psx-pi-smbshare

psx-pi-smbshare began with the intent of allowing SMB sharing to Multiman and Open Playstation Loader from a Raspberry Pi. It has evolved into a Pi-based swiss army knife for enhancing classic game consoles.

You can see it in action in this video from @versatileninja which walks through the setup process and demonstrates how to use it:

Upgrading an existing install

The following commands can be used to upgrade an existing psx-pi-smbshare device. These instructions can also be used to convert an unsupported device into a psx-pi-smbshare (for example Raspberry Pi4 and potentially other devices running a debian based OS with an accessible ethernet port).

cd ~
wget -O setup.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/toolboc/psx-pi-smbshare/master/setup.sh
chmod 755 setup.sh
sudo ./setup.sh

How it works

psx-pi-smbshare is a preconfigured Raspbian based image for Raspberry Pi 1, 2, 3 and 4. It runs a Samba share, a pi-compatible build of ps3netsrv, and reconfigures the ethernet port to act as a router. This gives low-latency, direct access to the Samba service through an ethernet cable connection between a PS2/PS3 and Raspberry Pi. This configuration is achieved by running setup.sh. A pre-supplied image can be applied directly to a Micro-SD card using something like etcher.io. The image allows you to use the full available space on the SD card after the OS is first booted.

An XLink Kai client is also included and accessible on the device at http://smbshare:34522/. This allows for multi-player gaming over extended LAN. The service is possible to use on a variety of devices including PS2, PS3, PS4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Gamecube, Switch, Wii, Wii U (and PSP). Just connect an ethernet cable to your game console and access the XLink Kai Service over Wi-Fi with a smart phone, tablet, or computer.

What you can do with it

psx-pi-smbshare works out of the box on PS3 with MultiMAN. This functionality allows you to stream and backup up various games and media to the Samba share service running on the Raspberry Pi.

psx-pi-smbshare also works out of the box on PS2 with Open Playstation Loader and supports streaming of PS2 backups located on the Samba share service. It can also work with POPStarter for SMB to allow streaming of PS1 games from Open Playstation Loader.

psx-pi-smbshare supports an ability to route traffic from the ethernet port through a wireless network connection to the outside world. With this configuration, the XLink Kai Service can be used on pretty much any device with an ethernet port. This includes Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, and Gamecube. There is also support for Ad-Hoc multiplayer on PSP using XLink Kai.

Quickstart

Prerequisites

• Raspberry Pi 1, 2, or 3
• Micro-SD Card (8GB+ suggested)

A detailed video guide is provided by Project Phoenix Media which walks through the processes described below.

Flash the image

Download the latest psx-pi-smbshare release image and burn it to a Micro-SD card with etcher.io

Configuring Wireless Network

If you wish to configure the wireless network on a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3, you need to add a file to /boot on the Micro-SD card.

Create a file on /boot named wpa_supplicant.conf and supply the following (change country to a valid 2 letter code):

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=US

network={
        ssid="<SSID>"
        psk="<PASSWORD>"
}

When the pi is next booted, it will attempt to connect to the wireless network in this configuration. You are then able to access the raspberry pi on the network and allow for outbound connections from a PS2/PS3 over the wireless network.
The raspberry pi is configured to have a hostname smbshare with a user pi and a password of raspberry.

Disable DHCP server on Raspberry Pi

The default behavior of psx-pi-smbshare is to enable a console-to-pi connection by means of the high speed ethernet port available on many video game consoles. This connection is used to provide a direct access from the console to the services on the pi (WiFi, XLinkKai, SMB, ps3netsrv etc), and by default, a DHCP server runs on the ethernet interface (eth0) to facilitate this. The following steps will describe how to disable this mechanism and is not recommended for typical users. Please be aware that disabling the DHCP server will produce a side-effect of no longer being able to directly connect your video game console to the pi via the ethernet interface.

In some use cases, the user may wish to connect the Raspberry Pi via ethernet to an external router (for example: to have psx-pi-smbshare act as an XLinkKai server for primarily PSP games). To disable the DHCP server that would usually run automatically on this interface, ssh into your device and execute the following command to modify the startup scripts that run at boot time:

crontab -e

Next, find and comment the line containing @reboot sudo bash /home/pi/wifi-to-eth-route.sh by adding a '#' as shown below:

#@reboot sudo bash /home/pi/wifi-to-eth-route.sh

Accessing the XLink Kai Service

Visit http://smbshare:34522/ or http://<YOUR_PSX_PI_SMBSHARE_DEVICE_IP>:34522/

Accessing the SMB Share

With a wireless network configured, you should be able to access the SMB share by visiting \\SMBSHARE\share on windows or smb://smbshare/share on Mac / Linux.

