Post: #1

First of all, there is no way to to play ISO games or use a custom firmware if your unhackable PSP is past 5.03. If you have 5.03 or lower, click here. If your PSP 2000 (with the TA-088v3 motherboard) or PSP 3000 is above 5.03 firmware, it is impossible (at this time) to get a CFW or play ISO. Same goes with the PSP Go, only the lowest firmware for the go is 5.70 so none of the Go's have any CFW. Secondly, if your PSP has been updated to 6.30, there are no hacks for you - yet. Sorry. There is no way for us to know when a hack will be available so don't ask.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Wow, I can't believe I bought this piece of junk... I can't even hack it or anything." Well there are a few hacks for it so it isn't completely useless. You can change the font used on the XMB (Xross Media Bar/main menu of the PSP), you can run a limited number of homebrew applications (including emulators for classic consoles), and you can do all of this while still accessing the PSN via Media Go. However, if you really want to pirate PSP games and PS1 game I highly suggest that you sell your current PSP and buy a hackable PSP-2000.


The first thing I'll cover is the homebrew and emulators. You'll need to be using any firmware 6.20 or lower - if you are using 6.30 it will not work. If you are using 6.20 firmware or lower then check out this tutorial I wrote about the Half-Byte Loader: click here. That shows how to use emulators on official firmware but it also works for homebrew. For a full list of tested homebrew click here. If you have trouble getting the Half-Byte Loader to work then you can try using blake1211's easy installer.



It’s been discovered that using PSP Filer 4.4 Kernel 3.xx, which seemingly works best with Half Byte Loader, you’re able to access (read/write) the PSP registry in flash1. So if you follow the steps below you can customize the XMB font by redirecting the fonts folder from flash0 to your memory stick. Lets get started:

1. Download the fontmod package below; it includes PSP Filer 4.4, fixupreg3, and fonts to try out.
2. Run PSP Filer via HBL; press R + Left to go into “Hacker Mode.”
3. Press start to move over to flash1.
4. Copy the registry folder to the memory stick.
5. Open the file “system.dreg” in a hex editor; Google for one.
6. Change “flash0:/font” to “ms0:/fontmod” (or ef0:/fontmod if you’re on a GO).
7. Place the files from the registry into a folder with the files from fixupreg3, then run the .exe.
8. Place the new registry files back on the memory stick.
9. Place the fontmod folder in the root of the memory stick (or GO storage).
10. Run Filer, enter Hacker Mode, and copy the registry files from the memory stick over the files in flash1:/registry/.
11. Hit Home and exit to the XMB to see your new font.
    

That should be it. Now, real quick, we aren’t responsible if you damage your PSP. Messing with flash memory poses a potential risk; however, it’s unlikely you’ll cause a brick by performing the above. If you do mess up the PSP will prompt you to recover flash1 anyway.

(I got this tutorial from greg, here)
Download:
Fontmod Hack Pack
Half Byte Loader (HBL) Rev. 85 You could also use the latest revision.
Birdman1′s Font Pack v11 (135 fonts)



If you're a PSP Go user, the only way to get official Sony content is from the PSN. And since we don't have an ISO loader or CFW for the PSP Go, you can't play backup (ISO) games from your old UMDs. However, if you try to connect to the PSN via the PSP it will try to convince you to upgrade to 6.30. DON'T DO IT, IT'S A TRAP! If you upgrade to 6.30 all of your homebrewing ability will be lost. To circumvent this update you can just download Media Go 1.5 and download your PSN content to your computer and transfer your downloads to the PSP. You don't need to have 6.30 on your PSP to use Media Go.

If it asks you to update, just skip it (the update).

Have you ever wondered why you can't simply downgrade your unhackable PSP to 5.03 so you can use the temporary CFW or full CFW that other PSPs get to use? I'll try to explain why it is impossible; however, I will be using a lot of technical terms which many of you might not understand.

The simple explaination: Sony added additional security checkpoints in the newer PSPs (all slims released with 4.01 firmware and up and all PSP-3000, PSP Go) which blocks our Pandora battery hack, downgraders, and full (permanent) custom frimwares.

The long explaination (click here for a glossary of tech terms): The IPL is the Initial Program Loader. Since it's encrypted with (presumably) an AES encryption code that only Sony has access to, we can't edit it to boot a CFW. The kirk chip on the motherboard looks for official, signed Sony code to boot the PSP and if you change that code then it would no longer be encrypted and the PSP wouldn't pass the security checks and wouldn't boot up (thus causing a brick). For a Pandora battery to work we have to inject a custom IPL into our memory sticks and since those don't use the encryption keys like Sony's official IPL it won't work. It won't brick the PSP, it just won't boot to the Pandora DCv8 menu. You can read more about how the Pandora battery works here.

To counter this, any unhackable PSP (such as PSP-3000) can only load a temporary firmware after it is turned on. When it's turned off the custom firmware goes away so the PSP will still boot up. However, it boots into Official firmware so you would have to re-enable the CFW. At least it doesn't brick the PSP.

However, for this temporary custom firmware, we need a kernel mode exploit which are rare and hard to find. The current HBL exploit is only user mode and doesn't allow us to have full access to the flash0. The latest public kernel mode exploit is only available on official firmware 5.03, Sony has patched that exploit in all newer firmware releases. (More experienced hackers, feel free to correct any of my technical mistakes)

 Post: #2

Great tut, *Sticked*.

ExBu Wrote:I killed bigfoot lol

 Post: #3

Nice article!
Thanks for sticking it CO_ol

Just so you know Organized_Chaos, I've added this tutorial to the home page (sidebar).

 Post: #4

Great info ^_^

 Post: #5

(07-26-2010 08:34 AM)Pirata Nervo Wrote:  Just so you know Organized_Chaos, I've added this tutorial to the home page (sidebar).

We have a home page (with a side bar)?

lol just kidding, I only have the forums bookmarked. Anyway, thanks for doing that

 Post: #6

(07-26-2010 11:52 AM)Organized_Chaos Wrote:  

'Pirata Nervo' pid='47422' dateline='1280097246' Wrote:Just so you know Organized_Chaos, I've added this tutorial to the home page (sidebar).

We have a home page (with a side bar)?

lol just kidding, I only have the forums bookmarked. Anyway, thanks for doing that

Yeap lol
Here:
http://www.consoleaddicted.com/

 Post: #7

I do not believe this tutorial should be a sticky anymore. Now that we have 6.20 TN-A, this seems pointless.

 Post: #8

That's correct, unstuck. Feel free to post any more tutorials if you wish You can create one for 6.20 since there isn't one here apart from the news thread, only if you wish though.