It's leaner than the past couple of weeks' hauls, but we did see some great homebrew releases this week. After a long time of inactivity, Yoshihiro burst right back onto the homebrew scene with a work-in-progress showing of his 5.50 debug firmware for PSP-1000s. OK, not really a release but it's a start. Homebrew gaming, meanwhile, was mostly dominated by one update after another for Light Cycle 3D, a beautiful-looking 3D homebrew game that brings Tron's light cycle racing to the PSP in 3D. Read on for the rest of the PSP Homebrew Weekend Warrior!

Homebrew developer Yoshihiro, one of the great PSP contributors back in the day has created a utility that installs 5.50 debug firmware on PSP-1000 and run the application without any limitation. The 5.50 firmware testing tool will allow you to test games in file format during development and let  you set hidden options of your PSP that could possibly unlock the full potential of the system. Watch the video preview after the link.

Adding to the hectic day, we have news that there might be another modchip in the works, coming out soon. While not much is known at this point, the webpage lists the supposed features in the modchip:

• Flash your PSP using the internal USB Port
• No additional USB Port required
• Latest ACTEL ProASIC 3 technology
• Low power consumption
• Works on all available PSP versions incl. TA-082 and TA-086
• Custom BIOS with a lot of cool additional features
• Easy to install
• Just a bit of soldering skills required, no hardcore installation

A friend of mine did a bit of digging and found out that the official page is registered to a certain guy called Michael Eichhorn. This Michael is from Gamefreax.de, a German modding store/site. I'd say that this adds a bit of credibility to the claims of the modchip guys. On top of that, another source said that he had been expecting this around the holidays, but it might have gotten delayed. When asked if this could be 0okm's multi-firmware module, he was quick to deny it.

Another bit of info I noticed is that Gamefreax had/has been supplying Mathieulh, Dark_AleX, and Yoshihiro with hardware supplies. While I would have doubted the claims of these guys, the amount of info and links here point that this isn't just another fake, and that we could be having another modchip soon. Stay tuned as we'll have the latest updates and info on this bit of news. Thanks to Jeff, Jordan, and Sam for the tip!

Presumably the one big disappointment with Sony's FW 3.0 PSOne emulator is that you need a PS3 to download the game files to begin with, and those aren't exactly a dime a dozen. So, that leaves the stand-alone homebrew PSOne emulators from the scene. Anonymous Coder has just released his PS1P-Alpha 1 PSOne emulator for the PSP. Not to be confused with the almost similarly-named PSX-P (PS1) emulator by Yoshihiro (now v2), but looking forwards to the same functionality. There were rumors that this emulator was to be made to support only a single game. That concept was discarded as the author decided to write a single emulator to support multiple games. You can read a few words from the Anonymous Coder below.

The wait is worth it. I'm releasing a version that will run anything. ISO, BIN, Z and ZNX. The rest you know. scph1001.bin and images in the __SCE__ps1p directory.

This version has some compatibility problems which I plan to fix soon, for example the FF7 intro movie doesn't run. You can play the game though, just get past the intro using a standard PC emulator (PCSX, ePSXe, ...) and copy over the memory card file ( mcd001.mcr or mcd002.mcr).

Use L+R+ up/down to tweak the CPU timing. I think L2 and R2 aren't working at the moment too. --A.C.

P.S.: to make things clear. This emulator has nothing to do with PCSX, psx4all or any other emulator already released. The only thing I did was use for the game selection screen, the same font code that psx4all uses--it's from some GP2X demo/app.

The app isn't perfect yet, but they're getting there. Something else to add to the list of homebrew PSOne emulators floating around teh interwebs.

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Reminder from the editor: Please note that even though we support homebrew, we do not condone piracy. Hence, we would like to remind everyone that we welcome all your comments, BUT we would also like to ask everyone to please refrain from asking for or giving links for ISOs and the like. This could lead to the banning of the poster of the comment which contains such material and we really don't want to do that because we love you all, 'kay? Thanks.

