Gaming Complete PSP n00b needs advice

[Asukakusanagi]

Hey guys

Sorry if this is a really n00b topic, i'm sure you've seen quite a few of them by now. Anyway, I know virtually NOTHING about the PSP other than the fact that it has many games i wish to play on it. I've recently come into possetion of enough money to actually buy a PSP, and i wanted the advice of some experienced users on PSP purchases. In buying the PSP i want to be able to be able to boot roms off of a memory stick and also use homebrew aplications such as emulators. I see there are two versions of the PSP out (fat and slim), which one is better for my purposes? Also, are there any clean and obvious guides available for the hacking of psp firmware?

Once again, sorry if this is all n00b, any advice would be thoroughly appreciated.

 

[War]

-sigh- Okay, well, let's see. The main things I want to answer are the following:

-If you have enough money for a PSP Slim, go for the Slim. It's basically the same as comparing a Nintendo DS and a DS Lite. Which one is better? Well, obviously, the Lite. Well, it's kind of the same thing here. The PSP Slim feels a lot better to hold, has twice as much RAM, comes in different colors, etc. As far as I know, the only way to get a PSP Phat (the original one) is to buy it used from a store. However, like I said, it all depends on how much money you have.

-Also, I hope you know, you won't be able to run homebrew/emulators/backup PSP games right off the start. You will need to get your PSP to custom firmware first. Custom firmware is what allows you to run homebrew applications, games, PSP backups, etc. To get to custom firmware, you will need something called a Pandora Battery. You can simply buy one online, hardmod a Slim PSP battery to make one, or softmod a battery using another PSP with custom firmware. There are MILLIONS of tutorials out there on how to get the PSP to custom firmware, so just look around.

 

[Law]

I used the PSP Grader method used in this tutorial: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=68111

Instead of modding the battery, I bought a Datel Tool battery from Amazon.

In terms of Homebrew (emulators, etc.), if you have a Slim you need to get homebrew that's been ported to the slim, iirc. Phat homebrew won't work on a slim last I checked.

 

[pepsibluehawk87]

There are ways of buying a psp that's already got CFW on it.

 

[sotu1]

hey guys, any more info on this would be really helpful because I'm in the exact same position. i checked the sticky's, some of them look to be out of date (but then what do i know?!) i'm really looking to use the psp to emulate gba games and maybe a few other consoles too. playing actual psp games hasn't interested me all that much strangely! i just want to play the new ghouls n ghosts and the new metal gear games

 

[dice]

they're not "out of date" so to speak as they're generally still relevant.

as for your question I suggest researching which emu's etc. will be compatible with phat/slims (in order to play gba games for instance). I have a slim and I'm enjoying it although I've only used it for psp,ps1 and genesis games :]

 

[pepsibluehawk87]

Yea, if you look around you will find updated emus for the slim. I have all the basic emus (nes, snes, sega, gb, gba) on my slim. And they work perfectly.

 

[Try2bcool]

I got a Pandora battery and a 512mb mem stick from http://www.pandorasales.com/psp-pandora-battery.html, and it came loaded with all the software you need to get started. I got the one with the LED's on it that you can change it to Pandora and regular mode with the touch of a button. It comes with an instruction sheet for both PHAt and slim, although one thing it didn't tell you to do first is to back up your original firmware (OFW) by doing a NAND dump. You might want to look up how to do that, it only takes a couple of minutes to do, and the software to do it is included if you buy their stick.
I'm keeping the 512mb stick intact for future updates, and it has my NAND backup on it also.

I bought the Daxter silver PSP slim pack, because it came with a 1 gb mem stick, (and Daxter game), and then I had to buy a 4 gb stick because 1 gb is only enough for a couple of small games, although it would be plenty for homebrew/emus.

Once I got the nerve to install the custom firmware, it only took maybe 10 minutes from start to finish.

One thing I learned that I never saw in any n00b guides is that you need to format your mem stick AFTER you update the firmware, otherwise it doesn't have the proper directory structure to put the games and emus in.

 

[dib]

So just to clarify the significant points: any PSP can be modified to run the custom firmware that will unlock it for free use like running backups from memory instead of those stupid UMDs, loading our own content, homebrew+emulation, etc?

And which firmware is popular? I've heard of one so far by somebody called Dark Alex.

Also does this hinder the thing from playing actual games? I still want to get games for my PSP, I just won't tolerate having my devices locked down by the company where I can't get the full use out of them. Although wouldn't playing them off the memory stick reduce load times and the like?

 

[ENDscape]

I miss the old days of psp hacking...Devhook and the gta downgrader etc.

 

[Law]

So just to clarify the significant points: any PSP can be modified to run the custom firmware that will unlock it for free use like running backups from memory instead of those stupid UMDs, loading our own content, homebrew+emulation, etc?

And which firmware is popular? I've heard of one so far by somebody called Dark Alex.

Also does this hinder the thing from playing actual games? I still want to get games for my PSP, I just won't tolerate having my devices locked down by the company where I can't get the full use out of them. Although wouldn't playing them off the memory stick reduce load times and the like?

