Newbie questions.

[blueygg]

Hi, I am a newby here and just got a couple of questios to ask, I havent yet got a psp but will so soon.
Anyway, I was wondering about all this firmware, I know there is so many different types out there its all confusing.
Does anyone know much about Devhook? I kind of know what it does but does it only work on fw 1.5 or does it work on other types custom or not?
What would be the best fw to have devhook on? I heard that 1.5 is a very good firmware to have. I dont want a super psp or anything like that, I just mainly want it for playing all the emulators like snes and stuff.
Will I also be able to use dosbox and scummvm using devhook on fw 1.5 and would I be able to play games like kings quest 6 and alone in the dark (using dosbox) at next to full speed?
Or would it be better to have the custom firmwares like 3.03 for this type of stuff? I would also like the ability to play ps1 games from memory stick but not too bothered about that if I cant.
Also what is an eboot and eloader? Once devhook is installed on the psp do I have to run it everytime I use an emulator or dosbox or its all automatic? Is devhook just for running homebrew or can it do other things too?
Im kind of leaning towards the 1.5 fw (with devhook) because it seems a lot less complicated. As long as it suits my purpose tho.
Anyway it would be appreciated if someone could help me out there :) Sorry about the load of questions but just curious.
Cheers!!

[JKKDARK]

devhook is a thing of the past. The newest games will not work.

You need custom firmwares. Try to get one with old firmware, so in this way you can downgrade it and update to a custom firmware.

[bah]

Does anyone know much about Devhook? I kind of know what it does but does it only work on fw 1.5 or does it work on other types custom or not?

People don't really use devhook any more, I'll try to explain why....

Homebrew (emulators etc) is unofficial code, sony does not want it running on the PSP and tries to block it.
Shortly after the PSP was released people found a way to run homebrew on the official firmware 1.0, later they found a way to run it from 1.5. It was about this time homebrew for the PSP really took off.
Sony kept releasing new firmware updates that blocked homebrew, but they were required to be able to play recent official games.

So a coder called Booster wrote devhook. With it you would have firmware 1.5 installed on the PSP (written to the internal flash storage like normal), but then you could load a more recent firmware from the memory stick and run it, which would let you play official games that needed the newer firmware. It wouldn't actually be installed and when you turned the PSP off then back on it would be running 1.5 again.

Basically its purpose was to allow you to play games that needed a more recent firmware to run, while still keeping firmware 1.5 which allowed you to run homebrew.
The newer custom (unofficial/hacked) firmwares allow you to play new official games and run homebrew, so there is no need to use dechook to load another firmware.






What would be the best fw to have devhook on? I heard that 1.5 is a very good firmware to have. I dont want a super psp or anything like that, I just mainly want it for playing all the emulators like snes and stuff.

Devhook can be run from official firmware 1.5 (probably 1.0 too) or any of the custom firmwares. As I said above though, there is no need for devhook if you are running a custom firmware.





Will I also be able to use dosbox and scummvm using devhook on fw 1.5 and would I be able to play games like kings quest 6 and alone in the dark (using dosbox) at next to full speed?

Homebrew never needed devhook. If you used devhook then your PSP had firmware 1.5 installed. Homebrew can be run straight from the 'game' section of the PSP's menu just like official demos.
You only ever needed devhook if you wanted to play games that needed a more recent firmware, but you didn't want to give up homebrew by upgrading.

I'm not sure how well dosbox runs as I have never used it. Somone else should be able to tell you how well it runs games.





Or would it be better to have the custom firmwares like 3.03 for this type of stuff?

Most people who want to use homebrew on their PSP now run a custom firmware. It gives you homebrew access and all the features of the newer official firmwares.
I stuck to 1.5 until recently but finally updated because some recent homebrew is being designed to run on the newer custom firmwares directly and doesn't work on 1.5.

This is mostly because the Slim PSP cannot run firmware 1.5 like the fat PSP can, but both can run a custom firmware that gives homebrew access. So the authors make their apps in the format that people with either version of the PSP can use them.





I would also like the ability to play ps1 games from memory stick but not too bothered about that if I cant.

