Altering the Save File pictures

* Anytime you save a game, one or two images are made on your memory stick: ICON#.PNG - the 144x80 image showed when you choose your saved file. The #, commonly 0, can be higher whenever a game puts more than one saves in single folder. PIC 1. PNG - the 480x272 background that is showed if you cursor over your save or game disk. Aware of this, you may custom-make your save images and backgrounds by merely substituting them with fresh . PNG files. Nevertheless, be sure that you retain the new file to a lesser degree or same to the master copy file's resolution, or the PSP will chop off sections to make it fit.

First link your PSP to your personal computer. Then find the save file you prefer to modify. Every save is placed in the PSPSAVEDATA folder, separated into different sub folders to retain required files collectively. When you have discovered the save icon you need to modify, put .ori to the end of the filename, just in case you ever prefer to modify it back to the previous condition. Resize the picture you want as you are save icon to 144x80 and then save it as a .PNG with the name ICON#.PNG - “where # was the number discovered on the file you renamed”. After that move the new image into your save folder.

Straight off, anytime you see your save files on the PSP, its image will be the picture you modified it to. Employ the similar technique to modify PIC 1.PNG files to your own custom images, but remember that the resolutions should be at most 480x272. *Do remember this is a little bit complex and could cause losing all saves if not executed correctly. This fine-tune is actually for those who know how to use these types of files.

How to keep your PSP screen smudge-free?

The most obvious way to keep the screen on your PSP smudge-free is to avoid touching it with your hand, keep your hands as dry, clean and grease-free as possible, and keep soft non-abrasive cloth nearby to wipe smudge. If these methods do not work for your PSP, there are some alternatives.

One option is a commercially available plastic screen. There are currently a number of plastic screen that keep your screen smudge-free. The anti-glare version works very well, as I have one that I've used, but I usually end up using it only while playing video games. The matte finish tends to make the picture quality of movies look a bit fuzzy. You may also can buy the ultra-clear version to maximize the clarity of your screen.

If you think branded plastic screen a bit too expensive, you may find inexpensive cellophane at your local craft store that will most likely work just as well.

Overall, remember that the best way to keep your PSP clean is to prevent it from getting dirty in the first place.

How to clean your PSP?

You could use soft cloth that is included with your PSP to wipe off the smudged screen. But after long-term use and it is more than smudged. Turn it off, use a damp cloth to clean the casing. Do not use any cleaning solvent products, as they could harm your PSP.

If something sticky gets on your PSP casing, put a tiny amount of cooking oil on a soft cloth and use it to clean it off. Then to remove excess oil, use a damp cloth with a a little amount of soap.

If something stucks inside the ports , such as the USB jack, headphone jack, or the power jack, gently rub the open ports with a soft dry cloth. If something stuck inseide the Memory Stick compartment or the UMD compartment, use a compressed air can to loosen up dirts out of these areas. If the lens inside the PSP that reads the UMD disks seems to be dirty, you can try putting a tiny bit of the solution from a DVD/CD cleaning kit on the end of a Q-Tip and reach carefully inside your PSP to clean the lens. Make sure the solution is safe for your PSP.

How to prevent your PSP from getting dirty?

When you are dealing with dirt, the best offense is always a good defense. It may sounds like cliches but that a sound advice. If you do not want your PSP to get dirty, keep it in an environment which is free of free of dirt. Do not leave it lying around your home uncovered, put it in the drawer or best on its package box. If you want to keep the PSP clean, yous must make sure that you keep all related devices of the PSP and clean. Keep your UMD discs in its cases and use clean USB cables to connect your PSP to your computer. If you find an old USB cable sitting in the corner of a drawer that, for some unknown reason, had crumbs and dirts across the bottom, you must take the time to ensure that all dust or pieces of crumbs that were in the drawers were carefully cleaned before you put the connector in your PSP.

