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February 28, 2008

How to: Add ROMs to play with psx4all

Hey guys.

As you have guessed, this is a guide for placing PSX ROMs into your iPhone/iPod Touch. You can also rip your original PSX game.

I know that there are a lot of other written manuals around, but I still decide to write my own. I feel satisfied having to write my own stuffs, although the outline came from elsewhere.

Having said that, let's begin!

What do I need to download?

If you haven't done, download the PSX BIOS. It's called scph1001.bin. If you found an uppercased version, just rename it so that it's all lowercase (even the extension). If you are a Windows user and can't see the file extension, you'll need to enable that.
Update:

I'm being nice, so I'll provide you the link to save you from all the trouble searching. Here's the link to download the BIOS file.

Where to put that?

You'll need a way to transfer your bios into the /Applications/psx4all.app folder. You can use iPhoneBrowser (I used that myself) to easily connects your iPhone/iPod Touch using USB.

Changing the BIOS permission

Follow my other post here for instructions on how to change the permissions for the BIOS file.

Ok great! Now tell me how to rip my PSX games!

You can refer to my other post for that.

You're almost done now. Next up, is to put the ROM image into your iPhone/iPod Touch.

Where to put the PSX image I just made?

Now you need to put the *.img file, (you can ignore the rest of the files) inside /private/var/root/media/ROMs/PSX (it's cAsE sEnSiTiVe so make sure). Use the iPhoneBrowser I suggested earlier to transfer your files.

That's it?

Yeah. That's about it. You can start to play your PSX games, using your iPhone/iPod Touch.

The quality is not so good... :(

Well, I'm so sorry but I'm not the developer for the emulator though. I wished I could help, but my limited knowledge and ability prevents me so. However, I do hope future releases and updates will make the game runs more smoothly then presently is.

For now, if you don't play it, I'd suggest clearing it up. An image can take up to 700MB so it's better you clear up those unnecessary wasted space if you don't use it.

Good luck!

51 comments:

Unknown said...

I have manually installed the psx4all.app into my iphone. Then I dowload the scph1001.bin and set the permission to 0755. After I reboot my iphone I can see the psx4all icon. Then after I click on it, it came up with a white screen. Then after 30 sec, it went back to my main screen. I have search the web for two days and could not find any help on this problem. I wounder any one can help me out? PLEASE!

Yusry said...

Hi frederick

I'd like to know what FW version you're running first. Then maybe I can figure out a way to help you.

It could be possible that it's because of the firmware version. Well, let me know soon so I can help you ok?

Please give me full details (e.g. name of game, FW version, whose jailbreak method, iPod Touch/iPhone capacity etc). The more detailed, the more it'll help me diagnose. =)

Unknown said...

Yusry,

Thank you for taking your time to help me out. I am new on this iphone thing. I ready want to get this PXS working on my iphone which is one of the reason that I am getting a iphone.

OK, here is the info for my iphone:
My iphone is currently running on FW 1.1.3. I use one of the all in one software called Ziphone to jail break it for me. I have a 8GB iphone and still have 6.69GB left. The game I want to run on my iphone is call GTA. I forget where I download it from. I paste the gta.bin manually in to the directory called /private/var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX and my psx4all.app in the /Applications. Finally I paste my PSX bios scph1001.bin inside my pas4all.app. Ithink I paste my files in the right location. The main thing here is when I launch the psx4all from my iphone. The screen shows nothing, except a white blank screen. After 30 sceond, it go back to my normal screen. I think my emulator is not working.

I hope my information could help. Let me know if you need more info from me.

Thanks

Yusry said...

Yes that's enough information for me.

Based on what you're writing, looks like you probably have the permissions for the psx4all app not set up.

Try this :-

Open up Term-vt100, or SSH into your iPhone, and type this:

chmod -R a+x /Applications/*

Then try executing the app and see if it's running.

