Hacking the PSP Blog

New Daedalus Nintendo 64 Emulator coming soon - and with sound?

Strmnnrmn has resurfaced and has some great news for PSP homebrew lovers! An update to the incredible Daedalus Nintendo 64 emulator is on its way - and WITH SOUND! It is rumored that Mario 64 may even run at full speed! So... without further delay - here's a copy of the blog post from his site:

Wow, it's been a long time since the last update. A really long time. How did that happen?

I've always found it quite hard to find the time to update the blog. Usually when I have some free time in the evenings (that's free time spent doing things other than eating, socialising, and getting stuff ready for work), the choices I have are:

• Do some new development on Daedalus
• Play games/watch TV/relax
• Reply to a few emails/comments, post a new entry here
  

Unfortunately over the past half year or so the first two bullet points have won out. So, apologies for neglecting the 'outside world' for so long. On the plus side, the existance of the first bullet points means that I have lots of exciting new developments to talk about over the next few days :)

I'm going to finish off this reintroduction with a broad overview of some of the stuff I've been working on. This is all stuff that will be present in R9, which I'd like to release this month.

• Added support for RGBA 4444 and 5551 textures, saving a bunch of memory in the front end.
• Tidied up all the texture conversion code, fixing a few bugs in the process
• Fixed the width/height of FillRect calls in 1 and 2 cycle mode (fixed a few small graphical issues)
  
• Fixed a blending bug (fixed a few small graphical issues)
  
• Use 16-bit textures on the PSP to represent 16-bit N64 textures. Saves time converting, saves memory, and faster rendering
• Added mirrored texture support (this fixes lots of small graphical glitches)
• Fixed a LoadTile bug, allowing a couple of hacks to be removed (this also fixes various small graphical glitches)
• Added some new blend modes for various roms
• Fixed the Tri2 command for F3DLX microcodes
• Fixed a bug in busy-wait detection (this wasn't working correctly with dynarec code, net result is a small speedup)
• Fixed a few dynarec stability issues (relating to exceptions occuring mid-trace)
• Added audio support :)
• Added the ability to dump textures (developer builds only at the moment)
• Fixed screenshots. Again.
• Implemented cmp.s, cvt.s, cvt.w, mtc1, mfc1, bc1f, bc1t, j, cfc1, ctc1, daddu, trunc.w.s, bc1t, bc1f, bc1tl, bcifl, bnel, beql, blezl, bgtzl, bltzl, blezl in dynarec (this gives a decent speedup)
• Avoid setting the branch delay flag and current PC in generated dynarec code unless absolutely necessary (this gives another small speedup)
• Much better memory access handling in dynamically recompiled code (this gives a BIG speedup :)
• Use a second code buffer for generated dynarec code, to avoid polluting the instruction cache (this gives another small speedup)
• Further improve the memory access handling in generated dynarec code (another small speedup)
• Fix register usage analysis for lwc1/swc1/mfc1/mtc1 which was preventing base registers used in these instructions from being cached (another small speedup)
• Have compensation blocks restore nobbled registers, so on-trace code does't need to reload (another small speedup)

There's quite a lot in that list, so I highlighted the two most significant points. In summary R9 will be much faster, with audio support. I'll write a bit more about these changes in particular over the next few days (promise!)

GameCube on the PSP?

PSPUpdates has posted a YouTube video on their site that appears to show a GameCube game running on or through a PSP using a GameCube controller. Be warned that the lighting in this video is pretty bad. It looks like obiwan22, the creator of this purported hack, used a flashlight in a dark room when he decided to make the video. Apparently he's promising a tutorial on how to replicate his project some time in the near future. Until then, check out the video by following the link below.

Check out the video here...

Obiwan22's Website

Via PSPUpdates

Off Topic: N.Y. lawmaker hopes to ban iPod use in crosswalks

A New York state senator has announced his plan to introduce legislation that would ban the use of electronic devices such as iPods, BlackBerrys and cell phones while crossing streets in major cities.

State Sen. Carl Krueger, a Democrat who represents New York's 27th district in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, claimed that the phenomenon of "iPod oblivion" has led to a number of fatal accidents on urban streets. While he did not cite any statistical studies that have indicated a rise in such incidents, he referred to the January death of a 23-year-old Brooklyn man who, tuned into his iPod headphones, walked into the path of a city bus.

The bill would effectively make it illegal to use any kind of portable electronic device--a music or video player, cell phone, smart phone, gaming device, etc.--while crossing the street in cities such as New York, Albany and Buffalo. Offenders would be slapped with a $100 fine and a criminal court summons. Joggers and bicyclists would have to limit their iPod use to city parks in which no street crossing would be involved.

"You can't be fully aware of your surroundings if you're fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialing a phone number, playing Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy, or listening to music on an iPod," Krueger said in a statement. He added that while police in other major cities--such as San Diego, Calif.--have warned that tuning in to portable electronic devices may leave pedestrians vulnerable to threats from pickpockets and muggers, he believes the real threat is from road traffic.

Read the full article here...

Caroline McCarthy
February 7, 2007

Source: CNET News

No need for a Flash Cleaner

From Fanjita and the Noobz crew:

After some exhaustive testing, we've now come to the conclusion that there is no unnecessary wastage of flash space during the 3.03 downgrader process.

This means that our belief that there would be a need for a "flash cleaning" application was wrong - you should be able to upgrade and downgrade your PSP at will, with no serious problems except for the ever-present small risk from any downgrader.

Our original theory was based upon the fact that Fanjita's Undiluted Platinum test PSP showed signs of having run out of space on the flash, after several cycles of upgrade and downgrade.

The symptom, for reference, was an error code of "8001001C when starting ipl_update.prx" - which means "no space left on device" - when trying to run the 3.03 downgrader.

