PS3 BRICK WARNING - UNOFFICIAL PlayStation 3 Toolset MOD for 4.82-4.89 by P-Px Team is a FRAUD

[lmn7]

Yes, be careful with that approach @kostirez1
Everyone wants to say look what i have and share. ("it worked for me" v2.0)

I would not worry about getting quality trusted tester's..
I think if its ready for that and there is a call of need, the right people will rise up and offer to test.
To be honest i have never seen Imn7's request, I have heard he trouble finding tester's but i never seen his request.
So my point to that would be not everyone see's request and i am sure if there was a thread asking for Senior Member's / Developer's of the scene with flasher to test something. You will find plenty of trusted names.

Also a suggestion with BETA's this is to any developer really. Make some visual changes (color or something) in the UI so first glance ohh this is the Beta or development version (maybe even text in there saying as such). Just a small thing to think about it.. Might be a good idea or maybe not for some projects. .

I've mentioned a few times in the past couple of months in a couple of threads that anyone willing to test the updated flash writer can PM me. It was only when I initiated a conversation with another user that I was able to find one, which eventually lead to nothing happening.

The truth is pretty simple: most of the user base want to reap all of the benefits of the work of other people without contributing anything themselves. I'm not particularly angry about that, I've come to accept it over time, but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't discourage me or cause me to lose motivation to work on PS3 related projects.

You may recall the thread that I made in the development section a few years ago, where I asked for testers for my initial update for the flash writer (4.85). Well it was the same story back then, not a single person wanted to test it, and in the end I had to do all the testing myself. Which ordinarily wouldn't really be a problem, but in the case of something like a software flasher that has the potential to brick a PS3 permanently, having more tests done is obviously beneficial.

I don't doubt there are developers here who have access to hardware flashers but so far I've heard nothing from anyone. To be clear I don't expect other people to take risks or time out of their day for something that doesn't benefit them in any way, I just want it to be known that the lack of testers is a very real problem when it comes to updating or starting projects in the scene.

 

[STLcardsWS]

I've mentioned a few times in the past couple of months in a couple of threads that anyone willing to test the updated flash writer can PM me. It was only when I initiated a conversation with another user that I was able to find one, which eventually lead to nothing happening.

The truth is pretty simple: most of the user base want to reap all of the benefits of the work of other people without contributing anything themselves. I'm not particularly angry about that, I've come to accept it over time, but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't discourage me or cause me to lose motivation to work on PS3 related projects.

You may recall the thread that I made in the development section a few years ago, where I asked for testers for my initial update for the flash writer (4.85). Well it was the same story back then, not a single person wanted to test it, and in the end I had to do all the testing myself. Which ordinarily wouldn't really be a problem, but in the case of something like a software flasher that has the potential to brick a PS3 permanently, having more tests done is obviously beneficial.

I don't doubt there are developers here who have access to hardware flashers but so far I've heard nothing from anyone. To be clear I don't expect other people to take risks or time out of their day for something that doesn't benefit them in any way, I just want it to be known that the lack of testers is a very real problem when it comes to updating or starting projects in the scene.

We can't say this userbase is this and that.
When we have not even made what i consider a proper request.
A request in threads wlll be over looked, most of the develppment tends to happen in unrelated threads.
Just like the HEN patcher it self i had to move post to their own thread..

Point is i follow PS3 news more then anyone, so if i miss it, Other have no doubt.
So my point is dont get discouraged because you see no tester. My advice make a thread with request
Then they can be vetted from there. Then if no tester's then you know for sure.

because all i keep seeing is the scene does not want to do this and that and i have not even seen a request.

Just sayin as if i missed some of it other have. The expertation should not be for the userbase to read every comment and that is what we are doing by complaining how we do.

 

[aldostools]

I've mentioned a few times in the past couple of months in a couple of threads that anyone willing to test the updated flash writer can PM me. It was only when I initiated a conversation with another user that I was able to find one, which eventually lead to nothing happening.

The truth is pretty simple: most of the user base want to reap all of the benefits of the work of other people without contributing anything themselves. I'm not particularly angry about that, I've come to accept it over time, but I'd be lying if I said that it didn't discourage me or cause me to lose motivation to work on PS3 related projects.

