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Is the PS Vita worth it in 2020?

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First I asked whether the PSP was worth it in 2020, then I asked whether the PS3 was worth it in 2020. Now I think it’s the PS Vita’s turn. As always, these are all my opinions, so if you don’t agree with me, tell me in the comments. I love seeing your replies.

Portability/Physical Aspects:

The PS Vita is quite chunky (especially the 1000 model), so if you are looking to carry your Vita around with you, make sure you have large pockets. The buttons feel very nice and responsive, although long play sessions may make your thumbs hurt. The triggers aren’t the best, but they get the job done. The screen on the 1000 is OLED, so it looks very nice and really makes the colors pop and stand out, but the LED screen on the 2000 is not bad at all. You can even make changes using the registry editor which can help improve the screen. The 1000 model doesn’t feel cheap at all, but the 2000 model is the opposite. The charging port on the 1000 is proprietary, but the charging port on the 2000 is Micro-USB, which is much better and less expensive to replace. Overall, even though the 2000 looks nicer, I prefer the 1000 model.

Games:

The PS Vita had plenty of exclusive games, as well as games that took advantage of all of the Vita’s features (Rear Pad, Cameras, Microphone etc.). There were also plenty of ports from other systems, one example being Jet Set Radio. However, as well as all the standard PS Vita games that were released, they also allowed you to play PSOne games on your Vita (Crash Team Racing etc etc.) and PSP/PSP Mini games so you will have plenty of content other than just PS Vita games to play. As well as this, you can also use Henkaku and Adrenaline (next point) to play almost the entire library of PSP/PSP Mini/PSOne games on your Vita. As well as games, there was also plenty of apps to download such as Youtube (most have shut down though). If you can find one thats still running, have fun with it!

Hacking/Homebrew:

My favorite part. The Vita hacking scene is one of the most active I have seen. Even when Sony wants to forget about the Vita, they still keep going and pushing out new and exciting homebrew apps that show just how much the Vita was capable of. Stuff like Custom Themes, MicroSD Card support, emulators, VitaShell and plugin support really make a great experience. If you own a Vita and haven’t hacked it yet, what are you doing! Once its been hacked, it gives endless possibilities. There are plenty of Homebrew games and ports for you to try out, such as Doom, Half-Life, etc etc. And then there’s Adrenaline, which allows you to run most of your PSP/PSOne games on your Vita. It is such an amazing tool and if you have a hacked Vita but no Adrenaline, what are you doing! Along with all this, you can also run your game backups from your SD Card. No more carrying cartridges around! Writing this makes me want to go play something on my Vita now, so I suppose this is where I should end it off.

Conclusion:

Yes! The vita is worth it in 2020! The amount of stuff you can do with it (especially once it’s been hacked) is amazing, you wont run out of games to play at all, and it has enough power to run alot of your retro games via emulation (With N64 being worked on right now at the time of writing). I love to hear your opinions, so leave them in the comments!

The post Is the PS Vita worth it in 2020? appeared first on Wololo.net.


PSVita News: Quick Menu Plus 2.0.0 released combining Quick Volume, Quick Power & Rapid Menu & TheFlow creates PSVita resolution hack for Tomb Raider PSP!

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On smartphones, tablets, consoles and even PCs, there’s generally Control Center-style functionality allowing you to quickly change the most common settings (volume/WiFi & others) and Sony thankfully bestowed the Vita with the Quick Menu which does just that. In this article, we’re going to be looking at the release of Quick Menu Plus 2.0.0 which is a plugin that aims to improve the Vita’s Quick Menu and some news from TheFlow on yet another PSP game resolution hack!

Quick Menu Plus 2.0.0 released by combining various plugins

Quick Menu Plus allows you to easily change your Vita’s master volume, turn it off and more while coming with some customisability!

As its name suggests, Quick Menu Plus is an all-in-one user-mode plugin for the PlayStation Vita that aims to improve its Quick Menu by adding various features. Starting with version 2.0.0 which was released yesterday, this plugin by cuevavirus combines three separate Quick Menu-related plugins in one which include:

  • Quick Power
    • This plugin adds a ‘Power’ section to the Quick Menu that allows you to easily Power Off, Restart or Suspend your console
  • Quick Volume
    • Adds a ‘Master Volume’ section to the Quick Menu
  • Rapidmenu

Other than simply merging three plugins, Quick Menu Plus 2.0.0 also comes with other improvements including the ability to configure how long the Quick Menu takes to pop up, configurable power buttons, custom background styles (original, translucent or black), support for test kit FW 3.60 and a bug fix.

You may read more about Quick Menu Plus 2.0.0 by following this link to its release thread on Team CBPS’ forums. Instructions on how to configure it are also provided.

TheFlow creates resolution hack plugin for Tomb Raider PSP allowing it to be played at 960×544 on the Vita!

Fancy playing Tomb Raider Anniversary @ 960×544 on your Vita? With TheFlow’s work, this may soon become possible! (Tweet)

While the PSVita can play all of your favourite PSP titles and also give you easy access to save states & screen filters with Adrenaline, one thing that it doesn’t do is upscale PSP games to its native resolution. This means a 480×272 image being displayed on a 960×544 screen which results in a more pixelated or blurry experience depending on your preference. However, TheFlow has manged to find ways to increase the rendering resolution of some PSP games when played on the Vita through Adrenaline with GTA VCS/LCS and other titles being able to run at 960×544 albeit with reduced performance.

Now, Tomb Raider for the PSP has received the increased resolution treatment resulting in a much clearer picture on the PlayStation Vita. From a tweet shared earlier today, TheFlow demonstrates Tomb Raider: Anniversary running at 960×544 via Adrenaline using a native resolution plugin but states that the game runs at around 18FPS at this resolution BUT it runs better at 720×408 which is half-way between the PSP’s and Vita’s resolution although he hints that applying hacks may be possible to improve performance. No word seems to have been given on whether the PSP’s port of Tomb Raider: Legend is also supported by the work that TheFlow is demonstrating.

As of right now, TheFlow seems to have provided no download link but you can follow his Twitter profile for the latest updates!

Other News

Staying on the subject of the PSVita, JJH47E has released another Snake homebrew for the Vita while the Play! emulator (PS2) has seen some improvements in Snowblind games including Baldur’s Gate. Scott Pilgrim is also playable online on RPCS3 thanks to recent developments!

The post PSVita News: Quick Menu Plus 2.0.0 released combining Quick Volume, Quick Power & Rapid Menu & TheFlow creates PSVita resolution hack for Tomb Raider PSP! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita News: TheFlow working on plugin to potentially get PSP resolution hacks working on more games! – More 960×544 PSP games on the Vita may be possible

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Earlier this week, TheFlow created yet another PSP resolution hack and this one allows Tomb Raider: Anniversary to run at native resolution (960×544) on the PlayStation Vita. However, he is working on something more sophisticated than game-specific resolution patches with a brand new plugin he mentioned on Twitter!

The current state of PSP native resolution patches on the PSVita

Native resolution PSP games on the PSVita has been something that many have dreamed for but now, TheFlow may be working on a solution!

While resolution hack plugins for PSP games running on the PlayStation Vita have been created for a few popular titles such as GTA LCS/VCS and now, Tomb Raider, the vast majority of PSP games can only render at the usual 480×272 resolution on the Vita. As a result, they don’t look as nice on the PSVita’s larger 5″ screen with a 960×544 resolution as the options available are to either make the game look blurrier (using Advanced AA) or pixelated which could make one look at other options such as PPSSPP on their smartphone or Switch as it allows games to be rendered at higher resolutions.

