Hardware Thinking of getting a PS Vita, complete noob on modding scene

godreborn

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I think the sd2vita is probably going to last longer than an actual memory card. I've bought three memory cards (64GBs), and one of them can't format. I sold the other two for like $90 apiece. I've since lost that last card, but who'd want it if you can't format the thing?
 
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the_randomizer

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I believe the 1000 has a proprietary charging port. it has internal memory, but that memory can't be used. they remedied both things with the slim 2000.

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

they're fairly reliable, but pretty much anymore you have Chinese mass-produced cards for mere dollars or even pennies. I guess you get what you pay for. though, I've never had one fail. v3, which I have, bulges out of the console a little bit (only noticeable with the dust jacket closed. I've heard that latest version (5) has formatting problems. I don't own one, so I don't know if that's true. the thing about the v3 is that I didn't notice it didn't fit completely until someone told me. that's how inconspicuous it is. the same person told me about the formatting problems of version 5.
I've seen this one on Amazon

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product...c45-cd78f07a84d8&pf_rd_r=ADHA1569RGNMDB07WGF1

I assume this would work fine, I think

They seem to be, first one I bought worked fine. Of course, it's largely going to depend on which mSD you use, since SD2Vita is basically just a passthrough adapter for the game card
slot.


I didn't really research it before buying. The internet seems to like the OLED of the 1000 series better, and thankfully the Vita I bought was in great shape with no burn-in or other problems despite the base firmware being 1.01.

Hmm, that's fair, I'll probably drop by Gamestop sometime today and see what's in stock :P
 

Rahkeesh

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Gamestops are running low on 2000s but I managed to just pick one up. Haven't used a 1000 but the consensus seemed to be that 1000 is the better "at home" console due to premium build and OLED screen, while the 2000 is more pocketable, better battery life, and brighter screen for outdoorish use, which I prefer these days when Switch already has the "portable that's hard to take with you" role covered...

This thing is laughably easy to mod compared to a 3DS now, which isnt' that hard either. Retroarch UI runs much smoother overall than on N3DS, and the new dynarec updates make most GBA games super smooth and they look far better than on a 3DS screen, though compatability/accuracy is lower than VC injects. The screen is also more useable outdoors, the higher resolution scales better for emulating handheld systems, and you have the same low motion blur as a IPS N3DSXL while weighing more like a N2DSXL. Overall I like it much better as a retro handheld than any 3DS model and wish I got one sooner.

If you get a 2000 be sure to get the white SD2Vita model, it fits perfectly in my cartridge flap, and I read that the black one pushes the flap out and is only seamless with the 1000.
 
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Gamestops are running low on 2000s but I managed to just pick one up. Haven't used a 1000 but the consensus seemed to be that 1000 is the better "at home" console due to larger size and OLED screen, while the 2000 is more pocketable, better battery life, and brighter screen for outdoorish use, which I prefer these days when Switch already has the "portable that's hard to take with you" role covered...

This thing is laughably easy to mod compared to a 3DS now, which isnt' that hard either. Retroarch runs much smoother overall than on N3DS, and the new dynarec updates make most GBA games super smooth and they look far better than on a 3DS screen, though compatability/accuracy is lower than VC injects. The screen is also more useable outdoors, the higher resolution scales better for emulating handheld systems, and you have the same low motion blur as a IPS N3DSXL while weighing more like a N2DSXL. Overall I like it much better as a retro handheld than any 3DS model and wish I got one sooner.

If you get a 2000 be sure to get the white SD2Vita model, it fits perfectly in my cartridge flap, and I read that the black one pushes the flap out and is only seamless with the 1000.


Nice, yeah, I'll check out Gamestop as I'm out and about today, and see if they sell those SD2Vita cards, I never bought a refurb from Gamestop before, but I can assume it'd be better than buying one from eBay ^_^
 

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Gamestop doesn't sell any pirate/homebrew stuff like SD2Vita, they are in the business of selling used games after all. You can pick them up rather cheap/fast on Amazon though.
 
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Gamestop doesn't sell any pirate/homebrew stuff like SD2Vita, they are in the business of selling used games after all. You can pick them up rather cheap/fast on Amazon though.

Way ahead of ya, went and bought the Vita via the store, ordered it online when I dropped by, should be here in 2-4 days :P On Amazon I'll get the adapter and a micro SD card, thinking 64 or 128 GB.
 
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Okay, I need to bump this because I'm, well, in a pickle.

See, I somewhat bought the SD2Vita on a whim, without prior knowing the Vita has to be modded. Now, this isn't an issue per se, but I do have the following concerns-

1 - Naturally, having a permanent CFW will be ideal because I'd otherwise have to mount the SD card on boot every time, which is a royal pain in the ass which leads to 2
2- I'd have to either get my Vita on the right firmware, 3.6 or 3.65 to use Henkaku + Enso, otherwise I'm doing to have to downgrade with Modoru v2 (as it's more stable than the OG version)
3 - Can I still spoof the OFW and use the Playstation Store and purchase games legitimately? I've pirated a fair no. of games in the past, and I want to be able to at least but as many as I can for my 64 GB SD card
4 - If I decide to go and use my SD card for my phone, and then buy an official Vita card, is there a way to get them cheaper and are they as unreliable as people say they are? 16 or 32 GB is outrageously expensive, I get that,
but I want to know if I made a huge mistake getting this.

I don't want a PSP as homebrew (Snes especially) is okay at best, but Snes is out of the question without crappy sound emulation

@Rahkeesh @godreborn
 

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I can download free demos from the PSN store while running 3.60 thanks to the magic of henkaku spoofing, and the 0syscall6 plugin to run any games requiring newer firmware. Don't know if introducing cash would put a snag in the process but it seems unlikely.

