Gaming Could I get some assistance?

[NatureMade]

Howdy folks. First off, I'd like to say hello, as this is the first thread I've ever made.
My name is Lyon, and if the title wasn't blatantly obvious, I am a newbie when it comes to modding PSP's.
I've read just about 30 different guides on how to mod a PSP with CFW, but I fear some of them may have been out of date, or inaccurate, so I've come to you, the GBATemp users, to ask for your assistance.

There are a few things I've already gotten down and understood, like I need a Pandora's Battery, a Magic Memory Stick, and a PSP. That's about ALL I've got down to memory. Now the questions come in, and there are A LOT!

-I can use the Pandoras' Battery to Mod ANY Psp Firmware, as long as it's not a 3000, correct?

-What program should I use to make the MMS, or should I make one on my own using "Drag and Drop" methods?

-Is POPSloader (the PSX emulator thingie) a homebrew I have to download and put on my memory stick, or does it use the one from Sony's OFW?

-If I make a single EBOOT out of a multi-disc PSX Game, will it still work, or do I need to do seperate EBOOTS?

-Do I go down to V1.50 first, then up in CFWs? if so, what's the order I should do it in? any tips?

-I can still boot regular UMD's off of my CFW Psp, correct?

-I see a lot of people put backup ISO's on their Memory sticks to play on CFW PSP's, but I've reviewed the size of some files, and they're up in the Gig+ memory space. I understand CSO's are smaller, is there a certain ISO2CSO Converter I should use?

-Once I finish installing the MMS onto the PSP, Can I delete everything on the stick, or move the files to a folder in my computer, or do I need to keep it on the stick to make the CFW run correctly?

-I was looking and saw that CFW 5 M33 is the latest edition. Do some homebrew lose compatibility if you update the CFW? EX: If I update past a certain point, will some Homebrew programs stop working?

These are all the questions I can think of for now. ANY assistance, whether it be pointing me to a previous thread, or answers directly, are much appreciated. I hope to be able to understand this confounded machine someday, as it seems 100x harder than my NDS was when getting into the modding scene. Thank you for your time and answers

Cheers

,
Lyon

 

[Diablo1123]

-I can use the Pandoras' Battery to Mod ANY Psp Firmware, as long as it's not a 3000, correct?

Or a PSP Slim with a TA-88v3 Motherboard

-Is POPSloader (the PSX emulator thingie) a homebrew I have to download and put on my memory stick, or does it use the one from Sony's OFW?


POPSLoader is a plugin that lets you change the version of POPS which is the built in "emulator" by Sony

-If I make a single EBOOT out of a multi-disc PSX Game, will it still work, or do I need to do seperate EBOOTS?

If you do it corrently It should.

-Do I go down to V1.50 first, then up in CFWs? if so, what's the order I should do it in? any tips?

Use a Pandora Battery with DCv8 to install 5.00 M33

-I can still boot regular UMD's off of my CFW Psp, correct?

Yes

-I see a lot of people put backup ISO's on their Memory sticks to play on CFW PSP's, but I've reviewed the size of some files, and they're up in the Gig+ memory space. I understand CSO's are smaller, is there a certain ISO2CSO Converter I should use?
[/quote]
I used UMDGen, it works

-Once I finish installing the MMS onto the PSP, Can I delete everything on the stick, or move the files to a folder in my computer, or do I need to keep it on the stick to make the CFW run correctly?

You can delete everything on the MMS after

That's according to all i know

 

[Devil May Cry]

Howdy folks. First off, I'd like to say hello, as this is the first thread I've ever made.
My name is Lyon, and if the title wasn't blatantly obvious, I am a newbie when it comes to modding PSP's.
I've read just about 30 different guides on how to mod a PSP with CFW, but I fear some of them may have been out of date, or inaccurate, so I've come to you, the GBATemp users, to ask for your assistance.

There are a few things I've already gotten down and understood, like I need a Pandora's Battery, a Magic Memory Stick, and a PSP. That's about ALL I've got down to memory. Now the questions come in, and there are A LOT!

-I can use the Pandoras' Battery to Mod ANY Psp Firmware, as long as it's not a 3000, correct?

-What program should I use to make the MMS, or should I make one on my own using "Drag and Drop" methods?

-Is POPSloader (the PSX emulator thingie) a homebrew I have to download and put on my memory stick, or does it use the one from Sony's OFW?

-If I make a single EBOOT out of a multi-disc PSX Game, will it still work, or do I need to do seperate EBOOTS?

-Do I go down to V1.50 first, then up in CFWs? if so, what's the order I should do it in? any tips?

-I can still boot regular UMD's off of my CFW Psp, correct?

-I see a lot of people put backup ISO's on their Memory sticks to play on CFW PSP's, but I've reviewed the size of some files, and they're up in the Gig+ memory space. I understand CSO's are smaller, is there a certain ISO2CSO Converter I should use?

-Once I finish installing the MMS onto the PSP, Can I delete everything on the stick, or move the files to a folder in my computer, or do I need to keep it on the stick to make the CFW run correctly?

