forums.ps2dev.org

Okay, here I go with my 2 cents. I just made a little piece of software that I called "ps2-packer". You can fetch it at http://www.nobis-crew.org/ps2-packer. It is based on zlib, so, it should work better than sjcrunch which is based on lzo (theorically speaking)

I couldn't push the tests very far actually, since I lended my PS2 to a friend :) So, really really feel free to post bugs, comments, etc...

Maybe this piece of junk should go into the CVS... just comment about that :)

Thanks to ooPo for testing various elfs onto his PS2.

\o/

Congrats :)

Can't wait until I get a chance to test it out.

I think I forgot to mantion that this tool doesn't require any toolchain to work :) It's standalone.

Hooray!

I just released version 0.1.1 :-P

Well, the big change is that I hacked into zlib to try to keep the stub loader as small as possible. Stub went down from 50 to 20Kb. Now, some small parts of the zlib is inside ps2-packer's source tree.


However, I had nobody to test it right now :-D

There is a reference in the readme to ps2link-embed but I can't find any documentation anyplace on how to compile such a beast. How does one produce a embed version?

Checkout the latest ps2link, and check the main Makefile. You have a number of options you can activate, and now, one of them is to get all the irx builtins.

Hi pixel,

just one question about what can be packed ?
I mean :
1) Can the irx files be patched and then work fine ?
2) Can I pack the file BOOT.ELF used to boot from dev1 mode ?
3) Is it normal to have the nav2ripper down from 559ko to 30ko?

thanx goes to all of you who are making great stuff here.

@+
dom

dom wrote: 2) Can I pack the file BOOT.ELF used to boot from dev1 mode ?
3) Is it normal to have the nav2ripper down from 559ko to 30ko?

Answer to the two previous questions are yes and yes (incredible to
lost 530ko when not compressing it)

1) Can the irx files be patched and then work fine ?
the answer to this one is perhaps yes (because it works just fine
when trying on some irx files), but i need some info to figure out
how the irx modules are loaded , can someone point me in the direction
to understand the boot mechanism (etc ...) ?

1) You can't pack irxes, and I doubt I will support that. However, if you "embed" your irxes into the elf, then they naturally get compressed at the same time. But, as a general from your post, you don't seem to be compiling anything, so, this wouldn't concern you.

2) I used to pack ps2link and boot it from memcard using a dms3, until all of a suddun, ps2-packer misteriously got a "bug" or whatever (which I still haven't really found) preventing ps2link from running correctly. Now, you have to try things out for yourselves.

3) Maybe. No idea. I don't really deal with 3rd party elves, I prefer to keep my usual partner, ps2link (hey hey black!). Anyway, seriously: ps2-packer is quite rigid, and I believe the actual bug is either an alignment bug or a size bug hitting the bss section (that is, the end of the memory, which should get zeroified). The data seems to be quite consistant (since actually, this bug is triggered whatever the selected packer/unpacker is). So, yeah, if the ripper guys are not really skilled at data optimisation/compilation, having 559kb reduced down to 30kb is completely believable.

pixel wrote:1) You can't pack irxes, and I doubt I will support that. However, if you "embed" your irxes into the elf, then they naturally get compressed at the same time. But, as a general from your post, you don't seem to be compiling anything, so, this wouldn't concern you.

thank you for that point, ps2-packer file.irx file-packed.irx works, it's for
that reason i said that. Already tried that with ps2link. Seems to be working for me (but i'm quiet new to all these ps2things).

2) I used to pack ps2link and boot it from memcard using a dms3, until all of a suddun, ps2-packer misteriously got a "bug" or whatever (which I still haven't really found) preventing ps2link from running correctly. Now, you have to try things out for yourselves.

Ok noted, if i get some weird crash, i won't rush at you like an animal ;-)

3) Maybe. No idea. I don't really deal with 3rd party elves, I prefer to keep my usual partner, ps2link (hey hey black!). Anyway, seriously: ps2-packer is quite rigid, and I believe the actual bug is either an alignment bug or a size bug hitting the bss section (that is, the end of the memory, which should get zeroified). The data seems to be quite consistant (since actually, this bug is triggered whatever the selected packer/unpacker is). So, yeah, if the ripper guys are not really skilled at data optimisation/compilation, having 559kb reduced down to 30kb is completely believable.

i was astonished of that, it's really working and only 30ko, everyone
using a ripper and the nav should use that.

Thank you for your answers Pixel, Au revoir
[/quote]