After over a month, raing3 comes up with an update for his multipurpose app which can perform general management functions for your PSP. This information now uses VLF library v1.0 by moonlight, and it nor supports 2.71SE and 1.50 running under Time Machine and check to disable running on 3.71. Other changes can be found in the changelog.


Download: PSP Tool v0.9
Visit: QJ.net PSP Development Forum

Recently, the front page has been dominated with the release of numerous custom firmware modifications, all derivatives of Dark_Alex's original Custom Firmware Proof Of Concept which was released just 3 days ago. Within those 3 days, the amount of Custom firmware modifications that have been released are unbelievable. and frankly, a lot of our readers are confused over which ones to use and why. For this reason I have put together this little guide to help you get through the custom firmware madness. No need to sit there and scratch your head any longer!

Stage 1: The Lingo

There's no need rushing into a custom firmware choice. As we all know, writing to the PSPs flash memory can be dangerous, and if you do not follow all the steps correctly, you could brick your beloved PSP. Knowing the lingo is one of the fundamentals if you hope to choose which custom firmware to go with, and understanding what each one does. Here's the rundown on a few technical terms that you may be unaware of:

• Recovery.elf and Recovery Mode - Recovery.elf is nothing more than a file that will initiate "Recovery mode". Recovery mode is no more than a simple application that will let you to use the USB, and execute a program under ms0:/PSP/GAME/UPDATE/EBOOT.PBP, that could be, for example, a Sony updater or the 1.50 -> 1.00 downdater by keeping R pressed while starting the psp.
  
• 'Flashing' - Writing to the PSPs Internal memory which holds the firmware information. If you mess up any of the firmware files your PSP could be a brick, although some can be saved by using recovery mode.
• Custom Firmware - Firmwares designed by homebrew coders. They aren't completely new, and only offer simple modifications of firmware 1.5 at the moment. Usually these come in the form of new or replaced "modules" or PRX's that make up the PSP's firmware.
  
• Overclocking - Setting the PSPs CPU clock speed to 333 Mhz. This cannot damage your PSP, although will use more battery life, and has been included in many Custom Firmware mods in order for the PSP to run faster.
• XMB - The PSPs "homepage". It's the menu which houses game, music, video, settings etc.
  

Stage 2: The Mods

All of the mods that you have heard about so far have all been modifications of Dark_Alex's original Custom Firmware POC. Here's all the derivatives and the original, along with their strong points. Many people ask "why should I use custom firmware". From this list you should be able to decide which and/or if Custom Firmware is best for you.rk_Alex's Custom Firmware POC:

If you are incredibly unsure on how to use custom firmware, I would go with Dark_Alex's original release for starters. This granddaddy of Custom Firmwares and has a great Readme. This Custom Firmware features Recovery mode, can execute 1.0 eboots, can hide corrupt icons and can execute any homebrew program you wish on startup.

Download: [Dark_Alex Custom Firmware POC]
View: [Forum Release Thread]

• Zettablade's Custom Firmware All-In-One Mod
  

Has the ability to take screenshots using the note key, an automatic USB function (just plug the USB cable in and it works), and overclocks your PSP's CPU to 333Mhz.

Update: Zettablade has released a new version of his AIO firmware mod today. It includes bug fixes and a config file so that you can disable any of it's features.

Download: [Zettablade's Custom Firmware AIO Mod v0.2]
View: [Forum release thread]

• Harleyg's Custom Firmware mod v0.2
  

Harleyg's Custom Firmware is probably the most feature-packed yet. It has a much nicer looking recovery screen, includes options the option to both change the clock speed and remove the custom firmware completely. Homebrew can be started by holding the L-Trigger and much much more. A full list of features can be found here.

Download: [Harleyg's Custom Firmware mod v0.2]

• PSP Audio Recorder Beta
  

This is one of the older custom firmwares, before the release of Dark_Alex's proof of concept. The mod made by Moonlight It allows you to record audio from a UMD or homebrew application using L+R+Circle to begin recording and L+R+Square to stop recording, saving all recorded sound to PSP/Music in .wav format. This has a few bugs including sound lag whilst in-game, but is decent for those wanting to record some of their game.

It saves the recording as a WAV file in PSP/Music.

Download: [PSP Audio Recorder Beta]

• Slasher's MP3 Plugin
  

This allows you to listen to your MP3 from anywhere in the PSPs XMB using hotkeys assigned by Slashers MP3 Plugin. Currently supports up to 100 songs that you may have in the ms0:/PSP/MUSIC/ folder.

Controls -
LTRIGG + LEFT = Switch song(to the left)
LTRIGG + RIGHT = Switch song(to the right)
LTRIGG + SQUARE = Stop current MP3
LTRIGG + CROSS = Pause/Unpause

Download: [Slashers MP3 Plugin]

Stage 3: Installing

A lot of people are concerned about installing Custom Firmware because it could brick their PSPs. Chances are most of the people reading this now have probably downgraded their PSP before, whether it be from 2.0 > 1.5 or from 2.5/2.6 > 1.5; both of which write to the flash memory. If you haven't downgraded, you probably still will have flashed your PSP before. By running a Sony Firmware Update Eboot, you are flashing your PSP, which is why they ask you to plug in your AC adaptor, reducing the risk of a brick if you battery power cuts.

The only advice I can give you is to be careful. If you copy the folders into the correct directory (usually just unzip the download archive and copy all folders to your PSP root directory). you'll be fine. Flashing has its risks, but look above for all the benefits of custom firmware.

