PS Vita Hack “Rejuvenate” – the limitations
Who cares about E3? OK, we do… but still, the big news of the week for the vita hacking scene is the official announce of an upcoming PS Vita hack with native support, from YifanLu. The platform will allow anyone to run native PS Vita homebrews, and there is strong hope for great emulator support, given the specs of the PS Vita.
PS Vita Hack limitations
There are however, a few limitations to “Rejuvenate” as of now. How fast these limitations can be removed, if at all, is still a bit unknown, but hopefully this upcoming release will ignite a scene of proportions similar to what we had with the PSP, meaning hackers could get more excited about the platform.
So, what limitations did Yifan lu mention so far? There are a few, and unfortunately pretty big ones for now:
PSM Dev App required to launch homebrews
It’s been said so many times now, that the PSM Dev app was required to launch homebrews, yet many people seem to have missed the download window. Homebrews will be enjoyed by the few who managed to get it in time (luckily, that’s at least a few thousand people, if we’re to believe the PSM stats)
USB connection required to launch homebrews
Ugh… that’s a pretty big one. The exploit requires a PC in order to run, and this means your console will need to be connected to the PC in order to launch homebrews, via the USB connection.
Now, I can see a few ways this limitation could be mitigated. We can imagine a “homeebrew launcher” such as VHBL, which would need to be run once, and serve as the launcher for other homebrews. If anything crashes in the process, you’re SOL, but at least this could give a way to only connect to the PC “once in a while”.
An alternate, crazy idea, would be some sort of hardware dongle (I know…) that could simulate the necessary steps for the Vita… This assumes understanding exactly what is required to trigger the exploit, possibly Reverse engineer loads of code, and might not be worth it, but who knows.
Hopefully too, hackers will be motivated by this groundbreaking step, and could dig into ways to trigger different exploits, without requiring a connected PC.
NO PSTV / Vita TV support
Lack of PS TV support was the bad surprise of the day, and it’s a direct consequence of the above limitation. The Vita TV can only be connected to your PC via Wifi, and there’s no reason to believe this limitation will ever go away (even though the vita TV has a usb port…).
Because the hack requires to be connected via USB to the PC… we’re SOL here. Again, a different type of exploit could remove this pretty big limitation
Other limitations
The other limitations mentioned by Yifan Lu are rather minor compared to the two ones above.
First, you’ll have to connect to a network at least once a day to keep the PSM License “active”. Yifan lu has found ways to not require Sony’s approval to keep the license active (more on how this works will be explained soon), but no ways at this point to *not* have to do the daily call home. This does not feel like a big limitation to me, unless you’re going on holiday with no network access…
The “connect to PC” limitation also requires specifically a PC running Windows. This is because Sony’s PSM tools were made for Windows, and no other platform. Again, a different exploit, or some heavy reverse engineering could lift this limitation.
Finally, Yifan Lu recommends firmware 3.00 or above in order to enjoy the hack. He mentions the exploit actually works on 1.69 and above, but the tools have only been tested on 3.xx. If people on lower firmwares are interested in ports, he might consider it. Then again, given that the only good reason to stay on a low firmware was the webkit exploit, which, at this point is less interesting than what Yifan Lu is giving to the community, I’d say there’s little to no reason to stay at such low firmwares today.
What do you think about these limitations? Do you think the scene will be able to lift some of them?
More info on Yifan lu’s blog
Nyan
Nyaaaan?
Nyan Lu??
Nyololo?
Nyoke ???
Nye Z ??????
I only use my Pstv for pspemu.
I do hope they manage to lift the PSTV limitation for this exact reason.
The PSTV supports up to 4 controllers at once. I could totally imagine getting some N64 Goldeneye or smash Bros 64 on this thing. heck, even gamecube games possibly down the line. Getting the emulators to work well enough that is, with PSP, no one ever got very far with adhoc multiplayer in most cases. A limitation of the device of course, but it was what it was.
With local play emulator support, this device could be the best classic local multiplayer platform. Plus, it would only help unit sales if it had this “secret” functionality, and help to boost install base, therefore hopefully raising sales and production of actual VITA games. I just hope VITA games don’t get pirated.
I understand whitelisting games from being blocked, but no ISOs is the way to go. Looking forward to what all you geniuses can accomplish on the scene. Great work everyone!
