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PSP Remote Play Reverse Engineered - PS3 On Your Computer

Schrade

Schrade

Member
2009-05-18 Edit: Binaries and Source code have been released! Windows and Mac versions are available

Download & Source Code: http://code.google.com/p/open-rp/


A guy going by the name of dashhacker has reverse engineered the PS3 -> PSP RemotePlay protocol.

I don't know if it's ok to post a link to his information thread on here so I just won't do that. Use your Google-Fu or something. I just wanted to spread the news though - this will be awesome for PS3 owners with hacked PSPs. You'll be able to access your PS3 from a Desktop computer soon :)

dashhacker said:
I reverse-engineered the authentication and content encryption system using a debugger (psplink) on a hacked PSP. The protocol itself is simply HTTP and anyone can read and understand that. The only part of the protocol that took a few hours to learn was the pad (input) data. Every button press on the PSP results in a 128 byte block of data being sent to the PS3 via HTTP POST (up to 60 times before a new POST header is sent).

In terms of APIs, I chose highly portable libraries to facilitate rapid development. For HTTP I'm using libcurl, audio is being decoded with libfaad, video is being decoded with libavcodec (FFmpeg), audio and video output along with user-events and thread support is being handled by libSDL. The GUI was written using wxWidgets.
Click to expand...


dashhacker said:
For the BETA release, I may not get full-screen support in, but it will be implemented along with double-size windowed mode. The code is capable to support this, just hasn't been a top priority. I'm really working hard to build a multi-platform release.

As far as Sony releasing a firmware update to block ORP, I wouldn't be surprised. There are two reasons why this will be difficult for them however. Number one, they'll have to update both the PS3 *and* the PSP firmware at the same time. Number two, the PSP is a hacked platform... so it's really futile. I'll always be able to reverse-engineer the authentication/cryptography system provided I can run a debugger on the PSP. Looks like that'll be the case for some time. Even if they update the PSP (as is rumoured), then they'll have to lock-out existing PSP owners from Remote Play. I *highly* doubt they're prepared to piss off millions of existing customers. Even for Sony, that would seem very unlikely.
Click to expand...

He's already released a Mac version of the program with a Windows and Linux version to follow.

o8gmyg.jpg
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That's pretty neat.

Do you need a hacked PSP to use it, or is the PC software totally self contained?

Sony should really just embrace this and actually make something official. Even maybe setup a website where you can log in and access your PS3 remotely.. (something I'd actually pay for) *dream* I would personally find that more useful since I don't really carry my PSP around, and getting wifi access for my PSP in places of work etc. is a bit of a rigmarole.
 
Roxas said:
So what does this mean? What will we be able to do with our PS3 and PSP's now?
Click to expand...
It means that you will be able to use Remote Play by running a program on your computer. The PSP is only needed to get an authentication file off of it.

So it's great for people who want to start downloading a just-released demo or video on the PSN store while they are at work but they forgot to bring their PSP.

It's possible that you will eventually be able to play games (heck, it might even be possible now) over the Remote Play connection. I won't know this until he releases his Windows version though. Only a Mac version is out so far.

gofreak said:
That's pretty neat.

Do you need a hacked PSP to use it, or is the PC software totally self contained?

Sony should really just embrace this and actually make something official. Even maybe setup a website where you can log in and access your PS3 remotely.. (something I'd actually pay for) *dream* I would personally find that more useful since I don't really carry my PSP around, and getting wifi access for my PSP in places of work etc. is a bit of a rigmarole.
Click to expand...
Yes you need a hacked PSP to use it. You need to be able to copy a file off the PSP's nvram and save it to your PC.


And I totally agree - there's so much that Sony should just embrace when it comes to the stuff the hackers have done for the PSP.
 
Is that auth file unique for every PSP? Do you need a unique one? Could they not just include it with the software?

Or would including it technically make it piracy?
 
gofreak said:
Is that auth file unique for every PSP? Do you need a unique one? Could they not just include it with the software?

Or would including it technically make it piracy?
Click to expand...
You need a real PSP since it has to be paired with the PS3. Remember, there's auth stuff on the unhacked PS3 side of things.

Oh... and this also means that all the PSX(PS1) games will be able to be played over this setup, too. As long as the coder adds in controller support.
 
Schrade said:
You need a real PSP since it has to be paired with the PS3. Remember, there's auth stuff on the unhacked PS3 side of things.
Click to expand...

Ah, right right, gotcha.

