The Power Supply (Vol. 08) - Our Guest Today: "well-known multiconsole Developer @CelesteBlue123"

Since you liked our past Interviews so far where we talk with Developers across all PlayStation consoles - and especially one of our latest Interview where we talked with a Developer who tinkers with various consoles simultaneously - we thought about to do this again. Today's Guest is also well-known for releasing various Homebrew Applications mainly for the PlayStation Vita, but also for the PlayStation 4. In fact in this interview, you will learn not only what he released so far for both consoles, but also what it means to develop for the PS Vita as for the PS4 in terms of "connectivity" for both consoles. But what does this mean exactly? Maybe you can remember back when the PS4 got presented back at E3 2013, Sony itself tried to make it more tasty for you not only to play with their newest Home Console, but also with the previous released PS Vita as well, especially when using the official "Remote Play" Feature. While this didn't worked quite well for Sony to be honest - although even the newest PS4 Games today still supports "Remote Play" - this Developer took a similar approach to understand the "connectivity" between both consoles but in terms of hacking them and to create useful Homebrew for it. And his results are impressive as well. So without further ado, our Guest Today is well-known multiconsole Developer @CelesteBlue. ​

Volume 10: "Interview with CelesteBlue123" More about Today's Guest: "CelesteBlue123" Other Interviews in our "The Power Supply"-Series

• 
  Hello @CelesteBlue and welcome to our new "The Power Supply"-Series, where we like to introduce an inside look from the Developers to our audience with an interview.
  

  Hello Roxanne!

  
  
  In our Introduction Text above I already hinted for our readers that you are one of the Developers, who are developing Homebrew and other useful Tools not only for one console. In fact you are continuously Releasing new "Repos" for both the PlayStation 4 as for the PlayStation Vita. Tell us, what makes it so special for you personally to tinker with those two Consoles. Is there maybe a connection between those two consoles in terms of Hacking such as for both Kernel and Web-Exploits and/or for Homebrew in general?
  

  As I often tell, PSVita and PS4 shares a lot of vulnerabilities, especially in WebKit, a part of the web browser. But there are also some links between PSVita and PS3: PS3xploit webkit + kernel exploits - and between PSVita and PSP: eCFWs and Trinity exploit chain. But what really interests me is what these consoles share in term of Operating System because Reverse Engineering is a puzzle and sometimes the pieces are easier to find in another console. I share my knowledge of all the PS consoles into the wikis.

  
  
  Let us focus on your releases for the PlayStation Vita first. I can remember a few years ago when System Firmware 3.60 was still the only Firmware hacked for the PS Vita, that both your "ReStore" and "ReNpDrm" Applications got a lot of possitive credits from the community, which allowed them not only to get back access to the official PlayStation Store - so they could download their previous purchased Games and Applications again - but also to run them on a lower Firmware with HENkaku (Ensō) installed. Maybe you want to share some insights within the Developemnt of those two Homebrew Apps? Was it maybe more difficult in the past to develop them compared to today?
  

  This project would not have started without research done years earlier on PS3 PSN. I was given by a PS3 hacker some code to download PS Store games licenses on a PC using PS3 API. My work consisted in porting the code to C, to PSVita, in a userland module (.suprx) then I had to RE SceShell and the PS Store application to hijack game downloading. That was ReStore.
  
  Then I had to port the console activation code and to spoof ConsoleId so that PSVita system thought it was a PS3. That was ReNpDrm. Not only had I to code in C for PSVita, but I also wanted to hide the network API to avoid the flaw being patched by SCE. So I wrote a PHP script to be a bridge that I hosted on [the] CustomProtocol server.
  
  Back in time it was harder to RE PSVita because we were lacking tools and documentation, but at least network was easier to deep inside. Nowadays, PSN is secured with challenges, signatures, captchas, cookies, IP blocks and more... Hopefully we don't need ReStore nor ReNpDrm anymore as SCE gave up on locking PSN access on PSVita FW 3.60. But this network enstrengthment is the reason why console and game activation of outofdate exploited PS4 is a major issue.