FIRST, I’ll just stay on my current firmware and await webkit exploit. It’s still a promising avenue…
Also, I couldn’t get the PSM licence or app, soooo, yeah…
SECOND, I’m awaiting nVidia’s next portable for emulation purposes…
THIRD, I still want my VITA to be my emulation machine because of those comfortable button placements, and to breathe new life into it…
*3th
3RD*
4st
5rd
its not that promising lol, this is an on going and constantly hitting new grounds ,project. webkit has been dead for good minute now. no news on it, not too much word of progress.
You’re wasting your time waiting for a WebKit exploit. It won’t come. The WebKit vulnerability is weaker than the PSM one and even the PSM one has limitations. If you didn’t get the PSM Dev app in time, I suggest you upgrade your Vita to latest firmware and enjoy PSN access. Unless you have an exploit on it and you’r enjoying that instead.
cuz the 2.xx firmware patch. but the webkit exploit is pretty cool.
I can live with that as long as I will be able to enjoy my favorite homebrews ( like Moonlight).
Thank you Wololo for these news, but I am staying with my 3.01 FW. I am steel using it for the PSP games.
3.18 is better PS1 Loader
You’re steel?
BLUE STEEL. XD
Best way to enjoy your cake is one slice at a time, eating the whole thing always leads you to a problem…same here, one step at a time let us enjoy all the poweful of the rejuvenate…at least for me, E3 it is not awesome as the Y3 (Yifan lu Yifan lu Yifan lu) this week, and limitations is just a little piece of this great scene.
For me personally, neither limitation is the end of the world. I usually play my Vita infront of my PC anyway 😛
Of course the USB-requirement is a bit annoying, and it sucks for those with a PSTV.
Rather than these “how to launch” etc limitations, Im more worried about the limitation it may cause in terms of homebrews. It is still limited to just user space after all… Pretty much a native VHBL…
Does somebody know if it is possible to add USB client support to PS/Vita TV (from a hardware point of view). I mean you probably need more just than a USB connector and compare/analyze the traces of the schematics on a Vita but shouldn’t this be doable for about 10$ (for parts).
Only question is: Does the PS/Vita TV and Vita share the same firmware? A generic one that “asks” the device: “Are you a PS/Vita TV or a Vita?” And after the device “replied” it goes into a corresponding mode of the firmware either for PS/Vita TV or Vita.
The only thing I know about this is that the PS TV refuses to launch some PS Vita games because they’re adapted to the Vita (in particular, front and back touch panels). So there IS some difference between the two firmwares. But is there other ones… I don’t know.
I feel the term “always on DRM” is a hut to the face for some having to keep the lisence up. But hopefully it can get bypassed , same for needing to be wired to a pc
I just want to play psp gamed on my psvita 🙁
Will there be any support for firmware above 3.18?
I understand that Yifan was using a Vita on 3.18 and was wondering if it could be done on other firmwares.
What exactly does it mean: You need PC ??
Do i need kayboard, monitor and mouse to actually run it or only some hardware to initiate the hack?
actually, you will need a d!ldo with 2 AA batteries for this to run.
You’ve made like 5 of these posts already. The first one was funny, the others not so much. Maybe get some new material.
Pirate PS Vita game support?
That will only happen when your d**k grows so long that it will loop back into your @$$.
mine grew just like what you have said. So where is the hack now? ****ing liar…
Basically, the way it should be. So if you want to pirate, start taking those pills. ;P
is that effective with Chinese people? I’m not really certain if that would be possible.
Not unless kernel exploit is found (and this one is userland exploit) if I recall correctly what Yifan Lu explained on his blog.
do you think KFC could exploit this?
Maybe watermelon?
not all of them but i am sure some of them will be solved
>PSM Dev App required to launch homebrews
This is bad enough by itself, but what’s worse is that DevApp will be blacklisted in 3.52+, thus forcing everyone to stay on lower firmware or give up homebrew altogether.
Yes it will, Sony never fails at exercising home violence on poor Vita.
>USB connection required to launch homebrews
Hopefully a homebrew loader will surface and USB is required only to start the homebrew, but not required to keep it running. Even better if it’s possible to put Vita in standby with DevApp running in background. Otherwise it ruins the portability if not the whole purpose of gaming on Vita when you’re sitting in front of your PC which does almost everything Vita does except better.
>NO PSTV / Vita TV support
This prevents Vita TV from becoming a really compact media center, which is unfortunate.
>have to connect to a network at least once a day
I’m hoping for the local proxy that you’d run on the same PC you’re using for USB connection. Internet connection requirement would be really bothersome.