In addition in maintaining your PSP and all devices of the PSP own, be sure that you are clean yourself. If you find your PSP always greasy and smudged look no farther than your own greasy hands, wash hands before playing. Make sure that they are clean, dry and free of grease when you want to play. If you do not want smudges on the screen, do not to touch the screen.

Frequent PSP Problems

All of the buttons of my PSP suddenly stopped working.

Be sure that you during playing you have accidentally slide the power button into the Hold position.

My PSP abruptly enter sleep mode during a game/movie/etc.

Be sure that you didn't accidentally slide the power button up into the Sleep position.

There's no sound/the sound too low.

Be sure that you have the sound volume turned up and you didn't accidentally hit the music note button (which mutes the console), and that you do/don't have the headphones plugged in (depending upon whether you are wearing headphones or not).

The picture on the screen is too dim/too bright.

Hit the little square button underneath the screen. This toggles through different screen brightness settings.

I cannot connect to my wireless network.

Be sure that you have turned on the WLAN switch on the bottom-left corner of your PSP.

My PSP's screen has a dead pixel.

If it is an actual dead pixel, then it isn't fixable. Learn to live with it, or try to sell it online and buy a new PSP. However, you may just have a stuck pixel. This may be fixable. There's an MPEG4 video available from various online PSP-associated sites, such as PSP Hacker (http://www.psphacker.com), called Dead Pixel Cleaner by Placasoft. This two-minute video will need to be loaded onto your Memory Stick. It flashes through red, blue, and green repeatedly and rapidly, filling your PSP's screen. The rapid instructions to change between these three key RGB colors can sometimes stimulate a frozen/stuck pixel, knocking it back to full functionality. So, if you have what looks to be a dead pixel, give this video a try. I've read several recommendations online that say you should leave it running in a loop for a good couple of hours, checking intermittently to see whether it has had any effect. You might learn that your dead pixel is just a stuck pixel when you find it quickly unstuck.

What to do if your PSP cannot be turned on?

• If your PSP can't be turned on, naturally you need to check the power first. Hopefully the battery has been fully depleted. Plug in the AC power adapter and see if the power indicator light turn orange which indicates charging. If that's happen, see if the PSP can now be turned on. If so, luckily your battery simply depleted.
• If the power indicator light did not turn on or turn orange when you plugged in the PSP, then see if you can turn the PSP on. If the PSP can be turned on then look on the upper-right corner of the screen. Is the battery indicator is stills shown? Then, perhaps the battery is simply discharged and being charged, but for some reason the charging indicator light won't turn on. Unplug your PSP and see if it stays powered.
• If it is completely shuts down, then it is most likely something is wrong with the device or the battery. It is best to contact your local vendor.
  

However, if you want check your PSP before sending it to the vendor, you can open the battery cover on the back of your PSP. Remove the battery and check the metal contacts, be sure that they are clean. Wipe gently with soft cloth when dirty. Insert the battery and repeat the above steps. If it still fails to work, lend a good battery so you can sure that the battery or your PSP is the culprit. If your PSP turn on with your friend's battery, then luckily your device is OK, it is better to replace the battery than sending your PSP to your local vendor for repair.

What to do if your PSP can't read the memory stick?

First of all, remove your memory card the put it back into your PSP and make sure it is firmly and properly inserted into your PSP.

Check the parts
If it still cannot read, remove the card again and examine closely the metal conductors contacts of the card, there should be slight abrasion present, it's OK, but if you find dirts , clean it off. Take a soft cloth and wipe gently. If the metal contact is badly scratched, your card beyond repair. You can avoid scratched contacts by limiting the frequency of swapping in and out the memory card. Backup the data often! With prolonged use, memory cards would eventually damaged.

Check inside the card slot.
Make sure that the slot is physically in normal condition, if the area around the slot dirty, hold the cover open, turn the PSP on its other end, and shake gently to try to remove any dirts. Compressed air is the best way to loosen up dirts. Blow short bursts of compressed air on the slot to loosen up anything that stuck in there, and your PSP on its end and shake again.

