PKG files

See also Discussion page

Firmware Packages

File Header

All values are in big endian format.

 typedef struct {
   u32 0x00, 0x53434500// magic
   u32 0x04, 2		// version
   u16 0x08, 0		// sdk type?
   u16 0x0a, 3		// SCE header type; pkg
   u32 0x0c, 0		// meta offset
   u64 0x10,           // size of sce_hdr + sizeof meta_hdr
   u64 0x18, 0x80      // + content_size_real
 }

Game Packages

All game packages are signed with the ECDSA signature. The public key for it can be found in download_plugin.prx or in nas_plugin.prx (this also applies to NPDRM SELFs). Usually game packages are signed with two signatures - one for the header and the other for the entry table.

File Header

Retail PS3 .pkg

• Example: Scott Pilgrim VS. The World Unlock .pkg file:

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00000000  7F 50 4B 47 80 00 00 01 00 00 00 C0 00 00 00 08  .PKGЂ......А....
00000010  00 00 00 C0 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 17 C0  ...А...........А
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 01 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 15 E0  .......Ђ.......а
00000030  55 50 30 30 30 31 2D 4E 50 55 42 33 30 31 36 32  UP0001-NPUB30162
00000040  5F 30 30 2D 53 43 4F 54 54 50 49 4C 47 52 49 4D  _00-SCOTTPILGRIM
00000050  30 30 30 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  0002............
00000060  09 8B A2 CA 2D 30 30 1F 8B 5B 82 79 C6 70 35 F3  .‹ўК-00.‹[‚yЖp5у
00000070  D5 FA 15 9E 7F AC 82 70 BB 3E 0C EB 97 3D 30 11  Хъ.ћ.¬‚p»>.л—=0.
00000080  48 0D 86 60 9F 26 8E 7F 4F B4 DA A4 33 1E 9A A1  H.†`џ&Ћ.OґЪ¤3.љЎ
00000090  0C 85 45 95 A8 D4 A3 9B 62 44 68 C1 38 CE D7 63  .…E•ЁФЈ›bDhБ8ОЧc
000000A0  0D FF 0C C5 3A 77 C6 E6 E4 62 AD 05 F3 93 D0 7A  .я.Е:wЖждb..у“Рz
000000B0  CC 02 B4 35 2B 70 47 D6 EC 61 40 39 A6 5B DC BD  М.ґ5+pGЦмa@9¦[ЬЅ

Name	Offset	Size	Example	Remark
magic	0x00	0x04	7F 50 4B 47	'.PKG'
pkg_revision	0x04	0x02	80 00	80 00 for retail (finalized), 00 00 for debug (non finalized)
pkg_type	0x06	0x02	00 01	00 01 for ps3, 00 02 for psp
pkg_info_offset	0x08	0x04	00 00 00 C0	0xC0
pkg_info_size	0x0C	0x04	00 00 00 08	pkg_info_size=0x00000008*8=0x40
header_size	0x10	0x04	00 00 00 C0	0xC0
item_count	0x14	0x04	00 00 00 02	files and folders into the encrypted data
total_size	0x18	0x08	00 00 00 00 00 00 17 C0	0x17C0 - total pkg file size
data_offset	0x20	0x08	00 00 00 00 00 00 01 80	0x0180 - encrypted data offset
data_size	0x28	0x08	00 00 00 00 00 00 15 E0	0x15E0 - encrypted data size
contentid	0x30	0x24		'UP0001-NPUB30162_00-SCOTTPILGRIM0002' pkg content id
padding	0x54	0x0C	00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00	0x0C bytes padding
digest	0x60	0x10	09 8B A2 CA 2D 30 30 1F 8B 5B 82 79 C6 70 35 F3	sha1 from debug files and attributes together merged in one block
pkg_data_riv	0x70	0x10	D5 FA 15 9E 7F AC 82 70 BB 3E 0C EB 97 3D 30 11	aes-128-ctr iv. uses with gpkg_key for decrypt data
header_cmac_hash	0x80	0x10	48 0D 86 60 9F 26 8E 7F 4F B4 DA A4 33 1E 9A A1	cmac omac hash from 0x00-0x7F, gpkg_key used as key
header_npdrm_signature	0x90	0x28		Header NPDRM ECDSA (R_sig, S_sig)
header_sha1_hash	0xB8	0x08	EC 61 40 39 A6 5B DC BD	last 8 bytes of sha1 hash from 0x00-0x7F