While there has been a bounty on BountySource since August of last year to get PSP games running at native resolution on the PSVita perhaps by using the PPSSPP renderer, this hasn’t resulted in much despite $1500 being up for grabs although a developer called Michal (‘robots’) was working on it with the last update being in April of this year. While $1500 may sound like a decent sum, it is important to state that getting PSP games running at native resolution on the PSVita requires a huge amount of work and $1500 would be little compensation for the hours that would be spent in order to create such a solution.

TheFlow potentially working on a native resolution hack plugin that many games could benefit from!

TheFlow’s working on a plugin that seems like a more generic native resolution patch that could support many games but hacks like reducing colour depth may be needed for playable performance at 960×544! (Tweet)

Moving over to the latest developments, TheFlow tweeted out that he is working on a rendering-related PSP plugin that many games could benefit from. From the tweet, the aim of this plugin is to patch display lists (graphics commands that define the output generated on screen) and vertices coming from the PSP’s graphics engine which sounds like a generic native resolution hack plugin is in the making!

It is important to state that resolution patches reduce the performance of the games they’re applied to as they’re still being rendered on the PSP’s hardware found inside the PlayStation Vita & PlayStation TV. As a result, some games may be able to be rendered at higher resolutions with the plugin that TheFlow is working on but they may not all be playable. Furthermore, little information has been given on this plugin so there is no saying which state it’s in or whether it’ll ever be finished.

Conclusion

As usual, the best way to keep up with what TheFlow is up to is to simply follow his Twitter account and not ask for ETAs as that could get you banned from seeing his tweets. You may also support TheFlow on Patreon by following the link below but remember, patience is key and only the future will tell us if anything comes out of TheFlow’s work on the aforementioned resolution hack plugin that could work on many games!

TheFlow’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/theflow0

TheFlow’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

The post PSVita News: TheFlow working on plugin to potentially get PSP resolution hacks working on more games! – More 960×544 PSP games on the Vita may be possible appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita: TheFlow releases GePatch, a plugin that lets you play 50+ PSP games at native resolution on the Vita! – Titles include Disagea & Sims 2 with more to come

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As reported yesterday, TheFlow has been working on a generic plugin to make PSP games run at native resolution on the PSVita but little details were available then. After a few hours, TheFlow came forward with a brand new plugin called GePatch which already allows 50+ PSP games to run at 960×544 on the Vita with frequent updates being pushed!

What is GePatch?

PSVita: TheFlow releases GePatch, a plugin that lets you play 50+ PSP games at native resolution on the Vita! - Titles include Disagea & Sims 2 with more to come

GePatch allows you to play over 50 PSP games on your Vita at native resolution very well!

GePatch is a plugin by TheFlow that allows some PlayStation Portable games to run at the PlayStation Vita’s native resolution of 960×544 within Adrenaline which is an ePSP solution by the same developer. From a tweet shared earlier this week, GePatch seems to work by patching display lists and vertices within the PSP’s graphics engine meaning that the games are still rendered using the PSP hardware found within the PSVita’s and PSTV.

This is approach differs from what was being floated last year in regards to getting PSP games running at native resolution on the PSVita as that approach revolved around porting PPSSPP’s graphics renderer to the console. According to TheFlow, the approach he took is “cheaper” compared to the PPSSPP renderer option and initial results are showing that it’s working in a quite a decent amount of titles!

Which games are supported by GePatch?

Ever since its release under 24 hours ago, GePatch has seen 4 updates which fix various issues! (Tweet)

After releasing GePatch, TheFlow created a spreadsheet on Google Docs that community members could contribute to and in under 24 hours, there are already over 350 entries inside of it consisting of PSP games, PS1 games and even homebrew. Among the games that are considered playable after having their resolution increased to 960×544 with GePatch, one finds:

  • Disagea Infinite, Disagea 2: Dark Hero Days & Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
  • Sims 2
  • Loco Roco
  • FIFA Street 2
  • Retro City Rampage DX
  • Ys I & II Chronicles
  • Various others including Toy Story 3 and Lord of Arcana with community members testing much more!

Conclusion

To grab GePatch and install it on your device, simply follow the link below to its GitHub Release Page & README. In order to see whether a game is compatible with the plugin or add your own test results, you can view the Google Docs Spreadsheet below. It is important to state that the plugin has seen 4 updates in the last 24 hours with version 0.1.4 being released under an hour ago so make sure you’re on the latest version!

GePatch GitHub README (instructions): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/GePatch/blob/master/README.md

GePatch GitHub Release Page (download): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/GePatch/releases

GePatch compatibility spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZlmKwELcdpCb9ezI5iRfgcX9hoGxgL4tNC-673aKqk/

TheFlow’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/theflow0

TheFlow’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

The post PSVita: TheFlow releases GePatch, a plugin that lets you play 50+ PSP games at native resolution on the Vita! – Titles include Disagea & Sims 2 with more to come appeared first on Wololo.net.

Vita & Switch Releases: GePatch 0.1.6 with over 150 playable PSP games @ Vita’s native resolution & Atmosphere 0.14.4 with fixes relating to Mario 3D All-Stars!

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While the PSP was released in 2004 and its graphics are nowhere as advanced as today’s consoles, various worthwhile titles are available for the console which prompts various people to play its games on other systems perhaps with enhancements. One of these enhancements is resolution upscaling and thanks to GePatch, the Vita can achieve this in 150 PSP games after the release of version 0.1.6 which we’ll be looking at in this article together with Atmosphere 0.14.4!

GePatch 0.1.6 released for the Vita with over 150 playable titles @ 960×544

As the introduction suggests, GePatch is a plugin for the PlayStation Vita that upscales PSP games from the regular 480×272 to 960×544 (Vita’s native resolution) thus making them look much nicer since 4 times the pixels are being rendered. This plugin, by TheFlow, works with Adrenaline and currently boasts of playable results in over 150 PSP games thanks to a community-maintained spreadsheet that combines compatibility data from various end-users.

Currently, GePatch allows you to play 152 games @ 960×544 perfectly with 193 games running with minor issues that some could live with!

Throughout the week, this plugin has seen numerous updates that improved its internal workings while also boosting game compatibility with GePatch 0.1.6 being the most recent one with it bringing along:

  • Optimised draws to framebuffers
  • Signal command behaviour has been added
  • According to the aforementioned compatibility spreadsheet, GePatch 0.1.6 brings improvements to the following games:
    • Adventures of Gurumin – performance issues have been fixed
    • Ikki Tousen: Xross Impact- framebuffer related issues
    • LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean – better performance
    • LocoRoco – less FPS dips
    • Luxor: Pharaoh’s Challenge – no slowdowns
    • Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari
      Tale of the Last Promise – voice desync has been fixed
    • Shining Blade – FMVs now work and various glitches have been fixed making it playable
    • White Knight Chronicles: Origins – minimap is fixed and the framerate is pretty good
    • Zill O’ll Infinite Plus – better performance

You may grab GePatch 0.1.6 by following this link to its GitHub Release Page. You can find out which games work by checking out the official compatibility spreadsheet! TheFlow’s Patreon can be used for donations.

Atmosphere 0.14.4 is out with fixes for Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Atmosphere now plays nicer with Super Mario 3D All-Stars!

