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Earlier today, Yifan Lu, a well-known member of the Vita hacking scene famous for the Rejuvenate hack for the Dev Assistants, has announced that a new (native!) Vita homebrew enabler for the latest firmware version, as of writing (3.60), will be arriving tomorrow at "9:00AM UTC".

The new hack, known as "HENKaku", will require the following:

• A Vita/PSTV running 3.60
• A memcard with at least 10MB of free space (internal memory is currently not supported!)
• An FTP client
• An internet connection**

**Offline support is now available! Launch the exploit straight from the email app without the need for internet access at all! See the unofficial release thread for more details. (Internet connection still required for installation)


This is a small paragraph of Yifan Lu himself explaining what the properties of this new homebrew enabler does:

HENkaku simply lets you install homebrew as bubbles in LiveArea. It is a native hack that disables the filesystem sandbox. It installs molecularShell, a fork of VitaShell that lets you access the memory card over FTP and install homebrew packages (which we create as VPK files). With vita-toolchain, developers have access to the same system features licensed developers have access to as well as undocumented features that licensed developers cannot use (including overclocking the processors).

The hack has been released at http://henkaku.me ~ Furthermore, the hack is said to be exclusive to 3.60, and there is to be no backports for the time being.

Source: http://yifan.lu/2016/07/28/henkaku-vita-homebrew-for-everyone/

 

[Slattz]

I really do hope so. The Vita really does have a lot of potential as a homebrew device - just check out the specs! It was a shame that Rejuvenate was as dead as a doornail.

I had Rejuvenate on my PS Vita but having to connect to a PC every single time I wanted to use a homebrew really sucked. I know there was workaround homebrew made eventually but at that time I had it, it was a nuisance. I'm glad that the PS Vita homebrew scene didn't die with Rejuvenate being the only native exploit I don't think the PS Vita had unlocked its true potential with Rejuvenate but this will most likely go somewhere. As you said, it really is powerful for homebrew so to see this sort of thing happening is truly amazing

 

[insidexdeath]

So this could potentially enable piracy as long as someone is willing to create a backup loader?

 

[sj33]

So this could potentially enable piracy as long as someone is willing to create a backup loader?

Too early to say. They state this, however,

A Note on Piracy We are all developers by trade and we understand the problem of piracy that usually arises from breaking the security features of a device. The usual response from hackers is “not our problem” but we believe we can do better. We carefully designed HENkaku to be as permissive as possible for developers to write homebrew supporting private APIs and the option to bypass sandboxes. However, we also made sure to make it as difficult as possible to repurpose our tools to enable piracy. While piracy is always inevitable, we will not make it easy.

 

[metroid maniac]

So this could potentially enable piracy as long as someone is willing to create a backup loader?

This exploit does not have the required privileges for that. This is not a kernel exploit or a CFW. A lot more research is not necessary for that and the talent in the Vita scene doesn't care for it.

 

[Zephir1991]

Oh nice, something new for the Vita.

I don't really care about Vita backups, I've got all the games I want already. All I care about is a sweet PS1 / N64 loader.
But well, lets see what the future brings. Cross your fingers for a CFW. c:

 

[yifan_lu]

It's interesting. Of all the places where discussion is happening, gbatemp is the only place where piracy is the main topic of concern. Speaks to the quality of the community huh

 

[Deleted User]

It's interesting. Of all the places where discussion is happening, gbatemp is the only place where piracy is the main topic of concern. Speaks to the quality of the community huh

Hmm; well I'm sort of split, to be honest. I absolutely love the homebrew, emulators, games, and CFWs that get created through the unofficial Vita-SDK, but at the same time, it's nice to see that you can keep a lot of people happy through giving them the ability to play pirated content, and that's probably approximately 75% of what this community is all about...
And that's not including me, by the way. I'm just in for the piracy because some day, I would like to get access to the Sony Developer Network and get access to tools that would be able to aid me in developing some good, worthwhile games for the Vita without having to order the proper development hardware. Go figure with the 3DS and Wii U; you can play games on retail that have been developed and built using the Unity engine, and they work!

