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PS3 library (ES-DE + RPCS3)

ES-DE's ps3 system (added in dg_esde_systems) scans roms_heavy/ps3 for directories named <Title>.ps3 — ES-DE treats a directory whose name matches a listed extension as one launchable entry — and boots them with rpcs3 --no-gui %ROM%. RPCS3 accepts the folder path directly for both disc dumps (PS3_GAME/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN) and hdd/PSN layouts (USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN).

Game format rules

Format on hand Playable? What to do
Extracted disc folder ✅ Name the dir <Title>.ps3, done
PSN .pkg after install Install via RPCS3 (see below), then symlink
PS3 .iso (decrypted) after extract 7z x -o'<Title>.ps3' file.iso
PS3 .iso (encrypted) no Needs the disc key (ps3dec) first

Check whether an ISO is decrypted: extract PS3_GAME/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN and look at the first bytes — 53 43 45 00 (SCE\0) means decrypted; random bytes mean encrypted. The Headers Error + 64 KiB tail 7-Zip reports on PS3 UDF images is cosmetic; extraction is still complete.

PSN packages (dev_hdd0 games)

PSN games can't be launched from a .pkg; they must be installed into RPCS3's virtual HDD (box-local, ~/.config/rpcs3/dev_hdd0/game/<ID>):

# close any running RPCS3 first — a second instance silently
# swallows the CLI arg and nothing installs
rpcs3 --installpkg <Game>.Install.pkg   # then the Crack/NoDRM pkg too

Then expose it to ES-DE with a symlink in the roms tree:

ln -sfn ~/.config/rpcs3/dev_hdd0/game/<ID> \
  "<roms>/ps3/<Title> (<ID>).ps3"

Caveat: dev_hdd0 lives in the box home on the NVMe, so a box rebuild wipes the installed game and leaves the symlink dangling — reinstall the pkgs (kept on the NAS) and the link comes back to life. This is deliberately not automated in Ansible: --installpkg needs a GUI session and fails silently under contention, so it's a poor fit for an idempotent playbook task. The pkg sources stay on the NAS; reinstalling is a one-minute manual step.

Library fixes applied (2026-07-07)

  • Renamed 3 disc dumps missing the .ps3 suffix (DiRT, DiRT 2, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3).
  • 18 Wheeler - American Pro Trucker was not a PS3 game at all — bin/cue with SLUS_202.10 header, i.e. the PS2 release; moved to roms_heavy/ps2 (bin renamed to match its cue).
  • Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow HD (NPEB00528): installed both PSN pkgs into dev_hdd0, symlinked into the roms tree. Boot verified (reached the rendering thread; the "reconnect controller" dialog was just the pad being asleep).
  • Ultra Street Fighter IV: 19 GB decrypted ISO extracted to <Title>.ps3 folder form (RPCS3 doesn't read PS3 ISOs). Boot verified — LLVM PPU/SPU compilation started from the extracted files. The original .iso dir remains alongside (unsuffixed, so ES-DE ignores it); delete it manually if the space matters.

Debugging notes

  • RPCS3's process comm is AppRun.wrapped (AppImage), so pgrep -x rpcs3 never matches — check AppRun.wrapped, the window class, or ~/.cache/rpcs3/RPCS3.log (box home).
  • --no-gui boots print little to stdout; the real verdict is always in RPCS3.log (Boot path:, PPU compile lines, ·E entries).