Moving over to the Nintendo Switch but still keeping focus on older games, SciresM has released Atmopshere 0.14.4 which primarily comes with fixes related to Super Mario 3D All-Stars which is a trilogy of older Mario titles namely Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. According to its change log, this update brings along:

  • Fixes to bugs relating to the jit sysmodule which affected Super Mario 3D All-Stars negatively
  • Among the bugs fixed, one can find a process handle leak and incorrect handling of service unregistration
  • Other minor stuff including a visual indication of whether Mesosphere (Atmosphere’s Horizon OS kernel re-implementation) is being used or not

You may grab Atmosphere 0.14.4 by following this link to its GitHub Release Page.

Other News

When it comes to other consoles, the 3DS received TWiLight Menu++ 16.3.0 with numerous bug fixes & Offline Updating Support while also having Linux 5.9.0-rc5 (released this week) ported to it by well-known developer xerpi. All this comes amidst the 3DS officially being discontinued after a 9.5 year long tenure which saw over 75 million units being sold!

The post Vita & Switch Releases: GePatch 0.1.6 with over 150 playable PSP games @ Vita’s native resolution & Atmosphere 0.14.4 with fixes relating to Mario 3D All-Stars! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita Release: GePatch 0.19 released with fixes for some crashing games & regressions – Over 180 PSP games can be played perfectly @ Vita’s native resolution with many more only having minor issues!

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TheFlow’s GePatch has been out for 3 weeks now and various members of the Vita scene have had their dream come true. However, the initial iteration of software is seldom perfect and TheFlow has kept rolling out updates with GePatch 0.19 being the latest!

What is GePatch?

As more time goes on, GePatch is becoming more compatible with a combined 456 titles being fully playable or only exhibiting minor issues! (Source: spreadsheet linked below)

GePatch is a plugin by TheFlow that allows one to play a good deal of PSP games at the PlayStation Vita’s native resolution which is 960×544. As a result, this plugin makes PSP games running on the Vita & PSTV push 4 times as many pixels than they would normally as the PSP’s resolution is 480×272. In order to increase the rendering resolution of games, TheFlow is patching display lists & vertices within the PSP’s graphics engine found inside the PlayStation Vita.

Compatibility-wise, GePatch is fully compatible with 186 games as of writing this article with a further 270 titles being able to run with minor issues ranging from menus that look a bit messed up to performance problems that some can live with.

What does GePatch 0.19 bring along?

GePatch 0.19, which was released yesterday, is an update that aims to fix certain issues in order to increase compatibility with its changelog stating:

  • Some bugs that made certain games crash were fixed

    As per testing by community members, Super Stardust Portable is now fully playable!

  • An issue that was introduced in earlier versions (a regression) was fixed
  • From comments left within the compatibility spreadsheet, GePatch 0.19 provides an improved experience in the following titles:
    • Super Stardust Portable – perfectly playable
    • Super Strike Portable – perfectly playable
    • Crash of Titans – no longer crashes but has minor issues
    • Crash: Mind Over Mutant – no longer crashes but has minor issues
    • Dokodemo Issyo Lets Gakkou Obenkyou Pack – this game is now fullscreen
    • Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable – no longer crashes but has minor issues
    • Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake – works much better although FPS drops & black FMVs are still there
    • Other titles that you can check out in the compatibility spreadsheet linked below

Conclusion

You may get GePatch on your PlayStation Vita or PlayStation TV by following the link below. In order to use GePatch 0.19, you must be using Adrenaline 7.0 else it won’t work so make sure you update!

GePatch 0.19 download link: https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/GePatch/releases

GePatch README (installation instructions & more): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/GePatch/blob/master/README.md

GePatch Compatibility Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZlmKwELcdpCb9ezI5iRfgcX9hoGxgL4tNC-673aKqk/

TheFlow’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

The post PSVita Release: GePatch 0.19 released with fixes for some crashing games & regressions – Over 180 PSP games can be played perfectly @ Vita’s native resolution with many more only having minor issues! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita Release: VideoDebug released which allows the Videos App to play videos directly from ux0:/data – QCMA is no longer needed to play videos in the native app!

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PlayStation Vita homebrew releases have significantly slowed in the last few months but some developers are still creating useful stuff for the system. This time, we have VideoDebug which is a plugin that finally makes the native video application useful!

What is VideoDebug?

When Sony released the PSVita, one of the biggest gripes about it was how locked down it was compared to the PSP and one of the areas where Sony decided to over-lock things was the Videos application.

Thanks to VideoDebug, you can make the Videos application on the PSVita actually useful!

This application was locked down by forcing users to import videos via QCMA rather than copy them directly to the system which added unnecessary overhead especially if one wants to copy media from a PC they don’t normally use. To rectify this, Arkanite released Vita Media Center which allowed videos to be played directly from internal memory although this homebrew utility didn’t see much development past its initial release meaning that it isn’t highly polished.

Now, VideoDebug has been released which is a kernel plugin by SilicaAndPina, with help from u/AltCtrlGraphene, that puts the Videos application in debug mode. By putting the Videos application in debug mode, it can play videos directly from ux0:/data without having them imported via QCMA which makes it possible to easily copy videos over to the PSVita over FTP from a mobile device if you so desire making life much easier.

Installing the plugin is pretty easy and can be done by following these steps:

  1. Grab the SKPRX file (kernel plugin) from this link
  2. Copy it to ux0:/tai or ur0:/tai
  3. Add “ux0:tai/videoDebug.skprx” or “ur0:tai/videoDebug.skprx” under the *KERNEL section of your config.txt file (it’s either in ux0:tai or ur0:tai)
  4. Reboot your system and enjoy!
    • To get a video on your PSVita, just copy it to ux0:/videos and select the ‘TestFolder’ menu option in the Videos app
    • The ux0:/videos directory may be hidden on your PC so you may need to manually navigate to it or enable hidden folders

Which video formats are supported?

The highly common H264 video format should work just fine but the PSVita’s video player isn’t the best out there so before copying a whole season of a show, it may be a good idea to test a single episode first!

The video formats supported when the VideoDebug plugin is used are the same ones that the PSVita natively supports which are:

  • MPEG-4 Simple Profile Level 6, Maximum 1280 x 720 pixels, AAC
  • H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Baseline/Main/High Profile Level 4.0, Maximum 1920 x 1080p, AAC
  • Both the video and audio format must be compatible for videos to work

From some limited testing of my own on FW 3.60, I was able to play:

  • ‘Just Dance’ by Lady Gaga @ 640×360 (360p) 24FPS
  • This video by ashens @ 1280×720 (720p) 25FPS
  • An episode of Koutetsujou No Kabaneri @ 1280×720 (720p) 24FPS which has a file size of around 500MB
  • Videos without an audio track didn’t want to play on my device. All videos tested use the H.264 codec

Conclusion

In the last 2 days, some more stuff got released including ScummVM 2.1.0 (multi-platform software letting you play some DOS-era point-and-click titles also available for the PSVita) and an easy-to-use tool for downgrading Apple A7 devices to iOS 10.3.3 without blobs or a jailbreak!

The post PSVita Release: VideoDebug released which allows the Videos App to play videos directly from ux0:/data – QCMA is no longer needed to play videos in the native app! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita & Switch News: CBS-Manager 3.0 for the Vita released with better animated boot logo support, Electry releases NoPowerLimits; No Blur Mod for TLZ: Link’s Awakening on the Switch released

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Until a short while ago, it seemed that the PlayStation Vita scene had descended into a quasi-hibernation state but these last few days reminded us that some developers are still working on creating worthwhile stuff for the console. In this article, we’ll be looking at two plugins for the PSVita and a mod for TLZ: Link’s Awakening on the Switch.