 

[cloudfe]

It's interesting. Of all the places where discussion is happening, gbatemp is the only place where piracy is the main topic of concern. Speaks to the quality of the community huh

Then let's change the topic and let me ask you this one thing: you said on twitter and on a couple of comments that, although firmwares lower than 3.60 are not supported, the exploit should work nonetheless. Does this mean that – theoretically – HENkaku could work well on lower firmwares, or is there a technical limitation that you know of that makes it probably impossible (or at least not very usable and/or practical)?

 

[jimmyleen]

Oh nice, something new for the Vita.

I don't really care about Vita backups, I've got all the games I want already. All I care about is a sweet PS1 / N64 loader.
But well, lets see what the future brings. Cross your fingers for a CFW. c:

Most people SHOULD care to have psvita game backups once the PSN gets taken out with a big enough DDOS, or if Sony does a big enough server maintenance.

 

[Slattz]

Most people SHOULD care to have psvita game backups once the PSN gets taken out with a big enough DDOS, or if Sony does a big enough server maintenance.

But you can still play games, just not online...

 

[jimmyleen]

But you can still play games, just not online...

I thought Sony does not allow games to be played without a PSN account? And PSN accounts can't be used without a internet connection?

 

[metroid maniac]

I thought Sony does not allow games to be played without a PSN account? And PSN accounts can't be used without a internet connection?

Once you activate your Vita with your PSN account once you can play all your games offline.

 

[jimmyleen]

Once you activate your Vita with your PSN account once you can play all your games offline.

I wish I knew that sooner.

 

[CeeDee]

N64 loader.

If Vita supports proper N64 emulation (can it play Perfect Dark?) I'll buy one.

 

[Slattz]

I thought Sony does not allow games to be played without a PSN account? And PSN accounts can't be used without a internet connection?

But what about people that live under a rock don't have internet access? Sony have to accommodate for those people.

 

[jimmyleen]

If Vita supports perfect N64 emulation (can it play Perfect Dark?) I'll buy one.

If a desktop pc at home can't play N64 games properly what makes you think any other hardware can do it?

 

[CeeDee]

If a desktop pc at home can't play N64 games properly what makes you think any other hardware can do it?

Both desktop PC and Wii U injects can play Perfect Dark.

 

[yifan_lu]

Then let's change the topic and let me ask you this one thing: you said on twitter and on a couple of comments that, although firmwares lower than 3.60 are not supported, the exploit should work nonetheless. Does this mean that – theoretically – HENkaku could work well on lower firmwares, or is there a technical limitation that you know of that makes it probably impossible (or at least not very usable and/or practical)?

It takes work to port the exploits. Lots of offsets, testing, incompabilities etc. All the exploits exists since 3.x and most of them exist since 1.x, so yeah it's possible technically. But considering that 3.60 can do everything on lower FW, what's the point in wasting time porting it when it's easier to just update? The only thing not compatible is PSP eCFWs (TNV and such), but it's way easier to just find another psp exploit on 3.60; I'm sure someone is hording one as we speak

 

[metroid maniac]

It takes work to port the exploits. Lots of offsets, testing, incompabilities etc. All the exploits exists since 3.x and most of them exist since 1.x, so yeah it's possible technically. But considering that 3.60 can do everything on lower FW, what's the point in wasting time porting it when it's easier to just update? The only thing not compatible is PSP eCFWs (TNV and such), but it's way easier to just find another psp exploit on 3.60; I'm sure someone is hording one as we speak

Do you think HENKaku's release will encourage people holding private ePSP or ePS1 exploits to release them publicly?

 

[gnmmarechal]

I'm so happy. Finally, after years of having a broken PSV and an updated PSTV, I can finally go for the platinum in Gravity Rush again.