DUST 514 Preservation Project

[powerdudeg4]

Greetings Everyone!

For some time now, I have been working to preserve the PS3 exclusive DUST 514. Servers were shut down on 30th May 2016 and the amount of content left to preserve has been decreasing since then.

So, I am asking you for any dumps of the game, from any old closed beta builds, to dev builds to any retail copies you may still have. Any captured packets will help a lot too.
Every build matters as DUST 514 has been distributing content outside of regular PS Store releases and most currently available PKGs don't contain any of the extra content at all.
Some of these things include maps, SKINs and extra content like the ads for new SKINs that I would like to preserve.
I am also aware of XMB themes and wallpapers. If you have them I'd love to get a copy of these too.

Who knows, if I'd strike gold here we may even have enough data to attempt recreating the servers for it.

I have made a spreadsheet based on JumpSuit's MAG Builds Archive containing all the builds I have archived so far. Most of builds will match those archived but any copy of the game that logged to the game even once will have extra content that was downloaded in-game so if you have build it's definitely worth sharing.



o7

 

[Anthony817]

This was such a fun game. I played the beta around 2012 or so. I would love to see this game revived.

 

[Banballs]

What progress has been made? I would go through the effort of getting my ps3 out to play this game even with a small group

 

[Juggie81]

I'm very interested in this, I don't have any information for you or saved data. Would be very keen to play a revamp of Dust.

Feel free to drop me a message if I can assist in any other way.

 

[chikntendie]

I will try and find out if I have my old PS3 laying around which might have some data. I'm very excited for this to work, Dust remains my favorite FPS game of all time.

 

[Kozmic.Jenna]

Hi, I still have Dust 514 on my PS3, could any of the Dust 514 files on my PS3 be helpful? I never deleted it. I've been through many updates when the game was up. If my Dust 514 files could be helpful, how would I go about retrieving them for you?

I would love to see this game come back and even signed up here just to say it. Is there any way I can help? Did this ever happen, if not I would still love to see this project happen.

Sometimes I just open the game and leave it at the Server Connect screen A) to see if it came back and B) just to hear it. I miss playing this game allot! If theres any way of getting it back up let me know please, even if I had to somehow host it, did we find enough to make it go?

Also is there a way to get a copy of whats left of the available data on this game?

Does anyone have the contact info for the devs to try to track down what may survive?

PS3 Screen Name - Kozmicsound
Dust 514 - Version 3.19
Created: 5/24/2013 6:49AM
PS3 Model - CECH-2001B

Seems the world left it to a Mimnatar to try to resurect this game.

I loved the fact they where in battle worn suits patched together and had a grit.

Idk if my PS3 held my assets list or the server, but I did have a bunch of prototype guns in my loadout, I used to collect the prototypes instead of just using them up.

Could there be a way from other games to make a version where we directly connect to eachother? Like old Quake matches, input the IP's of a user list and see if anyone connects kinda deal?

There has to be some way to make this go.

Does anyone have an idea of the original server hardware? Or what hardware would be required to host this?

Also I don't know if it will help? But I also have other accounts on this PS3 that also played Dust 514.

Does anyone know what programming languages where used in the development of this game and its server?

 

[TriRealm]

Hello!

I actually still have this game installed onto my console too! If there's anything I can do to help then please shoot me a message and I'll do my best!

I have knowledge in modifying consoles to extract data however I'm yet to do this to my PS3.

But I know at SOMEPOINT, I did have that E3 Wallpaper installed on my console because I was obsessed with this game! I'm not sure if it's still on there but more than happy to check!

 

[Anthony817]

Well if you just want to extract files and don't want a permanent custom firmware installed, you can always install HEN also known as Homebrew Enabler which will allow you to connect the console to your PC with FTP and extract them that way very fast over Ethernet.



I would love to see this game ressurected and the versions you 2 have would help out a lot I am sure. There was even talk at one time of them officially bringing it over to PC and that never happened but they did have the project evolve into another game. It just seems they never updated if it is still coming.

 

[TriRealm]

Well if you just want to extract files and don't want a permanent custom firmware installed, you can always install HEN also known as Homebrew Enabler which will allow you to connect the console to your PC with FTP and extract them that way very fast over Ethernet.



I would love to see this game ressurected and the versions you 2 have would help out a lot I am sure. There was even talk at one time of them officially bringing it over to PC and that never happened but they did have the project evolve into another game. It just seems they never updated if it is still coming.

Oh I'm fine with CFW being on the thing! Network servers are down now anyways so it'll allow me to back-up and preserve other games!

I'll see about getting this started on my console to extract the files I have! Just need to find a way to reach O.P. to get them the files as ngl ain't got a clue who or where to send them to help progress this project!

I would love to see this project come along as I was playing DUST since release and followed it through its entire life cycle! and yes even followed the PC port for years till disclosed they cancelled the project, however I didn't know about the mention of the other title! will have to look into that!

I'll get CFW sorted and start ripping the files I have and get them backed up so hopefully one day we can get this game up and running again for private servers!

