ps5-dump-forge/README.md

Runs on everything (including your PS5), converts and edits everything: game folders, exfat, ffpkg, ffpfs, ffpfsc and debug FPKG packages, straight from zip, 7z and rar too, with experimental LZ4 asset packs for AMPR games.

The interface is in 11 languages.

Platform	Runs on	You get
PS5	With an ELF loader	The payload (.elf); the UI opens in any browser
macOS	11 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel (one universal zip)	App + CLI
Windows	10 or 11 on x86-64, 11 on arm64	App + CLI
Linux	x86-64 or arm64, glibc 2.35+ (e.g. Ubuntu 22.04+)	App (no install, no FUSE) + CLI

Features

• Any source to any target, streamed straight through: no temporary copy, not even the image inside a .ffpfsc or a game in an archive.
• Archives as sources: a .zip, .7z or .rar holding one game is browsed, converted or packed like a folder.
• LZ4 compression, new experimental way to pack ampr_emu enabled games.
• Storage: a Library of your games to convert and edit, and a File explorer to rename, move and delete files and folders.
• Never touches your dump unless you ask (Edit's Apply, LZ4 Patch/Unpatch, Delete, the File explorer's Delete, Rename and Move): junk (.DS_Store, ._*, ...) is skipped, not deleted; bad file names are reported up front, never renamed.
• Edit a dump or image: browse its files, rename, delete, add or replace files and folders, then apply the changes in place or by rebuilding the image; extract files and folders from any source. The game card shows the cover, title, required firmware, backport firmware (fakelib/), embedded DLC, param.json and leftover .part files.
• Runs on the PS5 itself: converts on the console's own storage, driven from its browser or any browser on the network.
• Writes onto USB sticks and SD cards formatted exFAT or FAT32.
• Fast: (and furious).

Formats

Images are mounted by ShadowMountPlus; the debug FPKG is installed. Every format can be created and read back (an image or a debug FPKG .pkg can be extracted to a folder).

Format	Console speed	Size on disk	Notes
.fpkg (debug FPKG, saved as .pkg)	Native, full speed	30–60% less, depending on the game	Installs on firmware 11.60 or lower. Reads packages from this builder and compatible debug builders.
.ffpkg (UFS2)	Full image speed	Equal to the game size	ShadowMountPlus's recommendation.
.exfat (512 B sectors, 64 KiB clusters)	Full image speed	Equal to the game size	For games that only run like external-drive content.
.ffpfs (PFS, uncompressed)	Full image speed	Equal to the game size	Experimental in ShadowMountPlus. ASCII file names only.
.ffpfsc (compressed PFS container)	may stutter	Depends on the compression level, usually 30–60% less	Experimental, always mounted read-only. UFS2 (default), exFAT or PFS inside. zlib level 0–9 (--level), default 6.
Folder	Full drive speed	Equal to the game size	Run as it is by ShadowMountPlus.

Editing a game

The Edit tab lists a game's files. Rename or delete them, and add files or folders with Add files, Add folder, or by dragging them onto the list (onto a folder's row to add them inside it). A file of the same name is replaced once you confirm. Nothing changes until Apply: Undo takes back the last change (a drop of several files is one) and Discard all drops them all. New, replaced and renamed entries are badged.

Before you press Apply the tab says how the changes will go in:

• In place: written straight into the image. .exfat and .ffpkg take any change that fits the image's free space (an image never grows); .ffpfs takes deletes, renames and replacements that fit in the old file's space. The undo file needs room beside the image. An image marked unclean, or a .ffpkg not laid out the way Forge writes one, takes Rebuild instead. If the check after writing fails, or the computer or console stops part way, the image is put back from an undo file beside it (<image>.forge-undo); one left by a crash is restored on the next edit.
• Rebuild: a new image of the same format is written beside the original from the original plus your changes, verified, then put in its place. It needs free space beside the original for the new image (the tab says how much: for .ffpfsc and .pkg it can be more than the original's size). It is the only way for .ffpfsc and .pkg, and the way when the changes don't fit in place.

Extract copies a file or folder (a row's Extract button, or Extract folder for the folder shown, the whole game at the top) out of any source, images, .pkg and archives included, into a folder you choose. Nothing there is ever replaced: a name that already exists stops it before anything is copied.

Storage

The Storage tab holds the Library (the games found in a folder you choose, or on the PS5's drives) and a File explorer. Both open a game in Edit or Convert. The File explorer renames, moves and deletes at once, after you confirm: a delete is permanent (no Trash), a move stays on the same drive and never replaces anything, and anything an unfinished job uses is refused. On the PS5, images ShadowMountPlus has mounted are tagged Mounted in the File explorer and can't be edited, moved or deleted.

LZ4 asset packs

Experimental, and only for games whose eboot.bin imports libSceAmpr (AMPR titles). Forge LZ4-compresses a game's assets into ampr_assets-NNN.pak volumes that the ampr_emu runtime, installed under fakelib/, reads back on the console; the result is a plain game folder, or an image holding one. Everything is in the app's LZ4 tab:

1. Trace: make a plain .ffpkg, patch it (LZ4 → Trace → Patch), mount it writable (image_rw=) with ShadowMountPlus and play one long session.
2. Download traces: close the game, wait about a minute, open the console's Forge in a computer's browser and choose Download traces on that image (one zip).
3. Pack the original dump on the computer: LZ4 → Pack/Unpack, pick the zip under Traces and a target (LZ4 packed folder, .ffpkg, .exfat or .ffpfs).

Without traces or a profile, Pack falls back to a built-in guess of which files to pack, which is less reliable. ampr_emu 0.4.2.1 is an upstream test build: some games crash when saving. Details, CLI options and caveats: docs/LZ4.md.

