Thinking about a PSP

The scene is very good right now and could not be any easier or more user friendly. Emulation and game support is excellent.

Edit: The Go was raised back to $200 so getting a 3000 is advised.

I'd recommend a 2000 over a 3000 any day. Make sure to try out the PSP before buying. At least looking for scratches.

I mean, in all honesty, it won't be long until HENs are really CFWs thanks to a new exploit that allows a HEN to be active even after taking the battery out.

Also, getting a Go might not be a bad idea. You can get one for really cheap, and compatibility has been on the rise. Only downside is no UMDs, which isn't a problem if you intend on modding.

The GO is $200 new locally. Even if I get it used, you can only count on maybe $30 being cut off.

Instead, I could spend about $20 on 2 8gb MicroSD's and an adapter w/ the 3000, spend about $150, and get the same memory. I'm looking to buy from somewhere such as Gamestop for the system, so used 2000 and 1000 series are gonna be pretty hard to find, it's why I'm looking towards a new 3000.

It's gonna be tricky to get the adapter and MicroSD cards though, as I'm trying to convince my parents to take the $40 they owe me off and spot me the other $90.

A new 3000 seems the way to go. I was worried that running a temporary CFW was going to become a major nuisance, but it really hasn't changed much in the way I've played my PSP between owning a 2000 and now a 3000. If it ever crashes for whatever reason, it ends up taking about twenty seconds instead of five to reboot since I also have to run the crack now.

That's really it. Everything else I was doing before with emulations and plugins have carried on. Cheatmaster Fusion is the best overall plugin you'll ever find. And there are modified versions of the Capcom Play System emulators so they can run under 3000.

Well, I'm going to for sure get a 3000 if my parents would stop acting so stingy and not only pay me back, but be willing to actually get me something after I so rarely request material objects anymore outside of absolute necessity.

I'm hoping to get the okay tomorrow. I may check out the used consoles they have to see if there is a nice condition, lowish firmware of maybe even a 1000 model. I'll see when I get there though. Either way I'll be walking away with a PSP when I go to make the purchase.

Getting a low-firmware (3.95 or below) 2000 should be your top priority, because it has the benefits of the 1000 (can have CFW permanently installed and can use a pandora) along with those of the 2000.

However most will have been updated, so you should check which ones can have a full hack, using these charts.
http://gbatemp.net/t268289-psp-hacking-modding-f-a-q

Then if you find one that you know is fully-hackable, as long as it's on firmware 6.35 or less you can hack it without a pandora.

For the sake of availability, I still have to ask;

Will my ability to launch ISO's/CSO's be hindered by picking up a PSP model that isn't fully hackable? I'm also very interested in playing GBA and SNES on the PSP, so how well those can be run on semi-hackable PSP's is pretty important for me.

It's my understanding that many PSP games are released patched already for PSP's not running Prometheus. I'm not sure of the base compatibility for the loaders available for the semi-hackable PSP models though. I'm also not sure how much homebrew in general is currently fully functional on the semi-hackable models (primarily the 3000).

I'm obviously very new to the PSP scene and want to get my facts straight before spending $100+ on a system. I only have one shot and don't want to screw it up.

ISOs and CSOs run fine on the not-fully-hackable models (though the 6.x firmwares have some issues with some games, so a 5.x is still recommended, and you'll need a 5.03 or less semi-hackable to use them).

The GBA/SNES emulators run fine.

One reason people insist on a hackable is that if an unhackable bricks 9either from something you do, or power lost during an official Sony update or something) it can be recovered with a pandora. Not so for semi-hackables.

Many PSP games are released already patched (well, decrypted rather), if not you can use the latest release of the ISO tool to decrypt/patch your own backups (make sure to check for updates to it often).

Homebrew works fine on a 5.x semi-hack. Compatibility for 6.x is lower, but slowly growing (replacement tools are coming out for those that are no longer maintained by the original authors, in most cases).

