[Tutorial] How To Make A Coldboot.

DarkFoxSniper · 04-29-2009, 06:20 AM

Well guys and girls after a bit of work and many requests it is finally here.My Coldboot Tutorial.

Now before we get stated I would like to clear some things up.The first is that this is NOT a request thread but a tutorial so if you want one made..make it yourself...I will be glad to help you along the way but will not make it for you...ok?

Second is for those of you who may be asking what's a Coldboot?A Coldboot is the combination of the text and the sound you see when you turn your PSP on.It is not a Video and for those that think it is,what your thinking of is called a CIntro and that is not what this thread is about.Now if you are looking for a guide on making a gameboot/CIntro..look here (How to make a .PMF file for Gameboot/Coldboot).

Here is an example of what a Coldboot looks like:

Now onto the tools that we will be needing.I have combined most of the tools and files that you will be needing into one package for your convenience.You will find that link below

All links provide the same files)

Coldboot Tools Package(Ifile.it)

Coldboot Tools Package(Sendspace)

Coldboot Tools Package(MediaFire)

PART #1:Obtaining The Files
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PSARDumper
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In this next part I'm going to explain how to obtain the 2 files you will be needing to make a coldboot(which are opening_plugin.rco and opening_plugin.prx).These files will be included as part of the tools you will be needing but I'm including this for future firmware versions as I do not know if I will be updating the thread.

So you can either read now or skip till later..really doesn't matter.

Anyway let's continue.First thing you need to do is go and download this file:

Official 5.00 Firmware Update

(Just using 500.PBP for example can be any firmware you want)

Go to the PSARdumper folder that has been included in the download package(Coldboot Tutorial\Tools\PSARdumper) and copy the PSP folder to your MemStick and(Once finished) copy the 5.00 Official Sony Update and copy it to the ROOT(Rename it to EBOOT.PBP first) of your MemStick.Then Launch the program.*

*NOTE:If you receive an error(This program requires 2.71 or higher) switch your kernel in Recovery Mode to a higher kernel or place the new_psardumper folder in GAME371,GAME380,GAME390,GAME4XX, or GAME5XX depending on your firmware.

Now when the program does run you will be taken to a screen like this:

The option outlined in red(Press square to decrypt all.) is the one we want so press square and let it run.

When it is finished you will see a new folder on your MemStick with the name F0.This is a dump of the 5.00 Firmware(Or whichever you chose to use).

We are looking for 2 files and they are located at:

X:\F0\vsh\resource(opening_plugin.rco)(Text)

X:\F0\vsh\module(opening_plugin.prx)(Sound)
(X being the drive letter of your MemStick)

Z33's Resurssiklunssi
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Now before we can move further we need to decompress the newly acquired RCO because if we do not when we open it in RCO editor we will receive this error:

So go to the Resurssiklunssi folder(Coldboot Tutorial\Tools\Resurssiklunssi) and copy the PSP and rco folders to your MemStick and also copy the opening_plugin.rco to the rco folder.Once done run the program.*

*NOTE:From my experiences Resurssiklunssi needs to be ran from the 1.50 kernel so Slim owners will have to use
TimeMachine,LEDA,ELoader.I may be wrong on this so if anyone knows..please feel free to let me know.

When you run it you will see this:

What we want to do is select is the option outlined in red once again (CROSS: Convert all RCO's from ms0:/rco/)..so when ready press X and let it run.Once it is finished you will now have an rco in ms0:/rco/done/ that can be customized in RCO editor.

With that out of the way we are going to move onto the Text part of your Coldboot.

DarkFoxSniper · 04-29-2009, 06:20 AM

PART# 2:Coldboot Text
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Coldboot Text Method #1(Extremely NooB Friendly)
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This method is fairly easy and just requires Coldboot Text Replacer V2(Included of course)(Location:Coldboot Tutorial\Tools\CTR_V2).Load up the application till you see the menu with the following screens:

Screen 1:You will either load up an RCO you wish to change or select one of the firmware options(Firmware 5.00 or Firmware 4.01 or older).