  
  
  "PSVita-StorageMgr" is another great Tool from your hands which is in use by many people everyday and which allows one to mount a external storage device on whichever mount points a user wishes to. This is obviously pretty useful for "SD2VITA/PSVSD" users but also for people connecting a USB Flash Drive to the PlayStation TV using it as a classical external storage solution. Maybe you want to explain us what are the benefits of the possibility to mount external storage devices to any mount point? How can a user profit from that?
  

  StorageMgr had the goal to be the all-in-one driver for storage on PSVita. I wanted to make it as user-friendly as possible and supporting every storage device. Before it existed, you had to install many drivers and to compile each one with a different mountpoint if you wished to mount many devices at the same time. With StorageMgr, you only have one driver and you can select the mountpoint in a .txt file instead of having to recompile the driver on a PC.

  
  
  Speaking about Exploits in general, I recognized in the past that you was the one who always wanted to get the same Kernel and Web-Exploits from other Developers but running on an older Firmware. I think I saw this when HENkaku was first introduced for System Firmware 3.60 that you ported it to FW 3.55 and 3.50 (or even older ones). Is there a hidden agenda behind that?
  

  About PSVita, when HENkaku was released we were all happy, but some people like me were worried to have to update from FWs <=3.57 because that was making us lose ePSP CFW like TN-V, ePS1 CFW like TN-X and PSM apps. FW 3.60 was not at all a golden FW. It was just good because it was the latest so we still had PSN access and everybody could hack their PSVita, unlike on PS4 scene where 1.76 PS4s were pretty rare. Backporting exploits is sometimes an easy task, sometimes not. The bigger the slide in time and revision is, the harder porting is. That's not always true because older FWs have less securities so it requires less work. However, sometimes old FWs are not vulnerable.
  
  Porting PS4 kernel exploit to FW 3.15 took a long time because out of the 3 kernel exploits, 2 were always panicking kernel (shutdowning my PS4) and the working one was running slowly and crashing after execution. Finally, it was not too much of a handle because I only wanted to dump kernel. Making a 3.15 HEN would have taken me too much energy. PS4 backporting had 3 different goals: allowing PS4s with broken Blu-ray drive that cannot update to an exploitable FW to be exploited on their current FW, dumping old PS4 kernels for easier RE and having the most stable exploits working on most FWs. As with [the] 6.72 kernel exploit release[d], everyone can see how stability matters and the big gap between FWs 5.05 and 6.72. Like in Pokemon, "catch them all" is my mantra.
  
  Anecdote: even before joining the PlayStation scene I was backporting Operating Systems. Yes, I was part of the Android scene, where I was porting ROMs from a recent phone to an older one in order to extend Android devices service life. Then I got a PSVita and stopped rooting my Android devices.

  
  
  Together with the help of @SpecterDev and @zecoxao, you did the same for the PS4 by porting the PS4 Kernel Exploit for Firmware 5.05 back to Firmware 4.74 so people with a broken Blu-ray Drive was able to benefit from the same possibilites in terms of Hacking and Homebrew like users on Firmware 5.05 do. While this was also common in the PS3-era like we saw with all those "noBD" Custom Firmwares in the past, I would like to ask you about your thoughts why it took so long for Sony to implement that kind of protection on such a higher Firmware? Or to simplify my question: "What do you think why Sony didn't implemented this already on System Firmware 1.00, especially when this wasn't new for them as we saw from the PS3?" Is there a difference between both consoles when someone wants to install a higher System Firmware with a broken BD Drive?
  

  Since years zecoxao and me see everyday how Sony devs were lazy and too fast when they worked on PlayStation devices Operating Systems. About PS4 BD drive block, I think they kept doing as on PS3 because it was easier for them, then with people complaining SCE devs allocated time to fix this issue in newer models. I don't blame them because I know they are under pressure when developping a new device. I have seen many of their given up projects notably on PSVita and that saddens me a bit both for them to have worked for nothing and for the user not to have this feature. What made me buy a PS4 is that I saw SCE had fixed much inconvenience from PS3 and improving consistently through FW updates. We all enjoy external HDD support available since FW 4.50.

