From what I heard, people are somewhat scared about making the move to Prometheus and it’s online service due to my (excuse this please) badly chosen terminology inside of PROCFW and lack of comparisons to alternatives like Xlink Kai or Adhoc Party.

In response to this I felt like giving you guys a… bit more technical insight into the inner workings of Prometheus, what the used terms mean and how the whole functionality (or lack of therefore) comes to be.

I will also cover the crucial differences between Xlink Kai, Prometheus and Adhoc Party.

The Core Problem (y u not give me more ram?!)

The most problematic part about Prometheus and its code is the following…

The Sony Adhoc Library has a ~ estimated ~ RAM footprint of about 400KB… this is the ammount of RAM the library NEEDS to function… while the Sony Infrastructure Library (the one for Internet Access) requires about 750~800KB to function…

As we want to get Adhoc running over the Internet and thus need the Infrastructure Library, we already have a RAM negative of about 350~400KB here… RAM that we need… but don’t have… as the game modules eat the remaining user memory for internal use…

So its clear what we need… more RAM… afterall we will not only need the Infrastructure Libraries working, but our own Adhoc Emulator Libraries too… (which weight in at about 600KB aswell… 200KB if we remove pspnet_miniupnc.prx, which is a optional component).

This is the reason why only 2g+ units are supported, however that isn’t the whole story to it…

The Origin of the 2g+ Extra Memory

By now pretty much every scener knows that 2g+ PSP models feature a extra 32MB RAM bench on its mainboard, and that we, the hackers, made it available for cool homebrew use…

But how exactly does this work? And where do we steal it from? Afterall it has to be in use somewhere right? Right.

This part is tricky to explain so concentrate and try to follow me here!

PSP is split into runlevels… the foul tongue calls them “modes” – you probably heard of those…

• GAME Mode
• VSH Mode
• POPS Mode
• APP Mode

Each of those runlevels has a module list, and a set of runlevel settings, which it uses to setup the RAM partitions (offset, size, read / write permissions, etc.) and the required modules to make the runlevel operate the way it should.

Basically… runlevels are used to make sure only the components we REALLY need are loaded, its a way of saving RAM by leaving out unneccesary modules.

A good example is that usb.prx isn’t loaded in the POPS (Playstation 1 Emulator) runlevel, as the emulator doesn’t require USB access.

The thing to keep in mind here is that depending on what runlevel is executed, the available 64MB RAM are divided differently, based on the runlevel settings.

Interesting for our cause is the GAME Runlevel, and its UMD Cache RAM Partition (Partition #9), which is used by OFW to buffer UMD disc contents to reduce loading times.

The foul Deed – aka. Reassigning Memory Blocks

A basic thing everyone should know about RAM is that there is a difference between physical and virtual addresses…

The physical address, if we simplify the whole picture here, can be seen as the real position of a memory block inside your computer, while a virtual address is used by applications to address physical addresses…

Basically its like a table that has the virtual addresses on one side, and the matching physical ones on the other, allowing applications to find the RAM cell in which its data should be stored to or read from.

Every row in this table… is called a memory partition on PSP. It contains data on how to link virtual and physical addresses and is managed by sysmem.prx on your system.

So when we “unlock” the extra 32MB memory on your PSP we do the following…

1. Unload the UMD-Cache PRX module from RAM, as it would malfunction if we steal RAM from its memory partition (P9).
2. Patch sysmem.prx to remove the P9 virtual to physical mapping.
3. Patch sysmem.prx some more to add the extra physical memory to P2 – the user memory partition.
4. Remove the physical memory block read / write security checks by patching the hardware registers.

Doing so results in Partition #2 (P2) to increase in size… as we linked in a whole bunch of new physical RAM cells, thus… we now have enough RAM available to feed not only the game itself, but also the Infrastructure Library aswell as our Adhoc Emulator. Sweet!

Broken Homescreen? What?!

This one is in fact very embarassing to explain as its our (Team PROs) fault… our high memory unlock code has a critical flaw… a bug if you want.

So lets roll this one up backwards, starting at the problem…

What happens? – When high memory is unlocked… it’s impossible to return to the VSH via the homescreen. Pressing Exit Game will freeze the system and require you to shut it down via the power switch. That is all that happens.

Why does it happen? – Our high memory unlock code sets a flag in the reboot buffer range, storing the “next reboot memory layout”… due to a fault in our code however, this layout data is ignored and instead interpreted as a 55MB high memory layout…

When exiting to VSH, your game system will – technically – reboot to a new runlevel, apply this faulty configuration of ours and in turn crash the VSH with the unexpected RAM layout.

This is why you can’t use the homescreen properly when high memory is activated.

Can it be fixed? – Yes, it’s just a bug like any other in PROCFW. I’m working on it.

Xlink KAI & Adhoc Party VERSUS PRometheus

People have been wondering where the differences are and to be honest I didn’t expect I would have to point them out as I thought they would be rather obvious, but here we go anyway so people have a way of easily comparing them.

Adhoc Party

+ officially supported by SCEI (Sony)
+ highest game compatiblity due to 100% emulated adhoc interface
+ supports Playstation Vita PSP emulator

- requires a PS3 (costy…)
- requires PS3 to be ethernet wired to free up the wlan interface for the adhoc interface
- requires PSP player to be close to PS3 all the time (might aswell just play a PS3 game…)

Xlink Kai

+ supports Playstation Vita PSP emulator
+ supports other consoles like Xbox, PS2, etc.

- requires a Xlink Kai compatible wlan adapter (25+ bucks)
- captures data via pcap + interface polling (this can be deadly for PTP based psp games)
- requires voodoo tricks to switch PSP adhoc networks (known as SSID switching to Xlink Kai players)
- requires PSP player to be close to PC all the time (might aswell just play a PC game…)

Prometheus

+ designed with PSP gaming in mind thus optimized for PSP
+ fully replaces the Adhoc Library with internet optimized implementation of the Adhoc Protocol
+ works standalone (no wlan dongle required, no ps3 or pc required)
+ provides a built-in minimalistic chat system to be fully PC independant if required
+ allows for real-time player monitoring on www.prometheus.uk.to

- still in beta stage so not all games work properly (or at all, but can this be seen as a minus point considering xlink kai doesn’t support all games either?)
- hacked PSP with PROCFW required (this might be a minus point for TN or ME users, however if neur0n or TN ever wanted to support Prometheus I would be more than willing to help)

Overall this comparison could be summed up in a single sentence…

Adhoc Party is SCEI’s baby, so of course it has the best game compatiblity out so far, while Xlink Kai isn’t specifically aimed at PSP users and Prometheus is.

