How-to: PSP 2.00-2.60 Homebrew With ELoader

eloader
Thanks go to sometimes hacker, C.K. Sample, III, author of PSP Hacks for contributing this how-to.

So you’ve heard about this homebrew thing that all the cool kids have been doing, but you have already upgraded to version 2.6 of the firmware so that you could play all the latest and greatest games on the PSP. Fortunately for you, some very diligent hackers have been working round the clock to discover ways to get around the limitations put in place by the latest firmware.

The solution isn’t in the form of a downgrader, but rather in the form of an eLoader (EBOOT loader) that lets you use Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories to run homebrew on a PSP with version 2.0, 2.01, 2.5, and 2.6 of the firmware. Not all homebrew will run via this method, but there is a rather easy to read compatibility chart and I’m sure more things will begin working in future releases of the eLoader.

To help you along in your quest to homebrew, here’s a step by step (with pictures!) guide to using the eLoader:

  1. Get your hands on a PSP running firmware 2.0-2.6 and a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

  2. Download and decompress the eLoader [via PSP Updates].

  3. Connect your PSP to your computer or mount your Memory Stick on your computer via a card reader.

  4. When you open up your Memory Stick on your computer you will see a variety of folders including MP_ROOT and PSP. PSP is the one we will be using.

  5. Drag your PSP folder on your Memory Stick to a local hard drive as a backup (it’s always good to backup).

  6. Open the PSP folder on the Memory Stick.

  7. Open up the PSP folder contained in the eLoader folder. You will see two folders: GAME and SAVEDATA. If you look inside the PSP folder on your Memory Stick, you will see the same two folders. We don’t want to replace those folders, but rather add the contents of the two together.

  8. Open up the GAME folder of the eLoader and drag the contents of that folder into the GAME folder on your Memory Stick.

  9. Open the SAVEDATA folder of the eLoader and drag the contents of that folder over to the SAVEDATA folder on your Memory Stick. If one of the files pops up with a “Replace existing file” or some such error, then this means that you already had a GTA save file in slot 5. Click replace (as you backed up the file in step 5).eload

  10. Unmount the Memory Stick / your PSP.

  11. Start up Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. After it loads, select Load Game and choose the eLoader savegame.gta

  12. The eLoader will launch. Use the directional pad to select a homebrew app and hit the X button to attempt launching it. As noted before, not all homebrew apps currently work, so some will crash your PSP and you will have to restart it. Enjoy your homebrew!eload

Unfortunately, none of the homebrew apps that are my favorites currently run via this exploit (fortunately, I have another PSP rocking firmware version 1.5), so make sure you grab one of the compatible ones before you start this exploit. As always, this exploit *shouldn’t* risk harming your PSP, as it doesn’t mess with your firmware at all, however, use at your own risk.

Once you are done homebrewing, if you want to play GTA and it keeps autoloading the eLoader, simply delete the eLoader from your Memory Stick. You can do this from your PSP by hitting the Start button in the eLoader, which Quits the game and returns you to the PSP’s game menu. Navigate to the Saved Data Utility, select each of the eLoader GTA beta files (there should be three of them), hit the Triangle button, select Delete from the side menu that pops up, and hit the X button to delete. Do this for each of the files. Have fun!

149 thoughts on “How-to: PSP 2.00-2.60 Homebrew With ELoader

  1. Wow, innovative way to get around firmware, SOFTWARE!! This article and seeing all of the hoembrew stuff for the PSP makes me want to buy one, although i’ll look out for a lower firmware rev

    Cheers

  2. wow, im very impressed with the guys doing all the hard work at hacking the psp. i really would like to get my hands on one but im still rather unsure, especially with sony’s antics in the past. maybe its time for me to consider it, well after a tax refund anyways.

  3. No, sebastienbwhatever. No backup games can be loaded past v1.5 firmware.

    Besides, using ISOs for the majority of people (99.9999%) is illegal. (I highly doubt you’d use an ISO if you owned the game)

    Downloaded ISOs = Bad Kitty!

    Shame.

  4. Actually I do use ISOs of games that I legally own, because I got the memory stick for movies anyway, and I can carry it with 1 game on stick and 1 UMD in the drive, because its a huge hassle to carry the extra umds. Also (this isnt as big to me) games load more than twice as fast from the memory stick.

  5. are u a retard? look at the list in the eloader. you can play snes games gameboy games, more advanced settings, lotsa stuff. DO SOME RESEARCH, this guide assumes you already know at least a little about what homebrew is

  6. i am not new to exploiting the psp’s firmware for homebrewed apps. But this new GTA eloader is givin me some trouble. i have not been able to actually start any app, and after redownloading and configuring, i now can nolonger reach the actual eloader startup screen.
    also, many people have complained that their GTA savegames don’t start automatically. And the response many are giving as a solution is to start a new game and save it so as to re-up your date stamp on your savefile. unfortunately if you check the eloader save file… it is a 2007. OUCH… haha… so any help to either of these would be much appreciated. Thanks,
    -D3

  7. Same thing for me. Excellent tutorial, but, when i load the eloader savegame from GTALCS, PSP return to the OS Screen. Did i miss anything ?

