Downgrader for PSP’s with firmware 3.03
If you were unfortunate enough to have either purchased a PSP with firmware 2.81+, or have upgraded you firmware to the latest offical PSP firmware of 3.03, you may have been kicking yourself for missingout on the world of homebrew.
Well, kick no more, as Fanjita, Ditlew, and the rest of the Noobz.eu team have released an easy-to-use downgrader that will take your firmware 3.03 enabled PSP and turn it into an almost perfect 1.5 firmware enabled PSP.
This downgrader does leave some remenants of the 3.03 firmware in the flash memory, so you need to ensure you don’t attempt to re-upgrade back to the official 3.03 Sony firmware afterwards, or your PSP will brick. You can downgrade to 1.5 and then upgrade to the Dark_AleX custom firmware 3.03OE, which is currently the best firmware option.
Some ground-rules:
* This downgrader is for v3.03 firmware only. But if you have v2.81 – v3.02, no problem – you can just upgrade to v3.03 to use the downgrader.
* You need a copy of the unpatched GTA:Liberty City Stories UMD. No ISOs, no patched UMDs, not Vice City Stories. See here for some info on how to check if your version is patched. The most reliable way : the unpatched disks have the v2.0 firmware update on them.
* This downgrader is intended to enable homebrew. Homebrew is NOT the same as piracy. Don’t be a thieving loser – buy the games you play.
* The downgrader will work on all current PSP hardware (TA-079 – TA-086). Patching of TA-082+ is automatic in the downgrader.
* You downgrade at your own risk. There is always a chance of bricking, although we have done everything we can think of to make this process safe.
The biggest downside of this downgrader is you need to get hold of an original unpatched version of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. I recommend you hit the second hand game shops to find an old copy of the game.
And not only is there is downgrader for those of you who want to permenantly run a custom firmware PSP, but there is also a Homebrew Enabler (HEN) patch, that will allow you to run homebrew without having to downgrade. This patch is not permenant, and is removed by fully resetting the PSP. The downside of the HEN method of runninghomebrew is that it does not give you full access to all the homebrew available for the PSP.
You do however need the unpatched GTA:LCS game to get the HEN working.
Finally :
Note: a pre-release version of this file was leaked on the internet. It is dangerous and could brick your PSP – do not run it or distribute it. The authentic version contains the text “This is the official final released version of 3.03 HEN” in the readme.txt file.
Get everything you need for this downgrade (except the copy of Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories) from Noobz.eu
Good news initially, but still it’s a problem for me to get an original version of GTA, as it would be wasted, as I never play GTA.
I actually don’t want to play homebrew. But I’m really interested in Sony’s official PSone emulator, but I’ve learned that owning a PS3 is a must; to download the games through it.
I’ve ordered a PSP-1004 with firmware 3.02 — I wonder if it will play PSone copies (downloaded from the internet) on the Memory card? or if I upgraded to 3.03? or is the PS3 thing has something special that makes it work?
Thanks!
Dr Haisook,
If you want to play PSone games on your PSP, and you want to do it officially, you need to buy a PS3, and then use the Sony store via the PS3 to download the games you want (which you have to pay for) and transfer them to the PSP.
If you want to play your own PSone games that you can rip to iso format quite easily, you need to use the custom firmware 3.03OE by Dark_AleX, which makes use of the official PSone emulator, but allows you to use your own PSone games without needing to download them via your PS3.
It really depends on whether you want to spend more money buying PSone games (and be limited to which games you can buy) or just want to play the ones you already own.
Sony appear to be quite slow in releasing PSone games via the online store, and the list of games you can download seems quite small at the moment.
I’ve personally played Gran Turismo 2 on my PSP for a about 10 minutes, but I’ve not bothered with any other PSone games – they don’t hold that much appeal to me, especially when I’ve got quite a few PSP games to play.
If you are a big fan of the PSone, and like playing a number of the games on it, the PSone emulator on the PSP is probably a great idea. If you are like me though, you may prefer to stick to proper PSP games. I’ve got a PSone and a PS2, and neither get used these days. In fact I’ve not turned my PS2 on at all since I got my PSP, over 15 months ago.
No, actually I don’t like many PSone games; only a few. I’m not a hardcore gamer in the first place. I got the PSone very late, and was not interested in PS2. However, I’ve been hooked to the PSP since I saw it online, maybe because I’m a gadget lover, especially portable ones. Having such amazing graphics in the palms of your hands is an awesome idea in my awesome.
I think I’ll need to wait for the professional guys to create a standalone downgrader (though I’m still afraid I’d brick my PSP).
I still believe owning a few good games is much better than owning MANY games of which a lot you won’t be playing often.
Guys are downgrading their PSPs in order to be able to play homebrew and other emulators, and they stuff them up with ALL they can get no matter if they’er good or not. I guess it would be too much.
Sry about the typo “”*in my opinion*”"
By the way, I’ve watched a video of Tekken 3 PSone on the PSP in YouTube. I’ve noticed the game screen is square, so it doesn’t utilize the whole PSP screen. Is this the case with all PSone games on the PSP?
If so,.. I quit!!
Dr Haisook,
From memory (my PSP hasn’t got any PSone games loaded on it at the moment) the square screen is the default for PSone games.
You can, I believe, perform a similar function on the PSP to that of many TV’s, where you can stretch/zoom the picture to fit, although this can distort the aspect ratio slightly.
You sound very much like me in regard to gaming – I don’t consider myself a hardcore gamer, more a casual gamer, and I prefer quality over quantity.
I believe the PSP has plenty to offer as a standard gaming device, without having to downgrade and/or use a custom firmware.
Downgrading and then using a custom firmware does give you more options, which is always nice, but not essential.
hi everyone…
i have 2.71 and i upgraded it into 3.02 and it appears in the system 3.02 without oe .how can i upgrade my 3.02 to 3.02 oe or what is the best thing i can do with it,,,..
Jay, you need t oupgrade to 3.03 and the downgrade to 1.5. See Noobz.eu for more details.
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