PSP Downgraders, Image Loaders
Playing backups of games is a major reason why many choose to hack their PSP. Since the arrival of ISO rippers, users with PSP hacks can run UMD games from memory stick. Some loaders trick the PSP into thinking that it is accessing the UMD drive when in fact it is reading from the Memory Stick Pro Duo, while others are simply coded to allow specific games to run off of flash memory. But advanced custom firmware have now taken over as the most popular route to play backup games, as they bypass the UMD unimpeded.
PSP Hacks and ISO Compression
Using the DAX or CSO formats, UMD games have been compressed to fit in smaller memory storage. These compressed files must use DAXZISO and DEVHOOK respectively, to allow for the games to run.
PSP Firmware Downgrader - Version Changer
Many PSP games require the PSP to run at a certain firmware version, and not any lower. Because higher versions of firmware tend to block access to many useful homebrew applications, there has been great effort to circumvent these mandatory upgrades.
Downgraders can safely set the firmware version to appear much higher than it actually is, tricking the game into running without prompting for a firmware update. Another type of bypass is software that simple disables the request to update any software. After the game is run, the PSP is restored to its actual, lower, firmware, ready again to run all your favorite homebrew hacks.
DevHook Hacked Firmware Loader
Some games require that a certain firmware version is present to run. Firmware loaders are designed to temporarily load a specific firmware version to run, only for when a particular game needs the version. Devhook is a popular firmware loader that can load version 1.5 to 3.11. DevHook has been a popular firmware loader for several years, however, recently, new PSP hacks have made DevHook mostly obsolete, as SE, OE, LE, HZ, and M33 hacked firmwares allow direct loading of game ISO’s right from the XMB.
