• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PSP Custom Firmware Thread

spineduke

Unconfirmed Member
Allan Holdsworth said:
Got a CFW (5.00 M33-6) PSP-2000 the other day.
Anyway, some n00b questions:
1. Should I set the CPU speed in UMD/ISO mode to 333MHz? Any real benefits?
2. Best PDF reader?
3. Any way to play music files in FLAC format (too lazy to convert)?


- Sure, better framerate and load times. Some games automatically default to 333 (like GoW)
- Bookr Mod
- LightMP3
 

RuGalz

Member
lowrider007 said:
That's what I was planning but that's alot of money just to keep a CFW psp going when mine is perfectly fine with a bigger screen and similar battery life.

Ummmmm, decisions decisions, I think I'll try holding off until the Go is released to see if they add a lot more content to the store, if they do I'll drop the CFW.

To me, PSPGo is worth the price tag - fell in love with it after trying it out at E3, especially I only have the PSP1000.
I'm kinda banking on there will be decent PSPGo sales this holiday season because 1) it's not going to move massive number of units 2) retailers (esp online ones) will be willing to cut some profit margin to make money in this economy.
 
spindoc said:
- Sure, better framerate and load times. Some games automatically default to 333 (like GoW)
- Bookr Mod
- LightMP3

Thanks!

(though, on second thought, I'll have to convert to mp3 if I want to fit more than a few albums on my 4GB stick)
 
Question guys:

I'm thinking about getting a PSP this fall and I'm trying to figure out which model to buy. I don't want a Go, and I want something that runs homebrew and emulators well. I remember reading that the 3000 hasn't been hacked yet - is that still true? I don't want to buy an original PSP to do such a thing.

Sorry if that's too vague a question - I realize things are complicated to answer for these kinds of topics.
 

LegatoB

Member
BrandNew said:
Question guys:

I'm thinking about getting a PSP this fall and I'm trying to figure out which model to buy. I don't want a Go, and I want something that runs homebrew and emulators well. I remember reading that the 3000 hasn't been hacked yet - is that still true? I don't want to buy an original PSP to do such a thing.

Sorry if that's too vague a question - I realize things are complicated to answer for these kinds of topics.
My understanding is that on some models of the 3000, on a particular official firmware version (wanna say 5.03, but don't quote me), it's possible to use an exploit to boot into CFW. The problem is that since the model hasn't been fully hacked, every time you shut down the PSP, you'll be bumped back into OFW and will have to boot into CFW again. If, like me, you just leave your PSP in sleep mode all the time and charge it when it's low, this is probably not a huge issue, but I'm not sure how common 3000 models running the firmware you need are. It's not currently possible to downgrade the 3000, as far as I know, so you might end up paying a premium for it.

Your other choices are reliable old 1000 -- yeah, I know -- and earlier 2000s, but since it's been quite some time since unhackable 2000s hit the market, you'd almost certainly pay a premium for those.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Later 2000s and 3000s cannot have CFW perma-flashed, like 1000s and early 2000s can.
But as mentioned above, if they're at 5.03 or below, you can exploit a flaw in 5.03 in order to temporarily load CFW, until the next shutdown. You get MOST of the benefits of CFW, just with a certain increase in hassle-factor. I think there might be some plugin/compatibility issues, but I could be wrong. Not having a later 2000 or 3000, I never fully bothered to educate myself. Currently, if your uncrack-able 2000 or 3000 is above 5.03, I don't think there's anything you can do.

As for those contemplating ditching CFW in favor of more modern OFW, I do believe there is a better solution for you. But again, this only applies to older 1000s and 2000s. I've not done it yet, as it's too much of a hassle for me (I plan on waiting for CFW 6.00 XYZ). But I'm pretty sure you can set up your PSP to use a Pandora as its primary battery. Some Pandora menus have a "test CFW" option that, if what I've read is correct, can allow you to load a temporary CFW instance from the memory stick, not like what those with newer 2000s and 3000s use today, while retaining an official Sony firmware installed to their PSP's flash. If my understanding is correct, a normal boot up = stock PSP firmware of your choice (6.00 at this point, obviously), whereas using the Pandora's alternate loader, you can run a CFW instance.

