PS VITA / PsTV A lot of lag when playing PSP games on Adrenaline

[Windows10User]

It uses an improved Inferno driver with support for more formats than any other driver. Inferno is a very well known driver with the best compatibility out there, the one in ARK is the best version so far.

More user friendly than the XMB? Well I'd say it's more game-centric, has a very powerful file browser with built-in FTP (server and client) so you can browser another PSP's memory stick and copy entire folders over. It's also faster at scanning games, launching games, exiting from games, etc. So basically it takes mere seconds to go from Vita Live Area to ARK's main menu with all your games listed.

Yes it's updated very frequently, right now the only maintained CFW for PSP and Vita, so if you encounter a bug there's a good chance it'll be patched.

To update you need to do it manually for now. But I like your idea of a built-in updater. I think I'll implement it.

I just find out Adrenaline's CPU Clock speed inside the VSH menu doesn't match Adrenaline's Recovery Menu's. Is it a bug? How can I know which is the real CPU speed?

 

[Acid_Snake]

Is it possible to install ARK over Pro that was installed by Infinity (making ARK permanent too)?

Is FTPing games and files from the PC to the PSP and vice-versa fast? I was told FTP was very slow on the PSP but I've never tried it.

So, even when accessing a Memory Stick with a lot of games it won't take a much time like in my case with all of them (PSP, PS Vita and PS TV)?

Does ARak support CW Cheat, ISO Tool, EmuMaster and UO gpSP Kai?

Is it worth updating ARK every day?

Yes you can install on top of infinity and pro, just update your infinity installation with the one provided in the ARK download.

FTP is slow indeed, the PSP WiFi card is old, but might work better on Vita.

It takes much less time to load the list of games compared to the XMB wven if you have too many games, this is because it doesn't read as much information (icon, param.sfo, etc) and has better management of games. On PSP you can still use the XMB with vshmenu like any other CFW. Also the custom launcher runs at 60fps as opposed to the XMB that runs at like 20 or 30.

ARK supports all plugins and homebrews, including legacy 1.50 homebrew via leda. Compatibility there is as good as PRO and ME combined.

It is worth updating if bugs are fixed or there's some experimental new feature you want to try out. You can always go back to any previous ARK version ease (downgrading and upgrading is the same procedure).

 

[Acid_Snake]

I just find out the CPU speed inside Adrenaline's Recovery Menu doesn't match the one outside it. Is it a bug? How can I know which is the real CPU speed?

I have no idea, PSP CPU speed on Vita is a mystery for me. All I know is that Adrenaline fucks it up and it makes it underperform (on top all the PSP firmware extras). I have no idea if there's a fix for this.

On ARK you don't have this issue since it runs on the stock pspemu, which by some measures (and your own human eyes) you can tell it actually runs faster than retail PSP (about 450MHz according to some old benchmarks, which was then revealed to be 444MHz that the Vita clock supports). Yes, Sony overclocks PSP games on Vita, why Adrenaline decided to clock it back to PSP speed is beyond me, but it's quite noticeable.

 

[Windows10User]

I have no idea, PSP CPU speed on Vita is a mystery for me. All I know is that Adrenaline fucks it up and it makes it underperform (on top all the PSP firmware extras). I have no idea if there's a fix for this.

On ARK you don't have this issue since it runs on the stock pspemu, which by some measures (and your own human eyes) you can tell it actually runs faster than retail PSP (about 450MHz according to some old benchmarks, which was then revealed to be 444MHz that the Vita clock supports). Yes, Sony overclocks PSP games on Vita, why Adrenaline decided to clock it back to PSP speed is beyond me, but it's quite noticeable.

I just tried ARK-4 on the PS Vita and not only it isn't slow when loading my PSP games but also I'm not having the slowdown issue I was having when playing them. I'll install it in the PS TV and PSP too.

I can't delete files using its file browser and make ISO Tool and CWCheat to work in it, though.

