ModChat

ModChat 101 - de_Fuse for Wii U, Paper Mario Decompilation, PSIO Gets ps-iowned

A brief look at the Switch here with a new update for Atmosphere which adds in a USB file transfer module. We also go back to the Wii U to take a look at progress on the de_Fuse project. Paper Mario gets some appreciation here with the announcement of the US version of the game being decompiled to 100%! PS3HEN gets an update to 3.2.2 with some extra features we take a brief look at. PSIO owners sitting without a new update for years can hopefully celebrate with ps-iowned and upcoming progress on it. Some Xbox 360 hardware gets reverse engineered, with a new look at the Open Demon Project.

ModChat 100 - PS3 4.90 Updates, Retail Homebrew Blocked on Xbox Platform, McFly for Picofly

Unfortunately last month of ModChat was missed so... I figured I'd double up and pack two episodes worth of content into one for hitting the ONE HUNDREDTH episode milestone! Here we discuss an whole slew of PS3 news and updates related to the recently released 4.90 firmware update. Legendary PS1 game The Legend of Dragoon gets a playable PC port, and PS1 games get some more love with mouse support in DuckStation! OPL for PS2 also gets a BIG upgrade in the form of exFAT internal hard drive support. We also cover some sad news with CTurt deciding to retire, but we get a look at his mast1c0re part 2 write-up.  Modern day Xbox (One and Series) homebrew takes a hit where we discuss the recent outright block of retail side homebrew. We revisit the Picofly rumors showing a release and an upcoming piece of hardware teased by the name of McFly! Finally after this long, LONG episode I have a bit of an extended outro reflecting on the inception of ModChat, phases it went through, and the future.

ModChat 099 - PS3 PEX CFW Released, Xenia Ported to UWP, IDE Emulator for PSX HDD

The PS3 gets some love with a new CFW release from developer Evilnat, this being the debut of PEX/D-PEX variants! Bringing back the possibility of DEX CFW on a new firmware for the first time since 4.84! Castlevania: Symphony of the Night also gets some coverage in the form of a new decompilation project, currently in progress at the time of recording. Xbox 360 on the Xbox Series consoles is opened up even further thanks to the power of UWP and the Xenia emulator being ported over! The PSX (not the original PlayStation) gets some exciting news, seeing the possibility of replacing the hard drive with an upcoming IDE Emulator device. We also revisit the possibility of full CFW on all PS3 consoles, although it has come to a bit of a disappointing ending. Finally, we wrap up this episode with a new variant of the OpenTendo project: the OpenTendo TopLoader!

ModChat 098 - ENLBufferPwn, Stylehax for DSi, HENlo for Vita, Xbox 360 Dashboard Speedup

Here's to the first episode of 2023! We take a look at a whole slew of systems, first of all we cover ENLBufferPwn being disclosed impacting the 3DS, Wii U, and Switch! The DSi also gets some WebKit appreciation in the form of Stylehax, making access to homebrew easier than we've ever seen until now. PS4 gets some love with the PS4 CFW Toolkit release for reverse engineers. HENlo after being teased/announced years ago finally gets a release as well, which we see turned into a full jailbreak with HENlo-jb. The Vita gets even more love with NetStream, a new video player and streaming app for the console! RPCS3 gets a fantastic announcement, covering that ALL released PS3 games at minimum run on the emulator! L4T Ubuntu get an awesome release for ALL Switch models, allowing L4T Ubuntu to work on all models of the Switch for the first time. Sonic the Hedgehog gets a demo of all things working natively on the original PlayStation, and we shine a light on a relatively new English patch for the Japanese release of Aconcagua. Finally, we delve into an article from Eaton showing how Microsoft attempted to speed up the Xbox 360's Dashboard late into the console's lifecycle.

ModChat 097 - $3 Pikofly Rumor for Switch, Picostation PS1 ODE, X3 Components Cloned

To finish off the year we've got some old hardware becoming new again, upcoming projects being announced, and a neat looking yet credible rumor to investigate! We take a look at the latest beta of GoldHEN together with SCANLINES being added in, perfect for retro titles! The RP2040-Zero makes an appearance possibly showing a new affordable hardmodding method for newer Switch models using an off the shelf component. The Raspberry Pi Pico makes an appearance with the announcement of Picostation, and open source ODE (Optical Drive Emulator) for the original PlayStation! Finally, we see what The Mod Shop has been up to with reversing and releasing open source boards of the original Xecuter 3 components!

ModChat 096 - SD2PSX Announced, GoldHEN Game Patch Loader, Dead Space & Mass Effect Vita Ports

A bit late this month, but we're back for another episode of ModChat! This time around discussing the recent announcement of SD2PSX, a brand new open source hardware and software solution for the PS1 and PS2 using the memory card port. Supporting FreeMCBoot, OpenTuna, FreePSXBoot, and more to be announced! We also take a look at Gran Turismo Sport's online only save access being liberated to work offline with an awesome patch, and the introduction of a new plugin based game patch loader for GoldHEN! Cemu is looked at briefly with it recently going open sourced. We also check out some awesome, long awaited Vita ports of mobile Dead Space and Mass Effect games!

ModChat 095 - PS5 WebKit & Kernel Vulnerabilities for 04.50 Released, Updated BD-JB Implementation

More developments coming quickly in the PS5 scene! We've had a WebKit vulnerability released publicly in the past, but this time around we now have a kernel vulnerability out in the wild, released, and usable! Although this is still early on and similar to the early days of the PS4 on firmware 1.76, this is still a start which will help developers and reverse engineers. Don't expect anything such as GoldHEN so early on, there's still a lot of work to be done, but quite a bit has already been completed to get to this point! This episode will be more of a show & tell episode discussing the recent release, showing it in use, and even doing some testing with an updated BD-JB implementation. Although BD-JB has been released before, we now have our first public release with kernel level access baked into it!

ModChat 094 - PS5 Kernel Vulnerability Disclosed & mast1c0re for PS4/PS5 (PS2 Emulator Escape)

A bit more of a focused episode this time around, but covering mostly PS4 and PS5 developments in the homebrew and modding scene! The first of which being a new (or old?) kernel vulnerability being reported for the PS5. Next up is an awesome and potentially unpatchable PS2 emulator escape for the PS4 & PS5! We take a look at it all here on this episode while throwing in some extra commentary, opinions, and more.

ModChat 093 - 16 TB Internal HDD Patch for Xbox 360, Sonic Mania Decompiled & Ported to Vita

Open source goodness returns for a couple of our topics: the BootMii Loader being open-sourced as well as Sonic Mania's decompilation project being released! The Xbox 360 gets yet another awesome patch this time for internal HDD and SSD users, letting hardmodded Xbox 360 owners utilize internal drives up to 16 TB compared to the previous 2 TB limitation! Finally, we take a look at proof of the first PS3 retail firmware existing thanks to recent discoveries!

ModChat 092 - PS3 Toolset 1.2 Release, PicoBoot for GameCube, Game Preservation Task Force in Japan

The legendary PS3 Toolset has been updated, now officially supporting firmware 4.89 and having many more under-the-hood tweaks to improve the experience further for anyone using it. We also take a bit of a look at PicoBoot, a brand new development for the GameCube using the Raspberry Pi Pico, as I share my own experiences installing and using it. We even get political this episode, discussing Japan's task force dedicated towards video game preservation! TheFloW open sources his own bd-jb implementation, Apollo Save Tool gets a port on the Vita, and even the PS1 gets some love with Stealth Unlocker!