Half Byte Loader R99 (by JJS)

August 30, 2010 in HBL, release | 86 comments

While I was getting awfully sunburnt on a stupid beach, JJS was actively working on the HBL, thanks man! HBL Revision 99 comes with some major improvements. First, the dreaded “sceCtrlPeekBufferPositive” (the function that basically makes emulators run at full speed) should now be available on all models of PSP. Remember, it wasn’t correctly working on PSP 1000/2000/3000 on 6.20. Although there are still a few differences in the quality of syscall estimations for these models on this specific firmware, this major function is now working on all models, and you should all be able to enjoy full speed on your favorite emulators. This makes the “”override_sceCtrlPeekBufferPositive” obsolete, and if it hasn’t been done yet, this option will be removed from HBL in a future update (since it doesn’t do anything anymore).

This version also fixes most issues with the PSP HOME button, thanks to a patch by Nymphaea. It finally allows to run HBL from the memstick on a pspgo, and should fix the issue with controls introduced in R97.

I haven’t fully tested this release, but it’s been tested by a few people already, so I believe it’s good to go. For those who ask, R98 was released a few hours ago, but had a bug that prevented it to work correctly on a 6.20 PSPGo

Download here, as usual



Hello World + SDK for EU and US versions of Hots Shots golf (Everybody’s golf)

August 27, 2010 in HBL, hacking, release | 53 comments

FrEdDy kindly released a Hello World for the EU version of Minna no golf, (Everybody’s golf) , which now makes the exploit work worldwide (is there a Korean version? an AU version?). The Hello world has been confirmed by JJS to work on the PSN version of the game too. Video below by TiPi.



I also didn’t include the SDK for the US version when I released my own Hello world, so I’m fixing the mistake here.

People who want to download HBL for Minna no golf (JP), or the US hello world, or the JP Hello world for minna no golf 2, can check my previous article.

I’ll be busy like never for the next week or so in real life, so don’t expect too much from me on the port for now. Maybe some of the other devs of HBL will be working on it, otherwise please be patient. Merging J416’s port into our SVN and making all these regions’ exploits compatible with HBL is currently my main priority, so be sure that as soon as I have free time I’ll be working on that :)

Of course, if people want to provide exploits for Hot Shots golf 2, and everybody’s golf 2, please feel free to do so. The more the merrier!

HBL Released for 6.30/6.31

August 24, 2010 in HBL, hacking, release | 311 comments


Update:Added the US SDK, plus the EU Hello World
J416 finally released his port of the HBL for the firmware 6.30/6.31. The port uses an exploit in the Japanese version of the game Minna no golf portable. People who currently want to enjoy Homebrew on their 6.30/6.31 PSP need an original JP UMD of this game. Compatibility of the exploit with the PSN version of the game has been confirmed, for the US and EU versions of the game.

I haven’t tested HBL through this exploit yet, as I wanted the news out of the door asap, but I’ll be working on merging this port into the HBL SVN codebase in the days to come. Download links below.



HBL Currently only works with the Japanese version of Minna no golf, but Mamosuke confirmed that a similar exploit exists in Minna no golf 2, and I confirmed that the exploit exists in the US Version, “Hot Shots golf”. We will be working hard in the days/weeks to come, to adapt HBL to as many versions of the game as possible, meanwhile, here’s a summary list:

  • Minna no golf portable (JP UMD): Exploitable, runs HBL (J416’s port)
  • Minna no golf portable (JP PSN): Probably Exploitable, untested
  • Minna no golf portable 2 (JP UMD): Exploitable, Hello World by Mamosuke
  • Minna no golf portable 2 (JP PSN): Probably Exploitable, untested
  • Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee (US UMD and PSN Version): Exploitable, Hello World by wololo (SDK)
  • Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 (US UMD): probably exploitable
  • Everybody’s golf (EU UMD and PSN Version): Exploitable, Hello World by FrEdDy
  • Eveybody’s golf 2 (EU UMD): probably exploitable
  • Everybody’s golf 2 (EU PSN): probably exploitable

Do NOT buy the non JP versions of the game just based on hope. As long as nothing’s released, a promise is as good as a fake. Only trust releases. In other words, consider that for now, HBL only works with the JP version of the game!!!
Enjoy :)

J416’s exploit will be revealed in 24h

August 23, 2010 in HBL | 100 comments

J416 announced in his blog that he will reveal the name of the game in his exploit on the 24th at 10PM, I assume Japan time. That’s in 24h. I won’t spoil the fun, but be sure that I’ll announce it here as soon as possible.