  
  
  Speaking about the PS3, I saw in previous months that you are also hardworking by contributing and correcting many Articles on both the PS3 and PS4 Developer Wiki. There are any plans for PS3/PS4/Vita we are allowed to get a little sneak peak for future Releases you are currently working for?
  

  PS3 interests me because of its OS concepts which were ported to PSVita and PS4. Notably I worked on one of the most famous file format shared by these consoles: Certified File (see PS3 Dev Wiki). My next releases will be for PSVita and PS4: some updates of QuickHEN, the release of KitHEN, and a secret project under FAPS Team.

  
  
  In the past we asked our candidates who are tinkering with the PS4 what are their thoughts in terms of "why the PS4 lacks of newer Exploits and good Homebrew" especially compared to the PS3 and the PS Vita. In fact while you can nearly exploit the newest Firmware on the Vita together with spoofing to the current Original Firmware Version, the PS4 is far away that we will ever see a "PS4 7.50 Kexploit" for instance. Since you are underway in both communities, maybe you want to share the differences why the situation is like described in your own words?
  
  [Editor's Note: The Interview itself was held before the newest PS4 Exploit got released! Thanks for Understanding.]
  

  Firstly I'm gonna answer like if TheFloW's 7.02 kernel exploit had not been released. PSVita hackers don't fear Sony suing them. PSVita hackers don't get paid for releasing an exploit, or at least not more than one thousand dollars. Sony doesn't care about PSVita anymore (since more than 4 years). Sony doesn't care if people cheat online on PSVita. [The] PSVita is a simple system to develop on. PSVita open source SDK has been available for years. PSVita is a handled console. These elements enlighten why PS4
  hackers don't want to release publicly their exploits. Now, with the bounties like HackerOne's, hackers are both able to release publicly without risk and get paid. We will talk later about this Sony's move because that was really surprising to see them unlock piracy of recent games.

  
  
  With such many projects you had in your mind, people will be happy to read how you get into the scene? Maybe you can tell us about your very first project you worked for. Was it even developed for the PS Vita or for another console?
  

  The moment I actually joined the scene as a contributor was 4 years ago in August 2016 when I registered on PS Dev Wiki and started studying the PSVita OS. Before that, I was already a PlayStation fan: I was a hardcore PS2 gamer, a PSP lover and a PS3 CFW setupper for my friends. I was knowing only HTML, JS and PHP which I studied when I was 12 years old in order to make websites. The first serious project I did for the scene was ePSP Bubble Installer for PSVita, which won ex aequo with Vita Homebrew Browser [on] the GekiHEN contest. This contest has been a trampoline for me because it pushed me to work with a goal. At that time I learnt LUA for the occasion. But LUA is limited so I went into learning C, without guide nor teacher, just by reading source codes. Vita scene elites said I was a "string editor" which was true. Now I am a "theorycrafter"!

  
  
  What's your opinion about other consoles and its communities in general, like the Nintendo Switch for instance. The PlayStation 5 is also not far away from a release. Tell us about your favourite consoles you liked to both work and to play for. And how about your favourite games you liked to play? Any retro consoles/games you enjoyed in the past as well?
  

  I don't know much about Nintendo scene. The only Nintendo I ever had is a New 3DS XL of which the 3D screen and the game library were enticing. In my opinion the Nintendo Switch scene is like the PSVita scene but with the advantage of being more recent and having a hardware solution team working on it, unlike the imaginary Cobra Black Fin that would have came too late anyway. I don't play videogames anymore. I now have other passions like Reverse Engineering and software exploitation. The only exception is "Gran Turismo Sport" on PS4 with a steering wheel that gives good feelings and makes me improve myself in driving.
  
