Psp Emulation And Homebrew

[christo930]

My son-in-law has a psp with bios version 3.80 and he wants to me to setup some emulators on his psp. Is this possible? I've heard that there are bios-downgraders which really brick the psp and that you need an early 1.x version, but then I hear that it is possible. The gp community seems to be a little more mature and information more reliable than with the psp community. Is this a hopeless situation, or can I set him up with some retrogaming and homebrewing fun?

Chris

 

[Orkie]

Wrong forum?

 

[God Ginrai]

My son-in-law has a psp with bios version 3.80 and he wants to me to setup some emulators on his psp. Is this possible? I've heard that there are bios-downgraders which really brick the psp and that you need an early 1.x version, but then I hear that it is possible. The gp community seems to be a little more mature and information more reliable than with the psp community. Is this a hopeless situation, or can I set him up with some retrogaming and homebrewing fun?

Chris

I'd suggest asking the people over at DCEmu (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/), they even have a forum for PSP stuff, and a lot of the people there are of the same temperament as the GP32X community, so you shouldn't have to worry about dealing with them.

Here's DCEmu's Help Forum for PSP related stuff: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=80
And here's DCEmu's Emulation and Homebrew Forum: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=80

I'd suggest that Help forum first, that looks like a good place to start.

-God Ginrai

 

[Kyo]

To answer your question, no it's not possible, I'm afraid the pandora is the only device that will ever support such a thing.

But seriously, this is the wrong forum but it is very well possible. Remember, the pandora is not the same as the pandora's battery

 

[Prophet]

My son-in-law has a psp with bios version 3.80 and he wants to me to setup some emulators on his psp. Is this possible? I've heard that there are bios-downgraders which really brick the psp and that you need an early 1.x version, but then I hear that it is possible. The gp community seems to be a little more mature and information more reliable than with the psp community. Is this a hopeless situation, or can I set him up with some retrogaming and homebrewing fun?

Chris

As said already, this is the wrong place.

However, judging by what you wrote, you've seem to have been very misinformed by someone in the past, so I'll give you a quick rundown to get you on the right road.

1) Any PSP can be used for homebrew now. The days of bricking and limitations relative to firmware are over long ago.

2) In your case, I believe you will have to go the "Pandora battery" route. This has nothing to do with the Pandora handheld mind you, no connection at all. So your first step is to learn about creating and/or obtaining a Pandora battery to downgrade your PSP.

3) Once the PSP is downgraded, the next step is to install custom firmware. You get that from Dark Alex ( http://www.dark-alex.org/index_psp.php ).

Now I'm making it all sound very easy, but in reality there are multiple steps in each step, and you need to be mindful that you follow things well. It's not hard, but it may take some time to read through tutorials, gather what you need etc. The good part, is that once it's done, it's over and you can do whatever you want on the PSP, which is very liberating. And you lose no functionality, you can still play all the PSP games, play online, use UMD's etc., but your PSP gains all sorts of new capabilities it didn't have before. It's almost like having a whole new system.

Also check out youtube for video tutorials. Those might be nice for newbies. And make very sure that whatever tutorial you read/watch is up-to-date. Things move pretty fast in that scene.

Finally, a good forum to check for this stuff is Maxconsole, as many PSP devs hang out there and people know their stuff there. Here's a link I think you'll appreciate:

http://forums.maxconsole.net/forumdisplay.php?f=80

 

[christo930]

My son-in-law has a psp with bios version 3.80 and he wants to me to setup some emulators on his psp. Is this possible? I've heard that there are bios-downgraders which really brick the psp and that you need an early 1.x version, but then I hear that it is possible. The gp community seems to be a little more mature and information more reliable than with the psp community. Is this a hopeless situation, or can I set him up with some retrogaming and homebrewing fun?

Chris

As said already, this is the wrong place.

However, judging by what you wrote, you've seem to have been very misinformed by someone in the past, so I'll give you a quick rundown to get you on the right road.

1) Any PSP can be used for homebrew now. The days of bricking and limitations relative to firmware are over long ago.

2) In your case, I believe you will have to go the "Pandora battery" route. This has nothing to do with the Pandora handheld mind you, no connection at all. So your first step is to learn about creating and/or obtaining a Pandora battery to downgrade your PSP.

3) Once the PSP is downgraded, the next step is to install custom firmware. You get that from Dark Alex ( http://www.dark-alex.org/index_psp.php ).

Now I'm making it all sound very easy, but in reality there are multiple steps in each step, and you need to be mindful that you follow things well. It's not hard, but it may take some time to read through tutorials, gather what you need etc. The good part, is that once it's done, it's over and you can do whatever you want on the PSP, which is very liberating. And you lose no functionality, you can still play all the PSP games, play online, use UMD's etc., but your PSP gains all sorts of new capabilities it didn't have before. It's almost like having a whole new system.

Also check out youtube for video tutorials. Those might be nice for newbies. And make very sure that whatever tutorial you read/watch is up-to-date. Things move pretty fast in that scene.

Finally, a good forum to check for this stuff is Maxconsole, as many PSP devs hang out there and people know their stuff there. Here's a link I think you'll appreciate:

http://forums.maxconsole.net/forumdisplay.php?f=80


Thanks all for the replies, I knew I would get good replies from gp32x and that is why I posted it here, although I didn't mean to post it in the Pandora section. Sorry about the off topic post, but I want to be able to help him. I am also considering picking up a used one for myself if this turns out well. I'll probably go with the Pandora battery and make the magic memory stick myself. I think I also read that you can convert a battery to a pandora battery (but not back, at least not easily), so I might do that rather than order the Pandora battery. I won't have the machine again until this weekend so that gives me time to research some more. Thanks and anyone who thinks they can help more, I would appreciate it.

Chris

 

[Jarska333]

I got one of them Datel Tool batteries from some english online retailer. The process itself was easy as eating pancakes.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Once you obtain a pandora battery, downgrading and then installing custom FW is really easy. Don't feel overwhelmed by some of the jargon. Use google to find newb guides, and you'll be fine. The process is totally worth it, by the way. I love that my PSP can do some much now that it's hacked

 

[TwoHeadedBoy]

I love that my PSP can do some much now that it's hacked

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but out of curiosity/intrigue, what new stuff can be done with a hacked PSP? Anything besides emulators, I mean?

 

[Null]

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but out of curiosity/intrigue, what new stuff can be done with a hacked PSP? Anything besides emulators, I mean?

You can:

Use it as an alarm clock
Use it as a remote control
Fly PicoZ helicopters with it
Use it as a webserver

+ more

 

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Helicopters?!? Goodness me, this is exciting. I remember seeing something about the WonderBorg thing for the WonderSwan (on Blue Peter of all places) and getting really excited about that, but apparently they aren't what they seem. My ultimate fantasy of this sort of thing would be to mount a camera on the R/C, then use the PSP or whatever's screen as a thingy for looking where you're flying.

Seriously, yes, I am now more interested than ever.

 

[Null]

Helicopters?!?

Vid1
Vid2

 

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Wow, they don't seem as responsive as the actual remotes, but they DO work, and that's just swell. I like the crocodile on top of his couch as well.