Hacking Playstation Vita Hacking News/Overview/FAQ

[Dochartaigh]

1. Yes, via Adrenaline.

Tom, I thought the newest version of Adrenaline still can't play PS1 games? Or am I mistaken? I updated to it today and just get a black screen when trying to play PS1 games on it (PSP games play fine as usual).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Tom, I thought the newest version of Adrenaline still can't play PS1 games? Or am I mistaken? I updated to it today and just get a black screen when trying to play PS1 games on it (PSP games play fine as usual).

You're mistaken. Adrenaline got PS1 support in v3, we're at v5 now. Make sure you're downloading the latest v5 release and it should work.

 

[Dochartaigh]

You're mistaken. Adrenaline got PS1 support in v3, we're at v5 now. Make sure you're downloading the latest v5 release and it should work.

I might have to start another topic... (after researching this some more). Doing the system update from Adrenaline and it tells me I'm up to date...but when I go into the system settings it says I'm at "6.61 Adrenaline-2". I've never done an Adrenaline installation manually before so I have to find out how to do that (and I'm pretty sure I used the "AdrenalineEasyInstaller_v114.vpk" earlier today which says v5).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I might have to start another topic... (after researching this some more). Doing the system update from Adrenaline and it tells me I'm up to date...but when I go into the system settings it says I'm at "6.61 Adrenaline-2". I've never done an Adrenaline installation manually before so I have to find out how to do that (and I'm pretty sure I used the "AdrenalineEasyInstaller_v114.vpk" earlier today which says v5).

IIRC, only v3+ had the update feature added.

You likely need to fix your tai config file, it's probably still pointing to the old install. Clean your memory card of the old Adrenaline files using Vita shell, and you can either delete the tai config if you haven't edited it or if you have remove any mention of Adrenaline.

Then try the easy installer again.

Also, which version of Adrenaline are you on? Enso?

 

[Dochartaigh]

IIRC, only v3+ had the update feature added.

You likely need to fix your tai config file, it's probably still pointing to the old install. Clean your memory card of the old Adrenaline files using Vita shell, and you can either delete the tai config if you haven't edited it or if you have remove any mention of Adrenaline.

Then try the easy installer again.

Also, which version of Adrenaline are you on? Enso?

I'm heading out for the weekend now but I'll try that tonight or tomorrow - thanks.

Adrenaline-2 is what my system said, and it let me try the "System Update" or whatever the PSP menu calls it (first option down on the left-most menu if my memory serves) - made me connect to my WiFi network and enter my WiFi password and everything...

And yes, I installed the newest Enso today for untethered jailbreak which is great!

 

[KK2004x]

I'm new to the whole hacking the Vita thing, and, as you could've guessed, I unknowingly updated my Vita every time a new update was released. Of course I'm now on 3.65. Upon reading up on this whole thing I was disappointed to find that there was no plans to make an exploit for 3.65. But, something I don't understand is the claims that it would take 15 to 20 years to create a new exploit, and the fact that a new one simply can't be made. Can anyone of you knowledgeable people shed a strand of light on this for me?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I'm new to the whole hacking the Vita thing, and, as you could've guessed, I unknowingly updated my Vita every time a new update was released. Of course I'm now on 3.65. Upon reading up on this whole thing I was disappointed to find that there was no plans to make an exploit for 3.65. But, something I don't understand is the claims that it would take 15 to 20 years to create a new exploit, and the fact that a new one simply can't be made. Can anyone of you knowledgeable people shed a strand of light on this for me?

Exploiting a console isn't as simple as just "making a new one". Sony fixed the major exploits that Henkaku uses in 3.61, and since then it's (assumed) that more exploitable parts of the system were fixed with each update, it means we'd have to find completely new sets of exploits which would allow us to significantly modify system files enough to install something like Henkaku.

The Vita is a very secure console, there's only been 1 other major native hack released, and there isn't as many dedicated hackers looking to exploit the console. Combined, this makes the likely hood of even finding a series of exploits extremely limited on a higher firmware, let alone it being as easy as simply "making a new one".