PSVita Releases: CBS-Manager 3.0 & NoPowerLimits Released

Custom Boot Splash released - Make your PSVita/PSTV's boot screen great again!

Custom Boot Splash and CBS-Manager let you have a custom boot screen on your PSVita which can look pretty nice!

CBS-Manager, by SKGleba, is an evolution of “Princess Of Sleeping“‘s Custom Boot Splash plugin. Contrary to ‘Custom Boot Splash’, CBS-Manager is effectively made out of three parts namely an updated version of the Custom Boot Splash plugin, an easy installer and settings menu for the plugin built-in to the native Settings app. Now, CBS-Manager 3.0 has been released, which comes with pre-compiled binaries (version 2.0 had pre-compiled binaries but they were taken down), and it brings along:

  • Better boot animation support – This was achieved by:
    • RAM preloading for small animations
    • Some memory jobs were optimised
    • SlowMode was added to get rid of artifacting
  • LiveBoot mode was added
  • Menus for managing the plugin have been added to the native Settings app
  • Some installer bugs were fixed

As CBS-Manager runs a plugin pretty early in the booting-up stage of the PSVita, only FW 3.60/5 are supported since the plugin needs HENkaku Enso. Before using the plugin, it’s important to check out the README as it has some important information for enso_ex and update365 users.

To grab CBS-Manager 3.0 and get animated boot logos on your PSVita, check out this link. For pre-made boot animations, head over to this Reddit thread by ‘MrAnvil935’ or you can make your own with PSP2-CBAnim.

If you want full brightness on all games and don’t mind your PSVita getting hotter, NoPowerLimits might come in handy if you don’t already use VitaBright. (Image Source)

Onto the second PSVita plugin, Electry released NoPowerLimits this weekend which is a plugin aimed at circumventing some power-related limits that Sony put in place potentially to prevent overheating. This plugin, which has functionality similar to the VitaBright plugin, has the following features:

  • The 77% brightness limit in games that use 166/222MHz for the GPU and WiFi has been removed
  • Wi-Fi is no longer disabled when games require 166/222MHz for the GPU and full brightness – an example is God Of War Collection

To grab NoPowerLimits and get past Sony’s limitations, follow this link and install the SKPRX file you download under the *KERNEL section of your taiHEN config.txt file.

Switch Release: No DOF Blur mod for TLZ: Link’s Awakening Released

If you’ve seen screenshots of TLZ: Link’s Awakening, then you probably noticed the Distant Blur effect present in the game when roaming around outside. On the internet, opinions about the blur vary wildly with some people loving it and others hating it but thanks to the Switch hacking scene, the blur can be turned off with a recently released mod!

Do you like Nintendo’s remake but dislike the blur? If so, SleepingMelons has just created the perfect mod for you! (Image Source)

This mod, which is called ‘No DOF Blur’ and was developed by MelonSpeedruns, fully removes the distant blur effect present in the game while leaving everything in its original state therefore making individuals who dislike the blur happy. To make use of this mod, you have to:

  • Download it from here
  • Extract the ZIP file you downloaded and place the ‘atmosphere’ folder on the root of your SDCard
    • You obviously need a hacked Switch running Atmosphere to use this mod
    • If you’re emulating the game on Yuzu, rename the ‘01006BB00C6F0000’ folder found in the ZIP file to ‘No DOF’ and place it in “C:\Users\{Your Username}\AppData\Roaming\yuzu\load\01006BB00C6F0000\”
  • Reboot your console or re-open Yuzu
  • Enjoy TLZ: Link’s Awakening without the blur!
  • Unfortunately, users have reported that the mod doesn’t alleviate any of the game’s performance issues so don’t install this mod with the sole intention of improving your frame rate

Conclusion

For more information about the homebrew/emulation scenes, you might be interested in reading RPCS3’s August 2019 progress report which was published a few days ago or check out this mod for enhanced Witcher 3 settings on the Switch.

The post PSVita & Switch News: CBS-Manager 3.0 for the Vita released with better animated boot logo support, Electry releases NoPowerLimits; No Blur Mod for TLZ: Link’s Awakening on the Switch released appeared first on Wololo.net.


Tutorial: Correctly setting up RetroArch on your PSVita and making it look great!

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It’s no secret that the PlayStation Vita is an excellent console for retro console emulation and RetroArch is an excellent all-in-one solution for doing just that. However, only installing the VPK will give you a pretty ugly interface which might give you the wrong idea about RetroArch so in this article, we’ll be looking at the proper way to do things!

Part I: Downloading files & getting them onto your PSVita

Before you start doing anything, you need to download some files namely:

  • The RetroArch VPK (link)
    • This comes in at around 170MB and contains all cores (RetroArch-speak for emulators) available for the PSVita which range from NES to Genesis to NeoGeo and much more
    • For a full list of cores, check out this GBATemp thread
    • A two part article series about what the Vita can emulate can be accessed from these links (part i, part ii)
  • RetroArch’s data files [RetroArch_data.7z] (link – the link is specific to RetroArch 1.7.9 which is the latest version as of writing this article but you can find links for newer versions easily when they’re available)

    If you just install RetroArch’s VPK without the data files and the configuration below, it won’t look pretty

    • This contains the stuff that will make RetroArch look great including fonts, menu icons, themes, audio/video filters and much more
  • Optional – A wallpaper of your choice to make the interface look even better. I personally think that ‘minimalist’ wallpapers look the best

After you download the above, you can grab your PSVita and do the following in order to install what you just downloaded:

  • Obviously, your PSVita must be in hacked mode so run HENkaku/h-encore/Trinity before you start unless you use HENkaku Enso
  • Open VitaShell and connect your PSVita via USB (you can do it via FTP but copying the data files might take 20-30 minutes as they’re composed of a lot of small files)
  • Copy RetroArch’s VPK (RetroArch.vpk) to any directory you please
  • Extract ‘RetroArch_data.7z’ and copy the ‘retroarch’ folder into ux0:/data [as a result, you’ll now have a ux0:/data/retroarch folder]
    • This step might take a while
    • If you want a custom wallpaper, the instructions are below
  • Disconnect the Vita from your PC and install RetroArch’s VPK which you just copied
  • Congrats, you’ve successfully installed RetroArch on your PSVita and can now proceed to setting it up
    • Up till now, you have menu icons and RetroArch looks better but you’re not quite done yet!

Part II: Setting up RetroArch on your PSVita

Now, open RetroArch on your device and start setting it up by following these steps:

  • If you’re accustomed to having X for confirm and O for back, head over to Settings -> Input -> Swap OK & Cancel Buttons and toggle it
    • There are some options for touch controls but they don’t seem to work
    • You can also change the combination to get the option menu while in-game which I recommend doing if you’re using a Phat PSVita (Vita 1K)
  • Now, go to Settings -> User Interface -> Appearance to make RetroArch look great

    The difference between this image and the above image is night-and-day 😉

    • Fonts: Navigate to Menu Font and from here go to ux0:/data/retroarch/assets/glui/font.tff
    • Different Menu Icons: Navigate to Menu Icon Theme and see what you prefer (I personally prefer Systematic)
    • Menu Color Theme: Navigate to Menu Color Theme and figure out which style you prefer (I personally prefer Undersea)
    • Icon Shadows: Navigate to Icon Shadows and toggle it (I personally think RA looks better with shadows on but this is a matter of taste)
    • Menu Layout: You can toggle it between handheld and console with the former providing a bigger interface and the latter providing the default UI (I personally go with Console)
    • You can also change some stuff like the background’s opacity, font colour
    • After doing the above, RetroArch looks pretty decent and using it is much more pleasant!
  • For a custom wallpaper in RetroArch’s menu, you have to follow these steps since Settings -> User Interface -> Appearance -> Background doesn’t seem to detect PNG/JPG files on the Vita
    • Go to ux0:/data/retroarch/assets/xmb/(theme you chose)/png
    • Name the image you want as a background to ‘bg.png’ and copy it to the above directory
      • It’s recommended you use a 960×540/960×544 image
    • You may need to change the background’s opacity in Settings -> User Interface -> Appearance to make your wallpaper look nicer