The share is preconfigured with a folder structure to accomodate ps3netsrv and Open Playstation Loader expected file paths.

Accessing USB drive(s) on the SMB Share

Plug and play auto-sharing of USB storage devices over SMB is supported:

• USB Drives are automounted to the /media/ directory

• When a USB drive is plugged in, the USB Drive becomes available on the SMB Share @ \\SMBSHARE\share

• When a USB drive is removed, the device falls back to sharing the Micro-SD card @ \\SMBSHARE\share

• Note that some USB drives (particularly larger enclosure types) may require use of a powered USB Hub to supply adequate current to the device

Forwarding Active FTP session to a connected device

Assuming your console / device has an ip of 192.168.2.2, you may run the following script to forward an Active FTP session:

    sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 21 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.2.2:21
    sudo modprobe ip_nat_ftp ports=21

If you wish to permanently enable FTP forwarding, it is suggested to set a static ip of 192.168.2.2 on your console(s) when used with psx-pi-smbshare and modify "wifi-to-eth-route.sh" in the home directory of the pi to run the commands above by adding them directly before:

sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward"

This will ensure that Active FTP sessions are forwarded automatically at startup.

After you enable forwarding of Active FTP sessions to your console, it is suggested to use Filezilla to connect to your console via "File => Site Manager => New Site" and connecting with the following settings:

This configuration will forward all ftp requests made to the host ip of the psx-pi-smbshare device to the internal ip assigned to the connected console. If using another FTP client, it is very important that it is configured to connect using an Active FTP transfer mode.

Configuring for use with MultiMAN on PS3

Prerequisites

• Playstation 3 running a recent release of MultiMAN

Steps

1. Connect the pi ethernet port into the ethernet port of the PS3 and power the pi using the PS3 usb or an external power supply

2. In the PS3 XMB select "Settings" => "Network Settings" => "Internet Connection Settings" and configure to connect using the ethernet connection as follows:

   "Internet Connection Settings" => "Custom" => "Wired" => "Auto-Detect" => "Manual"

        IP Address = 192.168.2.2
        Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
        Default Router = 192.168.2.1
        Primary DNS = 8.8.8.8
        Secondary DNS = <leave blank or use your home router ip address>
   

   "Automatic" => "Do Not Use" => "Enable"

3. Launch MultiMAN

4. Select "Settings" => "Network Servers"

5. Configure using the Ip Address '192.168.2.1' (ip to the smbshare assigned by dhcp server running on the Pi) and Port '38008' (default)

6. You should see new section for the network server under 'Photos' / 'Music' / 'Video' / 'Retro' and a new location to copy games to when using copy ISO in the 'Games' menu.

PS3 Games backed up to the network server can be found and loaded from the "Games" menu in MultiMAN. PS1, PS2, and PSP games can be found and loaded from "Retro" => "PSONE" "PS2" OR "PSP"
PS2 backups must be loaded from the HDD but can be copied directly to the SMB server.

Configuring for use with Open Playstation Loader

Prerequisites

• Playstation 2 fat or slim running a recent release of Open Playstation Loader

Steps

1. Connect the pi ethernet port into the ethernet port of the PS2 and power the pi using the PS2 usb or an external power supply

2. Boot Open Playstation Loader and select "Settings" => "Network Config".
   Ensure that the following options are set:

    Ethernet Link Mode = Auto
    PS2 
        IP address type = Static
        IP address = 192.168.2.2
        Mask = 255.255.255.0
        Gateway = 192.168.2.1
        DNS Server = 8.8.8.8
    SMB Server
        Address Type = IP
        Address = 192.168.2.1
        Port = 445
        Share = share
        Password = <not set>
   

   

Don't forget to select "Save Config" when you return to "Settings"

3. Reconnect or restart Open Playstation Loader
4. PS2 Games will be listed under "ETH Games". To add PS2 games, copy valid .iso backups to \\SMBSHARE\share\DVD or \\SMBSHARE\share\CD

