HENkaku FAQ – What to expect from HENkaku, the PS Vita 3.60 exploit?
In a few hours, we expect HENkaku, the first PS Vita Native Homebrew Enabler, to be released by team Molecule. Lots of questions are surfacing already so here’s a quick summary:
What is HENkaku for PS Vita?
HENkaku is a homebrew enabler for the PS Vita. It will run native vita homebrews such as these emulators.
Does HENkaku support PS TV?
Yes, although a last minute bug means PS TV might not be supported immediately at launch. This should be fixed soon after launch, according to the developers
Update 2: Team molecule has found the issue and a fix is underway. PSTV support might still make the launch. Each vpk still needs update.
— Yifan (@yifanlu) July 29, 2016
What kind of software can I run with HENkaku?
Native homebrew applications for the PS Vita such as these emulators. There is some expectation that this could also be later used to enable the failmail tricks (app.db update) as well as, ultimately, run PSP homebrews and backups, although this is not supported out of the box.
Does HENkaku let me run PS Vita game backups?
No. Future hacks might enable this, but the team behind HENkaku is not working on such a feature.
What PS vita Firmwares does HENkaku run on?
Firmware 3.60, the latest and greatest PS Vita firmware at the time of this writing
Will HENkaku be ported to lower firmwares?
According to Yifanlu, this is doable but he says it’s unlikely it will happen anytime soon. In particular team molecule will not work on such a port.
@sjake333 we will not support it but it can be ported. Don’t expect it to be released within a year though.
— Yifan (@yifanlu) July 28, 2016
Will HENkaku work on future Vita firmwares (e.g. firmware 3.61, 3.65, or 3.70?)
No, it is quite guaranteed that Sony will patch the exploit powering HENkaku in their next update. A new exploit would be required to enable homebrew again beyond firmware 3.60
I use Rejuvenate/Failmail/TN-V/ARK/VHBL on firmware x.yz. Should I upgrade to 3.60 to run HENkaku?
The decision is up to you, but here’s what Yifanlu said about this:
Rejuvenate and FailMail trick are now deprecated (since we have fs access with this hack, all your failmail tricks are even easier. in fact, people can write homebrew apps that do all your favorite tweaks).
Haven’t tested this, but you should be able to create signed PSP bubbles, so PSP homebrew should work that way.
The rest… well the official stance of this subreddit is that we do not endorse piracy, so PSP iso loading is not supported. But I can’t imagine it’ll be that difficult for people to figure out.
How do I install/run HENkaku?
courtesy of Davee
All details can be found on the official site. It is worth noting the exploit is free and does not require any additional software to run besides the Vita browser.
Copying homebrews to your vita will require you to install an FTP client on your computer such as Filezilla.
One of the known limitations is that the hack will need to be “reactivated” by visiting the official page every time you power off your Vita. pressing the power button does not power off your ps vita, it puts it to sleep. To power off the vita, it either needs to run out of battery, or you long pressing the power button and explicitly selecting “power off”. Think of how many times you actually do that with your phone, and you should realize this is not a big limitation 🙂
Can I get my PSN account banned by Sony for using HENkaku?
As with any scene release, there is some level of risk that Sony could detect, then later on ban, people using the HENkaku exploit. The actual level of risk of such an event is completely unknown at this point, although in the past PS Vita users have not been banned for using Rejuvenate or any of the ePSP hacks. PS vita users should decide if they want to create a new “fake” account on their PS vita to reduce their risk, of if they are fine using their actual account.
I totally have another question that you didn’t answer here!
Go ahead and ask our community for help here.
Two questions:
How do I block newer updates on my Vita?
Where can I find more info about transfering homebrew through Filezilla?
This is what I’m wondering. I don’t want it to keep bothering me about future system updates. I know VITA Update Blocker used to work, but it hasn’t supported newer firmwares for quite some time.
I and Hackinformer are working on other vulnerabilities, but it’s not certain whether they are valid for later firmwares until HENkaku and Sony’s patches become available.
