Hacking [OLD!] PS3 "jailbreak" F.A.Q.

[PlayStation 3]

Cyan pwns at teh internetz and PS3?

Yes.

 

[Cyan]

I don't pwns

I'm only reading a lot before asking questions.

I'm trying to help users, but I can't test everything myself, so half my informations are only based on other user's report.
I don't like giving half-verified information, but I can't help it as I don't have 3.50, Phat, downgrade, other dongle, etc.
So many different possibilities and software/hardware combinations.

I only have a Slim 3.41, without PSN account.
Never downgraded, and I don't want to try until it's really safe.

 

[DaMummy]

ok riddle me this cyan, this Blood Drive game, its not bles nor blus, its MRTC00011, wtf is up with that? anything particular i do with it? and whats the difference between these and the bles/blus?

 

[fattest]

sorry if any/all of this has been covered before, quite a lot to read in this thread. i am familiar with wii softmodding but new to ps3 jailbreaking. i just ordered a new ps3 and want to jailbreak it with my ipod mini 2g and i have a few questions.

1. once i install the "rockbox" to the mini, does it lose any functionality or can i continue using it as normal?
2. does the rockbox contain all the necessary homebrew apps to play games off the internal or external hd?
3. is the rockbox capable of downgrading the ps3 firmware? is it still necessary or do the jailbreaks work with newer firmware?
4. if i choose to use an external fat32 hd, is there any workaround for the 4gb limit like there is for the wii (splitting the image into 4gb parts)?
5. finally, can jailbreaking using this method brick either the ps3 or the ipod?

any help is much appreciated.

 

[DaMummy]

1. it gains functionality, unfortunately its not rockbox itself that jailbreaks it, but a psgroove implementation into rock box that does it, causing rockbox to not work as an mp3 player anymore.
2. no as said in 1, rockbox doesnt do it, its psgroove that actually enables homebrew apps to install/load/run, once youre in debug mode, you need to install your desires apps(backup manager or homebrew)
3. psgroove on rockbox can downgrade from 3.5, but is incapable of downgrading from 3.55 to my knowledge(research before downgrade as its known to remove blu ray playability)
4. no there are no workarounds, games with files larger then 4gb can only be played on internal(if you need help with this, ask away)
5. yes any modification CAN brick either system, but highly unlikely, as same as wii, dont unplug or lose power when youre doing important stuff like installing firmwares

 

[fattest]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I mistakenly interchanged "rockbox" with "psgroove". Once psgroove is installed, can it be uninstalled and restore the Apple OS on the iPod? On another forum I saw a custom loader which gives the option to use "Apple OS" "iPodLinux" "Rockbox" "PSGroove" "Disk Mode" "Sleep" -- is this safe to use?

 

[DaMummy]

i on my sansa i can easily remove psgroove and rockbox from it and install a sandisk firmware, but once you try rockbox, you wont want to go back to apple firmware, i just with rockbox supported my zune :{ as i hate the zune firmware

 

[Cyan]

FIRST : Ipod Nano2g doesn't work, sorry

Then, if you manage to get a compatible device :

PSGroove is a modified Rockbox Firmware. It disable the USB HDD access functionality to create USB Hub emulation for PS3 jailbreaking.

If you replace the original rockbox firmware with a PSGroove patched one, then you will need to use the disk mode to connect the device to a computer and access the stored files again.
Disk mode is an hardware mode from Apple (and other devices?) to access the files on the device.


What I recommend :
Don't replace the Rockbox firmware. (so, when you boot your device, the official rockbox firmware is loaded and you can use it as a fully functional audio player device)
instead, create a folder at the root of your device (ex. PS3)
in that folder, place all the PSGroove firmware you may need and rename the files to something more recognizable (hermesv4b.ipod, PL3+PSN.ipod, etc.)

Then, when you want to jailbreak your console, just use the file browser of the rockbox firmware, navigate to the PS3 folder and select the firmware you want to reload into.
When you want to return to official rockbox firmware, either reset the device or select the .rockbox/rockbox.ipod file to reboot into.