Check the data integrity
If you have a card reader, connect the Memory Stick up to your PC. If your PC can't read it, your memory card is already unusable. However if the card can be read by your PC, backup the entire data of your memory stick, then delete all files inside your memory stick, format the memory stick then restore the data back to the memory stick.

For best result, format your memory card in your PSP not in your PC

1. Goto Settings System Settings and hit the X button.
2. Select Format Memory Stick from the list of settings and hit the X button.
3. The PSP will ask you twice if you are sure that you really want to format the Memory Stick. Select Yes and hit X, then select Yes again and hit X again. This will erase all of the data on the Memory Stick.
4. Restore the data

If all these efforts fail, there are only two possibilities, your card is damaged and the PSP memory slot is damaged. Try to insert another good memory card in your PSP, if it is cannot be read, then the problem is with your PSP. Contact your local vendor for repair arrangement.

What to do if UMD Game/Movie Won't Load?

This problem is the most common for PSP

1. Clean the disk
Breathe lightly on your disk, take a non-abrasive wiping cloth, clean the UMD disk just like cleaning a DVD/CD. You may also try the compressed air cans, which is available in computer/electronic store. If there are any particles or dust on the disk, try blowing these particles off. Consider using a compressed air can to blow particles from the inside of the disk; you can find these cans in any computer or electronics store. There is also UMD disk-cleaning solution available, which would clean your disk as clean as it can be.

2. Check the clear plastic cover on the disk.
If your hard UMD has been put under pressure inside a bag, the plastic cover on the top of the disk may snap loose from the frame of white plastic disc. The plastic cover will put pressure on the back of the disc, which prevent it from spinning when the UMD is placed inside the PSP. If this happens, you may hold the UMD disc on the edge of the white plastic casing, and then take your index finger and gently push up against the middle of the disk until you hear a slight clicking noise. If all goes well, you have successfully putting back the plastic lid in place and the disk will rotate correctly the next time you insert it in the PSP.

3. Is it a bad UMD?
Even after you try to clean the UMD with the cleaning solution and it is still fail to load, then the bad news is that the game or film is dead. It's time to buy the replacement.

4. Check your PSP.
If none above works, things may be worse than it should, but there is absolutely no reason to panic. The inside of your PSP may be dirty, open the tray door and shake slightly to get dirts and bits out from your PSP, it is better if you use the compressed air cans to loosen dirts inside your PSP.

Still not work? Then you need a professional repair help. Contact your local vendor.

PSP Firmware Versions and Why They Matter

The PSP has a “flashable” firmware, meaning it can be updated with bug fixes, and upgraded with new capabilities. This enables Sony to support new technologies as they emerge, address vulnerabilities in the PSP software (such as Web browser and buffer overrun vulnerabilities), and keep the product competitive as the market evolves. Unfortunately for us hackers, Sony removed the ability to program the PSP on our own starting with the 1.51 “update,” which featured “security updates”—just another way of saying “we don’t want software developers.” Of course, you don’t have to update to run most games on your 1.0 or 1.5 firmware PSP, and there are utilities, such as the WAB Version Changer to get around such issues.

If you are not going to program the PSP, the upgrades from Sony can be quite a boon.With firmware update 2.0, officially named System Software 2.0, Sony added a Web browser, enhanced wireless network access (supporting additional encryption technologies such as WPA and PSK), and support for MPEG-4, or AAC, audio files. These new features greatly enhanced the PSP’s already impressive media capabilities. If you want to program a 1.5 PSP and still have these capabilities.