If an application crashes, it's most likely you didn't set the permissions, hence it will crash back into SB after you launched it.

Also, I saw this in your comment:

"and my psx4all.app in the /Applications"

So I strongly suspect you didn't download it via Zodttd's repo?

Well either way, it seems that the problem lies there. Give it a try, and let me know what did you get.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

Yusry,

Wow, your command did fix the problem of the emulator. How it is running but only said "No Roms Found in /var/root/Media/ROMS/PSX". But I did put the gta.bin in that directry, so where should I go from here? Is it possible that my ROMs are no good? Where can I get the right ROMs?

More help is needed.

Yusry said...

Do you have an original PSX game where you could try first?

I'm not sure if that game is dodgy download, but I think you should try ripping your own game and let it run in your iPhone first.

I have no experience in using a *.bin file, so I'm not too sure if it'll work.

So far, I've been using a *.img or a *.iso file. Those works perfectly on my side.

Read my entry on instructions how you could rip your own games, then upload it into your iPhone. If it's running or it shows up, chances are your downloaded game was a faulty one.

Good luck.

Unknown said...

Yusry,

I did what you told me. I rip one of my original PSX game and copy it to the directory. Then change the permission. It still said "No ROMs Found". I even tried one of the method that I found on the web by opened up the .img file from the Finder.app and forced it to run with psx4all.app. It still said that no ROMs is found.

This time even took me longer to try to make it work. I am really depressed. Hope you can get me some hint here.

Yusry said...

It looks like you're not the only person experiencing this.

I did some research, and found out that most of them can re-create this problem in 1.1.3/1.1.4. This issue does not affect 1.1.2 and below users.

The main issue is the permission. I think, you need to "chown" the psx4all.app folder.

If you're willing to give it a try, I will try to assist you. However, I can't personally try this out because:
1) I don't have a wifi
2) I had to restore my iPod Touch again, just because I don't have wifi to fix some of the problems highlighted.

Here's what you can do:
Assuming you know SSH into your iPhone, and use WinSCP and PuTTy. (Or simply use Term-vt100 with BSD Subsystem installed) If you don't, try doing some research for that first (there's a YouTube video on that too.)

Issue these commands:
chown -hR /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/PSX

chown -hR /var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX

If you put in your ROMs inside var/mobile/Media/ROMs/PSX, try moving it to var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX

If you still can't, then I think psx4all is not yet compatible with 1.1.3/1.1.4 IMO. There are simply too many complications involving the "root" and "mobile" users, hence creating some arkward problems.

However, if you figured a REAL answer to this problem, you can post back here, and I'll update my post on it.

Yusry said...

I totally missed out this info too...

It's a bit confusing, but if you're really desperate, you could actually dump the same ROM inside both folders! However, that will NOT solve the problem.

I still believe that it has something to do with compatibility issues, and issues regarding the owners.

Don't worry, I'm also having the same problem. I'm figuring out how to solve it too. Give me some time. If you already found the answer, share it with me, it'll be a great help to other readers out there.

Yusry said...

Sorry for multiple comments over like 10 mins.

Here's the latest thing (you should try this one).

Using SSH or Term-vt100, type in:

chown mobile /var/mobile

chown mobile /var/root


Then

chmod -R 777 /var/mobile/*

chmod -R 777 /var/root/*

This will, effectively solves all emulator related problems (gpSPhone, nes, snes4iphone, psx4all etc).

Until we received a compatible version released, we will have to do this over and over.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

Yusry,

Yeah!!! That was the best 10 mins I ever spent since I tried to get this psx4all working. Thank you so much.

Ok, I still have problem seeing all my games. I put total of 3 games in my iphone, but only the smallest one shows on my game list. Do you know why? My iphone is running under FW 1.1.3 and where should I keep my game roms in? var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX or var/mobile/Media/ROMs/PSX?

Yusry said...

Honestly speaking, I don't even know myself.

