PSP/PS Vita Release: ARK 4.20 – Wololo.net

ARK, the Custom Firmware for PSP (compatible with both PSP/Vita) has been quite active (thanks in particular to Acid_Snake, but also Meetpatty and Krazynez) for a few years now, and is regularly getting new updates. We rarely talk about it because the project is fairly stable, and at this point, you’re easier a convinced user of the Custom firmware on your PSP/Vita, or you’re not interested. This week though, Ark v20 was released, and it brings some significant improvements.

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 and DAX).

• Popcorn controller for custom PS1 games. Compatible with PopsLoader V3 and V4i.

• Built-in No-DRM engine Stargate. Compatible with npdrm_free by qwikrazor87.

• Plugin support for PSP games, PS1 games and VSH (XMB), including the ability to enable and disable plugins per-game.

• Region Free playback of UMD Video on all PSP models. Change the region of your UMD drive on-the-fly.

• Compatible with all PSP models on firmwares 6.60 and 6.61.

• Compatible with all PS Vita models on firmware 2.10 up to 3.74, either official firmware or via Adrenaline.

• Compatible with 6.60 Testing Tool Firmware and Testkit Units.

• Compatible with 6.60 Development Tool Firmware and Devkit 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 a Pandora or Baryon 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 a vanilla 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 and Xlink Kai.

• Compatible with Legacy Homebrew via eLoader and Leda.

• Compatible with cIPL and Infinity 2 bootloaders for permanent CFW.

What’s new in ARK 20

Here’s what’s new in Ark since 15, which was the last time we talked about it:

(emphasis mine)

Release 20

• Ported Time Machine and Despertar del Cementerio to ARK, allowing to unbrick PSPs and install and run the 6.61 firmware (plus ARK) on a memory stick.
• Created the Pentazemin compatibility layer that allows ARK to run inside Adrenaline, creating a Hybrid Custom Firmware that combines the features of both Custom Firmwares. Note: extremely experimental feature that’s still in development and there are known bugs.
• Created a new VSH Menu that combines both the Simple VSH Menu and the Advanced VSH Menu, no longer having to install it from a separate file to access its features.
• Re-wrote all static patches in the PSP compatibility layer to dynamic ones, fixing any issues with Testkits and Devkits.

Release 19

• Implemented cIPL support (#58).
• Added fix for Tekken 6 when using overclock.
• Several bugfixes and improvements to rebootex.
• Fixed issue with Peace Walker reporting “not enough space”.
• You can now copy-paste lines in the text editor.
• File browser now has icons for compatible file formats (iso, cso, zso, jso, dax, pbp, prx, zip, rar, txt, cfg and ini).
• Fixed all games reporting “not enough space” even when there is.
• Changed default launcher/recovery theme.
• You can now use slim colors on PSP 1K.
• Added partial support for files with non-latin1 characters in recovery/launcher.
• Added new CFW setting “Block hibernation deletion on PSP Go”, available in XMB and recovery menu.
• Fixed issues with “Skip Sony Logos”, such as compatibility with Testing Tool and Development Tool firmwares.
• Renamed launcher/recovery settings file from ARKMENU.CFG to ARKMENU.BIN to prevent confusion since it’s not a text file.
• Added new features to Advanced VSH Menu: USB Readonly mode, background color, activate flash and wma players, swap X/O buttons and delete hibernation.
• You can now remove plugins using the Plugin Manager in the XMB or Recovery Menu. This doesn’t delete the plugin or its files, only removes it from PLUGINS.TXT, to fully uninstall the plugin you can use the file manager to delete its files.
• You can now edit text files (.txt, .cfg or .ini) using the file browser.
• fixed ISOs with non-latin1 characters (only on XMB though, launcher/recovery still has issues with them).
• launcher and recovery will now hide options that aren’t available depending on device and model (ftp, ef0, etc) and CFW settings.
• added option to change VSH region.
• added support for DLC and Updates on ISO files.
• You can now install plugins using the file browser (Recovery Menu or Custom Launcher).
• Created Advanced VSH Menu, based on PRO VSH Menu and Ultimate VSH Menu, can be optionally installed to obtain advanced features in the XMB, including: change USB device, view available ISO drivers, mount Video ISO files, convert battery from normal to pandora and viceversa.
• Added new keywords for plugin system: psx and ps1 as alternative to pops; xmb as alternative to vsh and psp as alternative to umd.
• Added option to redirect ms0 to ef0 on custom launcher.
• Added translations for XMB Control.
• Fixed incompatibility between XMB Control and XMB Item Hider plugin (v1.3-fix3).
• XMB Control will now hide useless settings depending on device.
• Fixed issues when unmounting UMD Video ISO.
• Added new themes “Black” and “Matrix”.
• UMD Region Change is finally working! You can now play region locked UMD movies on any PSP model from any region. To change the UMD drive region, enter recovery menu and scroll to the last option, choose your region and exit recovery menu. Wait for the XMB to finish loading (the memory stick LED stops blinking) and insert the UMD you want to play.
• Fixed regression introduced in 4.19.7 where having Inferno Cache and High Memory enabled at the same time would cause a crash.
• Fixes and improvements to the plugin system.
• You can now configure Custom Firmware settings and plugins on the XMB (changes take effect on next game boot or reboot).
• Fixed patch to allow usermode to access high memory.
• Several fixes and improvements to the custom launcher and recovery.
• Added new “Hacker” and “BSoD” animations.
• Fixed issue where VSH plugins would not load after pausing game in PSP Go (#18).
• Recovery menu no longer deletes custom config lines.
• You can now enable/disable DLC scanning in custom launcher (previously always enabled).
• Fixed device autodetection in ARK Live Loader.
• Improved Recovery menu plugin handling to properly restore comments (#57).
• Fixed bug in plugin system where blank lines would be treated as EOF.
• Added option to hide PIC0 and PIC1 in XMB (#54).
• Added option to disable text glow in custom launcher and recovery.
• Unlock High Memory gets disabled if UMD cache is enabled to prevent a crash.
• Refactor and cleanup of rebootex module (#60).
• Fixed case sensitivity issue in plugin system.