• 1.0 Original Japanese release.
• 1.5 Original U.S. release. Added copy protection, disabling the native ability to run homebrew applications. The KXploit, covered in Chapter 19, “Running Homebrew Applications,” handles running these applications on this firmware. A notable change in the U.S. version: the X and O button functionality was reversed (O goes back and X is select, whereas it was the opposite in Japan).
• 1.51 Added “security updates,” which simply disabled the KXploit’s ability to run. No games required the 1.51 update. If you have a game that requires 1.51, and you have 1.5, you can use the WAB Version Changer to trick the PSP into thinking it’s running 1.51.
• 1.52 Added “security updates” as well as UMD Music support. No games appeared to require the 1.52 update. If you have a game that requires 1.52, and you have 1.5, you can use the WAB Version Changer to trick the PSP into thinking it’s running 1.52.
• 2.0 Added a Web browser, MPEG-4 audio support and additional image format (TIFF, GIF, PNG and BMP/Bitmap) support. New video playback capabilities were added, including a “Go To” format and 4:3 “Full Frame” video playback mode. Personalization features were added, including the ability to change the color of the background and to add a wallpaper, or background image. Also provided additional “security updates” and some new operating-system functionality. Some games check for the existence of 2.0 firmware. More information about this massive update is available on Sony’s Web site.

PSP Battery Life

Compared to other portable gaming systems, the PSP is not only more powerful, it’s also more power hungry. Indeed, with a 333 MHz processor, ultra-bright widescreen color display, wireless networking, and an optical UMD drive to run, the battery is working overtime to make sure you stay entertained for hours on end. Thankfully, Sony has included a rechargeable 1800 mAh Lithium Ion battery to help out—normal alkaline batteries wouldn’t survive the load for long and would be darn expensive to replace all the time. On a full charge, you will get (and independent organizations have confirmed this) up to six hours of battery life when playing video games, and up to four hours for movies. This is assuming you’re running the screen at half intensity and half volume with wireless off. I tend to run with the brightness and volume all the way up, so take about 10 percent off that figure if you play the same way.

• Game Boy Advance, 15 hours
• Game Boy Color, 10 hours
• Game Boy DS, 6–10 hours
• PSP, 6 hours

How to downgrade PSP firmware?

If you have purchased a PSP running Version 2.0 of the firmware, complete with browser, you can downgrade to Version 1.5 with a few easy, albeit somewhat risky, steps. When you are done, the entire world of homebrew will be open to you.

Fortunately, some industrious hackers discovered a buffer overflow error that occurs when loading an appropriately created image file through the PSP's Photo menu. Then, someone realized that the buffer overflow allowed for a modicum of code to be run. Finally, the pieces fell in place when someone thought to overwrite the PSP's System Information during this error, so that a PSP running Version 2.0 of the firmware would be fooled into thinking that it was running Version 1.0. A simple substitution of a 1 for a 2, and suddenly you are able to run the 1.5 Software Update to replace the Version 2.0 firmware, effectively downgrading your system to a more hacker- and homebrew-friendly version of the firmware.

Keep in mind that working with firmware is always risky. Having the power supply cut in the middle of a regular Sony authorized firmware upgrade could very quickly turn your $250 PSP into a $250 doorstop. Such an error in a normal firmware upgrade, though, would be covered under Sony's warranty. Anything that goes wrong with this hacked downgrade won't be covered, so make sure you follow these steps carefully, and consider yourself warned. Proceed at your own risk. Also, be careful where you grab your copy of the downgrader and the 1.5 updater used in this tips; there have been reports of malicious packages posing as these two items that can actually destroy your PSP.

Everything in the Right Place
Download the MPHDowngrader from either http://www.chez.com/mph/, http://www.psp-hacks.com/downloads/MPHDowngrader.zip, or http://www.alden0186.freeserve.co.uk/MPHDowngrader.zip.
You will also need a copy of the original 1.5 firmware update. I found my copy via Shockzone (http://shockzone.free.fr/PSP/Tool/EBOOT_1.50.zip). Once you have downloaded the necessary files, unzip them. You will find a Read Me file included with the MPH downgrader that you can follow if you don't want to read through this entire tips; however, the Read Me is a little confusing. So unless you are fluent in "I'm a hacker too busy coding to write a Read Me" shorthand, I suggest you read on.