>a PC running Windows
Will Windows running in a virtual machine suffice? Many man-hours (otherwise spent on reverse engineering and coding) will be spared then.
>Yifan Lu recommends firmware 3.00 or above
I think mostly everyone is on 3.15+ already, since afaik base DevApp doesn’t run by itself and the oldest publicly available DevApp update v1.14 requires firmware 3.15.
I agree with you, especially on the “USB connection” limitation. Now this is the situation that we have to deal with and i really don’t want to downplay the work of yifan and everybody who was involved. I just really hope there will be ways to use Rejuvenate on the go, where the Vita shines!
About the “windows PC”, i don’t see why it should’t work on a vm. Alternatively there might be a way to get PSM SDK run on OSX and linux using “Wine”.
One of the most limitation isn’t writted in this article ?
PSM apps is sanboxed so it don’t have an acess to the file system.
if you can’t write any files actually it’s not possible to make any Emulator yet
/Documents directory is writable, no0b
Now I don’t know much about developing for the Vita but you use PSM application on PC to *copy* the homebrew over, right? So, you could have the roms for the emulator in a folder to then copy to the Vita, not sure if that’d work but to me it seems plausible…
They broke the PSM sandbox. IIRC, it was mentioned on YifanLu’s blog.
So… after we’re successful with hacking the ps vita, what games would we play? nothing… Just get a 3ds or something. VITA is dead in the water.
If there comes a cfw for the vita there can be come a lot of homebrews like by psp. And maybe it will run android too, you were able to run windows 95/98 on psp. I hope they will make a lot of homebrews etc. for the vita, this will give the ps vita a second life. I am owning my ps vita for 1 year now, but I have used it only few times. There are not many aa titels for it:((
unrelated. your logic -> “hacking = piracy”
Good thing I have 3 ps vita’s one on 3.18 the other with stay at the latest and the other will stick with PSM MEANING…. 3.35
Uh, so I have the PSM Dev app in my Vita but what is this License you speak of? O.o
Driver’s license.
The Licence to Kill. but ur gonna need to post a request letter by mail. the address is James Bond, 1 Chester Ave, London. EC2A 6PK
License to Mame is all u need bro, aim for the kneecaps..
What you’re REALLY thinking of is the PSM Publisher’s license. From what I understand, it was initially announced that this would be required, however it has since been announced that it won ‘t be necessary. So I think you’re good.
“First, you’ll have to connect to a network at least once a day to keep the PSM License “active"”
Yeah, that part is what I am talking about.
And thank you for the only one who actually answered my question.
I have a good news for you guys. I have ran my own codes with this exploit, and looks like it’s promising. I was able to run psp games with a modified 3.40 cfw. It is currently on testing stage. I’ll update once I made some progress.
You are not the real dark alex! Get your *** outta here!
can I test?
Lol.
can I also be a tester?
Lol.
let me test if this is ****ING true!
send me your email @ “drkl3x@live.com”
Dark_AlexX is back and I have moddified the hack to great lengths and now I am pleased to announce I can run vita games straight off the sd card! only few games are compatible but in order to continue this word i will need donations. My initial goal is for 10 billion dollars…..payments can be sent to “yougonnafallforthis@outlook.com”
Thanks!
^^ Lol
They got trolled hard lol
let me test if this is ****ING true!
I forgot to install psm for unity, is this needed for anything?
all you need is a D!ldo and some lube. you’ll be fine
No, you don’t need PSM Unity for the hack. But keep that bubble on your homescreen. It can be useful in future 😉
Hey can someone explain this call home… Does it mean from the day u downloaded the app on the vita you gonna need to run it everyday??? Cause I haven’t used the app since day before yesterday…
You only need to have it connect on the days that you want to run it.
ooooh ok thanks for da enough bro 🙂
I managed to get this working, there’s a major flaw in the whole sandboxing of PSM. After some checks, I found that there may be a kexploit. Need to do some final tests though. Will keep you all up to date.
Can you port M.U.G.E.N or OpenBOR with this with stunning graphics?
it can be. with a D!ldo + AA batteries
Haha very funny, does it insert into the vitas “asserory” port, hence why sony abannoed it because it plugged into the d!ldo as a peripheral device to make it vibrate! 🙂
seems fine, i plan to make a GBC emulator 😀
Hey, does this mean you need to have the Vita on and connect it with internet once EVERY DAY D=??
No. Only on the days you want to run homebrew.
