Firmware, the XMB and system fonts

Do you need firmware?

Not to play. PSPC's operating system is its own native reimplementation of the PSP's, so games run without any Sony software. Sony's firmware adds three things:

• The XMB, the PSP's own home menu, running as Sony shipped it: the Saved Data Utility, settings, the photo, music and video players, and the web browser.
• The system fonts. Some games draw their text with them, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite among them. Without them that text is invisible, though the game keeps running.
• Sony's look for system dialogs, drawn with the firmware's own resources.

PSPC doesn't include Sony's firmware and never downloads it.

What you need

• Sony's official PSP system software update, version 4.01: the update's EBOOT.PBP (often named 401.PBP), obtained by you. PSPC reimplements 4.01 with M33, so use 4.01.

On Windows everything else comes with PSPC.

Install the firmware

1. Open Firmware Manager

   Stop running games and the XMB, finish or cancel builds, and close other PSPC instances first. Open Firmware Manager in the sidebar and choose Build from update….

2. Name the profile and pick the update

   Enter a unique profile name such as 4.01, then choose Sony's update EBOOT.PBP. Profile names use lowercase letters, digits, dots, underscores and hyphens; existing names aren't overwritten.

3. Let it install

   The build window decrypts the update for the PSP-2000 model, stages the new profile's flash0 and flash1 files, and compiles the XMB's core modules into native code. On Windows, the needed tools come with PSPC. That takes a few minutes.

4. Done

   A successful build becomes the active profile, and Boot XMB starts it. A failed or cancelled build doesn't replace an installed profile or change your selection; check the build window for the error.

Boot the XMB

Click Boot XMB in the sidebar (or run pspc.exe --vsh). After the Sony Computer Entertainment logo and the wave, the XMB appears, with its clock, battery and category icons. Move through it with the PSP's buttons, as on a PSP.

What has been tried and works:

• Game > Saved Data Utility lists the saves on the memory stick with their icons and details, and copies, deletes and shows information about them.
• Settings change and stay changed: the XMB's registry is kept in the active profile's firmware\<name>\flash1 folder. That includes the date and time.
• Video > Memory Stick plays MP4 videos in the PSP's format (H.264 and AAC) from ms0\VIDEO, with sound.
• Network > Internet Browser runs the PSP's own NetFront browser through the connection “PSPC 1”. Plain web pages load; most modern sites send pages it is too old to show.
• System Information shows your installation's MAC address.

Start games from the XMB

Game > Memory Stick lists, with their icons and animations:

• disc images in ms0\ISO and in your Games folder,
• EBOOT.PBP game folders in your Games folder (Games\<name>\EBOOT.PBP),
• and entries in the memory stick's PSP\GAME150 and PSP\GAME4XX folders.

Games in the Games folder appear without being copied anywhere. Starting one restarts PSPC with the game, using its native code if it has been built. Quitting the game with HOME, “Quit the game?”, Yes brings you back to the XMB.

To start the XMB with a disc in the drive, use pspc.exe --vsh --umd Games\MyGame.iso. The XMB starts the disc by itself, and it stays in the drive when you return from the game.

M33's VSH and recovery menus

PSPC's M33 layer is built in: its ISO browsing, config.se settings and plugin loading work without any extra files. M33's two menus are different. The VSH menu (Select in the XMB) and the recovery menu are modules from the M33 installer, not from Sony's update, so PSPC doesn't install them with the firmware.

With a source checkout of PSPC and the 4.01 M33 installer, tools\m33extract.py extracts those modules into the decrypted firmware tree. tools\pspc_install_fw.py --profile 4.01-m33 installs that tree into a new profile; the v0.1.2 XMB documentation has the full commands. Select the new profile in Firmware Manager. The installed PSPC has pspc_install_fw.py but not m33extract.py. Then Select opens the VSH menu in the XMB, and holding R while the XMB boots, or pspc.exe --recovery, starts the recovery menu.

Profiles and the Firmware Manager

In v0.1.2, firmware lives in firmware\<name>\flash0 and flash1 under PSPC's Windows folder. Each profile has its own PSP settings and themes; game saves remain on the shared memory stick.

• Build from update… creates a new profile and makes it active on success.
• Rebuild native updates the selected profile's native code after a PSPC update, without replacing its flash files, resetting its settings or changing the active profile.
• Use selected makes a profile active for future games and Boot XMB, including command-line launches. The selection is saved as firmware=<name> in pspc.ini.
• Delete… permanently removes a profile and its PSP settings/themes after confirmation. Switch away from the active profile before deleting it; game saves and other profiles are left alone.

Updating an older installation: back up important firmware settings and stop all PSPC instances first. Opening the manager or starting PSPC with default flash paths moves the old top-level flash0 and flash1 into firmware\default once, preserving the registry. A destination conflict is reported, not merged or overwritten.

PSPC still implements 4.01 with M33 only: storing another firmware version doesn't make it compatible. See the Firmware Manager documentation for profile names, Linux paths and command-line installation.

Fonts without the XMB

Installing the firmware brings the system fonts with it. If you only want the fonts, any compatible set of PGF font files works: put them in the active profile's firmware\<name>\flash0\font folder on Windows (for example, firmware\default\flash0\font for the default profile). You don't need to boot the XMB to use them.

Good to know

• The XMB gets a PSP-2000's larger user memory, which its plugins, the browser above all, need in PSPC. Games keep the usual 24 MB unless they ask for more, as on a real PSP-2000.
• The Firmware version in Settings only changes the version number games are told. It doesn't change which firmware files PSPC uses.
• UMD Video discs are recognized and offered, but playing them hasn't been tested. Protected (MagicGate) memory stick video doesn't play.