If you want HENkaku, you should stay on 3.60.
# Anyway, it’s amazing if those vulnerabilities lead to native hacks. I’m really excited!
so psp iso loader? or are we too afraid to talk about it?
Give it a week or so.
It’s probably very similar to setting up custom bubbles.
Do we even need a kernel exploit for the PSPemu for it to run unsigned games? What are the limits of Henkaku when it comes to file system permissions? Can we write to the games folder? So many questions 🙁
I’m staying on 3.18 with TNV,
hoping for a port to a later date, or
I’ll buy a game with 3.60 firmware
in the cart an update to a later date
(if carts with the 3.60 firmware
will ever be released…)
In the end, a porting to all the nice old firmwares would be ideal,
with a way for firmware spoofing too. Can’t update to 3.60 since
I still have two kiseki games to play and another jrpg.
If this had come a year from now, I would’ve jumped on it for sure.
Too bad.
Also, the irony: I stop following on twitter that yufi guy since he never
releases anything but just makes unrelated scene tweets…and then it does this.
Nice.
You can always manually update to 3.60, you don’t actually need a cart with 3.60 on it to install 3.60 on your vita.
But if Sony releases 3.61, or 3.65 and so on, I won’t.
You can’t choose the firmware you want to update to…
Unless you can put it on your pc and transfer it to your Vita…(you can?)
or unless you make some kind of redirect to tell Vita to go download
3.60 from the server (provided the firmware is still there…and what if they patch it and screw us all?)
instead of 3.61
You can choose the firmware you want to update to. You just need the update file and put your vita into safe mode and boot the file from your content manager. (I think) probably best to turn airplane mode on so that it doesnt connect to the net and try to download the new update
I use a proxy app like Charles to switch what Vita update I want to install.
I garnered from another comment that Odin Sphere comes with firmware 3.60.
Have two vitas: One on 3.60 for Remote Play, Trophies and Online
Second on 3.18 with TNV-11&X.
Gonna Try out Henkaku on my 3.60 Vita, if TNV-11&X gets Ported, i’ll update my second vita.
Not gonna update my 3.18 now since once you update you can’t go back. No point in updating and losing PSP and PS1 access and never getting it back.
Probably wont update my 3.60 for quite a while though so im downloading all my content from PSN and saving them on my PC.
How do you copy it bavk to Vita?
vita cmd or can use ps3
ment vita cma vita qcma or ps3.
I am on 3.18 and still enjoying my TN-V exploits and PSP games. I will wait until HENkaku supports 3.18 or 3.60 HENkaku supports PSP Games installation on the Vita. Either way I am happy to know that PS Vita was revived again.Who knows it may surpass PSP’s Greatness in the Future.
I’m glad I can finally update my PS Vita and access the PSN Store, at least for a while. Downloading to PS3 and then using the QCMA trick to transfer them to my PS Vita is a pain. It didn’t even seem any faster than downloading directly through wireless from the store.
Never used Rejuvenate because it was such a pain to activate, though I did download the PSM Assistant at the time, and stayed on the lower firmware just in case a better exploit was found that only worked there.
Please allow me to clarify, but is HENkaku superior to the 3.50 Rejuvenate?
Is updating from 3.50 to 3.60 in order to obtain HENkaku worth it?
I also have this question, I’ve ashed YiFan by Twitter if HENkaku also have limitations as Rejuvenate did. Wololo on one of articles stated that HENkaku will “open” the full potential of Vita – I did not get answer. So to the point my question was if HENkaku will use all cpu cores and more mHz for homebrew. Rejuvenate was limited to only of around 400 mHz of total 1 gHz of Vitas CPU (the limitation for PS Mobile Platform). So waiting for answers, but still I am on 6.60 because I get some games form PS Store to Play, but as far I know HENkaku will have potential of all mail tricks that was revelead some time ago. It is in my opinion good playground for reverse engineering and hackers to play with.
It’s same, apparently, but you don’t have to sacrifice a cat every time you want to run Rejuvenate homebrew – they will be installed as bubbles and run untethered.
can’t get it to work, keep getting cw-12828-1 error
power off your vita and turn it back on, try again. worked for me after a reboot. it says that in the FAQ…..
Yes, a restart to the Vita resolved my issue.
But my PSTV is stuck on a C2-12828-1 error, on/off does not resolve 🙁
Awaiting update, since they mentioned it may not run upon launch?
It seems its problem with the load, it was givin me the same error. I’ve just turn my vita off and turn it on again, tried and it work like a charm.
It seems its problem with the load, it was givin me the same error. I’ve just turn my vita off and turn it on again, tried and it worked like a charm.
Unable to connect thru FTP, client does not see server, even tho both are on the same network, same subnet.
You have to start the ftpserver using SELECT in the Molecule program.
how to install the mgba emulator? it is not on .vpk file extension it is .velf and vita is not recognizing it please help
For me it works good, but reactivating it will be pain to custom, but if some of you have wii u it will be as norm for browser hacking
This is so fun, I can totally tell how excited you guys are with all these articles, looks like you’ll be playing emus all day too haha!
Happy hacking everyone!!!!
My question is if it also works on the old OLED Vita, because I tried it (3.60 of course) and the Browser crashes after the Welcome Popup, even after I restart my Vita.
it works! im using the oled vita. just keep on trying and restarting if it gives an error. if i can only figure out how to install the mgba emulator. can someone help me pls!
Ok, thx, than i will try it again. 🙂
URGH the emulators are few and far between. cant install retroarch yet cause molecule shell only accepts vpk not velf like retroarch and the snes9x. Anyone know how to install or run the velf files?
if i want to stay at 3.18 for now can i update to 3.60 later incase that 3.61 or later is release by sony ?
Not working
state what model do you have and try always restart vita after getting errors
Guys dont bother yet. None of the homebrew available works. Most of them are in velf format and the ones in vpk (of which there is 2 gameboy and mega drive) the gameboy one has an error on launch and the mega drive one shows no roms so this hack at the moment is simply and ftp server…
I wouldn’t say don’t bother. But if you’re in a situation where you have no homebrew or don’t care, you should DEFINITELY get it NOW. Sure, the homebrew software is rough because it hasn’t been updated to take advantage of this, but in time it may be the only native hack and waiting because the first week is rough could be a terrible decision.
Well, it isnt hard to port a brew it has an open source. (which I believe snes and mgba do)
I can probably do it once Im all setup.
Huh? It works fine. Just make sure you download the dev build, I’ve been playing gba and snes for hours now hahaha
Can we port ppsspp on vita through this exploit? (I know vita already has psp support natively but it so pixelated) ppsspp could be run psp games in higher resolution. It could fantastic to have ppsspp on vita.
You probably won’t be able to run ppsspp smoothly at a higher resolution/with effects, if at all. Remember it’s an emulator, it takes so much more to actually run than something built natively, like the default psp one. Probably better to hope for some mod that lets you modify the resolution in the native app, but that’s also far-fetched. Eventually it might show up, though 🙂
Well i tried giving this a shot since you know its free and all.
Installation of Henkaku worked with no problems, FTP worked with no problems.
The only problem is the emulator that i tried GenesisPlusGXVITA and even though the emulator loads, it doesn’t actually play any games, all i get when trying to load any game is “Error loading cartrige”. That plus the inability to see any files other than .bin is annoying as heck since some games are in .smd and .md .
Guess all we need is better software for it now.
yeap… maybe it will reborn the scene and some devs may port emulators for many platforms…
I am going to wait to update my Vita with TN-V on it as I don’t want to loose the ability to run my purchased PSP games that Sony for whatever reason won’t allow on the Vita but work perfectly fine.
Maybe this will allow us to finally bypass the stupid Vita/PS TV whitelist that Sony has so we can play Vita games that don’t require the touchpads yet can’t be played on the PS TV for whatever reason or PSP/PSOne games for that same reason. I’d love to play some Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank or Sly Cooper on my PS TV.
