Lord Error
Insane For Sony
I was experimenting with this last night, and found a way to eliminate that nasty timeout from the demo, once and for all, without having to enter any gameshark codes or anything.
This works with demo installed using the HDLoader.
- Extract files from the MGS3 demo image you made earlier
- Edit SYSTEM.CNF so that it looks like this:
BOOT2 = cdrom0:\MGS\MGS3.ELF;1
VER = 1.00
VMODE = NTSC
- From now on, you only need SYSTEM.CNF and MGS folder in the new disc image that you will make later.
- Go to MGS folder, and hexedit the MGS3.ELF. Search for the hex sequence:
53 43 45 5F 44 44 5C 53 43 45 5F 44 44 2E 45 4C 46 3B 31
replace it with:
4D 47 53 5C 4D 47 53 33 2E 45 4C 46 3B 31 00 00 00 00 00
If you look at the new ASCII string in your editor, you will see that what you just did will tell the demo to load it's own executable every time it tries to load the OPM frontend executable (which happens every time after a timeout).
Make an image, put on the HDD, run it using the HDloader. You will notice that there's a black screen sitting there for a good minute - don't worry, it's normal - and there will be some white lines flashing couple of times, all the while HDD will be loading. What actually happens is that the demo keeps timing out before it's even started (a known issue), and re-loading itself, due to a hex edit you just made. It must happen because it's reading some memory location expecting to find a value for the timeout counter. As it's not finding it, it just quits (and re-loads). After it loads itself 7th or 8th time, some leftover garbage will fill that memory hole where the expected counter is supposed to be located, and from then on, the demo will start, and never time out. Just start it, and play it the way it's meant to be played
This works with demo installed using the HDLoader.
- Extract files from the MGS3 demo image you made earlier
- Edit SYSTEM.CNF so that it looks like this:
BOOT2 = cdrom0:\MGS\MGS3.ELF;1
VER = 1.00
VMODE = NTSC
- From now on, you only need SYSTEM.CNF and MGS folder in the new disc image that you will make later.
- Go to MGS folder, and hexedit the MGS3.ELF. Search for the hex sequence:
53 43 45 5F 44 44 5C 53 43 45 5F 44 44 2E 45 4C 46 3B 31
replace it with:
4D 47 53 5C 4D 47 53 33 2E 45 4C 46 3B 31 00 00 00 00 00
If you look at the new ASCII string in your editor, you will see that what you just did will tell the demo to load it's own executable every time it tries to load the OPM frontend executable (which happens every time after a timeout).
Make an image, put on the HDD, run it using the HDloader. You will notice that there's a black screen sitting there for a good minute - don't worry, it's normal - and there will be some white lines flashing couple of times, all the while HDD will be loading. What actually happens is that the demo keeps timing out before it's even started (a known issue), and re-loading itself, due to a hex edit you just made. It must happen because it's reading some memory location expecting to find a value for the timeout counter. As it's not finding it, it just quits (and re-loads). After it loads itself 7th or 8th time, some leftover garbage will fill that memory hole where the expected counter is supposed to be located, and from then on, the demo will start, and never time out. Just start it, and play it the way it's meant to be played