I hope that I was able to properly address and destroy those fears some newcomers had about Prometheus.

~ Coldbird

Update by Wololo: With Sony announcing yesterday that they are closing the SOCOM servers for PSP, prometheus is showing even more the point: when Sony wants to discontinue their console, the only support we can hope from the PSP will be from the underground community!

I have been here in the scene for the last two years and I think that in that there was a “bussy” PSP Community. Right now, there is not that fuss but I think saying the PSP is dead is not right.

Firstly, the release of PRO-C with its cool online features (that Sony didn’t even try to give us because PSP Adhoc Party is not good enough), has opened a whole new world in  the PSP gaming sector. Now, people are playing online and you can find up to 40-60 people connected at the same time in a day, which is not that bad considering it is not an official release by Sony and for that reason, people just do not try it. Also, Coldbird and Virtuos Flame have dedicated a lot of time on what, from my point of view, is the best PSP CFW for the unhackeable PSPs. The creation of Inferno and the PRO Online Client is what I think the PRO CFW needed to really show its full potential.

Then, as  I talked in my last post, there are cool and fun Minis waiting for you to try them. For just a modic price you can get a really good game for your PSP, I mean, you have to get bored of Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, etc sometime. So, why don´t you try something more “arcade”, like Age of Zombies? Give them a chance, and do not think just because they are small they are going to be worse.

And last but not least, most people would say we are finished but there is another reason: Programming. Apart from Lua and  C, now we have got Python aswell, this know but not so known at the same time (It has been there for 5-6 years) programming language for the PSP. There is only a few homebrews programmed in Python, and the best one I remember is the chess game by ZX-81. Well now, 6 years later,thanks to developer Acid_Snake, you can find those tutorials for Python and in this same website! Here are the links:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

So, what are your reasons? Or do you think the PSP IS dead? Comment!

There seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to mods lately, there’s a lot going on and it can be quite daunting trying to follow it all, especially if you’re new to the scene. I hope that by writing this we can keep the forum flooding to a minimum. let’s try to understand what these mods are and what they aim to do, if only to get a better perspective.

First we have the flagship mod of our wonderful site, VHBL. being sort of a community Developer project it combines the work of many talented people including: Neur0n, Wololo, m0skit0, JJS etc..
It’s main purpose is to run Homebrew applications on your PS Vita, in the PSP emulator on board the machine.
What it can do: Run certain homebrew applications such as Wagic, Doom, and a whole lot of emulators for various systems.
What it can not do: Run PSP ISO’s, Vita backups, Make you a cup of coffee while it brushes your teeth.
You can find various tutorials on how to install this program here http://wololo.net/vhbl/

Now let’s move on to UV Loader, Developer/Hacker YifanLu has apparently discovered a way to access User Mode on the PS Vita, Which is great news…..for the future.
He is currently seeking assistance from talented Developers, so if any are reading this head to his thread here http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=13841
What it will be able to do: Run Homebrew applications in the vita environment, using many more resources than the PSP Emulator on board the vita.
What it will not be able to do: Run backups of Vita games, install CFW or give you a magic bag of pixie dust that makes your mortal enemies cry at the sight of you.
all jokes aside, I would like to point out that it will NOT incorporate piracy. also, there is no release window as of yet so it could be a ways off from getting into our ready hands.

KXPLOITS PSP ISOZ OMG!!!!11!!

Some talented people in the scene have created what are called kernel Exploits, or, Kexploits for short. one example of this is Davee and his exploit that allows him to run Iso backups of PSP games(not Vita).
What it can do: Run PSP ISOs, Load almost any Homebrew written for PSP(in my understanding), and perhaps install CFW for the PSP emulator on the Ps Vita…that’s a mouthful.
Bottom line though,  None of these kxploits are being shared by the Devs who have created them, and for a few good reasons. One is that by one releasing this too early, all of them could be patched and that’s it. All their work down the drain. Two, piracy, people would no longer support the company in which we all want to see succeed lately. and three, they may just well not be ready for user based application just yet.
at the end of the day you have to see that these kexploits were shown to prove the concept, not to tease you or for devs to feel like elitists.

Some of this may be speculation on my part but it is from my own understanding of what’s happening in the scene right now.
I hope this gives a clearer line on where one mod begins and another ends and what they aim to do with said mods.

Saying all that i would like to add that our community is a very good one, and I have seen a lot of people benefit from the knowledge of it’s members. So remember, the next time you see some “N00b” post a question that seems obvious to you, try and be polite and as helpful as possible. If the same question has been posted before (recently) Kindly point it out to them.

This, In my opinion is what makes our forum one of the best in the scene. Everyone plays a role, Everyone pitches in.

Android, playing PSP games with the PPSSPP emulator. I’m going to jump right into it, you will either need a dual core or quad core processor in your phone. I would recommend that it is rooted and use CPU master app to make your device run at top speed to get the best results from the PSP emulator (PPSSPP) on your Android device.

I have tested it on single core phones and it runs too slow, that it’s not even worth it. Dual core devices, with CPU master can do it but gets a little slow on some games even with the sound off. Now the quad core phones I found no issues with of course if you want to see best results then you need to set the CPU at max speed and play with the setting for each game.

The Sound didn’t work on most games with all the devices I tested it on. Some games will play bits and pieces of audio files, but you never hear the background music. I been testing on both machines and low end Smartphone’s. I’ve only found about a handful that work very well on some device’s. I would definitely recommend a high end Smartphone like the Note 2 or Xperia Z but all said and done it works very well and gets updates too. I would say about every 3 to 6 months, so if you buy the gold version from the Google Play Store. You will definitely be helping the developer and at the same time you get a few more options in the app like the graphics and system settings. If you want to use a third-party controller on your phone for the psp emulator there is no settings for mapping the buttons in the regular or gold edition app that you can download from the Play Store.

Free & Open Source

PPSSPP is an open source project, licensed under the GPL 2.0 (or later). Anyone is welcome to contribute their improvements to the code. Thanks to such contributions, PPSSPP’s compatibility is steadily increasing, letting us all play the PSP games we want on the devices of our choice.