But judging from the current version 0.1.0, it looks like all ROMs should be placed in the var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX. But I may be wrong.

You should experiment. And see the results.

As for why the smallest ROMs appear, I don't think I have an answer to that. You should experiment with more ROMs, but I think it will take too much of the space?

Well, I might need to re-write this post once I get my own iPod Touch running.

Glad yours worked out in the end.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

yusry,

I will try to find out how to make other games work. If I found out how, will post it here.

Have you try to work with iradio before. This is another app that I could not get it working. I installed it using the install.app but I never able to lauch it. Every time it comes up, then go right back to my main screen. Do you know why?

Yusry said...

Same old permissions problem.

Looks like you manually installed these apps?

Run Term-vt100, type in:

chmod -R 777 /Applications/*

It should do the trick. If it doesn't, then I've got no idea what's wrong. (I never use that app anyway)

Good luck.

SuperMega said...

Yusry,

I did the chown commands just as you showed fredrick for psx4all and I have a 1.1.3 touch. It all worked, but when I went to run my game, it said bios not found. I don't get it because I have the bios in the correct place. Please help me!

Yusry said...

Please refer to my guide on inserting the bios, and setting the permissions to the BIOS. I have covered those topics in the post.

Please let me know if that doesn't solve your problem, and then you can tell me in detail about what you did to recreate the problem.

Cheers.

SuperMega said...

The funny thing about my permissions is that they are all set to 777, and everything works. Sometimes after it tells me the bios werent found, it lets me play. But now its not. Should I just change all of the permissions to 755?

Yusry said...

It's possible that you got a wrong bios. Or, you could simply try to redownload the BIOS (I added the link for it).

Now, if you have Term-vt100 (or any other terminals), type this:

chmod 777 /Applications/psx4all.app/scph1001.bin

That will directly change the BIOS's permission.

Good luck.

SuperMega said...

The chmod command does not work. Its telling me there is no such directory. I even DL your link for the bio. Does it need to be in a directory?

Yusry said...

I strongly suspect you're doing this first time?

Ok here's what you'll need to do.

Make sure you've already installed psx4all app off zodttd repo. If you don't know how, just look for a psx4all app under "Games" although that one is not from zodttd.

Next, download the BIOS, use SSH (google and do your research) into your device or simply use iphonebrowser.

Go into /Applications/psx4all.app and put the BIOS in there.

Then execute the code I posted in my earlier comment.

Actually, most of what I wrote here are already highlighted in my post, so please read that and digest first.

If you have any other problems except the one I've written in my original post, then feel free to ask me.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

yusry,

Changing permission to 777 did fix my iradio.app problem. thanks again.

I am still working to get other games showing up on my psx4all.

For supermega,
Just a little patient and listen to the master Yusry. He will get your psx4all running in no time.

Like he says: "Cheers"

Yusry said...

Hey frederick

I was curious... How come all your apps are manually installed? You didn't use the Installer? Or because you don't have wifi connection (like me).

Unless you know something I don't, share with me. I'd like to know.

Oh yeah, cheers. Hehehe. It's a habit of mine. :)

Unknown said...

Yusry,

That is a good question. I do have wifi. I myself want to use the installer to install all my apps. But for some reason, most of my apps could not install directly from the installer. For example I tried to install the psx4iphone.app from Zodttd's source. When I install it, I got an error saying that "Main script execution failed". Do you know why? So that forces me to go out of the way to find and download a different one. Then I have to manually install it myself.

By the way, I am able to download more games and be able to get them working on my iphone. The problem was all the games that is riped with .MDF would not work in psx4all. Only those with .img do. I have to convert the .MDF to .img in order to to get it working. But I kind of disapoint on the spreed of the emulator. Also there is no sound on all my games.

Yusry said...

Yes. Especially 3D based games are hard to pull off without any problems.

But I'm thinking that there might be a new release soon (not sure when), and hopefully that might solve the problem.

