Which is the Best Custom Firmware at this time ?

[wraggster]

Heres a question you would think that could be answered by saying the latest Custom Firmware Released but to many and especially veterans of Custom Firmwares there may be one that stands out as the best Custom Firmware of all.

So to the PSP Community, Which is the Best Custom Firmware at this time ? Please also explain why too

[discombobulated]

I've lost track of them all but probably one of the latest before 3.90 M33, before the slow memory card issue with my phat. It had great future as well as past compatibility. I haven't tried any of the games that gave me the slow memcard issues which gave me trouble with a few games stuttering like GOW so I can't speak for 4.01 M33-2.

[cataphrax]

Umm, i wanna let you guys in on a little secret! They are all the same! Theres nothing new in any of them but a kernel and some bugfixes most people wont ever run into. Every friggin new custom firmware since popstation was integrated has been the exact same thing with no cool new features or anything.

[stanfy86]

My personal favorite is 3.71 M33-2, only because it has the best POPS version built in, and its the version that i install from my U.P.M.S. pandora

[Zack]

I would say 4.01m33-2 has everything a psp owner would need :)

Especially with the new savestate plugin :)

[homemade]

Well i'd have 2 say 3.03 oe-c................nah i'm just messin. I'll go with 3.90m33-2 since its the last custom i had b4 my psp got stolen.

[flaminfox]

ive tried all custom firmwares but i always revert to 3.71 m33-4 since its more faster, compatible (plays up-to-date games) then the other firmwares the only thing it lacks is F0 themes and support for some of the new homebrew and features of newer firmwares.

I will try 4.01m33-2 when the new pspsavestate plugin gets more better :D

[cataphrax]

they are all the same!!!!

[Buddy4point0]

I've still got 3.90 m33-3 and It works great for me. Well it did before I lost my PSP. If I still had it, I'm sure I would be on 4.01 m33-2 with the 1.50 kernel. I haven't had any issues with m33 or dark_alex firmwares and I will continue to use the newest versions. I also have version 3.51 m33-2 on a broken PSP of mine and that works great as well. If DAX doesn't say himself that a version of his firmware has a bug in it, It's most likely a problem with you psp, the way you installed the custom firmware, and the settings you're currently using.

All and all, whatever the newest m33 firmware is should be the best and is what I would recommend to anyone newly upgrading to a custom firmware.

[AdamRav]

Custom Firmware 3.52 was decent aswell

[mike_jmg]

yes 3.52 was a great FW I think the cxmb plugin was released with that one, golden age of custom themes for me

I really like 3.71M33-4, both my psps have it :p, mainly because of the memory stick driver issues on the newer ones, well 3.90M33-3 wasn't that bad but it read the savegames of the games I was playing at that moment as corrupted, so I had to go back, I'll update when I wont need those

[newb_fo_life]

Probably 3.40 oe

For some reason i love that cfw

[alentris]

It might sound weird, but my favorite is 3.80 m33. It doesn't have many ctf themes, but it is stable, and it can use irshell.

[juiceface]

3.71 M33-4 for sure

[cal360]

I'm still currently on 3.90 m33-3 lately I haven't had too much time untill now to install the current. I find that 3.90 m33-3 works fine and performs exactly how I need it to, but I will soon test the current and see what has changed in my view.

[varnil]

Definetly 4.01 M33-2 on a slim with time-machine because it allows full use of irShell with ahman's official btcnf patch, so you have all the benefits of 1.50 kernel, latest games (through latest kernel), savestates, and to top it all of a fully functional irshell

[MicroNut]

Hard to say.
Probably comes down to what you really need, want and whether or not you have a Slim or Phat PSP.

3.71M33 - The XMB is a little faster and CTF themes are easier albeit not quite as customizable as they are in 3.52M33.
The 3.71M FS driver is also much better for reading stubborn MS.
I don't know if the 3.71 FS driver works with 401.
Not really interested in testing it.

Otherwise there is little difference between 3.71 and 401 other than being able to load the current pops from flash.
I suppose POPS and UMD game requirements would be good reasons to upgrade.

I do know that I can still use the custom restart and shutdown prx's from 3.71M33 in 401.
The 351x199 01~12.BMP background trick from 3.71 still works in 401.
SplitMerge probably still works but I don't know about hex editing beyond 2 backgrounds.
Custom waves from 3.71 still work in 401 (system_plugin_bg.rco)

CXMB is a great plugin for all of those versions.

[aj4000au]

I've used 3.40 OE-A for quite some time, but I've been trying to update it for a few hours. 3.52 M33-4 is as far as I seem to be able to go. Whenever I try to install 3.71, 3.80 or 3.90 M33, it tells me my IDstorage is currupt, and that it needs to fix it before it can continue, then doesn't even install the CFW because my "System Configuration is not compatible" or some crap, then bricks because of the changed IDstorage...

