PS3 (P)Review discs: How do I play them

[Pertained Bingo]

Hi all,
At the start of the year I managed to get a great bargain on some PS2 and PS3 games. In amongst them where these Preview, Review, Review Code, and Pre-production games.
I am hoping that someone here could help me and know how to play these games?
Things I have tried:
Normal, unchanged PS3 (Slim console and up to date software).
Hacked PS3 console running Rebug 4.84.2 D-Rex (Slim console).
Changing the date back to the Month and Year on the disc.

I get the animation on the XMB, but when booting up, I get Error 80010017. All commercial discs work, also, the pre-production also works.
I plan on dumping the files and uploading them to the Internet Archive (for preservation) once I have time (hopefully soon).

Any help on getting these working will be really appreciated.

p.s.
I asked on Reddit awhile ago and someone there (when I asked) mentioned to check here, and I couldn't find a thread that had this information. So sorry if there is already one and could you point me to it if there is.

 

[Dainipponjin]

Thank you for the effort.

While I can't speak to the kind of protection or launch requirements the discs in question in particular might have, it would be nice if you could dump the discs using redump methods, meaning creating the ISOs in encrypted state and dumping the encryption key as well. redump's PS3 dumping guide: http://wiki.redump.org/index.php?title=PlayStation_3_Dumping_Guide

I myself have some PS3 review discs but they do launch on my hacked PS3 Slim (and at the same time don't launch in RPCS3 which is interesting, I guess). If no answer is given by more knowledgeble people here, poking the executables with a disassembler might be the way.

 

[Hazard]

Maybe you need to change the rebug console from CEX to DEX?
In the Toolbox from that firmware I think you can change it.

 

[Dainipponjin]

In addition, you need to dump the discs (you can use either MultiMAN with Direct Access enabled or a Blu-Ray drive in its encrypted state), then decrypt the ISOs with PS3 Gen Tools (ps3chk.exe). Additionally, you can rebuild the decrypted ISOs with PS3 ISO tools as well and transfer them onto your console to play it that way.

Isn't ps3chk.exe only decrypts discs mastered as Master Disc 3 (with common encryption key)?
If OP's discs were mastered differently, then he would need PS3Dec or similar software to decrypt them.

 

[Pertained Bingo]

Thanks for the info. I have been moving house, so haven't been able to try much yet.

Thank you for the effort.

While I can't speak to the kind of protection or launch requirements the discs in question in particular might have, it would be nice if you could dump the discs using redump methods, meaning creating the ISOs in encrypted state and dumping the encryption key as well. redump's PS3 dumping guide: http://wiki.redump.org/index.php?title=PlayStation_3_Dumping_Guide

I myself have some PS3 review discs but they do launch on my hacked PS3 Slim (and at the same time don't launch in RPCS3 which is interesting, I guess). If no answer is given by more knowledgeble people here, poking the executables with a disassembler might be the way.

I have dumped one rom using multiman awhile ago, but I couldn't get it for some reason (will try again when I have time)

Maybe you need to change the rebug console from CEX to DEX?
In the Toolbox from that firmware I think you can change it.

Yes, I have changed the CEX to DEX and had no luck (that is what I meant about it being D-Rex).

I'll try again when I have time and update on if I do manage to get it, or I get stuck.

 

[Pertained Bingo]

In addition, you need to dump the discs (you can use either MultiMAN with Direct Access enabled or a Blu-Ray drive in its encrypted state), then decrypt the ISOs with PS3 Gen Tools (ps3chk.exe). Additionally, you can rebuild the decrypted ISOs with PS3 ISO tools as well and transfer them onto your console to play it that way.

I do have a Blu-Ray drive on my computer, do you mean I wouldn't have to use Multiman to rip the ISO and then transfer to my machine?

 

[Dainipponjin]

I do have a Blu-Ray drive on my computer, do you mean I wouldn't have to use Multiman to rip the ISO and then transfer to my machine?

You can use a Blu-Ray drive installed in your PC to dump PS3 discs. You can find the list of recommended drives in redump's or RPCS3 emulator's dumping guides. Most of the times there wouldn't be any issues if your drive is not present on the lists. Sometimes though, in a very rare occasion, some BD drives will refuse reading PS3 discs, so keep that in mind.

The disadvantage of such dumping method is that there is no way to retrieve encryption keys without additional piece of hardware like 3k3y Ripper Device which is long gone out of production. The dumps will, of course, be rendered in encrypted state and if your discs are indeed mastered as Master Discs, then a common key of 67C0758CF4996FEF7E88F90CC6959D66 would fit them. Then again, they might be having different encryption keys which will return you back to dumping the discs via PS3 console.

I say don't bother with using Blu-Ray drive on your PC. Follow redump's guide for PS3 console dumping. Use multiMAN to dump discs in encrypted state (be sure to enable Direct Disc Access otherwise the discs dumped would be decrypted) and use Getkey to retrieve encryption keys.

Share some of those dumps, so we can take a look at why they refuse to launch.

I have dumped one rom using multiman awhile ago, but I couldn't get it for some reason (will try again when I have time)

multiMAN is known to have issues with some volume labels. Sometimes If certain characters are present in a volume label or if it's left blank, multiMAN might not start dumping process at all. In this case of any dumping issues try using ManaGunZ program instead. This software forcibly renames the dumps allowing to bypass the issues that multiMAN exhibits.