PPSSPP now works on jailbroken iPhone and iPad with Cydia. Some people have set up Cydia repositories, updated at various frequencies, look to the right. angelXwind’s repo is updated the most often, however some people are reporting better speed with The Avenger’s. More info on iOS click here: iOS ppsspp and check out the forums for any android build issues http://forums.ppsspp.org/

So far these are the games that I have found that work for me and the PC, Xperai play, G2, Note2 and S4. 90 percent of the games were tested in ISO format. The compact CSO files do work, but I did not test a lot of those. Some games may work better on other PC because of video card and processor speed.

Here is a legend so you know what the abbreviations are by each game.

• Loading time. LT.
• Graphic issues: GI.
• Needs Tweaking: Tw.
• Works great: *

• 300 March To Glory: Yes*
• Ace Combat Skies Of Deception: Yes*
• Activision Hits Remixed: No LT
• Alien Syndrome: Yes*
• Ape Academy 1&2: NO
• Atari hits remixed: NO
• ATV Off Road Fury: NO
• Battlezone: No
• BBoy: yes*
• Bleach 1&2: Yes*
• Burnout  Legends: NO LT
• Cars: Yes LT
• COD 3: No
• Coded arms: Yes Tw LT
• Championship Manager: Yes*
• CrashTagTeamRacing: No
• Dragonballz shin 1&2: Yes *
• Dragonballz tagteam: No
• Dave Mirra bmx: Yes TW
• Daxter: No
• Death JR 1&2. Yes *
• Dungeon Siege Thrown Of Agony: yes*
• Dynastey Warriors: Yes TW LT
• Eragon: NO LT
• Everybodys Golf: No
• Exit: Yes*
• F1 Grand Prix: No
• Field Commander: Yes LT
• Family Guy: Yes*
• fifa 07: No LT
• fifa street 2: Yes
• fight night round3: No
• Free running: Yes TW
• Gran turismo: Yes TW LT
• GOW 1&2: Yes GI
• Grip shift: No
• G.R.A.W 2: Yes LT TW
• Ghost in the Shell: No LT TW
• GTA VCS: Yes LT GI
• Guilty gear X: Yes*
• Gundam battle royal: yes*
• Gundam battle tactics: Yes*
• Gunshowdown: Yes LT GI TW
• Harry  Potter Order Of The Phoenix: Yes-NO LT TW GI (hardone to get working)
• Hot shots Golf OPen Tee: Yes LT TW GI
• Hotbrain: No
• Infected: Yes
• KAmeleon: No
• Kao Challengers: yes GI TW
• Kazoo: yes GI TW
• Key of heaven: Yes TW
• Killzone liberation: Yes TW LT
• KIngdom of hearts: Yes GI
• Little Big Planet: Yes TW *
• Loco Roco: Y TW*
• Lumines 1 & 2: Y*
• Luxor: Y TW
• Pimp my ride: NO
• Pilot Academy: YES .GI .LT
• Passport to London: NO LT
• Panic bomber: YES
• Outrun 2006: No
• Open season: No
• NFL Street’s Unleashed: No
• NFL Madden 06: No .LT.
• NFS carbon: No .LT
• NBA Live 06: Yes .LT. GI. TW.
• Nascar 07: YES LT
• Nacmo museum: Yes
• Naruto Shippuden Legends  Akatsuki Rising: Yes*
• Moto GP: Yes
• MOHH: No
• Midnight club3 DB: NO LT
• Micro machines v4: Yes GI
• Miami vice: Yes *
• Metal Gear acid: Yes TW *
• Mercury: Yes *
• Mega man power up: Yes *
• Mediaeval resurrection: N
• Marvel Nemesis Rise Of The Imperfects: N
• Marvel UA 2: Yes tw
• Tokobot: Yes GI
• V8 Racedriver2: No
• Tigerwoods PGA 07&08: NO
• Thrillville: Yes
• Godfather mobwars: No
• The Con: Yes GI TW
• Tony hawk U2: No
• Transformers: No
• Test Drive unlimited: No
• Tekken Dark resurrection: Yes * TW
• Taitsujin Portable: Yes LT
• Twisted metal head-on: Yes*
• Syphon filter dark: Yes Tw *
• Super monkey ball: Yes *
• Street supremacy: Yes TW LT
• Street fighter turbo Alpha 3: Yes
• Star wars lethal alliance: No
• Star trek tactical assault: No
• SSX on tour: YES TW LT
• Sponge bob square pants: NO
• Spiderman: yes LT GI
• Spaceinvaders EVO: Yes
• SonicRivials: Yes TW
• Snoopy red baron: NO
• Sim2: Yes LT TW
• Shrek the third: NO
• Scooby doo who watching you: NO
• Scarface MPR: NO
• Rocky Balboa: Yes
• Ridge racers 1&2: Yes
• Rengoku 1&2: Yes TW LT
• Reefishing: Yes
• Ratchet & Clank size matters: No LT GI
• Rainbow six Vegas: No GI
• Resistance – Retribution: Yes TW LT
• Puzzle bubble: NO
• Pro Evo soccer 07: Yes*
• Prince of Persia rival swords: no LT GI
• PQ Quotient: No
• Pinball: YES
• Valkyrie: No
• Vampire chronicles: No
• Virtual tennis: Yes*
• Who wants to be a millionaire: yes*
• Winning 11: NO
• WTF: YES
• World Series of porker: Yes*
• World tour Soccer: Yes *
• WWE VS RAW: NO

This has happened to me quite a few times, getting banned for system mods or cheating in a game offline. So now your console is banned from playing online, well it’s banned from playing on their servers. So if you know anything about tunneling you can still get back online with your system. It may on be on the big networks, but you still can get online an that is what really matters. This was real big with the old xbox, and I still use them to this day. There is a list of tunneling software I still like to use.

Kai

xlink kai is a global gaming network- bringing together xbox, xbox360, Playstation2, PS3, gamecube ,DS, and PSP users, in one integrated community. It is software running on your PC (windows, linux) or Mac that allows you to play system-link enabled games online for free. Kai is the only service that is not console specific, and boast one of the friendliest communities available.

Features:

-Supports xbox, xbox360, Gamecube, PS2,PS3, and PSP system-link/ Lan enabled games.

-2 gaming modes ( messenger and Arena).