*EDIT*
Got it to 3.90M33 thanks to Despertar del Cementerio v5. 3.90M33 seems to run a little better than 3.40 OE-A and 3.52 M33-4. The lack of the 1.50 kernel in the base code is a little on the annoying side though. I had all my Emulators and stuff set up and running perfect. I'll have to give the addon a shot and see how that goes.

Still like to know why I was getting that error though...

[eddy22]

i would say 2.71 SE-B'

no JK, probably 1.5 media center edition

no JK, i would say 4.01 M-33. I dont really use pops, so i dont care if other M-33 firmwares or OE firmwares have better pops. I just use the latest one. but i dont update to the latest until it has a 1.5 kernel addon

[jamotto]

I've used 3.40 OE-A for quite some time, but I've been trying to update it for a few hours. 3.52 M33-4 is as far as I seem to be able to go. Whenever I try to install 3.71, 3.80 or 3.90 M33, it tells me my IDstorage is currupt, and that it needs to fix it before it can continue, then doesn't even install the CFW because my "System Configuration is not compatible" or some crap, then bricks because of the changed IDstorage...

Still like to know why I was getting that error though...

The way I understand it, it goes like this. Starting with firmware version 3.30 Sony's firmware installer checks to see if IDstorage key 5 is corrupt as that is needed for CFW to boot. These last few CFWs use Sony's official installer. So in short the Key 5 gets changed and your psp bricks, unless you fix key 5 before you shutdown the psp.

[Aryn]

I would go with 3.90 M33-2 at this point. It is stable, has several decent plugins, has plenty of themes and theme modifications, and I have not yet purchased a game that requires a higher firmware.

[Mr. Shizzy]

4.01 M33-2.

I can't believe no one has mentioned customizable PS1 (POPS) control schemes !!

And the new Save State is the shiz nit :D

[ojdon]

Well I have 3.71m33-x I haven't had much problems with it and popstation is almost a 100% PS1 Emulator. Althogh a few homebrew don't run for some reason... I get an error message each time I load them.

[jimmymack]

All of Dark_AleX's firmwares are the best.:p

[Vapid]

4.01 M33-2
I will always stick with the newest, unless there was some huge bug or something.

[shadig420]

3.90 m-33 was, now 4.01 m-33 2 is

wish i had my skype though!!!

[shadig420]

im a newbie postin, but not on psp smarts !!! ; )

[chris-007]

Still using 3.40 OE, the last from "Dark Alex".
Never any problem running old and new homebrew.
Only missing the two newer ISO loaders.

[katoh1]

For me it's between

3.90 M33-3

and

3.95 GEN-2

---

3.90 M33-3 only because I could use the fatms patch and do stuff like in game music, etc... along with SCEs addition of Skype and it was the most stable custom firmware for me

3.95 GEN-2 for the In-XMB recovery and the ability to shutdown my PSP with ease, and for the SCE features such as the Playstation control editing.

I don't care too much about POPS since I use POPSloader anyways

[JKKDARK]

Any, if I can play the games I want :)

[megaxzeo]

Im currently pushing 3.90 M33-2. I do a lot of crap with my psp, GBA Emulation, a bit of SNES emu( although i find a hard time finding one that runs how i want it to >< ), little bit of PSX, and some PSP ISO's. I havent hit and problems with it yet.

[kryst abegnalie]

4.01M33-2
reasons:
-it resolves the lag issues that caused by the msdriver for 3.80/3.90, so that we always install the fatmsmod patch in that cfw for 3.80/3.90

-more compatible pops support for most psx games, and added customizable controls and ability to see the memory card utility even if you only converted your own psx cds to newer popstation gui

-xmb now is more faster compared to last firmwares

-google search (i think its dumb feature) but still you can use it to simplify your searching in the psp web browser

-more plugins and apps now are converted for 4.01M33-2

[kryst abegnalie]

4.01M33-2
reasons:
-it resolves the lag issues that caused by the msdriver for 3.80/3.90, so that we always install the fatmsmod patch in that cfw for 3.80/3.90

-more compatible pops support for most psx games, and added customizable controls and ability to see the memory card utility even if you only converted your own psx cds to newer popstation gui

-xmb now is more faster compared to last firmwares

-google search (i think its dumb feature) but still you can use it to simplify your searching in the psp web browser

-more plugins and apps now are converted for 4.01M33-2

[actionvswords]

any of the m-33 is great stick with dark alex you wont go wrong ......

[actionvswords]

words.....

[tahir]

hi guys,
talking about which firmware is the best from my opinion 3.51 m33 is the choice cause i am using it for months and i didnt see any bugs or errors in it.i know it lacks in theme but its not a big deal .our concern should be on playing games not on themes which worth nothing to me.