For more detail, check the tutorial I made on WikiTemp :
http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/PSGroove_Rockbox
Installation, part3


About your questions :
Rockbox can be uninstalled (but you would never want to return to Apple!). Use the Rockbox installer, there's a menu to uninstall rockbox.
Note that the original Apple firmware is not deleted, it's just a multi-boot device. hold nothing -> rockbox, hold menu+select -> disk mode, switchON and put the lock switch to Lock state -> load the Apple firmware, etc.
There's a way to modify that key combination, and decide to boot Apple firmware by default, and load rockbox with a key combination.


About the menu loader you saw, it is safe to use.
It just replace the official firmware by a menu firmware, and use a config file to link the menu content to actual firmware files. When you select one from the list, it actually reboot into the selected firmware.

I don't like that menu, as I'm using the device as my main audio player, I like the fact that it auto-resume the last played song when I power ON my iPod.
I prefer my method of rebooting into the PSGroove firmware manually when needed.

 

[fattest]

Hello.

FIRST : Ipod Nano2g doesn't work, sorry

I'm using Mini 2G not Nano 2G. As per most of the device compatibility lists I've seen, Mini 2G works. Can you verify this?

QUOTE(Cyan @ Dec 23 2010, 03:47 PM)

Spoiler

PSGroove is a modified Rockbox Firmware. It disable the USB HDD access functionality to create USB Hub emulation for PS3 jailbreaking.

If you replace the original rockbox firmware with a PSGroove patched one, then you will need to use the disk mode to connect the device to a computer and access the stored files again.
Disk mode is an hardware mode from Apple (and other devices?) to access the files on the device.


What I recommend :
Don't replace the Rockbox firmware. (so, when you boot your device, the official rockbox firmware is loaded and you can use it as a fully functional audio player device)
instead, create a folder at the root of your device (ex. PS3)
in that folder, place all the PSGroove firmware you may need and rename the files to something more recognizable (hermesv4b.ipod, PL3+PSN.ipod, etc.)

Then, when you want to jailbreak your console, just use the file browser of the rockbox firmware, navigate to the PS3 folder and select the firmware you want to reload into.
When you want to return to official rockbox firmware, either reset the device or select the .rockbox/rockbox.ipod file to reboot into.

For more detail, check the tutorial I made on WikiTemp :
http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/PSGroove_Rockbox
Installation, part3

About your questions :
Rockbox can be uninstalled (but you would never want to return to Apple!). Use the Rockbox installer, there's a menu to uninstall rockbox.
Note that the original Apple firmware is not deleted, it's just a multi-boot device. hold nothing -> rockbox, hold menu+select -> disk mode, switchON and put the lock switch to Lock state -> load the Apple firmware, etc.
There's a way to modify that key combination, and decide to boot Apple firmware by default, and load rockbox with a key combination.


About the menu loader you saw, it is safe to use.
It just replace the official firmware by a menu firmware, and use a config file to link the menu content to actual firmware files. When you select one from the list, it actually reboot into the selected firmware.

I don't like that menu, as I'm using the device as my main audio player, I like the fact that it auto-resume the last played song when I power ON my iPod.
I prefer my method of rebooting into the PSGroove firmware manually when needed.

Thanks for all the info, cleared up a lot of uncertainties. I'll give the jailbreak a try once the ps3 arrives.

 

[DaMummy]

can someone point me in the direction of a good tutorial on how to get 3.42 games to work on jb, and some other games, like how to edit the psram and whatnot, games like medal of honor, demons soul, assasins creed 2, etc

 

[Cyan]

oh, sorry, I misread nano 2G.
Mini 2G works perfectly fine

about the 3.42 games, they needed param sfo editing first, but I think it's not needed anymore.
Gaia manager is auto-patching the param sfo in memory. I think you need (or needed ?) a peek&poke compatible payload. So try either Hermes or PL3 NoUnAuth.


I don't know any tutorial, sorry

I remember vaguely that some games needed the patched mode to transfer the game to internal or install the game data.

Assassin creed 2 needs 3.42 ? it's working fine on my 3.41 with Gaia. I didn't have to do anything (normal mode, no patch enabled).