-Integrated chat in all areas.

- No port forwarding required on almost all network setups

-PC to PC and PC to xbox voice, Conversation using the SPEEX codec

- Extremely simple user interface

-Auto update notification

-Compatible with wifi networks ( not all wifi network setups)

-network connection monitors

-Support for university dormsand proxies such as Italian Fastweb ISP

-Lots more features for you to discover.

http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

XLIL

XLIL is a Linux GUI launcher and installer for the Xlink kai tunnel software. It’s published as a distro independent application. The software is programmed in Python using either pyQT and can run both KDE and Gnome.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xlil/files/

neXBC

neXBC will change the way you play system link games. You will no longer need to join rooms, or even be at your PC to play. neXBC is designed to let you play the games you want with the people you want, for as long as you want without having to touch you pc. Fire up neXBC, set your game type filters, and relax for a evening of non stop gaming. This works with xbox, xbox360,and psp

http://www.xbconnect.com/

XBSlink

XBSlink is a proxy for xbox360 and PS3/2 system link games. Simply run XBSlink useron the internet or XBSlink cloud and ply your favorite game over the systemlink  Feature just if the game consoles where on the same local network.

Features

-play any xbox360 or PS3/2 system link games

-unlimited number of users

-automatic UPnP NAT port forwarding

-internal chat to communicate with connected XBSlink nodes

-cloud list- Join a cloud of other XBSlink users

-GUI and command line (non-GUI0 mode

-Lots more features for you to discover

http://www.seuffert.biz/xbslink/

It has been about 2 months now since PPSSPP had their last release and November 1st marked the one year anniversary of PPSSPP. ”While nothing is perfect, there have been plenty of improvements since the last release, and thanks to all of the contributors!” Here are a few thing that have been fixed with the release of 0.9.5

• Atrac3+ plugin no longer required! Thanks Maxim for hard reverse-engineering work
• Many, many emulation fixes, including:
  • bezier/spline curve support, fixing Loco Roco and others
  • stencil clear emulation, fixing Final Fantasy IV text
• Android-x86 support
• Post-processing shaders like FXAA, scanlines, vignette
• More solid save states (we will try to keep them working from now on. Save states only upgrade forward, not backward to older versions though)
• Change render resolution independently of window size
• Massive debugger improvements on Windows, by Kingcom and unknownbrackets (GE)
• Win32 menu bar is now translatable. Language changes are applied instantly.
• Win32: Ability to store PPSSPP’s config files and memory stick files in places other than the same directory
• Qt audio fixed, Symbian audio and ffmpeg is now threaded for more consistent media processing
• Haptic feedback support for mobile devices
• Accurate system information for mobile devices
• Analog controller support for Blackberry
• Windows installer (coming soon)

PPSSPP, really has come a long way since the first release and seem to be getting better all the time for your PC or mobile device. Now there plans for the next release are to help improve the performance of PPSSPP. For example: Final Fantasy crisis core was not really playable on a Nexus 4 but on their current development build they say it’s running smoothly and at the same time GTA is running full speed on the nvidia shield with only one frame rate skip. Now this doesn’t mean that God of war or any other game will suddenly work on your device, but whatever device you may be using, you will see an improvement in performance. So please support them and purchase the gold version for your pc or mobile device.

Downloads

check the PPSSPP download page, or

 Buy PPSSPP Gold

The name Dark_Alex should ring in your ears, when you hear it. He was THE man, that made a lot of PSP CFWs (1.50 POC, 2.71 SE, 3.xx OE, 3.xx/4.01/5.00 M33, etc.), helped with the Pandora battery service mode, and released a lot of software for said pandora method. Dark~AleX should be known by most informed PSP scene people, and the fact that he updates his website for the PS4, might be an indication that he could return.

The forums of Dark~AleX were shutdown in the year 2008/2009 and he then officially vanished. His last work, found in late 2009 was a fix for his popular 5.00 M33-6 custom firmware, which fixed a minor bug in the recovery menu. The fix was released as a standalone, to prevent the release of a 5.00 M33-7, which would have been his last official PSP CFW update.

Some people spread the weirdest rumours, from him being in jail, to working for sony or even being killed by the mafia, there were a lot of rumours regarding Dark~AleX, and where he went. Most likely he just got bored and left the scene.
We just know that he was a Spanish developer, which was amazing in what he did and he made a lot of useful software, is one of the grandfathers of the PSP CFW and nearly every CFW that was coded for PSP is based on his latest work, the M33 CFW.

It was thought that DAX returns into the scene with the hacked PS3, which happened around firmware 3.21, but he remained silent. People also though he might be interested in the PS Vita, but again, silence.

The new logo of dark-alex.org

Now with his updated website, which indicates the PS4 hacker scene, we might be able to see a return of the famous Dark~AleX. But keep in mind that some people say Alex is not connected with his website anymore, and that someone else (Alek – with a “k” – , former admin of the website) could just be the head behind the current website.

@PS3haxNetwork no he is not, http://t.co/PuQ3Ujongg isn’t controlled by Dark_Alex, it’s controlled by Mr_TutoAlek.

— Mathieu Hervais (@Mathieulh) November 26, 2013

@PS3haxNetwork MrTutoAlek, aka Alek was «fired» from M33 a while back and is not to be trusted.

— Mathieu Hervais (@Mathieulh) November 26, 2013

@PS3haxNetwork Alex has or anyone he is remotely connected to has nothing to do with http://t.co/PuQ3Ujongg anymore.

— Mathieu Hervais (@Mathieulh) November 26, 2013

Will DAX return or will he just stay the hero of our hearts? We don’t know it, and we might never know. Better take it with a grain of salt.

2 days ago we blogged about the new permanent patch for the 6.20 LME CFW, and that it is currently in development.

We showed you a beta version of said permanent patch, and are proud to announce that it is now available for public!

Release: custom firmwares 6.20 ME-1.9 and 6.20 LME-1.9

PSP motherboard overview

If we take a closer look at the PSP motherboard overview, we can see that nearly every PSP model is able to run the 6.20 official firmware, or is old enough to run a custom IPL CFW.

The only not supported devices are the PSP 3000 (07g) and the PSP E1000, due to not being able to run the official firmware 6.20.

Despite actually not supporting the firmware 6.20, the PSP 3000s (09g) are able to forcefully downgrade to firmware 6.20, thanks to the Chronoswitch v5 downgrader. The other PSPs natively support the official firmware 6.20.