  My favourite console is the PS2 for its awesome games like "Final Fantasy X", "Dragon Quest VIII" which are for me the best RPGs in their category. Then the PS3 is also a good console because of its huge retrocompatibility. Between PSP and PSVita, I now prefer the PSVita because I find PSP screen too small and not as much defined. The PSVita has more games and a lot more features, like a smartphone. You might have already noticed my favourite dev console is the PSVita. I even bought a PSVita Development Kit which has superpowers compared to a retail PSVita.

  
  
  I think the people would like to come to know better the guy behind all this work you did for this scene. What are you doing when you don't play video games or when you don't tinker with all the consoles you mentioned before? Any interesting hobbies or other interests you like to share?
  

  I am a student in Mathematics and Computer Science. I actually spend more time for the scene than for university studies because I have good enough results. I am a scoutmaster, hence why you don't see me online during Summer.

  
  
  In our new interview series, we would like to make these interviews also a little bit helpful to the readers, especially for those who wants to develop something for the very first time from ground up. Where do you suggest someone to start with? Do you have any tips for those new inspiring developers?
  

  First path: If there is an application you would like to improve, search its source code and try compiling it. Try to run your compiled binary on your device. It might require "jailbreaking" the device. For example, I was not happy with my calculator apps so I installed Ndless on the calculator and the SDK on my PC.
  
  Second path: If you have a device on which you can run code, and you desire to create something, find an open source homebrew that will serve as a tutor. For example, when making my PS4 update blocker payload, I took another PS4 payload as a tutor.

  
  
  Final Question. A few months ago, you helped me personally via Twitter on my very own PS Vita (thank you for that <3). Maybe you want to share a good tip - kinda like a "Tip of the Day" - to the community to one of your projects or to the Homebrew Scene in general?
  

  I am surprised that even devs sometimes get their e-mail addresses stolen. Never reuse passwords: one site = one password, and use a strong password for your e-mail account. Take some time to clean your mailbox and your files. That way if something happens you will spend less time recovering and will lose less data.

  
  
  Alright, Thank you very much CelesteBlue for attending to this Interview. It was a pleasure to come to know better to you and all your hard work you achieved for this scene! Have a great day!
  

  Goodbye. Thanks for the nice questions.

• 
  
  When we sum up the most important Releases made by Developer @CelesteBlue, you will recognize that many of them are already released in the past. But that doesn't mean that they are now completely useless or so. In fact, it's quite the opposite and you can use most of them still today:
  
  

  

  
  "PSVita-StorageMgr" is - as we learned by the Interview now - a powerful Kernel plugin for the PlayStation Vita, which mounts and/or redirects any of your external storage devices to your desired mounting point, no matter if you use an microSD with an "SD2VITA-Adapter" or even with an real Sony PS Vita Memory Card. And not to forget as you can check it from the README. He spent about 40 hours in this project!
  
  

  ---

  d

  The Functionality about "ReStore" is now built-in in newer HENkaku (Ensō) releases but as we learned from the Interview, if you like to use your PS Vita on an lower Firmware below <3.60, this Plugin will help you in downloading your previous Games Collection you bought from the PlayStation Store before.
  
  

  ---

  d

  But downloading your Games from the PSN Store is only half of the job done. Since you also have to "sign" them to make them work on a lower System Firmware, you will also need "ReNpDrm" to make them running on your PS Vita. Both Plugins should still work today as wel learned from the Interview.
  
  

  ---

  d

  

  
  And if you still like to enjoy your older PSP Games on your PS Vita, "ePSP Bubble Installer" will help you to organize your PS Vita Homescreen with your PSP Games making your Homescreen both more beautiful and useful.​
• 
  
  The Power Supply (Vol. 07) - Our Guest Today: "well known multi-console Developer mathieulh"
  
  

  

  
  

  Our Interview Series conducted various Interviews with Developers, who worked either mainly for the PlayStation 3 or for the PlayStation 4 (and one time for the PlayStation Vita). But sometimes, there are well-known Developers who say to themselves that working on one console isn't enough for me. In fact the older readers will probably ...

