hrydgard / ppsspp

A PSP emulator for Android, Windows, Mac and Linux, written in C++. Want to contribute? Join us on Discord at https://discord.gg/5NJB6dD or just send pull requests / issues. For discussion use the forums at forums.ppsspp.org.
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Save/load games from PSP/Vita console over USB? Similar to 3DS ArcticBase #19510

Open Darthagnon opened 1 day ago

Darthagnon commented 1 day ago

What should happen

Would it be possible to implement saving and loading gamesaves directly from a PSP or PS Vita connected to the host machine via USB? This would allow users to play their games on the go on the PSP, then plug in to a more powerful PC at home and play with improved graphics and controllers at home through the emulator, continuing from their save game.

Ideally, it would be nice to load the game (ISO/UMD), too, as well as the savedata, over WiFi just like the 3DS does via ArcticBase: PPSSPP already has Remote Disk Streaming, but I haven't tested this as UMDs are already slow, and the PSP's WiFi, besides being incompatible with modern WiFi routers, is even slower. USB is likely more reliable and faster, and savedata is minimal data stored in standard paths ('ms0:\PSP\SAVEDATA` and ux0:pspemu\PSP\SAVEDATA\) which could be detected and loaded.

PPSSPP is already aware of different memory stick locations (e.g. portable vs installed on Windows) - implementing this feature would mean making it aware of PSP and PS Vita devices via USB and their relative game and savedata paths, presenting a small button for the portable console in the main menu, which when clicked lists the games available to play.

Perhaps it could be implemented as a subset of "user profiles", where each PPSSPP "user" has a different memory stick folder on the host PC, and a connected PSP or PS Vita is detected and presented as another user with an on-device savedata location

Who would this benefit

Thank you for reading, and hopefully this idea is interesting to someone - it would facilitate Switch-style gameplay on the PSP and PS Vita consoles.

I explained this idea previously on the PPSSPP forums but I guess they're a bit less active than 10 years ago. Users who own a PSP or PS Vita (or multiple) consoles would benefit from this, as they could play their games on the go, then plug in the console at home for improved graphics. Perhaps it could even help keep their saves in sync between the consoles, depending on how it was implemented... (e.g. a local backup of the savedata is automatically made in the PSP user's profile, and then written back to the PSP only on exiting the game).

Platform (if relevant)

Windows

Games this would be useful in

ULUS01213

Other emulators or software with a similar feature

Other emulators and tools that do something similar, streaming games over WiFi from 3DS consoles to a 3DS emulator, for "Switch"-style gameplay:

Checklist

anr2me commented 1 day ago

PSP's USB connection only recognized as a storage device isn't? and no network over USB, right? Meanwhile, ArcticBase forwards the filesystem requests from the emulator to the console over IP (which requires a homebrew/plugin to hooks filesystem's syscalls)