Whats your story

where a your roots.
what brought you into the world of "hacking?"

I'm sure alot of you will have been brought in by psp.
Many of you were told about everything by friends.
Mabey some just thought there has to be free games and googled it up.

Well here is my story.
A few years ago for Christmas I received an ipod photo. After playing with it for many months, I thought, maybe there was a way to play videos on it. I searched for a while and originally found the method of splitting it into frames Later I came across ipod Linux. This was the first hacking/ homebrew/ gaming like stuff I had ever seen. Originally I installed podzilla and, after research, video codex. I thought this was amazing. I was looking around the ipod Linux website and found that you could put games on it as well. It took me a while to figure out how to do this but eventually I managed too. Among the games I found something new to me. An "emulator." As I began to read about it I was shocked. The ability to play Gameboy color on an ipod was extremely cool to me. Then I thought, if I can play Gameboy color games I wonder what other system games I could play.

So I search Google for emulators, and to my surprise, I found that they were not only for ipods, that in fact emulators worked on computers too. This made me really want to find out more. I downloaded "project 64" and some ROMs, and immediately loved it. After a while I also downloaded emulators for ps1, GBA, and many other systems. By this time I was well acquainted with Emulators and ipod Linux. Around now people started to talk of an internet browser for ipod. The idea alone amazed me and I read deeply, eventually development on it had stopped and it was clamed undoable. This wasn't bad news for me though because I had broken my ipod. I had lost it to Linux and brought it back to apple for a new one. Although I voided the warranty, they happily gave me a new one. This though was right around the time the PSP was comming out, the fact that it could play games, watch movies and work as my ipod made me really really want one.

By the time I had saved up enophe money it was already on firmware 2.0 and had a web browser. This was amazing and did everything I wanted my ipod to do. So I uninstalled ipod Linux and played my PSP constantly. One day when I was playing Mario 64 on my emulator I thought to myself, PSP graphics are way better than n64 graphics. I wonder if the is an emulator that runs on the PSP? Google had brought me to Dcemu, PSmonkey's sub forum. He had just announced his Monkey 64 project and had released a beta of it. I read all the guides on how to make your PSP "homebrew capable" so I went back to 1.5. I was extremely unhappy with the performance of it, at the time it ran around 2 fps. So I deleted it and updated to the newest firmware. Which at the time was 2.6. This was indeed a terrible decision.

Although I had my Internet browser back I was at a loss, because soon after I updated I decided to look around the forums. That was my first forum ever, and at the time I thought the PSmonkey sub forum was the entire Dcemu. I started to read about on of his other projects, Iris. Iris was a 3rd person shooter that was extremely customizable. You could make your own maps in quake .bsp format and use md2 models. After reading about this I decided to learn how to make iris maps. I bought GTA and used the 2.6 Eloader to play Iris. For a long time, the only Homebrew on my PSP was iris. Then one day I was looking around the forum and accidentally clicked the logo. This brought me to the main page where I explored and figured out the world of homebrew. I found that there was much more than just iris. I

learned how to install other games and had about 8 Homebrew games on my PSP. I don’t remember all of the but I know some of the were: Iris, that game with the space pizzas, R-type, and some more. Unfortunately for me, I was about to make another really bad decision in the world of Homebrew. Update. I got word of the new Sony firmware 2.71 and that it allowed you to download game demos. I checked them out, and Loco Roco looked extremely cool. So, regretfully, I updated. The demos were fun for a while; actually they tided me over for a long time. Up until around firmware 2.82, at that time I decided it was time to downgrade. I wanted homebrew back, but I also really wanted all the great features that the earlier Sony upgrades offered.