It's a bit of a hack, but it seems like a decent compromise until CFW "catches up." Though admittedly, I can't say I know all of the details, myself.
Again, this would only apply to PSPs that can actually be cracked by a Pandora battery.
 

vanguardian1

poor, homeless and tasteless
Is there a good HTML viewer that can easily open files already on the psp? (the regular browser requires you to manually input the complete directory/filename for each document, I'm looking for something better) or even a good text viewer?
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
xero273 said:
i think japanese version does. US version requires 5.55.

That is correct. There's a dude over at the pspripkits website trying to get the US version working by hacking in some JP files. He was actually making decent progress before he hit a stumbling block earlier today or yesterday. He put a call out for help for those more technically minded.
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
Hi there.

I've been putting this day off for a good while, and now it's time.

I really want to buy a PSP. However, i live in a country were PSPs are not readily available. Also, Amazon doesn't ship down here (so i can't just go to amazon and order the Daxter Limited Edition pack and be done with it).

So, in other words, I'm looking for some information on which versions of PSP are pandora-compatible. I could only come up with is that a PSP Slim with TA-88v3 motherboard revision (or newer) aren't pandora compatible.

What I'm wondering is if there's any way to find out which mobo version a PSP has by looking only at it's serial numbers. I'm planning on buying a used one off ebay (cheaper, since i'm mostly interested in the homebrew aspects of it, and no box, for cheaper shipping rates).

From what i gathered reading this thread and other threads, The Daxter Pack is the safest bet. Newest, piano black 2000 PSPs, there's a chance the mobo will be of the newer ones. Are all Silver 2000 PSPs safe?

Literally, what I'm looking for is a quick guide on how to identify a pandora-compatible PSP.

Thanks for all the help.
 
drizzle said:
Hi there.

I've been putting this day off for a good while, and now it's time.

I really want to buy a PSP. However, i live in a country were PSPs are not readily available. Also, Amazon doesn't ship down here (so i can't just go to amazon and order the Daxter Limited Edition pack and be done with it).

So, in other words, I'm looking for some information on which versions of PSP are pandora-compatible. I could only come up with is that a PSP Slim with TA-88v3 motherboard revision (or newer) aren't pandora compatible.

What I'm wondering is if there's any way to find out which mobo version a PSP has by looking only at it's serial numbers. I'm planning on buying a used one off ebay (cheaper, since i'm mostly interested in the homebrew aspects of it, and no box, for cheaper shipping rates).

From what i gathered reading this thread and other threads, The Daxter Pack is the safest bet. Newest, piano black 2000 PSPs, there's a chance the mobo will be of the newer ones. Are all Silver 2000 PSPs safe?

Literally, what I'm looking for is a quick guide on how to identify a pandora-compatible PSP.

Thanks for all the help.

The last "definitely Pandora-able" PSPs I know of are the God of War ones. If you can find one of them, you'll definitely be set.
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
I'm just literally wondering if there are Silver 2000 series PSPs not compatible with pandora. I found a couple Silver PSPs for sale on ebay (guys ships internationally and everything), and i can't find PSPs series 2000 that come in silvero ther than the Daxter ones.

I'll keep looking.
 

EGM92

Member
Yes there are silvers that are not compatible. I've dealt with a couple of them, I made a pandora battery from my Fat, put it into both silvers, wouldn't recognize the battery, no LED powering on. I put it into my White starwars PSP and it booted up the Pandora battery menu. So there are units in the 2000 range that will not work with the pandora battery, TA-088v3 Mobo units were the ones giving me problems.
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
Back when i was following PSP Homebrew closely, i remember people preferring the 2000 series to the 1000 because of the extra RAM the PSP has to work with things (if i remember correctly, that extra ram was mostly used for caching of UMD data).

