45w ago - Today PlayStation Vita developer
wololo has announced news of VHBL success using a new PSP game exploit courtesy of
neur0n with details below.
To quote from his blog: Sometimes, it’s just that simple...
Neur0n has been kind enough to share with me the details of his latest user mode exploit, so that I could help porting VHBL to his game on the EU and US versions (yes, the game seems to be available on all stores, and don’t stop reading here, it gets better).
Sometimes porting VHBL to a new game can be a pain in the rear. Many times, as I discovered the hard way, we hit a wall and have to give up after dozens of hours of investigation.
On this exploit too, had I been alone working on it, I would have given up. It seemed impossible to free most of the ram (VHBL basically needs to cleanly remove the game from the ram, in order to load homebrews instead), and the exploit ended up with about 2MB of free ram, instead of the 24MB that we usually expect.
But hey, that’s where comes the joy of working with talented people like Neur0n: he figured out, within 24hours, how to free the additional 22MB. I am not sure really how he found out, and why it works, but it damn works.
So I can proudly show you a picture of my work in progress on the EU version of the game. But honestly, neur0n did all the hard work on this one
This is running on a PSP with Pro CFW, which is were all the initial development always happen for VHBL. I haven’t tried to run anything else than the menu yet, but getting to the menu is usually a very good sign.
There’s still lots of work to be done: confirm it works on the vita (which should not be a problem since neur0n already confirmed it on the Japanese version), code cleanup, homebrews tests and bug fixes, port to the US version of the game...
As far as a release is concerned, I’ll synchronize with neur0n, but I think it’s clear to most people that we’re all eagerly waiting for ps1 classics support before a new VHBL version is released. As you know, each VHBL release is quickly followed by a patch from Sony, so I’m sure everybody wants the next VHBL release to happen on a “useful” firmware. In this case, I’m sure everybody’s ready to wait for firmware 1.80.
As usual, don’t ask for hints on the game, or its price, or anything like that, as I won’t answer these questions.
Stay tuned.
Finally, in related news PS Vita developer
Kylin12 has released (via psvitacfw.com/tank-war-0-40b) Tank War version 0.40b.
Download:
Tank War v0.40b for PS Vita
To quote: v0.40b: Added double battle mode, also changes in the maps.
- PS Vita connects to your PC *.
- PS Suite Launches Dev (PlayStation Mobile Developer Program (Open Beta)) in your PS Vita.
- Runs the application * VitaConnector.exe (found in the * RELEASE).
- Click “Refresh Devices”: Select your PS Vita of the list and click ‘click’ on * Connect to Device.
- Now select the package you want to upload to the PS Vita, in this case * TankWarPSV.psspac.
- Upload you give and expect to complete the transfer, after which you will receive a confirmation message and you can run the game on your PS Vita.
And in the end, Sony announce they removed PSP emulation, because it's a security risk.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?947xy07b18w4lw4 / http://www.mediafire.com/?351pozdd2s2ig4i
From his blog, to quote: Less than 24hours after our public announcement of the existence of a vulnerability in the PSP game "Super Collapse 3″, Sony pulled out the game from their store, like they did for Motorstorm and Everybody's Tennis before.
Now comes the stressful moment for me: releasing the VHBL files publicly, and cross fingers that it works correctly on everybody's Vita.
It is worth mentioning that, as for our previous releases, members of the /talk forums knew about the game's name up to one week in advance, which gave most of them enough time to get the game without any issue.
I want once again to thank the community for being able to keep the secret, although it didn't go without issues. Way too many people talked about the release publicly on our forums, despite the message on the forum clearly stating not to. We appreciate the support, but next time, if you want to say "thanks", say it with a PM.
There were also a few leaks on a few websites, we are in the process of tracking down the sources of the leaks, and making sure these people will not get access to future Ninja releases.
Many thanks go to thecobra for this release, he found the exploit and did the VHBL port, I just tweaked it for the EU version of the game. I'd also like to mention that this game exploit had been sent to me years ago by WosRet on the lan.st forums, so thanks go to WosRet as well.