Anyway, for "Main Script Execution Failed" error, I had that too, and that's why I had to restore my iPod, because I don't have wifi.

You can fix the Main Script Execution failed error though. Just for that, I've written a new entry, maybe you might want to check it out.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

Why are we getting the main script error? In order to fix mine, do I have to restore mine too?

Yusry said...

Please hit up my main page, and look for the newest entry I've written dated 20th March. I wrote an entry regarding the Main Script Execution Failed.

tek2020 said...

My iphone with 1.1.4 firware. I did everything should be. The problem now is that the psx4all (what I got now is v.0.1.0, I guess this is the newest version)... I can see the list/name of game that I copy to the ROMs/PSX/*.*, but when executing the game, my iphone would show the "controler" in the half bottom of the iphone, but half of the top of the iphone is black... seem like the game is not booting up...

Can you help Yusry?
I really want to see how the PSP games playing on iphone
Thanks!

Yusry said...

Hi tek2020

Did you set permissions to the ROMs folder?

If you don't know how, run Term-vt100 (or TerminalV), and type in:

chmod -R 777 /var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX/*

Hope that helps you.

Give it a try.

P.S: Not all games are compatible. I'm currently awaiting a newer version of psx4all though.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

yusry,

I tied to enter the commands that you have posted in your new entry. Until the 3rd line: wget ..., then I got "command not found: wget".

What do I missing here?

tek2020 said...

Yusry.. thanks for your respond.
Yes I attribute all the files to 777 (also tried with 755) by using winSCP... and I re-check they are stay as 777.
It look like the psx4all executed fine without any error message, but the game is not showing anything. I have tried 4 PSP games, all of them are the same, not working....

Maybe you are right that these games may not compatible until the newer version of psx4all.

Anyway, can you let me know which games you tried and worked... please give me the named of the game, if I don't have it I will buy and try to see how it work, actually.

I have my own PSP, but this is some thing to exercise my brain with computer gadgets. It's just fun thing to do, right?

Thanks again.

Yusry said...

@Frederik

My bad! I didn't know BSD Subsystem don't have the wget command. Nevermind, you can bypass that command. I'm going to edit the post. Please comment to that one for that post-related question. Thanks and sorry!

Yusry said...

@Tek2020

At first I though you were saying about PSP iso, it was a typo. But looks like you are really putting a PSP iso in it, which psx4all can't run it at all.

psx4all only runs PSX/PS1 (PlayStation 1) games. Not PSP. I hope you got that right. Try a PSX game and see if you can run the games.

Cheers.

Unknown said...

yusry,

After I fixed the main script error, when I try to install the new psx4iphone.app from zodttd, I got "Package download error failed" error. Is that mean the package is not there for download or the server is down? I have tried it in different time and still not able to download.

Yusry said...

Unfortunately, I'm also having the same problem. It seems the package is "missing". I'm not sure why.

It could be that the original package was removed. I'm not able to tell why, but my instinct tells me that the server is down, or the package is missing from the repo.

Larney007 said...

Hi Yusry,

Pls help, am new at this! Am trying to get PSX on my Ipod touch, jail broken to 1.1.4, but my system tells me i have no permission to download SCPH1001.BIN, even after changing to lower case.

Please help!!!

Larney007 said...

Hey,

does anyone know that source for the ROM on PSX for touch?

Larney

Yusry said...

Hi larney007

I don't quite understand your query. If you can't download the BIOS from my link, you should try outsourcing your own, because I couldn't download it myself too.

As for the source for the ROMs, I'm not sure either. I don't trust using sources for ROMs because it's wayyyy too slow (even on broadband connection). I would strongly recommend you to use your own original PSX CDs and rip them.

Cheers.

Alf said...

Hi,

I was wondering, do one have to have SSH installed on the iPod in orden to get IphoneBrowser to work?