You may recall the thread that I made in the development section a few years ago, where I asked for testers for my initial update for the flash writer (4.85). Well it was the same story back then, not a single person wanted to test it, and in the end I had to do all the testing myself. Which ordinarily wouldn't really be a problem, but in the case of something like a software flasher that has the potential to brick a PS3 permanently, having more tests done is obviously beneficial.

I don't doubt there are developers here who have access to hardware flashers but so far I've heard nothing from anyone. To be clear I don't expect other people to take risks or time out of their day for something that doesn't benefit them in any way, I just want it to be known that the lack of testers is a very real problem when it comes to updating or starting projects in the scene.

Maybe an approach could be publishing the beta release in the private beta testing area of this forum.
Include a detailed list of tests that you have already done and tests that you wish to do.

Hopefully some of the fellow developers could help reviewing your code or testing.

Then you could continue with a public beta release.

 

[GuilloteTesla]

I would kindly help with the tests as I have two PS3s with me, unfortunately I don't have a NOR flasher in case of a brick.

E3 Flasher is impossible to find here in Argentina, and importing it is another whole thing in itself. Maybe trying to import a Teensy++ 2.0 but then I would need some soldering station and tools.

It's not easy to test and find testers, I know. But don't be let down!.

 

[Mello_1993]

I would kindly help with the tests as I have two PS3s with me, unfortunately I don't have a NOR flasher in case of a brick.

E3 Flasher is impossible to find here in Argentina, and importing it is another whole thing in itself. Maybe trying to import a Teensy++ 2.0 but then I would need some soldering station and tools.

It's not easy to test and find testers, I know. But don't be let down!.

You can't buy on Aliexpress? I'm thinking of buying an E3 Flasher on Aliexpress, I've never used this device, I have 5 PS3 consoles with me and 4 are <<<3.40. If I could buy the E3 Flasher in time, I hope I can help.

I already have an idea of how it works using @littlebalup's tool, but in practice I've never done it. But I want and will do it.

 

[GuilloteTesla]

You can't buy on Aliexpress? I'm thinking of buying an E3 Flasher on Aliexpress, I've never used this device, I have 5 PS3 consoles with me and 4 are <<<3.40. If I could buy the E3 Flasher in time, I hope I can help.

I already have an idea of how it works using @littlebalup's tool, but in practice I've never done it. But I want and will do it.

Here in Argentina we have lots of issues importing stuff because your purchase could end up in Customs and never leave the werehouse (unless you are lucky).

 

[kostirez1]

@lmn7 @STLcardsWS I agree with both of you. Developing tools that can easily harm hardware is really difficult. You need to have a good understanding of how everything works and interacts together. You can easily break your own hardware. Lots of testing, very little feedback from users (since you cannot "just" publish it). And so on...

It's not unreasonable to feel like you are the only one working on it. And you are also under a constant pressure of "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?". I personally stopped caring about these after discovering how small (yet vocal) that group is. At least they don't visit this forum, they are basically immune to be helped or to give help.

That said, making it testing ready (even for developers) is not easy either. At least how I perceive it, it's only interesting to others once you reach the "release candidate" stages of development. Until then you have very little to show for (and to make threads about). Not having access to someone with a functioning hardware flasher setup also slows you down on cool improvements. Like the one with differential, thus smaller to write CoreOS patches. I don't think it was tested yet. Does it make sense to post about it under Development - Firmware / Tools / Idea's / PoC's?

Perhaps making more organized threads is really the key to success, even if they look too small to post about at first.

Maybe an approach could be publishing the beta release in the private beta testing area of this forum.

Am I missing some key subforum here? Do I have to be invited there?

You can't buy on Aliexpress? I'm thinking of buying an E3 Flasher on Aliexpress, I've never used this device, I have 5 PS3 consoles with me and 4 are <<<3.40. If I could buy the E3 Flasher in time, I hope I can help.

I would be worried about buying fakes from Aliexpress. There are documented examples of clones.

Here in Argentina we have lots of issues importing stuff because your purchase could end up in Customs and never leave the werehouse (unless you are lucky).

That + the risk ending up with clones at the end. Sourcing reliable and easy to use hardware solutions nowadays is difficult indeed.