All values are in big endian format.

 typedef struct {
   u32 magic;
   u32 pkg_type;
   u32 pkg_info_offset;
   u32 pkg_info_size;
   u32 header_size;
   u32 item_count;
   u64 total_size;
   u64 data_offset;
   u64 data_size;
   char contentid[0x30];
   u8 digest[0x10];
   u8 k_licensee[0x10];
 } PKG_HEADER;

field	offset	size	type	notes
Unencrypted header
magic	0x0	4	u32	Magic value of 0x7f504b47 "\x7fPKG"
pkg_type	0x4	4	u32	The package type is 1 for PS3 pkg and 2 for PSP (minis also)/Vita packages. the flag 0x80000000 is used for retail.
pkg_info_offset	0x8	4	u32	offset of the pkg_info structure
pkg_info_size	0xC	4	u32	pkg_info_size*8 = size of the pkg_info structure
header_size	0x10	4	u32	Size of the header
item_count	0x14	4	u32	Variable (0x**)
total_size	0x18	8	u64
data_offset	0x20	8	u64
data_size	0x28	8	u64
contentid	0x30	48	u8[48]	See PARAM.SFO#CONTENT_ID
digest	0x60	16	u8[16]
k_licensee	0x70	16	u8[16]

 typedef struct {
   u32 unk;
   u32 unk;
   u32 unk;
   u32 unk;
   u32 unk;
   u32 content type 
   ...
 } PKG_INFO;

content type	notes	install path (on ps3)
0x04	GameData (also Patches)	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x05	Game_Exec	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x06	PS1emu	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x07	PSP/ PCEngine	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x09	Theme	/dev_hdd0/theme
0x0A	Widget	/dev_hdd0/widget
0x0B	License	/dev_hdd0/home/<current user>/exdata
0x0C	VSH Module	/dev_hdd0/vsh/modules/
0x0D	PSN Avatar	/dev_hdd0/home/<current user>/psn_avatar
0x0E	PSPgo	/dev_hdd0/game/ (->Unknown Album)
0x0F	Minis	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x10	NEOGEO	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x11	VMC	/dev_hdd0/tmp/vmc/
0x12	Seen on PS2 classic	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x14	Seen on PSP remastered	/dev_hdd0/game/
0x15	PSVita (PSP2GD)
0x16	PSVita (PSP2AC)
0x17	PSVita (PSP2LA)

File Entry

All values are in big endian format

 typedef struct {
   u32 filename_offset;
   u32 filename_size;
   u64 data_offset;
   u64 data_size;
   u32 flags;
   u32 padding;
 } PKG_FILE_HEADER;

field	offset	type	notes
filename_offset	0x0	u32
filename_size	0x4	u32
data_offset	0x8	u64
data_size	0x10	u64
flags	0x18	u32	The file type
padding	0x1C	u32	zero

Misc/Note

From FW 4.00, install PKG from root device (but not as "bubble") for PS1 classic if not containing .EDAT files license type Free will abort or install directly as bubble according to the cfw.

Package Footer

The last 0x20 bytes of the package contains a hash (sha1sum) of the package (sha1 of the whole file minus the last 0x20 bytes). Or in other words... to verify the integrity of a package is needed to crop the 0x20 bytes at the end, then calculate the sha1 of the resulting file, then compare with the sha1 that was cropped

Is also used as part of the package identification info inside the TITLE_ID-ver.xml files in PSN servers that lists the available game patches for each game. See: Game Updating Procedure page and the sha1sum in the .xml examples

• Notes
  • This footer area is considered part of the package and is included when counting the total_size of the package (in the header at offset 0x18), and the header is hashed too by header_sha1_hash (at offset 0xB8), this is important in the sequence of actions needed when buiding the package and updating/adding the sha1 footer at the end
  • Homebrew packages (at least some of them) doesnt includes this footer