My new favorite thing about CFW is the ability to swap cross/circle for cancel/enter regardless of region, and games and prominent homebrew actually respect it! There's even a similar setting within Adrenaline for PSP too. There's lots of cool little tweaks available (hello overclock) that make CFW totally worth it for legit games.
 
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I can download free demos from the PSN store while running 3.60 thanks to the magic of henkaku spoofing, and the 0syscall6 plugin to run any games requiring newer firmware. Don't know if introducing cash would put a snag in the process but it seems unlikely.

My new favorite thing about CFW is the ability to swap cross/circle for cancel/enter regardless of region, and games and prominent homebrew actually respect it! There's even a similar setting within Adrenaline for PSP too. There's lots of cool little tweaks available (hello overclock) that make CFW totally worth it for legit games.

So, um I have it modded and all that, Henkaku and Enso, working like a charm in that regard. But I do have a couple of concerns:

- gPSP, mGBA, TempGBA aren't that great and either have crackling audio, screen tearing or frame drops. Is there no way to seeing full speed GBA emulation on here?
- Odd issue with d-pad that seems random, see, on PS1 games (Adrenaline) it will sometimes act as if it's being pressed in one direction ad infinitum. But then stops, PSP games don't have this issue.
- Are there people I can ask to replace the d-pad or any other buttons that need replacing so I don't risk destroying it while I take it apart?
 

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Current releases of Retroarch Vita feature a gPSP with fully working dynarec. Every game I've tried that actually boots runs fullspeed for me, and no random crashes like the 3DS version.

By default PS1 games map the back touchpad to L/R 2/3. Some games see that input and decide to ignore whatever else is being input. I find it hard to hold a naked Vita 2000 without gripping the touchpad so I typically unbind all back touchpad inputs for PS1 games. If you need those keys you can instead map them to an analog stick or the front touchscreen. You can do this in official settings from adrenaline menu while running a game. All settings are per-game so you will have to repeat this for each one that is troublesome.
 
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Current releases of Retroarch Vita feature a gPSP with fully working dynarec. Every game I've tried that actually boots runs fullspeed for me, and no random crashes like the 3DS version.

By default PS1 games map the back touchpad to L/R 2/3. Some games see that input and decide to ignore whatever else is being input. I find it hard to hold a naked Vita 2000 without gripping the touchpad so I typically unbind all back touchpad inputs for PS1 games. If you need those keys you can instead map them to an analog stick or the front touchscreen. You can do this in official settings from adrenaline menu while running a game. All settings are per-game so you will have to repeat this for each one that is troublesome.

1.8.3 or 1.8.4? Also I think that's what was going on, the back touchpad was mapped and it was registering buttons without my knowing, I'll double check to see :P

And as a far as gPSP goes, maybe I have something configured wrong, because games like Final Fantasy V Advanced was struggling with audio/frame stutter. Is the dynarec core something I have to config in the core settings? Maybe my system is just bugged. :unsure:
 

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I'm running 1.83 stable. Dynarec should be enabled by default but it is a core specific option you can check from the quick menu. Don't know if it matters but be sure to use the online updated to download assets, and that you are using gPSP and not the also included VBA core.

The FFV intro and early game (up to first cave) all seem to play perfectly to me. Constant 60 frames and no audio skipping. I'm using the original unpatched rom, no restoration hacks or the like.

Also mind that video filters are far more CPU intensive than they should be if you are using any. Normal 2x doesn't give me any trouble with gPSP but I did notice in slowing down snes9x 2005 and GenesisplusGX, and that is about as minimal as a filter can possibly get. Others might cause massive slowdown.
 
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I'm running 1.83 stable. Dynarec should be enabled by default but it is a core specific option you can check from the quick menu. Don't know if it matters but be sure to use the online updated to download assets, and that you are using gPSP and not the also included VBA core.

The FFV intro and early game (up to first cave) all seem to play perfectly to me. Constant 60 frames and no audio skipping. I'm using the original unpatched rom, no restoration hacks or the like.

Also mind that video filters are far more CPU intensive than they should be if you are using any. Normal 2x doesn't give me any trouble with gPSP but I did notice in slowing down snes9x 2005 and GenesisplusGX, and that is about as minimal as a filter can possibly get. Others might cause massive slowdown.

Audio restore hack fixes the audio to SNES quality and some slowdown issues. I just ran it and it runs a helluva lot better, 60 fps most of the time, it sometimes slows down in big dungeons or some menus. Overall, it's pretty darn stable, hopefully it continues to improve. Only filter I have on is the default bilinear one (I think that's the one) or was it simple, will look for sure :P I wonder is Snes9x 2005 Plus works full speed.
 

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Bilinear isn't considered a "video filter", it has about zero performance impact. Video filters are hidden in video settings, default should be no filter. I like normal 2x w/bilinear on to make something a bit sharper but it does have a performance cost, though I have yet to notice that in gPSP. Hopefully shader support is around the corner with there being a bounty for GL support, which the introduction of a very unstable gl driver for vita in 1.83 is getting us closer to.
 
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Bilinear isn't considered a "video filter", it has about zero performance impact. Video filters are hidden in video settings, default should be no filter. I like normal 2x w/bilinear on to make something a bit sharper but it does have a performance cost, though I have yet to notice that in gPSP. Hopefully shader support is around the corner with there being a bounty for GL support, which the introduction of a very unstable gl driver for vita in 1.83 is getting us closer to.

I don't know why Sony thought it was good to add touchscreen support for PS1 games, as most didn't use L3 or R3 with the rear touchscreen. It's weird, but I digress. gPSP again is a lot better in terms of performance, maybe one day mGBA will get the same treatment?
 

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