A week ago, TheFlow teased a homebrew utility called modoru that many people in the PSVita thought to be a firmware downgrading utility. Thankfully, this assumption was correct and now, TheFlow has released it thus letting you downgrade your PSVita / PSTV to any firmware it can run!

What is modoru?

As its name (which is in Japanese) suggests, modoru is a utility to downgrade your PSVita’s firmware version as modoru means “to go back” in Japanese. This utility was developed by TheFlow with help from Yifan Lu (research on downgrading), Team Molecule (SCE decryption utilities), SKGleba (beta testing), Freakler (LiveArea screen) and liblor (for the cool name).

With this utility, you can downgrade to any firmware version that your PSVita’s motherboard supports which means that you can install FW 3.60/5 on almost every PSVita/PSTV console, except for the latest PSVita 2000 models, in order to get HENkaku Enso which allows you to run homebrew/plugins at boot-time without having to load up h-encore first!

TheFlow assures us that modoru is pretty safe and bricking your console is very unlikely to happen but before using modoru, there are some important things you should keep in mind:

• Your PSVita’s battery needs to be at 50% to use the utility
  • Don’t even think about hex-editing the binary to bypass this limit as having your Vita shutdown during the downgrading process might lead to a hard brick
  • I personally recommend you charge your PSVita to 100% before downgrading it to be on the safe side especially if your battery isn’t very good
• You must disable all plugins before using modoru which means that you can’t use this with SD2Vita!
  • You must have an official Sony memory card if using this with the PSVita 1K.
  • If you have a PSVita 2K (Slim) or a PSTV, you can use the 1GB of internal storage instead.
  • Disabling plugins can be easily done by renaming your ux0:/tai and ur0:/tai folders to something else.
• SKGleba’s IMCUnlock should be uninstalled prior to downgrading with modoru
• As of right now, modoru only works on firmware versions that are PUBLICLY hacked (FW 3.60, 3.65, 3.67 and 3.68).
  • When a hack for FW 3.69/3.70 is released, modoru will be compatible out of the box as per the README linked below.
• While you can downgrade to firmwares below FW 3.60, such as FW 3.18 and 1.60, I personally do not recommend doing so since they do not have HENKaku/taiHEN (native hacks) with the exception of limited support through MemeKaku on FW 3.55/7.

How do I use it?

Downgrading with modoru is pretty straightforward and can be done with a few simple steps:

1. Install the modoru VPK file by downloading it through the GitHub link below
   • You may install it via VHBB since it’s available on VitaDB
     

     If you open modoru without disabling plugins, it’ll let refuse to work so you won’t mess your Vita if you open modoru without checking out its README!

2. Download the firmware of your choice (usually FW 3.60/3.65) and copy the “PSP2UPDAT.PUP” file to ux0:app/MODORU000
   • This must be done after installing the modoru application else it’ll be deleted
   • You have to use the “full” firmware PUP file not the “systemdata” or “pre” ones
   • Darthsternie has an excellent firmware archive where you can get PUP files from!
3. Disable your plugins, read the points above and also check out the official README which is linked below
4. Restart your device and run HENkaku/H-Encore
   • You’ll have to do this even if you have HENkaku Enso on your PSVita as renaming ux0:/tai and ur0:/tai will not let you run homebrew. FW 3.60 users can use the good ol’ WebKit exploit from here while FW 3.65-8 users have to install h-encore.
   • You also have to enable unsafe homebrew from Settings
5. Open modoru and follow the on-screen instructions (i.e press X to downgrade)
6. Enjoy your freshly installed firmware!

Without a doubt, almost everyone with some technological know-how can do this process but always read the instructions twice and check out the FAQ linked below.

Conclusion

TheFlow is currently giving instant Twitter blocks to anybody asking him something that’s already in the FAQ so make sure you read through it carefully before asking TheFlow a stupid question on Twitter 🙂 If you wish to donate to TheFlow, you may do so by supporting him on Patreon or through his PayPal account/BitCoin address which can be found in the README link below.

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Modoru’s README (please read this before using this software + includes download link): https://github.com/TheOfficialFloW/modoru/blob/master/README.md

TheFlow’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheOfficialFloW