So as most of you should know, Ixizon, Valk, and I went on a mission to convert all the games we have to the PS3. I took a large bulk of the RPG Maker 1 games. Though the extensive list of games, quite a few games came up with corrupt data. Back then, I just assumed that the user uploaded the data without really knowing it was bad. Dex drives aren't the most reliable things, you know?

Well, with Magcon closing in, I was going to convert the demos over to the PS3. I grabbed 1ce's game in it's .gme format, and put it on a memory card via Dex drive. The data looked fine. I put it in the USB converter, and in the PS3... the scenario data was corrupt. All 6 blocks of it.

Here's what I've tried:

Loading the game through EPSXE: Works
Loading the game on PS2: Works
Formatting the memory card and getting a different download from 1ce before trying to copy it to the PS3: Failed
Going ahead and copying the data over to the PS3 and trying to load it in RPG Maker anyways: Failed
Had Ixzion try to copy it to HIS PS3 (which is the newer slim model) only to find that the exact same data is corrupt.

What's really weird is that you can take that card out of the PS3, which thinks the data or corrupt, and put it BACK in the Dex drive, and it'll see all the data just fine... AND it'll load in EPSXE.

It seems that the PS3 just will not read certain data. And the data it seems to think is corrupt is 100% random, but will appear the same on ANY PS3. If anyone has any information or sugestions on this, I would be greatly pleased.

I really don't have any idea. So I'm just going to muse a bit. Probably won't add anything that will actually be helpful.

I believe that the PS3 implements CRC on game saves, so does the PS2, but I don't know if the PS1 does anything like that. If so, maybe some bits are getting shifted/changed or something by the dex-drive in a way that the PS3 has problems with, but not other systems.

The PS3 certainly has it's own implementation of game-save interpretation code, an implementation that also certainly differs from the PS1 code. That's why not all legacy games are compatible with the PS3. Maybe there is something unique about RM1 game saves that the PS3's code sees as being invalid, even though the PS1 reads it with no problem. Maybe it's something caused by the dex-drive, or inherent in RM1 itself.

The dex-drive converts memory card data to a pc format, then it gets converted back to memory card format, then inputted to the PS3 for reading - at any of those steps it's entirely possible for there to be some kind of data corruption, however minute (not corruption per say, but perhaps an error on the part of whomever programmed the conversion software that affects an area of the save data that the older systems don't care about but the PS3 does). It may be that the PS3 adheres to the PS1 memory card data format standard more strictly than the actual PS1 || PS2 - and it's not unusual for that to happen with any kind of system.

The software standards designed for older systems were not necessarily followed to the letter, but when designing a new system, emulation code is partly ported while other functions are written from scratch based on the documented standards. But since older software was not developed to those exact standards, either because the developers found shortcuts to make things easier, loopholes in the standards which allowed them to do things that they could do otherwise, or the original system itself did not adhere to the standards 100%, the new system's strict following of the standards makes it see old software/data as being invalid.

This makes sense to me, and I think it's likely - I can't come up with specific examples right now, but I know similar things have happened throughout the history of computers.

It's just a theory, though.

How could it be fixed? Well, if you could figure out what the "trigger" is, then people who make games would be able to work around it. Provided there was a specific "trigger". Maybe it's scenario data size, or the usage of certain functions in the RM1 game, or something completely random that can't be worked around.

You could try dozens of different games, see which ones work, and which ones don't. Then make a list of attributes that the games have in common, and see how the corrupt games and the working ones differ. That would be a lot of work.

If it is possible to correct the problem by modifying the save file, maybe using a hex-editor to compare a "corrupt" file with that of a working one might help. Looking at the data headers for CRC info, or other info that might indicate a difference or problem. That may be a long-shot, though; hex data can be fairly inscrutable.

So, as for a solution, it depends on what the problem is. It may be that the problem is unknowable, and or unfixable.

You are most likely correct. Though it's hard to imagine a certain funtion used in RPG Maker could affect the save in such a way that the PS3 just can't read it. And identifying that funtion (if that's even the problem in the first place) will be like finding a needle in a haystack.

But it may very well be worth finding seeing as Dex drives aren't getting newer. PS3 might become the standard format for transfering playstation saves eventually.

Then either the problem will have to be solved, or people will just have to start using the PS3 exclusively to make games for RM1.

What's the alternative? Me making a new, cheap, device to replace the Dex Drive?

That's been done. I just can't find the site that had the tutorial. If I remember correctly, it was a yahoo page and unbelievably, no one documented it other than that site. Then there's also the guy that made the ps1 controller and memcard ports unit plug into his pc. Can't seem to find good documentation on that either... The internet seems to be forgetting things.

http://www.raphnet.net/electronique/psx ... mgr_en.php

http://psxmem.raphnet.net/

And there are others.

I had a similar issue with ps1 to ps2 format. basically, I started a game n the PS1, then I did a session on the ps2. when I put the game back in the ps1, the game data was not being read properly. weird thing is that when i went back in and deleted the changes I made, it ran fine on the ps1 again. O_o?

That kind of lends support to my idea that the different systems implement the memory card data standards differently.

That may mean that there is no way, or no easy way, of solving this problem.

yeah, and not just on a gross save level; Literally, all i did was delete all the stuff I did and re saved on the ps2 (the only system that loaded the data) and when I put the card back into the ps1 it ran FINE. So it's not just how saves are encoded, it is how actual bits of data are encoded as they are generated in real time. For a game like Tomb Raider, this might manifest as a missing stim pack, but with a program like RM1 where everything you do has to be saved to the card, minor encoding differences are catastrophic! o.o!

If that's the case, then finding a solution would be next to impossible.

well, yes, and no...potentially.

the one thing I forgot to mention was that in my case I was/am making my game on a PSone NOT a PSX. Slight difference. But like the differences between the PS2 and the Slimline we can only assume that the differences are also present between the tow versions of the earlier systems. here's the kicker though, I was using a slimline myself in this case. could it actually be that between all four systems we get this weird incompatibility spring up? I say this is worth looking into, somebody needs to experiment here!

And then what?

And then use a hex editor to compare the actual data of each save made on each system and look for differences.... which would probably take a couple months of solid work....... >_>

I mean, what would we accomplish with the knowledge?

It would then, presumably, allow us to figure out a means of making so that any RPGM save from any system would work on any other system.

But, given the amount of work potentially involved, I doubt it will happen.