Becouse:
First, I cant fin the Applications path
Second, I`v already got some ROM`s for Nes installed from installer and I can find the Nes ROM`s in iPhoneBrowser but cant copy any new games from my computer through the Browser.

Whats wrong?

I`v already installed nes and psx4all emulator from installer.

I hope you can help me, Thanks.

Yusry said...

It's a simple fix.

It's because you jailbreak it using ZiPhone and now you can't use iphonebrowser or iBricker to navigate the file system.

Look for a working wifi like in McDonalds or Starbucks (or your friends' if you have) and launch Installer app. Add a new source "i.unlock.no", then refresh.

Look under "Unlocking Tools" packages, then install "ZiPhone iBrickr Fix". Restart your device, and then try launching iphonebrowser again. You should be able to see all files now.

SleepyDude said...

Hi Yusry,

I am trying to get the psx emulator working. i have installed in via installer and have put the scph1001.bin in app/psx. all settings for roms and bios and program are set to 0755. however when i try to play a rom an error message saying cannot finf bios appears??????????? and then it just has the frame rate stuff running at the top? I really need help any ideas? Im running my iphone on 1.1.2.

THanks for any help

Yusry said...

Hi sleepydude!

I hope you're not getting sleepy yet :P

Anyway, since you said that it has frame rates on top, I assume you're using the latest psx4all emulator (I think it's version 0.2.0?)

To remove the diagnostics, press onto R2 and L2 simultaneously, and there's some settings you can fiddle with. I haven't got any chance to use it, so you might be the first.

If you're missing the bios, you need to put it TOGETHER with your ROMs. So your "scph1001.bin" should be placed inside /var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX (since you're using 1.1.2)

I hope that helped you.

Cheers.

Jenny said...

hi Yusry

i'm using iphone 16 GB. The FW version is: 1.1.4 and i used Ziphone to jailbreak my fone. I use iPhone PC Suite v1.0.7 to view my fone.

I had put "scph1001.bin" in "application/psx4all.app" and i put "burn out.bin" in "var/root/ROMs/PSX" and when i play it. it said "BinOS NOT FOUND: var/mobile/Media/ROMs/PSX/scph1001.bin" then it start to run counting frame. So i make new folder in media and put the bios in PSX folder. but it come out the same result. Can help me please. . .

Yusry said...

I am aware of this problem. Just leave the error message if you can still run your game.

I don't think the error is causing you any problems does it?

Try putting the BIOS in the same place as where you put your ROMs. That's the place where it should be.

Good luck!

Yusry said...

For example:

If you put it in var/root/Media/ROMs/PSX for your ROMs, then put your BIOS there too.

You don't have to create the mobile one if you are not using it.

General rule of thumb: If you're using 1.1.3 and above, put your ROMs inside var/mobile/Media/ROMs

Hope that helped.

Cheers.

Jenny said...

Yusry,


I put the bios in the same place where i put my roms

http://www.uppic.net/show/7a8312c0083a543c7e4e5c4274f22a81

then when i go to psx4all in my phone. it appears like this:
http://www.uppic.net/show/c4c765de5a14648864bcb4f02a7d12d8

i clike the burn out and play. it come out the same result as yesterday.

http://www.uppic.net/show/67b96227f7f69cf541cee62104f8a8d5

http://www.uppic.net/show/e7bf2439304c6a67126f44478f0f7d64

http://www.uppic.net/show/87b5924bbd00233d062bf801431270b1

http://www.uppic.net/show/ed4179d080c626da6945ad68c3d4e3e5


i hope my pics can help u

Yusry said...

Your pics tells it all.

You're putting the the files in the wrong places by the way!

Please MOVE all your current files (the file system is correct, the place is wrong).

Cut (if possible), the "ROMs" folder, and put it in:

var/mobile/Media/ROMs

Leave all other files intact, including the BIOS file and the game ROM itself.

