Hacking Is the PS Vita now fully hackable? For PS Vita roms

[sirgilmour]

I noticed sites started putting ps vita roms and last time i asked here the hacking scene could only play PSP roms and emulators if the console was on firmware 3.60 i believe.
What i want to know is : if i buy a ps vita now
1 - Can it be able to play ps vita and psp roms? If so a quick guide would be appreciated.
2 - If i get my hands on a used console with firmware above 3.60, is it downgradable?
3 - Can i put a 128gb micro sd card in it to store all the games i want via some sort of card with a slot in it?
4 - Is there a model best for it all (i don't own a 4g phone contract just basic wifi at home)

Thank you!

 

[erfg12]

1 - Games in VPK format can be installed.
2 - Can't downgrade. Needs to be on exactly v3.60
3 - Games are stored on PSVita memory cards. Which are expensive. Micro SD cards cannot be used.
4 - Doesn't matter on the version of PSVita used.

 

[sirgilmour]

Oh thats a bummer. The psp had memory cards on ebay with 1 or even 2 micro sd slots in them to put a zillion games on it.
And if i buy a console from the store do you think it will come with a firmware below 3.60? and if so is it simple to put it on 3.60? and is the hack simple to do once the console is on the right firmware?

 

[Deleted User]

1 - Games in PKG format can be installed.

This is partially wrong. You can only install DRM-free PKGs (Such as free apps and demos), but you cannot install paid-for PKG games; they require a valid, working license (which is generated on Sony's side, if I remember rightly) to be installed to your system.

You download game dumps in VPK format from the net and install them via VitaShell.

Also note that you can pick up any <3.60 Vita and manually update it to 3.60 using the appropriate update PUP file. This will shoot you straight up to 3.60, where you can run http://go.henkaku.xyz immediately on your Vita via the Web Browser, install VitaShell, and then install the said game dumps to your memcard.

Regarding running PSP ISOs and Vita backups together, that's not possible yet, however ColdBird is currently porting ARK to 3.60 as we speak, so watch this space.

 

[erfg12]

Since the PSVita has been discontinued I would assume it would be below version 3.61.

The update file for 3.60 can be acquired here - http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/FI...ta-PlayStation-TV-Firmware-360.shtml#download

 

[spotanjo3]

I think you might be confused about "ROM". PS Vita games are an iso files and not a ROM. Here:

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. ROMs are the files that store the game data in a cartridge. In short, they're the games you download to play along with an emulator. A ROM differs from an ISO in that the ISO format is a CD format for creating/burning CD-based games.

Link for ISO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

Link for ROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image

 

[sirgilmour]

What? VOXEL, are you saying that if i have a 3.60 firmware on a ps vita, it is still impossible to play ps vita and psp games downloaded from websites?

 

[Deleted User]

What? VOXEL, are you saying that if i have a 3.60 firmware on a ps vita, it is still impossible to play ps vita and psp roms?

For the moment it won't be possible, however I said that ARK (that eCFW for the ePSP-side) is being ported over to 3.60 very soon. See http://wololo.net/2016/09/26/theflo...sp-emulator-coldbird-taking-port-ark-fw-3-60/ for that info...

 

[ceelo]

What? VOXEL, are you saying that if i have a 3.60 firmware on a ps vita, it is still impossible to play ps vita and psp games downloaded from websites?

What? If you have 3.60 you're good to go bro... for vita stuff... Not PSP stuff

At the moment, we cant have it all.... But soon we will be able to. PSPemu was recently discovered to be usable by theFlow, and Coldbird is working on it.

 

[sirgilmour]

Then why are ps vita games downloadable on sites right now? in case someone finds a way to play them?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

What? If you have 3.60 you're good to go bro... for vita stuff... Not PSP stuff

I could swear that psp isos was the only thing playable on the ps vita 10 months ago when i checked the hacking scene

 

[insidexdeath]

What? VOXEL, are you saying that if i have a 3.60 firmware on a ps vita, it is still impossible to play ps vita and psp games downloaded from websites?

You are able to pirate games if that's what you're asking, but all games dumped currently are not dumped into an official file format, for example MaiDumpTool dumps games and places all files into a folder and can be installed via the MaiDumpTool itself. Vitamin dumps games into a .VPK file format that can be installed via VitaShell.

PSP games are a different story and is being worked on, just gotta be patient. A proof of concept has already been shown.

 

[ceelo]

Then why are ps vita games downloadable on sites right now? in case someone finds a way to play them?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


I could swear that psp isos was the only thing playable on the ps vita 10 months ago when i checked the hacking scene

To play PSP games at the moment, you need to be a lower firmware (I believe 3.57 and below? Not sure). To play vita ISOS, you need to be 3.60. You see, its a tradeoff. For now.

 

[Deleted User]

Then why are ps vita games downloadable on sites right now? in case someone finds a way to play them?

No. Read carefully at both the previous posts here, and the stickies.

