With my growing obsession with retro gaming and I started getting interested in Sony’s classic portable gaming system again, the PSP. I always had consoles as a kid and teenager and even still had some PSP parts from back in the day, including the blue PSP1000 that my sisters had as a kid, with the original box. But as I always do I ended up getting a lot more of them than I needed. The idea was to have a collection with an example of each model. In the end, I ended up with 5 consoles, 1x PSP1000, 2x PSP2000 and 2x PSP3000’s. I also ended up getting a PS Vita down the line and sending off the black PSP to my dad and selling the red one.
Fixing the White PSP
I got the white PSP2000 really cheap as it had a scratched screen. Me in my infinite wisdom thought I could remove the scratches with headlight polisher ( do not do this ). I instead made it exponentially worse and ended up finding genuine Sony replacement faceplates on eBay. I did swap out the screen on one of the PSP3000’s as well but didn’t get any photos of the issue, I believe the screen had lines all through it. As of writing this article, the screens were still available for parts on eBay and AliExpress.
Soft modding the PSP’s
When it came to soft modding the PSP’s I wanted to have the exact same CFW, emulators and roms on all of them so I could side by side compare the units and see the differences. In the end, the biggest difference was the screen brightness of the 3000’s and obvious weight difference from the 1000 series.
As for instructions? Well there are no better instructions that these ones from GBATemp.net. They are super easy to follow, have all the instructions, links and notes you could ever need. For reference and incase the forum ever disappears I am going to also post the instructions here:
Before Installation
-PSP Street will brick with Infinity v1.0; it does not support 6.31.
https://www.lolhax.org/2017/09/24/6-61-infinity-an-explanation/
-1000, 2000 PSPs: use CIPL instead of Infinity (CIPL_Flasher folder app).
https://playstationdev.wiki/pspdevwiki/index.php?title=Motherboards#Hackability
identify the motherboard: PSPident v0.75
-(L)CFW must be reapplied every time the PSP is turned off/restarted (FastRecovery folder app).
-Installer v1.0: PSPs <6.61 may brick on install, so update beforehand.
https://twitter.com/the_zett/status/699405664163069953?lang=en
https://www.reddit.com/r/PSP/comments/63hj7y/psp_infinity_permpatch_tips/
Downloads Links
PSP Infinity [installer-1.0] [config-0.39]
PSP PRO (L)CFW for 1000, 2000, 3000, & Go [6.61-PRO CFW-2015-02-14_MOD-2015-03-33-F]
PSP Go OFW 6.31.PBP
PSP Go OFW 6.61.PBP
PSP 1000 2000 3000 OFW 6.31.PBP
PSP 1000 2000 3000 OFW 6.61.PBP
Installation Steps
0. Extract and copy /PSP/GAME/ and /seplugins/ folders for (L)CFW and Infinity onto PSP memory card.
1. Update to 6.61. Remove any UMD from the disc drive. Turn off or remove any plugins/.PRXs
2. Place the respective 631.PBP and 661.PBP into the MAKER folder.
3. Install and run PRO or ME (L)CFW (VCFW).
4. Run Infinity Firmware Builder (MAKER folder app).
5. If successful, there will be a DATA.MFC file in the MAKER folder.
6. Copy DATA.MFC to the FLASHER folder. (DATA.MFC is unique for your device. Never use this file on a different PSP.)
7. Run Infinity Firmware Flasher (FLASHER folder app).
8. After this, your device will reboot and you will have Infinity. (An error screen after the process is a sign that it worked.)
9. Re-install PRO or ME (L)CFW (VCFW).
10. Activate the permanent patch in the Infinity Bootloader Configuration; go left (STAGE folder app).
All said and done, they all modded super easy. I used Street Fighter II and RoboCop Vs Terminator as my benchmark for testing. As you can see, the screen colours and brightness are vastly different between the models. When it comes to roms, I highly recommend the “PSP Emulators Bible” thread on Wololo.net. It covers everything you could ever need to know about what emulators to run, how they work, whats best etc.
Modding the PS Vita
For the PS Vita, It was a lot harder to modify. There didn’t seem to be any good written steps at first, but the best instructions came in the form of Youtube videos. I mainly sourced my instructions from the below videos created by Mr Mario 2011, Tech James and Tech Savvy Buyer. I also ended up getting a SD to Vita adapter so that I could load all my physical games and RetroArch roms for when I travel as the Vita is easily the best handheld console.
One thing to note, if the PS Vita refuses to turn on and just has a little orange light on, the battery is too dead to power on, I thought I bricked my unit for a moment. Below is a few pictures of the units all modded and ready for mobile gaming!
Materials/Parts
- SD to Vita adapter
- Sony replacement faceplates
- PSP Custom Firmware instructions from GBATemp.net.
- PS Vita Videos ( Above )
Hi I don’t suppose you have any modded PS vitas for sale? I’m located in NZ and I don’t have access to a PC,