Can I safely assume that the out of the box firmware on a 3000 series will be under 5.03? I then know that I can just use the EBOOT for 5.03 to upgrade it. I'm just not sure what the stock firmware number is on PSP's.

Basically, if I can semi-hack with 5.03 GEN, homebrew compatibility and such is very good, and for the most part, self patching is simple and easy if it needs to be done. Sounds fairly simple and easy. Do I need to go through any extra measures when applying 5.03 GEN, or has that been signed to be able to be run from the PSP menu at this point?

Edit: Well, a little research told me that the firmware is probably gonna be higher than 5.03, probably closer to 5.50 or as high as 6.xx. Either way, it seems 5.03 GEN is out of the question unless I can find a nice, used model with low firmware.

[p= ]Can I safely assume that the out of the box firmware on a 3000 series will be under 5.03?[/p]Not for a new one, no. For a used one I don't think so either, some of the top recent games (the kingdom hearts and metal gear games and shit) had users update past that.

[p= ]I'm just not sure what the stock firmware number is on PSP's.[/p]It depends, and it raises as time goes on.

[p= ]Basically, if I can semi-hack with 5.03 GEN, homebrew compatibility and such is very good, and for the most part, self patching is simple and easy if it needs to be done. Sounds fairly simple and easy. Do I need to go through any extra measures when applying 5.03 GEN, or has that been signed to be able to be run from the PSP menu at this point?[/p]I'm not actually sure, but people got it so the exploit to launch it can be done in like 3 seconds anyways.

[p= ]Edit: Well, a little research told me that the firmware is probably gonna be higher than 5.03, probably closer to 5.50 or as high as 6.xx. Either way, it seems 5.03 GEN is out of the question unless I can find a nice, used model with low firmware.[/p]If you get a fully-hackable one, then you can downgrade it without a pandora as long as it's on 6.35 or less.

I'll just have to see what I can find at my local Gamestop I guess. If I can find a 1000 model, I'll hop right on it provided the screen and casing isn't scratched to hell. For a 2000 model, I'm not sure what I can check right there at the counter. For the 3000 series, checking the current firmware should be enough for used models.

You never know how long some of those PSP's have been there, I might get lucky.

[quote name='Nathan Drake' post='3516014' date='Mar 13 2011, 06:05 AM']I'll just have to see what I can find at my local Gamestop I guess. If I can find a 1000 model, I'll hop right on it provided the screen and casing isn't scratched to hell. For a 2000 model, I'm not sure what I can check right there at the counter. For the 3000 series, checking the current firmware should be enough for used models.

You never know how long some of those PSP's have been there, I might get lucky.[/quote]

If you're going to go into emulation, make sure you remember that the PSP 1K has half the RAM of the 2K/3K.

Though it doesn't matter too much unless you want to run N64 games.

Stick with a DS, I did the same thing you did. Regretted it.

[quote name='personuser' post='3516029' date='Mar 13 2011, 10:23 AM']If you're going to go into emulation, make sure you remember that the PSP 1K has half the RAM of the 2K/3K.

Though it doesn't matter too much unless you want to run N64 games.[/quote]

It doesn't matter at all but for Cache files for some games in CPS2PSP and for Daedalus/N64 the extra RAM is only unlocked in the 2000's at the moment. A 3000 or Go would thus run the same as a 1k.

If you're unsure about a PSP just get a 1000.

1000 is hard locally. Craigslist is a no go, as I can't get anywhere to pick the system up. Gamestop is highly unlikely to be carrying the 1k model too due to most people having them being smart enough to know they are more worthwhile than most other models. 2000 models are a little more likely, but most likely only newer editions. I'll see what I can find though. There are two Gamestops right next to each other where I'm at, so I should be able to get lucky between the two of them.

For the DS is better dude: I've had a DS since launch. That's over six years now. I have played the DS collection to hell and back. I need something new to play, and there are an amazing amount of PSP titles I want to play, from old to very new.

Edit: Slowly breaking my Mom down. Almost have her convinced. Maybe if I just tell her that I don't care about getting a new TV (which honestly, I don't), she'll be fully willing.