Part III: Other things you can do with RetroArch

If the XMB UI isn’t your thing, you can use Ozone for a Switch-like experience. You’ll need to add data files to ux0:/data/retoarch/assets/ozone from a PC installation of RA and make sure you remove ‘cursor_border.png’ or else, it won’t work well

If you properly followed Part I and Part II, you’ll get a decent looking RetroArch that uses around 200MB of your device’s storage. However, if you want to customise your experience even more, you can:

  • Set up Dynamic Wallpapers which change as per the core you’re using (guide)
  • Create your own playlists and introduce thumbnails for your games into the mix (guide)
    • Thumbnail files (i.e. game front covers) come in packs which include all games for the system so downloading them might take a while
  • Use a different menu driver such as Ozone which gives you the Nintendo Switch UI
    • This can be done by going to Settings -> Drivers -> Menu
  • Customise a lot more stuff which you can learn about by checking out RetroArch’s documentation

Conclusion

While the PSVita was hacked over 3 years ago, development relating to emulation is still on-going and as of right now, there are two major bounties going on to take emulation on the console to the next level. One bounty is for a GXM (hardware accelerated) video driver for RetroArch and its cores and the other is for native resolution PSP games; this article sheds light on recent progress relating to the bounties.

RetroArch on the PSVita

With a bit of work, you can make RetroArch on your Vita look awesome 😉

The post Tutorial: Correctly setting up RetroArch on your PSVita and making it look great! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita News: Team CBPS releases Volume_Profile plugin which saves & switches volume levels for headphones/speakers & enhanced Super Crate Box port released!

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While one of the hottest topics related to gaming in the last few days was the launch of the Google Stadia, the PSVita scene saw some good news thanks to 2 releases. In this article, we’ll be looking at the useful Volume_Profile plugin and a port of the popular Super Crate Box game albeit with some added stuff to make it even better!

Plugin Release: Volume_Profile by Marburg of Team CBPS

Recently, it seems that Team CBPS is on a roll when it comes to releasing plugins for the PlayStation Vita, first with the LOLITA500/444 plugins last week and now with Volume_Profile by Marburg (cuevavirus).

Volume_Profile provides a feature that you probably use without even knowing it as it’s available on iOS and other platforms (GIF can be seen in the GitHub link below)

This quality-of-life plugin, which is based on a pretty simple concept, automatically saves and switches volume levels whenever you connect or disconnect your headphones. In other words,  the functionality of the plugin can be described as follows:

  • If your PSVita is currently emitting sound from its speakers (i.e. no headphones are connected) and then you connect headphones, this plugin takes note of your current volume level and changes the volume level to the same level you had when you last used headphones
    • As a result, you’ll avoid getting very loud sound blasted into your ears immediately when you connect headphones
  • On the other hand, if your PSVita currently has headphones connected and you disconnect them, the plugin takes note of your current volume level and proceeds to change the volume level to the same level you had when you were last using the speakers

When it comes to installation, you can get volume_profile on your system by downloading it from the link below (in SUPRX form, as it’s a user-mode plugin) and putting it under the *main section of your taiHEN config.txt. The plugin supports FW 3.60 and 3.65-3.73 and AVLS functions normally when using this plugin.

To read more about volume_profile and download it, check out its thread on Team CBPS’ forums or its GitHub page.

Game Release: Super Crate Mod by JeffRuLz345 of Reddit – An enhanced port of Super Crate Box

Moving over to a game release, this time around we have Super Crate Mod which is an enhanced port of Super Crate Box, a game that was officially ported to the PSVita in 2012.

While Super Crate Boy has pretty simple gameplay mechanics, it’s not that easy to play and can keep you hooked for a while! (Screenshot from Super Crate Mod on my PSVita)

Super Crate Box, by Vlambeer, is a free 2D game with pixel-style graphics in which enemies continually spawn from the top of the map and you must kill them using an assortment of different guns which can be obtained from crates that spawn at random places in the map. Other than that, it also contains various unlockables such as maps and weapons so that it provides a sense of progression.

Switching focus to Super Crate Mod, its author has made the following changes compared to the official port which generated the ideal game for him:

  • The game runs at 60FPS instead of 50FPS
  • No more letter-boxing as the game runs at 16:9 (widescreen) rather than 4:3
  • The Unused Challenge Mode and Napalm Launcher weapon have been restored
  • Some features from the iOS version including the Vlambeer character and some modifications to the main menu
  • The tutorial has been made optional and it’s been moved to the Level Select screen
  • A memory leak was fixed
  • Many other minor tweaks and fixes which can be viewed in the Reddit thread below
  • From a short period of testing on my console, I can confirm that Super Crate Mod works extremely well and exhibited no obvious issues whatsoever

To learn more about Super Crate Mod and download its VPK, follow this link to its Reddit Thread. The game is also available on VitaDB but it crashed VHBB when I tried downloading it on my own device.

Conclusion

Switching over to other news, Google Stadia, which was released yesterday, seems to be receiving mixed reviews with Forbes saying that it’s a disaster when it comes to input lag but The Verge had somewhat better results although it’s disputing that the 4K stream is really 4K. Furthermore, Valve has announced that it’ll be unveiling Half-Life: Alyx on Thursday which might the long awaited Half-Life 3 sequel… just in VR.

The post PSVita News: Team CBPS releases Volume_Profile plugin which saves & switches volume levels for headphones/speakers & enhanced Super Crate Box port released! appeared first on Wololo.net.

News: No$GBA 3.0 released with DSi emulation fixes and ability to load/disassemble 3DS FIRM files & AnalogsEnhancer 1.1, reScreeny and 0syscall6 plugins released for the PSVita!

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From time to time, older emulators get updates which fix bugs while bringing minor features but No$GBA 3.0 broke the norm as it’s mostly focused on efforts relating to 3DS Reverse-Engineering. In this article, we’ll also be looking at MAME 0.216 and 3 recently released PSVita plugins namely AnalogsEnhancer 1.1, reScreeny and 0syscall6.

Emulation News: No$GBA 3.0

No$GBA 3.00 is out and it improves some low-level stuff relating to the DSi and lets you disassemble 3DS FIRM/MCU files for development!

No$GBA is a GBA, DS and DSi emulator by Martin Korth which has been around since 2001. Over the years, the emulator saw numerous updates and before DesMuMe matured, it was the emulator of choice for many who wanted to emulate the Nintendo DS.

While its popularity nowadays has declined a bit, it’s still used for certain games and it’s the best-working DSi emulator currently available with Reverse-Engineering efforts still ongoing.

