Posted Nov 21, 2008 at 08:29PM by Glenn M. Listed in: Homebrew Applications Tags: memory stick, XMB, Hex, FreePlay, Torch
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PSP - Image 1


Simple plugin with major use. The battery-saving plugin from Torch gets an update, giving you Hold+ v3.41. Now you can go play outdoors without having to worry too much about running out of battery before lunchtime. This ought to extend battery life until you can get someplace to charge your PSP.

Anyway, here are the most recent changelogs:
  • Changelog v3.41 - Improved faulty Hold switch protection, as there were still some chances of a faulty Hold switch causing problems.
  • Changelog v3.40 - Fixed a problem caused by a faulty Hold switch in some PSPs. This made the CPU remain underclocked even after turning off the Hold switch.The problem is the Hold switch doesn't consistently return a pressed state. It sometimes rapidly fluctuates between an Off and On signal. If this fluctuation occurs within one iteration of the main program loop, it causes problems. Its not humanly possible to toggle the Hold switch so fast, but a loose connection can
Usage:
  • Turn on the Hold switch to automatically disable the display and underclock the CPU. Turn off the Hold switch to return the CPU to normal speed and enable the display.
  • If you push the ANALOG UP button when turning on the Hold switch, it will only lock the keypad like normal hold mode. The display and CPU speed will not be changed, so that you can watch videos etc. with the keypad locked.
  • If you push the ANALOG UP button when turning off the Hold switch, the display will remain switched off and the CPU will remain underclocked, but you can operate the PSP. To return to normal, push the power switch to the suspend position, or just press the Screen button.
  • While the PSP is in hold mode, if you first hold down the Select button, you can use the following buttons: Left, Right, LTrigger, RTrigger, Vol+, Vol-, Start.
Installation:
  • You can install it in the seplugins folder, and make an entry in VSH.txt. Thus it will be active in the XMB. Its also possible to use it in games by adding it to GAME.txt, but some games may crash etc., if the CPU is underclocked to such a low value.
  • Optionally, its also possible to install it in your PSP's flash0 so that it will work without a Memory Stick. For this you can use FreePlay's "NewBTCFNedit" and enable it for VSH mode in the all the PSPBT?NF.bin files. Add it before vshmain.prx.
Advanced options:

If you want to change the clock speed to your own values, you can use a hex editor to change them. The offsets in the file for v3.4 are:

  • 0xD48 - CPU
  • 0xD4C - Bus (Should be half the CPU speed or less)

The values should be entered in hexadecimal. The default value for CPU is 3C (60 MHz in decimal) and the default value for Bus is 1E (30 MHz in decimal).


Thanks to Torch for the tip!

Download: Hold+ v3.41
Visit: PSP Development Forum

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14 Comments


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   by TheLastGuitarHero - 2008-11-21
 » ...

I figure after seeing this plugin 23 times on the front page I will offer my own way to save battery.

Step 1, lower brightness on screen.
Step 2, lower cpu.

Done. Maybe I am missing something to this plugin, but other plugins (like the music.prx, hud.prx) do these things and other features along with adjusting the cpu. Besides the brightness settings has it's own button, can't be anymore convenient.


   Re: Rok - 2008-11-22
 » Yes but..

This plugin actualy turns off the LCD instead of just lowering the brightens.

   Re: GLO13AL_T3RROR - 2008-11-22
 » ***** you!

this is a gr8 plugin i love it and ya everyone knows lowering the brigtness and all those kinda ***** so ***** off.

   Re: TheLastGuitarHero - 2008-11-23
 » ...

Rok, thanks for the non-idiot response, actually that goes to everyone who replied actually with a point.

...But Global Terror, shut up kid. No duh everyone knows about holding down the brightness button and yadda yadda, that's exactly what I was saying, you just suck.

I was in no way bashing this dude's plugin, to quote Torch, " Its not meant to be a feat of leet programming skills. Its to implement features that should have been there in the first place, which I made for MY convenience." Which is great since that's how awesome stuff is made, it's cool that he shared. I was pointing out things that I, and only myself, did not understand.

Once again, Global Terror, you are an doofus. I haven't called anyone that in years, saved it for Total Terror or whatever.

One last thing, a comment directed at shogunu, thanks for your reply, however like the man below you, a lot of people find Music.PRX to be possibly the top 3 best plugins. Maybe you just brought that up and compared Hold.prx's features to it, but someone can easily say "...Hold doesn't play music." But I understand you were not cross referencing.

Bottom line is, I didn't mean for my comment to be such a big deal, my apologies, everyone likes different things, it's not like we all have to use these plugins.
   by Torch - 2008-11-22
 » .

Yes, its very convenient to do the Hold-On functions manually as well.

