Hacking [Release] ARK-4 CFW port for PSP.

[godreborn]

I don't think it would affect Infinity, pretty much any updater might have this issue.

I encountered two anomalous bugs with the latest ark build. the installer--it got stuck in the middle of it, then the system shut off. I went back into ofw, and rebooted the installer. it went through fine the second time. also, after I got back on to the home screen, then rebooted, the system froze. it seemed to be correctly that one time again.

 

[Acid_Snake]

I encountered two anomalous bugs with the latest ark build. the installer--it got stuck in the middle of it, then the system shut off. I went back into ofw, and rebooted the installer. it went through fine the second time. also, after I got back on to the home screen, then rebooted, the system froze. it seemed to be correctly that one time again.

I've had that issue before, seems to just be your typical IO failure, copying FLASH0.ARK again should fix it.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Hey guys good news for Vita users, ARK-4 is now compatible with firmware 3.65 up to the latest 3.74, you can find the new release here:
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/r1814

Instalation on Vita is the same as before (use FastARK to install on top of a PSP game) with the only change that instead of copying H.BIN from VitaBubble folder, you will be copying the K.BIN file that contains the new kernel exploit.

Note: if for whatever reason you want to use an older version of ARK for 3.65+ you can download an older version of ARK and mix it with the new K.BIN kernel exploit file.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Guys the latest download also includes a few new themes for the custom launcher, to install them simply copy the THEME.ARK file from the theme folder into the ARK savedata folder.

MaterialDark:

gxclassic:

 

[Acid_Snake]

Hey guys I've made a new release that fixes some rare crashes with Inferno and some no-so-rare crashes when returning from sleep mode, both affecting compressed formats.
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/r1815

 

[godreborn]

updated. all good from what I could see, ran through my usual tests.

 

[Windows_10_User]

I haven't been through all of my games but actualy:
lunar silver star harmony undub
valkyrie profile
crush (eu)
kingdom hearts bbs (eu)
parappa the rapper (eu)
prince of persia rival swords
silent hill origins (eu)


All crash with the same error (blackscreen then error at launch) I'm on ark-4 4.18.7 (yesterday's build) no plugin. Henkaku enso 3.60. That's about 1 on 4 games.
I don't know if they launched on previous build cause I didn't try them then.

Also tony hawk's project 8(eu) gets stuck on memory stick verification at launch (with and without High speed memory stick option).

Do you still have issues with those games on the PS Vita with the latest standalone ARK-4 version?

 

[Liminal]

Do you still have issues with those games on the PS Vita with the latest ARK-4 version?

I'm not sure I haven't tried since. I ended up chovy-signing most of my games to run them native and have bubbles on the vita. I still use Ark-4 for some of the games that I couldn't get working with chovy-sign and I still think it's a better way than adrenaline to play psp games. Some of the games like SW: The Force Unleashed will only work on Adrenaline though. I still get random crashes launching games on Ark-4 on the last update but I'm hopeful it'll get fixed at some point for vita.

 

[Windows_10_User]

I'm not sure I haven't tried since. I ended up chovy-signing most of my games to run them native and have bubbles on the vita. I still use Ark-4 for some of the games that won't work with chovy-sign and I still think it's a better way than adrenaline to play psp games.

What do you mean by chovy-signing?

 

[Liminal]

What do you mean by chovy-signing?

https://github.com/KuromeSan/chovy-sign
and here's a tutorial that helped me to start with it

 

[Acid_Snake]

I'm not sure I haven't tried since. I ended up chovy-signing most of my games to run them native and have bubbles on the vita. I still use Ark-4 for some of the games that I couldn't get working with chovy-sign and I still think it's a better way than adrenaline to play psp games. Some of the games like SW: The Force Unleashed will only work on Adrenaline though. I still get random crashes launching games on Ark-4 on the last update but I'm hopeful it'll get fixed at some point for vita.

Interesting, I didn't know about the Force Unleashed, I'll definitely check it out.
As for the random crashes, can you explain it better? I fixed a crash on some CSO games but never had any actual random crash, do you know of any game where these random crashes are more evident? Do you know if this also affects PSP or it's Vita-only?

 

[Liminal]

Interesting, I didn't know about the Force Unleashed, I'll definitely check it out.
As for the random crashes, can you explain it better? I fixed a crash on some CSO games but never had any actual random crash, do you know of any game where these random crashes are more evident? Do you know if this also affects PSP or it's Vita-only?

