With Brizzo having gone AFK, and I've been busy on other things recently, but not.. gone.. just VERY slow to reply, and hesitant to post lots of info which will benefit FOR PROFIT CLONERS, and NOT those doing this as a hobby, I'll answer some questions:
100%, this is actually how I started with dumping and modifying dongles years ago, except I used an EEPROM programmer and/or a PS2 + uLE to access the dongles depending on my needs)
mymc.py is your tool of choice for poking around a ps2 card that has been dumped as an full NAND .bin file.
you can also do this "Live" using a real PS2 + uLE (uLanunchELF) with the 2x6 NAND resoldered to a PS2 card, just make sure not to insert it until you are already in uLE or the PS2 dashbaord "OS" will load some crap onto it, thus making the dump "unclean" (but it will still work)
the PS3 memory adapter is a bit of a harder topic to discuss because it involves software that violates the DMCA.
See above.
Brizzo's card doesn't "dump" so not exactly, and yes, there is no difference from above.
Brizzo's card is best seen as:
2X6 Motherboard ] = [ (Sony 2X6 MagicGate Chip) + (Custom IC + NAND)] = [ USB to PC
A stock memory card or dongle looks like this:
2X6 Motherboard ] = [ (Sony 2X6 MagicGate Chip) + ( NAND)]
The Custom memory controller Brizzo's created, in conjunction with the software he provides, allows one to directly access the NAND WITHOUT going through the Sony MagicGate chip, thus allowing "sideloading" without bypassing any kind of DRM or encryption.
BUT it only allows access to the entirety of the NAND, and any modifications to the exact contents of the files on a card must still be done through mymc.py
As MOST users are using this just to "play games", this is sufficient.
One might ask, "if putting a game onto a card is as simple as copying the data onto the NAND chip with an EEPROM programmer, a PS2, or the PS3 adapter and soldering it to a 2X6 dongle, why can't I just do that and why do I need Brizzo's dongle?"
- The answer to this is..
- if all you want to do is play EXISTING games, you ALMOST CAN.
- the more detailed answer is that every MG chip contains a bunch of encryption routines and all that that prevent this from working (SONY realized that any old Arcade OP probably had access to a friend with a EEPROM programmer and would try this), so you can't do it.
- the EVEN more detailed answer is that because Sony again failed at encryption, you can, but it requires some prep-work and a small change to every "dump" you want to write.
Now, I'm NOT going to teach anyone here how to bypass Sony's encryption the because legal things.
But let it be known that this method has been used as far back as the first batch of 246 dumps Guru originally uploaded to MAME, as a number are easily identifiable as this specific method of BOOTLEGGERY (?probably? not by him, but likely by whomever he purchased the dongles from), and that he'd discovered this method (or had been told it by said bootleggers) before some of chanced upon it a number of years back.
If you're curious to try and understand this method, simply find TWO dumps of say... a Gundam game, and and extract the files with mymc.py, then compare the files in a hex editor. It's rather self explanatory for the technically inclined.
This is the method by which Brizzo's dongle allows one dump to run on a completely different dongle.
For the less technically inclined, and those who don't want to desolder a bunch of nand chips (speaking, of, does anyone have a hotplate handy that can help me resolder the NAND chips on 200+ dongles?), there is a MUCH easier solution, the one MOST people are discussing when they talk about the Playstation 3 adapter.
This method is also MUCH MORE ILLEGAL based on DMCA and other things so I will only discuss HOW this solution works, but if someone else wants to discuss the tools, their operation, etc, that's on them.
The PS3MCA (Playstation 3 Memory card adapter) is a dumb device, and contains NO MagicGate decrytion on its own.
Instead, the PS3 implemented PS2 compatible MG routines IN SOFTWARE
You read that right-the routines for pretending to be a host PS2 are completely in the PS3 OS.
Now, as the PS3 got hacked.. MANY moons ago, access to this became pretty accessible.
As a result, someone (I'm forgetting, but it's in the sources to the PS3MCA application) put together an application to access the card from a pc.
Shortly after if got posted publicly as the easy way to use this menthod to make a FMCB (FreeMemoryCardBoot) memorycard without a modded PS2, every publicly posted version of the sourcecode was pulled from online due to DMCA violations. Of course, being the internet, it's still very much out there.
This tool allows one to directly manipulate files on a PS2 Memory card in a similar manner as mymc.py, where the files are being modified in-system, but not as a "whole chip dump".
This is, and has been for many years, public knowledge, so nothing new here.
If you wanted to use the original version of PS3MCA, you would need to desolder the NAND from your 2x6 dongle, solder it to a PS2 memory card, and then do your edits with PS3MCA, before then resoldering it back to the 2x6 dongle. You will also need to use the method mentioned above for modifying the files to work on a different dongle than they originated from.
Moving forwards in time, somewhat recently (in the grand scheme of things, but still a few years old at this point), the encryption keys and other bits necessary to communicate with the MG chips in a COH dongle were obtained. I personally forget if this was a leak, disassembled debug hardware code, or a decapping of magicgate chips, but the end result is the same.
PS3MCA was forked to contain this new code, resulting in a version that can FULLY directly modify COH dongles (Python, 2x6, etc.)
Now, if all you want to do is just play a game that you have a .bin dump of, you will still need a few additional steps.
You'll need to extract all the files from the .bin using mymc.py
You'll then need to access the COH dongle with the special version of PS3MCA and upload all those files
You'll then need to sign the boot file so that it is actually bootable.
Because I'm not a lawyer, I'm not the one to speak to in regards to obtaining a copy of this version of the software, or advocating its usage, I'm simply acknowledging that it exists, because it is part of our collective current NON-INVASIVE methods for dumping new games, and that undoubtedly (if not already) someone will eventually make it public.
I personally have had some functional prototypes of dongle replacements for years that could bridge the gap "on the cheap" for people who'd rather have a proper dedicated solution (Like Brizzo's) than to use the legally questionable PS3MCA fork.
But I don't know if people are interested in this, or if the community is more interested in goign the PS3MCA route (which arguable is frought with still somewhat expensive-ish hardware too).
My personal stance on all this has been to try and minimize the impact everything done to preserve and maintain the platform has, specifically to limit things like the predatory Taiko bootleg market, or other bootleg sellers making large profits off "industrial waste" PCBs that have been sent to China and elsewhere for "recycling".
This is also partly why I haven't been very forthcoming on how to modify dongles, etc, although I'd love to spell it out in great detail, but the more info out there, the more Soul Calibur 3 bootlegs you're going to see for sale out there... that's the downside of this hobby.
Feel free to let me know what you think as well. I'm ... . . . around, even if i don't reply much.