Modnation Racers PS3 to Vita Content Converter
Do you remember Modnation Racers: Road Trip? That buggy game that couldn't keep a frame rate stable and where the AI's decided cheating was the only option?
Well one neat thing about that game was it's ability to create and play custom tracks by the community, as well as it's ability to play any track from the PS3 version, well most.
Sadly however, the online servers shut down more than half a decade ago. So the how many ever tracks/karts/characters created on those servers can't be easily accessed anymore.
There is a few options: Mainly, using the savedata found here.
However, I bring today a tool that can convert ps3 tracks/characters/vehicles to be used on vita.
Not only that, it also unlocks all of them to be re-mixable as many would lock you from editing them.
This is not a simple fool-proof process. I've tried detailing every step but if you know you're going to mess something up along the way. Wait for someone to provide an archive of tracks pre-ready.
Before you go and try this for yourself, please read these points carefully:
One: The vita's I/O is not great. And dragging in over 6000 small files is going to hurt the game's load times A LOT, especially considering they were never great to begin with.
So if you do plan on bringing in files, I recommend around 200 tracks per save. This will still increase load times before the main menu and when loading the tracks in quick race/track edit, but it's a manageable load.
Because each item (track/character/vehicle) is 4 files. That means you should have around 800 files for tracks.
Some examples of load times are:
380 tracks (1,520 files), some characters and vehicles (did not count). Load time before menu: Approx. 2-4 minutes, not ideal.
270 tracks, 50 characters, 50 vehicles (1,480 files). Load time before menu: Approx. 30 seconds.
The more files in general you add the worse it gets. I recommend trying around 270 tracks, 50 characters and 50 vehicles per save. (There is a very nice way of handling the save which will be explained later).
Two: PLEASE do not attempt higher, if you go into vitashell and accidentally open the folder you placed all your content in, you're going to hang the application by a considerable amount to where you practically freeze the app. (1,520 files takes about 2 minutes, imagine 6000).
Access the folder through FTP or USB rather than in-app.
Three: If you get a file is corrupt message, when the game asks to retry, say no. It will delete the offending files as there is a few that may not convert well.
Four: Even if converted properly, few tracks may not work, stating out of bounds even though you clearly weren't. This seems to be random, as after I recopied the tracks they were fixed.
Five: Vita3K actually loads content far faster. Stress tested 3.7K tracks, 500 characters and 500 vehicles. 1 minute. Though actual gameplay is still not ideal yet on the emu.
So if you do plan on bringing in files, I recommend around 200 tracks per save. This will still increase load times before the main menu and when loading the tracks in quick race/track edit, but it's a manageable load.
Because each item (track/character/vehicle) is 4 files. That means you should have around 800 files for tracks.
Some examples of load times are:
380 tracks (1,520 files), some characters and vehicles (did not count). Load time before menu: Approx. 2-4 minutes, not ideal.
270 tracks, 50 characters, 50 vehicles (1,480 files). Load time before menu: Approx. 30 seconds.
The more files in general you add the worse it gets. I recommend trying around 270 tracks, 50 characters and 50 vehicles per save. (There is a very nice way of handling the save which will be explained later).
Two: PLEASE do not attempt higher, if you go into vitashell and accidentally open the folder you placed all your content in, you're going to hang the application by a considerable amount to where you practically freeze the app. (1,520 files takes about 2 minutes, imagine 6000).
Access the folder through FTP or USB rather than in-app.
Three: If you get a file is corrupt message, when the game asks to retry, say no. It will delete the offending files as there is a few that may not convert well.
Four: Even if converted properly, few tracks may not work, stating out of bounds even though you clearly weren't. This seems to be random, as after I recopied the tracks they were fixed.
Five: Vita3K actually loads content far faster. Stress tested 3.7K tracks, 500 characters and 500 vehicles. 1 minute. Though actual gameplay is still not ideal yet on the emu.
Now that that's out of the way, let's setup.
Follow ON PC first, then ON VITA.
First you'll need a few things:
Converter (Windows, Uses .NET 6.0 runtime, which can be found here)
PS3 user generated content: LittleBigArchive on archive.org is your best bet:
Tracks
Costumes
Karts
1: Separate your folders. Inside the zip archives of the content above are separated zip archives of all the items. Pick one zip and open it. Each piece of content consists of a .cmd, .trk or .sav, and 2 .png's.
