eLoader v1.000
(the "IPA" release)

by Noobz!
(based on excellent groundwork by Saotome)

 

Official Resources

Official Website:http://www.noobz.eu
Official Forum:http://forums.noobz.eu
Official IRC:#noobz on irc.noobz.eu
Homebrew Database:http://www.psp-homebrew.eu

Introduction

NOTE : UNLIKE PREVIOUS VERSIONS, THIS VERSION OF ELOADER IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR LAUNCHING TRICKY EBOOTs ON PSPs THAT ARE ALREADY CAPABLE OF RUNNING HOMEBREW (i.e. VIA CUSTOM FIRMWARES AND HOMEBREW ENABLERS). SUPPORT FOR LAUNCHING VIA EXPLOITS IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS RELEASE.

This program builds on the original work done by Saotome to load homebrew EBOOT.PBPs into PSPs with HEN or Custom Firmware (CFW). Although HEN and CFW can generally load most modern homebrew, eLoader offers a way to improve compatibility with older programs.

eLoader is of most use for PSP Lite owners running CFW. This loader will allow them to run homebrew based on 1.50 kernel which otherwise would not be able to run due to the incompatibility of the PSP Lite and the 1.50 kernel.

Since eLoader will also run in any CFW it will be also useful for those developers not having a PSP Lite and wanting to check that their code will run on it.

It currently cannot run all known homebrew, but it uses a number of tricks to get substantially further than ever before. Known limitations are:

It's also still very much in development, so you should expect a few bugs, and for not every EBOOT to run perfectly. An up-to-date list of known working EBOOTs can be found at the homebrew database listed above.

Major new features in this release

Added support for HEN and custom firmwares including the PSP Lite.

Details of Kernel Mode Support

In eloader 1.000 it is possible to make use of kernel mode using "constructor" procs, this therefore gives the ability to patch kernel memory before the user mode thread starts (in the same way that firmware v1.5 can)

The main thing that you can not do at the moment is start a new thread in kernel mode. Note that this is the same level of kernel-mode support as the 0.995 release. We intend to dramatically improve kernel-mode compatibility in future releases.

TERMS OF USE

This software is made available for use as-is, without any guarantee of usability, safety, fitness for purpose etc. We've taken all reasonable precautions to ensure that it cannot damage your PSP, but cannot be held responsible for any damage caused.

You are not permitted to sell this software. If you paid money for this program (most often through eBay), you should demand a refund of your payment, and report the seller to the appropriate authorities.

This program is not intended to aid piracy of any form. Use for piracy is strictly forbidden - we want to support software developers, not steal from them.

To install eLoader

Copy the contents of the MS_ROOT folder to the topmost folder on your PSP memory stick. If you've done this correctly, you will end up with a set of files within the folder 

  /PSP/GAME/eLoader

on your memory stick.

Installing Homebrew

If you've chosen to install Installotron, then you can automatically download and install a selection of popular homebrew to your PSP, so long as you have a network connection configured on your PSP. Just run eLoader as described below, and then select and run Installotron, to select the homebrew programs to install.

Otherwise, or if the homebrew you want to use is not supported by Installotron yet:

Copy the homebrew you want to run to your memory stick. Usually, this means unzipping a directory that contains an EBOOT.PBP file to somewhere under /PSP/GAME/. The exact location and folder name usually doesn't matter, but for best compatibility you should try to use the same names as originally shown in the homebrew ZIP file.

If the instructions with the homebrew contain separate steps for v1.0 and v1.5 firmwares, then usually you'll get best results by following the v1.0 instructions.

NOTE: If the homebrew is written in LUA, you need to copy it to a subdirectory under the your LUA Player "APPLICATIONS" folder.

Running eLoader : via HEN and Custom Firmwares

In order to run eLoader just goto to the "Game" menu on the PSP menu, then "Memory Stick", then select the "eLoader IPA" program.

This will cause eLoader to load up its menu ("eMenu") from which you can choose the homebrew you would like to load.

Using eMenu

Using a different menu

v1.000 of the loader ships with a default menu, emenu--.pbp.

It's also possible to install optional alternative menus, such as 'Choice'.

The loader will use emenu--.pbp menu by default. If you want to use one of the alternatives, then edit the loadmenu1000.cfg file (with Notepad, or any other text editor), and change the following line: 

  menu=ms0:/psp/eloader/emenu--.pbp

to point at the location of the alternative menu's .PBP file.

Troubleshooting

If you have problems with an individual EBOOT getting to the "Press X to launch the program" screen, but crashing immediately after, here are a few things to try:

If you find that one of these steps helps, then please send us details on what you did to make the EBOOT work - we can build the workarounds automatically into the next version of the loader.

NOTE: If the eLoader aborted the process before reaching the "press X" screen, then don't bother trying these steps - there's no way that EBOOT will currently work, but please remember to send the details of the error message to me, so that I can attempt to change the code to make it work.

Configuration File

v0.8.5 and beyond of the loader support configuration via a file, /psp/game/eloader/LOADER1000.CFG. See inside the file for basic details on what the various options do. For most purposes, the defaults should be sufficient.

If you want to try to tweak the options for a specific EBOOT, here are some pointers:

If you find some new configuration parameters that work well for a specific EBOOT, please email us at homebrew@noobz.eu, or make a post on the eLoader forums at forums.noobz.eu.

Future plans

Please see the "Work In Progress" page at www.noobz.eu.

If you find some new homebrew that either does or doesn't work on your PSP, then please consider adding your results to the PSP homebrew database at www.psp-homebrew.eu. Anyone with a free account there is able to add to the data, and it's a great way of checking whether other people have been able to run particular homebrew on a similar PSP setup to yours.

Acknowledgements

This app wouldn't have been possible without the toc2rta TIFF exploit code, or Saotome's hard work on the first beta EBOOT loader, or the support of the fantastic folks at the ps2dev.org forums (especially Groepaz's list of NID -> syscall mappings, and Vampyre's continuing efforts to expand that list). And later, of course, the TIFF exploit that opened up access to homebrew on v2.0-v2.8 - thanks to psp250, Skylark, NOPx86, Jim Paris, Chris Swindle, joek2100 and Fanjita for that.

Thanks to Edison Carter (and later Jim Paris and psp123) for the development of the GTA savegame exploit, which made homebrew possible on v2.01+.

More thanks to hitchhikr, for the LoadExec kernel mode exploit, which we rely on for v2.70 and v2.71 support.

Thanks to Alex Richter for Installotron development.

Thanks to all the forum mods at PSPUpdates.QJ.net, and operators in the #fanjita IRC channel, for supporting all the questions from eLoader users. Special thanks to Serideth and Wakaru, who seem to never sleep.

Thanks also to the many beta testers for their hard work beta testing, as well as many other individual email contributions with information on which EBOOTs are working.

If you have found this program useful and want to encourage further development, please consider donating a small amount via paypal to donations@noobz.eu.

Change history