 

[KK2004x]

Has no one tried to use the Transfer Tool or whatever it's called to try and edit the Vita's files or add files as necessary? And I can't understand why the people who exploited 3.60 are unwilling to try exploit 3.65 because if you're unwilling to call the Vita dead, it's certainly an aging platform that doesn't have much wind left in its sails, and surely there won't be many, if any updates to come out after 3.65.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Has no one tried to use the Transfer Tool or whatever it's called to try and edit the Vita's files or add files as necessary? And I can't understand why the people who exploited 3.60 are unwilling to try exploit 3.65 because if you're unwilling to call the Vita dead, it's certainly a aging platform that doesn't have much wind left in its sails, and surely there won't be many, if any updates to come out after 3.65.

You're waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overestimating the simplicity of this. You can't use a "transfer tool" to edit any of the Vita's system files without some other sort of exploit in place. This isn't Windows, you can't just change whatever you like on the fly. Things are encrypted, and an exploit needs to be found before you can do any kind of modifications to the system to get around that encryption.

 

[KK2004x]

By Transfer Tool I meant the Content Manager Assistant, and I meant to exploit the tool, as that can add music and video files to the Vita, and if the program could be modified in a way that you could add or edit any files there, you could exploit the Vita by, I don't know, changing firmware or something like that? Listen, I know hardly anything about this, I'm simply throwing out ideas. And yes, thank you, I know I'm naive when it comes to Vita softmodding and hacking, but I don't understand your hostility. I'm simply asking questions to try and be less naive.

 

[Deleted User]

By Transfer Tool I meant the Content Manager Assistant, and I meant to exploit the tool, as that can add music and video files to the Vita, and if the program could be modified in a way that you could add or edit any files there, you could exploit the Vita by, I don't know, changing firmware or something like that? Listen, I know hardly anything about this, I'm simply throwing out ideas. And yes, thank you, I know I'm naive when it comes to Vita softmodding and hacking, but I don't understand your hostility. I'm simply asking questions to try and be less naive.

I don't think he was trying to be hostile, he's simply pointing out that it just really isn't as easy as that nowadays. It's no secret that Sony have applied so much extensive security into the Vita, that such ideas like "changing firmware with an mp4 or wav or whatever" are easily mocked and frowned upon.

If you'd like at least some hacking ability on 3.65, there's PSVIMGTools by Yifan Lu; it allows you to modify backups created by CMA, and is especially useful for installing VHBL (a PSP-mode homebrew loader) to any PSP game you might own. Other than that though, it's not really any more useful unless you want to view the encrypted files of your games or edit your registry for whatever reason...

 

[KK2004x]

Thank you, and as I said earlier, I know hardly anything about this, and so the idea came to me so I thought I'd ask about in the FAQs. Actually, that's exactly what I'm doing at the moment, emulators will have to do until some miracle breakthrough happens.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

As Voxel mentioned, there's no hostility here. You're simply suggesting outrageous ideas without any additional knowledge, as if the only reason we don't have hacks is because developers are lazy or can't be bothered to try. To put it in perspective, it's like you're telling NASA to just fly everybody to Mars, because surely it's as easy as just building a rocket and putting people on it.

You also don't necessarily need to wait for a miracle if you want 3.60, if you have $20-$30 and are confident in taking apart the Vita, you can simply replace the motherboard with a 3.60 or lower one (sold on Aliexpress for quite cheap) and bam, you have a hackable Vita. iFixit does have a guide on replacing the Vita, and it shouldn't be too difficult for the most part.

You could also buy a PSTV, as they're extremely cheap and extremely plentiful at lower firmwares these days. We do have the ability to play just about any Vita game on the PSTV thanks to the whitelist hacks, the only games unplayable are things that require use of the touchscreen or back touchpad but those are quite few.