Does that still holds true to this day? As in, homebrew uses that extra ram?
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Yep. Some emulators (NeoGeo comes to mind) use the extra RAM to improve playback or reduce loads times, or some such. Dark-Alex produced an experimental save state plugin for his custom firmware that requires the extra RAM. Newer versions of IRShell better allow you to multitask by loading two homebrew programs/applications at once, each within its own 32MB RAM block. (Original PSP had 32MBs, newer PSPs have 64MBs). Etc.

Edit - Definitely get a crack-able PSP 2000 if possible. Between the improved specs, smaller/thinner form factor, better buttons, much better screen, etc., it's a vast improvement over the 1000.
 

drizzle

Axel Hertz
Mejilan said:
Edit - Definitely get a crack-able PSP 2000 if possible. Between the improved specs, smaller/thinner form factor, better buttons, much better screen, etc., it's a vast improvement over the 1000.
Yes, with the amount of homebrew support the PSP has, i figured it would be the better chcoie.

Now, to find one that's for sale, at a reasonable price, where the seller ships it internationally and is willing to ship without a box.. :D
 
Try retailers from HK, most of the time they have a few 2000s in stock, I know gaming scene there so there's always a lot of interest in cracked PSPs :D . You can negotiate everything with them, they will ship it without the box, mark it down, probably throw a memory stick in there too.
 
Hey guys, got 5.00m33 running on my 2000. I want to upgrade to m33-6, but the update says it's already at the latest version..

I've checked the recovery menu, but that says it's using the m33 network too.. Any thoughts on what it might be?
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Pretty sure that Dark-Alex took down his network update quite some time ago.
Just download the 5.00 M33-6 standalone update and manually apply it yourself.
Shouldn't take more than a few seconds to patch.
 
Mejilan said:
Pretty sure that Dark-Alex took down his network update quite some time ago.
Just download the 5.00 M33-6 standalone update and manually apply it yourself.
Shouldn't take more than a few seconds to patch.
Thanks, that did the trick. No 6.00 available yet..?
 
Recently the functions of "O" and "X" have reversed when I use my home button. I think I installed something that made the PSP think it was Japanese or something. It's more consistent with homebrew now but I'm still not really used to it for my PSP games and I'd like to change it back if possible. Anyone have any ideas?
 
I had hoped progress on a CFW 6.00 would be a little more swift than this. Its looking more and more likely I'm gonna have to go back to official firmware at this rate :/
 

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
SecretBonusPoint said:
I had hoped progress on a CFW 6.00 would be a little more swift than this. Its looking more and more likely I'm gonna have to go back to official firmware at this rate :/

Just wait, if not a proper CFW, there'll be workarounds just around the corner. The mod community grows impatient if it can't play new games, so you know it's inevitable.

Just don't give in to the darkside and return to OFW. You may never return.
 
Dani said:
Just don't give in to the darkside and return to OFW. You may never return.

Is that true? I'm on a PSP 1000, and was kinda hoping even if I "upgraded" to OFW I'd be okay to just pandora battery the bastard back into submission when CFW ever came about? Is that not the case?

Hell, I don't even have a Pandora battery since I custom'd mine with the GTA trick way back when :D

My personal "timer" is really until all these PSP Mini's and stuff start hitting like LocoRoco Midnight Carnival and Thexder NEO. DA can snort all he wants at the 'minor upgrades' but a whole new range of software is coming out that CFW users wont have access to at all.
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
The only situation I go back is when the MGS Peace Walker demo is released. Then it's pandora'd back to CFW.
 

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
As far as I am aware, older 2000 and all 1000 can pandora'ed one way or the other. If you have an older unit and confirmed it doesn't have the newer 2000/3000 motherboard, you are fine.
 

toneroni

Member
Just updated my psp phat to 5.50 Gen B2

Wow i was coming off of the olddd 3.51 m33. This stuff looks great.
Any reason I should upgrade my psp to the 2000?

Do we really need the extra ram for the usb-video out thing?
Thanks for the advice

Also...what kinda cool stuff can I do with this now?
Any list of great plugins/software? :D
 

xero273

Member
SecretBonusPoint said:
Is that true? I'm on a PSP 1000, and was kinda hoping even if I "upgraded" to OFW I'd be okay to just pandora battery the bastard back into submission when CFW ever came about? Is that not the case?