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UPDATE: under the category of "Why didn't you tell us that before?", wraggster returns to DCEmu to drop a few additional tips and tricks from Anonymous Coder. It may be just what you need to get whatever PSOne game you want to run running. Hopefully. Read on:

The CPU thing is adjusting the counters relative speed. Note it has a % at the side. It's like making the PS1 CPU run faster or slower. The right value is at 100% (obviously) but the default is 700% (good for FF7 :P). Lots of games runn better at something lower than 700. It does nothing to the PSP CPU so you can set it as high as you want. But after some point it actually starts to be slower.

There's save state, L+R+left to save, L+R+right to load (or the opposite).

Analog can be used for controlling (as if it was the d-pad).

The BIOS must be called scph1001.bin and be placed in the __SCE__ps1p directory along with the BIN, ISO, IMG, Z or ZNX images. Other BIOSes should work too but rename them to scph1001.bin because the emulator looks for this file specifically.

People can use PocketISO (google for it or the FPSEce page) to compress images to Z and ZNX.

The ePSXe memory cards must be renamed to mcd001.mcr and mcd002.mcr and placed in the __SCE__ps1p directory.

Download: [PS1P-Alpha 1 PSOne emulator for the PSP]

PSX-P creator">Yoshihiro, as promised, has released the second version of his PS1 emulator, PSX-P. The first release brought a lot of controversy as it "resembled" PacManFan's PSX emulator (beta) that was released previous to the first PSX-P release. Amidst all the previous controversy, Yoshihiro has agreed to release the source of this new version with the release. However, this one is not without its own controversy. An hour before it was supposed to be released (officially), it seems to have been "leaked" and many have downloaded it. However, no one is certain if this was the official version and our current reports show that it is not.

However, here at PSPUpdates, we respect all developers, and have patiently waited for the official release. MaGiXeN from PSPGen had the "honor" of hosting the official version, and we just obtained it. The first noticeable change is the increase in speed. The exact increase (percentage-wise) is unknown, but many have reported an increase of several frames over the previous release. This version also includes your basic frameskip option, and has increased compatibility from the initial testing reports. Using the "leaked" version, Darkstone has compiled a video of a PSX game in action (download the emulator below the video) -

Note: Upon request, the download will be linked to the site that has released the emulator. Said site requires a forum registration in order to download. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we will abide by their wishes. (When you've reached the site, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page where you will see two Download buttons.)

Yoshihiro, unarguably the most controversial person in the scene, has decided to leave the PSP scene in light of the accumulation of recent and past happenings. He's so controversial, that the second his name is brought up on our boards, we have about 11 pages in under an hour relating to the topic, of which had just resulted in a closure of our discussion thread.

Yoshihiro has been credited for the PSP Version Changer (widely used before Devhook and UMD Launchers were evident). He also contributed (credited for at least) to the first flashing application for the PSP, the first button swapper, the first UMD game launcher (via Memory Stick Pro Duo), proposed the first downgrader method for 2.0+ (largely responsible for the creation of the 2.0 downgrader). Many will argue that Yoshihiro had little to do with these creations, but this can not be entirely proven. The majority of the scene has a huge dislike/hatred towards this single man, and as a result he has decided to leave.

Many of you will rejoice in this news, many of you may feel sad, many wil feel frustrated at this man, but let's try to keep such comments to ourselves. We are not here to discredit this man anymore than many have already done, this is a goodbye post to one of the scene's longest members and contributors. Before Yoshihiro leaves however, he will be releasing a new build of his PSX emulator in which he will include the source (very large argument about the source for previous version due to his bad reputation). Please keep the comments civil and just say goodbye to the scene's most controversial person!

View: [Official Announcement]

QJ Admin: This post has been removed due to increasing reports of the information being inaccurate. The general consensus is that PSX-P does not write to flash memory or perform any other "hidden actions". Our sincerest apologies to Yoshihiro and any other people/projects that were related to the information that was in the article.

Please note that this post was made at MyQJ - a section of QJ.NET that is open for anyone to write their own articles. When these articles reach a certain number of Jumps, they are automatically transferred here to PSP Updates. This article was not written by QJ.NET staff and did not reflect the opinions of this site.

Please be patient as we try to fine tune our system to allow MyQJ'ers freedom to discuss topics of their choice, but at the same time retain the integrity and accuracy that you expect from PSP Updates and QJ.NET

The news just keep flowing in! First, we had the teasers about the newest PS1 emulator on the block, PSX-P by Yoshihiro. Then there was the release which was welcomed with open arms by the whole community. After all, a homebrew PS1 emulator is not something people can code in a day!

