Considered by some to be the final nail in Cobra Blackfin's coffin and following the recent NoNpDrm v1.0 and VitaShell v1.74 releases, today PlayStation Vita developer Motoharu Gosuto made available PSVGameSD which is a PS Vita Virtual Game Card application and kernel plugin that finally allows users to produce true 1:1 game card backup dumps and run them!

Download: psvgamesd.skprx / psvgc.vpk / GIT

In addition, PlayStation Vita scene developer Yifan Lu suggests siteops should nuke all of the previous PS Vita scene dumps since the new .psv ROM format preserves one-to-one dumps of physical games with no per-game patches needed with both a feedback page and a PS Vita Dumper Comparison Chart available.

To quote from the README.md file: PS Vita - Virtual Game Card

User application and kernel plugin that allow to produce game card dumps and run them.

Introduction

This application is designed for two main tasks:

• Produce 1 to 1 dumps of game cards.
• Introduce functionality that allows to run these dumps.

Application consists of user application that manages the driver settings and kernel plugin that is used to emulate game card.

Requirements

• henkaku
• taihen

Legal Disclaimer

• The removal and distribution of DRM content and/or circumventing copy protection mechanisms for any other purpose than archiving/preserving games you own licenses for is illegal.
• This software is meant to be strictly reserved for your own PERSONAL USE.
• The author does not take any responsibility for your actions using this software.

Compatibility with sd2vita adapter

This plugin is not compatible with sd2vita adapter and corresponding gamesd.skprx plugin.

This plugin is not compatible with any other kernel plugin that is derived from gamesd.skprx.

If you are going to use this plugin - disable gamesd.skprx

Ideally it is recommended to remove sd2vita adapter. However when inserted - it should be ignored by this plugin.

Integration with sd2vita is planned for next release.

Installation

Install kernel plugin

• Copy psvgamesd.skprx to the location where you have kernel plugins.
• Add the path to config.txt.
• Reboot your vita.

Install user app

• Install psvgc.vpk.
• Virtual GC bubble will appear.

User Interface / Controls description

Upon launching user app you will be presented with console UI.

• Press "Left" or "Right" on d-pad to switch between different modes of the driver.
• Current mode is indicated on line "driver mode:"

Physical MMC mode - Producing Game Card Dumps

• Press "Up" or "Down" to navigate through dump files
• Press "Cross" to start dumping the came card. This option is only available if real game card is inserted. Insertion status is shown on line "content id:". Dump progress is shown on line "dump progress:". Dump file is stored at ux0:iso folder.
• Press "Square" to stop dumping the came card. This options is only available when dump process is started.
• Press "Triangle" to exit application.

Virtual MMC mode / Virtual SD mode - Running Game Card Dump

• Press "Up" or "Down" to navigate through dump files
• Press "Circle" to select game of interest. Selection status is shown on line "selected iso:".
• Press "Start" to insert game card. Insertion status is shown on line "insertion state:".
• Press "Select" to remove game card. Insertion status is shown on line "insertion state:".
• Press "Triangle" to exit application.

Physical SD mode - Running Game Card Dump

• Press "Up" or "Down" to navigate through dump files
• Press "Triangle" to exit application.

Use cases
Typical Emulation use case

• Use physical mmc mode to produce 1:1 dump of the game card.
• Use virtual mmc or virtual sd mode to run the game.

Typical Physical Storage use case

• Use physical mmc mode to produce 1:1 dump of the game card.
• Use your favorite tool or hex editor to burn this dump to SD card.
• Use physical sd mode to run the game.

Reporting issues

Feel free to report bugs/issues here: https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvgamesd/issues

Legacy ways to dump the came card

Custom board

Use custom board. You can check how it can be built here: https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvcd

There are two modes that can be used there.

• Use PS Vita as black box (cmd56 handshake is done by PS Vita)
• Use PS Vita F00D as black box (cmd56 handshake is done by board)

For second approach you will need kirk plugins that are located here https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvkirk

Code for second approach is not finished. It only does cmd56 handshake. However you can use the code from first approach to dump the card. Only little changes are required.

PSVEMMC client

https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvemmc

Unfortunately dumping client is not finished. It is only capable of doing a dump per partition. It does not dump SCEI MBR and does not combine partition dumps into single binary file. However only little changes are required to make it dump SCEI MBR. You can then combine dumps with your favorite hex editor.

CMD56 handshake

Data from the handshake is required to pass signature checks and obtain klicensee. It is integrated into dump file. When game card is inserted in physical mmc mode signature and keys are intercepted and saved to dump file later.

Special thanks

• Thanks to Team molecule for HENkaku and thanks to Yifan Lu for taiHEN.
• Thanks to Proxima for explaining klicensee theory.
• Thanks to SonyUSA for helping with initial testing.

And from the Vita-Dumper-Comparsion.md, to quote:

Vita Dumper Comparison	psvgamesd	NoNpDrm	Vitamin/MaiDumpTool
Dumps physical games
Dumps digital games, DLC, and updates
Compatible with legit DLC & updates
Saves usable on non-hacked Vitas
All original data untouched
No problems saving after suspend
Format can be converted to work with other tools
Installs physical games as bubbles
Dumps games requiring > 3.60
Works on firmware > 3.60
Plays games requiring > 3.60

Key points:

• STOP using Vitamin/MaiDumpTool. Those tools were hacked together before taiHEN was ready and therefore depends on hacks around the fact that there was no kernel access. Game executable metadata was not preserved and creates lots of compatibility issues including corrupting saves while in suspend mode.

• psvgamesd creates .psv files which will be the standard archival format for Vita games (like .iso or .nds but for Vita). These files are not trimmed or compressed and therefore will take a lot of storage to save. Until trimming/compression features are implemented, a way to use the best of both psvgamesd and NoNpDrm is to save your raw dumps on your computer (for backup) and when needed (like if you lose access to your cart), you can use psvgamesd to mount the image once, then use NoNpDrm to "install" it as a bubble (saving space) and finally delete the original .psv from your Vita.

• psvgamesd allows you to backup your 3.61+ games for use if/once later firmware are hacked.

• psvgamesd currently does not support backing up digital games but the .psv format will eventually be used to archive digital games as well. More information on the format is here.

• When a .psv is mounted with psvgamesd, you can run any other tool (including NoNpDrm and Vitamin) on it, so until existing workflow (such as game translation) is upgraded to not depend on legacy dumps, it is always possible to go from .psv to any other format but not the other way around! You must dump the original cart to create a .psv!

Legal Disclaimer: I helped author the .psv format to help standardize the format for backup and archival but I do not endorse any method to circumvent DRM. This guide is provided for informative purposes only and does not serve to aid any party in circumventing DRM. I have not worked directly or indirectly on any DRM circumvention features.

• https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvcmd56 - Reversed code of PS Vita SD card and related drivers