Apparently we're on twitter too
The PRO team (the people behind the PRO Custom Firmware, probably the most popular piece of software of the PSP scene these days) are back with a huge release: a PSP CFW for the Vita, running on the recently revealed UNO exploit. Codename: ARK
If you’ve been using the UNO exploit, ARK is basically an alternative to Total_Noob’s CEF. At the core, ARK is a port of Pro CFW to the PS Vita, and seems to bring features that might be lacking in CEF. In particular, the Readme emphasizes the following:
Features
- PSX game support (soundless so far, our sound plugin is too glitchy for public use at the moment)
- ISO/CSO game support
- NoDRM Engine for decrypted dlc playback
- MS-SpeedBoost (most noticable on games like soul calibur)
- Stargate Game Patches (fixes several anti-cfw games)
- Customizable Main Menu
- Plugin support
- Recovery support
- ISO-cache support (speed up ISO gaming)
Some of you might remember a leak of some of Coldbird’s work a few months ago, which led him to leave the scene. ARK is the project that was leaked back then (although the leak was encrypted, and therefore not usable), and that the Pro team decided to release today. I assume the decision was taken a while ago, but porting the existing work to the new firmware 2.02 might have taken some time.
Although I haven’t tried this specific build, I was lucky enough to try early builds of the ARK project a few months ago, and overall I was impressed. Coldbird left the scene while he was in the middle of bringing sound support to PS1 games, so it is unclear if the sound plugin for PS1 will ever see the light of day, but independently of that, I am pretty sure ARK brings a nice new option to those of you looking for alternatives to CEF.
Credits for the ARK project are the following (from the readme):
- Dark_Alex for the initial M33 CFW who guided us mentally through several CFW generations by giving good examples on how to patch Sony OFW.
- VirtuousFlame: For the ISO Loading Code, Custom PSX EBOOT Support, PSPCipher and most of the CFW related code.
- Coldbird: For Proshell, and all his CFW related code & Vita redesign of PROCFW.
- Yosh: For the initial sceWlanGetEtherAddr leaked kxploit, yMenu, other kxploit related things and various pieces of code.
- thecobra & frostegater: For precisions about this kxploit.
- neur0n for his syscall execution in kernel mode, several bug fixes and other CFW related code.
- ardi for his umd4homebrew to enable UMD in homebrews.
- Zer01ne for the initial Uno exploit discovery.
- All our testers.
- And last but not least – Sony for making wonderful, however very locked down, portable gaming handhelds.
Download, install & use
You can download the files here. You’ll notice that one of the download links is “ad sponsored” (linkbucks). We offer alternate links, but the revenue from these ads go to the Pro team and help fund things such as the server for Prometheus online. Alternatively, the pro team has a donation link for those who want to show their support.
In order to install, just unzip the savedata matching your region to your CMA folder, and install the savedata using CMA, like you would install any other PSP savedata to your vita (more details in the readme). If you’re on Windows, we recommend to use OpenCMA when you copy files to and from your vita.
To run ARK, once you’ve installed the Savedata to your Vita, just run UNO, and press “X” when asked to do so by the game, this should load the eCFW menu.
Coldbird’s FTP for Vita is also a recommended tool to install once you’re all set, to make copying backups and homebrews easier.
As I said, I haven’t tested this build yet, so give the files a try, and post your comments here. In particular, I’m sure we’d all like to know how it compares to CEF 
Important note: This release requires that you are running on a PS Vita with firmware 2.02 or lower. It also requires you to have a legit copy of the PSP game UNO installed on your Vita. UNO has been removed from the PSN by Sony a few days ago, so if you missed the exploit announcement and don’t have the game on your Vita, you’re out of luck, this release will not help you in that case.
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cool, might want to try this.
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Good stuff, thanks for the hard work. I think all parties benefit from a little friendly competition.
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nice of them to give sony props
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i can’t download((
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Nice, I’ll give it a go.
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Cool, thanks !!!!
use (dropbox + urldroplet) if you can’t download the file -
Wow, this is a surprise!
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Yeppers!
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ported to urbanix 1.81?… im still on urbanix.
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lol time to get out of the stone age!! update!
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No don’t update, you’ll lose your exploit. Just sit tight for now
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actually don’t. UNO has been removed from PSN, so you should just stay on Urbanix with TN eCFW until they release ARK for Urbanix
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ooo my bad i forgot they removed uno.. so yah dont update
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Not sure if you meant to but there’s no page break.
