Hacking Ps vita FW 3.57 hacking? (New to hacking)

[Gabriel Celani]

Hey everybody! I just bought a ps vita pch-1001 with the oled screen, brand new sealed in the box. Don't have it yet, it's on its way to me. So I'm not sure which FW it'll have once I open it. I'm fairly new to the Vita and it's hacking. I haven't owned a handheld in years. Last thing I ever hacked was my iPod touch years ago lol I'm a total noob pretty much, sorry :/

I don't have a ps3 (own a ps4 though) I mainly want to be able to play ps1, ds, gba games on my vita while still reaping the benefits of psn store, trophies, and remote play. Is any of this possible? What are the steps to get there? What are the pros and cons to hacking my vita? Would I be able to update to firmware 3.57 and start hacking from there? There's a lot of info out there, but it's all jumbled and very confusing to someone new like me.

Any info, links, videos, guides, and advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Deleted User]

If it's brand new and factory sealed, it will most likely come with a 2.XX firmware. Don't update it to 3.57!!! You will lose a lot of available Vita hacks if you update to 3.57 (and even a recent PSP-mode exploit got patched so you can't play PSP/PS1 ISOs on 3.57. )

If it happens to come with the said 2.XX firmware, manually update it to 3.18 and start hacking on that firmware! 3.18 is considered the golden FW for hacking, and you can do almost every available Vita exploit on it.

To get from 2.XX to 3.18, you will need to manually update with an official 3.18 Vita update file (yes, you can do that) through what's called QCMA (it's an alternative to the content manager app; content manager allows you to transfer savedata/game content over to your Vita's memory card.)

You have to use QCMA because the official CMA causes a lot of update nags and also limits you to what you can transfer to and from the Vita. You'll learn all of this stuff once you get your Vita though.

 

[Gabriel Celani]

If it's brand new and factory sealed, it will most likely come with a 2.XX firmware. Don't update it to 3.57!!! You will lose a lot of available Vita hacks if you update to 3.57 (and even a recent PSP-mode exploit got patched so you can't play PSP/PS1 ISOs on 3.57. )

If it happens to come with the said 2.XX firmware, manually update it to 3.18 and start hacking on that firmware! 3.18 is considered the golden FW for hacking, and you can do almost every available Vita exploit on it.

To get from 2.XX to 3.18, you will need to manually update with an official 3.18 Vita update file (yes, you can do that) through what's called QCMA (it's an alternative to the content manager app; content manager allows you to transfer savedata/game content over to your Vita's memory card.)

You have to use QCMA because the official CMA causes a lot of update nags and also limits you to what you can transfer to and from the Vita. You'll learn all of this stuff once you get your Vita though.

Thanks for the info and advice! I'll most likely be doing what you stated then but as far as pros and cons, will I be cut off from psn store and trophies? And or cut off from remote play? (if I manually update to 3.18 FW)

 

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the info and advice! I'll most likely be doing what you stated then but as far as pros and cons, will I be cut off from psn store and trophies? And or cut off from remote play?

Unfortunately, PS Store, trophy synching, and remote play will all be unavailable if you're not on the latest firmware since they are all PSN features.

 

[Gabriel Celani]

Unfortunately, PS Store, trophy synching, and remote play will all be unavailable if you're not on the latest firmware since they are all PSN features.

Damn sorry for further complicating this. But any info on how to get around this as of yet or near future. Won't be worth it if it cuts me out from psn completely like that. Also if I do end up hacking it, is there a way I can always just update to the latest FW and get psn Perks back? Or is it considered broken after that? And if I end up doing that, there's no way for me to revert back to an older FW, right? What would be my best bet?

 

[Deleted User]

Damn sorry for further complicating this. But any info on how to get around this as of yet or near future. Won't be worth it if it cuts me out from psn completely like that. Also if I do end up hacking it, is there a way I can always just update to the latest FW and get psn Perks back? Or is it considered broken after that? And if I end up doing that, there's no way for me to revert back to an older FW, right? What would be my best bet?

There's simply no way to access PSN on the Vita below the latest firmware whatsoever. period.
If you want access to PSN, either get a PSTV with the latest FW, and buy and play your Vita/PSP games on that, or buy a PS3 which allows you to do two (vital!) things.

The first reason to get a PS3 is that a PS3 allows you to activate that Vita you're getting so you can actually play games from the memory card. Sony requires you to do this for obvious reasons, I don't see why it's necessary in my opinion, but when you acvtivate that Vita with the PS3, you will finally be able to access games on your memcard.

The second reason is that you can just update that PS3 to the latest official firmware, and gain PSN access on that. You can actually buy/download Vita and PSP games on a PS3 and transfer the downloaded games to the Vita through QCMA (it activates the Vita in the process). This way, there's actually a way to get PSN access AND stay ona low FW at the same time.

 

[Gabriel Celani]

Will doing this take away the remote play feature on my vita still (if I go the ps3 route)? So, then I can technically still have access to psn store through the ps3 and just transfer things over to my vita through it? Could I just use a buddy's ps3, pull up my account on there and do it the same? Don't wanna have to fork over more money on a console I'm only gonna use to transfer downloads....

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There's simply no way to access PSN on the Vita below the latest firmware whatsoever. period.
If you want access to PSN, either get a PSTV with the latest FW, and buy and play your Vita/PSP games on that, or buy a PS3 which allows you to do two (vital!) things.

The first reason to get a PS3 is that a PS3 allows you to activate that Vita you're getting so you can actually play games from the memory card. Sony requires you to do this for obvious reasons, I don't see why it's necessary in my opinion, but when you acvtivate that Vita with the PS3, you will finally be able to access games on your memcard.

The second reason is that you can just update that PS3 to the latest official firmware, and gain PSN access on that. You can actually buy/download Vita and PSP games on a PS3 and transfer the downloaded games to the Vita through QCMA (it activates the Vita in the process). This way, there's actually a way to get PSN access AND stay ona low FW at the same time.

Will doing this take away the remote play feature on my vita still (if I go the ps3 route)? So, then I can technically still have access to psn store through the ps3 and just transfer things over to my vita through it? Could I just use a buddy's ps3, pull up my account on there and do it the same? Don't wanna have to fork over more money on a console I'm only gonna use to transfer downloads....

 

[Deleted User]

Remote play will never be possible without the latest firmware.

If you have a friend who has a PS3, go for it! You will need a way to activate that Vita anyway. If your intentions are for non-PSVita content, then you will be perfectly fine with any further hacking.