Screen 2:In this tab you will pick color,text,size and font that you wish to use...once it looks the way you want it too..select save and place the resulting RCO in F0/vsh/resource...simple huh.

Screen 3:If you want to have a full screen coldboot..you go here...This turns an image into your coldboot..like so:

NOTE: Make sure to load RCO on screen 1 first)
Then select the image you would like to use(480x272 .BMP works great) and then save..and voila..your done and have a full screen coldboot.

Screen 4:Gameboot Delay which I think is pretty self explanatory..if not what it does is change how long a gameboot.pmf can be..so instead of the original 2.5 seconds you can make it..idk...8 seconds long.
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Coldboot Text Method #2(Slightly Harder)
(More Text flexibility then method 1)
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Ok so first off open up GIMP(or a similar photo editing software) and start by going to File>New to create a new image for us to work with.You can leave the Width and the Height the sizes that they are(Will crop the image to the correct size later).The click on the Advanced Options drop menu and make sure that Fill With: is set to Transparency.Should look like this:

Then hit Ok and you will see a new work area pop up with a checkerboard like pattern on it.

Now the fun part.Find the text tool(Big Bold Letter A or press t).Select the font,color,and size that you wish to use.(I will be using Dark Crystal Font size 50 Black & White)

Then write what you want your coldboot to say(Mine will say my username DarkFoxSniper)

Now when you are satisfied with the look of it right click and select Image>Autocrop Image.You will notice that your image's resolution has changed and become smaller then before...don't worry that's what we want to happen.

Next a little warning...keep in mind that the PSP's screen has the dimensions 480x272...so if you end up with a cropped image bigger then that size or close to it..most likely it will now work if you use RCO editor to insert it..but you could always use CTR_V2(From Method 1) to do a full size coldboot with it...

All that's left to do is save it as a PNG(Uncheck all boxes when asked to save)

Inserting Text Into Opening_plugin.RCO(RCO Editor Tut)

So now that we have or text saved and ready to use we must insert it into the RCO using RCO Editor..so go to the RCO Editor folder(Coldboot Tutorial\Tools\RCO Editor)And click on RCOEdit.exe and you will see the program pop up with this screen:

Select the Open RCO...and load the RCO for your firmware and you will see this screen:

The [GIM] tex_logo is the coldboot text ([GIM] tex_psp_logo is the gameboot logo for those that want to know to remover replace it with [GIM] tex_psp_logo.png) so click replace,locate the PNG of your text and press Enter and you will see it show up where the Sony Computer Entertainment Logo was.

All that you have to do now is copy it to F0/vsh/resource and see if it shows up correctly.Here's what the finished product looks like:

(The above is of a better quality..stupid screenshot plugin making it look all shitty..)

Now if it does not show up right(I.E. you see a white box) it means that the color depth of the PNG was too much for the RCO to handle..but we have something that can fix this.Look for the PNGforPTF folder in the RCO Editor Folder.Now this program converts 24-bit PNGs into 256 color 8-bit PNGs...which RCO Editor can handle...you may notice a slight loss in resolution but nothing that will be too big.

All you do is load the app and find your PNG then hit convert.Then load it into the RCO and test it out.Now remember an RCO does have it's limitations and will not handle everything that you throw into them.

See not too hard to do the text..now unfortunately we move on to the hardest part...the sound.

I say hardest because if a new version of BSR(BootSoundReplacer) is not released yet when a new CFW arrives...you will have to HEX the sound in..

DarkFoxSniper · 04-29-2009, 06:21 AM

PART #3:Coldboot Sound(BootSound)
Method 1:With BSR)
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So first of all you will need a sound that you want to use.All the coldboots that I do have sounds that are 3 seconds in length..now you may hear that it can be 3.5 or even 4 seconds and it can BUT your sound will get cut off.I have included a sound that you can test to get the basic idea of how to do it in the tools package.(Coldboot Tutorial/Files/CBS Test File/test.wav)

First thing we need to do is to install an audio codec(Sony ATRAC3 (Included)) for use with GoldWave.