Hell, I don't even have a Pandora battery since I custom'd mine with the GTA trick way back when :D

My personal "timer" is really until all these PSP Mini's and stuff start hitting like LocoRoco Midnight Carnival and Thexder NEO. DA can snort all he wants at the 'minor upgrades' but a whole new range of software is coming out that CFW users wont have access to at all.

You can pandora battery back to CFW. I think the CFW community is waiting until PSPgo comes out before releasing a new CFW. BTW, I think you can make your own pandora battery, I'm not sure how, but some nice soul in this thread can probably give you a guide.
 
xero273 said:
You can pandora battery back to CFW. I think the CFW community is waiting until PSPgo comes out before releasing a new CFW. BTW, I think you can make your own pandora battery, I'm not sure how, but some nice soul in this thread can probably give you a guide.
If you want a temporary pandora, you can make one in the VSH menu on GEN B and I'm pretty sure on M33-6 as well. If not, you can install the Advanced VSH menu plugin to make one. Then you would have to play it plugged it or with a normal battery until you're ready to go back to CFW.
 

xero273

Member
LovingSteam said:
PSP-1000 here on 5.00 m336. What do I need for 5.50 gen? What benefits does it bring? Is it as smooth as DAs cfw?

It allows you to play games that require 5.50 FW. But if you don't need to do that then I suggest just waiting for 6.00 CFW.
 
LovingSteam said:
PSP-1000 here on 5.00 m336. What do I need for 5.50 gen? What benefits does it bring? Is it as smooth as DAs cfw?
You need to upgrade to GEN A then to GEN B, it's important that you dont skip A. The only perk in my opinion is that it allows access to PSN, something which I don't use. It also doesn't have the 1.5 kernel yet, so if you got 1.5 homebrew, it won't work.
 

toneroni

Member
Can i go back to m33 from 5.50 Gen B? My Crisis Core save file isnt working :/
Also i like my emulators (which are based on 1.5 kernel or no?)

ANy help is appreciated. I just want to finish up crisis core. Do i have to downgrade again for that? (i backed up the save files beforehand)
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Try using the Savegame Deemer homebrew to restore your Crisis Chore save.
I'm pretty sure every important emulator under the sun got a kernel 3.xx (or higher) update in the past few years. Try searching out updated emus.

Also, if you're going to stick with 5.50 Gen, make sure you're using 5.50 Gen-B2, as it has improved homebrew compatibility, including emus, or so I've read.
 

MechaX

Member
xero273 said:
You can pandora battery back to CFW. I think the CFW community is waiting until PSPgo comes out before releasing a new CFW. BTW, I think you can make your own pandora battery, I'm not sure how, but some nice soul in this thread can probably give you a guide.

I would presume everything on the memory stick stays in one piece until you use the pandora again, unless the OFW goes around deleting all ISOs and such. I'm asking because Persona PSP comes out tomorrow and the CFW scene has been rather sluggish ever since 5.55.
 

toneroni

Member
Mejilan said:
Try using the Savegame Deemer homebrew to restore your Crisis Chore save.
I'm pretty sure every important emulator under the sun got a kernel 3.xx (or higher) update in the past few years. Try searching out updated emus.

Also, if you're going to stick with 5.50 Gen, make sure you're using 5.50 Gen-B2, as it has improved homebrew compatibility, including emus, or so I've read.
THanks Mejilan..was hoping you'd chime in. :D
Okay i'll try it and stick with 5.50 Gen B2 for a bit since its so fresh and new looking :p

Any good programs/emus you (or anyone else) recommend?
I've been out of the CFW game for a long time.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
riskVSreward said:
I can't believe all of the bellyachers who want to go back to OFW. It's like taking your PSP and cutting off all of it's extremities.

I never said that I would be turning my CFW PSP to OFW.

My strategy is to have a CFW PSP and to buy another one for Official Firmware (in the future).
 
Top Bottom