 

[Anthony817]

Oh scratch that about them making a new game from this idea. First there was this game, then it was planned to be Project Legion a full port over to PC. After they canceled that, then it became Project Nova, which as far back as 2018 it was announced that was also canceled. You can see the statement they made here.

Project Nova - CCP Games

CCP is developing a dark and thrilling co-op shooter on PC, set in the EVE universe and featuring strong emphasis on mastery and strategy, co-evolved with the community.

www.ccpgames.com

Shame really as it had a lot of potential. I am hopeful that the assets from this game can be extracted in full and somebody remake it in hell, even UE3 for all I care but UE4 or 5 would make more sense. It belongs on PC too dammit lol.

 

[TriRealm]

Oh scratch that about them making a new game from this idea. First there was this game, then it was planned to be Project Legion a full port over to PC. After they canceled that, then it became Project Nova, which as far back as 2018 it was announced that was also canceled. You can see the statement they made here.

Project Nova - CCP Games

CCP is developing a dark and thrilling co-op shooter on PC, set in the EVE universe and featuring strong emphasis on mastery and strategy, co-evolved with the community.

www.ccpgames.com

Shame really as it had a lot of potential. I am hopeful that the assets from this game can be extracted in full and somebody remake it in hell, even UE3 for all I care but UE4 or 5 would make more sense. It belongs on PC too dammit lol.

Ahhh okay! See I heard about Project Legion, but didn't know about Project Nova. It's a shame both was cancelled though!!!

Well fingers crossed they can be! I would love to see a PC port in UE4/5. Sorta like a fan-made remaster! Would love to see that ngl!

May have to see if I can get an extract of any assets from the files I have on my console and what's extracted so far, I have dabbled with game engines and 3D Modelling so would be fun to do a lighting/mock-up of what could be.

 

[Anthony817]

Ah that would be awesome if you could play around with the assets and getting them working on later UE engines. They are a lot more user friendly now I hear too.

 

[TriRealm]

Ah that would be awesome if you could play around with the assets and getting them working on later UE engines. They are a lot more user friendly now I hear too.

Yeah!! Will definitely have to see if I can try and get that going once I get the files ripped and sent off for this project!

Just to see how a PC port in a modern engine would look with modern post processing effects too! Would be awesome!

 

[Anthony817]

Here is actually some early footage of the canceled PC version Project Legion. Damn if only we had access to this build lol, would make it way easier to port content over from PS3 to PC build.



That reminds me kind of the ElDewrito project where Halo fans took the canceled Sabre Interactive Free to play Russian only Halo Online and reversed the hell out of it since it was basically Halo 3 engine for PC so even the community ported over the entirety of Halo 3 singleplayer to the engine. Was the closest we got on PC to Halo 3 until MCC got ported over official. So something similar would have been cool to see done if those Legion builds were to surface. Still though, at least UE4 and UE5 is free, so that is something to work with to see how much could be used. Maybe even the HUD elements could be ported or some other gameplay code.

 

[TriRealm]

Here is actually some early footage of the canceled PC version Project Legion. Damn if only we had access to this build lol, would make it way easier to port content over from PS3 to PC build.



That reminds me kind of the ElDewrito project where Halo fans took the canceled Sabre Interactive Free to play Russian only Halo Online and reversed the hell out of it since it was basically Halo 3 engine for PC so even the community ported over the entirety of Halo 3 singleplayer to the engine. Was the closest we got on PC to Halo 3 until MCC got ported over official. So something similar would have been cool to see done if those Legion builds were to surface. Still though, at least UE4 and UE5 is free, so that is something to work with to see how much could be used. Maybe even the HUD elements could be ported or some other gameplay code.

Dam! Ngl looked good! obviously very early on footage but impressive for what it is! and could really see the insperation from DUST

aha oh dam see that's the thing that amazes me with communities for games! Preservation project and fan-made stuff can just be so astounding! Like I hope this project happens for DUST because I'd love to have private servers for PS3 and then if we manage to get a full compile of the assets then maybe eventually we could get a fan-made PC port or something similar going!

 

[Anthony817]

Yeah, lets hope OP returns and gives us an update or something. From the spreqadsheet it seems they have all PS3 builds pretty much, but are missing some things like the PS3 themes and a few others. But still a good idea to extract and share to see if anything could be of use like those prototype guns like Kozmic.Jenna said she had.

 

[TriRealm]

Yeah, lets hope OP returns and gives us an update or something. From the spreqadsheet it seems they have all PS3 builds pretty much, but are missing some things like the PS3 themes and a few others. But still a good idea to extract and share to see if anything could be of use like those prototype guns like Kozmic.Jenna said she had.

Yeah! Well that's I think I have the E3 PS3 Theme so if thats still on my console then I'll deffo RIP that for the project to add to the preservation! I can't quite recall what I have in my loadouts or anything, I know I focused a lot on the dropships though as I loved flying them around.

But yeah! I'll extract the files sometime within the next few weeks once I figure it all out and then will try to reach out to O.P. and see what's happening and what's needed where and if I can be of any help!

 

[Torun]

I would love to get my hands on extracted audio files from the game for modding purposes (of other games). If anyone is able to do a file dump for me, I'd be quite interested. No need to sort it or anything.