Then came our hero. Dark Alex showed up. I heard about this custom firmware, 2.71 se. and that it allowed you to have the up to date firmware’s and still have full Homebrew capability just like in firmware 1.5. Even that it could play 1.0 games without having to have the kxoplited. Unfortunately I had no way to get there. By the time that I had decided I wanted to use this firmware 3.0 had already come out and talk of a build in, full speed, ps1 emulator made me really really really happy. It was great. But finally, 3.03 came along, as did 3.03 down grader and 3.03 oe. This was the best point I ever had in PSP Homebrew. I got to have the newest firmware, with homebrew, and free ps1 emulator. It took a while to figure out how it all worked. It was pretty confusing to figure out all the down grader stuff, but after I was at 3.03 oe I loved it.

At this time I saw some DS homebrew. I went out and bought a DS and was going to by a flash cart but never really got around to it. So I just stuck with the PSP. At this time I started exploring the whole hacking seen, not just PSP. The entire forum and other sites as well. I found the off topic forum a place for seriousness and the junk forum a place to call home. Hence came the gold line fan club. That guy was great, we had some great times and I haven’t seen him in forever now. Inside the Gold line fan club I was quickly promoted up the ranks and became the same rank as gold line in no time. The gold line fan club is what started all my photo shopping. That is when I downloaded Photoshop and started messing around. People helped me, I took some tutorials, and slowly but surly got much better.

After the Gold line fan club got shut down I made the lounge (originally started as a new GL fan club but people wanted something new). It was pretty much the same, same people, same topics, and same cool stuff. Except now I started to learn to code. The lounge was a fun place to hang out, I learned to code, helped others, and continued to excel in Photoshop and many other things. If it wasn’t for all these great people I would not be who I am now. I would not know how to code, I wouldn’t be good at Photoshop; I wouldn't be a good leader or admin. So many things, I learned and I became quite popular on Dcemu. This entire time I’m still active in the PSP scene and learning great stuff.

Now were getting close to present. After the junk forum was closed I tried to revive the Lounge in off topic. This lasted for a short time but later was shut down. So me, Goldline, and iceman47 made a new site. One that would have the junk forum, one that would most defiantly have the lounge. "Handheld Customs." Our site thrived for a while until we all became to busy to keep up with it. At this time we had to shut it down. Ok this is really close to present now. "handheld Customs" popped up and down, we remade it and deleted it a few times and then finally I was asked to come to HomebrewHeaven.net At the time the site might have had around 10 members and I was asked to be an administrator. I gratefully took the job. After being there for a little while I started to learn of n64 retexturing, which to present I am still very new at.

This is now. So that is my story of how I have grown over the years of being on the scene.

Thank you for reading, Sincerely,
Buddy Pillar

I really don't have idea how I found this site.
I was trying homebrew games on my Dreamcast and someone gave me this link for help.

i got into emulation stuff when i was around 10 years old.
i had seen my cousins play games on the computer and i thought it was cool and all so i decided to look into it myself.
and i found out they were using something called an emulator.
then everything just sorta came from that.
i got multiple emulators for the same stuff cause i didnt know what was good at the time.
and then later when things like the ps2, gc, ds, and psp got released.
i realised you could do the same stuff with handhelds and consoles.
so thats what got me into doing that stuff for my consoles and handhelds.

I started at the age of like 8 or 9...
my dad showed me how to get GBA games on the computer..... i loved emulatiion and hacking since then!

your dad?

you must have an awesome dad then!

Nesticle... one of the coolest things I'd ever seen.

Safari Al's story:

Well i was stupid and had no idea about the emulator world. Then one day i found something that amazed me. I had just now decided that i missed the old n64 games. so i decided i wanted to buy one. I quickly gave up on that relizing it was a waste of money. I later saw something that amazed me on youtube. Someone was playing super mario 64 on his psp. I was shocked, and because i had a psp, I had to get it to do that. I would research almost every day only to relize that back then 3.01 wasnt downgradable. So i was a tad angry. But then something else hit me. I came across project 64. Thinking it wouldn't work, I didn't get my hopes up. When it did it was Christmas Day (so you can tell my excitment). So I kept up with the psp scene all the while playing it on my computer when I ran into something rather interesting. If I hadn't ran into this we wouldn't have it here to day. Yes, it was N64 retexturing. I was amazed that you could change the textures in a game, so i decided to try it out. The first person and first pack I had seen and tryed was our one and only datadayne's! (ganondorf!). So I ran into a ton of trouble doing so on the computer. It just didn't seem to work for me until I ran into a site called DCemu. When I think aboutt it now, n64 retexturing was most likely the last thing I would've found on that site. Anyway, I had found mesosade's retro super mario 64 and wanted it on my computer so badly! So I decided to ask him (as I have shown in my first post), about why mine wouln't work. In time it was fixed. I forgot to mention a 3.03 downgrader was already out but required an unpatched GTA. After the long and annoying exchanges on ebay I finally got one. I sadly used HEN , scared to downgrade for a bit, but in about a day or two just had to. I did, and the first thing I got on there was daedalus. That's when I started to return to Dcemu to post and what not. I soon found a Super mini mario game and all the mods that where made. I had decided to make my own. So I began working on the thing that would get me most interested in developing in lua. Sadly this wasn't finished for sometime. I had however, posted a lot at Dcemu. Soon, I saw Ice's site, codemayhem. I asked to be a mod there and was awarded generously. But I thought to myself, "What if I gave a shot at my own site? Would it work?" So thus, Homebrew Heaven was started. It had a slow start and we never had any guests join. I had Elmarco, Sonicboy, and Shadow come over. We in time grew and received great members who became admins, members becoming moderators. One day I decided to start up on lua aagain, which I had failed at earlier. I met a few peolple who could help me, and thanks to xandu, met a good buddy named homer! Homer helped me learn and made sure I understood whaat I was learning. All the while, the site grew and flourished and became what it is today!

My story is essentially the same as buddy's.
I started with my ipod, then found emulators, then got a psp, then found out about homebrew.

And also:

Quote:

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At the time the site might have had around 10 members and I was asked to be an administrator.

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It was 18 :P

I was looking for Beats of Rage (PC version) and found this site interesting, then I forgot about it. A year or two later I got my PSP on my birthday and someone told me that I could downgrade my firmware (fw 2.0)- after a quick google search, I had found this site again and made it my home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Safari Al

Yes, it was N64 retexturing. I was amazed that you could change the textures in a game, so i decided to try it out. The first person and first pack I had seen and tryed was our one and only datadayne's! (ganondorf!).

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Wow, I never knew that. Its a terrific fealling to know that you appreciate my work.



Anyways, here is my story...

I had found my n64 in the basement one day and wanted to set it up and play it again. I had perfect dark, but I had lost the game and could not find it. I was really disapointed. One day, I was searching the internet and came apon project64. I was amazed that I could play n64 on my computer. I soon got bored of just playing project64. I soon discovered n64 retexturing. I was fascinated that such thing was possible. I spent a long time figuring out the whole scene, but I accomplished to figure everything out. I had finally released my SuperPaperMario 64 pack and I had a lot of supporters behind my back, I decided to continue with the pack and bring it to dcemu.

One day, I recieved a message from safari. He had wanted me to join and moderate HomebrewHeaven, I wasnt too fond at first, but I soon began to love HomebrewHeaven. Then, homebrewheaven had its very first sig contest. I joined for the heck of it. My sig was awful, I had seen buddy4point0's sig and was amazed. He is a great artist. I commited my self to one day make a sig as great as buddy's. This is when I really started to improve my photoshop skills. I would have never been intrested in making sigs if it wasnt for buddy.

So there I was,,, I was getting bored of the same thing again, I started learning about actual hacking. I learned how to hack several email accounts, and had started hacking websites.



Here I am now, still moderating homebrewheaven. My photoshop skills have improved drasticly. The retexturing scene is alive again. I have intended to learn psp homebrew but I am not very good at that. I do not have a psp and have never owned one. I really want to learn psp hacking, maybe sometime in the future....