Version v1.3

Woah this is a pretty massive one.

IMPORTANT: UPDATE THE ENTRY POINT SAVE FILES. This is the last time you should ever need to, as I've finally made them future-proof enough.

Changelog

• tonyhax is now bootable using the FreePSXBoot exploit.
• Added support for Castlevania Chronicles (U) (SLUS-01384) as entry point, by @G4Vi.
• Added automatic switching between PAL and NTSC. tonyhax will detect the game's region and swap to the correct one before launching the game, ensuring it runs at the correct speed. Support is still spotty for the PS2, though.
• Improved loading speed of every entry point to match that of Tony Hawk games - no more purple screens!
• Increased the screen resolution. tonyhax now uses VGA video which allows more info on screen, making debugging easier.
• Added antimodchip patch for Resident Evil Survivor (U) (SLUS-01087), fixing #46 requested by @AbdomenFella
• Added antimodchip patch for pop'n music 2 (J) (SLPM-86294), partially fixing #37 requested by @PARTYMANX
• Added antimodchip patch for pop'n music 6 (J) (SLPM-87089), also from issue #37
• Fixed antimochip patch for Tetris with Card Captor Sakura - Eternal Heart (J) (SLPS-02886), fixing issue #29 requested by @dominater01

Known issues

• Booting on PS2 seems to be broken due to the changes on the entry point save files (issue #63). If you use a PS2 please do not update yet.

Version v1.2.3

Changes since v1.2.2

• Improve parsing of SYSTEM.CNF (again). Fixes Chrono Cross (J).
• Fixed booting from XS Moto, SuperBike 1/2 and Castrol Honda games
• Fix retrying if a game fails to boot.
• Antimodchip patch of Legend of Mana (NTSC-J) (SLPS-02170).

Version v1.2.2

Enter the magic of on-the-fly executable patching: thanks to this, most games with modchip detection can now be effectively defused.

Changes since v1.2.1

• Improve parsing of SYSTEM.CNF. Fixes Disney Tarzan (NTSC-U) (SLUS-01537) and Chrono Cross (NTSC-U) (SLUS-01041)
• Add automatic anti-modchip patching for:
  • Legend of Dragoon (E) (Disc 1) (SCES-03043)
  • Legend of Dragoon (F) (Disc 1) (SCES-03044)
  • Legend of Dragoon (G) (Disc 1) (SCES-03045)
  • Legend of Dragoon (I) (Disc 1) (SCES-03046)
  • Legend of Dragoon (S) (Disc 1) (SCES-03047)
  • Ore No Ryouri (J) (SCPS-10099)
  • Rockman X5 (J) (SLPM-86666)
  • Tetris with Card Captor Sakura - Eternal Heart (J) (SLPS-02886)
  • Tokimeki Memorial 2 (J) (Disc 1) (SLPM-86355)
  • Tokimeki Memorial 2 [Konami The Best] (J) (Disc 1) (SLPM-86723)
  • Tomba! 2 - The Evil Swine Return (U) (SCUS-94454)
  • YuGiOh Forbidden Memories (U) (SLUS-01411)
  • YuGiOh Forbidden Memories (S) (SLES-03951)
• Improved integrity checking

Version v1.2.1

Yay another update for improving compatibility!

Changes since v1.2

• Support games lacking a SYSTEM.CNF file. Fixes Gunners Heaven (NTSC-J) (SCPS-10006) not booting.
• Support games with a SYSTEM.CNF lacking certain configuration entries. Fixes Tekken 3 (NTSC-U) (SLUS-00402) not booting.
• Clear some registers for bugged games. Fixes Pepsiman (NTSC-J) (SLPS-01762) not booting.

Version v1.2

Changes since v1.1.2

• Add new games as entry points:
  • Castrol Honda Superbike Racing (NTSC-U) (SLUS-00882)
  • Castrol Honda Superbike Racing (PAL-E) (SLES-01182)
  • Castrol Honda VTR (PAL-E) (SLES-02942)
  • Cool Boarders 4 (NTSC-U) (SCUS-94559)
  • Cool Boarders 4 (PAL-E) (SCES-02283)
  • Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (NTSC-U) (SCUS-94154)
  • Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PAL-E) (SCES-00967)
  • Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (NTSC-U) (SCUS-94244)
  • Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (PAL-E) (SCES-01420)
  • Sports Superbike (PAL-E) (SLES-03057)
  • Sports Superbike 2 (PAL-E) (SLES-03827)
  • XS Moto (NTSC-U) (SLUS-01506)
  • XS Moto (PAL-E) (SLES-04095)
• Added support for European NetYaroze consoles.

