STATION ID - 7047/3.12 9x Datakit Network FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY This is a 9x system, restricted to authorized persons and for official 9x business only. Anyone using this system, network or data is subject to being monitored at any time for system administration and for identifying unauthorized users or system misuse. Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring and is advised that any evidence of criminal activity revealed through such monitoring may be provided to law enforcement for prosecution. Playstation Development _I_ by Alex Knight (knight@ocs.net) In this article, I will touch base with how to start developing software for your playstation. I will include the information on where to get the things you need to get started with, and where you can either purchase or get for free. This is my first article on Playstation Development. Depending on the popularity, I will see about continuing to release articles monthly. I might even just do a 4 part series, with this first one being an intro into the realm of Playstation Development. INTRODUCTION ------------ We are all familiar with the 32-bit gaming console system known as Playstation. It was developed with users the ages of 18-35 in mind. Most of the games have advanced control, smooth graphics, and best of all no Mario. Developing demos, software, and games for the PSX (PlayStation) is a bit more simple than you would think. With an investment of about $100, you are off to the development world of the game pros. Ofcourse, with this, you will need to include some talent, time, and experience. The rig I will talk about in this article will give you complete control of your psx from your computer. You will be able to reboot, dump, and explore your psx. When you have written a piece of software for the psx, you will be able to either burn it to a CD, or write it over your communications link to the psx directly. GETTING SETUP ------------- You will need the following equipment/software: o CommsLink Communication Card o Parallel Cable (length between your psx and pc) o GameShark / Xplore / Action Replay game cheat device o Caetla GameShark ROM image o PSY-Q w/ Playstation Libraries The CommsLink Communication card is relatively easy to purchase. Often little specialty Playstation rental stores will carry them for about $45. Be sure to lookup your little local asian run psx rental shop today. They always carry some cheap imported crap they snuck into the country. The CommsLink card is essentially a high speed parallel port. Where your normal LPT port gets about 70k/sec, the CommsLink achieves speeds between 1.5-2 megs/sec. The parallel cable you need is actually a db25 on both ends (male on one, and female on the other). The important thing to realize when purchasing (or making for that matter) your cable is that it is a 25 pin straight-through (also known as pass-through) cable. We want pin 1 on one side to equal pin 1 on the other side, etc. Many cables do not have the full 25 wires. So be sure it proves to be a 25 wire straight-through. The GameShark, or Xplorer, or Action Replay device can be purchased from Fry's Electronics, Toys-R-Us, or most any other place that sells playstation games and equipment. I recommend the GameShark or Action Replay since that's the only one I have had direct experience with. The GameShark is the most common cheat device out for the Playstation right now. However, this Xplorer device seems to be new. You will be connecting the serial cable up to the back of this puppy, which in turn, connects into your playstation. The reason we need this device, is because it will act as a cheap version interface to your playstation. Building your own interface into Playstation's serial port would cost you more than the $50 for the GameShark had you had to do it manually. Besides, with this technique, we will simply modify some rom code, and off we go. Caetla is the rom code for the GameShark, Action Replay, or Xplorer cheat device. This will replace your current "operating system" for the device, and add several new utilities. To start, you will still be able to perform cheat functions, and browse the cd's, and memory cards. Resetting your PSX has been added, as well as the ability to upload compiled PSX code in executable format. You can download Caetla from http://www3.airnet.ne.jp/kcomm. PSY-Q will be your most difficult addition to your psx development library. PSY-Q is a set of libraries, and tools for compiling your psx code. It includes a MIPS compiler, and the "top secret" Sony libraries that you can only get from becoming a registered Sony developer. Getting this package requires you to become an official Sony developer, but can be found on the net most likely. I do not in anyway recommend you download this from some "kiddie" because I really doubt you will be making decent code anyways if you have to rely on "juarez" to code psx software. If you have gotten your PSY-Q password, you can go to the PISS web-page and download it at http://computer.freepages.de/piss/. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE --------------------- First things first. Make sure you have your CommsLink card installed into an ISA slot on your PC. Next, connect the serial cable to the CommsLink card, and the respective end to the GameShark (or whichever one you have). Next, make the GameShark active by pushing the toggle switch into the up position, and be sure it is plugged into the back of the PSX. |GS|---------------- ------- ---------------- | | | = = \ | PC | = PlayStation = \ | | = = \ | | ================ \|_____| Follow the instructions for installing the Caetla rom image into the GameShark. It should be as simple as something like: psupdate -p3 caetla.bin But follow the docs so you don't screw up. I shouldn't have to give you every detail anyways. Most likely, you are an intelligent being who knows how to read documentation when required. I hope so. Now that you are all setup, you can start developing games, demos (remember the Amiga days? yes! for psx!), and utilies. (NOTE: Xplorer ROM updates are different than those of GameShark and Action Replay updates. It has become aware that Xplorers don't use a raw binary format. Just be sure to read the documentation.) RESOURCES --------- Ok. Let me assume right off the bat you don't have PSY-Q. Most likely you don't. Not to fret. This setup is still fun! You can go download a crud load of pre-existing demos that have been created for the playstation. You can also, still examine other people's code, and learn the syntaxes. There are several demo groups for psx development. Check their pages out to download source code, demos, and utilies for psx development. DO NOT ASK THEM FOR PSY-Q. THEY WILL NOT GIVE IT TO YOU, AND DON'T WANT TO BE BOTHERED WITH YOUR PITTIFUL WAREZ REQUESTS. HitMen http://www.hitmen-psx.ml.org Napalm http://napalm.intelinet.com PISS http://computer.freepages.de/piss/ K-Comms (Caetla) http://www3.airnet.ne.jp/kcomm/ These are definately good sites to look at. You can also find Caetla here if you can't seem to find it elsewhere. If you use EFNet IRC, you can join #psxdev for conversation on Playstation Development. Please do not ask for BIN images of games. That will get you banned immediately. #psxdev is not a warez channel. And we don't want idiot kiddies looking to pirate PSX games rather than learn how the PSX works to join and be cluebies. If you have read all the docs provided, and you are still having problems, feel free to email me at knight@ocs.net, or find me on IRC as knight (perhaps even knight-). I'll be happy to get you started, but only if you have read the docs. If you come asking me what Caetla is, then you obviously haven't read the docs. Just read the fscking manual! Alex Knight December 1998 knight@ocs.net