PS Vita/PSP: ARK (PSP/ePSP Custom Firmware) 10 released

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ARK, the Custom Firmware for PSP (compatible with both PSP/Vita) has been back in activity (thanks to Acid_Snake) for about a year now, and is regularly getting new updates. Today, Ark v10 was released.

What’s ARK for PSP/PS Vita

The PSP is one of the best homebrew devices. It had a striving community, and a lot of developers pushed it to its limit, in particular with emulators that achieved incredible performance for those days (ok, I won’t pretend it’s the best way to play emulators nowadays though, but it still works great for older generation consoles such as the NES, SNES, GBA…).

Running a Custom firmware on the PSP turned a decent console into an insane beast. And the same remains true on the PS Vita: As the Vita has a full fledged PSP emulator embedded, it is possible (and recommended!) to install a PSP Custom Firmware on the PS Vita.

That’s where ARK comes into play, being a custom firmware that works for both the PSP and the PS Vita. It comes with impressive features (from the readme):

Features:

  • Core system for unsigned code execution on every PSP device based on 6.60 kernel.
  • Inferno driver Version 2 compatible with ISO, CSO, ZSO, JSO and DAX format.
  • Popcorn controller for custom PS1 games.
  • Stargate No-DRM engine.
  • Plugin support for PSP games, PSX games and VSH (XMB), including per-game plugins.
  • Compatible with all PSP models on firmwares 6.60 and 6.61.
  • Compatible with all PS Vita models on firmware 2.10 and up.
  • Minimalistic: only 6 files installed on PSP flash, CFW extensions are installed on memory stick.
  • Custom game launcher with built-in game categories file browser, FTP server and client, modernized look and more.

What’s new in ARK 10

Here’s what’s new in Ark since 9.7r2, which was the last time we talked about it:

Release 10

  • Heavily improved SystemControl and Inferno Driver.

Release 9.8

  • Added DAX and JISO support.
  • Improved core compatibility.
  • Several improvements and bugfixes.

Release 9.7 Rev 5

  • Now using an updated savedata folder provided by Yoti.

Release 9.7 Rev 4

  • Several fixes to the FTP Client and overall improvements to the custom launcher.

Release 9.7 Rev 3

  • Added FTP client to custom launcher’s file browser.
    You can now browse and copy entire files and folders from another PSP.
    And you can use the FTP client and the FTP server simultaneously.
    This release only affects the custom launcher.

Download and install ARK for PSP/PS Vita

To get Ark V10 stable, go to this specific release.

 

 

alternatively, if you want the latest and greatest (automated builds with each commit), head over to the release section of the developer’s github to get the latest release.

Installation instructions in the readme.