Support PSP games in a folder

PSP games in a folder with an EBOOT.PBP file aren’t as well supported today as games as a disk image, as they have to be placed in the PPSSPP memstick folder, then you have to run PPSSPP and launch it from within the emulator. While this works, it isn’t well integrated like other content is in muOS. While most release games can be trivially converted to a disk image format, it doesn’t seem like this is a good option for homebrew games like Minecraft PSP or others.

Instead, we can make use of a hidden folder and a placeholder file the way it’s done for some other systems like ScummVM. If we add a block to ext-ppsspp.sh to check for the game as a hidden folder, a subdirectory of .hidden, or a folder in the memstick folder, then the user can just create a placeholder file for the game to be used to launch it, such as Game Name.psp. I’ve tested this personally and it really improves the usability of homebrew PSP games without adding too much impact or change to the system.

I’d propose the addition of a block like this after the export HOME in ext-ppsspp.sh:

case "$FILE" in
	*.psp)
		# Mechanism to launch PSP folder-style games from memstick or a hidden folder
		GAME=$(basename "$FILE" | sed -e 's/\.[^.]*$//')
		GAMEDIR=$(dirname "$FILE")
		if [ -e "$PPSSPP_DIR/.config/ppsspp/PSP/GAME/$GAME/EBOOT.PBP" ]; then
			FILE="$PPSSPP_DIR/.config/ppsspp/PSP/GAME/$GAME/EBOOT.PBP"
		elif [ -e "$GAMEDIR/.$GAME/EBOOT.PBP" ]; then
			FILE="$GAMEDIR/.$GAME/EBOOT.PBP"
		elif [ -e "$GAMEDIR/.hidden/$GAME/EBOOT.PBP" ]; then
    		FILE="$GAMEDIR/.hidden/$GAME/EBOOT.PBP"
		fi
		;;
esac

Any opinions?

4 Likes

I don’t play psp but this makes sense and seems simple enough. behaves like scummvm when it needs to, and also checks ppsspp-installed apps!

Thanks for the feedback! I did consider if there was a more standardized method, like maybe playlists, despite it not being a multi-disc situation, but I don’t think PPSSPP supports those anyway.

If you see a benefit in adding this then by all means make a Pull Request to our internal repository on GitHub.

1 Like

Will do. I was just looking to make sure there were no objections to the concept first. Thanks!

4 Likes

This would actually be awesome since i mainly only use psp for ported/homebrew visual novels