PSP Garden

Onyxx

PSP History of all the Loaders

There has been a lot of confusion based on all the loaders released recently, so here is a basic rundown on everything you need to know about loaders. I hope this helps Smile

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LOADER HISTORY

FastLoader (REQURES UMD IN DRIVE)

Fastloader was the first UMD Loader for the PSP and was released around August of 2005. Made by Humma Kavula, Fastloader 0.5 started the ISO emulation scene. The last version of this loader was Fastloader 0.7 and there are a few games that are only compatible with this loader.

UMD Emulator (REQURES UMD IN DRIVE)

UMD Emulator was the next creation by Humma Kavula (and friends). Since the version number started at 0.8, one would assume that this is the continuation of the Fastloader series, but with a new twist, the ability to overclock your processor, mount the ISO to RAM so the system will think the inserted disc is the ISO, and turn of region coding. This also worked a little with FLASH emulation (although very early stages). This was the most compatible loader released yet and most games that are working on the 1.5 Firmware can be played with this or with the new SYSTEM MENU mode which allows you to return to the system menu with the ISO mounted to run it via the PSP system, or a 2.0 Game Loader.

Device Hook 0.22

Device Hook was developed by Booster. Up until April of 2006, version 0.22 was the latest version, but the newer version works completely different than 0.22 (just like the difference between FastLoader and UMD Emulator) and below so I will keep them separate. Device Hook brought forth the possibility of playing games without a UMD, but with the limitation of playback due to lower compatibility, it wasn't as popular until it was discovered that if you mount a image in UMD Emulator by using System Menu mode then launch DevHook, you could get the compatibility of UMD Emulator with the ability to have no UMD in the drive. Many edits such as DevHook GL and DevHook Evolved were made, I will discuss them later.

Device Hook 0.3+

Device Hook 0.3pre was released in April of 2006 and was a preview to the work that Booster had done up until now. This new version included the ability to not only mount the ISO as a UMD, but was able to do so with NO UMD in the drive. Compatibility was increased in the new versions and fixed some glitches in some games that were previously there. Unlike the previous version, since it mounts the image, it cannot be run along side UMD Emulator for it's compatibility, but with the increased compatibility it should not be a problem. It can be run with 2.X loaders but currently has an issue with not exiting the games.

DAX ZISO (REQURES UMD IN DRIVE)

DAX ZISO was created by Dark_AleX early in 2006 and was originally a additional loader that you used to patch UMD Emulator in the RAM after loading your compressed ISO in it's own compression format. Dark_AleX worked on completely reverse engineering the UMD Emulator core and building it into his program so that an additional loader and time to exit to the menu would not be necessary. DAX ZIO currently has all the features of UMD Emulator and then some. With new load methods such as Direct LoadExec which clears up more RAM so that it can be almost as compatible as System Menu mode, and build in support to load MPH Game Loader or RunUMD without having to exit to system menu to run, it makes this loader the best choice for all users who seek the easiest method. To make it easier he also added the ability to save setting for INDIVIDUAL GAMES!

2.X UMD/ISO LAUNCHERS

MPH Game Loader

The first game loader to support the playback of 2.X games would be the MPH Game Loader 1.0 followed by 1.1 by MPH. This allowed 1.5 users to enjoy games like Grand Theft Auto and Megaman X. Made to work with some UMDs and to work with modified ISOs through UMD Emulator's System Menu mode, this allowed for high compatibility for 2.X games because of the ability to make some games that don’t' work straight from the ISO to work modified. This loader uses a FULL 2.0 firmware dump, a special hybrid dump, or modified 2.5 firmware dump.

RunUMD

The second game loader to be release was one that was not to be seen on the ISO scene for a while. Built to be NOT compatible with UMD Emulator and other ISO loaders, several people figured out quickly that it could be hex edited to run games from the memory stick if they modified the boot.bin of the original ISO. That method was slow and painful when it came to transferring/deleting it from the memory stick. Soon after this Dark_AleX suppressed everyone again with a modified UMD Emulator core that would allow users to use the System Menu mode to mount the image and boot the game with RumUMD. Support was also added in DAX ZISO to playback with RunUMD. This method uses a firmware dump done by this program itself, dumped to a directory in the root of your memory stick named x. Using a 2.5 x directory dump will work with all of the RunUMD titles.

LOADER EDITS

MPH/RunUMD UMD Emulator

UMD Emulator edits to make it convenient for the user were popping up all over the place when MPHGL came out. These edits of the EBOOT.PBP of UMD Emulator changed the paths disc0:/PSP_GAME/SYSDIR/EBOOT.BIN and disc0:/PSP_GAME/SYSDIR/BOOT.BIN to a directory on the memory stick containing another program, so that is booted instead of the boot files in the ISO. Some of the original edits were made by whackawookie. When RunUMD was released RunUMD UMD Emulator was released by PSPWAD which uses the modified core. Because the compatibility was lowered, another edit that allowed playback with MPHGL and RunUMD and changing the way the core is named was made by whackawookie. Along with this package was a new modified original core that fixed the sleep mode bug. This way the users would be able to run the original UMD Emulator with the sleep mode bug fixed and the original compatibility.

DevHook GL/DevHook UMD Emulator

DevHook UMD Emulator was made for the purpose of not having to exit to system menu mode to load up UMD Emulator and was very useful. The next to come along was DevHook GL and the GL stood for Game Loader. This is pretty straight forward, DevHook GL allowed the boot of MPHGL. It was followed up with DevHook GL Plus and DevHook GL2 Edition, which were separate edits. They allowed more possibilities but were really a lead in to the most current edit of DevHook 0.22, DevHook Evolved.

DevHook Evolved

DevHook evolved was an extension of the DevHook GL Plus created by Chossy. It was started when DAX was released using the UMD Emulator core. It allowed the use of DevHook with DAX, MPHGL, or Fastloader to allow those programs to run game without a UMD in the drive. Much like the previous edits, it forwarded the loader to boot an eboot.pbp instead of the boot.bin of the game. Many releases of this loader were made and DragonUK took over the release for several versions. It was always updated when a new DAX ZISO was released. The latest release was not official by Chossy or DragonUK, but by PSPWAD who asked for permission to update with the newest version of DAX to add support for the UMD directory. This was because of the interest of Chossy and DragonUK in DevHook 0.3pre rather than another edit of 0.22.

DAX PAX

DAX PAX is a DaxZiso edit made by Timboman2000 to make DaxZiso easier to use for new people to the scene.

Slashmire · Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:19 am Post subject:

Well once again, it's a very good article, and proves to be much interesting to those in need.

YerAH0moMisterSanta · Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject: .....

what if you have2.82, how do you hack games?

giNger mInGeR · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the layout there will be a lot of new psp owners that will have never used the likes of Dev hook and umd loaders its all good Laughing