    –>french PSP / GTALCS

    (ps : i used the GTALCS “german” savegame)

  8. well i tried this just for the snes emulator… got the emulator to work once out of about 20 tries, but couldn’t get a game to run (locked up on black screen) a nice start but it looks like there’s more work to be done

  9. H@#$ ya i have been w8in 4 this 2 happen since i got the 2.60!! i thought that i was f*$&#% when i foundout there wasnt a downgrader yet 4 2.60 but i found this ….well ney .. props to whoeva made this its genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  10. can u loa iso’s on the gta loader e.g fifa game like that because i aint reali bothered about these little games i was just wondering if u can use proper game

    plez peeps rply

  11. hai.. i have saved eloader in psp..as per instruction,But when i go savedata in psp..i can see gta fanjita pic slot but when i press triangle button it shows (copy,delete,info) what 2 do.. How to get game

  12. heya am a Brit from Liverpool i previously had firmware 2.0 and downgraded it and used all the homebrew i accidentally upgraded to 2.5 and now have the GTA eboot. It works fine just have to be patient for any noobs who have any problems just e-mail me if it’s regards to this or any other downgrade issue happy to help :-) mick_dilworth2003@yahoo.co.uk

  13. YES I JEST GOT THE EMULATOR FOR MY PSP AND IT DOSENT WORK I CAN GET IT TO AUTOLOADE BUT WHEN I FINALY CLICK ON IT AFTER I GOT MY ORIGNAL GTA GAME TO GO IT LOADS UP AND I JST GET THE BACKGROUND OF THE EMULATOR NONE OF THE BLACK LETTERS JEST THE BACKGROUND I FOLLOWED THE STEPS AND I VE TRIED HUNDREDS OF TIMES AND NOT BEEN ABILE TO GET IT TOOK WORK IF YALL HAVE A SOLUTION PLEZ LET ME KNOW THX :)

  14. i’ve been trying to do this all night long but ill get the homebrew to pop up but nothing will be on the list. im sure im doing something wrong but iv tried everything.
    pls some 1 reply

  15. do you have to have the homebrew games n stuff in your PSP/GAME folder? cuz when my eloader thing comes on it shows for like 5 secs with like just what it looks like and then shuts off my PSP

  16. Could this emulator be made for an E rated game for geeks who can`t get their hands on GTA? (I`m a teen with parents if you didn`t pick that up). If not, explain why please. Thanks!

  17. For Everyone
    This is from the fanjita.org site he is the dude that made this eloader.

    To install:
    ===========

    Use WinRAR to unpack the contents of this package into the root (topmost) folder on your memory stick. Note that if
    you have an existing GTA savegame that uses slot 5, then this will be overwritten by the eLoader savegame.
    You can see which slots you are using by the folder names – ULES00182SX, ULES00151SX or ULUS10041SX : X is the slot number.

    To make sure that the eLoader is not auto-started by GTA, you can copy another GTA savegame folder off your memory
    stick, and then back onto the memory stick now.

    Now you can copy your homebrew files into subfolders in the /psp/game/ folder.

    To use:
    =======

    Start up GTA as normal. When it has loaded, select “Load Game”, select the eLoader savegame and
    confirm the load as normal. After a short delay, the eLoader menu should appear. Select the homebrew to run using
    the D-Pad, and the X button. You can select a CPU speed with the L + R shoulder buttons, or press START to restart
    your PSP.

    To return to the menu, you can usually hold the L+R shoulder buttons, then hold START for a few seconds. This doesn’t
    work for every application.

    The HOME button doesn’t work, this is a known problem.

    Troubleshooting:
    ================

    One common problem is that sometimes GTA has problems if it auto-loads this savegame at startup. You can
    avoid this by making sure that the datestamp on the new savedata folders is older than the most recent
    game that you saved with GTA. This should happen automatically if you use WinRAR to extract the files.
    If you still have problems with GTA crashing as soon as it starts, then try this:

    * Start GTA with no memory stick inserted. You should get a warning, and then start the intro movies.

    * Once the intro has finished, either play through the first mission until you can get to a
    game save point, or just load up an existing save (not the Tetris save).

    * Now save your position in a new save slot.

    You should then find that GTA autoloads your normal savegame, letting you select the eLoader savegame later.

    You might find that removing unused save folders helps. There are 3 versions of the folders in this package,
    to cover all known versions of the game. You only really need the version appropriate to your copy of the game,
    which is:
    ULES00182S* for German GTA
    ULUS10041S* for US GTA
    ULES00151S* for all other versions.

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