I can't test right now but I'll get back to you. I've stumbled upon some thread that have cheats to make some of those games work specificaly for past ARK versions tho. Like Tony Hawk Project 8 and Force Unleashed.
So I'm not sure if it's on your hand. But I've definitly got some crashes with other games, from some I've listed previously. Most of my games are in eboot format now tho so I'm not sure if it'll matter. Idk about PSP I have one but haven't touched it in years.

 

[Acid_Snake]

I can't test right now but I'll get back to you. I've stumbled upon some thread that have cheats to make some of those games work specificaly for past ARK versions tho. Like Tony Hawk Project 8 and Force Unleashed.
So I'm not sure if it's on your hand. But I've definitly got some crashes with other games, from some I've listed previously. Most of my games are in eboot format now tho so I'm not sure if it'll matter. Idk about PSP I have one but haven't touched it in years.

ah eboot format, that one uses the official Sony driver so it must be something else, probably anti-piracy and DRM, have you tried using npdrm_free for those?

 

[Acid_Snake]

@Liminal here's a build that fixes Force Unleashed and Project 8:
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/v1661937179

I'm looking into other games, but I'm not sure how many of them are broken on ARK-4 since for example it says that Tekken 6 doesn't work due to CPU bug yet it works fine on ARK.

I've also read reports that english-translated games don't have issues with ARK, can you confirm this?

In the meantime I'll be checking the insufficient space issue some games seem to have, it seems that bug affects even a real PSP so it'd be nice if I can come up with a fix for that.

 

[Acid_Snake]

@Liminal here's another build that also fixes the sound issues in MotorStorm Arctic Edge.
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4/releases/tag/v1661944791

This one was a bit tougher to patch since Adrenaline would apply Vita-side emulator config to patch it up.
Eventually I had to do something similar to PPSSPP where audio doesn't get released if there's still samples left to play.
Works well and shouldn't have any side effects.

Other than that I think the only missing patch would be for games that have the "insufficient space" issue, which I guess would be nice to have a more universal solution since it also seems to break on PSP.

 

[Liminal]

ah eboot format, that one uses the official Sony driver so it must be something else, probably anti-piracy and DRM, have you tried using npdrm_free for those?

So I did more testing it seems I don't have the random crashes anymore on the aforementioned games I had problem with previously (most of them in eboot format now because chovy_signed). It must have been because I've tried to launch The Force Unleashed EUR iso beforehand and you have to reboot for any psp game to launch after that. I can't launch MGS Peace Walker EUR iso anymore at all on ARK-4 though(black screen and error) (I haven't try with npdrm_free plugin yet).
Translated and undub patched games work fine in ARK-4 for me so far (example: FF Type 0 ISO, and other eboots that have been modified like this https://forum.devchroma.nl/index.php/topic,12.msg15.html#msg15 )

 

[Acid_Snake]

So I did more testing it seems I don't have the random crashes anymore on the aforementioned games I had problem with previously (most of them in eboot format now because chovy_signed). It must have been because I've tried to launch The Force Unleashed beforehand and you have to reboot for any psp game to launch after that. I can't launch MGS Peace Walker EUR iso anymore at all on ARK-4 though(black screen and error) (I haven't tried with npdrm_free plugin yet).
Translated and undub patched games work fine in ARK-4 for me so far (example: FF Type 0 ISO, and other eboots that have been modified like this https://forum.devchroma.nl/index.php/topic,12.msg15.html#msg15 )

woah Peace Walker stopped working? Damn, when did it break?

 

[Liminal]

woah Peace Walker stopped working? Damn, when did it break?

I can't say for sure but on some previous versions of ARK-4 it worked.
Edit: It launches now with npdrm_free plugin! (which I had installed on my previous ARK-4 setup)

 

[Acid_Snake]

I can't say for sure but on some previous versions of ARK-4 it worked.

can you help me figure out which version it worked with last time? It will hlpe pinpoint the issue easier.

 

[Liminal]

can you help me figure out which version it worked with last time? It will hlpe pinpoint the issue easier.

I think I was using 4.18.7 but again it must have been with the npdrm_free plugin. And it launches now just fine on the 4.18.15 with the plugin as well.
Edit: I speaked too quickly it just crashed at launch again even with the plugin