ModChat

ModChat 118 - Halo 2 Back Online, RP2040 Xbox Modchip, PS3 4.91 Update, Yuzu Lawsuit

A bit of a late episode this month, but we have a jam packed one! Tons of original Xbox news this time around with an HD patch for Halo 2 in the works on top of Halo 2 being back online on Insignia. Unlocking orphaned hard drives for the original Xbox becomes easier thanks to PrometheOS. We also see an awesome advancement for Xbox modchips with Modxo, a script which allows custom Xbox BIOS to be flashed to a RP2040! The PS3 is still getting updates almost 18 years later in the form of 4.91 so we cover the firmware update as well as the latest custom firmware released for it, PS3HEN, HFW, and PS3 Toolset all updated for 4.91 support. The bulk of this episode here goes over the start, and finish, of the lawsuit against the Yuzu team.

ModChat 117 - ENDGAME Exploit for the Original Xbox, PlayStation Portal Running Android Apps

Just a couple of topics for this episode of ModChat, but we're going big with a throwback to the original Xbox having a true breakthrough entrypoint in the form of the appropriately named ENDGAME. This works on all stock Dashboards, kernels, and can be launched directly from the Dashboard using only a storage device. No hotswapping, soldering, teardowns, or games needed! Show and tell is prevalent this episode as we walk through a setup of ENDGAME on a stock Xbox and show what it can be capable of. We also see a pretty awesome announcement showing the PlayStation Portal is now running Android apps natively. Finally, as a fun mod to cover, and old Fallout: New Vegas mod has been recovered which might have you rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' with joy.

ModChat 116 - NetYaroze Access Card Reversed, PrometheOS for Xenium, Beta Switch Menus Discovered

Getting two episodes in this month! First of all covering a project related to the Wii which is a Wii Shop revival service. Going back to the PSP, this covers the Kirk ROM being dumped, which is the console's encryption/decryption engine. The original PlayStation gets some love, in the form of the NetYaroze's Access Card being reverse engineered! Xenium modchip owners can celebrate a new development with the release of PrometheOS, a free and open-source replacement operating system for the chip itself. There's many ways to dump GBA games, but have you ever thought a GBA game could dump itself through a crash? Finally, we get some awesome looking screenshots we haven't seen before of an early prototype of the Switch System Menu!

ModChat 115 - Mig Switch Dumper Revealed, Xbox 360 XL Patches Combined, Portal 64 Taken Down

First episode of 2024 so we had to fill it up with plenty of topics to kick off the new year properly! First of all being an upcoming tease for the Evilnat 4.90.2 CFW allowing for decryption of encrypted PS3 ISOs on the console itself. Movian M7 gets a library update on the PS3, as well as a few other fixes that should offer improvement for anyone currently using Movian. We get a few Mig Switch updates, one of them being more of a reveal of the Mig Dumper! The XL HDD and XL USB patches make a return for the Xbox 360, with this update combining the two to make it possible to have up to 48 TB of storage on a single console! DeckHD gets some nicer open-source support with BiosMaker being released. Another awesome Android game comes to PS Vita with the latest port of SoulCalibur being released. The Sega Saturn also gets some love both with a hidden Clockwork Knight 2 code and a HUGE update to Pseudo Saturn Kai! We also touch up on Portal 64's takedown, and finally a brief look at a quite rare Xbox 360 console meant for testing.

ModChat 114 - MIG Switch Flashcart for Nintendo Switch, PS5 Backups with Itemzflow Released

Only a couple topics for this final ModChat episode of 2023, but a couple big ones here with a lot to discuss! The first one being a flashcart for the Switch of all consoles, first teased and then revealed with much more detail. It seems this device will allow Switch owners to play game backups in XCI format on any model of the Switch, any firmware, without any modifications to the console itself! We also covered Itemzflow booting up PS5 game backups on jailbroken PS5 consoles, but it looks like Itemzflow has been released for PS5. This means PS5 game backups and native PS5 homebrew apps are now working on jailbroken PS5 consoles! Finally, an old 3DS leak gets answered, proving that if someone says their parent works for Nintendo they might not be lying after all. Enjoy this final episode of 2023!

