Finally, a user friendly Homebrew and Emulator Guide!

[IndianCheese]

The user friendly FAQ to homebrew and emulators!
By IndianCheese

What is homebrew? Is it tasty?
Homebrew is user-made games, applications, and emulators for the PSP. And, no, it is not tasty.

What are emulators?
Emulators are programs for the PSP that enable you to run games from other systems, like Game Boy games, Sega Genesis games (my favorite), Super Nintendo games, etc.

OMFG THAT SOUNDS SO EFFIN 1337 THIS IS GONNA ROXOR HOW DO I DO IT???
Slow down, slow down. First you must check to see if your PSP is compatible with homebrew.
1. Turn on your PSP with no UMD in the drive (so it does not auto-run).
2. Go left until you see the Settings icon.
3. Go up/down and select System Settings.
4. Go up/down and select System Information.
5. If your PSP's version says "1.00" or "1.50", your system is compatible. "1.51", "1.52", "2.00", "2.01", "2.50", "2.60", "2.70", "2.71", and "2.80" are not compatible. Scroll down for more information.

OK, mine is compatible. Now what do I do?
Download this juicy homebrew starter pack to get busy.

It's downloaded. What do I do?
1. Extract the files to any folder (preferably a new one) on your computer's hard disk.
2. Connect your PSP via USB cable by turning it on, going to Settings, choosing USB Connection, and connecting a USB cable to your PSP and computer.
3. Run Sei PSP Tool.
4. Click on Export EBOOT.
5. Type this into the Name box: PORTABLETETRIS
6. Click on the button with the ellipse (...) on it next to the PBP File box.
7. Click For File, because all you need is the EBOOT.PBP file for Portable Tetris.
8. Browse to the folder you extracted the three files to earlier and open the Portable Tetris folder. Choose the EBOOT.PBP file inside.
9. Lastly, use the drop-down menu to find your PSP's letter drive. If you connected the PSP to the computer correctly, it should be there. Usually it is the letter "E:", "F:", or "G:", depending on how many drives you have. You can disconnect and reconnect the PSP to see what drive letter is added, just to make sure.
10. Click Generate. A menu will pop up. If your PSP is version 1.50, choose the first option, and if it is 1.00, choose the second option.
11. Your PSP's Memory Stick light (the orange light on the bottom-left side of the system (to the left of the analog stick)) should blink rapidly and a white beam should move back and forth on the screen. When your computer says that it has successfully been exported, wait two or more seconds, and your PSP will be safe for disconnection. If you go to the Games section on your PSP and choose Memory Stick, you will see a Corrupted Data file and a Portable Tetris file. Do not delete the corrupted data; this keeps the game working.

OK now I want an emulator. What do I do?
1. Clear the three boxes in Sei PSP Tool if you haven't closed it. If you have closed it, simply run it again.
2. Go to your desktop and choose My Computer and browse to the folder you extracted the files to from the ZIP homebrew package.
3. Open the PSPGenesis folder.
4. Create a new folder (right-click anywhere -> New -> Folder) and name it anything you like ("ROMS", preferably).
5. Download at least one Genesis rom from any rom site (can't tell you any, that'd be breakin' da rules of da forum). If you need to find some, just Google "genesis roms" with the quotes.
6. Place the SMD rom file into that "ROMS" folder you created earlier.
7. Go back to Sei PSP Tool and fill out the form (name: PSPGENESIS, etc.) except for ONE IMPORTANT CHANGE: you must click the choice "Whole folder" since there are all those other little files in the PSPGENESIS folder.
8. Browse to the PSPGenesis folder and choose it.
9. Click Generate and choose your PSP version. Light will flash, beam will go back and forth, and the notification will appear saying that it's done. w00t!

That's awesome.
Yeah, now if you want to do it yourself, go to http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/ or ΡSPUpdates.com to get games, programs, and other stuff.

I'm getting this "game could not be started" error.
A few possibilities:
1. Your PSP version is above 1.50.
2. You didn't use the Sei PSP Tool (or other 1.5 exploit software) correctly.

None of those things happened, but I'm still getting the error.
Double-check. 99.9% of the time it is one of these 2 situations.

It's still happening.
You might have gotten some trick PBP file or a game or something with a glitch. Try running a different homebrew. If this fails, you may have a corrupted Memory Stick. (Those things aren't waterproof, or cheap, for that matter.)

It is still happening!!!!!
I really don't know.

I bought my PSP the day it came out, but I still have version 1.50.
1.00 was only released in Japan. You can still pick one up in the US by eBay.

I'm hearing crap about this so-called 1.50 to 1.00 downgrader. Should I trust it? Is it real?
Yes, it is real, but you should make sure you know what you are doing before you run it.



Current Firmware Status:
2.70, 2.71, 2.80: Sorry, but homebrew is not compatible with these versions.

2.50, 2.60: You may downgrade to version 1.50 to run homebrew. You will need eLoader and the Dark_Alex downgrader. You will find these at dl.qj.net.

2.01: No exploit. Update to 2.50 or 2.60 and downgrade.

2.00: You may downgrade to 1.50 using the MPH downgrader at http://mphwebsite.tuxfamily.org/

1.51, 1.52: No exploit. Update to 2.00 and downgrade.

1.50: The "t3h s3xz0rz" firmware. This is the only firmware that all homebrew is compatible with.

1.00: The original PSP firmware. Homebrew-compatible, but some homebrew is specifically coded to only work on the 1.50 firmware.

I have some other question.
PM me or E-mail me at [email protected].

Please leave a comment.

[IndianCheese]

bump (sticky please?)

[Dj SaTuRn]

i like this one better than the stickied one on the top.

But theres lots of guides already.

[Cap'n 1time]

bump (sticky please?)

clean it up, lower the font size, and get rid of the censored links and ill see about a sticky.

[IndianCheese]

k i fixed it up n added more

[tjradiohead]

...uber noob here.

What are the chances of me "bricking" my psp?

[IndianCheese]

Depends on what program you use. For example:

PSPGenesis is a Sega Genesis emulator. It runs from the Memory Stick with ROMs you can download. It does not touch your Flash memory (the PSP's internal storage area in which all the system files are that make it work). There is no chance of bricking with this.

LUA Player, a new form of PSP coding, has the ability to read your Flash (to display system time, explore firmware, etc.). There is an extremely slim chance of a brick possible. No one has ever had any firmware problems with LUA.

PSPset, a program that can change internal files to personalize your PSP, actually writes to your Flash. This can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. It can swap the X/O button functions, change the game intro movie, change backgrounds, etc. Do not use until you get familiar with the PSP's software.

Read some articles online and ask others about things. And one more thing: Never update unless you get a Locayfre base station!

[tjradiohead]

Read some articles online and ask others about things. And one more thing: Never update unless you get a Locayfre base station!

I dont know what one of those is, but i will keep it in mind

Thanks for the reply again.

[urmyboyblue]

My psp got downgraded from 2.0 to 1.0 but the thing wont recognize the eboot for 1.5 in the memory card under game i think i put it into the right folder too

also if i get my emulators that i want can i upgrade to 2.0 and still run them if i dont want to download anymore because i need the 2.0 for some of the games

[urmyboyblue]

My psp got downgraded from 2.0 to 1.0 but the thing wont recognize the eboot for 1.5 in the memory card under game i think i put it into the right folder too

also if i get my emulators that i want can i upgrade to 2.0 and still run them if i dont want to download anymore because i need the 2.0 for some of the games