I really don’t care about playing ISOs or whatever yet. I have plenty of PSP digital purchases that I’d love to play on the Vita but can’t due to the whitelist.
at this point it is no offering any new thing for end users so update to last fw is not good ida at all , stay where you are.
behind of this hack is some webkit exploid that should be intresting . so end users should still w8
I’m really considering updating my 1.81 psvita
Work in 3.50??? Thanks
Wow, I feel quite warm and fussy thatr my tweet was included in this guide.
With Henkaku will we be able to unlock the 3G mode to use a service that’s NOT AT&T? Also, can we circumvent the single PSN account limit? (Y’know, be able to access stuff on multiple accounts without having to factory reset the system every fricken time you change memory cards?)
if i run this can I still use my vita the same way as I do i.e. the games I’ve downloaded or remote play with my ps4?
i’ve been trying to install it but keep having the error after Welcome to henkaku… i’ve done everything but nothing :/… what should i do at this point????
Will this finally allow cheats on PS Vita games?
Tried to run VitaDoom, said no WADS found.
What do I do?
Google for doom shareware wad
It only works with official wads
“Think of how many times you actually do that with your phone, and you should realize this is not a big limitation”
I completely turn off my PS Vita when I am not using it, and, while I do not have a phone, if I did, I would turn it off whenever I am not outside (would not want the battery low when it is actually needed)
“PS vita users should decide if they want to create a new “fake” account on their PS vita to reduce their risk, of if they are fine using their actual account.”
It is great that HENkaku allows for homebrew, but the risk of losing your account or the inability to play the games that are on your account makes it very unappealing.
Not only that, but I have seen many things shut down for various reasons, so I am worried that, if the site ever goes down, you will basically be out of luck.
So is HENkaku ever going to work without an online connection?
Also, do the positives of it outweigh the negatives for the average person?
I have not given much attention to homebrew on the PS Vita lately, but from what I have seen there have been no N64/Saturn/etc. emulators, cheat engines, or game translations.
Is there anything that makes homebrew worth it right now?
Anyway, I am very happy about the progress that has been made with the PS Vita so far, and I think that the people who made that progress are great for having continued to work on it.
I’m already on Henkaku, and it literally takes less than two minutes to install after booting (including navigation to web app, etc.) Just favorite the site. And don’t worry about the site being taken down, there’s already ways to run it locally so you can install it without internet. I’m sure plenty of people already localized it in case it was taken down. So yes, it already works without an online connection (there’s still some tinkering involved, but the hack is 2 days old!)
In my opinion, the positives massively outweigh the negatives. And there is no “average person”, it’s all up to you if it’s worth it or not. Personally, I would recommend everyone not hacked to update to 3.6 and stay there for a couple of months. That should allow enough time for the scene to develop somewhat, and then you can make your decision. Expect lots of good stuff though.
As for game translations, other emulators and cheat engines, just give it some time! They’ll come out eventually, remember the hack is 2 years old. Yes, rejuvenate has been around for a while, but it’s so damn hacky that the scene was much smaller than this one will be. Now that Henkaku is extremely accessible, it will raise interest and cause developers to want to port their applications to it. Back in rejuvenate, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Now people are going back to their Vitas just to download this.
Figures a month after I denounce this “dead” I get a curious little email from the site mailing list about this. Guess I was wrong to jump to conclusions quickly. Sorry about that.
I installed henkaku but I know nothing of how to hack/ put the emulators on my vita so I’m just getting a psp. But while henkaku was downloading I turned my vita off, it won’t turn back on 🙁
How to ps vita ftp connect android smartphone?
Is it possiable henkaku can devoloped in the future to hack 3.61 !!!
how to delete error vpk installed i try to install assasin creed III and i want to delete the insatlled error package
i have error 0x80010001 when try delete game in app with molecule
is it possible to unhack or unjailbreak the psvita at this point? what if i want to set it back to factory defaults to sell it.
can we play the vpk games that we installed without activating henkau first after a reboot?