are indeed some PSX eboots that do require compression to load on PSP without POPSloader, i.e. on default POPS version. However, all such games in my collection at least, can be made to run uncompressed via POPSloader configuration/non-default POPS version. So that just expands upon the scope of my original OP to include native PSP hardware in addition to Adrenaline re the potential for compression to remove or bypass at least *some* degree of POPs restriction in order to load *some* games.
That being said, just because you got a certain title working means it probably already worked and you just made an error along the way (by not compressing).

Nope. Conjecture or else you wilfully ignore where I stated that all 4 of the aforementioned games worked uncompressed (and still work) on my PSP. They were clean conversions from my own personal, legit game discs and there was no additional compression at any stage in the process from disc > iso > eboot. You also ignored where I stated that these uncompressed games require POPsloader configuration in order to load on PSP. They do not work on default POPs.

If, as you insinuate, none of this has anything do with POPs whatsoever, and is solely down to "error" you infer on my part for not compressing those games in the first place, then forget Adrenaline, those uncompressed eboots should not have worked on my PSP at all, let alone required POPsloader to do so. . . And yet they did work uncompressed on my PSP and still do. They do require POPsloader to do so and yet despite these non-default POPs requirements on PSP, they do work on Adrenaline (but only) if compressed.
There are still titles that NOTHING but Popsloader can fix. It sucks, but this is life
Once again, my use of the words "potential / possible work-around” in the OP was clear so I don't understand why you persist in behaving as though I was presenting this as some guaranteed, universal solution. I have no doubt that there will be some compressed eboots that won't work properly without popsloader. But if you are so convinced that this would never work for anybody, at all , with any game whatsoever, then fine. Your prerogative. But don't use non-sequitur to paint my words as wishful thinking born of erroneous method when this just *might* help some other users who are in the same position as I was. If it doesn't work for whatever game in question then they're 5 mins worse off, 10 mins max. Better to allow the attempt itself to dictate the success or failure of the outcome rather than dismissive inaction which just perpetuates an Adrenaline-less status quo for said game.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:50 pm
by fate6
So uh just going to point out that sometimes some games will work if you add compression to them when doing the conversion, this is very old knowledge and IDK if anyone ever looked into why this is but its not like OP doesn't have a point.

I'll go back to my cave now.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 1:48 am
by Gensosuikoden
fate6 wrote:So uh just going to point out that sometimes some games will work if you add compression to them when doing the conversion, this is very old knowledge and IDK if anyone ever looked into why this is but its not like OP doesn't have a point.

I'll go back to my cave now.
Thanks! Caves are awesome!

Indeed it is old knowledge on PSP but it didn't initially occur to me that the games I tried would require compression on Adrenaline as they loaded fine uncompressed on certain non-default POPs versions. When they accordingly didn't work on Adrenaline, I thought I'd have to make do without until I came across a forum post where a user described playing one of the games in question on Adrenaline. I later found another post from someone else recommending compression for some games on Adrenaline too rather than just PSP. Makes sense I suppose given that Adrenaline emulates the PSP hardware.

Clearly some versions of POPs, including the default 6.60 (or is it 6.61? can't remember) require compression to load certain games but conversely, other versions of POPs don't. Whether that's by design on Sony's part or else compression somehow strips out or bypasses the POPs restrictions for those versions of POPs in question, I don't know. Users tend to either compress by default because they want to anyway or else like myself do so only as a last resort after giving up trying to get an uncompressed eboot to work with different versions of POPs. A few of my games require compression to load on default POPs (6.60 or is it 6.61? can't remember) but do run fine uncompressed on PSP using certain lower versions of POPs.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 6:02 am
by Mulder
I've discovered PCSX ReARMed on retroarch for ps1 games, and most of them are better than adrenaline for me.

Re: Potential Workaround for PS1games incompatible w/ Adrena

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 8:25 am
by Gensosuikoden
Mulder wrote:I've discovered PCSX ReARMed on retroarch for ps1 games, and most of them are better than adrenaline for me.
Yeah, I did too recently, it's much improved over where it was half a year ago. I just prefer PS1 games on Adrenaline where possible because of the Flow's glorious Advanced AA filter. The filter pack I got off the retrarch nightly builds on the hand either kill the framerates on my chosen games or cause a total crash. The other thing issue I have with it is that it uses the native Vita colour space whereas Adrenaline offers the PSP colour space as an option. I'm on an OLED Vita and while retroarch performs well in the PS1 and SNES games I throw at it, but the colours often look oversaturated and garish to the point that I just end up going back to Adrenaline for my retro activities.
PS1 and SNES games just weren't designed for the Vita's colour space and contrast ratio so I guess it's only natural that some games with already strong colour palettes might look weird.