Рик,thack:):)!
i’ll be honest i wish i knew all of this earlier, i have a pstv and just updated and installed the psdev app. oh well im sure there will be something else in the future.
Look, you noobs do not quite understand the “VITA” scene might as well be dead. If you want to play homebrews and games revert back to the psp. I got one for about $30 second hand and it only had a broken stick which was easilly resolved.
If anyone has any sense the vita IS DEAD like how sony anounced it as alegacy device. Look, if anyone one wants to play halflife on the psp I am porting the xash engine to the psp. People gave up to soon on the old dusty, so it needs a second chance. But, the vita on the other chance needs it rest.
In my opinion the best possible exploit for the vita is to dissemble the vitas game cartridge and have its content dumped and to be edited on the pc and transferred back on to the cartridge. The overway is javascript, which is more or less c++ without booleans and to create optimised games in the vitas web browser. That way I got freerider hd on the vita with choppy framerate, but in time sony may improve the vitas webbrowser.
All I am saying is don’t get your hopes up to high to find that your dreams are crushed. 2012 – 2015 Psvita -sony’s liability.
You’re not all that smart, are you? The psp is a piece of junk compared to the vita.
You forget that the psp has been exploited many times, and believe it or not sony had originally planned for the psp to run slimmed down ps2 games. And was clocked at 1ghz, this caused battery problems so sony underclocked it. 🙁
Imagine if they made the psp with that extra horse power, It would have been muuch better for emulation.
Guess I’ll skip out on this then.. I only use my Vita when I have time sit down and actually play a game… I’ll await the day on 2018 when a CFW :p
Gotta give him props for sticking to this to give options to those who want to take advantage of them!
Well, like I have said I am open about having a real half life port for the psp.
And btw I cannot wait to share my own work on the forum when it is ready.
I definitely do think eventually the scene will find a way to eliminate the limitations eventually. Locks and doors will be cracked in time.. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. One limitation you mentioned, like the need to connect to PC via USB in order to play native PSVita homebrew though…. man, that definitely one day needs to be lifted, for sure. Can’t imagine every time.. wanting to boot up an emulator to play a game.. but can’t because you don’t have a PC around to help! Irritating. But hey, I’m still pretty glad there’s finally a legit native hack announced for the PSVita fortunately, so I’m not going to complain much. And the lack of PSTV support, darn that is a shame. Well, other than those big limitations, I think I’m good with the others.
ACK!! Just noticed I said “eventually” twice -_-
Wololo, can we get a edit option? Lol
He should change this lame comment section with Dic.k.qus (Disqus).
yeah bad surprise , i have updated my psvita tv for install the PSM apps . -_-
Please i don’t need this to game (yet) i just wan’t to use my vita as PC controller…..
please can somebody make that on this hack/exploit.
would be a very cool and very doable proof of concept 😉 maybe even with fancy interface for changing buttons around
Dongle cracks are nothing new. Not being a programmer myself but seeing enough in my years whatever happens via the cable between the desktop app can be emulated if someone can debug it. I have a lot of hope for this, if I’m wrong; I’m wrong. 😛
^^ If the above is true, then PSTV will maybe eventually have support as well.
Well mr gas showed off some fancy vita tv stuff a while back, he was playing games that required a touch screen to play or unsupported. He was playing uncharted golden abyss. Wonder why he has been quiet.
I will buy a New memory soon and want to know if I could download the PSM App. I have the app on my other PS vita memory plz reply my comment sorry for bad English
Yes you can. Just make a backup of the 1st card then insert the 2nd and sync it.
How could i do that plz step by step guide
Any one help me plz !!
You may be able to upload it to a PS3 or PC with the Content Manager and/or QCMA. After that, just “unbackup” it to the new memory card , and it should have it as well.
Many thanks to you my friend you helped me a lot Dustin May
Hopefully some of these “problems” are all temporary. It reminds me in the early days of the PSP on firmware 1.5 when the first exploit came out called “swap-sploit.” It required swapping a memory card during the launch of a homebrew. For a while many users thought this limitation would only be overcome by a entirely new exploit in the device, but then it was later discovered a filing trick would loop around the limitation, then came Kxploit. Really good times the PSP homebrew scene. Just thinking about the PSP scene get’s me a little gitty lol.
I have a vita 3:18 with psm dev installed, so I could not to leave, can still run that rejuvenate?
If the dev app is installed on your Vita, then yes, you’ll be able to run Rejuvenate.