I’ve received a bunch of questions regarding this release, so let me answer a few of them quickly: I am not directly related to this release therefore I don’t control the release date. Regarding the port itself, I assume that j416 adapted HBL R85 to his exploit (that’s the revision he was working on when he started). Neverheless, once his sources are released, we will do whatever we can to merge j416’s code into our SVN, so that both the Patapon version and this new version get synchronized to the latest revision.

Currently the HBL has only be adapted to the Japanese version of the game as far as I know. But the US version is vulnerable too (and, most likely, the EU version as well) so I believe porting it to this version will be doable in a reasonable amount of time.

This version of HBL will probably have performances similar to the HBL on PSP 3000/2000 on 6.20. The PSPGo on 6.20 had a “perfect syscall” mechanism (thanks mostly to JJS’ work), but it relied on a small kernel vulnerability which has apparently been patched.

Remember, this is an exploit in a UMD game, and HBL will only allow you to play homebrews. Don’t buy the game for an insane price.

HBL for OFW 6.30/6.31, release in less than a week

August 18, 2010 in HBL | 79 comments

Update: I could confirm that the US version of the game is exploitable as well, as I managed to write a Hello world for the US version :)

Coder J416′ s announced a few hours ago that his port for HBL on 6.31 is ready.

He had encountered issues unloading the main module of the game (understand: freeing some Ram for homebrews) so his work was delayed and the port of HBL wasn’t as easy as expected, but he figured out a solution to this critical issue yesterday, and announced that his code is almost ready. He announced on his blog that the release, as planned, would be done this month, most likely in less than a week.

The game used for the exploit is available on UMD and its name will be announced soon as well. It hasn’t been confirmed yet if this game is available on PSN (I’ll update this post as soon as I know). JP, US and EU versions of the game exist, although for now the exploit only works on the JP version (mostly because no hacker has worked on the US/EU versions yet, but there’s a good chance the exploit exists in those versions too, which we will of course investigate).

I will keep you updated as I get more news, if you can read Japanese you can follow the news on mamosuke’s blog or j416’s blog. I am not directly involved with this port (which was entirely done by j416) so I haven’t personally tested it yet, but mamosuke and j416 have kindly kept me updated in the past weeks (thanks guys :) ).

I’m extremely excited to see the results. Please keep in mind that HBL “only” allows you to play homebrews, so when the name of the game is released, please don’t buy it for an insane price if you’re expecting to play pirated games, or you’ll be disappointed. Also be sure that Sony will patch this exploit soon after it is released, so I think people who are using HBL with the patapon exploit should keep using it. Upgrading to 6.31 for the ability of playing network games, or connecting to the PSN, will probably just last for a few days/weeks before the exploit gets patched.

Stay tuned :)

Issues with Buttons in HBL R97

August 9, 2010 in HBL | 70 comments

Since I released HBL R97 yesterday, several owners of PSP 3000 and 2000 have experienced issues with the controls in their homebrews. The symptom: you run a homebrew and it keeps doing weird stuff as if you were pushing all keys like crazy.

Although I don’t understand the root cause yet, this issue can be fixed simply by opening the file hbl/hbl_config.txt with your favorite text editor (for example notepad), and removing this line:

force_exit_buttons=0×00000009

Then save the file, and you’re good to go. Of course, the “force exit” functionality will not work anymore, but I guess it’s better than have your homebrews do crazy stuff.

As far as I know, this issue only happens for psp2000/3000 owners with firmware 6.20. The PSP Go, in particular, is unaffected by this bug.

We’ll be working for a long term solution to this issue, but in the meantime, I wanted to let you know that we are aware of the problem.

By the way, you can follow the status of known issues here. This specific issue is tracked here

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