ModChat 113 - Xbox CPU Interposer Open Sourced, Xbox Controller Restriction Bypassed

The PS5 gets a bit of love this episode of ModChat, this time around for stock consoles it seems that owners are wanting to integrate into their Home Assistant workflow! The legendary 1.4 GHz CPU upgrade for the original Xbox comes closer to being publicly known with open sourced CPU interposer boards being released. We have not one, but TWO different types of PSP unbricker news! The first one being a new take on the Baryon Sweeper hardware, but ported over to a RP2040 microcontroller. The second one being a tease from Davee's upcoming unbricker software which will successfully install the latest official firmware on any PSP you can get into Service Mode. Meaning it will work for the old Pandora's Battery configurations and newer Baryon Sweeper implementations! Microsoft's block on third party controllers and accessories on the Xbox platform might have been successfully bypassed thanks to some clever tinkering and using an official controller as a donor or relay of sorts. Finally, ever wanted the font from the Xbox 360 Blades Dashboard on newer Dashboards? Well now that's made a bit easier thanks to a post and release covering how to do so!

ModChat 112 - bd-jb Updated, PS5 Backups Running, Xbox Video Chat Revived with PS2 EyeToy Camera

Starting off this episode with another PS1 English translation patch, this one being released for the game Addie no Okurimono. Game Boy Advance lovers can rejoice knowing they can replicate some original PCBs thanks to the original boards being reverse engineered and released for free on GitHub! The PS5 gets some big updates, one being for bd-jb now updated to work up to firmware 7.61 for disc based consoles. We also have a big proof of concept teased showing PS5 game backups running for the first time on a modified PS5! We highlight an interesting addition to Insignia Live, with that being the Xbox Video Chat application being revived. Even better, if you can't get an original Xbox webcam, would you believe that with a couple modifications you can use a PS2 EyeToy camera on the Xbox? If that's not enough off the wall modifications to add into this episode, we also check out a prototype proof of concept of what could have been if Metal Gear Solid 2 released on the Dreamcast.

ModChat 111 - FPGA N64 Console Announced, Switch Bricks on 17.0.0 Explained

An announcement, an explanation, and a release tie this ModChat episode together! First the latest Analogue offering teased is discussed, this being the Analogue 3D, an upcoming N64 based clone console. Switch owners who might have had their console modded at any point in time (whether they know it or not) might have been experiencing some unfortunate bricks updating to the latest 17.0.0 system firmware. Thankfully SciresM comes in with a fix AND an explanation to explain exactly how and why these bricks were happening. Finally, J-Runner with Extras gets a fork with the release of DirtyPico360. This is a firmware for the Raspberry Pi Pico which allows anyone using a glitch chip to program it with the Raspberry Pi Pico, benefitting costs and accessibility for anyone looking to modify an Xbox 360.

ModChat 110 - GTA: Online on 360/PS3, PS4 FPKG Enabler for PS5 4.03

A short episode of ModChat, but some cool projects to take a look at! One being the public release of GTA:OG, a project which aims to bring Grand Theft Auto: Online back online for the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. A couple of Dreamcast projects get some mentions here, one being Redump2CDI which allows for MIL-CD formatted discs to be converted to CDI format. The second being another English translations, this time for Under Defeat! Finally we get some big PS5 news in the form of a PS4 FPKG Enabler released for console owners on 4.03 firmware.

ModChat 109 - 120FPS Patches on PS5, Xbox DevMode Privilege Escalation, Rockstar Sells Cracked Games

Some news going from the PSP all the way up to the PS5! The PSP Go gets some love thanks to some PCBs crafted up to help get the console into service mode for unbricking. A homebrew receiver for the GameCube Wavebird controllers gets teased. We also see a tease for 120FPS patches on PS5 for some PS4 games, blowing right past previous news of 60FPS patches! The Xbox family of consoles gets some love in the form of a privilege escalation that works within Developer Mode. Finally, for fun we talk about Rockstar Games selling cracked versions of their own games on Steam.