SaveSync

RPCS3 ⇄ PS3 savedata converter that runs on real hardware.

SaveSync is a PSL1GHT homebrew that scans your console's save folders, exports them to your computer, and round-trips RPCS3 saves into properly-signed PS3 saves (and back). It runs as a real installed homebrew on a CFW PS3 (XMB Game tab) and exposes both an on-TV UI and a Web UI on :8080 over the LAN.

Features

• On-TV drilldown UI — Games view groups by title_id; pressing × on a game enters its Slots view. ○ goes back, with a system "Exit SaveSync?" prompt at the top level so a casual press can't quit by accident.
• Native PS3 + RPCS3 round-trip — sign an RPCS3-format slot in place (rebuilds PARAM.PFD HMAC + zeros account_id for portability) so PS3's lv2 will load it. Export anything as a .zip RPCS3 can read; original is untouched.
• Web UI on :8080 — same actions as the TV UI, plus drag-and-drop import from RPCS3 zips with a slot picker (new slot, replace, optional pre-import backup).
• Background job queue — exports and conversions run on worker threads so the UI stays responsive. Active jobs panel shows progress live; the UI auto-refreshes the save list when a mutating job finishes.
• HDD + USB scan — /dev_hdd0/home/<uid>/savedata/ and /dev_usb000..7/PS3/SAVEDATA/. Detects each save's flavor (PS3-signed vs RPCS3-plain) by inspecting PARAM.PFD.
• Built on tiny3d — real RSX rendering, ~16ms vsync flips. Worker threads (HTTP + jobs) run on their own stacks; the UI never starves them.

Screenshots

Games view	Slots view (with active job)

Help / glossary / system info

Why a real installed pkg (not a fake-self in /dev_hdd0/tmp/)

A .fake.self launched via webMAN's /play.ps3 from /dev_hdd0/tmp/ runs in a sandbox that cannot read /dev_hdd0/home/<uid>/savedata/ — opendir returns EACCES. The same code installed as a properly-signed homebrew at /dev_hdd0/game/NP0SVSYNC/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN and launched from the XMB Game tab runs in a game-process context that has full read access to per-user savedata. SaveSync therefore ships as a .gnpdrm.pkg.

Hardware / firmware requirements

• Console: PS3 with CFW (Cobra / Evilnat / Rebug). Tested with webMAN-MOD 1.47.48p.
• Network: PS3 and dev machine on the same LAN.
• For development builds: PSL1GHT toolchain on a Linux host.
• For pkg signing: Docker (the bundled make_self_npdrm segfaults on Ubuntu 24.04; the make pkg target uses a Docker-driven Ubuntu 22.04 stage to sign EBOOT.BIN).

Install

1. Build (or download a release) savesync.gnpdrm.pkg.
2. FTP-upload to the PS3:

   curl -T savesync.gnpdrm.pkg ftp://<PS3_IP>/dev_hdd0/tmp/savesync.pkg
   

3. Trigger webMAN install:

   curl 'http://<PS3_IP>/install.ps3/dev_hdd0/tmp/savesync.pkg'
   

4. Launch from XMB → Game → SaveSync.

After launch, point your browser at http://<PS3_IP>:8080/ for the Web UI.

Controls (TV)

Button	Games view	Slots view
↑ / ↓	Navigate games	Navigate slots
L1 / R1	Page up / down	Page up / down
× (Cross)	Open the selected game's slots	Export this slot as a .zip
△ (Triangle)	—	Sign for PS3 (RPCS3-format slots only)
□ (Square)	Rescan HDD + USB	Rescan HDD + USB
○ (Circle)	Exit (confirms via system dialog)	Back to Games
SELECT	Toggle help / glossary / system info	Toggle help / glossary / system info