If you are already running the ME custom firmware, then there is no need to downgrade to the 6.20 ME-1.9, since it offers no upsides compared to the 6.60 ME CFW.

If you are already running the LME custom firmware, then you might want to downgrade to the firmware 6.20, and install a permanently patched 6.20 LME-1.9 custom firmware, since this will enable you to automatically boot into your LME CFW.

Furthermore it enables you to fix semi-bricks, thanks to the recovery menu access on startup.

The revision update 1.9 for the 6.20 ME and 6.20 LME custom firmwares fixes a few bugs that were introduced due to porting the CFWs to the firmware 6.20.

Those bugs are not present in the lastest version of the 6.39/6.60 L/ME CFWs.

Download: 6.20 ME-1.9 Custom Firmware
Download: 6.20 LME-1.9 Custom Firmware
Download: 6.20 Official Sony Firmwares
Download: 6.xx Chronoswitch Downgrader
Source via: Wololo.net/talk

Sony has finally stated that it will discontinue the PSPs’ production starting from next month.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the PSP first officially launched in December 12, 2004 in Japan. It was then released in North America and Europe later on in the following year. The PSP go first launched in 2009, but officially stopped its production quite early around 2011. The PSP E1000 launched in October 2011, which was a budget-focused model of the PSP, but it seems all of them are going to end their production. The company has announced that Sony will ship its last set of PSPs’ in Japan next month. The company also stated that it will be offering Japanese users a discount on Vita products if they trade in their PSPs.

Although it didn’t quite become as successful as its competitor (The Nintendo DS), it still managed to sell 80 million units worldwide since it went on sale 10 years ago.

Just because they’re stopping production doesn’t mean the PSP scene’s also gonna stop its production. We’re still kicking, and providing as much as possible! Be sure to check out my previous article to have a look at what’s going on in the PSP homebrew scene today. After all some people are still working on PS1 so why not?

It’s quite odd that Sony doesn’t want the PSP to live alongside the Vita anymore, but oddly wants the PS3 to live next to the PS4. Oh well it’s seems they’ve made they’re final decision. Europe has also stated it’ll cease its production at some point this year.

Just one month ago, there has been an update for Neur0n’s popular ME & LME custom firmwares, made by developer Rahim-US, which offered support for the 6.20 firmware and added the permanent patch to the 6.20 LME CFW.

Today we are back and proudly present you yet another update for those great custom firmwares: The 6.xx ME-2 and the 6.xx LME-2.

The new version of the 6.xx ME & LME CFW is the revision 2.0, shortened to just ME/LME-2, which adds the Inferno driver, known from the PRO CFWs, and enhances the recovery menu a bit, by adding a few more colors to choose from. This was once again made by the talented developer Rahim-US.

 
The revision 2 update is available for all existing (latest) versions of the ME and LME custom firmwares, which would be firmwares 6.20, 6.39 and 6.60.

With the power of the Inferno driver the ME and LME CFW gets even better than before, since it enhances the game compatibility even more. Now with 2 powerful iso drivers, the ME and the Inferno driver, the ME and LME CFWs are the most versatile PSP custom firmwares there are.

(It is strongly recommended to replace existing translation files for the recovery menu and vsh menu, e.g. de_vshmenu.txt & de_recovery.txt, with the newer ones included in this revision Update.)

Download: 6.20 ME-2
Download: 6.39 ME-10; 6.39 ME-10 (OFW Version) and 6.39 LME-10
Download: 6.60 ME-2

Source via Twitter.com

Just 2 weeks ago, we blogged about the new ME/LME-2 release, which added the Inferno driver and extended the recovery menu with a few more colors to choose from.

Today yet another update was made available, which adds some more often requested features to the famous ME & LME Custom Firmwares, which are currently the most popular ones.

Developer Rahim-US is currently on a coding spree!

He published yet another update for the ME & LME Custom Firmwares, to be specific – for firmwares 6.20, 6.39 and 6.60 – which adds the noDRM Engine and a protection against a few games, that can detect a Custom Firmware, and then refuse to start, save or load savedata files (The DJ Max Portable games are a few of those ones).

 
The new revision also fixes a rare savedata bug, that could occour if you switched between PRO and ME/LME at different firmwares (e.g. 6.20 PRO -> 6.60 LME, 6.39 LME -> 6.60 PRO, etc).

Not actually Custom Firmware changes, but Rahim-US also added an OFW Version installer for the 6.20 ME build and, even more important, he added another layer of protection to the ME CFW installers, which should now be able to detect the dangerous TA-088v3 motherboard at PSP 2000, to protect accidential bricking of said devices.

The previous check did only check for the devices generation (01g = 1000, 02g = 2000, 03g/04g/07g/09g = 3000s, 05g = N1000 [PSP Go] & 11g = E1000), which left room for detecting a TA-088v3 PSP 2000 as “supposed compatible”, which would then result in a fullbrick, if one actually installed the ME, instead of the LME, Custom Firmware, due to the custom IPL at one of these “doomed” PSP 2000s.

The new ME and LME Custom Firmwares are available for download now, and it is highly recommended to install said Custom Firmwares at your PSP devices, regardless if you are already running another 6.20, 6.39 or 6.60 Custom Firmware.

Stay tuned for potential more releases of the ME and LME CFWs, since Rahim might have one or two more ideas for these awesome Custom Firmwares!

Download: 6.20 ME-2.1
Download: 6.39 LME-10.1, 6.39 ME-10.1 and 6.39 ME-10.1 (OFW Version)
Download: 6.60 ME-2.1

Source via Twitter.com

Developer Rahim-US is on a coding-spree!

He updated the 6.xx ME and 6.xx LME Custom Firmwares once again, in which he has fixed a few small bugs.

Another feature was planned to be added, which was the ‘downgrade via version.txt’ function, that might be known from the 5.00 M33-6 Custom Firmware.

Due to complications on some devices (07g/09g) and due to firmware differences since firmware 6.30, said feature was unfortunately not added into the new ME and LME CFW releases.

Since the downgrade feature is not added (yet?), this is new release just a small bug fix release. The official changelog is the following one:
“Fixed ‘hide Custom Firmware dirs’ function for the game Evangelion Jo”.

