We last talked about YoYo loader about a couple months ago. Since then, developer Rinnegatamante has been pushing a few more updates to the game engine client. The compatibility list has been steadily increasing, with 710+ games now tested supported, which represents about 75% of tested games (up from 70% in July). More games are probably actually already working, pending somebody to test and report.

The nightly builds over the past 2 months do not seem to have fixed or improved any significant underlying engine part, but have added more community keymaps (to make the games easy to play on PS Vita without a keyboard) and banners. Always good to update with the nightly build if you can, and in particular with VitaDB Downloader it should be a breeze.

What is YoYoLoader / GameMaker Studio Launcher for PS Vita

From the developer:

YoYo Loader is a loader for libyoyo.so, the official GameMaker Studio Runner application for Android, for the PS Vita. YoYo Loader works by loading such ARMv7 executable in memory, resolving its imports with native functions and patching it in order to properly run. This enables to run potentially any game made with GameMaker Studio.

What is supported

For PC/Console exported games, you will need to perform an assets swap with a blank Android exported project with a Game Maker Studio version similar or equal of the one of the game you want to attempt to run.

Note that patches to the bytecode may still be required in order to fix resolution, inputs or performances issues. Any game reported as Native, instead, will work with simple drag’n’drop of the apk.

A comprehensive Compatibility List can be found here: https://yoyo.rinnegatamante.it. You can contribute to it by opening an Issue here: https://github.com/Rinnegatamante/YoYo-Loader-Vita-Compatibility/issues.

What’s new in YoYo Loader

• Lots of new keymaps and banners

Make your own PS Vita homebrew with Game Maker Studio

According to Rinne, YoYo Loader is compatible with virtually every GMS game out there, including those created with the latest and greatest version of GameMaker Studio. This means you can now create your own Vita homebrew games with GMS. (and for other platforms too, obviously). You can purchase GameMaker studio e.g. from the Humble Store (affiliate link).

Download YoYo Loader for PS Vita

You can Download Yoyo Loader (GameMaker Studio loader for PS Vita) from the developer’s github here.

As a reminder, you’ll need a hacked PS Vita in order to run this and any other homebrew on the console.

Setup instructions (from the readme)

In order to properly install the loader, you’ll have to follow these steps precisely:

• Install kubridge and FdFix by copying kubridge.skprx and fd_fix.skprx to your taiHEN plugins folder (usually ux0:tai) and adding two entries to your config.txt under *KERNEL:

 *KERNEL
  ux0:tai/kubridge.skprx
  ux0:tai/fd_fix.skprx

Note Don’t install fd_fix.skprx if you’re using rePatch plugin

• Install libshacccg.suprx, if you don’t have it already, by following this guide.
• Games must be placed inside ux0:data/gms/GAMENAME, where GAMENAME must refer to the name of the game, in form of an apk file renamed as game.apk. You can get all the required files directly from your phone.
• Inside the loader, you can also find a feature, by pressing Triangle in the game selector screen, to optimize the apk. Such feature will optimize compression of the files inside the apk to not cause stuttering and loading issues and will also remove any unnecessary file thus reducing the final apk size.

Keymaps:

YoYo Loader supports mapping of physical buttons to keyboard keys for those games that have not working controller code. It may be especially useful for PC asset swapped games.

A guide on how to set it up can be found here: https://gist.github.com/CatoTheYounger97/ce19685d349d913f9a2f097464453c97