ARK, the Custom Firmware for PSP (compatible with both PSP/Vita) has been back in activity (thanks to Acid_Snake) for about a year now, and is regularly getting new updates. This week, Ark v17 was released. Since the last time we talked about it, Acid_Snake brought memory usage and speed improvements. This new version also support Testkit PSPs.
What’s ARK for PSP/PS Vita
The PSP is one of the best homebrew devices. It had a striving community, and a lot of developers pushed it to its limit, in particular with emulators that achieved incredible performance for those days (ok, I won’t pretend it’s the best way to play emulators nowadays though, but it still works great for older generation consoles such as the NES, SNES, GBA…).
Running a Custom firmware on the PSP turned a decent console into an insane beast. And the same remains true on the PS Vita: As the Vita has a full fledged PSP emulator embedded, it is possible (and recommended!) to install a PSP Custom Firmware on the PS Vita.
That’s where ARK comes into play, being a custom firmware that works for both the PSP and the PS Vita. It comes with impressive features (from the readme):
Features:
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Core system for unsigned code execution on every PSP device based on 6.60 kernel.
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Inferno driver Version 2 compatible with ISO, CSO, ZSO, JSO, CSOv2 and DAX formats.
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Popcorn controller for custom PS1 games. Compatible with PopsLoader V3 and V4i.
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Stargate No-DRM engine.
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Plugin support for PSP games, PSX games and VSH (XMB), including the ability to enable and disable plugins per-game.
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Compatible with all PSP models on firmwares 6.60 and 6.61.
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Compatible with all PS Vita models on firmware 2.10 up to 3.60, either original or Henkaku.
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Minimalistic: only 6 files installed on PSP flash, CFW extensions are installed on memory stick.
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Custom game launcher with built-in game categories, file browser, FTP server and client, modernized look and more.
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Compatible with PRO Online.
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Compatible with Legacy Homebrew via eLoader and Leda.
What’s new in ARK 17
Here’s what’s new in Ark since 15, which was the last time we talked about it:
Release 17
- Added support for 6.60 Testing Tool firmware.
- Memory usage has been reduced.
- Several other improvements.
Release 16
- Fixed custom launcher for some of the new file formats (CSOv2, JSO, etc).
- Greatly improved Inferno read speeds.
- Fixed bug that affected CSO (v1 and v2) and ZSO formats.
- Added Old Plugin Support for PSP Go.
- Added “launcher” runlevel to enable/disable plugins on the custom launcher.
- Some cleanup and fixes.
Download and install ARK for PSP/PS Vita
To get Ark V17 stable, go to this specific release.
Alternatively, if you want the latest and greatest (automated builds with each commit), head over to the release section of the developer’s github to get the latest release.
Installation instructions in the readme.
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