EBOOT.PBP.
Connect your PSP to your computer via USB. On your Memory Stick, create a folder called UPDATE inside /PSP/GAME/ and place the EBOOT.PBP file from the 1.5 update inside this UPDATE folder.

MPHDowngrader pieces.
Drop the overflow.tif file that was included in the MPHDowngrader folder into your /PSP/PHOTO/ folder, as you would with any image that you wanted to view on your PSP.

Put both h.bin and index.dat in the root directory of your Memory Stick (in other words, just drop them straight into the Memory Stick without placing them inside any folders).

Trigger the Overflow
After you have all the files in the right places, disconnect your PSP from your computer and plug it into the AC adapter. Make sure that there is no UMD in your PSP and that you have wallpaper turned off before you begin.

On your PSP, navigate to Photo Memory Stick and hit the X button to start scrolling down through your photos until you reach the overflow.tif picture. You'll know you've hit it when everything freezes and you get a black screen with a bunch of white text output. This may happen before you even see the overflow.tif file name, but if not, simply select the image and hit the X button. The black screen with white text should appear. If your PSP freezes without going to this black text screen, hold the power button up for about 10 seconds until the PSP shuts down, then hit the power button again to start it back up. Repeat this step until you get that black screen.

If the black screen with white text doesn't appear to be showing up for you, try connecting your PSP to your computer again and check at the root level of your Memory Stick for a new file there called index.dat.bak. If that file is there, then the overflow worked, but you just didn't get the lovely black and white screen. Go ahead to the next step.

Don't panic. The frozen black screen with white text is what was supposed to happen. Hold the power button for about 10 seconds until the PSP powers off. Hit the power button again. Your PSP will start up, and if you navigate to your System Information (Settings System Settings, hit the X button, then scroll down to System Information and hit the X button again), you'll discover that your PSP thinks it is running Version 1.0 of the firmware. It isn't, and you cannot run homebrew (yet). The important thing is that the PSP thinks it is running 1.0, which means that it will allow you to run the 1.5 Firmware Update over your 2.0 firmware.

Run the 1.5 Updater
Navigate to Game Memory Stick, hit the X button, and navigate to the 1.5 Updater. Make sure that you have your PSP plugged in, or the upgrade won't work. Hit the X button and update as you normally would. At the end of the upgrade, the update will freeze at 99% completion, and you will receive an error saying that the upgrade failed and to contact Sony. Don't panic, and don't contact Sony. Ignore this warning and again force your PSP to power off and reboot.

After the PSP reboots, you will receive an error screen that is scary and confusing because it is in multiple languages. Don't panic. Find the language you can understand and read the corresponding line. It notes that your preferences are fragged and that you need only hit the O button to restore some default-ish settings. Hit the O button.

Some hackers have claimed that unplugging the AC adapter and pulling the battery when this warning appeared resulted in them having a PSP running 1.5 firmware capable of running homebrew, but retaining the 2.0 browser. However, you should never leave the PSP plugged in when you remove the battery (I fried one PSP this way), and a few people have reported that following those directions turned their PSPs swiftly into nonfunctional bricks.

Set up Your PSP
The PSP will start back up and you will go through the initial setup like the day you first bought your PSP. Do so, and then go to the system info pane again, where you will see that you are rocking Version 1.5 of the firmware (Settings System Settings, hit the X button, then scroll down to System Information and hit the X button again). Run homebrew at will .

If you really love your PSP's browser and don't really want to give it up, don't worry. Simply back up all the browser-related files from your Memory Stick before downgrading. I ran through this entire procedure, downloaded the 2.0 update and installed that again, and then went through the entire procedure again. It worked like a charm. It's a little time-consuming, but you can have the best of both worlds. Have fun! Just make sure that you don't install any firmware past 2.0, as I am sure Sony intends to plug this hole again as soon as possible. Even if they do, though, I'm confident that the PSP hackers out there will find a way around it.