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PSP Homebrew Software!


dogbert

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NOTE - LCVG does not allow or tolerate discussions on how or where to get ROM files for emulators.

 

Some enterprising people have found a way of running unsigned executables on a PSP that doesn't require any nasty hardware mods, 'hot swapping' of memory cards or the like.

 

The only requirement is that your PSP must be v1.50 (the base firmware for the US PSPs).

 

The hack relies on two things - the PSP is capable of running exes from the memory cards and the PSP can't handle a exe file with a bad filename. When it sees the bad filename, it breaks the security. Doh!

 

So, this hack allows you to run homebrew games, applications & most cool of all, emulators. So far, people have released emulators for the NES, SNES, Genesis, PC Engine, SMS, Gameboy Colour, GameBoy Advance and MAME. The older machines run very well, the newer machines (like the SNES, Genesis & GBA) are /much/ slower. Some of the emulators are fairly primitive option wise, some aren't. A lot of emulators allow switching of the PSP's clockspeed upto the full 333MHz, which is nice.

 

MAME is very slow at this point & hasn't been tweaked for the PSP at all.

 

Someone's ported Doom over already. Someone's got a fun Bejewelled clone up & running.

 

To install these, it's as simple as hooking up your PSP to your PC via the USB cable & dragging the emulators over to the GAME folder on the PSP. No hacks, no mods, no nothing. The emulators are fairly small - I've got all of them plus a couple of roms for each on my 32MB card.

 

I wonder when we'll get the first networked game/utility. XBMC for the PSP? :)

 

Link to PSPHacker's emulator pack - note, this site has a TON of popups etc.

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Are there any good reliable sources for 1.50 PSP's now that 1.51 and 1.52 are out? Or possibly a way of telling from the retail box (i.e. serial # sequences) which firmware a PSP will have?

 

Edit: Or are all the retail units 1.50 and you have to have manually upgraded the firmware for 1.51 or 1.52 to be on there?

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I can't help but wonder if Sony left this security flaw in intentionally. Sony hasn't produced cart-based games, and thus doesn't have any easily infringible intellectual property. However, there is definitely some competitive advantage to be had by having your system be capable of playing the main competition's games.

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yea, but sony is also inflicting mandatory firmware updates to close these holes with newer games. Coded Arms requires an update to 1.52 firmware before it will play. Let's see...emulators and other homebrew vs what will likely be a mediocre FPS. Yea, I won't be updating my firmware.

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  • 10 months later...

Well, I haven't turned my PSP on in a few months... but it's still running at 1.5.

 

I just haven't found titles that I want to upgrade the firmware for. I'm not really even doing anything with Homebrew anymore though. I may take a look again in the next couple months and see if anything else interesting is out there.

 

Glen

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I haven't kept up with the homebrew scene in a while, but there have been some HUGE leaps forward in the past few weeks. There is now a usermade custom 2.71 firmware that allows full kernel mode access and runs all 1.00 and 1.50 eboots natively. So basically you have all the benefits of a 1.50 firmware PSP with the updates of 2.71 (RSS, web browser, game compatibility, etc).

 

To install the firmware, you must downgrade to 1.50 using the new downgrader for official 2.71 firmware. Then you can install the 2.71 SE firmware. I went from Sony 2.71 to 2.71 SE in about 30 minutes (it doesn't take that long, but I was very careful about reading everything during the process).

 

Homebrew eBoots now launch directly from the Games menu, no more hassles of using hacked images or going through GTA! Now that I'm using homebrew again, any opinions on what the must-have apps are?

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  • 2 months later...

Another big milestone for the PSP homebrew scene: 3.02 OE-B custom firmware. Like the 2.71 SE firmware, it runs homebrew eboots natively, has all the features of the official 3.02 firmware, and most impressively, Sony's own PSX emulator has been hacked to run any user-supplied PSX ISO image file.

 

More info here: http://pspupdates.qj.net/Dark-AleX-s-3-02-OE-B-released-/pg/49/aid/77278

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I installed that 3.02e firmware hack with no problems on my 1.5 PSP. Haven't tried any PSX games (don't have any), but it's pretty sweet being able to run an ISO without a wacky bootloader. At this point, I'm not interested much in homebrew - I just want to be able to load the few games I own onto a memory stick instead of toting the discs around.

 

I'll say this - if the PS3 is as hackable as the PSP has proven to be, it's going to be a very interesting piece of hardware to own.

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Yes - as dogbert said you'll need 2.80 or lower. PSP are still readily available at retail with the 1.5 firmware for anyone looking. Works very well for me here :) and if you look around at sites that support this firmware, you should be able to find a list of all the PSX games that have been backed-up/tested/verified working under it so far :)

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