I actually don't know why Sony hasn't released a remote play client for PCs already. It wouldn't really hurt PSP, and it would make it open to a lot more people, and have a lot more people be aware of it. It's an underexploited/under-marketed feature..putting it out in PC land would help change that.
 
You know, as an idea, Sony should just do this themselves. It'd mean they'd be getting the jump on OnLive to some extent, and it'd simply increase PS3 appeal, even if its just a marginal and mostly useless feature.
 
panda21 said:
er pretty sure you can only play games on a local network not via interwebs. so nothing like onlive really
Click to expand...

Hmm..haven't tried, and open to correction, but i think you can. But obviously lag is going to be worse over an internet connection. I don't think remote play makes any distinction between a local and 'remote' connection, filtering functionality depending on your connection type.

(And obviously it's just for supporting games..which is some PSN stuff, PSone games, and a very small number of disc games)

Remote Play and Onlive are in concept pretty much exactly the same, except Remote Play is between a PSP and a personal PS3 rather than a PC and an arbitrary server.
 
gofreak said:
Hmm..haven't tried, and open to correction, but i think you can. But obviously lag is going to be worse over an internet connection. I don't think remote play makes any distinction between a local and 'remote' connection, filtering functionality depending on your connection type.

(And obviously it's just for supporting games..which is some PSN stuff, PSone games, and a very small number of disc games)

Remote Play and Onlive are in concept pretty much exactly the same, except Remote Play is between a PSP and a personal PS3 rather than a PC and an arbitrary server.
Click to expand...


Well in theory, you could just set up a VPN to your home network and use that (if you have the hardware)
 
Dougald said:
Well in theory, you could just set up a VPN to your home network and use that (if you have the hardware)
Click to expand...

Reading the Remote Play wiki I don't see mention of any such restriction anyway.

Initially Remote Play didn't work at all over the internet, but an update changed that.

The wiki also mentions the games that work with it, if anyone's curious:

Games/Software which are compatible with Remote Play include:

* Aqua Vita/Aquatopia (PSN game)
* Bejeweled 2 (PSN game)
* Bionic Commando Rearmed (PSN game/demo)
* High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition (PSN game)
* Imabikisou (BD game/PSN demo)
* Lair (BD game)
* LEGO Batman (BD game)
* Life with PlayStation (PSN software)
* Mainichi Issho (PSN game)
* PixelJunk Eden (PSN game/demo)
* PixelJunk Monsters (PSN game/demo)
* PlayStation 1 games (CD games/demos, PSN games/demos)
* PlayTV (PSN demo)
* SingStar (BD game)
* SingStar Vol. 2 (BD game)
* Zuma (PSN demo)
Click to expand...

Going forward on a future Playstation I'd like to see it supported as standard in all games (alongside other optional OS features like youtube recording, screenshots etc.). And the number of possible clients increased to include PCs officially.
 
gofreak said:
Hmm..haven't tried, and open to correction, but i think you can. But obviously lag is going to be worse over an internet connection. I don't think remote play makes any distinction between a local and 'remote' connection, filtering functionality depending on your connection type.

(And obviously it's just for supporting games..which is some PSN stuff, PSone games, and a very small number of disc games)

Remote Play and Onlive are in concept pretty much exactly the same, except Remote Play is between a PSP and a personal PS3 rather than a PC and an arbitrary server.
Click to expand...

i think the way the remote play works is that you can only play games when your psp is connected directly to your ps3 by wireless.

not sure if you can still use the xmb over the internet, but games dont work.

using this new program i suppose potentially you could trick it into working over the internet, but since it wasnt designed for that i seriously doubt it would work because of lag and bandwidth problems.

if sony had already come up with compression as good as what onlive are claiming i'm sure they would be using it like a motherfucker, rather than just sticking it on as a footnote that only works in lair.

EDIT:

so maybe they have updated it to work over the internet? i'm skeptical but the wikipedia page appears to say that. still think thats only for basic xmb/psns store stuff though..
 
panda21 said:
i think the way the remote play works is that you can only play games when your psp is connected directly to your ps3 by wireless.

not sure if you can still use the xmb over the internet, but games dont work.
Click to expand...

You sure?

There's a vid here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfEpaPw5qkA

Dude goes on to play a psone game etc.

Although his PS3 is in the same room, note when he goes to remote play on his psp he uses the 'connect via internet' option (the first one), not connect via private network (the second option).
 
This is awesome. I need to check this out after I'm done working on assignments.

Now that they've got a PC Remote Play client, I wonder if they could work out building a server, like for streaming video and shit to the PSP directly from PC, instead of going PC --(DLNA)--> PS3 --(Remote Play)--> PSP. That would totally rock.
 