Now, No$GBA 3.0 has been released which is more of a developer-oriented release but also brings some improvements to the DSi emulation functionality. The update includes:

  • DSi emulation received some low-level tweaks such as an 8MHz SPI bus clock and some things related to MMIO
  • When setting up controls, you are now able to assign DEL/BS keys and the disassembler supports a new opcode
  • Many more components of the Nintendo 3DS (both old and new) have been reverse-engineered
    • Thanks to this, more documentation about the 3DS is available when it comes to emulating it which may led to better 3DS emulators down the line
  • You can load and disassemble 3DS FIRM and MCU files but it must be noted that no 3DS hardware is being emulated right now although this might change some day!

To grab No$GBA 3.0, follow this link to its webpage where you may also find donation links. This post on NES Forums by its developer also sheds more light on what’s been going on.

PSVita Plugin Releases: AnalogsEnhancer 1.1, reScreeny & 0syscall6

Moving over to the PSVita scene, the hottest release trend seems to be plugins as we have even more plugin releases with 2 new entries and an update.

Even though the PSVita has been hacked for over 3 years, it’s still receiving quality-of-life plugins which you should certainly try out if you’re still using your console!

Starting off with the updated plugin, we have Rinnegatamante‘s (Patreon) AnalogsEnhancer 1.1, a plugin to fine-tune the PSVita’s analogue sticks, and this brings along the ability to disable the ANALOG_WIDE patch included in the plugin which was previously always enabled – Configuration details have also been updated and may be accessed from here.

Switching over to releases, we then have:

  • reScreeny, a plugin by Team CBPS member dots_tb which makes screenshots much easier to access via FTP/USB since it saves them in directories that make sense
    • Rather than being stored in ux0:/photo/SCREENSHOT/[two random letters], screenshots are now stored in ux0:/photo/SCREENSHOT/[Game Name]
    • It supports Unicode (i.e. non-Lating alphabets) and has adequate error handling when names are too long or have illegal characters
    • The plugin works with pngshot (higher quality screenshots in PNG format) and Adrenaline (screenshots from it will be placed in ux0:/photo/PspEmu)
    • You may read more about it by following this link to its Team CBPS Forum Post and download from its GitHub Release Page.
  • 0syscall6, a plugin by SKGleba, which patches lv0’s syscall 6
    • This plugin, which is essentially an alternative to reF00D, lets you play games that require a higher firmware than you’re on (FW 3.69 games on FW 3.60 for example) and run revoked applications like the PSM dev app while also removing some other basic SELF checks.
    • You may read more about it from its GitHub README, join the discussion on its Reddit Thread and download it from its GitHub Release page.

Conclusion

Other than these releases, MAME 0.216 and the Pokemon Sacred Sword & King’s Shield Mod has been released for the Nintendo Switch for Pokemon Sword & Shield. As part of their Black Friday deals, Steam is selling the somewhat non-traditional Steam Controller for 90% off (€5.50 in Europe, link not sponsored) possibly in a bid to clear stock but do note that you still need to pay for shipping which may cost more than the controller itself!

The post News: No$GBA 3.0 released with DSi emulation fixes and ability to load/disassemble 3DS FIRM files & AnalogsEnhancer 1.1, reScreeny and 0syscall6 plugins released for the PSVita! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita News: Rinnegatamante & TheFlow creating a GTA III port for the Vita powered by re3!

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Like the Nintendo Switch, the PSVita did not receive any native Grand Theft Auto titles and although one could play the PSP’s GTA titles, the native experience is always nicer. However, things are now changing as well-known developers Rinnegatamante & TheFlow are working on porting Grand Theft Auto III to the Vita through the re3 engine!

Rinnegatamante & TheFlow porting GTA III to the Vita & PSTV

Being the first 3D GTA game, GTA III is an iconic title that found its way on PCs, consoles and smartphones but curiously enough, not the Vita or Switch! (Source)

As mentioned in the introduction, the Vita has no native GTA titles but thanks to dedication from the community with TheFlow being at the forefront, various enhancements were made to the PSP’s GTA titles when running on the console. These include dual analogue stick support and a native resolution patch giving a more visually appealing experience albeit with a performance hit but now, GTA is coming natively to the PSVita & PSTV!

This news was broken by Rinnegatamante on Twitter who posted a screenshot of the opening sequence together with revealing that the port is based on the same codebase as the Switch’s homebrew GTA III port which is the re3 engineIn subsequent updates, he also revealed that TheFlow was working with him on the GTA III port by taking care of the audio and input code while also helping out with debugging the graphics renderer, that Rinnegatamante is working on, among other things.

Current state of the Vita’s GTA III port

GTA III, run via the re3 engine, can start on the Vita but 3D graphics don’t work properly… for now but things may change quickly!

Following previous trends, Rinnegatamante is giving some progress updates on Twitter and according to these, the port is in the current state:

  • On Sunday, Rinnegatamante managed to get the re3 game engine to start loading up and showing some intro images (Tweet)
  • Yesterday, Rinnegatamante reported that input was working just fine making it possible to start a new game. (Tweet)
    • However, 3D rendering isn’t working properly although 2D elements are rendering just fine with subtitles, the HUD, map and menus displaying properly

Conclusion

As usual, it is imperative to be patient and not ask for ETAs despite a native GTA port to the Vita being pretty exciting for many of us. Both Rinnegatamante and TheFlow are known to deliver so we’ll surely see something soon enough although there’s no word on how well the game will perform so only time will tell whether the port will be fully playable!

Rinnegatamante’s Twitter (further updates): https://twitter.com/Rinnegatamante

Rinnegatamante’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante

TheFlow’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

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PSVita Releases: Zanki Zero English Translation Patch & HEX-Flow Launcher providing a Coverflow-like experience while browsing your games!

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Recently, the PSVita is back in the spotlight again thanks to Rinnegatamante and TheFlow actively porting Grand Theft Auto III to the console! However, other stuff in the console’s scene is also going and in this article, we’re going to look at the release of an English translation patch for Zanki Zero & HEX-Flow Launcher.

Zanki Zero English Translation Patch for the PSVita released

Thanks to Nightwinter, Zanki Zero can now be played by Western audiences on the PSVita!

As the PSVita had much more success in Japan than in Europe/North America, a swath of titles were released only in Japan with them never receiving an English version. However, a good deal of these titles received an English localisation sometime after their initial Japanese release for other platforms such as the PlayStation 4 and PC which allowed for the creation of numerous English translation patches making more games available to Western audiences.

Now, yet another title has received the English translation patch treatment and this time, it’s Zanki Zero with Nightwinter creating the patch! For those who have never heard of the game, Zanki Zero (: Last Beginning) is a dungeon crawling game featuring 8 individuals stranded on an island after Earth was destroyed. The title was originally released back in 2018 in Japan with PS4/PC English localisations following in mid-2019. Moving over to English translation patch, its creator mentions the following important information:

  • The version 1.05 patch needs to be installed
  • Most of the game is translated but there are some overlapping issues together with some images not being translated
  • If needed, it is recommended to use 0syscall6 instead of ref00d as it’s now outdated

In order to grab the translation patch, you may follow this link to its GBATemp Thread which contains the download link. You also need to have the rePatch plugin installed to make use of the patch.

HEX-Flow Launcher: A coverflow-like launcher for the Vita out for the public

HEX-Flow launcher allows you browse your Vita games using a coverflow-esque interface! (Image from GBATemp Thread Linked)

Moving over to a homebrew release, VitaHEX is at it yet again and this time around, HEX-Flow Launcher has been released publicly! As its name suggests, HEX-Flow Launcher is a Lua-based homebrew utility allowing one to browse the games (or apps) they have installed on their PSVita using a coverflow-esque interface while also launching them. The launcher also allows one to view game details and to sort by category among some other things!