The last few updates added a lot of missing or simply requested features to the famous ME & LME Custom Firmwares, but is this everything that the CFW needs? Who knows… There might be more updates coming soon.

Download: 6.20 ME-2.2
Download: 6.39 ME 10.2
Download: 6.60 ME-2.2

Source via Twitter.com

The horror game ‘Corpse Party: Blood Drive’ is now available at the japanese Playstation Store, exclusively for the Playstation Vita.

After the first 2 games, published for the Playstation Portable, were a huge success in japan, north america and europe, a third game of the series got published for the PS Vita, instead of the PSP.

You do not know what Corpse Party is? Well I can explain this, but beware. The game is not for the faint-hearted people…

Corpse Party is a horror game that takes place in japan.

The main characters are highschool pupils that tried to use an obscure good luck ritual, which went horribly wrong.

After failing their ritual, the pupils got transfered into a twisted dimension, which takes part some years in the past.

At the place at which their current school got build, used to be another school, in which a horrible crime has happened.

In the twisted dimension there is still the old school building, which is haunted by some malicious ghosts, which want to take revenge.

To successfully escape the death trap of school, you will have to find a way to appease the ghosts. But beware! Do not die or else your existence in the real world will vanish, and it is as if you’ve never existed in the first place!

The first 2 parts of Corpse Party can be bought as Playstation Portable titles from the Playstation Store for 9,99€/14,99$ each, from time to time even as a bundle for 14,99€/19,99$.

The North American and European version of the game got localized into english, while the audio of the game should still be in japanese.

If you are a fan of japanese horror games, then Corpse Party might be the right game for you.

The third part, Corpse Party: Blood Drive, released for the PS Vita instead of the PSP, is currently available at the japanese PSN Store for ~6500¥ (~45€/60$), but it seems that is unfortunally only in japanese.

It has yet to be confirmed that the game will be localized for the western world, but since both previous games were localized and released in North America and Europe, it is pretty likely that this will be done with the 3rd installment of the series as well.

It has been over 3 years since the last PSP firmware update has been released by Sony. Since their PSP Firmware 6.60, the PSP did not see any news in terms of feature and firmware updates.

Today Sony has send an Email to playstation store users, that the PSP will lose the ability to use the Playstation Store natively via the XMB.

What does this mean?

It basically means that the ability to add content wirelessly from their PSN Store onto your PSP will be removed.

Downloading a newly bought game? Nope. Downloading something from your downloadlist, a game or a DLC you’ve bought in the past? Nope.

Before you are going to burn down their HQ, keep in mind that you are still able to download PSP content via your Computer, be it with or without the MediaGo application, and with your Playstation 3 (implying everyone ownes one).

This change will be pushed at the 15th September 2014, so it is basically next week. It will be a server-side change, so that there will not be a new PSP firmware update, and therefore ‘not updating’ your firmware will not help you to retain the PSN Store access functionality.

Especially as a PSP Go user, this is a massive slap in your face, since you are required to use digital content. If you happen to use a modified PSP Firmware, a so called PSP CFW, then you can use content without downloading it from the PSN Store, be it directly via your PSP or via your Computer.

A PSP CFW can even enable you to play your UMDs at your PSP Go, as long as you are able to dump them via another PSP, one that posesses an UMD drive.

The PS Vita, while technically not really being affected of this change, since it accesses the PS Vita PSN Store via its PSN Store Application, is actually still affected of this change.

Why? Well, if you happen to use the TN-V eCFW at your PS Vita, currently (publicly) supported up to PS Vita firmware 3.01, you are able to access the PSP PSN Store from within the XMB of the TN-V eCFW. Since this change will remove said ability of the PSP, it will also remove the ability to access the PSN Store from the PS Vita PSPemulator.

It is a sad new change, but at least we are (still) able to use the multiplayer functions of PSP games… But who knows for how long…

Source via KINGx.de

Some of you might remember the uprising as the first signed homebrew for the PSP appeared.

Some of you might remember the first betas of the permanent patch, which worked surprisingly well (for most of us, at least).

The current permanent patch is, as of now, the number one thing to install, if you have one of the newer PSP devices, since it enables you to automatically boot into a CFW, no (manual) launcher required.

Something (similar enough) that has only existed (while being far superior, by the way) in the form of a custom IPL for the older PSP devices exclusively.

How about this would be available for the latest PSP firmware, version 6.60? How about this would now natively support the previously ‘unsupported devices’ – 3000 07g*, 3000 09g (no enforced downgrades anymore) and the PSP E1000?

If this interests you, then keep reading! Davee has a surprise up his sleeves!

Hardware & Software talk – Different PSP models

This is the current state of the most recommended things you can do with your PSPs (made by myself – You can see this on the emphasis of the ME/LME CFW recommendations, hehe).

While the enforced downgrade method for the PSP 3000 09g is not the cleanest and most secure thing to do, all other recommendations are safe to follow and should work without problems.

This currently leaves us with 3 categories: Old devices, new devices and too new (or rare) devices.

The first category contains the PSP 1000s and PSP 2000s (except for the ‘doomed TA-088v3′ series), that are fully capable of using a full CFW, a CFW that uses a cIPL to load the custom firmware modules. Those are also the only devices that can use (and create, depending on the motherboard) a Pandora battery.

The second category contains most of the newer PSPs. The PSP 2000 with the TA-088v3 motherboard, the PSP 3000 03g, the PSP 3000 04g, the PSP 3000 09g (only as forced downgrade, though) and any PSP Go. Those devices are fully capable of using a permanent CFW, a CFW that uses the current version of the permanent patch.

The permanent patch loads the modules of the custom firmware very early in the boot chain (not as early as & good as cIPL, but get what you can), which will slightly lengthen the initial boot time of your PSP, but will automatically load the CFW on the startup and provides you a method to recover your device, if you (only) semi-bricked it.

A full brick will still be fatal and unrepairable on these new devices. The current version of the permanent patch works up to firmware 6.20 and has been (randomly) patched as of firmware 6.30, due to new security checks.

The third category contains only (2 devices), depending on personal opinions and technicalities, 3 devices, the PSP E1000 (due to its inability to run a firmware other than 6.50 or 6.60), the PSP 3000 09g (while being capable to perform an enforced downgrade to firmware 6.20, which is below its intended lowest firmware limit of firmware 6.30) which should stay on firmwares 6.30 to 6.60, due to firmware stability and IDstorage reasons, and the 09g’s similar twin sister, the PSP 3000 07g (a very rare model of the PSP, which shares the same motherboard characteristics as the 09g), a PSP so rare, that we were unable to properly investigate it (this is also the reason why the 09g supports the enforced downgrade and the 07g does not).