 

[Acid_Snake]

I just tried ARK-4 on the PS Vita and not only it isn't slow when loading my PSP games but also I'm not having the slowdown issue I was having when playing them. I'll install it in the PS TV and PSP too.

I can't delete files using its file browser and make ISO Tool and CWCheat to work in it, though.

You can't delete certain files that are protected by Vita OS (mainly EBOOT.PBP and files inside ms0:/PSP/GAME/). ARK doesn't do any native Vita patching, so it runs unders whatever limitations Sony imposed (which aren't really that many and easy to workaround).

 

[Windows10User]

You can't delete certain files that are protected by Vita OS (mainly EBOOT.PBP and files inside ms0:/PSP/GAME/). ARK doesn't do any native Vita patching, so it runs unders whatever limitations Sony imposed (which aren't really that many and easy to workaround).

Should I use ARK4.zip's VitaBubble's K.BIN and PBOOT.PBP files besides H.BIN? Also, to manually update ARK, should I only copy the new version's H.BIN file?

 

[Acid_Snake]

Should I use ARK4.zip's VitaBubble's K.BIN and PBOOT.PBP files besides H.BIN? Also, to manually update ARK, should I only copy the new version's H.BIN file?

Only H.BIN, the PBOOT is installed by FastARK app.
To update you have to copy the ARK_01234 folder but you can keep the H.BIN.

 

[Windows10User]

Only H.BIN, the PBOOT is installed by FastARK app.
To update you have to copy the ARK_01234 folder but you can keep the H.BIN.

What's that game that shows up after running ARK? It isn't working, as well as CWCheats and ISO Tool.

 

[Acid_Snake]

What's that game that shows up after running ARK? It isn't working, as well as CWCheats and ISO Tool.

What game? CWCheat should work but you have to find the version that actually works for PS Vita. I don't know about ISO Tool but I'll check it out.

 

[Windows10User]

What game? CWCheat should work but you have to find the version that actually works for PS Vita. I don't know about ISO Tool but I'll check it out.

The game that shows up on the left right after running ARK, NPUZ00146. Why does "minis" show up after running ARK and how can I change ARK's language? Also, what are those GitHub versions with weird characters names relased on GitHub?

EDIT: ISO Tool is working after all. This time I transferred the entire ARK_01234 folder and VitaBubble's H.BIN. It looks like GitHub's intructions are not correct.

 

[Acid_Snake]

The game that shows up on the left right after running ARK, NPUZ00146. Why does "minis" show up after running ARK and how can I change ARK's language? Also, what are those GitHub versions with weird characters names relased on GitHub?

NPUZ00146? That looks like a PSN game (Sasuke vs. Commander according to wikipedia).
Did you install ARK on top of a minis? I highly advise against doing that, minis are very limited by the pspemu.

Those releases you see on github with weird numbers are automatic builds generated every time I push stuff to the repo, you can use them for beta-testing or ignore them until a proper release is made.

I'll check the readme instructions.

 

[Windows10User]

NPUZ00146? That looks like a PSN game (Sasuke vs. Commander according to wikipedia).
Did you install ARK on top of a minis? I highly advise against doing that, minis are very limited by the pspemu.

Those releases you see on github with weird numbers are automatic builds generated every time I push stuff to the repo, you can use them for beta-testing or ignore them until a proper release is made.

I'll check the readme instructions.

I don't even know what Minis are.

I guess I should remove Adrenaline (and its plugin installed by AutoPlugin II), ARK and the pspemu folder to start from scratch since I'm using Adrenaline's pspemu folder and for some reason this game, which I don't even know, shows up in ARK.

EDIT: I removed Adrenaline (and its plugin installed by AutoPlugin II), ARK and the pspemu folder and reinstalled ARK. It looks like this game is installed by ArkFast so I did all of this for nothing since it installed the game again. I'll delete the game's folder and the game's .rif file and see what happens.

