Gaming Buying a PSP Slim and have region/mod questions

[zelgadis]

Hello~
Sorry I know there are other topics like this to some degree. I have read most of those but information is always different depending on the users situation or where they live.

So heres the lowdown:

I am intending to buy a new/used psp slim next week (I am located in japan)
---Psp menu can be changed language wise right? I saw in a video once some one change from spanish to english i believe. Is that option also there for japanese > english or english > japanese?
------How is region encoding? I cant play US psp umds? Not a big problem as I expect to use custom firmware.
----------Will custom firmware have a problem if i am using a japanese psp?

---What is a reliable site to get full instructions and the tools for the magic stick card trick? I am afraid of getting a fake source and being bricked or something.

---I am thinking of getting a 2gb mem card because 4 would be $50 right?

Thanks in advance

 

[seren]

1. Yes, you can change between japanese and english.
2. Games are region free. Some UMD movies however are region locked.
3. No problems.

 

[thieves like us]

like the ds, the psp is region-free (with regards to games), so it doesn't matter which region system you have, you'll be able to purchase and play games from any region. additionally, both of the systems give you the ability to choose between 6-8 languages to display all of the pertenant information in.

the psp is region locked for umd movies (from the major studios only). however, with custom firmware installed, you can override the region and eliminate this issue.

if you know someone who has an older "phat" psp, you can create the files necessary for the magic memory stick and then just purchase a "TOOL" (aka pandora) battery from a reputable store/site. datel's store site even sells one for about $20.

check around on pricing of the memory stick pro duo's. I picked up the 4GB sandisk gaming one for $20 here in the states about 3 months ago. just make sure that you're purchasing them from a reputable dealer and don't get stuck with [fake] memory stick.

www.dark-alex.org is the place to get all of the files necessary to flash your system and install the cfw (custom firmware). check threads on maxconsole.net for more detailed installation instructions.

 

[hybridkit]

I am using a japanese PSP with CFW , so no problem.

For the magic stick, try this website.

2GB is fine if you have a budget, you can always compress ISO to CSO file to save space.

 

[zelgadis]

if you know someone who has an older "phat" psp, you can create the files necessary for the magic memory stick and then just purchase a "TOOL" (aka pandora) battery from a reputable store/site. datel's store site even sells one for about $20.

So wait i need two batteries no matter what? I thought i could just buy the tool/pandora battery and use that....? I know some one here that has a phat psp. I am sort of confused with this step.

Also thanks a lot so far to the people who have replied

Cleared up a lot so far!!

 

[zelgadis]

Oh also, while I am at it. Do I need to keep this memory stick? As i would expect to use this one for my games and such. So do i just format it after im done? And after this can I still download skype to use on the slim after its modded?

 

[hanman]

if you know someone who has an older "phat" psp, you can create the files necessary for the magic memory stick and then just purchase a "TOOL" (aka pandora) battery from a reputable store/site. datel's store site even sells one for about $20.

So wait i need two batteries no matter what? I thought i could just buy the tool/pandora battery and use that....? I know some one here that has a phat psp. I am sort of confused with this step.

Also thanks a lot so far to the people who have replied

Cleared up a lot so far!!


you actually only need one battery. you can turn your battery into a Pandora's battery and use that to flash your PSP (i think some recent slim batteries can't be hard modded). then, you install Dark_Alex's Time Machine, and you can use your Pandora's battery as a regular battery. if you do it right, you can turn your modded battery back into a regular battery. optimally, you'll want to have one regular battery, and one Pandora's battery, but i've been getting along fine with one.

QUOTE(zelgadis @ Jun 3 2008, 10:07 AM)

Oh also, while I am at it. Do I need to keep this memory stick? As i would expect to use this one for my games and such. So do i just format it after im done? And after this can I still download skype to use on the slim after its modded?

you can format your memory stick and use it normally if you want. you can always remake it if you have to. and skype is part of the CFW, so you don't have to download it.

 

[zelgadis]

I thought the pandora battery was only needed to install the firmware at first. So why would I need it later on?

 

[IBNobody]

Games may not be region locked, but they may fail to run properly on PSPs with different native region codes. (Even with M33's fake region, they fail.)

One good example is Star Wars: Lethal Alliance (EU). It will not run properly on USA PSPs. It gives error messages instead of normal text in dialog boxes. Apparently, it's trying to reference language data based on the PSP's region, and there are no USA data files in the EU version.

 

[zelgadis]

Thanks also IBNobody, thats pretty important to know

. I am still confused on the battery thing though, from what I thought I understood you just need the spare to use it temporarily and can return it back to its normal form after that.....but above post says you need another with the spare? So that is why i am confused.



Edit: So i dont have another post:

I have seen or read things about backing up nand files? What is this? Something to prevent bricking or if bricking occurs so i can get back to my original firmware? So i guess question is what is it, and where, how?

 

[IBNobody]

Thanks also IBNobody, thats pretty important to know

. I am still confused on the battery thing though, from what I thought I understood you just need the spare to use it temporarily and can return it back to its normal form after that.....but above post says you need another with the spare? So that is why i am confused.



Edit: So i dont have another post:

I have seen or read things about backing up nand files? What is this? Something to prevent bricking or if bricking occurs so i can get back to my original firmware? So i guess question is what is it, and where, how?

You should buy a battery keep it set up as a Pandora battery. You should also keep a memory stick set up as a Magic Memory Stick. That way, if your NAND flash gets corrupted, you can always pop in your Pandora battery and stick and reprogram your PSP. It happened to me. My flash0 partition table got scrambled, preventing my PSP from booting up. I had a Pandora battery, but I didn't have a pre-made MMS (or a MSProDuo USB reader to create one). I was shut down for a day or two because of it.

As far as backing up your NAND flash, there are plenty of guides on that. A tool for this is included in the UPMS (google it). DesCem also has a NAND flash backup utility. You want to make a NAND flash backup in case your NAND flash gets corrupted. You don't have to use this backup (usually) to fix NAND flash problems, but it's good to have.

 

[Pyrofyr]

Agreed.

As for the Pandora battery, if you know someone with a modded PSP you can use a program to "Pandorize" the battery supposedly, so if you have a friend you don't need to worry at all.

Otherwise, it's nice to have a spare TOOL battery just in case.

You don't really need the NAND flash backup, but it's highly preferred. It's rare that you'll be bricked to the point where you need that, most of the time you can unbrick without too much of a problem, but if the point does come, it's nice to have thought ahead.