Tools Of The Trade

Numerous PS3 Source modding tools across the years:

Plugins

These are patches to the game that enable you to enter console commands by pressing and holding the triangle button. Both of these will enable online play via direct connect and can be used to help you develop mods to the game.

CSGO: Available as a 7Z archive or as a PKG that you can use to have the PS3 automatically install the patch for you.

    Warning: the PKG installer is in Portugese!

Portal 2: available in ZIP Format. Plugins for Portal 2 PS3 by SPMP which enable online multiplayer and game console access, but break savegames. Instructions included inside download.

PC tools

Some useful programs for modding your game.

  • Aldo’s Tools - A plethora of tools to open PS3-specific files, including PARAM.SFO which can be used to enable remote play and 1080p (Orange Box only)

    Note: Some links on Aldo’s Tools appear to be broken as of late… You can try this Collection of tools available on PSX Place instead.

  • BruteCRC32 - An Orange Box-specific tool that allows you to inject custom binds into your save file, no mods needed. I am not sure where this tool originates from, but here’s a download from a blog from 2012, and for good measure, you can also download it off my website.
  • MakeGameData - A Valve-internal tool that converts any PC source engine files (vtf, bsp, mdl, etc) into 360, and later, PS3 specific variants. A version is available in the Orange Box 360 modding Discord based off a 2007 build of TF2, and there is a PS3-compatible version in the Dino D-Day SDK.
  • vXZip - Command line-based tool to edit the ZIPs found in Portal 2 PS3, CS:GO, and 360 Orange Box. A GUI version is included in some of the author’s project Source360, but that has been abandoned since 2013 and needs to be compiled to work, plus it might not contain fixes made in the meantime. As such, it is omitted from this list.

Resources

Learn about modding Source PS3 and talk to other modders:

  • SPMP and their Wiki - A short-lived group who did a great deal of reverse engineering on Portal 2 PS3. The group’s leader has a YouTube channel with more information in an easy-to-digest format.
  • Xbox 360 Source Modding Discord - Contains an absolute treasure trove of information about the console source engine ports, sometimes including PS3 as well. Chock-full of knowledgable people including Dr, who ported the entirety of HL2 mod Watching Paint Dry to Xbox 360. Had it not been for these guys, I wouldn’t have had enough information to even start this website.
  • CS:GO Console Discord - CS:GO console Discord server for both PS3 and Xbox 360, including mods, multiplayer, and other fun stuff.

More to come as I find new stuff.

Archive material

It is likely that some of these links may go offline eventually. As such, I have begun to use services such as archive.today and Internet Archive to provide permanent links to some content. This website itself is archived on Internet Archive. Here is a list of other places I have archived:

The internet isn’t forever, but with the addition of the archive, it can at least be for a very long time.