-I was looking and saw that CFW 5 M33 is the latest edition. Do some homebrew lose compatibility if you update the CFW? EX: If I update past a certain point, will some Homebrew programs stop working?

These are all the questions I can think of for now. ANY assistance, whether it be pointing me to a previous thread, or answers directly, are much appreciated. I hope to be able to understand this confounded machine someday, as it seems 100x harder than my NDS was when getting into the modding scene. Thank you for your time and answers

Cheers

,
Lyon

Nice to meet you. I was in the same boat as you are now (going from NDS->PSP). I'll try to help you the best I can.

1. Firmware is not the issue anymore, but rather the motherboard of said PSP. The unmoddable PSPs are late model 2000 and all 3000. Gripshift may change this in the future though (as long as you aren't on 5.03 OFW)

2. I really suggest the DC series. These are very simple to use and are Vista compatible. I use DCv7 (which is old) and have no issues.

3. POPS is a plugin that is activated via the Recovery Menu. You need those files in the "seplugins" folder. Please note that POPS helps you load the right kernal for optimal PS1 emulation.

4. Yes, they'll still work. There are tutorials online (youtube it or something)

5. No, you do not need to downgrade that far (although you can if it is your best option). I went from 3.90 OFW to 4.01 M33-2 and have modded higher ones than before to 4.01 M33-2 as well. Also know that you can update to higher M33 options via Network Update after 3.71 M33 (double check on that, I believe that's the one).

6. Yes, you can.

7. True, some games are big. In order to switch to ISO to CSO, you can use UMDGEN v4. This is a GREAT program that can shrink games and convert them to. In NDS terms it's like Rominator and dslazy/dsbuff combined. If you truly want to save space, look for PSP Ripkits. These are executables that shrink a game to a set level. These can be massive jumps to small leaps. My ripped version Gears of War: Chains of Olympus (which is usually 1.22 GB) is now down to about 260 MB.

8. You can wipe the MMS if you want (I suggest backing it up on your computer though). You don't need to keep the MMS or the Pandora in after the mod.

9. Most Homebrew has been made to be supported on most all CFW. There may be some cases. I'm not the best on this topic seeing as I only run 1 Homebrew: PSPTube.

Hope I could help. Feel free to contact me via AIM. My username is FluffyMexican.

 

[NatureMade]

wow, those two posts did pretty good for explaining things, thanks guys. I googled some of the programs you suggested, and now a few more questions have arisen. Apologies abound, I appreciate all the help I've gotten thus far.

-I have a Phat PSP, one of the older models, and am Running V 5.01 OFW. Should I get DCv8 for 5.00, and if I do will that work? I just wanna make sure I don't end up bricking my PSP.

3. POPS is a plugin that is activated via the Recovery Menu. You need those files in the "seplugins" folder. Please note that POPS helps you load the right kernal for optimal PS1 emulation.

-What are these files you speak of, do they come with the MMS Maker, or do I need to google them?

-Do I need the Kernel 1.50 addon, since I'm running a Phat, or is that optional? if so, what does it enable?

 

[m3rox]

About making the PSX eboots, I recommend using a program called icetea 1.3 instead of popstation. It's just better. What you do is take the game ID from the first disc, and use it for each disc in the series that you convert. When you finish the first disc, the game will ask you to swap discs, simply change the eboot on your memory card to that of the second disc (or third, or fourth).

 

[Raiser]

I was in the same boat as you, but now I've got my own and sailed a couple meters in front of you. x)
I also just started to turn from the NDS side to the Dar..PSP side.

A heads up about the ISO to CSO compressions and such:

Many games WILL show signs of lag or slowing down when compressed to CSO format.
For example, this seemed to be just for me but GTA LCS lagged every 5 seconds for me when I compressed it. I tried altering the compression levels, but the game still lagged.
It seems as though both GTA games are notorious for it's inability to remain compressed and still function well.
Other games such as Dissidia Final Fantasy seem to work pretty well when compressed.

So test it out and see if there are any problems. If you need to convert it back to ISO, just find the suitable program, but make sure you get rid of the UPDATE folder if you haven't already. That folder does nothing and takes up quite a bit of space. Then when you uncompress it to get your ISO, it'll be bigger than the CSO, but much smaller than the original ISO.

Good luck.

EDIT:
About your 1.50 kernel question.
The kernel is optional. It is SAID to be required to run homebrew applications that were specified for the 1.50 firmware (which is most of them).
So my answer would be yes, you should get the 1.50 kernel addon on to your Phat when you can. Honestly though, for me, the kernel doesn't do much.
When my PSP is set to 5.XX (and not 1.50), I can still run homebrews. And the homebrews that I can't run on 5.XX (which seems to be a lot for some strange reason) don't run on the 1.50 kernel either! xD

May as well get it anyways, there's no harm in it. Just read up and get the kernel for 5.00 M33.

 

[War]

Next time, you might wanna check the stickies.

PSP FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Hope that helps

 

[NightWalker186]

All this is out of my league. I only know about DS's.