What is it?

Vita Half-Byte Loader is a homebrew loader for the Playstation Vita. It runs on the PSP emulator embedded on the Vita.

This is the official VHBL download page for people who own a copy of one of the following PSP Games: Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (US/EU), Monster hunter Portable 2ndG (JP), Monster hunter Freedom 2 (EU), and Monster Hunter Portalble 3rd (JP). If you don’t own one of these games, go back to the VHBL page to see if we have a version of VHBL working with a game you own.

This version of VHBL is compatible with firmware 1.80 and below. If you try to run this on Firmwares above 1.80, it will most likely fail.

Check the VHBL page for more details on this tool.

Downloads

Choose the file that matches your game:

• VHBL R160 for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Monster Hunter Portable 2ndG (US/EU/JP) (Recommended, this is the most extensively tested version)
• VHBL R160 for Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (JP)
• VHBL R160 for Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (EU)

How to Install and Run HBL on Monster hunter Freedom Unite

• It is *strongly* recommended that you turn of all wireless connections on your PS Vita, and that you use OpenCMA on your PC instead of the regular CMA. This is recommended because otherwise your console has a way to force you to upgrade the firmware even before you get a chance to use the exploit.
• Extract the HBL archive matching your version of the game in your CMA PSP Savedata folder. It is a folder on your PC named PSSAVEDATA/[lots of random characters here]. If you don’t know where it is, check your settings in CMA
• Connect your PS Vita to the PC through the CMA, it should give you the possibility to copy the savedata from your PC to the Vita. If not, you probably extracted it in the wrong folder. (Note: You will also want to install some homebrews with a similar technique, read the section below)
• To run HBL, start the game, and the savegame should load automatically. Once you reach the main menu, click on “Download” and select “yes” to whatever question is being asked. At this point, VHBL should start. See the video below for a more “visual” explanation

How to Install and Run Homebrews

Installing homebrews on the PSP was an easy task. On the Vita, until better solutions are provided, it’s quite a pain in the ***.
The CMA will only let you copy savedata, and will not recursively browse folders.

To address this, HBL comes with a tool that can extract archives with a specific structure.

Packaging the homebrew for installation on the Vita:
1) download PSP homebrews from your favorite website
2) extract the homebrew somewhere on your hard drive, and with your favorite utility, zip it again with the store setting (no compression), in a file that you will name “INSTALL.ZIP” (uppercase is important). If your compression tool does not have compression options, I recommend 7zip.
3) take any PSP savedata (but not the one used for HBL!), and add the “INSTALL.ZIP” to that folder, in your PC CMA folder. so your PSP Savedata will look something like this:
in folder PSSAVEDATA/1a2b3c4def5678/UCUS12345000/ (or something like this) you will have the following files:
– ICON0.png
– PIC1.png
– DATA.bin
– PARAMS.SFO
– INSTALL.ZIP

On this page you will find several pre-packaged homebrews that have already been prepared to run with VHBL.

Installing:
1) run OpenCMA on your PC, and CMA on your Vita
2) copy the previously packaged SAVEDATA (see above) with your homebrew in “INSTALL.ZIP” on your Vita
3) run HBL (how to run HBL is explained in the previous section)
4) navigate with the HBL menu to the SAVEDATA folder, then go to the folder you just downloaded (in my example, UCUS12345000), and click cross or circle on it
5) At this point, the HBL menu should ask you if you want to install the homebrew. select yes, and wait until HBL is done extracting your homebrew
6) The homebrew is now installed, and you can run it by going to the GAME folder, if everything went well, a new subfolder with your homebrew has been created here, and you can run the homebrew

Need more help? Check our forums for more downloads and tutos

More

OpenCMA is strongly recommended to install if you want to use VHBL. Open CMA is a tool by Virtuous Flame that allows you to copy files from and to your vita without being connected to the internet. This is useful, especially if you don’t want Sony to forcefully update your firmware.

Looking for homebrews that run on VHBL? Check this thread with dozens of tested and pre-packaged homebrews.
Alternatively, check this list which contains a series of homebrews that have been tested on this specific version of VHBL.