In order to put in cover photos for your favourite games, you can simply copy PNG images within “ux0:/data/HexFlow/COVERS/PSVITA/” with a filename that either matches the game’s TITLEID or name. The launcher’s background is also customisable by copying a ‘Background.jpg[/png]’ file within “ux0:/data/HexFlow/”. A resolution of 256×256 and 1280×720 (or smaller) is suggested for the cover photos and custom background respectively

You may read more about HEX-Flow Launcher by following this link to its GBATemp Thread which also contains download links.

 

Other News

Other than the releases mentioned in this article, the Vita has also seen further good news regarding its upcoming homebrew Grand Theft Auto III port with Rinnegatamante reporting that stuttering at boot and micro-stutters during gameplay have been fixed while mouth animations in cut scenes are now working fine. Rinnegatamante also managed to get GTA: Vice City up and running but he notes that for such a port to be released, the re3 engine being used would need to be updated with full support for the title.

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PSVita: Grand Theft Auto III port by Rinnegatamante & TheFlow released – Performance pretty good staying above the 20FPS mark all the time!

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Just a mere 10 days ago, news broke that Rinnegatamante & TheFlow were porting Grand Theft Auto III to the PSVita with the project being in earlier stages. However, progress in the Vita scene sometimes moves at a lightning-fast pace and now, a fully working and playable Grand Theft Auto III port is out for everybody to enjoy!

The Vita’s Grand Theft Auto III port

Grand Theft Auto III is now running pretty well on the Vita thus finally granting the console a native GTA title! (Image from VitaDB)

The PlayStation Vita’s Grand Theft Auto III port is based upon the re3 engine which is a open-source reverse-engineered game engine for the game. Initially starting their porting with the Switch’s re3 engine port, Rinnegatamante and TheFlow managed to make swift progress over the last week with the port going from not being able to display any 3D graphics to now being fully playable with only very minor issues being present.

Performance-wise, Rinnegatamante states that game never drops below the 20-24 FPS bar which provides an experience pretty close to the PlayStation 2 version of the game which runs at 25 or 30FPS depending on the console’s region. Thanks to this, the PlayStation Vita finally has a fully playable native Grand Theft Auto title running on it which will surely make a good deal in the community happy!

How do I play GTA III on my Vita?

As GTA III isn’t a free game, you have to provide game files yourself then you have to decompress the audio files within (Image from VitaDB)

As Grand Theft Auto III is not a free game, you have to supply the game files yourself by extracting them from the PC version of the game which can be legally obtained on Steam for around $10 although cheaper legitimate routes may also exist. After obtaining the files, the process in a nutshell has you decompressing the audio files, installing the FdFix plugin by TheFlow, copying the data files to your console then installing the VPK and required data files which will take a bit of your time.

Due to the process not being as easy as installing a mere VPK file, Samilop Cimmerian Iter went ahead and wrote an officially sanctioned installation guide which you can access by following the link below. This guide also contains instructions on how one can use HD models from the XBOX version of the game. After installing the game, it is highly recommended to set the following settings in the Options menu:

  • Frame Limiter: Off (removes 30FPS limit)
  • Trails: Off (effect doesn’t work properly)
  • PostFX: Off (removes color washing filter present in the original game)
  • Screen Format: Auto (allows the game not to appear stretched)

Conclusion

You may read more about the Grand Theft Auto III port for the PlayStation Vita & PSTV by following the link below to it PSX-Place Release Thread. Samilop Cimmerian Iter’s installation guide has also been linked so that you can get the game up and running easily.

GTA III for Vita PSX Place Release Thread: https://www.psx-place.com/threads/re3-vita.31588/

GTA III for Vita installation guide: https://samilops2.gitbook.io/vita-troubleshooting-guide/grand-theft-auto/gta-iii

Rinnegatamante’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante

TheFlow’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

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PSVita Release: Double Tap 2 Sleep Plugin Released by Joel16 – Comes with status bar & whole screen variants!

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The PlayStation Vita scene has a peculiar on-off cycle where sometimes, we don’t see releases for a while then we get a flood of notable releases. To illustrate this, just a few days after a native GTA III port was released, we got a Double Tap 2 Sleep plugin by Joel16 which we’ll be looking at in this article!

What is Double Tap 2 Sleep?

If you’ve ever used a Custom ROM on an Android device, then chances are you’ve already encountered some form of Double Tap 2 Sleep functionality.

Prefer putting your console to sleep by simply double-tapping on the screen? If so, Joel16 has got you covered!

For those who haven’t, Double Tap 2 Sleep is quite self-explanatory as it’s a nifty little feature letting you put your device to sleep by simply double tapping the status bar.

Now, Joel16 has brought this functionality to the PSVita continuing his trend of Android/CyanogenMod-inspired homebrew offerings. In order to do this, he created a user-mode plugin titled dt2s-vita which comes in 2 flavours namely:

  • A version that only puts your Vita to sleep when double tapping the top part of the screen which corresponds to where the status bar is in LiveArea
    • This variant is named “dt2s-statusbar.suprx”
  • A version putting your Vita to sleep regardless of where you double tap. Joel16 generally doesn’t recommend this version as it could easily result in accidentally putting your console to sleep
    • This variant is named “dt2s.suprx”

How do I install Double Tap 2 Sleep (dt2s-vita) on my console?

As dt2s-vita is a taiHEN user-mode plugin, installing it is pretty easy!

As dt2s-vita is simply a user-mode plugin, installing it on your console is fairly simple and can be done by following these steps:

  1. Grab your preferred version of dt2s-vita by following the download link below
  2. Copy the suprx file you downloaded to either ux0:/tai or ur0:/tai depending on your setup
  3. Open your taiHEN config.txt and add the plugin’s path under the *main section (put it under *ALL if you want to use it in games as well – under *main, it only functions in LiveArea)
    • An example of the line you’d have to add is “ux0:tai/dt2s-statusbar.suprx”
  4. Reboot your console and enjoy!

Conclusion

You may learn more about dt2s-vita by following the link below while a download link is also provided.

dt2s-vita README (more information): https://github.com/joel16/dt2s-vita/blob/main/README.md

dt2s-vita GitHub Release Page (downloads): https://github.com/joel16/dt2s-vita/releases

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PSVita Release: ds34vita released allowing one to connect both DualShock 3 & 4 controllers together with some extra features and fixes

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Connecting DualShock 3 & DualShock 4 controllers to the PlayStation Vita is nothing new thanks to xerpi’s ds3vita/ds4vita and TheFlow’s MiniVitaTV but now, a new plugin having to do with these beloved controllers is on the bloc. This plugin is ds34vita which combines ds3vita & ds4vita together with some improvements of its own!

What is ds34vita?

As its name suggests, ds34vita is a plugin by MERLev that merges two plugins by xerpi, namely ds3vita and ds4vita while adding some of its features and improvements.

Fancy playing games with a friend on your PSVita? ds34vita has you covered although you should also give MiniVitaTV a look as it offers similar functionality!

For the uninitiated, ds3vita and ds4vita do exactly what their name implies which is allowing one to connect DualShock 3 and DualShock 4 controllers respectively to a PlayStation Vita console.

Going back to ds34vita, this plugin combines the aforementioned plugins into one together with:

  • Allowing you to connect 2 controllers simultaneously – no information on controller configurations was given and I can’t personally test it as I don’t have 2 DS3/DS4 controllers
  • A dead-zone for the touch panel was introduced
  • PlayStation TV-style button mapping
  • The no-sleep and multi-touch issues present in ds3vita & ds4vita have been fixed
  • Integration with another plugin by the same developer called reVita which does input remapping

How do I install ds34vita on my console?

