HACKING AND CUSTOMIZING PSPs

[Weterr123]

Shadow96, you have a hacked PSP? That's cool, I have made a Super Metroid theme, what firmware are you using?

Ok, so given that to play metroid hacks you need an emulator, and I play the hacks on my PSP (whoo, connection), I figured some of you guys may do the same thing and may want to look into PSP hacking and stuff in more depth and generally discuss it here.

Soooo, I'll get this started. About 3 months ago, I was majorly into customising my PSP (Phat one) and have been for a couple of years, learning bit by bit. I was so obsessed that I rarely actually played any games on it - until I discovered hacks of my favourite game of all time, which you all undoubtedly can guess. So now it has taken a back seat while I play through hacks, and journey up the steep (or maybe vertical) learning process to hack Super Metroid. Anyway, before I waffle on anymore, here is one of the last theme projects I did for PSP, CFW 5.00 M33:



^This is what you see as you turn the PSP on. At the same time you can hear our favourite life sucking critters SQUEEE loudly!



^This is a screenshot from the XMB, ie, the menu you scroll through to select games, music etc. The grey circular icons are not my work, as I have not got around to doing that part yet (need inspiration). The inner Metroid icons are by me. The half metroids all at different angles that you may see, are part of an animation. This is to replace the classic 'waves' you get on PSP. Here, I have metroids floating all over the place. Oh, and those of you with a keen eye will notice the font is different. METROID FONT although I forget which game



^Anyone who has used their PSP to play music will undoubtedly know you can choose from several types of visualizer. This is a custom one for my theme.



^Final screenshot, this is my gameboot (little movie while your game or application loads). 'Tis pretty simple compared to other gameboots I do, but quite fitting, and official looking (if Nintendo made PSP's that is LOLOLOLOL). I decided to have Metroids chirping again, just seemed right.

And there we go. That's just one example of how cool a PSP is.

If you have a hacked PSP on firmware 5.00 M33, you can get my theme here:

http://endlessparadigm.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=29485

If you're on a lower firmware, upgrade!! Higher firmware, then sorry, will have to find a workaround for it.

I will show other things I have done as and when, but for now, I'm off to bed as it's 2:30am and I am knackered!

[Quote58]

ya, I imagine a lot of people here have hacked psps, great for emulating classics. I'm using PRO-B8 over firmware 6.20 on a 3000 I believe.

[A_red_monk_called_Key]

Cool, take a look at this man:

http://endlessparadigm.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=29485

I don't believe it can be directly converted to your firmware, but if you are into the XMB hacking/customizing side of things, you are more than welcome to take the icons and such and put them on yours or whatever. Take a look, let me know what you think.

This of course applies to anyone here with hacked PSPs.

Anyway, I will shut up now, Red Monkey's phazon thread isn't really the place for me to show off PSP themes lol.

(Metroid related, forgive me!)

i dig. i'm going to hack my PSP someday, i here good things.

[Weterr123]

Glad you approve dude! Feel free to ask me stuff when you get around to it, I may be a SMILE noob just starting out, but I'm quite experienced in some areas of the PSP scene. It's soooooo much easier IMO than SM hacking  :lol:

[Quote58]

That looks like a pretty awesome theme you've got there. I don't usually spend much time on the main screen, but the icons and background look pretty cool, so maybe you could make a normal theme sometime that doesn't include the stuff that's rather annoying to deal with depending on firmware? I have a few metroid themes on psp, but they're all pretty bad. I planned on making my own a while ago, but again, I don't spend much time on the xmb.
Red Monkey, I suggest you do so, it's great for playing hacks as well as most classic game systems. I have every megaman x game on there except for 7 and 8.

Edit: looked a couple things up and refreshed my memory on the subject of custom firmware themes. I actually have a bunch of ones that change the whole interface but since the themes are made for specific firmwares the one you have there for like 5.33 or something doesn't work on my 6.20 one. Anyway, there's probably a way to convert it, so I may look into that sometime, for now however, what you made looks cool, so good job.

[Quote58]

alright, well since I was curious I scoured the interwebs for a solution. As it turns out there is actually something called CTF Tool which converts themes and does other stuff. Unfortunatly the only version that supports 6.20 and beyond is v5, which for some reason can not seem to be gotten anymore. None of the tons of download links from various places have the files anymore, so the most I was able to download that worked was v4.5 or something, which supports everything up to 6.20. In any case, I'm fine as is, so it's not a big deal, just a tad annoying that I can't seem to find a proper download for that program.

[Zhs2]

I wouldn't call it "hacking" anymore. "Lite" Custom Firmware (hereby referred to as LCFW) is much better, cleaner, less of a pain, and something to recommend to people who both have newer PSPs and don't want to deal with complicated stuff like downgrading - cooler than HEN, guaranteed. If you still have much older firmware due to motherboard issues, well, I'm not sure what to recommend, as I've only got a 3000.

[Weterr123]

Shadow, as I am on 5.00 M33, I use CTF Manager, but I do have the latest version of CTF Tool. Due to the upload limit here though, I cannot post it.

But I have hunted around for you, go here:

http://www.pspinfo.ru/software/43887-ctftool-gui-v5-beta2.html

Zhs2, yeah LCFW is recommended for later models, as permanent firmware is far riskier due to Sony's lockouts with each subsequent motherboard. Some people like to perma-patch HEN, but I wouldn't recommend it. As for me, I have a classic Phat PSP1003, and my perfect reliable 5.00 M33 suits me down to the ground - I play my classics, including SM and the hacks, and if I want to play a later PSP game (VERY rare), there are patches available.

As for anyone with a Vita... well, it's all about waiting for the latest game exploits to use VHBL before Sony catches on.

[A_red_monk_called_Key]

does it mater what type of PSP? i want to mod a PSP Go.

[Zhs2]

Doesn't matter, as LCFW is also valid for a Go (plus, you can't go wrong with 16GB internal storage and the ability to add a Memory Stick on top of that if you feel like it.) 3000 and Go are the models to get these days, or if you want to drop it repeatedly, you can also find a 1000 somewhere. Just never get a 2000. They're horrible.

[Quote58]

My brother has a psp go using PRO firmware like my 3000 and it works great. Easy to install, easy to use.
I would recommend the go if you can find one these days due to it being much smaller and lighter. Easier to carry around.

[Weterr123]

Doesn't matter, as LCFW is also valid for a Go (plus, you can't go wrong with 16GB internal storage and the ability to add a Memory Stick on top of that if you feel like it.) 3000 and Go are the models to get these days, or if you want to drop it repeatedly, you can also find a 1000 somewhere. Just never get a 2000. They're horrible.

^This.