You can still play actual games, and the PSP isn't exactly "locked down". The OFW firmware does what the PSP was meant to do. Play Music and movies from a memory stick, and play games from UMDs. That's the intended "full use".

 

[RebelX]

I am a complete noob too, can someone please help me? All I want to do is run backups from my Memory Stick. No homebrew, nothing super special, just running games on my memory stick for right now. I searched the internet on how to but I don't understand most of what it says

1. I used a guide from pspmod.com to make a Pandora's battery and install the CFW. I installed the firmware and stuff and my current version is 3.71. How do I update it to a later version?

2. I know that the despertar del cementerio thing unbricks your PSP. Does it serve any other function? Do I need it to play my backups?

3. What the hell is a "nand dump"? What purpose does it serve?

4. Kind of random but... I need a new battery since I made a Pandora. Look at this PSP battery: http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2865101
Is this legit or fake? It's such a good price, and I find it too good to be true.

Sorry for being a noob, any answers are appreciated...

EDIT: After some other searching I can definitely say that the battery listed above is a fake. No doubt about it. How about this one, this price seems more appropriate?

http://www.gadget-asia.com/index.php?optio...SD&vmcchk=1

 

[Ryupower]

I am a complete noob too, can someone please help me? All I want to do is run backups from my Memory Stick. No homebrew, nothing super special, just running games on my memory stick for right now. I searched the internet on how to but I don't understand most of what it says

1. I used a guide from pspmod.com to make a Pandora's battery and install the CFW. I installed the firmware and stuff and my current version is 3.71. How do I update it to a later version?

2. I know that the despertar del cementerio thing unbricks your PSP. Does it serve any other function? Do I need it to play my backups?

3. What the hell is a "nand dump"? What purpose does it serve?

4. Kind of random but... I need a new battery since I made a Pandora. Look at this PSP battery: http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2865101
Is this legit or fake? It's such a good price, and I find it too good to be true.

Sorry for being a noob, any answers are appreciated...

alot of this is found at http://www.psp-hacks.com

1)if your on 3.71 m33
just run the 4.01 m33-2 updater (READ THE README)

2)it used to unbricks and install CFW/OFW on ANY psp (but the NEW ta-088v3, they can be Pandora)

3)it is a FULL back-up of you psp (id-keys and FLASH) the is just for your psp (the id-keys are different for each psp)
if the id-keys are messup you psp may not work right

 

[RebelX]

alot of this is found at http://www.psp-hacks.com

1)if your on 3.71 m33
just run the 4.01 m33-2 updater (READ THE README)

2)it used to unbricks and install CFW/OFW on ANY psp (but the NEW ta-088v3, they can be Pandora)

3)it is a FULL back-up of you psp (id-keys and FLASH) the is just for your psp (the id-keys are different for each psp)
if the id-keys are messup you psp may not work right

I did what the README said, I put EBOOT.PBP and rdriver.prx to a folder called PSP/GAME4XX/bootload and still nothing happened. The readme also said stuff about packers, kernels, prx, pbp, and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand.

Obviously I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, I just did this so I could play some backups... I need someone to direct me like I'm some sort of retarded idiot, which I am to this stuff.

 

[Law]

I did what the README said, I put EBOOT.PBP and rdriver.prx to a folder called PSP/GAME4XX/bootload and still nothing happened. The readme also said stuff about packers, kernels, prx, pbp, and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand.

Are you talking about the update? If so:

- Copy the UPDATE folder into /PSP/GAME
- Run it, the update will be done by Sony updater. At the end when you are asked to reboot the
PSP pressing X or O, do it. Do not skip this step shutting down the psp by yourself, or you'll end up with a brick.
- Then you can delete "UPDATE" folder.

 

[RebelX]

Are you talking about the update? If so:

- Copy the UPDATE folder into /PSP/GAME
- Run it, the update will be done by Sony updater. At the end when you are asked to reboot the
PSP pressing X or O, do it. Do not skip this step shutting down the psp by yourself, or you'll end up with a brick.
- Then you can delete "UPDATE" folder.

THANK YOU!!! Damn, hours of searching the internet for an answer and that's all I had to do? My God, I feel like such an idiot

Oh, and one more question, I have numerous .PBP files with numbers of previous version all over my memory stick, can I delete them or will deleting them be fatal to my PSP?

 

[ElChupaNibre]

Deleting files from the memory stick will not affect your PSP in any way, and certainly not brick it. Remember, the memory stick is removable anyway.

So yes - any files used in the installation/upgrade of the CFW can now be safely deleted.

 

[DSGamer64]

Someone should just buy the PSP I have, it is already hacked and ready to go, comes with an 8 GB memory card. It is really simple to use, although I find it can be a bit more painstaking then the DS because the games are much bigger in size so transfers and downloads tend to take a bit longer.

 

[Try2bcool]

Someone should just buy the PSP I have, it is already hacked and ready to go, comes with an 8 GB memory card. It is really simple to use, although I find it can be a bit more painstaking then the DS because the games are much bigger in size so transfers and downloads tend to take a bit longer.

I tell you one thing I learned is that if you hook up the cable and go into USB mode, the games transfer a hell of a lot faster than if you put the memstick into a card reader slot.

 

[pepsibluehawk87]

I learned that as well.