[Desire Android Development] neoKushan:
FAQ

Q: What is all this about hacking the PS3?

A: A few weeks ago, someone released a USB tool that allows you to switch any PS3 into "dev" or "debug" mode. The long and short of this means that the PS3 has finally been hacked and homebrew is a real possibility. After a lot of clever reverse engineering, the hack was documented and distributed under the name "PS3Groove". Some clever people ported that code so that other USB devices could be used for this purpose. It just so happens that your smartphone is also a USB device and this was a project to port THAT code so that your Android smartphone could be used to hack your PS3.

Q: Cool! Where do I start?

A: Slow down there, cowboy. This is pretty technical stuff, if you've come here from another forum, or are unfamilliar with terms like "recovery", "flashing", "rooting" and such, take a deep breath and look around the forums for more information, as any mistakes could brick your phone.

First, you'll need to know if your device is compatible. There is a list of android devices maintained here: http://psfreedom.com/wiki/index.php?title=Device_compatibility_list

This will tell you if your device is supported, as well as point you to where to go if it is.

Q: Ok, so I have a supported device, now what?

A: Just owning the device isn't enough. You'll need to root it to enable you to install custom ROMs. Once you're confident about installing custom ROMs, you're ready to rock and roll! Now, this IS the Desire dev forum, so from here on I'll assume you have a HTC desire, rooted and ready to go. If you have a different device, refer to the link above, or look on your device's own forum.

Q: What ROMs are compatible with this?

A: If you thought that you might need a specific ROM - you'd be right! The whole hack revolves around the kernel that's loaded into the ROM. Essentially, this means that not all ROMs will be able to do this. Right now, if you're looking for an easy solution, install OpenDesire. CyanogenMOD may well work, too, as well as ROMs based off either of those, but no guarantees or promises are made.

Q: What about Sense ROMs?

A: Unfortunately, this isn't feasible. HTC Have yet to release the source code for Sense 2.2, which means we can't port this into it. So if you have a ROM that you like running sense, you'll have to make a choice - Sense, or PS3 hacking? There's no middle ground with this. Alternatively, you can just nandroid between the two ROMs, however you'll soon see how tedious this can get =P

Q: Ok I've got Open Desire installed, now what?

A: Opendesire by itself is just a damn good ROM, not a lean, mean, PS3-hacking machine, so you'll need to add something else. The details are kept here, but essentially there are two update zip files. One will "enable" the PS3 hack and one will "disable" it. You flash those files directly over the ROM itself, using your favourite recovery.

Q: BDMV or Homebrew?

A: In order to keep PSgroove away from Sony's legal team, they released it without the ability to play backup PS3 games, only PS3 homebrew (to which there is currently very little, but stay tuned!), they did this by disabling BDMV. So there are TWO "enable" files. One is "Homebrew", which is a direct port of the PSGroove code and will not play backup games and the other is "BDMV", which will play both PS3 homebrew AND backups.

Q: Did you say BACKUPS?!

A: Yer darn tootin' I did! Legal backups, of course. One of the few pieces of homebrew available is the Backup Manager. This is a simple application that will let you backup a GAME THAT YOU OWN onto an internal or external USB hard drive, then play it without the disk. You'll still need a disk in the drive, but any PS3 game will work.

Q: Where do I get Backup Manager?

A: Backup manager is built with the PS3 SDK, which means it's technically illegal software, so you wont find it on this site, but it really isn't hard to find with a bit of googling. Whatever you do, don't ask for it here!

Q: Hey guess what, I found a copy of backup manager, how do I use it?

A: Ok, so before you start, do yourself a checklist:

You'll need -

Rooted phone,

running a ROM with the PS3groove code loaded onto it (e.g. open desire with klutsh's enable zip flashed on top of it),

USB cable plugged into your PS3 going to the phone.

Phone switched on and on the home screen.

A PS3 running Firmware 3.41 (support for earlier Firmwares will come later, but don't ask when).

Make sure there's no disk in the drive.

Step 1: POWER OFF your PS3 COMPLETELY. This means flipping the switch off at the back of it (if it's a PHAT PS3) or UNPLUGGING it if it's a SLIM PS3.

Step 2: Switch it back on and IMMEDIATELY press the "disk eject button". When I say immediately, I mean it - you've got 0.2s to press it!

you'll notice your PS3 takes longer to boot, a few extra seconds. Once it has booted, you'll notice under GAME, you'll have a couple of extra options.

Step 3: Plug in your USB drive with manager.pkg on it, then select "* Install Package File". Select manager.pkg and it'll install, giving you a new Icon.

Step 4: Backup manager is now installed. Run it and put a disk in the drive. You'll see it appear in the list and it'll give you an option to back it up. It'll first ask if you want the external drive, then it'll ask if you want to install it to the Internal drive. More on that later.

Now, go make yourself a cup of tea. In fact, make several, Blu-ray disks are frickin' huge and take time to backup.

...................

Ok, so the game is backed up. Go ahead and put it back in it's box, where it'll be safe from harm. Now, get yourself ANOTHER PS3 game, any game at all and put it in the PS3. In backup manager, you'll see both your disk game and the backed up game. Select the backup game and press "X".

You'll now be kicked back to the XMB. But look at the disk icon. It should be showing you the game you backed up, NOT the game in your drive. You'll need a legit PS3 game in your drive for this to work, you'll also need to make sure you're running BDMV enable, or it wont work (it'll still show you the game in the drive).

Q: Sounds great! But what's the catch?

A: Actually, there are several. For one, the external hard drive must be FAT32, or it wont be detected by the PS3.

Because of this, any games that have files greater than 4Gb wont work (for example, God of War III), you'll need to install it onto the INTERNAL drive.

Even then, some games may not work at all. Luckily, there are a few lists showing which games work, which don't and which only work on the internal drive.

Oh and some games require you to delete all of their savegame data before they'll load. Sorry.

Furthermore, things like DLC, patches, etc. tend to not work, but this is very early days at the moment, so sit tight!

Q: What's this I hear about "stealth" backups?

A: Quite simply, everyone is expecting Sony to want to protect their precious PS3, which will likely come in the form of a banwave for anyone doing this. Make no mistake, do not assume for a second that you wont get banned for doing this. Still, some people believe that they might be safer if they use a "stealth" Backup Manager. This is simply a version of Backup Manager that tries to make it look like you're playing a different game, like MW2. So far, despite rumours to the contrary, Sony hasn't banned anyone yet, so nobody knows just how detectable it all is.