As usual, plugins on the PSVita are pretty easy to install but make sure not to have conflicts with the listed plugins!

As ds34vita is simply a taiHEN kernel plugin, installing it on your PSVita is pretty straightforward with the process being as follows:

  1. Grab the ds34vita kernel plugin from the link below – it’s named ds34vita.skprx
  2. Copy it to ur0:/tai or ux0:/tai depending on your configuration
  3. Add a line reading along the lines of “ux0:/tai/ds34vita.skprx” to your taiHEN config.txt file under the *KERNEL section
    1. If you have ds3vita, ds4vita or MiniVitaTV, remove them as conflicts might arise!
  4. Reboot your PSVita and profit!

Conclusion

You may learn more about MERlev’s ds34vita plugin by following the link to its README on GitHub. Download links are also provided while issues may be reported in Issues tab of the plugin’s GitHub repository.

ds34vita README (more information): https://github.com/MERLev/ds34vita/blob/master/README.md

ds34vita download link: https://github.com/MERLev/ds34vita/releases

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PSVita: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas port receives significant update with shorter loading times, XBOX 360 button mappings, crash fix and more!

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Earlier this week, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas found its way onto the PlayStation Vita thanks to excellent work by TheFloW, Rinnegatamante and aap but as is common with most software releases, some rough edges need to be smoothed out after the initial release. As a result, the trio updated their port to version 1.1 which we’ll be looking at in this article.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas 1.1 for the Vita released

GTA San Andreas for the Vita has just received a moderate and welcome update you should probably install! (Source)

On Wednesday, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released on the PlayStation Vita to a decent deal of fanfare after a month long wait since the initial announcement of the game coming to the console. This wait was primarily due to the port being based on the Android version of the game which required some optimisations and improvements to be made in order to provide a pleasant experience on the PlayStation Vita. However, this wait was definitely worthwhile as the port works pretty well and provides an experience highly reminiscent to the PlayStation 2’s version but a few hours back, version 1.1 was released in order to make the port a tad better.

According to the change log of GTA San Andreas 1.1, this update brings the following improvements over the initial release:

  • XBOX 360 button mappings are now utilised as the default control scheme
    • This change allows one to switch target by using L2/R2 (rear touchpad), fixes fighting moves while also making bunny hops possible with one button press namely L1
    • On the topic of controls, redundant mobile-specific control menu entries were removed seeing how the port is based on the Android version
  • Loading speeds have been improved thanks to Team CBPS developer Graphene
  • Rain and classic shadows now render properly
  • A crash on exit was fixed while thread scheduling was improved

Conclusion

You may grab the updated version of the Vita’s GTA San Andreas port by following the link below which can be installed by simply installing the VPK file if you already have GTA SA on your Vita. Otherwise, you may follow the installation instructions within the port’s README on GitHub which state that you have to supply data files for the game yourself.

GTA San Andreas for the Vita GitHub README (installation instruction and more information): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/gtasa_vita/blob/master/README.md

GTA San Andreas for the Vita download link: https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/gtasa_vita/releases

Rinnegatamante’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante

TheFloW’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

The post PSVita: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas port receives significant update with shorter loading times, XBOX 360 button mappings, crash fix and more! appeared first on Wololo.net.

PSVita: GTA San Andreas 1.5 released with more cheats, better performance, support for cut songs and more!

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Ever since GTA San Andreas got ported to the Vita, it’s been receiving constant updates which are turning a good port into an awesome one. With version 1.5 released this weekend, the port gains more cheats, improved performance, support for more songs to enjoy and more!

GTA San Andreas 1.5 released for the Vita

Here we go again with yet another GTA SA update for the Vita 😉

In late February, GTA San Andreas was released for hacked PSVita consoles thanks to a port by TheFlow, Rinnegatamante, aap and some others who contributed after the port was released. Based on the Android port, the Vita’s version runs quite well and even contains some improvements of its own such PS2-esque rendering, the ability to enter cheats without a physical keyboard and much more. However, having a port that simply runs well wasn’t enough and on Saturday, TheFlow released version 1.5 to make the Vita’s GTA SA experience even better.

According to the change log, this update brings along:

  • Improved performance thanks to vitaGL-related optimisations and redirecting mpg123 (MP3 decoding library) calls to a natively running mpg123
  • Two new cheat codes were added namely:
    • THEFLOW – grants invincibility
    • RINNEGATAMANTE – grants weapon set 4
  • The “Resume” menu item now loads the latest manual or auto save
    • Exiting the game using the “Quit Game” menu option does a quick-save
  • It is now possible to play radio songs cut from the Android version
  • Plane rudder controls and mixed cheat codes were fixed while an MP3 fuzzy seek option has been added

Conclusion

To update to GTA SA 1.5 on your Vita, you simply have to install the VPK in the link below if you already installed the game. If not, you’ll have to follow the installation instructions within the port’s README which require you to extract game files from the Android version of the game.

GTA San Andreas for the Vita GitHub README (installation instruction and more information): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/gtasa_vita/blob/master/README.md

GTA San Andreas for the Vita download link: https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/gtasa_vita/releases

Rinnegatamante’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante

TheFloW’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

The post PSVita: GTA San Andreas 1.5 released with more cheats, better performance, support for cut songs and more! appeared first on Wololo.net.

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars natively ported to the PSVita by TheFlow and Rinnegatamante

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Rockstar slammed the door shut on the Vita but the homebrew community had other plans for it when it comes to GTA games. In this article, we’re going to look at a newly-released Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars port for the console marking its 4th native GTA title!

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars released on the PSVita by TheFlow & Rinnegatamante

Initially released in 2009 on the Nintendo DS and later on the PSP, iOS and finally Android, GTA CW is the most recent title in the series’ handheld game range.

Feel like trying a different GTA game on your Vita? TheFlow’s and Rinnegatamante’s new port have you covered 😉 (Source: GTA CW Vita GitHub Repo)

Set apart by cel-shaded graphics, a 2.5D perspective and unique gameplay mechanics, the game received excellent reviews upon review although its sales were lower than expected but that didn’t hinder it from gathering a significant fanbase.

Shifting focus to the PSVita port, it is based on the game’s Android version which was released in late 2014 and uses TheFlow’s Android->PSVita porting technique. In this technique, the binary for the Android version of a game is loaded in memory, has its functions patched with equivalents that can run on the PSVita and then has extra patches to provide an experience tailored for the console. As a result of this, to run the game, you must supply data files from the Android version which you are expected to obtain legitimately other than simply installing the VPK as the game’s still being sold.

For those scratching their head over whether they should play this newly-released native port or the PSP port, the primary difference is that this port has higher resolution graphics and is based on the Android version. The latter difference means that it doesn’t contain all the content from the PSP version although there are 2 potentially unlockable DLC missions as explained by Reddit user TheSmio.

Conclusion

You may grab GTA Chinatown Wars for the Vita by following the link below to its GitHub repository which also contains installation instructions. Data files from GTA CW for Android v1.04 are required by the port.

GTA Chinatown Wars for the Vita GitHub README (installation instructions and more information): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/gtactw_vita/blob/master/README.md

GTA Chinatown Wars for the Vita download link: https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/gtactw_vita/releases

Rinnegatamante’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante

TheFlow’s Patreon (donations): https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW

The post Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars natively ported to the PSVita by TheFlow and Rinnegatamante appeared first on Wololo.net.

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