Release 18

• Added Peace Walker theme for custom launcher.
• Added patch for Vita’s emulation issue with volatile RAM (Star Wars Force Unleashed, Tony Hawk Project 8, etc).
• Added patch for Vita’s emulation issue with sound processing (MotorStorm Arctic Edge).
• Added support for PS Vita firmwares 3.65 up to 3.74 included.
• Added new files EXIT.PNG and PLUGINS.PNG to the theme.
• Renamed theme file from DATA.PKG to THEME.ARK for more readability.
• Renamed custom launcher from MENU.PBP to VBOOT.PBP for better compatibility with ARK-2 launchers.
• Renamed PS1 custom launcher from XMENU.PBP to XBOOT.PBP for standarization.
• New themes are now packed into the release. Credits to TheSubPlayer for MaterialDark theme.
• Added “Show FPS” option to custom launcher.
• Fixed plugins manager window size when very few plugins are installed.
• Added patch to hide CFW folders in retail games.
• Extra memory is now automatically unlocked for homebrews that are compatible.
• Implemented Sorting by Name in Custom Launcher (#42)
• Implemented automatic game loading (#44)
• Fixes and improvements to Inferno driver.
• Added option to hide Recovery Menu entry in custom launcher.
• Added “Skip Sony Logos” feature in recovery menu.
• Improved Inferno CSO reads.
• Reduced Inferno memory consumption by 14KB without affecting performance.
• Visual improvements in the custom launcher and recovery menu.
• Improved custom launcher transitions between screen.
• You can now change the region of your UMD drive on demand via the recovery menu without having to permanently modify the flash. Allows playback of region locked UMD movies. Wait a few seconds after the XMB has loaded for the patch to be applied, then insert the UMD disc.
  • NOTE: region change patch might only work on 1K and 2K models, though some 3K models are known to work too.
• Added support for DTP-T1000 development kits.
• General cleanup of core CFW files and performance improvements.
• Exit key combo (L+R+start+down) now goes to the custom launcher.
• You can now scan categorized items on the custom launcher, useful for user of GCL plugin (#19).
• You can now mount and playback UMD Video ISOs via the file browser in custom launcher or recovery menu. You can’t use this feature if autoboot launcher is enabled since playback is handled by the XMB.
• Reduced Inferno memory consumption.
• File Browser now moves files instantly (only on PSP).
• Improved file browser design (#37).
• Cleanup of LZO library, reduces memory consumption of CFW core.
• Moved VLF patches to Vita compat layer, should fix VLF issues on PSP (if there were any).
• Custom Launcher can now be set to start on file browser instead of game menu.
• Added dedicatory message every 3rd of July for Gregory Pitka.

Release 17

• Added support for 6.60 Testing Tool firmware.
• Memory usage has been reduced.

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.

Download and install ARK for PSP/PS Vita

To get Ark 4V20 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.