Devices of this third category are unable to use the current version of the permanent patch, since they lack the ability to natively support the PSP firmware 6.20, which is (as of now) required to use a permanent patch CFW. These devices only support the firmwares 6.30 to 6.60 (3000 07g & 09g) and 6.50 to 6.60 (E1000 11g).

Back on track: A permanent 6.60 CFW

While I’ve talked a lot about the different hardware models of the PSP, their restrictions, their current best possible software, and a lot of other stuff, lets head back to Davees surprise and a potentional ‘permanent patch’ for the latest PSP firmware, version 6.60 – Which would enable any PSP device, old or (too) new, to run a cIPL or permanent CFW, respectively.

While the old PSPs can already run a full CFW (something better than a permanent or temporary CFW), the newer PSPs can not (yet).

Developer Davee, well known for his 5.03 ChickHen exploit (Scene old-timers might remember this) and his Chronoswitch Downgrader for the 6.xx firmwares, has one more trick up his sleeves, which supposedly will enable any kind of PSP to run a permanent CFW on the latest firmware, version 6.60.

While this still has to be fully debugged and tested on ALL the different hardware models (one of each generation – 0Xg – should be enough), Davee seems to be confident in his knowledge, which is more than enough to call this a ‘secured thing’.

Since this method is not necessary on the PSP 1000s and most PSP 2000s, which means 2 less devices to fumble with, it will be necessary on all the other devices, which will leave us with 7 different devices: A PSP 2000 TA-088v3, a PSP 3000 03g, a PSP 3000 04g, a PSP 3000 07g, a PSP 3000 09g, a PSP Go and a PSP E1000.

I myself donated my PSP E1000 to Davee, so he is able to port his work to this new PSP. Davee himself bought a refurbished PSP 2000 TA-088v3, which still leaves 5 devices left.

I have already talked about the rarity of the PSP 3000 of the ‘7th Generation’, so this one will only be covered theoretically, which would still mean that 4 different hardware models are left.

This is exactly the moment where my good friend Nzaki comes into play. He is such a generous person that he offered Davee all missing devices (as long as he has access to them).

Nzaki’s PSP Go collection!

And believe me, when I say this man has a lot of PSPs, then I mean it! Nzaki offered Davee a PSP 3000 03g, a PSP 3000 04g, a PSP Go (05g) and a PSP 3000 09g, which will complete the missing pieces of the hardware scavenger hunt.

This brings me to the end of this blog post.

Conclusion: Permanent 6.60 CFW soon?

Yes and no.

We can definitely say that Davee has something up his sleeves, and that he, most likely, does have, what he tells us he is having – a solution to bring the permanent patch to firmware 6.60.

While neither I nor you can say how long Davee will take to fully finish his work on this, I can say that this would make a good Christmas present for the PSP users among us.

Since the annually PS Vita kernel exploit has already been released for firmware 3.18, some months ago, this pretty much leaves us with nothing for this Christmas… Or does it?

Stay tuned for this masterpiece of the post-mortem PSP hacking scene, and more hacking news regarding the PS Vita!

Paypal Donation:

Do you like the work that Davee has done in the past? Do you like this news about a 6.60 permanent CFW for all PSP devices? Do you want to buy a well known and talented PSP & PS Vita developer and hacker a beer?

In that case you might want to consider donating to Davee via PayPal.

One of the most famous & popular PSP custom firmwares is going to receive another update. I am of course talking about Neur0n’s 6.xx ME & LME CFW.

While it was originally developed and maintained by Neur0n himself, it has been updated and improved by developer Rahim-US since revision 1.9 and following.

My good friend Rahim-US has now announced that he has added some additional feature to the ME & LME CFW, which should make even more people happy with this masterpiece of custom firmware.

The first thing Rahim has added is something that has been missing from the ME & LME CFW, since it was deemed ‘underused and unnecessary’.

This cool feature is now supported by the ME & LME CFW. I am of course talking about Pro Online support, which lets you play ‘local multiplayer only’ games with people all over the world, similar to Hamachi, XlinkKai and other services.

The feature itself is still in beta (regardless of using it via PRO CFW or ME/LME CFW), and the added support for it is also still in beta, so expect it to be updated, if there are flaws with it.

Another feature that will be added with the new revision 2.3/10.3 of the ME & LME CFW is the support for the .DAX ISO-format. An alternative format to the common .ISO and .CSO format.

The .DAX format was used in older custom firmwares (OE CFWs, as far as I know), but was later discontinued in later versions of the M33 CFW. One could still use the .DAX format via an additional plugin, but most people did not bother with it, which was another reason this format was discontinued.

The advantages of .DAX over .CSO are actually pretty simple. Games compressed as .DAX are smaller than .CSO files, but have less loading times than their .CSO counterparts.

This makes the .DAX format a better format for compressed ISOs than the actual CSO (compressed ISO) format itself.

The common .ISO and .CSO formats are of course still supported by the ME & LME CFW – The .DAX format is only an additional format that is now natively supported.

Since .DAX is superior to .CSO, why aren’t we using .DAX ISOs for TN-V and ARK-2 on the PS Vita?!

The last thing that will be included in the new 2.3/10.3 revision of the ME & LME CFW is the ‘High Memory Layout’ for homebrews and games that support it.

This option enforces that launched content will use more of the PSPs RAM, than usually. This will improve emulators that have the capability to run smoother and with better performance on 02g+ devices (PSP 2000 and later).

It should also reduce loading times in bigger games, as long as you are using a PSP 2000 model or a later device (2000, 3000, Go & E1000).

The “High Memory Layout” is unavailable on the PSP 1000, since it has only 32MB RAM, opposed to the 64MB RAM that every other PSP model has.

The revision 2.3/10.3 of the ME & LME CFW should be released later this month. With a that great CFW to be updated, we can not wait for Davee to jump in and bump the 6.20 perma patch boundaries up to firmware 6.60.

Source via Rahim-US.

Just a few days ago I’ve told you about the new upcoming release of the updated ME & LME CFWs, and now they are available for download!

