PSP moding - questions and answers

irishash

Hi all,

I just bought a PSP lite and slim. Before I bought it I looked into the whole custom-firmware thing and the general area of moding the PSP. There is a lot of conflicting info out there, so I always find returning to this safe haven of good advice the best recourse.

So basically I have a few questions about moding the psp :

1. Is it possible to put custom firmware onto a PSP slim and lite, and will this in turn allow you to play ISO files on the machine.

2. Is it possible to put programs like MAME, SNES emulators, MEGA-DRIVE emulators, etc. onto the PSP and play the related ROMS?

3. What are the down-sides to moding the PSP ? Will it invalidate the warranty?

4. What is good jebus is “bricking” or a “bricked PSP” – I can guess, but would like to be told.

5. If you are anyway computer literate at all, is it that difficult to mod the PSP or just time-consuming and frustrating?

I have heard there is a custom firmware out there for the PSP slim and lite already – anyone got and tried it yet.

Thanks in advance for all the replies – really thought this kind of thing would be a sticky…..

Nick_oliveri

irishash wrote:

Hi all,

I just bought a PSP lite and slim. Before I bought it I looked into the whole custom-firmware thing and the general area of moding the PSP. There is a lot of conflicting info out there, so I always find returning to this safe haven of good advice the best recourse.

Hmm, check your firmware in system settings to make sure its a 3.60.
Your going to need another modified PSP to achieve a downgrade with the slim and lite version of pandoras battery(thats the original release thread, not for the slim and lite! The next link is for the slim and lite).

The instalation is done using pandora battery and requires a fat psp with 1.50 or
custom firmware with 1.50 support to run a installer.
However once the memory stick installation is done, you can use it in whatever psp slim without
repeating the process again.

http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t=78493
This thread has conflicting information. Basically its illegal for them to give you the files on most sites without the use of a modified PSP!!! Wtf...
http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t=79873

So basically your going to be flying blind if you were to downgrade using pandora on the slim and lite. Also its worth reading a lot before even attempting something like this with your new hardware. Something this guy should have done.

Its all a bit confusing using the Pandora method with the slim and lite atm. If you are put off by this method i would advise you stick to your current firmware version and wait until a gamesave exploit downgrader comes out for the slim.

Any firmware after 3.60 will have extra protection because the custom firmwares source code were leaked and Sony took note of the methods used and patched a lot of crap.

So basically I have a few questions about moding the psp :

1. Is it possible to put custom firmware onto a PSP slim and lite, and will this in turn allow you to play ISO files on the machine.

Yes

2. Is it possible to put programs like MAME, SNES emulators, MEGA-DRIVE emulators, etc. onto the PSP and play the related ROMS?

Yes, N64 is a bit choppy atm, but you'll have that..

3. What are the down-sides to moding the PSP ? Will it invalidate the warranty?

It sure will, but the third party stores have a habit of not giving a crap when you tell them that your PSP was bricked during a firmware update to play the new Final Fantasy game and they hand you out a new one. This is fraud btw.

4. What is good jebus is “bricking” or a “bricked PSP” – I can guess, but would like to be told.

Its dead baby. Theres semi bricks, that you can recover from if you have the custom firmware already installed and you go into recovery, or theres full on bricks that you can recover from on the PSP fat, not slim ATM. Soon though.

5. If you are anyway computer literate at all, is it that difficult to mod the PSP or just time-consuming and frustrating?

If you can read and remember vital non-bricking information then it wouldnt be that difficult no.

I have heard there is a custom firmware out there for the PSP slim and lite already – anyone got and tried it yet.

See the second maxconsole link above.

Thanks in advance for all the replies – really thought this kind of thing would be a sticky…..

PSP forum FTW!

irishash

nick,

thanks for all the info - I am sure it took you time to get all that info down and it is well appreciated. I think I am going to wait until a simplier way of moding the slim and lite comes out. Reason being that while the current system is not too complicated, it would be really foolish of me to screw up my brand new PSP that I worked quite hard in saving up to get. So for now burnout and the GTA's will have to do, but I will someday get to play FF VII on the PSP...........

Nick_oliveri

Yes, final fantasy is good to play. If you have the disks then you can emulate on the PC with a controller or the keyboard.

animaX

It may never be possible to hack the slim without pandora's battery and a magic memorystick. Sony are getting better at security, especially since the custom firmware source code was leaked.

I managed to hack my slim last week. Scary but worth it!