But after an extensive test of 10 upgrade/downgrade cycles between v3.03 and v1.50 without any problems, we believe we can now put the problem down to issues with the interaction between the Undiluted Platinum flasher program, and v3.00+ firmwares, which has previously caused flash problems with other people's UP PSPs.

So ... no worries!

Fanjita
February 7, 2007

Source: Noobz.eu

A how-to guide for xmbWave beginners

For the guys hoping for an update for Vulpix's xmbWave - the cool app that allows you to customize your PSP XMB browser's waves -  look the other way. However, if you're a newcomer to the PSP developer scene and are hoping for a step-by-step tutorial on how to get this app cracking (the readme was admittedly scant on details), come on over.

Homebrew dev sepreath has just posted a guide which should serve as a primer for first-time brew meisters. The guide includes a list of things you will need, and some important values to keep track of so you won't end up breaking the waves. For starters, here's what you need:

• XMBWave editor (Downloadable below)
• Common sense
• Hopefully some hex skills
• A hex editor (Hex Workshop comes to mind)

As for the first few steps, and the wave values:

[1.1]
So first off copy your original system_plugin_bg.rco from you PSP and back it up to your
computer. It is found in Flash0:/vsh/resource. Also backup the system_plugin_bg_deflate.bin
that cam with the XMBWave package. It'll save you some headaches later on!

[1.2]
The offsets that I know of, in decimal, are:
528 => 946 controls the shape of the wave, very easily ruined! Or made crazy.
7653 => 7766 appears to control the color and contrast of the waves.
7767 => 7841 => controls the colour of the waves.

We're hoping this guide provides you with a basic understanding of how xmbWave works. Make sure to check out the full walkthrough sepreath set up (Read link). Who knows, the tutorial might inspire the readers to cook up some interesting offshoots of xmbWave. We thank the man for the effort - a lot of noobs here are grateful.

Read the tutorial here...

Download xmbWave

Source: PSPUpdates

HMV forced to scrap £625 PS3 bundle

HMV has been forced to scrap plans that forced people to buy the PS3 as part of a £625 bundle after a number of complaints from potential customers.

The store was forced to rethink its plans to give online customers that bought a 4GB PSP first dibs on the PS3 when it is released in March. This would add £200 to the price of a Playstation 3.

In its original email, sent to a “lucky few”, HMV claimed: "We've been working with Sony to offer up to 5,000 customers an incredible deal when [they] buy the new Sony 4GB PSP.

"Anyone who takes advantage of this offer will get priority over other HMV.co.uk customers for the Playstation 3."

However, the company has now changed its plans, and will offer the PS3 on a “first come, first served basis, with priority going to those customers who registered an initial interest to receive PS3 pre-order details once they were confirmed”.

In a statement prepared for Computeractive, HMV said: “Now that we've been able to confirm our level of PS3 stock with Sony, we're in a position to revise our original online offer.

“We will therefore be writing imminently to all the customers who have indicated that they wish to make the dual purchase to advise them that they can now pre-order the PS3 console by itself, if they prefer.”

The company has also promised to inform all its other online customers via email that they will be making a limited quantity of PS3 consoles available to pre-order online with the majority of consoles being made available to pre-order through the chain of stores.

Complaints have surrounded the UK price of the much-delayed PS3 since its announcement. Sony was forced to defend its cost after it said the Playstation 3 would cost £425 in the UK, despite it costing the equivalent of £305 in the US and £252 in Japan.

Andrea-Marie Vassou
February 8, 2007

Source: Computeract!ve

3.11 pwned! Decrypter out now!

Sony: Firmware 3.11 out now!
Homebrew Scene: Oh really? What now?
Sony: Why are you not upgrading yet?
Homebrew Scene: Because we are going to crack it, noob!

And indeed, firmware 3.11 has been cracked. Well, not fully but it has been decrypted. After all, this is always the first step. What's more amazing is that, Team C+D didn't even have to come up with a new program. The same decrypter that was used for 3.10 was found to be working as well for the new firmware.

But for the benefit of those who missed the fun the last time around, we listed again the things you need to do. But on second thought, who could have missed it? Because we're telling you, we wouldn't miss it for the world. Anyway, enough chatter, here's the step by step process:

1. To dump the firmware open up the Eboot with psp brew or PBP unpacker
2. Extract the DATA.PSAR to the root of your memory stick.
3. Copy psar_dump2 and psar_dump2% to your GAME150 folder. (Or whatever you kernel is set to)
4. Launch it from the game menu.
5. Select what option you wish to have. Then it will dump the contents to the root of your memory stick.

Download 3.11 Firmware Decrypter by Team C+D

Source: PSPUpdates

Firmware 3.11 Released

As promised Sony has released PSP system update version 3.11. The change log on the US PlayStation website doesn't indicate that there were any security patches but let's not assume that none were included. For now it would proabaly be a good idea to hold off on installing this update until the Noobz crew has a chance to really get their hands dirty. The change log from the US PlayStation site is below. Note that most of the updates were items included in 3.10.

• Game
• New for 3.10: Support for PLAYSTATION®Network titles has been expanded.
• New for 3.11: Support for PLAYSTATION®Network titles has been expanded.
• New for 3.11: [Reset Game] has been added as an option to the menu for PLAYSTATION®Network titles.
• Network
• You can now play MPEG-4 AVC format video files under [LocationFree™ Player].
• A LocationFree™ Base Station (a Sony product sold separately) with model number LF-B20 or LF-B10 is required.
• For details on the LocationFree™ Player, visit http://www.sony.net/Products/LocationFree/psp/.
• [Conserve Memory] has been added as an option in [View Settings] under [Internet Browser].
• Settings
• [Dynamic Normalizer] has been added as a feature under [Sound Settings].

Download PSP System Update 3.11