But then, as much as things change, some things stay the same... It seems that the PSX-P is nothing but code ripped off from PacManFan's PSPSONE emulator which made its rounds on the net a few months ago. And it seems that people have a lot of evidence to suggest the same. FreePlay showed off some of the evidence while we were talking on IRC a few hours ago. Here's some of the text:

"String dump of the PSX-P:
Greets to: Duddie, Tratax, Kazzuya, JNS, Bobbi, Psychojak, Shunt,
Keith, DarkWatcher, Xeven, Liquid, Dixon, Prafull
Special thanks to:
Twin (we Love you twin0r), Roor (love for you too),
calb (Thanks for help :) ), now3d (for great help to my psxdev stuff :) )
PCSX a psx emulator
written by:
main coder: linuzappz
co-coders: shadow
co-coders: PacManFan for the PSP port
ex-coders: Nocomp, Pete Bernett, nik3d
Webmaster: AkumaX"

A string dump is basically a collection of all the strings (human-readable words) in any program. They're generally messages which are shown during the execution of the program. So, for example, in any hello world program, you can find that string when you do a string dump of that application.

That's not all. Here's what PacManFan had to say about these turn of events:

"I did pass the torch, However, Yoshi[hi]ro said he would at least mention me, and he didn't. I hate to be an a$$ about it, but Yoshi[hi]ro has been claiming that he coded this thing himself. The only change he's made so far has been to the game selection screen."

We here at QJ are totally neutral about this. While other sites have received emails from the original creators of PCSX (The guys who made this emulator for the PC), we haven't. So what we can do is wait and watch as these events unfold. Obviously, all Yoshihiro would have to do is release the source code of this emulator since the original code was under the GPL license, which states that no derivative works can be released without source code.

Personally, I hope that people can sort out this mess. The homebrew scene is on a roll lately and I don't want to see it being stopped by some petty code-theft. Let's just hope something good comes out of this.

With the recent release of the PS1 emulator for the PSP, PSX-P, many have been wondering about the emulator's capabilities. Well, French gamer magiXien has immediately put the release to good use by trying to run a couple of PS1 games. He already showed videos of Ridge Racer and Tekken 2 running on PSX-P. This time, the PS1 game Tekken 3 has been caught on video to show that the emulator does indeed work even though it is still at a very early stage of development, v0.1 to be precise.

Though the game is still slow, it would only be a matter of time before the emulator's creator, Yoshihiro, works out the kinks in the program, thus bringing the emulator to full speed.

The moment many PSP enthusiasts have been waiting for – the Alpha release of Yoshihiro’s PSXP v0.1! In the past, it was believed that emulating the Nintendo 64 system was near impossible, yet PSMonkey and StrmnNrmn proved those critics wrong. Well, now Yoshihiro has taken emulation up a notch and has successfully emulated the Playstation released by Sony in 1994 (JP) and over 10 years later we are seeing it being emulated on a portable device!

One of the major aspects of the PSP is that it is stronger than the original Playstation and even comes to a point where many say it rivals the PS2’s graphics. Early this year, Sony announced that they are working on an official PS1 emulator for the PSP that will be released at a later date with a new firmware update. This will most likely come after the PS3’s launch.

Yoshihiro is, once again, breaking the boundaries of the PSP with this new emulator. This emulator is a port of the PC's PCSX so I wouldn't expect speed improvements to happen regularly. There have been several videos of the PSX emulator released in the past few days, many of which seemed too good to be true. However, the emulator is true, and you can test it out on your 1.50 PSP right now once you download it below!

Note: Here at PSPUpdates, we do not condone piracy, please do not distribute links to ISO files or BIN files as you will be banned from the comment; also applies if you are asking for them.

Update: In light of the fact that Yoshihiro has not released the source code to his "port" of PSPSONE we have removed the download and have replaced it with the original PSPSONE emulator. As many readers have noted there is "no difference between PSPSONE and PSX-P except Yoshihiro's modified menu." As such we would like to support the original author who actually put the real work into this emulator.

Download: [ PSPSONE ]