For medal of Honor, just install the game to HDD. Then download the retail PSN update and install it. Then you should be able to launch the game.
Before Gaia did the sfo-patching, after installing the psn update you had to use ftp server to retrieved the param.sfo file, and edit it with paramsfo editor to replace 3.42 to 3.41

Sorry, I don't know more about these games. just try to find older posts on other forums (look when the game was launched, and when gaia added the patching function).

 

[DaMummy]

ok im just now installing the updates to all my games, see how that works, and i didnt know that param update thing didnt belonged with gaia, i thought it was a psn or game thing, since i switched to amazebreak, i might have to look around a little bit try different bin update files they provide, see which ones are which payload and what works. on a sidenote, is there some way for the bd to stay in ps3 all the time, every time i boot it up in jb mode, it ejects the damn disc cause i have to press eject after power, and its kind of annoying

 

[DaMummy]

i cant for the life of me get medal of honor to work, i thought i had it this time, it even upgraded to 1.02 by itself online, then came the game installation process and its not going back 0% :{

 

[Magus]

umm sorry maybe this isn't the best place to ask but i might as well ask here....

i'm thinking of buying either a 360 or a PS3 for christmas with the intent of spending as little as possible and going trough less "jailbreaks" pain as possible... so what's my cheapest and quicker alternative? i seems to understand that currently recent PS3 games wouldn't run because they require the last firmware but other than that is there anything i should know?

 

[shaosam]

Thanks to a ton of googling and forum lurking i have successfully downgraded from 3.5 to 3.41 and am running game rips and an SNES emulator successfully. However there i still something I don't quite understand. How do you apply patches and updates to games? I'm assuming you can't just run the game and update the game like you would normally.

On http://store.brewology.com/updates.php?letters=qrst there are links to game updates in .pkg format....do I just install these .pkg files after I have transferred my game over?

 

[Cyan]

Yes, download the .pkg, put the file at the root of a FAT32 external drive and install it from the "install package" menu.

These updates are retail and official (legal too).
Some games may need the debug update (Disgaea 3 for example), which (I think) aren't legal to distribute

umm sorry maybe this isn't the best place to ask but i might as well ask here....

i'm thinking of buying either a 360 or a PS3 for christmas with the intent of spending as little as possible and going trough less "jailbreaks" pain as possible... so what's my cheapest and quicker alternative? i seems to understand that currently recent PS3 games wouldn't run because they require the last firmware but other than that is there anything i should know?

You can downgrade 3.50 firmware to 3.41 (though, I don't know if you can downgrade bellow the initial factory installed firmware).

Users have reported that new non-downgrade PS3 are being sold.
PS3 model CECH-251.A and CECH-251.B
There are not a lot of informations about it for the moment. Sony may have changed the way their JIG key are working on newer manufactured consoles.


QUOTE(DaMummy @ Dec 24 2010, 03:10 AM) i cant for the life of me get medal of honor to work, i thought i had it this time, it even upgraded to 1.02 by itself online, then came the game installation process and its not going back 0% :{

I think updating by itself is not working fine. Prefer using the "install package" menu (or maybe for MoH it's better to update from the game, I don't know).
Are you using Hermes of PL3 ?
Try PL3 + latest Gaia or latest Open Manager (though, it's not the same game folder).
or Hermes + Patched mode.
I also read something about installing the "installed game data" on the external drive instead of the internal, using Gaia+patched mode. I don't know if it's needed or just an option.

 

[DaMummy]

i do run all my games off internal, i didnt think there would be any games that can run off external but not off internal

 

[Midna]

Okay. Tomorrow I'm buying a PS3 with a burned out laser. It's an old phat model with an outdated firmware, and so should be fully hackable. So um, how do I go about that? What's the most effective dongle I could buy/make? What do i do with it? After I do that, how, specifically, do I run backups? I read the FAQ, but it was kinda general.

 

[kylster]

wait till the ps jailbreak team reveals how to do this w/o a dongle

trust me it'll come soon they just released video of their progress.

 

[Midna]

Ah cool. Glad I'm getting into this just now.