 

[GuilloteTesla]

That + the risk ending up with clones at the end. Sourcing reliable and easy to use hardware solutions nowadays is difficult indeed.

Didn't know that there were clones out there (and that they could potentially destroy the console in the process). Shady stuff.

 

[lmn7]

Maybe an approach could be publishing the beta release in the private beta testing area of this forum.
Include a detailed list of tests that you have already done and tests that you wish to do.

Hopefully some of the fellow developers could help reviewing your code or testing.

Then you could continue with a public beta release.

The thing is, I already did this exact thing years ago and the result was the same. Like I said, nobody wanted to test it then and I had to finish off the last tests myself (with some help from a friend IRL). Now that the scene is even less active than it was back then and many developers have since left entirely, do you honestly think if I did the same thing now that anything would change?

But that's beside the point. I've already bricked one of my consoles testing the new flash writer so I have done what I can on my end. If the community wants a software flasher as much as they claim, the ball is entirely in their court. I know there are people here with hardware flashers but what they want to do with them is entirely their prerogative. I'm not going to go out of my way anymore to finish something that the community wants when I've received practically no support up to this point.

At the end of the day I wasn't updating the flash writer for myself because I don't need it, it was always for the community.

 

[kostirez1]

Now that the scene is even less active than it was back then and many developers have since left entirely, do you honestly think if I did the same thing now that anything would change?

I can confirm that as of January 2023, your second paragraph is exactly what I got.

I'm not going to go out of my way anymore to finish something that the community wants when I've received practically no support up to this point.

Come on, people out there on subreddits and Discord servers are so cheerful and supportive.

 

[STLcardsWS]

The thing is, I already did this exact thing years ago and the result was the same. Like I said, nobody wanted to test it then and I had to finish off the last tests myself (with some help from a friend IRL). Now that the scene is even less active than it was back then and many developers have since left entirely, do you honestly think if I did the same thing now that anything would change?

But that's beside the point. I've already bricked one of my consoles testing the new flash writer so I have done what I can on my end. If the community wants a software flasher as much as they claim, the ball is entirely in their court. I know there are people here with hardware flashers but what they want to do with them is entirely their prerogative. I'm not going to go out of my way anymore to finish something that the community wants when I've received practically no support up to this point.

At the end of the day I wasn't updating the flash writer for myself because I don't need it, it was always for the community.

Thank you for everything you have done, i do disagree a bit but respect your opinion.

What happen years ago and what is today i think is an unfair compassion to many
The PS3 Scene is always active, You know how many times i heard the "scene is dead".
We have had alot of advancements in the PS3 scene in the past year. Some area's could be better but i there is progress on various fronts.

As a community i think we need to look at the glass half full instead of half empty.

 

[STLcardsWS]

I can confirm that as of January 2023, your second paragraph is exactly what I got.

Come on, people out there on subreddits and Discord servers are so cheerful and supportive.
View attachment 39691

View attachment 39692

Sorry but reddit and random discord channels are not the scene or the community.
So lets keep that drama in those places,


We have the warnings here,
We have the developer's who make the stuff here,
We have the history and reputation here,
We have the people who power the scene here..

Guy claims he" modded 100 console's" with it. I call bullshit
Simple as that, what has that person done in the community to have credibility compared to what everyone else has here and the guy (bg) who made the toolset..

At this point i would say leave them to their circle-jerk

 

[kostirez1]

Sorry but reddit and random discprd channels are not the scene or the community.
So lets keep that drama in those places,

I don't consider them to be that either. I'm just saying that should there be a place where we can come together and do something great, it's this forum. One can't depend on the "community" that doesn't even want BGToolset back, nor any other tools.

 

[STLcardsWS]

I don't consider them to be that either. I'm just saying that should there be a place where we can come together and do something great, it's this forum. One can't depend on the "community" that doesn't even want BGToolset back, nor any other tools.

Added to my post, just saying we need not give them attention..
Expose the frauds are fine , but who cares what they say or think they are obvious moron's that think they know something and have been very clueless.

 

[GuilloteTesla]

Come on, people out there on subreddits and Discord servers are so cheerful and supportive.

Good old drama scene!. It reminds me of the ps3hax site, those forums were toxic as f#*$. There were good people there, as in any place, but the "loud majority" of a-holes killed any momentum the scene had at times (by using the same arguments like in the pictures).