To minimize risks, make sure that your PSP battery is either fully-charged or above 50% and plug in the AC adaptor. NEVER reset, turn off or place into sleep mode a PSP which has the memory stick light flashing whilst running any program that writes to the flash memory.

Well there you have it, custom firmware in a nutshell. Remember, it has only been 3 days since Dark_Alex's Custom Firmware which has set the standard for these mods was released. In the weeks to come we will be seeing more and more custom firmwares, and more features. I know that both Zettablade and Harleyg are working on new features for their firmwares, as well as Dark_Alex.

Thanks go to: Dark_Alex for creating the original Custom Firmware POC, all the modders and coders out there that have helped make these mods and Nutterbutter for helping all our forum users with Custom Firmware mods. To keep up on an updated list of Firmware mods, make sure you keep checking Nutterbutter's Thread in our forums!


Digg it!

If you've been playing RPGs since the late 90s, you've probably played King's Field on the PSone. The game takes you to the kingdom of Verdite where you play the role of Alexander, royal knight and lone survivor of a perilous sea voyage to the island of Melanat to find the Moonlight Sword. That was the Playstation 1 version. Now comes King's Field: Additional 1 for PSP.

From Software breathes new life to the classic first person shooter using the Adventure Player engine (ADVP), which enhances the sound and graphic quality of the game. The remake also includes several casino and mini-games such as slot machine, roulette poker, which can be played in the town hotels.

Though there's not much information about gameplay, something tells me that King's Field: Additional 1will be true to the original version, filled with elegant scenery, intriguing characters, memorable monsters, and grandeur setting.

King's Field: Additional 1 is slated for a July 20 release date in Japan. No word yet if it'll head to North American shores, but as always, we'll keep you posted.

    
    
   

Jas0nuk from our forums has release a modification of the latest version of Boosters DevHook that allows you to return to your beloved 1.5 firmware without doing a hard reboot. This cuts down on the time it takes to reboot and means you don't even have to touch the power button in order to get back to 1.5 firmware. All you have to do is press both Home and square at the same time and your PSP will reboot within a few seconds.

This version works with DevHook 0.42-0.42b and works by simply overwriting dhkdvshex.prx in order to add the reboot function. Jas0nuk has has help from moonlight, Dark_Alex and PSpet in order to make this as smooth and easy to use as possible. In the rare case that the required functions cannot run in order restart, you will receive an error message, and you can try again a few seconds later - much better than a crash.

Todo:

- Get rid of the ugly lines that appear at the bottom of the screen for 2 seconds before it actually restarts
- Faster restart
- Better error checking for psppet's findproc() function

DevHook v0.42/0.42b is required to use this. If you do not have either of these already, download it below and then install DevHook before installing this modification.

Download: [DevHook DevHook 0.42 Return-To-1.50 Mod]
Download: [DevHook 0.42b]

Namco Bandai has today announced that role-playing game, The Legend of Heroes: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch for PSP is now available in retail stores. Featuring enhanced enemy AI, anime characters, dazzling visuals, a creative battle system and a great cast of characters, the game will offer hours of entertainment.

The game opens with childhood friends Jurio and Chris as they embark on a quest to five shrines surrounding their village, Ragpick, in the land of Tirasweel. During their journey, the duo learns of a mysterious force named 'Raual Wave' that threatens to destroy everything in its path. Chris and Jurio, with the help of their friends, hope to unveil the secrecy of Queen Isabella's castle and discover the identity of the mysterious 'Moonlight Witch' who predicted it all.

This game is actually the second of the series, A Tear of Vermillion, was first brought to the US to start the series off. The Legend of Heroes: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch is rated Everyone 10+ for alcohol reference, language, mild fantasy violence and mild suggestive themes.

The amazing Lua Player has been updated to v0.20. Probably the most well-known PSP homebrew application, Lua Player is a Lua script player for the PSP, made by Moonlight, Shine and Oobles. LUA player makes development of games and applications much more easier for non-coders and coders alike. You can even test your applications on the PC using Lua Player for Windows, before trying them on your PSP.

This updated version adds many new features which in turn make it much more stable than the last release. Most of the changes are made for the developer end and not user end, so don't expect to see many changes with your eyes. Here's the version 0.20 changelog:

- Updated for gcc 4.1 and Lua 5.1. Some things you need to change for 5.1:
- Changed table iteration code:
- It's pure Lua 5.1: no binary operators and double as number type (e.g. now you can use one number for storing IP addresses)
- Sound.load doesn't crash anymore on invalid filenames
- Fixed problems with daylight saving time
- Font:getTextSize fixed.
- blit operation from screen to image works now
- TTF font plotting to images now sets the alpha value to opaque
- New function Image.loadFromMemory for loading images from memory
- PNG and JPEG is supported and autodetected
- Image-to-image blitting now uses alpha full blending [Callum Bethune]
- System.rename(oldName, newName) for renaming files and directories

Don't worry developers - the full changelog included in the download will explain these changes in more detail and will give examples on how this changes your code.

Lua Player comes in 2 seperate versions, 1.0 and 1.5 binaries. 2.0+ users can try the 1.0 binary version; however, if you have problems it is reccommended for you to use an earlier version such as Lua Player 0.16. The source code is also available for coders to download, although it is not needed to write or Play Lua applications.

Thanks for the heads up, youresam and cools!

Download: [Lua Player v0.20 1.5 Binary]
Download: [Lua Player v0.20 1.0 Binary]
Download: [Lua Player v0.20 source code]