3.60 is the only firmware capable of running the latest native PS Vita homebrew and game backups. (The VPK-format games you find on those sites), and will possibly be the only firmware to support this, since backports are not on the developers' to-do lists for possibly ever now.

Of course, 3.55 and lower supports running PSP ISOs, but 3.57 and higher patched this capability. So then we waited for someone to find and develop an ePSP kernel exploit for those more later firmwares, and TheFloW was the guy to publicly announce that just around a month ago now.

As I mentioned in my previous post, TheFlow and Coldbird are now working closely together to get ARK ported to 3.60, so we can get the best of both worlds (I'm talking about your desire to have an "all-in-one" method where you can play both PSP AND PS Vita backups on 3.60 at the same time.)

 

[Cinnamon]

I think you might be confused about "ROM". PS Vita games are an iso files and not a ROM. Here:

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. ROMs are the files that store the game data in a cartridge. In short, they're the games you download to play along with an emulator. A ROM differs from an ISO in that the ISO format is a CD format for creating/burning CD-based games.

Link for ISO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

Link for ROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image

I would probably read it again if I were you. When was PS VITA games delivered on CDs?

 

[spotanjo3]

I would probably read it again if I were you. When was PS VITA games delivered on CDs?

True but still...

 

[Tony_93]

Since the PSVita has been discontinued I would assume it would be below version 3.61.

The update file for 3.60 can be acquired here - http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/FI...ta-PlayStation-TV-Firmware-360.shtml#download

The PS Vita hasn't been discontinued, don't know where you get that from... Sony stopped creating new first party games but the system is still being manufactured.

I think you might be confused about "ROM". PS Vita games are an iso files and not a ROM. Here:

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. ROMs are the files that store the game data in a cartridge. In short, they're the games you download to play along with an emulator. A ROM differs from an ISO in that the ISO format is a CD format for creating/burning CD-based games.

Link for ISO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

Link for ROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image

Vita games come in cardtriges not CD's... and also you can't write into the cardtridge itself (except for the savedata storage on some games) which makes the rest of the cardtridge a Read Only Memory chip (gr0).

Don't know how you came to the conclussion it's an ISO...

 

[WiiUBricker]

Vita games come in cardtriges not CD's... and also you can't write into the cardtridge itself (except for the savedata storage on some games) which makes the rest of the cardtridge a Read Only Memory chip (gr0).

Savedata storage? Which games store save data in the cartridge?

 

[smf]

I think you might be confused about "ROM". PS Vita games are an iso files and not a ROM. Here:

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. ROMs are the files that store the game data in a cartridge. In short, they're the games you download to play along with an emulator. A ROM differs from an ISO in that the ISO format is a CD format for creating/burning CD-based games.

The term ROM and ISO are used incorrectly almost all of the time. People say ROM when they mean "copy of a game", even though the original game may have been on flash/eeprom/eprom etc.

ISO is also used incorrectly to mean an image of a CD and in some cases a DVD. ISO9660 is a file-system, which can be used on a CD or a DVD (or a hard drive if you're feeling weird). However DVD are usually UDF and people still call images of those ISO's.

In both cases the term "Image" is correct in all cases. DVD image, PSVita image etc.

 

[Tony_93]

Savedata storage? Which games store save data in the cartridge?

Games like Virtue last reward save on the cardtridge, if you put the cardtridge on a vita with a different PSN account you can't earn new trophies until you delete the savedata (to avoid people cheating to get trophies with other people's saves), of course the vita tells you about it when you launch the game.

And it depends on the game really, the ones that don't save on the game cart have a little symbol on the front with some text saying you will need a memory card to save the game.

I don't think anyone has made a definitive list tho, the ones that I found weren't updated long ago.

 

[spotanjo3]

The PS Vita hasn't been discontinued, don't know where you get that from... Sony stopped creating new first party games but the system is still being manufactured.



Vita games come in cardtriges not CD's... and also you can't write into the cardtridge itself (except for the savedata storage on some games) which makes the rest of the cardtridge a Read Only Memory chip (gr0).

Don't know how you came to the conclussion it's an ISO...

You are right. It was from Telgardrakore at wololo:

PSVita games are cartridges, which means they are not ISO's. Why is that? What would Vita games be then? WTF is an ISO anyway? Lets review!

ISO's are "images" of a disc media. When you take a CD, DVD, UMD, etc and make a complete backup of it, you create whats called an "image". Your image file, has the extension "ISO". This is why PSP games are ISO's, because UMD's are discs (Small mind you, but their still discs).

Vita games are not a disc, they are a cartridge, and therefore a backup dump of them would be called "ROM"s. A ROM is basically the same thing as ISO's, they are an image of the media, but instead of an image of a disc, its an image of the memory onboard the game that stores the games data.

So to review:

Disc media copies are called ISO's.
PSP copies are ISO's since PSP games are discs (UMD).
Cartridge copies are called Roms.
Vita copies would be called Roms since Vita games are cartridges.
Vita copies are currently impossible (There is no real way to copy the contents of a game un-encrypted).
Vita CMA backups are encrypted, so they are not Roms.

Now you know.