EDIT 2: ARK gives an error after being run so I'll have to remove and install it again. It looks like removing this game breaks ARK. Also, after all I can delete files when using ARK. The pspemu folder is automatically recreated even without having Adrenaline or ARK installed, which is weird.

 

[Acid_Snake]

I don't even know what Minis are.

I guess I should remove Adrenaline (and its plugin installed by AutoPlugin II), ARK and the pspemu folder to start from scratch since I'm using Adrenaline's pspemu folder and for some reason this game, which I don't even know, shows up in ARK.
EDIT: I removed Adrenaline (and its plugin installed by AutoPlugin II), ARK and the pspemu folder and reinstalled ARK. It looks like this game is installed by ArkFast so I did all of this for nothing since it installed the game again. I'll delete the game's folder and the game's .rif file and see what happens.
EDIT 2: ARK gives an error after being run so I'll have to remove and install it again. The pspemu folder is automatically recreated even withoit having Adrenaline or ARK installed, which is weird.

Seems like you're not using FastARK correctly. You need to download a valid PSP game from PSN like Ape Quest (free demo), otherwise it seems like it's trying to install ARK on top of a minis (minis are like small indie PSP games, but they are limited in functionality so you have to use a real PSP game).

The pspemu folder is recreated by the PS Vita, nothing strange here.

 

[Windows10User]

Seems like you're not using FastARK correctly. You need to download a valid PSP game from PSN like Ape Quest (free demo), otherwise it seems like it's trying to install ARK on top of a minis (minis are like small indie PSP games, but they are limited in functionality so you have to use a real PSP game).

The pspemu folder is recreated by the PS Vita, nothing strange here.

Sorry, but I didn't find that information on GitHub. Anyway, isn't it strange one needs to download a game beforehand to not have this problem? But it's ARK which downloads and install this mini game which doesn't even open, not me. I already have a lot of ISOs on the ISO folder so aren't they valid games? How can one enable and disable plugins?

EDIT: After updating ARK-4 to the latest version by replacing the ARK_01234 folder, it now takes more time to load the games and it often freezes/has black screens. Also, the Unlock Extra Memory setting makes the PS vita to return to the LiveArea.

EDIT 2: Now I'm having black screens when opening other apps.

EDIT 3: Now the PS Vita is in an infinite loop trying to shut down.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Sorry, but I didn't find that information on GitHub. Anyway, isn't it strange one needs to download a game beforehand to not have this problem? But it's ARK which downloads and install this mini which doesn't even open, not me. I already have a lot of ISOs on the ISO folder so aren't they valid games? How can one enable and disable plugins?

EDIT: After updating ARK-4 to the latest version by replacing the ARK_01234 folder, it now takes more time to load the games and it often freezes/has black screens. Also, the Unlock Extra Memory setting makes the PS vita to return to the LiveArea.

EDIT 2: Now I'm having black screens when opening other apps.

EDIT 3: Now the PS Vita is in an infinite loop trying to shut down.

Like I said a few times already, ARK doesn't run with Henkaku nor does it modify any official firmware or emulator files, you can literally run it on Vita Official Firmware with no hack whatsoever, thus it requires a real legit PSP game from PSN to inject it, very similar in nature to Haxchi on Wii U, with the benefit that you can use a free demo called Ape Quest. If you don't install Ape Quest my guess is that FastARK will install some minis, which will not work well as I already said because minis are limited by the pspemu because Sony didn't like it when qwikrazor87 was exploiting them like crazy.

tldr: go to PSN and download Ape Quest for PSP (it's a FREE DEMO), install ARK on top of it using FastARK.

1. Yes the unlock extra memory feature on Vita is experimental, haven't had the time to figure it out fully, some games work, some don't, generally speaking just leave it disabled for now.

2. go to PSN and download Ape Quest for PSP (it's a FREE DEMO), install ARK on top of it using FastARK.

