DAX ZISO Loader 0.4

[Dark_AleX]

A new version of the program that memory stick vendors hate :P

4 new emulation modes has been added, and an option to choose between allocate tables in RAM or not has been added (in off, compatibility should be higher: i have been able to load the ridge racer jap iso that wasn't compatible in previous versions)

I copy and paste the readme.txt. Please read it before using the program.

EDIT: lol, i forget the links
EDIT: there was a bug in Original UMDEMULATOR mode. Solved now and links replaced. If you downloaded the previous files, simply replace loadorig_umem.prx

http://rapidshare.de/files/16342509/DAXZISO_04.zip.html
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U1I8TP59

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This is a tool that lets you load isos(backuped from your original umd's) compressed in dax
format (a custom format, compressor and decompressor are included).


Requeriments:

- 1.50 firmware

- UMDEMULATOR 0.8c (optional, daxziso already incorporates in his core the UMDEMULATOR core)

- Optional: MPHGameLoader (for games that require 2.XX)


Instructions:

- Copy the folders PSP and UMDEMULATOR in the root of your mem stick.

- Compress your iso with the DAX Creator tool (for win32) that is in this package.

- Copy your compressed iso (.dax) to ms0:/ISO

- Execute DAX ZISO Loader. Select the emulation method, your iso (normal or compressed), and
press X.

* Explanation and compatibility of differents methods.

- Off: the iso won't be emmulated and the program will exit to the system menu. This method
only has sense if you want to emulate the flash0 & flash1.

- System menu. It returns to the system menu, letting you to load the game through the system
menu or another loader like mphgameloader or FastLoader("Start inserted UMD").
This is one of the most compatible methods.

- Direct load. It will directly load your iso. At the moment, it seems that this method is
less compatible than the "System menu" and "Direct Load - LoadExec" ones. Be always sure
that you try the different methods to see which one is the best for your games.

- Copy load. It will copy the game boot.bin file to ms0:/UMDEMULATOR/DBOOT.BIN and it will
load it. This method has changed in this version, now it uses the sceKernelLoadExec function
as UMDEMULATOR does. Now it's more compatible although the "Direct Load - LoadExec" method is
probably more compatible.

- MPHGL. To use this method you'll need the file "ms0:/MPHGameLoader/mphloader.prx"of the
MPHGameLoader application. It seems to be the less compatible methods of all.
It's more compatible use the system menu one and execute mphgameloader, or the new methods
"System Menu - MPHGL" and "MPHGL - VSH Exec"

- Original UMDEMULATOR: to use this method you'll need to copy the EBOOT.PBP from UMDEMULATOR
(the folder without the %) to ms0:/UMDEMULATOR and rename it to "UMDEMU.ELF"

This method will load the original umdemulator letting it to load isos in dax format.
The compatibility of different load methods inside UMDEMULATOR should be more or less the
same that those from DAXZISO, although it may have some differences.

- System Menu - MPHGL. This method returns to the system menu: in that moment you can run
your emulated umd from the system menu. Instead of executing the disc, the firmware will
execute the file "ms0:/MPHGameLoader/EBOOT.PBP" which will load your 2.XX game.
To use this method you need to copy the EBOOT.PBP from
"ms0:/PSP/GAME/[name of folder where you have MPHGL]/EBOOT.PBP" to
"ms0:/MPHGameLoader/EBOOT.PBP" (it's possible that if you have one of those mods of
UMDEMULATOR/FastLoader/DevHook you have already done this step).

The compatibility of this method is greater than "MPHGL" and exactly the same than exiting
to the system menu and then running mphgl.

- MPHGL - VSH Exec. With this method your psp will reboot and after that it will auomatically
run MPHGameLoader (remember, it must be in the path "ms0:/MPHGameLoader/EBOOT.PBP").

The compatibility of this method is greater than "MPHGL" and exactly the same than exiting
to the system menu and then running mphgl.

- DirectLoad - LoadExec. This method looks like "Direct Load", but instead of using the
sceKernelLoad/StartModule functions, it uses sceKernelLoadExec; because of that, the system
will have more free memory, and this makes it more compatible than "Direct Load" and almost
as compatible as "System Menu". The only problem is that it always will run the BOOT.BIN
file (even if that option is in off), because sceKernelLoadExec fails with EBOOT.BIN.

- MPHGL - LoadExec. This method doesn't work in my psp I've included it because there is the
posibility that it works in other psp's. If it worked, it would be more compatible than
"MPHGL" and almost as compatible as "System Menu" + running mphgl, "System Menu - MPHGL" and
"MPHGL - VSH Exec". If it's confirmed that it don't work, I'll remove it in the next version.
This method also needs the file "ms0:/MPHGameLoader/EBOOT.PBP"

- Option "Allocate tables in RAM". If your game worked well in version 0.3, leave this parameter
to "on", because decompression will be faster than in "off". If you game didn't work in version
0.3, set it to off: that will decrease memory use and increase compatibility.

- The other parameters are handled by the UMDEMULATOR core and their meanings are the same than
in UMDEMULATOR.

- To quit ISO emulation, execute the loader and press triangle.



FAQ:

- Q: Will support DAX ZISO Loader more common formats of compressed files like .zip, .rar, .gz?
- A: NO. I already did testings with .zip and .gz files, and the EXIT JAP iso was still loading
after more than 10 minutes. The problem with those files is that the seeking is really slow.
That was the main reason behind creating an own format. The DAX format is very similar to
the .Z/.Z.table concept, except that it's only one file and other few changes.

-Q: Can load DAXZISO games that UMDEMULATOR/MPHGameLoader cannot?
-A: No. The iso emulation is still done by the UMDEMULATOR core, although the reading functions
are redirected to the DAXZISO one.

-Q: Can DAXZISO load normal (non-compressed) isos?
-A: Yeah, no problem.



Changelog:

- 0.4. March, 24.

* Added 4 new emulation modes: System Menu - MPHGL, MPHGL - VSH Exec, DirectLoad - LoadExec and
MPHGL - LoadExec.
* Added the option "Allocate tables in RAM". When in off, compatibility will be greater than in
previous versions.
* Copy Load now uses the function "sceKernelLoadExec", as UMDEMULATOR does.
* The program now uses a different configuration file than UMDEMULATOR, avoiding in this way
that UMDEMULATOR resets it to 72 bytes.
* Removed the limitation that caused that if before the compression the iso had more than about
1365 MB, DAXZISO didn't allocate the memory for the tables.

- 0.3. March, 20
* The program doesn't need other apps, and its use is less annoying than before.
* Both, the umdemulator and daxziso cores are now merged into a single file.

- 0.2. March, 16
* Improved compatibility and stability.
* The program now writes its core in the kernel RAM next to the UMDEMULATOR core and both
run when a game or homebrew starts/exits.

- 0.01 beta. March, 14: Initial release, very buggy.


TODO:

- Improve that horrible GUI (let use backgrounds)

- Correct some bugs

- Extend the DAX compression format with more options


Credits:

- The first 4 KB of FUSEDCORE.BIN file are the UMDEMULATOR core.bin.
UMDEMULATOR is written by Humma Kavula.

- The rest of the program is written by Dark_AleX.

- PBP icon and background: LaMa

- DAX ZISO Loader and DAX Creator/DAX Decompressor use the zlib library: http://www.zlib.net