To play any PS1 games on the PSP other than the ones you buy from the playstation store, you need to be running a custom firmware as they have the official sony PS1 emulator hacked to allow other games to run on it.





Also what is an eboot and eloader? Once devhook is installed on the psp do I have to run it everytime I use an emulator or dosbox or its all automatic?


An eboot is the name of the file format PSP homebrew uses. It's kind of like an .exe on your PC.
They are always called named EBOOT.PBP.

If someone says 'do you know where i can find the PSP dosbox eboot', they mean the program file for PSP dosbox.
There are often other data/config files for a program as well, but the EBOOT.PBP is what the PSP looks for and runs when you choose it from the menu.

Eloader is a program written by a coder named fanjita that allowed people who were running an official firmware higher than 1.5 to run (some) homebrew.
There was a time when you needed firmware 1.0 or 1.5 to run homebrew, no other option. Hackers would find a flaw in the firmware and write a program to downgrade the PSP to 1.5, then sony would release an update and fix the flaw. Then hackers would find a new flaw..... (and so on, and so on). Many people, without knowing about homebrew would update their PSPs and then later find out about homebrew, want it, but be unable to run it.

Some of the flaws in the firmware that were not enough to create a downgrader with, but they did give some access to the system. The eloader took advantage of these flaws in the firmware to create an environment that allowed limited homebrew to run.
It was a stopgap measure until a downgrader came out I guess you could say. Now we have the pandora's method, any PSP can be made to run a custom firmware and have full homebrew access.

I believe more recently there was a version for Slim PSPs that allowed them to run some homebrew made for firmware 1.5, which they cannot normally do. I don't know much about that though.

Devhook had to be run again each time you turned the PSP fully off.
You wont be using devhook though, see above.





Is devhook just for running homebrew or can it do other things too?

Devhook was never for running homebrew, it was for running newer official games without actually upgrading from firmware 1.5 (which could run homebrew while newer official firmwares cannot).
See above.





I'm kind of leaning towards the 1.5 fw (with devhook) because it seems a lot less complicated. As long as it suits my purpose tho.

If you get a slim PSP you cannot run firmware 1.5, sony made the new model unable to run it.
To play homebrew on a slim PSP you will need to use the pandora's battery method to isntall a custom firmware, there is no other option.

If you get a fat (older style) PSP and it happens to be old stock then you may be able to use one of the other downgrading methods that got released prior to pandora to downgrade it. Some require a certain game disc, some just need you to copy a special .gif image to the PSP and run it (depends on what firmware the PSP comes with).

Even if you get a fat PSP, it will most likely have a fairly recent official firmware installed on it, so you will need to use the pandora's battery method on it.

An old post of mine with a bit of a background on what the pandora's battery method is. (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2148004676&postcount=15)

Detailing the exact steps for using it is best left for another thread...... :)

[mike_jmg]

Look at the link on my sig for more info

[No_one_in_particular]

As Bah's answered the bulk of your question I'll clear up:

Will I also be able to use dosbox and scummvm using devhook on fw 1.5 and would I be able to play games like kings quest 6 and alone in the dark (using dosbox) at next to full speed?
Here's a video of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN9mRYvIEeM. Now keep in mind the video's nearly a year old and he says in the comment the newer builds of Dosbox greatly improve the speed; you're look at near full-speed.

Basically your best bet is to get on to a M33 firmware as you get the best of both worlds (official and homebrew). To do that, you'll need to find out what firmware the PSP you buy uses and from there decide how you're going to downgrade (probably the Pandora method) so you can upgrade to an M33 firmware.

[blueygg]

Thanks for your help everyone, I understand a lot more now!
Well my psp came today which im wrapped with :) It comes with firmware 3.80 just the origional tho.
I have decided to upgrade to either 3.71m33 or 3.80m33 or 3.90m33.
Which would be the best to upgrade to? And me being as unexperienced as I am I wouldn't have a clew how to do it! I know you have to downgrade first and then upgrade using a pandora battery...but tempted to just send it to someone who knows what they are doing coz garanteed ill brick it! And I dont have a pandora battery (or know someone with homebrew psp).
I think you have all cleared it up for me that I will be better off with custom firmware rather than the 1.5.
Theres just one problem ive noticed about my psp, when I try to format the memory card (its a sony 256mb) from the psp it sais that theres no memory card in it and the orange light keeps blinking. Does this mean its fake or just faulty? Because it was the origional one that came with the psp (it was second hand tho). I also cant use internet radio because of this. Would it be wise to get a card reader to format the card or can the psp do it for you good enough?
Thanks for the link too, it looks pretty good and goes a decent speed too.