Anyway, don't be let down @kostirez1, @lmn7, and the rest of the devs. "History is written by the victors".

Cheers!

 

[aldostools]

The thing is, I already did this exact thing years ago and the result was the same. Like I said, nobody wanted to test it then and I had to finish off the last tests myself (with some help from a friend IRL). Now that the scene is even less active than it was back then and many developers have since left entirely, do you honestly think if I did the same thing now that anything would change?

But that's beside the point. I've already bricked one of my consoles testing the new flash writer so I have done what I can on my end. If the community wants a software flasher as much as they claim, the ball is entirely in their court. I know there are people here with hardware flashers but what they want to do with them is entirely their prerogative. I'm not going to go out of my way anymore to finish something that the community wants when I've received practically no support up to this point.

At the end of the day I wasn't updating the flash writer for myself because I don't need it, it was always for the community.

Your modified version is proven to work fine on 4.82-4.85. It has additional safety checks that make it better that the original flash writer. So I don't think it needs too much work besides creating a custom patches from the nofsm patches for HFW and add the corresponding checks.

Publishing it privately at least you might get some devs interested in checking your work, now that the current scenario is different than years ago when bgtoolset and ps3xploit flash writer were other options that people would prefer because they got more exposure.

In any case, this kind of tool is mainly for one time use. Also it has a limited number of users from a niche. So don't expect much people willing to help.

 

[kostirez1]

In any case, this kind of tool is mainly for one time use. Also it has a limited number of users from a niche. So don't expect much people willing to help.

While being a single use, it still plays a major role in console preservation and research efforts. I'm sure that there are many developers out there that, just like me, got the privilege of using DEX firmware thanks to software based exploits.

 

[lmn7]

Your modified version is proven to work fine on 4.82-4.85. It has additional safety checks that make it better that the original flash writer. So I don't think it needs too much work besides creating a custom patches from the nofsm patches for HFW and add the corresponding checks.

Publishing it privately at least you might get some devs interested in checking your work, now that the current scenario is different than years ago when bgtoolset and ps3xploit flash writer were other options that people would prefer because they got more exposure.

In any case, this kind of tool is mainly for one time use. Also it has a limited number of users from a niche. So don't expect much people willing to help.

Yes, I know the code for the 4.89 version is fine. All the checks work and the flashing process is the same. The only thing that needs testing is the actual patch itself. @littlebalup has been kind enough to produce the patch for me, because I don't have knowledge on exactly what patches are needed. I know the structure of the patched files needs to remain the same after the patches have been applied for the flasher to work correctly.

Despite all of this, things have stagnated for months. I do still want to finish it off, but like I've said before, anyone who wants to test it can contact me. This includes regular users and devs, really anyone that has a hardware flasher to recover from a brick.

 

[kostirez1]

The only thing that needs testing is the actual patch itself. @littlebalup has been kind enough to produce the patch for me, because I don't have knowledge on exactly what patches are needed.

If this is all you really need, we can validate most of it by redirecting the tool to USB storage and by extracting CoreOS contents. Sounds to me like this could be solved in the next couple of hours.

PM sent.

 

[STLcardsWS]

Added some Extra Warning in the forum, since this post.
Added an announcement pop in the ps3xploit forum that details the brick.


Recently added the toolset / PS3HEN its own forum (a little overdue but the main forum was serving the purpose but to clean information up i separated them a bit, some of you may of had post moved notifcations this past week or so)
Also added some link forums aboutthe brick risk of the clones to this thread and also added link forum to give notices about the domain's being down.
https://www.psx-place.com/forums/PS3Xploit/

unrelated to this thread but some general tweaking of the PS3 forum as well
created a new PS3 CFW forum. this past week
https://www.psx-place.com/forums/ps3-cfw-custom-firmware.179/
The original PS3 CFW Jailbreaking forum was just that but since PS3 HAN then PS3HEN it expanded and it never had it own sub forum so now it does, i have moved alot of post over there as well. Mostly just info and Releases. The main forum still serves use for general questions.

Added this sub-forum as well recently & moved some PoCs and theories over there.
https://www.psx-place.com/forums/development-firmware-tools-ideas-pocs.267/