Hacking [Release] ARK-4 CFW port for PSP.

[Acid_Snake]

It's a miracle that such an old and outdated format can still work with Inferno.
Expect an update soon!

 

[SkullHex2]

Does this work the other way around? As in, can you disable a plugin on a per-game basis?
Brightness Control is giving me some issues on Vice City Stories and The Simpsons Game, and I'd like to keep it enabled when playing anything else

Bump because of new page
@Acid_Snake

 

[Acid_Snake]

Bump because of new page
@Acid_Snake

Yeah I read this. It would require heavily modifying the way plugins are loaded but it's definitely possible. Will take a look at this when I'm done ironing out other bugs.

 

[SkullHex2]

Yeah I read this. It would require heavily modifying the way plugins are loaded but it's definitely possible. Will take a look at this when I'm done ironing out other bugs.

No worries, just wanted to know if it was already implemented in some way.

One more question:

You can create a SETTINGS.TXT file using the same format as PLUGINS.TXT to enable/disable some CFW functionality on different parts of the system.

Does this mean I can overclock the hardware on a per-game basis?

 

[Acid_Snake]

No worries, just wanted to know if it was already implemented in some way.
One more question:


Does this mean I can overclock the hardware on a per-game basis?

I haven't tried it but it should be possible.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Very early and experimental DAX support:
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/v1646668654

This is buggy so use at your own risk (should not interfere with other formats though).

 

[Acid_Snake]

New release Version 4.9.8:
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/r98

This one adds support for the JISO file format (.jso), an old, forgotten, and mostly obsolete format due to ZSO being far superior. But hey it works pretty well.
It also improves compatibility by adding missing CFW functions as well as bugfixes.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Hey guys, new release here:
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/r99

This one fixes an important core function that was essential for popsloader (and other homebrews/plugins) to work.
It also fixes Team PRO's Popsloader V3 on 6.61 (the plugin would only accept loading fro 6.60, so ARK now fools it to load on 6.61 since there's no difference between the two).
You need to use the original Team PRO's Popsloader V3 without pops_bridge, it will not work with the Unofficial Popsloader V4i since it detects ARK as being ME and this actually makes sense except for Popcorn that is based on PRO's.

tldr: Popsloader is now working with ARK!

 

[RealYoti]

@Acid_Snake why you didn't just update popsloader itself?

 

[Acid_Snake]

@Acid_Snake why you didn't just update popsloader itself?

There was no need to update it, it works as is on 6.61, it just only checks for 6.60 and does a breakpoint if not found, so I'm guessing it's best if I add this fix to allow compatiblity for a popsloader version that is all over the internet rather than create a specific one that people won't even be able to find.

 

[Acid_Snake]

* IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PSP 1K USERS *
Somewhere after adding JISO support it seems that 1K support has broken and ARK no longer loads on that model.
Other models (including Vita) is unaffected by this.

For PSP 1K users, the last build that I could get working on PSP 1K was the following:
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/v1646959068

This build is rather new and pretty stable so you don't loose much for now while I investigate the issue and come up with a fix.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Hello guys, I've been hard at work improving the core CFW and Inferno ISO driver, enough for a new and more stable release.

https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/r100

This release includes a faster and more reliable Inferno Driver and fixes issues with 1K models.

 

[JaegerFox]

I updated to the latest version on Vita and I have glitches in the launcher..
in-game does not have these problems
and I still can't play psn/pbp games, games packed with unofficial pbp for example with the LMAN tool works

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Okay, I'm late, just saw this on the front page. So a few questions.

1. Is this an imrpovement compared to pro cfw? (Or is it just better)
2. Should I switch to this and if so, does it have a permeant flasher?
3. Is there a benefit to using this on a ps vita over the adrenaline cfw?

Thanks for any help.

 

[julio.apc16]

Hello friends has anyone tested or popsloader on Ps Vita worked?

 

[raxadian]

Does PSP DLC works on the Vita with this? Because I am not giving up PS1 games otherwise.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Okay, I'm late, just saw this on the front page. So a few questions.

1. Is this an imrpovement compared to pro cfw? (Or is it just better)
2. Should I switch to this and if so, does it have a permeant flasher?
3. Is there a benefit to using this on a ps vita over the adrenaline cfw?

Thanks for any help.

1. It is just as compatible as PRO and has many bugfixes that PRO doesn't have as well as an improved Inferno Driver, so technically yes, this is an improvement over PRO. You will at least not loose anything if you switch over.
2- It is compatible with Infinity 2 (a compiled EBOOT is in the download package) so yes you can perma-flash it.

As for Adrenaline VS ARK, a few things to note:

- ARK is better for homebrews, plugins and PSP games, as well as having some bugs fixed that Adrenaline doesn't. The custom launcher also provides a faster game-launcher (Adrenaline requires loading the entire PSP OS, which is just like turning on a PSP just to play PSP games on Vita, a bit of an overkill).

- For some reason Adrenaline sets PSP CPU speed to default (222) or overclock (333), this on Vita actually has detrimental effects as the stock ePSP clock is actually higher than that (about 444 as benchmarks shows), so in this case ARK is better.

- Adrenaline is better for PS1 games and also includes all the native vita patches (native Vita resolution, dual analog in games, etc).
I'd say just use both, it doesn't hurt compatibility.

Hello friends has anyone tested or popsloader on Ps Vita worked?

PS1 games on Vita don't work with ARK due to hardware limitations (missing Media Engine).
Adrenaline "fixes" this by using Sony's official PS1 emulator for Vita (which is just a heavily modified POPS from PSP with all sound emulation handled by Vita OS).
ARK doesn't apply any native patches (good thing is doesn't require henkaku to run as opposed to Adrenaline, any Official Vita with a base PSP game can be used for ARK), but this means it has no native Vita-side patches that Adrenaline has for PS1 games, native screen resolution and dual analog sticks.
A popsloader for Vita can be created and in a sense ARK already has one built-in from the early days where we would inject PSP 6.60 POPS with an external SPU plugin, but this code became obsolete long ago and I haven't bothered reviving it.

Does PSP DLC works on the Vita with this? Because I am not giving up PS1 games otherwise.

PSP DLC should work though I haven't really tested them.

I updated to the latest version on Vita and I have glitches in the launcher..
in-game does not have these problems
and I still can't play psn/pbp games, games packed with unofficial pbp for example with the LMAN tool works

Yeah just noticed those wierd glitches, though they seem to go away when you reload the menu, I'll look into it.
As for PSN games I still can't reproduce the issue, I have a bunch of PSN games that I bought and they run well with ARK, will keep trying to find the issue.

 

[Nomado]

So does ARK on Vita actually run at 444mhz or so? If so doesn't that mean it will have better performance that with Adrenaline?

 

[Acid_Snake]

So does ARK on Vita actually run at 444mhz or so? If so doesn't that mean it will have better performance that with Adrenaline?

From what benchmarks show, PSP games on Vita (Official pspemu) run much faster than on retail hardware (at around 444MHz, which makes sense on Vita), and you can even see that difference in ARK's custom launcher where on Vita it's at a stable 60FPS no matter what you do while on PSP it sometimes lags under heavy load even when using overclock (333).

 

[Acid_Snake]

Guys I've made a new release, ARK 4.11, which comes with huge cleanup in core CFW modules like SystemControl, Inferno and VshControl. This results in ARK consuming much less memory and should improve stability without loosing compatibility or features.

https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/r110