1) Play a song in music player.
2) Press Select to open VSH menu.
3) Press D-Pad button multiple times to scroll down to the XMB clock speed setting.
3) Press Left multiple times to select a lower clockspeed.
4) Press Down multiple times to go to Exit option.
5) Press X to exit.
6) Press and hold the Screen button for 1 second to turn off the screen. When you do this, the XMB sets the speed back to 111, so you wasted time performing steps 1-5.
7) Turn on Hold switch.

Now you can turn it off like this:
1) Turn off Hold switch. Oops you pushed it too far, the PSP shut off.


   Re: TheLastGuitarHero - 2008-11-22
 » ...

...Yeah that's all well and good except.
Hub.prx locks it to whatever cpu setting you want. So although you were talking about VSH Menu, I wasn't.

And you didn't answer me about the brightness settings.

Not bashing you, but since you're defending it, I may as well ask questions.

   Re: shogunu - 2008-11-22
 » In my case

LastGH, the single most useful function of hold.prx is that if you turn the switch on to get your PSP out of sleep mode you cannot accidentally turn off your PSP since this plug-in prevents that.

Plus that it works, unlike hud.prx which does not let you disable the screenshot button (try and set it to none and tell me how games work for you afterwards).

Plus, as Torch pointed out, you don't have to enter VSH or hud.prx to manually set the speed.

Plus, hold.prx also shuts down the screen (not just the backlight), do music.prx or hud.prx perform the same?

And let's not forget, for people who do not want to user music.prx or hud.prx (which are both glitchy and don't have that many useful features) and only need the functions of hold.prx this plug-in is perfect since it's not loaded with all the other bloat the other plug-ins have.

   Re: Torch - 2008-11-22
 » .

Its not meant to be a feat of leet programming skills. Its to implement features that should have been there in the first place, which I made for MY convenience.

1) Clock speed is reduced automatically and set back to original speed automatically when you turn on and off the Hold switch.

2) Display is turned off and on with the hold switch, without you having to press and hold the screen button for 1 second (thats how you normally turn it off, which is annoying and you have to do it each time after you press a button because it will turn on itself).

3) You can use the trigger buttons to skip tracks, left + right d-pad to fast forward + rewind, change volume, WHILE its in hold mode without having to unnecessarily unhold it. You got no clue how complex it is to implement this.

4) You can unhold it and keep the display turned off (it wont turn on when you press a button). I leave it in this mode when I'm sitting at home and listening to music.

5) And the most annoying design flaw of all, you don't need to be careful when unholding any more. It prevents it from suspending if you push it too far. And FYI its not done with a stupid scePowerLock() function. Its WAY more complicated than that to cancel a suspend.

   Re: JaXeRiR - 2008-11-22
 » @shogunu

"[...]music.prx or hud.prx (which are both glitchy and don't have that many useful features)[...]"

Oh, how about being able to play music while playing games? Or being able to see/set the CPU/BUS speeds of your PSP? Or being able to see the exact percentage and time of battery left? Or FPS? Or the time, wherever you are? Or being able to take screenshots?

C'mon, I'm not dissing Hold+, I think it's a great and a useful plugin but saying that music.prx and hud.prx don't have features... xD

   Re: shogunu - 2008-11-22
 » @Jax

I'm not dissing either music or hud prx. Just saying that in my case i find them pretty useless. Games i play already have music and i actually want to listen to the original score since it keeps me more involved than the music i have on my stick (which i already listen to while on the sub/tram so no point of playing it again while in-game).

And as for hud.prx, except for the battery percentage all of it is bloat. I don't care to know the FPS, CPU/FSB, time since it does not increase the usefulness of my PSP (neither in-game, nor out-game). It's only there to take up screen-space and flicker while in-game (yes, both mode 1 and mode 2 flicker in EVERY game).

So, for the rest of us who don't actually need anything more from those plug-ins Hold+ is great :)
   by darro87_ - 2008-11-22
 » Great Plugin

Torch man, u don't need to justify yourself or your plugin. Fact is you didn't have to share. I for one use it everyday, and the fact that you keep updating it anytime you see a problem means you take pride in your work. As a aspiring coder myself, I respect that. Your plugin provides a service, as do others. I don't see why people feel they need to negatively comment on it. Constructive critism is fine, but trying to belittle it with 'alternate battery saving techniques' and comparing it with other plugins is pointless. You guys don't like it, don't use it. Go use music and hud or whatever you like. At the end of the day, noone cares. Show your support, suggest an improvement, or STFU. Thanks for your work Torch, I, for one, appreciate it.

   by GLO13AL_T3RROR - 2008-11-22
 » Hold Plugin Rocks!!

those who are flaming just ***** off or make a better battery conserver and i'll accept the fate otherwise stop judging kinda Sh1ts....Tourch you rock and i wanna see further update so those you are flaming just STF and go to hell.

   by ajnauron - 2008-11-22
 » Can I use this with IRShell?

I'd like to use this with IRShell because this plugin is better than just turning off the backlight in IRShell.


   Re: Torch - 2008-11-22
 » Yes

The new version should work in game mode without any CPU overhead.


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