Backstab HD · PSVita Port

How to install • Controls • Known Issues • How to compile • Credits • License

Backstab is a 2011 adventure game for iOS and Android devices. Take on the role of Henry Blake, a broken man whose life was stripped away, and help in his quest for justice and revenge. Climb, jump and sneak your way through diverse settings to reach your target and strike down adversaries. Use your deadly fighting skills and the combo-based combat system to defeat your nemesis and anyone else who gets in your way.

This repository contains a loader of the Android release of Backstab HD v1.2.8d, based on the Android SO Loader by TheFloW. The loader provides a tailored, minimalistic Android-like environment to run the official ARMv7 game executable on the PS Vita.

Disclaimer

Backstab HD is copyright © 2014 Gameloft. All rights reserved. Gameloft, the Gameloft logo and Backstab are trademarks of Gameloft in the U.S. and/or other countries.

The work presented in this repository is not "official" or produced or sanctioned by the owner(s) of the aforementioned trademark(s) or any other registered trademark mentioned in this repository.

This software does not contain the original code, executables, assets, or other non-redistributable parts of the original game product. The authors of this work do not promote or condone piracy in any way. To launch and play the game on their PS Vita device, users must possess their own legally obtained copy of the game in form of an .apk file.

Setup Instructions (For Players)

In order to properly install the game, you'll have to follow these steps precisely:

• (Recommended) Make sure that you are either on 3.60 enso or 3.65 enso firmware version. Other versions may work too, but no support are provided for them! If you experience any issues apart from described in the Known Issues section, please upgrade or downgrade your firmware before asking for support.

• Install or update kubridge and FdFix by copying kubridge.skprx and fd_fix.skprx to your taiHEN plugins folder (usually ur0:tai) and adding two entries to your config.txt under *KERNEL:

  *KERNEL
  ur0:tai/kubridge.skprx
  ur0:tai/fd_fix.skprx

! ⚠️ Don't install `fd_fix.skprx` if you're using the rePatch plugin!

• Make sure you have libshacccg.suprx in the ur0:/data/ folder on your console. If you don't, use ShaRKBR33D to get it quickly and easily.

• Legally obtain your copy of BackStab HD for Android in a form of an .apk file and data files. This port is tailored for v1.2.8d (latest) version of the game. Other versions may work too but no support is provided for them.

  • If you have it installed on your phone, you can get all the required files directly from it or by using any APK extractor you can find on Google Play.

ℹ️ Verify that your build is the correct one using sha1sum (can also be found as an online tool). sha1sum for lib/armeabi-v7a/libPirates.so must be 9a36ce92ac09f2908c155ab1debb3e138a3496b8

• Open the .apk with any zip explorer (like 7-Zip) and extract the file lib/armeabi-v7a/libPirates.so from the .apk into ux0:data/backstab/ on your Vita. Example of correct resulting path: ux0:data/backstab/libPirates.so

• Fetch the game data files from your device. You can find them at /sdcard/gameloft/games. Copy the com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftSDHM folder to ux0:data/backstab/ on your Vita. Example of correct resulting path: ux0:data/backstab/com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftSDHM/files/actors.gla

• Install BackstabHD.vpk (from Releases).

• IMPORTANT: when you launch the game for the first time, open the in-game settings (cogwheel icon in main menu), and do two things:

  • Reduce controls sensitivity to minimum.
  • In "Control Scheme", select Control Scheme 2.

• (Optional) Tap Settings in the bottom left corner of the port's LiveArea to adjust some settings. Namely, you can change analog sticks dead zones, change graphical detail level, and enable FPS limiter.

Controls

Button	Action
/	Move
	Control camera
	Aim Mode
	Fire / Special attack (when prompted in combat)
	Jump / Sheathe sword
	Counter-attack (when prompted in combat)
	Attack
	Interact / Switch ranged weapon (when aiming)
(Hold)	Call horse (only on some locations)
+	"Vengeance" mode (when prompted in combat)
	Open Map
	Open Menu
Touchscreen	Menus control. Please don't try to use buttons or analogs

Known Issues

1. On first levels, sometimes a loss of some sound (random, could be some of sfx, music or dialogue) may occur. Most likely, can not be fixed.
2. Starting a new game over an old save loads the old save instead. If you're out of slots, you'll have to remove save files manually from the data folder.

Build Instructions (For Developers)

In order to build the loader, you'll need a vitasdk build fully compiled with softfp usage. The easiest way to obtain one is following the instructions on https://vitasdk.org/ while replacing the URL in this command:

git clone https://github.com/vitasdk/vdpm

Like this:

git clone https://github.com/vitasdk-softfp/vdpm

All the required libraries should get installed automatically if you follow the installation process from https://vitasdk.org/.

One thing you'll need to recompile by hand is VitaGL. Use the following flags:

make LOG_ERRORS=1 SOFTFP_ABI=1 SAFE_DRAW=1 HAVE_GLSL_SUPPORT=1 -j$(nproc) install

After all these requirements are met, you can compile the loader with the following commands:

cmake -S. -Bbuild -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug # Or =Release if you don't want debug logging
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

Also note that this CMakeLists has two "convenience targets". While developing, I highly recommed using them, like this:

cmake --build build --target send # Build, upload eboot.bin and run (requires vitacompanion)
cmake --build build --target dump # Fetch latest coredump and parse

For more information and build options, read the CMakeLists.txt.

Credits

• Andy "The FloW" Nguyen for the original .so loader.
• Rinnegatamante for a lot of work he did with VitaGL specifically to make this port possible, Audio Player code, and many other great things.
• CatoTheYounger for tremendous amount of testing. Not the hero we deserved, but the one we need.
• Once13One for his beautiful LiveArea assets.
• Dieter B., CatoTheYounger, Arka Mukherjee, Edgar Morales, Sergey Galdin: my dearest Patrons.

License

This software may be modified and distributed under the terms of the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for details.