The PSVita homebrew scene is still alive and well which means that interesting stuff is still dropping! This time, we have VitaGrafix Configurator, a homebrew game called RPPHS and an update to DaedalusX64 for the PSP!

VitaGrafix Configurator

As its name suggests, VitaGrafix Configurator is a utility by Kirezar that allows you to set up Electry’s VitaGrafix plugin. This Lua utility allows you to select between supported games and graphically set their:

• Whether VitaGrafix is enabled for them or not
• The in-game OSD
  

  VitaGrafix Configurator in action

• The Internal resolution
• The Framebuffer resolution
• FPS Cap
• It must be noted that some options aren’t available for all titles as this utility only shows options that VitaGrafix supports!
  • You need to have VitaGrafix already installed to use this utility!

Thanks to this utility, you don’t have to mess around with the config file yourself which could be a bit of a daunting task to do with the on-screen keyboard of your PSVita/PSTV. Furthermore, this utility allows you to test different settings more quickly which makes it even more useful coupled with an a plugin that has an FPS counter like LOLIcon or Framecounter.

Thanks Kirezar for making my request in the VitaGrafix article a reality 😉

RPPHS – A top-down shooter similar to Geometry Wars

RPPHS is a homebrew game by G333333 and MotoLegacy that’s similar to Geometry Wars (Geometry Wars 3 is available on the Vita). This top-down shooter is still a little rough around the edges but it still works pretty well. Feature-wise, it’s at the current state:

• A good framerate while playing the game
• Two different weapons which are a laser beam and bombs
• Simple but nicely designed ‘enemies’ that you have to shot at
• Usage of the right analogue stick for aiming
  

  In-game screenshot of RPHSS

• Background music and sound effects – remember to configure their volume via the ‘Options’ menu
• Nice little particle animations when you kill an enemy, drop a bomb or when your beams hit the wall
• The touchscreen isn’t used so this game is PSTV friendly

While feature-wise, it’s mostly there, there are some things that I think require a bit of fixing up. These things range from uncentered score information when you pause the game, the missing capitalisation in the ‘quit’ entry of the main menu and the lack of a controls tutorial. Something that also rubs me a bit the wrong way is that the sprite you control is facing one way but you can shoot the other way which makes it look unnatural.

Hopefully, the two behind this game fix the rough spots and transform this into an excellent game as I think this game only needs a bit of polish to be awesome!

DaedalusX64 v1.1.3

DaedalusX64 is an N64 emulator for the PSP but many people use it on their PSVita/PSTV because there’s no native alternative. ‘TheMrIron2’ and ‘z2442’ seem to be working on improving this mad hack-up of an emulator. Recently, version 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 have been released and these brought along:

• Minor changes to the code and makefile along with compilation via the latest PSP SDK – version 1.1.2
• Code optimisation which brought about faster math processing and improvements in the emulation of the Media Engine; both of these combined provide better performance which may make some N64 titles more enjoyable – v1.1.3
  

  Updates to Daedalus are becoming somewhat substantial which could result in noticeable improvements!

  • TheMrIron2 also mentioned that he intends to rewrite the Media Engine’s job manager which would speed up sound processing and bring massive speed-ups to games like F-Zero X. He’s already done some commits from when v1.1.3 was released so that may mean that a new release may be up soon!
  • Version 1.1.3 is only provided in EBOOT.PBP format so you must have version 1.1.2 or another version of DaedalusX64 installed to use it.

Conclusion

To get the homebrew mentioned in this article, simply follow the links below. If you encounter any bugs, report them in the Issues tabs of the GitHub links below! VitaGrafix and RPPHS are both available on VitaDB so you can get them directly on your Vita via VHBB!

VitaGrafix Configurator GitHub release page: https://github.com/Kirezar/VitaGrafixConfigurator/releases/latest

VitaGrafix Configurator README (important info on how it works): https://github.com/Kirezar/VitaGrafixConfigurator/blob/master/README.md

RPPHS GitHub release page: https://github.com/G333333/RPPHS/releases/latest

RPHSS Wololo /talk page (more info): http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=49457

DaedalusX64 1.1.3 GitHub release page: https://github.com/z2442/daedalus/releases/latest