Undocumented SPU Channels

Channels 64, 72 and 73[edit | edit source]

Used for storing the version.

Reading/writing the data:

void read_ch73(u32 skip, u32 *buf, u32 len)
{
	u32 i;
	spu_wrch(64, 0x10000);
	for(i = 0; i < skip; i++)
		spu_rdch(73);
	for(i = 0; i < len; i++)
		buf[i] = spu_rdch(73);
}

void write_ch72(u32 skip, u32 *buf, u32 len)
{
	u32 i:
	spu_wrch(64, 0x10000);
	for(i = 0; i < skip; i++)
		spu_wrch(72, spu_rdch(73));
	for(i = 0; i < len; i++)
		spu_wrch(72, buf[i]);
}

lv1ldr writes the version:

s64 lv1ldr_main(...)
{
	//...
	u64 ldr_ver = 0x0003004100000000;
	write_ch72(0, &ldr_ver, 2);
	//...
}

Other isolated binaries check the version:

s64 check_version(u64 ldr_ver)
{
	u64 stored_ver;
	read_ch73(0, &stored_ver, 2);
	//...
}

s64 load_isoself(...)
{
	ldr_ver = 0x0003004100000000;
	if(check_version(ldr_ver) != 0)
		return 0x30;
	//...
}

Seems lv1ldr 3.60+ storing root scramble key with its version to this buffer:

example for version 3.66:
version:  00 03 00 66 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
rootkey:  86    51    28 F7 45 84 59 47 A0 CE
finalbuf: 86 03 51 66 28 F7 45 84 59 47 A0 CE

Channels 69, 70, and 71[edit | edit source]

Performance monitor related. Described in rpcs3 source code. Link

SPU_Set_Bkmk_Tag    = 69, // Causes an event that can be logged in the performance monitor logic if enabled in the SPU.
                          // ps2_netemu VU1 and PS2-SPU2 spe programs write something to that channel. 
SPU_PM_Start_Ev     = 70, // Starts the performance monitor event if enabled
SPU_PM_Stop_Ev      = 71, // Stops the performance monitor event if enabled

spu_rdchcnt() returns 1 for all of them.