GEN Firmware

CFW 3.93

On April 26, 2008 an unknown developer released 3.93 CFW on pspgen.com. This CFW was made with permission from Dark_AleX and others. According to the readme, this CFW now uses the 3.93 kernel, and has added several features. These are the ability to access recovery from the XMB, the ability to make a Pandora Battery (convert/revert battery) from recovery, save savedata in its normal, unencrypted state, and the ability to hide the PSP Mac Address in the XMB. (Changing it to all 0's)

Although with the approval of Dark_AleX and Math, a few bugs has arisen. These are minor bugs and does not affect the firmware in any way. Sometimes, the Hide Pic0 in Game Menu and the Hide Mac Address options does not always work. This would require a user to reset their devices in order for it to be fully functional. Also, the CXMB 3.1 plugin cannot work with the Hide Mac Address option from the Recovery-Vsh Menu as it will freeze the System sub-menus in the XMB.

However, the firmware has been tested and 3.90 flash0 themes as well as CXMB are known to work properly. Also, the 3.90 IRShell patch can be successfully done enabling users to fully unlock the potential of IRShell.

A day later on April 27, 2008, a 1.50 Kernel Addon was released.

On May 3, 2008, an new Update (named Update 2) has been made available. Update 2 fixed a bug in the Sony's OSK where pressing SELECT while it was up would freeze the system. Also, Hellcat's Savegame Deemer was removed. However, it can still be used a an ordinary plugin.

3.95 GEN

3.95 GEN is a custom firmware developed by Miriam of PSP-GEN. 3.95 GEN was released on June 01, 2008 at 01:00 pm, (GMT + 1) after being delayed due to server issues. During the delay, Miriam managed to work out most bugs that had existed before the release. This included fixing the Phat's memory limitations, and enabling popsloader to work where it has not previously worked before... The newly added features to 3.95 GEN included vsh-recovery where the recovery menu can be bought up from the XMB. The new recovery menu uses the standard M33 recovery and adds more features such as Pandora Battery creation tools, the ability to hide the MAC Address in the XMB, USB to the UMD. Also, the configuration of Network Update can be changed to search for updates for either GEN firmwares, M33 firmwares, or Sony's official firmwares. Outside of the firmware, the ipl for Slims is patched so units can boot up with a Pandora Battery, as well as load TimeMachine. Popsloader and PSX emulation is fixed and works as long as a user uses the 'popsloader.prx' file included in the download.

The use of the Sony updater is still present. However, the battery check, and IDStorage Key checks still exists. However, the ability to download the '395.PBP' from the Internet does not exist anymore.

As nids has changed from 3.90/3.93 to 3.95, some plugins may or may not work. Also, the MS read times seemed to be addressed by either Sony or Miriam in this release, as the PSP can read data from the MS in the XMB faster than on 3.80/3.90, even with the 3.71 fatmsmod.prx patch included. Some homebrew such as irShell and NervOS cannot fully work.

On June 6, 2008, Miriam released 3.95 GEN-2. 3.95 GEN-2 included fixed some of the known bug fixes within the firmware. This update fixed the bug where the PSP will act bricked if the user tried to access the vshMenu when it was turned off from recovery. Also, homebrew compatibility on both the Phat and Slim were increased, and some homebrew such as the latest SNES emulator worked again. On top of that, Phat users were able to use popsloader again since the memory limitation has been addressed and fixed. However, some bugs such as the .at3 file not playing while selecting homebrew and PSP ISOs do not play while on PSX games they do.

5.02 GEN

On January 1, 2009, Miriam released 5.02 GEN-A. After being convinced by the members of PSPGEN to make another custom firmware, 5.02 was chosen. Two versions of 5.02 GEN were created. The "full" version of the game has all the features just as any other custom firmware such as the ability to play ISOs, and play PSX games. The "lite" version was a stripped down version which only allowed for the use of homebrew, and plugins as well as the use of whatever features the official firmware allows for.

With 5.02 GEN-A, several new features were added. This included the ability to use Bubbletune's game categories plugin, and Slim color patch, and the ability to reboot into a 5.02 official firmware version on a Slim. Compatibility with homebrew and PSX games have also increased. Other options such as ability to hide the MAC address in the XMB, translation of recovery, the use of popsloader, and the ability to access recovery via the vshMenu are all available for use. A 1.50 Kernel Addon for Phats is available.