[bah]

Is it a slim or a fat PSP?

For the memory stick thing you could try connecting the PSP to your PC with a USB cable, putting the PSP into USB mode from the menu, then formatting the card from windows (My computer, right click the memory card (Removable Disk) and choose format then click start).

Then try running the format option from the PSP menu again. If it still doesn't work you could try taking the memory stick out and seeing if the contacts look at all corroded/dirty.

If it still wont work then you should either try the card in another PSP/card reader, or try another memory stick in your PSP (whichever is cheaper/easier) to make sure its a faulty memory stick and not something wrong with the PSP itself.

If the memory stick is fake or just broken somehow then its not that big a deal as a 256MB card is pretty cheap and not very big so you'd probably only use it as a magic memory stick and not to store video/homebrew. You'll probably want at least a 1GB card for that.
I have a 1GB and a 4GB card, never use the 1GB one.

Also, buy Sandisk brand memory sticks not Sony ones if you can (the blue standard ones or the black Ultra II line, don't get the brightly coloured 'gaming' line as they aren't as good), they have faster read/write speeds and are often cheaper.

[blueygg]

It is a fat psp that ive got. Hmmm, I tried to format using usb mode but it fully didn't recognise a card being in there, its as if its not there at all...but the light flashes once its in there. The contacts look fine on it as well. But as you said no bother as its bugger all mb anyway. I was thinking of going with the 4gb card, haha yeah its pretty rare to find a sony card that aint fake, seems like everyone that buys one is fake. Was thinking of something along the lines of:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200205856131&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=190209922027&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&usedrule1=CategoryProximity&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget&_trksid=p284.m183&_trkparms=its%3DS%252BI%252BSS
Seems to be the real thing!
Also whats the best ps1 emulator out there? Ive seen a few on youtube and some run at full speed and some run not so good. Is it the firmware that slows them down or the emulator itself? Or its just the game?

[blueygg]

Oh 1 more quick question, im thinking of downgrading to 1.5 firmware and come across this site for creating pandora battery:
http://www.psp-forum.com/psp-discussion/9523-downgrade-your-psp-version-1-5-using-your-psp-battery.html
Is this correct or do I need to take that pin out of the chip? Seems too easy! Great if it was. Is there anything else I need to know using this method?
Thanks in advance.

[No_one_in_particular]

That's the softmodding route, which you can't do unless you've got a PSP already on custom firmware.

[bah]

My strongest advice would be DO NOT BUY MEMORY STICKS FROM EBAY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Go to a local store or at least a trusted online retailer.
Some people will say they bought one on ebay and it works ok, many will speak of problems. Even the ones that work correctly are normally fake.
To me, its not worth the hassle.

The PSX emulator for the PSP is the official sony one that has been hacked to run other games. There are several versions of it (new sony firmware updates often have an updated psx emulator in them which is then hacked), some games run better on one than the others. Some games run well, some not so well.
You need to be running a custom firmware to use the PSX emulator (pops).

To downgrade you need to find someone with a PSP that can already run homebrew to create the pandora battery/magic memory stick.

You can buy a datel 'tool' battery or hard-mod a battery by cutting than pin, but you still need the special files on the memory card.

No-one can legally give you those, a second PSP that can already run homebrew is needed because is can both decrypt sony's protections, and run homebrew code.
With both those things it can modify an official sony update file into a magic memory stick.

The guide you linked to was written badly or the author was rather confused. The steps are ok but it doesn't mention that you need a second PSP that is already running firmware 1.5 or a custom firmware to be able to do them.
The pandora's battery creator app will not run on a PSP that cannot run homebrew already.