Copy the recommended amount listed in "Things to Know" for the type (item x 4. 50 costumes = 200 files) into a folder labelled either "TRACK", "CHARACTER", or "VEHICLE" (without quotes) on your computer depending on what you're converting.
Do not mix and match into these folders.
Ensure what you copied has the 4 files needed per item. If you copied 1 cmd and not it's equivalently named .png's and the like, delete it.
2: Open the command line on windows inside the folder of mnrConvert then run this command for the 1 to 3 folders: mnrConvert.exe <directory where your content is>
This will overwrite all .cmd's in the folder listed, so back them up first. You have been warned.
Don't put random folders into the program. It won't delete anything, but they'll be moved to DATA/DOWNLOAD-PS3 in case you decided to input something else.
Converter (Windows, Uses .NET 6.0 runtime, which can be found here)
PS3 user generated content: LittleBigArchive on archive.org is your best bet:
Tracks
Costumes
Karts
1: Separate your folders. Inside the zip archives of the content above are separated zip archives of all the items. Pick one zip and open it. Each piece of content consists of a .cmd, .trk or .sav, and 2 .png's.
Copy the recommended amount listed in "Things to Know" for the type (item x 4. 50 costumes = 200 files) into a folder labelled either "TRACK", "CHARACTER", or "VEHICLE" (without quotes) on your computer depending on what you're converting.
Do not mix and match into these folders.
Ensure what you copied has the 4 files needed per item. If you copied 1 cmd and not it's equivalently named .png's and the like, delete it.
2: Open the command line on windows inside the folder of mnrConvert then run this command for the 1 to 3 folders: mnrConvert.exe <directory where your content is>
This will overwrite all .cmd's in the folder listed, so back them up first. You have been warned.
Don't put random folders into the program. It won't delete anything, but they'll be moved to DATA/DOWNLOAD-PS3 in case you decided to input something else.
1: To make replacing user generated content far easier: Get the resavedata plugin found here. Install this to your vita.
2: In vitashell in your ux0 folder create a folder called "resavedata" (without the quotes for all of these).
3: Inside that folder, create a folder named after the ID of your game. "PCSA00001" for the US version. "PCSF00002" for the EU version. "PCSD00004" for the Asia version.
NOTE: If you have previous savedata you wish to copy over, keep following the steps, if not, skip to step 7
4: Install vita save manager on your vita found here.
5: Head into the application installed and click on the game's icon. Then click backup and the first empty slot.
6: Inside vitashell now, head to ux0:data/savegames/<id of your game>/SLOT0 (assuming you saved in the first slot). Then copy and paste all of that into ux0:resavedata/<id of your game>.
7: Connect your vita to your PC and drag the DATA folder generated by mnrConvert to ux0:resavedata/<id of game>
8: Boot up the game.
2: In vitashell in your ux0 folder create a folder called "resavedata" (without the quotes for all of these).
3: Inside that folder, create a folder named after the ID of your game. "PCSA00001" for the US version. "PCSF00002" for the EU version. "PCSD00004" for the Asia version.
NOTE: If you have previous savedata you wish to copy over, keep following the steps, if not, skip to step 7
4: Install vita save manager on your vita found here.
5: Head into the application installed and click on the game's icon. Then click backup and the first empty slot.
6: Inside vitashell now, head to ux0:data/savegames/<id of your game>/SLOT0 (assuming you saved in the first slot). Then copy and paste all of that into ux0:resavedata/<id of your game>.
7: Connect your vita to your PC and drag the DATA folder generated by mnrConvert to ux0:resavedata/<id of game>
8: Boot up the game.
This is assuming you've done the two parts above at least once.
Delete any piece of content from your game you don't want.
Delete the DATA folder from the mnrConvert folder if it still exists.
Follow the ON PC steps now with new content.
Follow Step 7 and 8 from ON VITA.
Delete any piece of content from your game you don't want.
Delete the DATA folder from the mnrConvert folder if it still exists.
Follow the ON PC steps now with new content.
Follow Step 7 and 8 from ON VITA.
I don't expect all of you to understand all of this first try, It's definitely a lot more hands on compared to other patches/tools of the like. But if you follow the steps properly, you'll be able to add leagues more content to the ps vita version of modnation racers. Just, maybe overclock the game first
See you around!
If you're curious what I'm working on next, it's the Taisho x Alice games on vita.
