ARK, the Custom Firmware for PSP (compatible with both PSP/Vita) was recently updated to version 4.20, but it seems the latest release introduced a bug with 1.50 PSP Homebrew. If you like your old school, “kernel mode only” PSP homebrew, you might want to update to revision .05, which fixes the issue.
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:
-
Core
system heavily updated from traditional CFW with new exclusive features. -
Inferno 2
Driver compatible with all formats (ISO
,CSO
,ZSO
,JSO
,CSOv2
andDAX
). -
Popcorn
controller for customPS1
games. Compatible withPopsLoader
V3 and V4i. -
Built-in
No-DRM
engineStargate
. Compatible withnpdrm_free
by qwikrazor87. -
Plugin
support forPSP
games,PS1
games andVSH
(XMB), including the ability to enable and disable pluginsper-game
. -
Region Free
playback ofUMD Video
on all PSP models. Change the region of yourUMD
drive on-the-fly. -
Compatible with all
PSP
models on firmwares6.60
and6.61
. -
Compatible with all
PS Vita
models on firmware2.10
up to3.74
, either official firmware or viaAdrenaline
. -
Compatible with
6.60
Testing Tool
Firmware andTestkit
Units. -
Compatible with
6.60
Development Tool
Firmware andDevkit
Units. -
Can be fully installed and booted on memory stick in compatible models via
Time Machine
. -
Can be used to unbrick any PSP using
Despertar del Cementerio
in combination with aPandora
orBaryon Sweeper
-
Minimalistic
: only 6 files installed on PSP flash, CFW extensions are installed on memory stick. -
Resistant to
soft-bricks
, removing the memory stick is enough to leave it in avanilla
state. -
Custom game launcher
with built-in game categories, file browser, FTP server and client, modernized look and more. -
Fully configurable via the
XMB
. -
Improved and powerful
Recovery
app. -
Compatible with
PRO Online
andXlink Kai
. -
Compatible with Legacy Homebrew via
eLoader
andLeda
. -
Compatible with
cIPL
andInfinity 2
bootloaders for permanent CFW.
What’s new in ARK 4.20.05
This release in particular fixes 1.50 PSP Homebrew (older homebrew that need Kernel access to run. Honestly there aren’t that many of them out there anymore, but you might stumble across one of them occasionally). Other than that, here is the full changelog:
- Fixed crash when launching a 1.50 homebrew with KXploit format on PSP.
- Improved image viewer scrolling.
- Improved themes preview function. You can now use themes without installing them.
- Added disc0:/ to File Browser, lets you browse the files on a UMD (not available on Vita or PSP Go).
- You can now choose where to extract .zip and .rar files (current folder or root folder).
- Some other fixes and cleanup.
Download and install ARK for PSP/PS Vita
To get Ark 4V20.05 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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