Version v1.1.2

Changes since v1.1.1

• Fixed Brunswick Pro Circuit 2 (NTSC-U) (SLUS-00571) entry point, which was causing the SPL to fail loading.

• Loading steps in the entry points are now color coded for easier debugging:

  • Purple (Brunswick only) indicates the memory cards are being reinitialized.
  • Blue indicates the SPL is being read from the memory card into memory.
  • Green indicates that the SPL is about to launch. This shouldn flash very very briefly.
  • Red indicates the SPL couldn't be found or loaded.

  The console should spend no more than a couple seconds with each color. If it spends more time, it's probably crashed. Please report it.

• Added an integrity. Shall the SPL load in a corrupted state into the main memory (for instance, if the memory card is damaged, the file is corrupted, or some other process caused the load process to fail), it'll now report so during the boot on the screen.

• The SPL will now report your system BIOS. If you are experiencing any issue, please remember to tell me the BIOS version.

Essentially this version has just been released to fix the Brunswick 2 bug, which was causing me a serious headache as the payload was booting just fine on the emulator, but failing on real hardware during the phase in which the SPL was loading into main memory, with all the previous steps (card initialization, file open...) executing just fine.

The FileRead call was executing instantaneously, as if it wasn't reading anything, despite me explicitelly checking the return value. Instead of getting to the red screen of dead, it was just turning black, something I don't have implemented anywhere on the code.

After adding all those logging features, it turned out that the issue was simply that the save file had a wrong address, and it was causing the stack pointer to never get reinitialized. FileRead apparently has enough nested functions to cause the call stack to grow larger than what the fast RAM - where Brunswick helds the stack - could hold and it just crashed into a black screen.

Just like v1.1.1, this is just a bugfix release - if previous versions were working fine for you and you don't mind missing the cool seizure-inducing loading screens, just skip it.

Version v1.1.1

Changes since v1.1

• The SPL file has been renamed from "TONYHAX-SPL" to "BESLEM99999-TONYHAX" so it follows the standard naming conventions.
• Added MCS save files for easier usage on visual, desktop memory card editors.

The reason behind this small release is that an user on Reddit was having issues importing the SPL file on Dexdrive because of the non-standard name. Thus this release changes the name to stick to the standard format every other PS1 game used for game saves.

This release otherwise doesn't change anything in the code. If v1.1 works well for you, there's no need to update - this version adds no new games nor improves compatibility.

Version v1.1

Changes since v1.0

• New supported games as entry points.
• Restore kernel RAM contents. Fixes booting of Mad Panic Coaster (NTSC-JP) (SLPS-00880) and Formula 1 Championship Edition (NTSC-US) (SLUS-00546)
• First stage will now display a red screen if it can't find the SPL, instead of crashing.

Save files:

• BASLUS-00571: Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling (NTSC-US) (SLUS-00571) NEW
• BASLUS-00856: Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 (NTSC-US) (SLUS-00856) NEW
• BASLUS-01066TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (NTSC-US) (SLUS-01066)
• BASLUS-01419TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (NTSC-US) (SLUS-01419)
• BASLUS-01485TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (NTSC-US) (SLUS-01485) NEW
• BESLES-01376: Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling (PAL-E) (SLES-01376) NEW
• BESLES-02618: Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 (PAL-E) (SLES-02618) NEW
• BESLES-02908TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PAL-EU) (SLES-02908)
• BESLES-02909TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PAL-FR) (SLES-02909) NEW
• BESLES-02910TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PAL-DE) (SLES-02910) NEW
• BESLES-03645TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PAL-EU) (SLES-03645)
• BESLES-03646TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PAL-FR) (SLES-03646) NEW
• BESLES-03647TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PAL-DE) (SLES-03647) NEW
• BESLES-03954TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PAL-EU) (SLES-03954) NEW
• BESLES-03955TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PAL-DE) (SLES-03955) NEW
• BESLES-03956TNHXG01: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PAL-FR) (SLES-03956) NEW
• TONYHAX-SPL: tonyhax's secondary program loader (SPL)

First release

Everything should be working. Tested on a SCPH-102 PAL console.