After the update to 2.2, in early 2014, Rahim-US has updated Neur0n’s CFW yet another time. This time to revision 2.3!

The 3 most noteworthy changes will be explained below.

The first big feature is still in beta, but adds the support for the PRO Online mode. This pretty much enables you to use the adhoc multiplayer function of games via the Internet, which basically turns the adhoc multiplayer into an online multiplayer, similar to services as XlinkKai and Hamachi.

You do have to download the additional 6.xx Pro Online files (for ME/LME CFW) to use the Online mode on your PSP running the newest revision of the ME/LME CFW, as these (optional) files are not shipped with the firmware files themselves.

The second important feature is the support for the .DAX file format. The CFW is now able to read and play PSP games that were converted into the .DAX ISO-format.

The .DAX format is smaller than the .CSO format, but has better loading times. So it is pretty much ‘a better CSO (compressed ISO) format, than .CSO itself’.

A handy converter can be downloaded below (Windows only?!).
An alternative tool that can convert into .DAX is the UMDGEN 4.0 tool.

The fastest loading times are still obtained with the good old .ISO format, but those also have a bigger file size. What do you prefer? Fast but big, or slower but smaller?

Last but not least is the support for unlocked memory for PSP games. Previously only homebrews were able to access the extra memory, that the PSP 2000 (and newer) have, if the homebrews requested it.

With this 2.3/10.3 revision update, the extra memory can also be unlocked for PSP games, which should shorten loading times and make things a bit smoother!

Oh, and the TimeMachine software, which lets you boot PSP (C)FWs from the memory stick via a Pandora battery, has also received an update. It now is capable of installing and booting the 6.60 OFW & 6.60 ME-2.3 CFW.

If you are still using your good ol’ PSP, why don’t update it to the most versatile and pretty much best CFW the scene can offer? The 6.xx ME/LME CFW!

Download: 6.20 ME-2.3, 6.20 ME-2.3 (OFW Version) & 6.20 LME-2.3 CFW.
Download: 6.39 ME-10.3, 6.39 ME-10.3 (OFW Version) & 6.39 LME-10.3 CFW.
Download: 6.60 ME-2.3, 6.60 ME-2.3 (OFW Version) & 6.60 LME-2.3 CFW.

Download: 6.xx Online mode files.
Download: 6.xx DAX file format converter.
Download: 6.60 ME.2.3 TimeMachine installer.

Source via Rahim-US.

The latest PSP firmware update, system software 6.60, had been released in August 2011… That was pretty much 3½ years ago.

Today the PSP firmware 6.61 has been released and is available for PSP & PSP Go.

While this seems to be a bad joke, it actually isn’t one.

We are currently investigating the firmware changes, and will update you, when we have the answers to the most questions.

It has been confirmed that the old dusty 6.60 XMB HBL for the PSP is not working anymore, but any build of the VHBLs are working fine on 6.61.

Fake_np and Sign_np signed games are also working on version 6.61. The same applies to signed Homebrews.

The currently untested things are the ME CFW, LME CFW, PRO CFW, 6.6x HEN and the downgrader.

All these listed programs have a firmware detection build-in, and therefore refuse to operate on firmware 6.61 (as of now).

A simply rewrite of the CFW installer will show if the software (“as is”) is still compatible with firmware 6.61, or if it has to be tweaked to fit the firmware 6.61.

Rumours say that the game “Brandish: The Dark Revenant” is the cause for the 6.61 FW Update. The game will be available on the PSN as PSP game for the PS Vita (TV) and PSP (Go) and apparently requires PSP firmware 6.61 or PS Vita firmware 3.36.

As of now we suggest you to not update to PSP firmware 6.61 yet, at least not until the downgrader and the CFWs are working on 6.61.

Just a few days ago a new PSP firmware, version 6.61, has been released by Sony.

After taking the firmware apart, we were able to check if the firmware 6.61 patches the 6.60 exploits…

And it does not. All the signed content is still working (Homebrews, fake signed ISOs, sign_np signed ISOs) and so is the HBL, at least if you use the VHBL builds, instead of the old 6.60 XMB HBL build.

The most important things, the Custom Firmwares and the downgrader, are, as of now, not working on firmware 6.61.

But dont worry, it does not look like that the firmware 6.61 changed that much, which therefore means that the CFWs can easily be updated for firmware 6.61.

Through a few dirty tricks it is possible to install a cIPL CFW (those for the PSP 1000s & non-88v3 2000s) on firmware 6.61 as of now, but it is worth to mention that the 6.60 CFWs are not fully working on firmware 6.61.

The custom firmwares are currently being updated for the new firmware 6.61, so that a properly working 6.61 CFW can be released in near future.

It is currently unknown if the downgrader will be updated for firmware 6.61, but we think that someone will do it, eventually.

After confirming that the Firmware 6.61 has barely changed (compared to firmware 6.60), developer Qwikrazor has updated the PRO CFW (partly) and the 6.60 Downgrader (once again, partly) to support the firmware 6.61.

The ME & LME CFWs are currently being updated as well.

If you ask why I wrote partly behind the PRO CFW and Downgrader, then you’re asking the right questions.

At first the PRO CFW: I said partly because Qwikrazor did not update the cIPL Installer for the PRO CFW (only supports PSP 1000s & non-88v3 2000s), which means there is not “full CFW” for firmware 6.61 as of now.

PRO CFW should properly work as a temporary CFW on any PSP (be it a 1000, 2000, any of the different 3000s, an E1000 or the Go), though.

Now about the downgrader. The downgrader is capable of downgrading PSPs from firmware 6.61 to a lower firmware, but it is currently not capable of downgrading from 6.61 to 6.60.

You will have to downgrade to 6.39 and then update to 6.60, if you really want to return to firmware 6.60.

Since the PSP E1000 can only install the firmwares (6.50 as pre-installed, no installer available) 6.60 and 6.61, and the downgrader can not downgrade to 6.60, it (the PSP E1000) is currently not supported by the 6.61 downgrader.

Thats pretty much it. We expect that the PRO CFW cIPL Flasher will be fixed in the future, and a newer version of the downgrader be available soon~ish.

If you prefer the ME or LME CFW, then be patient, since it is already being updated to firmware 6.61. No words about the 6.60 HEN, though.

The 6.61 PRO-C CFW and 6.61 downgrader can be downloaded via our forums.