3. Yeah that happens even with Adrenaline. The whole Vita system crashes when the PSP has a nasty crash that it can't recover from. Just hold power button until it turns off and on again. Don't worry the Vita itself isn't bricked or anything nor will it corrupt anything, it just couldn't recover from the PSP crashing.

 

[Windows10User]

Like I said a few times already, ARK doesn't run with Henkaku nor does it modify any official firmware or emulator files, you can literally run it on Vita Official Firmware with no hack whatsoever, thus it requires a real legit PSP game from PSN to inject it, very similar in nature to Haxchi on Wii U, with the benefit that you can use a free demo called Ape Quest. If you don't install Ape Quest my guess is that FastARK will install some minis, which will not work well as I already said because minis are limited by the pspemu because Sony didn't like it when qwikrazor87 was exploiting them like crazy.

tldr: go to PSN and download Ape Quest for PSP (it's a FREE DEMO), install ARK on top of it using FastARK.

1. Yes the unlock extra memory feature on Vita is experimental, haven't had the time to figure it out fully, some games work, some don't, generally speaking just leave it disabled for now.

2. go to PSN and download Ape Quest for PSP (it's a FREE DEMO), install ARK on top of it using FastARK.

3. Yeah that happens even with Adrenaline. The whole Vita system crashes when the PSP has a nasty crash that it can't recover from. Just hold power button until it turns off and on again. Don't worry the Vita itself isn't bricked or anything nor will it corrupt anything, it just couldn't recover from the PSP crashing.

It doesn't make sense one has to download a game prior to using it (that information should be on GitHub, as well as the Unlock Extra Memory one) and how can ARK be used on Vita official software since FastArk which installs it is a .vpk file? And what if one can't/don't want to access PSN or Ape Quest is removed from it (as well as the other free demos)?

Anyway, I did what you said (downloaded amd installed Ape Quest and afterwards used FastArk to install ARK) and I still had these black screen issues.

I never had these black screen issues with Adrenaline. I held the power button, it did nothing, and like I said, now I have a black screen when running every app so ARK-4 screwed something.

This is very annoying since I did more than 30 HENkaku reinstalls to fix the Adrenaline slowdown bug for nothing and now this.

I guess I should remove ARK, go back to Adrenaline in spite of taking some time to read my games and of its slowdown issue when playing them and don't try to install the former on the PSP and PS TV.

Also, I don't know why but my PS Vita turns off at approximately 15% and only charges up to 85%.

EDIT: I had to fully discharge the battery in order to use the PS Vita and it charged until reaching 100%.

EDIT 2: Now my PSP's Memory Stick PRO Duo microSD Adaptor broke. I'm tired of having bad luck.

EDIT 3: After removing ARK and reinstalling Adrenaline, I'm not having black screens.

 

[Acid_Snake]

It doesn't make sense one has to download a game prior to using it (that information should be on GitHub, as well as the Unlock Extra Memory one) and how can ARK be used on Vita official software since FastArk which installs it is a .vpk file? And what if one can't/don't want to access PSN or Ape Quest is removed from it (as well as the other free demos)?

Anyway, I did what you said (downloaded amd installed Ape Quest and afterwards used FastArk to install ARK) and I still had these black screen issues.

I never had these black screen issues with Adrenaline. I held the power button, it did nothing, and like I said, now I have a black screen when running every app so ARK-4 screwed something.

This is very annoying since I did more than 30 HENkaku reinstalls to fix the Adrenaline slowdown bug for nothing and now this.

I guess I should remove ARK, go back to Adrenaline in spite of taking some time to read my games and of its slowdown issue when playing them and don't try to install the former on the PSP and PS TV.

Also, I don't know why but my PS Vita turns off at approximately 15% and only charges up to 85%.

EDIT: I had to fully discharge the battery in order to use the PS Vita and it charged until reaching 100%.

EDIT 2: Now my PSP's Memory Stick PRO Duo microSD Adaptor broke. I'm tired of having bad luck.

EDIT 3: After removing ARK and reinstalling Adrenaline, I'm not having black screens.