Make sure you set the permissions of the folder after you've moved it. Remove all traces of var/root/Media/ROMs folder. You don't need it anymore.

I hope it's more clearer for you.

Just ask if you're still unsure.

Cheers.

Yusry said...

For permissions setting, you'll need Term-vt100 or TerminalV (with BSD Subsystem of course).

Then run the terminal program, and type in:

chmod -R 777 /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/*

Hoped that helped.

Cheers.

Jenny said...

Yusry,

i type "chmod -R 777 /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/*" in Terminal and it said something no file and then i press something and after that it said process is completed.

after that i'm go to "psx4all" and play. this time it donesn't said anything just black screen with keyboard and about one min it counting frame again


did i done anything mistake?

Yusry said...

Hi

First of all, are you sure you have moved all your files from var/root into var/mobile? There's a difference you know, read my previous post for the exact location.

Secondly, after you have typed the chmod thing, there should be no feedback, this is normal. It should look as if it asks for another prompt. If it says "file not found" or "invalid", it's probably because you didn't move your files.

If you have further questions you can post it to me again. I'll try my best to help you.

Jenny said...

Can u check for me?

first i put all my rom in var/mobile/Media/

http://upload.bluegy.com/show.php?f544df3a1d0592b4916708277510f3f8.bmp

then go to terminal and type "chmod -R 777 /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/*"

http://upload.bluegy.com/show.php?f0abe48425775b3d1cb5047d6f171148.jpg

next i press "^c". i don't know what is dat and it appear another "$"

http://upload.bluegy.com/show.php?624ff89e15876e4a6b7bcb67d2234edc.jpg

and then i dun what to do next so i press "^D" and it appears "process complete"

http://upload.bluegy.com/show.php?337e778ac6878dab9060d12cd8ab5c96.jpg

last go to try again and it's.....the same result TT^TT like this

http://upload.bluegy.com/show.php?e73a62712e24c5ed797b398acd62b857.jpg

http://upload.bluegy.com/show.php?5640256be08b1495daceb5df3be22352.jpg

help me. . .

Yusry said...

Your file system is now correct.

However, I have a feeling it could be due to the ROM itself.

As for the Terminal, something looks wrong. What terminal are you using? I strongly recommeng Term-vt100 or TerminalV. I have never seen a "$" sign before, so it's a bit weird. Maybe a new version?

Anyway, do you have a PS original CD? If you do, try ripping one using Alcohol. I have covered those in my post. It could be a dodgy download, and possibly an incorrect game.

It could probably be a wrong format. So far, I have been able to run games that are in ".img" or ".iso". Maybe those makes a difference?

Here's what I'm going to do. Looks like you'll have to start from scratch, so bear with me! (I'm typing this from memory, so it could be wrong!)

1) If you have existing filepath to var/root/Media/ROMs, DELETE IT.
2) Download BSD Subsystem and Term-vt100 or TerminalV (either one should do) if you don't have one.
3) Download the BIOS, place it in var/mobile/Media/ROMs/PSX
4) Run the Terminal. If it asks for a password, get that one fixed first! Browse my blog, I should have written something about the passwords thing.
5) Right now, you should type this command:

Type (1): chown -R mobile var/mobile/Media/ROMs/*
Then (2): chmod -R 777 var/mobile/Media/ROMs/*

Effectively, this should change the correct owners and permissions.
6) Now you should try to run the game. If it does not tells you of the BIOS, the BIOS placement is right. Wait approx 30sec-2mins for the game to load. If after 2 mins nothing happens, I think you might have a corrupt game.

For best results, try your own games.

It's been a while since I actually tried running a PS1 game on my iPod Touch too. Maybe I should give it a try myself.

Good luck!

Yusry is a technology freak, he plays a lot with his iPod Touch since day 1. He is also into programming and gets excited trying out new softwares. He is also a member of a local Singaporean band named Dermapthera. You can read his other blog at http://dermapthera.wordpress.com
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