To do this first uncompress the files from ATRAC3.rar(Coldboot Tutorial/Files/ATRAC3.rar) archive, right-click on the atrac3.inf file and select Install.

You may encounter a prompt saying: "The software you are installing for this hardware... has not passed Windows Logo testing.." click on the Continue Anyway button.

So when you have your audio of choice cut down to 3 seconds or less open up GoldWave.(Coldboot Tutorial\Files\GoldWave is the location of the GoldWave Installer)

With your wave opened in GoldWave select Save As and the save window will pop up like so:

Now what you name your files does not matter(As long as you keep the .WAV extension) but the thing that does matter is the Attribute.You MUST make sure that ONE of the ATRAC3 attributes is selected(ATRAC3 66kbps STEREO,ATRAC3 105kbps STEREO,or ATRAC3 132kbps STEREO)132kbps is what I normally choose as it gives the best quality sound.

Save it and then open up BSR(Coldboot Tutorial\Tools\BSR_V5).You will see the following screens:

Screen 1:This is the screen we want to use..it injects the sound we just made into the opening_plugin.prx...more bleow.

Screen 2:Converts a PRX from one Firmware to another..duh..

Screen 3:In 3 it allows you to extract a WAV from an opening_plugin.prx.You may ask what's the point?Well if you were on 4.01 M33 and updated to 5.00 M33-6 your bootsound from 4.01 Will NOT work on 5.00..so you just extract the WAV and then replace into the 5.00 PRX.(or just use screen 2..more for future firmware when no BSR has been released)

Screen 4:In screen 4 the app allows you to re-direct the location your PSP reads your gameboot.pmf from.(Good for those big gameboots)

While in screen 1 first thing we do is select our firmware.The hit Browse and find your WAV and hit open.Then when opened all you do is click save PRX..not too hard huh?

Now the daunting task of doing the sound when no BSR has the option for your firmware..

Method 2:Without BSR)(I Will Try to make this as easy as possible to understand)

Ok so lets just say that tomorrow Dark_AleX or GEN released a new Custom Firmware(Lets just say 9.99 M33 or 9.99GEN) and you wanted to make a bootsound?If you notice BSR does NOT have an option for it...what will we do??Well first we would follow Method 1(Above) and get a PRX that has a sound injected into it.Then what we will do is open the opening_plugin.prx(I will be using 5.00_opening_plugin.prx for the tutorial) in a HEX Editor(I will be using HEXWorkShop).You can use any editor as long as it can Copy and Paste.So when opened you will see a screen with a lot of random information.What we want to do is look for the following things.

WAVEfmt 4 and further down(Almost at the bottom) ...thread.

Basically this:

DarkFoxSniper · 04-29-2009, 06:22 AM

PART# 4:F.A.Q.
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Q1:Can this brick my PSP?

A1:The potential of a Coldboot bricking your PSP is very slim.If you do brick it is because YOU have either flashed an RCO(This is highly unlikely to brick but lower Firmware's(Those under 5.00) can't take the RCO from 5.00+) or a PRX(These ARE Firmware Specific) from a different Firmware.
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Q2:Can I use these on my 2000 or my 3000?

A2:It's kind of a yes and a no answer.A 2000 series PSP with a TA-088V2 or lower can use a coldboot.Now if you have the TA-088V3 I HIGHLY suggest you do NOT write ANY files to your Flash 0.The same is true for ALL 3000 owners.Now there are multiple thread on finding which motherboard you have(Conveniently there is one in my sig).So please if you are unsure follow one of the guides to find out.
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Q3:The ATRAC3 Attribute options in GoldWave are not there..how can I get them to show up?

A3:This seems to be a common problem with people on Vista but I've seen it on XP.Here are some steps you can take:

1:Make sure you have installed the ATRAC3 Codec(Included)

2:Find the "atrac3.acm" file in the included download and copy it to "C:\Program Files\GoldWave\File"(Or where ever you installed GoldWave).Now you need to change the "atrac3.acm" file extension to .dll so that it is now "atrac3.dll".
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