Damn man I'm sorry you haven't had any luck, I'll try to help as much as possible.

About the power button thing, you need to hold the power button down until the console reboots (it takes a while, but trust me it works, just keep the power button pressed, eventually it'll shutdown and restart, this trick is useful for any Vita crash, not just ARK).

Anyways, I need some more information to be able to determine your issue.

What firmware version are you using? ARK only works on 3.60 so far.

Which version of ARK did you try?

When you installed ARK the first time using FastARK, before changing the ARK files with the latest ones on github, does it work as is with the stock files installed by FastARK?

When running ARK, does it reach the games menu? Do you get any output at all?

 

[Windows10User]

Damn man I'm sorry you haven't had any luck, I'll try to help as much as possible.

About the power button thing, you need to hold the power button down until the console reboots (it takes a while, but trust me it works, just keep the power button pressed, eventually it'll shutdown and restart, this trick is useful for any Vita crash, not just ARK).

Anyways, I need some more information to be able to determine your issue.

What firmware version are you using? ARK only works on 3.60 so far.

Which version of ARK did you try?

When you installed ARK the first time using FastARK, before changing the ARK files with the latest ones on github, does it work as is with the stock files installed by FastARK?

When running ARK, does it reach the games menu? Do you get any output at all?

You're welcome.

Are you sure holding the power button will make the PS Vita restart? I tried doing that but the green light still blinked and I had to wait until the battery was fully discharged. Why does it do this, anyway? I guess if the PS Vita restarts after doing that I may play with it until it's fully discharged and when that happens charge it, right? Will it charge until 100%?

I'm using 3.60.

I tried the latest ARK version.

Yes, it works without that folder, and like I said, after pressing a button, it installs the Sasuke vs. Commander mini game (which doesn't even work).

It reaches the menu, after running a minis logo shows up and the programs lists all my PSP ISOs, the mentioned Sasuke vs. Coomander game, the Recovery Menu and my homebrew.

Can I remove FastArk after installing ARK?

EDIT: I gave a new chance to ARK on the PS Vita. So, I replaced the 01234 folder and put the H.BIN file inside it and currently I'm not having black screen issues but I'll have to wait some time.

After replacing the folder, it looks like it takes longer to list the games. How can I change ARK's language, by the way?

How can I enable plugins? Is there a setting to do it like Pro-C's Recovery Menu?

Also, FileZilla is taking a lot of time to show my PS Vita's directories or doesn't show them at all. Is it because the PS Vita's WiFi connection isn't strong?

 

[Acid_Snake]

You're welcome.

Are you sure holding the power button will make the PS Vita restart? I tried doing that but the green light still blinked and I had to wait until the battery was fully discharged. Why does it do this, anyway? I guess if the PS Vita restarts after doing that I may play with it until it's fully discharged and when that happens charge it, right? Will it charge until 100%?

I'm using 3.60.

I tried the latest ARK version.

Yes, it works without that folder, and like I said, after pressing a button, it installs the Sasuke vs. Commander mini game (which doesn't even work).

It reaches the menu, after running a minis logo shows up and the programs lists all my PSP ISOs, the mentioned Sasuke vs. Coomander game, the Recovery Menu and my homebrew.

Can I remove FastArk after installing ARK?

EDIT: I replaced the folder and put the H.BIN file inside it and currently I'm not having black screen issues but I'll have to wait some time.

After replacing the folder, it looks like it takes longer to list the games. How can I change ARK's language, by the way?

How can I enable plugins? Is there a setting to do it like Pro-C's Recovery Menu?

Also, FileZilla is taking a lot of times to show my PS Vita's directories or doesn't show them at all. Is it because the PS Vita's WiFi connection isn't strong?