Web API

Method	Path	Purpose
GET	/	Web UI (HTML + JS)
GET	/api/status	{ version, console_id_short }
GET	/api/games	JSON saves bucketed by title_id
GET	/api/saves	Flat JSON array of all saves
GET	/api/saves/<id>/icon	ICON0.PNG bytes
GET	/api/jobs	JSON array of running / completed jobs
POST	/api/jobs	Enqueue export / convert / import job
DELETE	/api/jobs/<id>	Cancel / remove job
GET	/api/jobs/<id>/download	Zip of a finished export job
POST	/api/inspect	Stage an uploaded RPCS3 zip; returns { stage_id, sfo } for the slot picker
POST	/api/upload	Multipart upload (returns { job_id })
GET	/api/quit	Clean shutdown (sets should_quit, returns to XMB)

Project layout

savesync/
├── source/
│   ├── main.cpp                # tiny3d render loop, pad input, exit confirm dialog
│   ├── state/
│   │   ├── app_state.{c,h}     # AppState — single source of truth shared with tv_ui
│   │   └── jobs.c              # background job queue
│   ├── ui/
│   │   ├── tv_ui.cpp           # breadcrumb + games/slots views + jobs strip + footer
│   │   ├── icon_cache.c        # PNG → RSX texture cache (libpng-driven, lazy)
│   │   └── fonts/, buttons/, logos/
│   ├── http/                   # webMAN-style per-conn worker HTTP server (port 8080)
│   │   ├── routes.c            # URL dispatch (/api/*)
│   │   ├── json_helpers.c      # tiny JSON serializers
│   │   └── embedded_assets.h   # generated: index.html + app.js as C arrays
│   ├── ps3http/                # reusable PSL1GHT libnet HTTP server library
│   ├── savedata/
│   │   ├── scan.c              # /dev_hdd0/home + /dev_usb scanners
│   │   ├── sfo.c               # PARAM.SFO reader/writer (LE↔BE byte-swap)
│   │   ├── pfd.c               # PARAM.PFD HMAC (ported from apollo-ps3)
│   │   └── convert.c           # RPCS3 ↔ PS3 round-trip
│   ├── transport/              # zip + multipart helpers
│   ├── fonts_ttf/              # Inter TTF embedded for ps3ui_text
│   └── web/                    # source HTML + JS (embedded into the .self at build time)
├── pkgfiles/
│   └── ICON0.PNG               # XMB icon
├── tools/
│   ├── build_pkg.sh            # Docker pipeline: signs EBOOT, builds .pkg
│   └── embed_assets.sh         # generates source/http/embedded_assets.h from web/
├── sfo.xml                     # PARAM.SFO definition
└── Makefile                    # build + pkg pipeline

Build

# .self only (and .fake.self for play.ps3-from-tmp dev launches):
make

# Full .pkg (Docker pipeline signs EBOOT.BIN with make_self_npdrm in Ubuntu 22.04):
make pkg
# -> savesync.gnpdrm.pkg
# -> build/pkg-stage/pkg/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN  (signed; useful for hot-swap)

After first install, iterate by hot-swapping EBOOT.BIN rather than rebuilding the full pkg:

# 1. Quit the running app:
curl 'http://<PS3_IP>:8080/api/quit'

# 2. Rebuild + hot-swap the signed EBOOT:
make pkg && \
  curl -T build/pkg-stage/pkg/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN \
       ftp://<PS3_IP>/dev_hdd0/game/NP0SVSYNC/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN

# 3. Relaunch from XMB Game tab.

The hot-swap path skips install.ps3 entirely (~5× faster than full reinstall) and works as long as sfo.xml / ICON0.PNG haven't changed — re-install with install.ps3 only when you've changed pkg-level metadata.

Acknowledgements

• Apollo Save Tool — reference for PFD HMAC, savedata enumeration, the canary-save trick.
• PSL1GHT — open PS3 toolchain.
• tiny3d — the rendering library most serious PS3 homebrews use.
• webMAN-MOD — CFW companion that provides the install endpoint and FTP server.

License

MIT.