A plain conversion (Convert, or the CLI without LZ4 options) also repairs an AMPR title: it installs the bundled ampr_emu where there is none, replaces an older, unknown or trace build, and writes a fresh ampr_emu.index when the old one doesn't match the files written, dropping the old traces and logs with it (into a .pkg, the package builder writes the index). An LZ4-packed source keeps its index, traces and logs as they are. Convert says up front what it will do.

Download and run

Every release archive on the Releases page holds the app and the ps5-dump-forge command-line tool. Nothing to install; the app writes nothing beyond its own WebView data, so keep it in any folder you can write to.

PS5 (jailbroken, with an ELF loader)

• Load it with any ELF loader: send ps5-dump-forge-<version>-ps5.elf to elfldr's port 9021 (nc -w 3 <ps5-ip> 9021 < ps5-dump-forge-<version>-ps5.elf), or list it in an autoloader's autoload.txt. A notification says Dump Forge is launched; open it from its icon.
• Open the UI from the Dump Forge icon, or in any browser on the same network: http://<ps5-ip>:8095. In the console's browser, L2 / R2 switch tabs.

macOS (11 or later)

Get ps5-dump-forge-<version>-macos-universal.zip (Apple Silicon and Intel) and unzip it anywhere.

The app is ad-hoc signed only (no Apple Developer ID, not notarized), so macOS blocks the first launch ("PS5 Dump Forge is damaged" or "cannot be opened"). Use one of these:

1. Terminal (every macOS version), in the folder that holds the app, then double-click it:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "PS5 Dump Forge.app"
   

2. System Settings. Double-click the app once and dismiss the warning, then in System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about PS5 Dump Forge and click Open Anyway.

Windows (10 or 11 on x86-64, 11 on arm64)

• x86-64: ps5-dump-forge-<version>-windows-x86-64.zip uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which Windows 11 and most Windows 10 PCs already have. Without it, get ...-windows-x86-64-webview2.zip: larger, with its own copy of the runtime in a WebView2 folder.
• arm64: ps5-dump-forge-<version>-windows-arm64.zip (uses the WebView2 Runtime Windows 11 ships).

Extract it to a folder you can write to (not Program Files, not a network share): PS5 Dump Forge.exe keeps its WebView data in a data/webview folder beside itself. The app is unsigned, so SmartScreen may block the first launch: click More info, then Run anyway. If WebView2 is missing or broken, the app says what to do instead of showing a blank window.

Linux (x86-64 or arm64, glibc 2.35 or later, e.g. Ubuntu 22.04 or newer)

Extract ps5-dump-forge-<version>-linux-x86-64.tar.gz or ...-linux-arm64.tar.gz (tar -xzf) to a folder you can write to and run ./forge.sh. No FUSE, no install; keep PS5 Dump Forge.AppDir next to forge.sh (its WebView data goes in a data/webview folder beside it).

Command-line tool

Every desktop archive also has ps5-dump-forge (ps5-dump-forge.exe on Windows):

./ps5-dump-forge inspect PPSA01234.exfat
./ps5-dump-forge convert ~/Games/PPSA01234 --to ffpkg      # folder | exfat | ffpkg | ffpfs | ffpfsc | pkg (debug FPKG)
./ps5-dump-forge convert ~/Games/PPSA01234 --to ffpfsc --inner ffpkg   # inner: ffpkg (default) | exfat | ffpfs
./ps5-dump-forge convert ~/Games/PPSA01234 --to ffpfsc --level 6        # zlib level 0 (store) .. 9 (smallest), default 6
./ps5-dump-forge convert ~/Games/PPSA01234 --to pkg --kraken fast       # fast (default) | balanced | smallest | stored
./ps5-dump-forge convert ~/Games/PPSA01234 --to exfat --full-verify     # check every byte, not a sample
./ps5-dump-forge convert Game.part1.rar --to ffpkg --password-stdin     # archive source; password from stdin

Build

Rust (latest stable) and Node.js:

cargo test --workspace --release
cd app && npm ci && npm run tauri dev

On Linux the app also needs Tauri's WebKitGTK build dependencies (Debian/Ubuntu package names, as CI installs them):

sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev librsvg2-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev patchelf file

The PS5 payload builds in Docker (any macOS or Linux host with Docker and Node) with ps5/build.sh; the rest of its commands are in ps5/README.md.

See AGENTS.md for the layout and the format rules, and DESIGN.md for the UI design system.

Thanks

Big thanks to PhantomPtr for ps5upload. Its Rust engine is the reference implementation this project learned the PS5 formats from: the FPKG package builder and reader (PFS, PFSC, Kraken, CNT/FIH, PlayGo, debug license), and the exFAT and UFS2 readers. Its crates are vendored here (vendor/, v7.0.22).

Big thanks to drakmor, author of ShadowMountPlus, for the mount side this tool writes for and for help along the way: the image-building scripts (mkexfat_macos.sh and friends) whose sizing and layout rules the .exfat/.ffpkg writers follow, the format guidance in SMP's README and release notes, and ppr-patch, which makes debug .pkg installs possible.

Thanks again to drakmor for ampr_emu (GPL-3.0-or-later), the runtime that makes LZ4 asset packs work: its 0.4.2.1 release and trace runtimes are embedded unmodified, with their source archive in vendor/ampr_emu/. Lazy_AMPR by Nazky was the reference for the trace-then-pack workflow (no code taken). The bundled LZ4 (BSD-2-Clause) and HDE64 notices are in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

Credits for other references are in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.