It'd be nice if sony had a limited version of this. It'd be handy to be able to queue up downloads, check their progress, get them installing, update fw etc from a remote location on a pc or an iphone or something.

EDIT: Also if it went the full way of being able to play a game over it, that would be freaking sweet. Streaming the video to the PC in my room if the TV the PS3 is hooked up to was being used by someone else would be great.
 
I wonder how long it'll be before someone hacks a web application out of this, maybe in flash, and starts a site where you can play ps3s from your browser..basically open up their Ps3s to people to do what they like with them :p Or you could have just one system hooked up playing monsters or something, and timeshare the game..like passing the controller around except in a huge group online. Messy? Yeah. But it'd be an interesting experiment.

That probably would break some term or condition though..
 
I had a dream that when Sony announced [ this ], they would have actually thought of doing this natively across VAIO and Sony Ericsson products.

Ah well.
 
$h@d0w said:
Made a video of this working (Youtube is still processing at the moment)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ1wtN8jZMY

The controls for it seem to be:

Enter = X
Esc = O
Click to expand...

I just tried it once right now, followed all the steps, and when U launch a window pops up and then disappears quickly. Any ideas?

PSP was 100% dry so I'm charging it right now to update the FW (was still at 4.0something M-22) and hopefully that helps, if not I'll run the process over again and try once more.
 
Got it working, no problem.

Doesn't seem to enjoy playing games yet, though. Once it "switches" modes from XMB to the game it seems to die and the PS3 screen says nothing's connected.

Might make a vid right now but not sure what to show off. It's exactly as advertised, PSP Remote Play, on your Mac (and soon PC).
 
Awesome, this topic needs to be bumped. All of you CFW psp owners should be happy! Come on sony, an official app would be great!
 
That's pretty cool.

It's too bad there aren't that many great remote play-compatible games. :( (Only Eden and Monsters, really)

The main reason I use remote play nowadays is to watch some of the video files I have on my PS3 outside of home.
 
Made a small video of it in action. Not much to see, went through the XMB a little, played some of the MmFamous trailer, went to play some music via MediaConnect (DLNA).

A few notes, I did add a few for fun messages just because I was bored. Also, my network drive needed to spool up, which is why the iTunes folders initially loaded slow, and the music track I picked is pretty much silence for the duration, and I wasn't comfortable enough with the controls to FF, but it works.

http://b4.s3.p.quickshareit.com/files/screenflow6b09c.mov
 
ICallItFutile said:
I wonder if in the future it will be possible for my friend to play MGS4 on his laptop at home via my PS3.
Click to expand...

Doubtful. Not enough buttons on the PSP being the first of many.
 
gregor7777 said:
Sounds like it's for times when you don't have your PSP handy.
Click to expand...

Or if you don't wanna look like an idiot holding up the PSP to your face for 2 hours watching a movie or television.
 
I hope this doesn't make Sony stop adding features to Remote Play (like copying media from the PS3 to PSP during remote play, for instance).
 
Got this working pretty fast, all I needed to figure out was to manually input my PS3's IP.

I don't have any lag, even for video content. Can't figure out much use for it though.. :)
 
Kuran said:
Got this working pretty fast, all I needed to figure out was to manually input my PS3's IP.

I don't have any lag, even for video content. Can't figure out much use for it though.. :)
Click to expand...

Ah, pixeljunk eden works using this.. now if I could use my DS3 with my mac..

Edit: until he includes the Start button that is
 
Kuran said:
Ah, pixeljunk eden works using this.. now if I could use my DS3 with my mac..
Click to expand...

You can. This just doesn't let you map controls at all, then again using a controller, yet.
 
panda21 said:
i think the way the remote play works is that you can only play games when your psp is connected directly to your ps3 by wireless.

not sure if you can still use the xmb over the internet, but games dont work.

using this new program i suppose potentially you could trick it into working over the internet, but since it wasnt designed for that i seriously doubt it would work because of lag and bandwidth problems.

if sony had already come up with compression as good as what onlive are claiming i'm sure they would be using it like a motherfucker, rather than just sticking it on as a footnote that only works in lair.

EDIT:

so maybe they have updated it to work over the internet? i'm skeptical but the wikipedia page appears to say that. still think thats only for basic xmb/psns store stuff though..
Click to expand...


They added being able to use it over the internet about a year ago, I've done it myself. It works with anything the local Remote Play does, just with tons of extra lag. You really need huge upstream bandwidth where the PS3 is for it to work mildly decently, something I don't have.
 
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