Configuring for use with POPSLoader on Open Playstation Loader

Prerequisites

• Ensure that you have successfully followed the steps above for "Configuring for use with Open Playstation Loader"

Steps

1. Download the ps2 network modules

2. Extract the POPSTARTER folder

3. Modify IPCONFIG.DAT to:

    192.168.2.2 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.1
   

4. Modify SMBCONFIG.DATA to:

    192.168.2.1 share
   

5. Copy the POPSTARTER folder to your memory card

6. Hop on the internet and look for a copy of a file named "POPS_IOX.PAK" with md5sum "a625d0b3036823cdbf04a3c0e1648901" and copy it to \\SMBSHARE\share\POPS. This file is not included for "reasons".

7. PS1 backups must be converted to .VCD and run through a special renaming program in order to show up in OPL.

   To convert .bin + .cue backups, you can use the included "CUE2POP_2_3.EXE" located in \\SMBSHARE\share\POPS\CUE2POPS v2.3 Copy your .VCD backups to \\SMBSHARE\share\POPS then run \\SMBSHARE\share\POPS\OPLM\OPL_Manager.exe to rename your files appropriately.

   Once converted and properly renamed, your games will show up under the "PS1 Games" section of OPL

   A detailed guide is available @ http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=5002

Playing LAN enabled Nintendo Switch games online with XLink Kai on Nintendo Switch

Prerequisites

• A Nintendo Switch
• A LAN compatible Switch game
• An XLink Kai account from http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

Steps

1. Burn the latest psx-pi-smbshare image to a Micro-SD card
2. Configure Wi-fi per the steps above in "Configuring the Wireless Network"
3. Add a second Wi-fi dongle to the pi as described in Using a second wifi interface as an access point to XLink Kai
4. Configure your Switch to connect to the "XLinkKai" access point and set the DNS Settings to manual and set the Primary DNS to 10.254.0.1 and ensure that Autoconnect is set to "on" as described in the XLinkKai Nintendo Switch Tutorial.
5. Vist the XLink Kai service running on the pi @ http://smbshare:34522 or http://<YOUR_PSX_PI_SMBSHARE_DEVICE_IP>:34522/ and login with your XLink Kai account
6. In the XLink Kai portal, select Configuration and ensure that Network Adapter is set to to wlan1 to ensure that XLinkKai captures packets from the proper wireless interface.
7. In the XLink Kai portal , select Game Arenas and navigate to the room for the game that you wish to play
8. Launch the game on your Switch and start up LAN mode and create a LAN game (Do not confuse with Local Wireless, many games involve a special keypress combination to enable LAN mode, please research accordingly). If asked to connect to a network during this process, select the "XLinkKai" SSID that is being served from the raspberry pi.
9. Wait for players to join and have fun!

Playing Halo 2 online with XLink Kai on Xbox

Video Demonstration

Prerequisites

• An original Xbox or Xbox 360 with backwards compatibility support
• A copy of Halo 2
• An XLink Kai account from http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

Steps

1. Burn the latest psx-pi-smbshare image to a Micro-SD card
2. Configure Wi-fi per the steps above in "Configuring the Wireless Network"
3. Plug the pi into the Xbox ethernet port and verify that you are able to obtain an ip automatically in Network Settings
4. Vist the XLink Kai service running on the pi @ http://smbshare:34522 or http://<YOUR_PSX_PI_SMBSHARE_DEVICE_IP>:34522/ and login with your XLink Kai account
5. Select an available Halo game from the XLink Kai portal (there are usually a few running in South America)
6. Launch Halo 2 and select "System Link"
7. Join a game and have fun!

Playing SOCOM 2 online with XLink Kai on PS2

Prerequisites

• A Fat PS2 with Network Adapter or Slim PS2
• A copy of SOCOM 2 for PS2
• An XLink Kai account from http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

Steps

1. Burn the latest psx-pi-smbshare image to a Micro-SD card

2. Configure Wi-fi per the steps above in "Configuring the Wireless Network"

3. Plug the pi into the PS2 ethernet port

4. The following setup needs to be performed one time: Boot your PS2 up with SOCOM 2 and select "Online" at the title screen. Once you hit the first blue screen hit edit network configuration to be sent to the network setup. Now delete any old network settings and create a new one. Using Automatic settings is fine but you may wish to set the following manual settings if you have issues:

    Console IP: 192.168.2.2
    Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    Router IP/Gateway: 192.168.2.1
   

5. Vist the XLink Kai service running on the pi @ http://smbshare:34522 or http://<YOUR_PSX_PI_SMBSHARE_DEVICE_IP>:34522/ and login with your XLink Kai account

6. Select an available SOCOM 2 game from the XLink Kai portal (there is usually one running at all times)

7. Head back to the SOCOM 2 title screen and select "LAN"

8. Join a game and have fun!

Using a Second WiFi interface as an Access Point to XLink Kai

Prerequisites

• 1 external wifi dongle for RPi 2/3 or 2 external wifi dongles for RPi 1

Steps

1. Burn the latest psx-pi-smbshare image to a Micro-SD card
2. Plug in the external wifi dongle(s)
3. Configure Wi-fi per the steps above in "Configuring the Wireless Network"
4. Configure the device to connect to "XLinkKai" SSID when the pi has booted using Password XLinkKai

Note: XLinkKai will only work on one network interface (wifi or ethernet) at a time and will lock onto the first interface connected to from a compatible device until reboot

Playing PSP games online with XLink Kai on PSP

Prerequisites

• A wifi capable PSP
• 1 external wifi dongle for RPi 2/3 or 2 external wifi dongles for RPi 1 (tested with an Edimax-EW-7811Un wifi dongle)
• A Multiplayer game which supports Ad-Hoc
• An XLink Kai account from http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

Steps

1. Burn the latest psx-pi-smbshare image to a Micro-SD card

2. Configure Wi-fi per the steps above in "Configuring the Wireless Network"

3. SSH to you psx-pi-smbshare instance using the default username pi and default password raspberry

4. Ensure that your PSP is set to Automatic in Network Settings under Ad Hoc Mode

5. Run the following commands to disable the hostapd access point and enable Ad-Hoc Wifi:

    sudo service hostapd stop
    sudo iw wlan1 set type ibss
   

6. Start an Ad-Hoc multiplayer session from a game on the PSP

7. Run the follwoing command

    sudo iw wlan1 scan | grep PSP_ -B 5
   

   You will receive an output similar to:

    freq: 2462
    beacon interval: 100 TUs
    capability: IBSS ShortPreamble (0x0022)
    signal: -42.00 dBm
    last seen: 0 ms ago
    SSID: PSP_S000000001_L_GameShar
   

   Take note of the frequency and SSID

8. Using the information in the previous step, execute the following while the multiplayer session is waiting:

    sudo iw wlan1 ibss join <SSID> <frequency> 
   

   Ex: sudo iw wlan1 ibss join PSP_S000000001_L_GameShar 2462

   If you receive "Operation not supported (-95)" then your wifi adapter may not be compatible

   Once you know this command, you can re-use the following script at any time to enable PSP Ad-Hoc mode:

    sudo service hostapd stop
    sudo iw wlan1 set type ibss
    sudo iw wlan1 ibss join <SSID> <frequency>
   

   Note: You must run this script after starting an Ad-Hoc multiplayer session on the PSP

9. Exit the Ad-Hoc multiplayer session and start a new one

10. Vist the XLink Kai service running @ http://smbshare:34522 or http://<YOUR_PSX_PI_SMBSHARE_DEVICE_IP>:34522/ and login with your XLink Kai account

11. Select "Metrics" and scroll down to "Found Consoles" and you should see your PSP device

12. Select an available PSP game from the XLink Kai portal

13. Join a game and have fun!

Playing Mario Kart Double Dash online with XLink Kai on Gamecube

Video Demonstration

See this article on the NintendoDuo Tumblr page or the XLink Kai GameCube Guide for a detailed guide on "How to Take Your GameCube Online With a Raspberry Pi and psx-pi-smbshare".

Demos

• Launching PS2 Backups with OPL
• Launching PS1 Backups with POPSLoader

Credits

Thx to the following:

• Jay-Jay for OPL Daily Builds
• danielb for OPLM
• dirkvdb for ps3netsrv--
• arpitjindal97 for wifi-to-eth-route.sh
• Team XLink for XLink Kai
• Pul Gasari for Testing streaming games from Raspberry Pi to PS2 using psx-pi-smbshare