I have no idea why the Vita does this but any big crash (either vita-side or psp-side) will make it go like this. Look up videos online so you can see how to recover from this. I get these crashes all the time when working on experimental ARK stuff on the Vita so all I do is hold the power button until it shuts down, then the console enters recovery menu, where I just hit on Reboot. It does take a while for the damn device to register that you're holding the power button so it looks like it's not responding at all but trust me eventually it'll force power down and restart into recovery menu.

It's been a while since I used FastARK but I think it does have a lot of different methods of installing ARK. Just make sure you tell it which game to use (Ape Quest) and make sure it installs ARK on top of that instead of that crappy minis.

Yeah the problem here is that FastARK is installing that minis, running ARK on a minis is barely functional (Sony made lots of patches and limitations to these games because we were exploiting them like crazy to run VHBL and ARK back in the early days, since they were cheap to buy on PSN, didn't take up much space and they are indie games prone to vulnerabilities).

Do this:
- Uninstall anything that FastARK has installed, but not FastARK itself.
- Install Ape Quest from PSN.
- Go to FastARK and make sure it recognizes Ape Quest and lets you install ARK on top of it.

You should be able to enter the recovery menu from the launcher, from there enable "Memory Stick Speedup" (set to "Always") and "Inferno Cache" so you don't get any slowdowns.

As for plugins, it's all in the readme, but basically you install them to seplugins like you normally would, except instead of having to use game.txt, vsh.txt and pops.txt, ARK only uses one file called PLUGINS.TXT with a new and more powerful format that lets you enable and disable plugins on specific games via their game ID (i.e. SLUS-01234, etc). Again it's all explained in the readme.

Also, I know having to rely on Ape Quest from PSN is not ideal, but it's really the same entry point that the latest h-encore uses so the day Sony removes it we won't be loosing just ARK, we'll loose henkaku too. Make a backup of Ape Quest to your PC using QCMA, just in case.

 

[Windows10User]

I have no idea why the Vita does this but any big crash (either vita-side or psp-side) will make it go like this. Look up videos online so you can see how to recover from this. I get these crashes all the time when working on experimental ARK stuff on the Vita so all I do is hold the power button until it shuts down, then the console enters recovery menu, where I just hit on Reboot. It does take a while for the damn device to register that you're holding the power button so it looks like it's not responding at all but trust me eventually it'll force power down and restart into recovery menu.

It's been a while since I used FastARK but I think it does have a lot of different methods of installing ARK. Just make sure you tell it which game to use (Ape Quest) and make sure it installs ARK on top of that instead of that crappy minis.

Yeah the problem here is that FastARK is installing that minis, running ARK on a minis is barely functional (Sony made lots of patches and limitations to these games because we were exploiting them like crazy to run VHBL and ARK back in the early days, since they were cheap to buy on PSN, didn't take up much space and they are indie games prone to vulnerabilities).

Do this:
- Uninstall anything that FastARK has installed, but not FastARK itself.
- Install Ape Quest from PSN.
- Go to FastARK and make sure it recognizes Ape Quest and lets you install ARK on top of it.

You should be able to enter the recovery menu from the launcher, from there enable "Memory Stick Speedup" (set to "Always") and "Inferno Cache" so you don't get any slowdowns.

As for plugins, it's all in the readme, but basically you install them to seplugins like you normally would, except instead of having to use game.txt, vsh.txt and pops.txt, ARK only uses one file called PLUGINS.TXT with a new and more powerful format that lets you enable and disable plugins on specific games via their game ID (i.e. SLUS-01234, etc). Again it's all explained in the readme.

Also, I know having to rely on Ape Quest from PSN is not ideal, but it's really the same entry point that the latest h-encore uses so the day Sony removes it we won't be loosing just ARK, we'll loose henkaku too. Make a backup of Ape Quest to your PC using QCMA, just in case.

I already enabled those two settings.

Ok, but after doing that, will the plugins be automatically enabled or I'll have to do another step (in Pro-C one had to enable them afterwards in the Recovery Menu)?

I didn't know Ape Quest was also needed for HENkaku, but if so, isn't it already downloaded when installing HENkaku?