Anyways enjoy everyone
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even wololo was too excited to remember
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I also noticed that, so I immediately assumed it must be something HUGE…somethin’ special
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It’s not really working for me.
1, Plugins dont work.
2, Cant work out how to customize the menu.
3, HOW can you go back to CFW from in a game?3 problems that send me back to CEF and that works fine for me.
The main thing is plugins. If I can get them working then I might stay but going back to CFW is another biggy for me.-
I got plugins working. The name was wrong.
Its not plugins.txt its PLUGINS.TXTIs there a button press that sends you back to CFW?
And how can I get it to start in the ISO directory?
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ISO could be capitals, same rules as last time. To go back hold down the start button
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*should
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It works for you? How long did you have to hold start?
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Right we forgot to write that .. to get back to the menu in ARK, press L+R+Start+Down
And indeed the plugins.txt name needs to be in capital if you transfer it using CMA because of the filenaming convention.-
Thank you, Yosh!!
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PLUGINS.TXT must be on EXPLOIT folder like on CEF was?
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where is this plugin.txt so i could change it
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how did u get it to work i made the PLUGINS.TXT but having problem creating the path i have cwcheat in sepplugin folder and i also have GAME.TXT and POPS.TXT in the savedata for the exploit so what would be the path for that
here are the paths im using tell me if its correct
ms0:/seplugins/cwcheat/cwcheatpops.prx 1
ms0:/seplugins/cwcheat/cwcheat.prx 1
mso:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPUH10027DATA00/GAME.prx 1
mso:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPUH10027DATA00/POPS.prx 1
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Quick question. I’ve got ARK running on my vita, how do I get to any kind of preference menu (if any)? Also, is there a button combo to get back to ARK while I’m inside a PSP game or do I have to completely exit Uno and go back in? I hadn’t seen anything about those in the Readme
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Thats what I asked.
They say its better than CEF but its missing so many features.Plugins do work better as they are for the game your playing not UNO which CEF did.
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i found a return to menu button press from in a game.
RETURN TO ARK: START L R DOWN (Down on D-pad)
Still when it returns its back in the savegame folder. I’m still wanting it to start in the ISO folder.
Annoying I have to go hunting for my games on every boot.-
great thnx
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This method is not that good like on CEF, because it is not ergonomic like holding START for few seconds…
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is it worth updating from cef for the ms speedboost and iso cache support? For me, iso games runs fast and smooth already in cef.
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Yes, it actually is. GTA VCS has never loaded so fast! and gameplay for some reason actually seems better.
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ehm wie kommt man ins menu zurück
plugins gehen nicht-
Read what I said a few posts up.
Rename it from plugins.txt to PLUGINS.TXT and they will work.
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I can’t exit of a game like in CEF pressing 5 seconds start. Is there another buttons combination?
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look up a few posts
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Eh…now I regret not buying Uno. Ah, well, I’ll just wait for the next exploit :/
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i’m waiting for Urbanix port
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so how can i copy my games from the savedata? i cant figure it out….
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Use VitaFTP
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where do I put my ISOs now? I installed this new hack and now it doesnt see my kingdom hearts iso…. weird, im guessing the iso folder for this is somewhere else… well im looking for it atm with vita ftp …
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LOL i had to press up LMFAO what a noob … well this is new so i guess were all noobs a bit xD
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ymenu isn’t new, ark is, anyone who has used ymenu before shouldn’t have problems with this
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well i had the other menu so it was new for me lol
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YAY my Plugins work finally i can use my downloaded DLCs for Final Fantasy 012 again ;D GJ TEAM LUV U ALL
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You could use it before. I was using it on the TotalNoob custom firmware.
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Woahh, I’m surprised this just got released. I came on here to continue writing something and I notice this.
I’m incredibly excited; going to have to go and tinker around with it now.
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Does ARK eCFW support Pro-online while playing PSP games?
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Aha, I just came back to ask that myself. I’d assume it’s based on PRO-C, however I’m unsure about the online functionality.
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Hope some1 test it and confirm about this one…
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Im waiting on the same answer before i try it out, Pro Online on the Vita would be absolutely amazing. Has ANYONE tried it yet?
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Can i use it with Urbanix on 1.81 ofw?
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No.
