Save/load games from PSP/Vita console over USB? Similar to 3DS ArcticBase

[Darthagnon]

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.

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 I would personally prefer this to WiFi), 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:

• PabloMK7's Citra fork
• Lime3DS
• ArcticBaseServer
• PPSSPP already has Remote Disk Streaming, which is very similar, but streams the high-bandwidth game and not the tiny savedata. (in my opinion it would make more sense if it streamed the savedata, but not the game, as UMDs can easily be dumped via CFW)

Checklist

• Check the latest git build in case it's already implemented.
• Search for other requests of the same feature.

[anr2me]

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)

[Darthagnon]

PSP and PS Vita are just recognised as storage devices, perhaps a bit easier to target than the 3DS (has no USB mass storage mode, only networking possible). I personally would like loading saves via USB mass storage myself. I do think some sort of "user profiles" from a button in the homescreen (targetting different memory stick folders, and PSP/PS Vita when connected) would be the most organised/user-friendly way of doing it. User profiles could be leveraged later to allow multi-instance single-PC PPSSPP multiplayer (currently this is possible iirc via multiple separate installations).

[Darthagnon]

Possibly relevant: PPSSPP's remote ISO streaming (for example, #19293)