 

[gnmmarechal]

As Voxel mentioned, there's no hostility here. You're simply suggesting outrageous ideas without any additional knowledge, as if the only reason we don't have hacks is because developers are lazy or can't be bothered to try. To put it in perspective, it's like you're telling NASA to just fly everybody to Mars, because surely it's as easy as just building a rocket and putting people on it.

You also don't necessarily need to wait for a miracle if you want 3.60, if you have $20-$30 and are confident in taking apart the Vita, you can simply replace the motherboard with a 3.60 or lower one (sold on Aliexpress for quite cheap) and bam, you have a hackable Vita. iFixit does have a guide on replacing the Vita, and it shouldn't be too difficult for the most part.

You could also buy a PSTV, as they're extremely cheap and extremely plentiful at lower firmwares these days. We do have the ability to play just about any Vita game on the PSTV thanks to the whitelist hacks, the only games unplayable are things that require use of the touchscreen or back touchpad but those are quite few.

About the PSTVs, the prices for brand new ones have ramped up quite a bit from what I've seen last time I tried to get my hands on a second one. And used ones, not only are they not guaranteed to be on 3.60 or below, their prices are not incredible atm either. At least not on Ebay or local deals I found. Having originally bought mine for 30€, finding them at 100€+ is... interesting.

EDIT: Oh, that post was a couple of months old. Oh well.

 

[DVDVDcz]

Is there already a way to play games with 3.61+ on HENKAKU?

 

[Byokugen]

Is there already a way to play games with 3.61+ on HENKAKU?

No, and you will wait, alot

 

[gnmmarechal]

Is there already a way to play games with 3.61+ on HENKAKU?

No. You cannot use HENkaku above 3.60, and you cannot play games that require a firmware above 3.60 on 3.60.

 

[Byokugen]

No. You cannot use HENkaku above 3.60, and you cannot play games that require a firmware above 3.60 on 3.60.

Not entirely true. Some US games require 3.65 but there are asset swaps, so we can play them. Like YSVIII, summon night etc.

 

[gnmmarechal]

Not entirely true. Some US games require 3.65 but there are asset swaps, so we can play them. Like YSVIII, summon night etc.

it is entirely true. an asset flip is no more than just that.

 

[Haulien]

I have a few questions if anyone can help...

So I've installed Henkaku Enso on my vita. Everything's working fine.

Questions:

Easy ones first...

- Question 1: I've installed VitaShell, is it safe to then uninstall molecularShell?
- Question 2: Is it safe to uninstall the enso bubble? If the bubble is uninstalled will henkaku enso continue to function without it?
- Question 3: My google-fu skills aren't what they used to be. Are there any plugins to increase the amount of pages you can have on the bubble screen?

So I've been wanting to move some 'main' apps to ur0 so when I switch memory cards some things are still persistent. I've used 'App Plus Manager', and so far VitaShell, mGBA and a few other things work fine.
I'm having an issue with moving Adrenaline however. This is my process:
- Move Adrenaline to ur0 with 'App Plus Manager', works fine, verified ur0:app/PSPEMUCFW still exists. PSPEMUCFW still contains 661.PBP, sce_module/adrenaline_kernel.skprx, etc.
- Modified ur0:tai/config.txt to load ur0:app/PSPEMUCFW/sce_module/adrenaline_kernel.skprx under the *KERNEL heading
- Remove ux0:tai/config.txt as it's no longer needed (everything inside moved to ur0:tai/config.txt)
- Reboot

So I got to this point, and when I go and launch Adrenaline, I get the message "The 6.61 firmware has not been installed yet and 661.PBP does not exist. Press X to download the PSP 6.61 firmware.". Now I thought this strange, but I just pressed X. Nothing happened and Adrenaline closes. Re-opened Adrenaline and the message still appears.

So right now, I'm stuck in this loop of Adrenaline not seeing 661.PBP (which exists at ur0:app/PSPEMUCFW/661.PBP) and failing to download/install it.

- Basically Question 4 is, any ideas on getting Adrenaline 6 working from ur0?

Thanks for your time!