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wonderful news
but i’m ok with TN_CEF, so i’m waiting for real positive feedbacks before changing to it for trying -
if you start homebrew/iso’s,how do you go back on ymenu??
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can you port it to the recent exploited game mba and urbanix cuz here in saudi this two games are on psn store maybe you can give us a favor all of us here wanted to use cef or cfw for vita thanks
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Hope Urbanix release soon
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Uno Booted! Not Like TN!!!!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!! -
Hey Wololo,
When you posted the article of this ARK eCFW, i thought it was going to be on another exploit after UNO. Because of that, i didn’t buy UNO. Now that i see this release is for UNO, you have no idea how much i regret that decision. Will this be ported to the next exploit? and please next time mention if its going to be the upcoming exploit (uno) or the one after…-
dude next time don’t assume anything and read carefully. None of that is anyone’s fault but yours
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I wrote that article and in no way did I explicitly state that it would be its own exploit release. There are reasons for not telling exploits it will be, such as not being ready. The next exploit might not be a kernel exploit so you’ll need to just sit tight and wait.
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someone should make a tutorial on how to put plugins into this
all i find on youtube are old vids-
“To load plugins, place a plugins.txt file in your savedata folder containing lines as:
mode,path,1- Mode can be either umdemu (for isos), game (for homebrews), or pops (for psx)
- Path is the absolute plugin’s path
- And then 1 for enabled, or 0 for disabledWarning! Never put any additionnal spaces or anything between commas
For instance :
umdemu,ms0:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPEH00020DATA00/plugin.prx,1
pops,ms0:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPEH00020DATA00/plugin2.prx,0
game,ms0:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPEH00020DATA00/plugin3.prx,1″-
thanks
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yeah still doesnt work
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im confused now
so i have to change the path in my game txt from ms0:/seplugins/cwcheat/cwcheat.prx 1 (how it was)
to
ms0:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPUH10027DATA00/cwcheat.prx,1???? why?? the cwcheat prx isnt in the save… its in the seplugins folder … complicated noobness
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The ark does not appear on my ps vita
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how do i get mhp3rd patch to work with this?
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wait for a port
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I missed the uno exploit on purpose waiting for ark because I thought it needed a different game lol, this is all bad -.-
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works perfect, but I still can not even boot the snes emulator, someone has been able to make it work, thank you very much, thanks wololo and exploit team
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works fine on mine, the only thing i fiddled with was the save file for the ark i didnt touch my old snes folders from the old hack…
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Which exact SNES emulator are you using that works with ARK eCFW?
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I was keeping the Urbanix xploit coz it load faster and now this is only for UNO, ftm.
Damn.
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Soon my friend, soon!
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i cant copy my GAME.TXT AND POPS.TXT files to my save data folder…. whats up with that
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pls Help and put Learning Complete
i cant understand what is Plugins.txt or why we must create a txt file
pls put complete Learning step by step
pls -
Can’t exit the game, to go back to the menu. Even with L+R+Start+Down(dpad)
Also, I can’t pull up the “settings” on the menu (Iso driver, Clock speed, etc.)
Help…?
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I copyed them with filezilla… but cwcheat doesnt work >.> oh well whatever
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how they work and are configured ps1 games and put them in that folder?
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cool! thx! downloaded via linkbucks to support the developers
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cwcheat Plugin is not working with me any one know to make it work
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PLUGINS.TXT should look like this…
ms0:/seplugins/cwcheat/cwcheatpops.prx,1 not
ms0:/PSP/SAVEDATA/NPUH10027DATA00/cwcheat.prx,1
mine works great for POPSloader -
Dark_Alex is a GOD with his M33 CFW. I have never seen anyone trump Sony like he did with his CFW. It was so much easier with all the M33 updates. Really miss that guy
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hello, i have a problem, when i try to use it i got an error c1-2858-3
please help!-
did you lately transfer new homebrew or games?
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should i redownload UNO?
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yes via ftp
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I belive this is some kind of Beta version. So I will be patient and wait before anything else.
Thank you anyway.
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THES BEST CFW of all past all games that in past dont work naw work
Dragon Lair works DBZ tag team and more PRO team u don whery good work -
Trast me If u on TN-C get ARK CFW is let u play games that u cant play on TN-C and is run soy fast no errors
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So is this better than TN-C eCFW?
xD
Just asking cus idk…
lmao
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