  
  
  Click here to read our seventh Interview in our new series with multi-console and well known developer mathieulh.
  
  

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  fThe Power Supply (Vol. 06) - Our Guest Today: "Blu-Play and BD-J Developer mr_lou"
  
  

  

  
  

  In our Interview Series, we always try that you can profit with each of our candidates by mainly three things. First, you gain an insight behind each Developer and his/her work he/she is doing for the community. Second, we summarize the most important Releases from each Developer, so you can get a good overview of which Tools and Homebrew you need ...

  
  Click here to read our sixth Interview in our new series with well-known Developer mr_lou.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (vol. 05): A chat with (PS Vita Developer) Rinnegatamante
  
  

  

  
  

  Well it's that time again as we have another talented developer featured in The Power Supply (A developer Interview Series brought to you by PSX-Place). So far you have seen us explore various talents from the PS3 & PS4 in the first four editions (view the complete collection of interview here, some great reads and insight from some of the best), so this time around in vol.5 of the series we ...

  
  Click here to read our fifth Interview in our new series with well-known Developer Rinnegatamante.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (Vol. 04) - Our Guest Today: "PS3(Xploit) Developer esc0rtd3w"
  
  

  

  
  

  Our Interview Series is a full success. Not only can you get an in-depth look behind all the great projects each of those developer's have worked on in the past and their plans into the future, but also that you can get a useful overview with all important Homebrew Releases made by the developer's which will help you if you want to get the "Full Experience" from your ...

  
  Click here to read our fourth Interview in our new series with PSX-Place Developer [U]@esc0rtd3w[/U].​
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (vol. 03): A chat with Aldotools (developer of IRISMAN / webMAN MOD / PS3 Tools .)
  
  

  

  
  

  We are back once again for another edition of The Power Supply. If you have not caught the previous editions (vol. 1: deank & vol. 2: m0rph3us1987) we have started a new interview series featuring many of the talented people from around the community. So with this latest edition we have yet another great developer in the community to feature in the new series. ...

  
  Click here to read our third Interview in our new series with PSX-Place Developer [U]@aldostools[/U].
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (Vol. 02) - Our Guest Today: "PS4 Developer m0rph3us1987"
  
  

  

  
  

  With the very first introduction of our new Series of Developer Interviews - as known by "The Power Supply" - you were already allowed to dabble a little bit with Volume 01 of the series, where you got a deep look into the work from well-known Developer @deank he did for this scene. While he worked mainly for the PS3 Community, we thought it would be only fair to bring you a ...

  
  Click here to read our second Interview in our new series with well-known Developer @m0rph3us1987.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (vol. I) Featuring a chat with developer deank (creator of multiMAN / webMAN & ...)
  
  

  

  
  

  In this inaugural edition of The Power Supply (A new developer interview series) we have the pleasure to interview one of the legendary developer's of the PlayStation Homebrew Community. A developer whom has contributed on a variety of projects and been a master of some of his own . Very well known in the PS3 scene, this dev is responsible for projects that include ...

  
  Click here to read the very first Interview in our new series with PSX-Place Developer @deank.
  
  

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  dIntroducing "The Power Supply": A new developer interview series
  
  

  

  
  

  PSX-Place.com Presents: The Power Supply, a new series of interviews that will feature some of the iconic developer's & inspiring newcomers powering the scene from past and present within the homebrew community. These devs have provided the power for your favorite projects on your PS4 / PS3 / PS2 / PS1 / PS Vita (tv) / PSP platform(s). We have a variety of developer's with many ...

  
  Click here to get an overview about this new Series and to find all previous Interviews.​

Thanks again @CelesteBlue for allowing us to interview you and to give our community the opportunity to come to know you better!​

 

Thanks @Roxanne for conducting this interview and thanks to @CelesteBlue123 for taking part.

 

Absolutely LOVE these interviews, Roxanne! Keep them coming!