How to Install and Run HBL on Super Collapse 3
It is *strongly* recommended that you turn of all wireless connections on your PS Vita, and that you use OpenCMA (wololo.net/downloads/index.php/download/1252) on your PC instead of the regular CMA. This is recommended because otherwise your console has a way to force you to upgrade the firmware even before you get a chance to use the exploit.
Extract the HBL archive matching your version of the game in your CMA PSP Savedata folder. It is a folder on your PC named PSSAVEDATA/[lots of random characters here]. If you don't know where it is, check your settings in CMA
Connect your PS Vita to the PC through the CMA, it should give you the possibility to copy the savedata from your PC to the Vita. If not, you probably extracted it in the wrong folder. (Note: You will also want to install some homebrews with a similar technique, read the section below)
To run HBL, start the game, select "Continue" in the Main Menu. Load the VHBL savegame, then go to "High Scores". At this point, VHBL should start
How to Install and Run Homebrews
Installing homebrews on the PSP was an easy task. On the Vita, until better solutions are provided, it's quite a pain in the ass.
The CMA will only let you copy savedata, and will not recursively browse folders.
To address this, HBL comes with a tool that can extract archives with a specific structure.
Packaging the homebrew for installation on the Vita:
1) download PSP homebrews from your favorite Web site (wololo.net/downloads)
2) extract the homebrew somewhere on your hard drive, and with your favorite utility, zip it again with the *store* setting (no compression), in a file that you will name "install.zip"
3) take any PSP savedata (but not the one used for HBL!), and add the "install.zip" to that folder, in your PC CMA folder. so your PSP Savedata will look something like this:
in folder PSSAVEDATA/1a2b3c4def5678/UCUS12345000/ (or something like this) you will have the following files:
ICON0.png
PIC1.png
DATA.bin
PARAMS.SFO
install.zip
Here you can download an example of packaged homebrew: http://www.mediafire.com/?yl8518xxh8v9xvp
Installing:
1) run OpenCMA on your PC, and CMA on your Vita
2) copy the previously packaged SAVEDATA (see above) with your homebrew in "install.zip" on your Vita
3) run HBL (how to run HBL is explained in the previous section)
4) navigate with the HBL menu to the SAVEDATA folder, then go to the folder you just downloaded (in my example, UCUS12345000), and click cross or circle on it
5) At this point, the HBL menu should ask you if you want to install the homebrew. select yes, and wait until HBL is done extracting your homebrew
6) The homebrew is now installed, and you can run it by going to the GAME folder, if everything went well, a new subfolder with your homebrew has been created here, and you can run the homebrew
gpSP for VHBL R148
The GameBoy Advance Emulator for PSP - This GBA emu for PSP was recompiled by PSP developer Hysen to make it compatible with the latest VHBL (R148). However, there are some games with save issues, so save your game first to see if its affected by this.
Installation Instructions:
More info: WARNING: GBA.bios is needed! Put in in the root of the gpsp folder before you follow the instructions below. You must also have Winrar installed!
Put desired roms into gpSP/GBA/ROM
Put any of your old save files into gpSP/GBA/SAV
After that is done, right-click on the gpSP folder
Select "add to archive"
A window will pop up
Select "ZIP" in the "Archive format" box
Under Compression method, select "storage"
Finish up by clicking "OK"
Then rename the new zip file to "install"
Delete or move the old gpsp folder
Delete or move this readme out of the folder
After this is done, you are ready to transfer the homebrew to your Vita via CMA.
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To quote from his blog: Insert here random rant for Sony.
Insert here weird explanation on why people should buy the PSP game Super Collapse 3 on their Vita. Implicitly make it clear that this is the next game being used for VHBL. Don’t forget to thank thecobra for his exploit and the port.
Mention that the game is mostly unavailable for the vita in Europe/Asia, but has been so far spotted in the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, Finland, Czech, Sweden, and Poland.
Tell people to wait a bit more for the VHBL files.
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