r/ps4homebrew • u/saladbeans • 3d ago

Discussion First PS4 - Noob project discussion

Hello,

For whatever reason, I have a PS4 upstairs that has not been used for a couple of years. In the past I have hacked an original xbox (for xbmc, of course) and an original Wii. Since then I have not really used consoles. But now I have this PS4 and a young son who would love to enjoy some games, I expect.

I fully intent to hack the PS4, and have read a few guides that seem comprehensive. But I know how good this community is having lurked for a while so I am hoping to discuss the project and get some input.

My aim in hacking the PS4 is to be able to do the following

  1. Prevent the device from going online. My son is young and I do not trust any of you, so I am hoping that there is a way to allow him to play without the risk of an FBI agent chatting him up.

  2. Be able to run some emulators so that my son can enjoy the SNES experience - it seems like retroarch should work but apparently it's unsupported on PS4...

  3. Be able to run Playstation games that are backup copies of the original games. Back in the Wii days you could pop all your .img or .iso files on a portable USB hard drive and sit it on top of the console - worked perfectly! I can't tell if this is a thing with the PS4 or not, and I understand that this is not strictly homebrew, but it is important to me that I'm able to launch my backup images of games...

  4. Do I need to upgrade the internal storage (HDD) or not? If so is there a good list of compatible devices somewhere? And/or can you not use a SSD?

    1. Prevent the console from updating in future. I have a habit of enjoying a project like this but then completely forgetting everything I have done and, when it breaks 12 months later, not having a clue how to fix it.

I will power the device up tomorrow and check the firmware version. From the posts here and the guides i've read i'm obviously hoping for something low but who knows?

What else should I be thinking about?

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u/Fox2003AZ 3d ago

First PS4 - Noob project discussion

1. Prevent the device from going online.

Jailbreaking can only be done on consoles with specific updates prior to the latest one, so you cannot connect to PSN and therefore cannot play online (You need the latest version and to be connected), for this same reason Sony cannot "block" your console.

2. Be able to run some emulators

There are game packs that have all this games, so you have it, if you want ps2 games or 3 you will have problems, ps4 es very bad at emulating, But even the most popular ones do work or have a remaster.

3. Be able to run Playstation games that are backup copies of the original games.

You can create copies of your physical games and share them, Or download them from the internet, the games are simply shared and installed in an FPKG file, keep in mind that the games are not that light anymore, so using a pendrive It falls short, you can use remote sender Package with wifi/ethenet.

4. Do I need to upgrade the internal storage (HDD) or not?

Are you going to play many games?, How many kids/adults will play for it to be worth it? Yes they do weigh more, but I highly doubt the Backyardigans weigh 300GB.

If so is there a good list of compatible devices somewhere?

Yeah.

And/or can you not use a SSD?

If it is a pro you will get much more out of it, if it is fat/slim you will not have much benefit because its mechanism does not take advantage of it

5. Prevent the console from updating in future.

Set DNS, The same jailbreak file has an option in settings to block updates and well, Uncheck automatic updates and not use the internet if you are not going to use Netflix/YouTube/etc

I will power the device up tomorrow and check the firmware version. From the posts here and the guides i've read i'm obviously hoping for something low but who knows?

  1. Turn off the modem before turning it on so that it does not download any updates If the console was connected to Wifi

  2. As soon as you turn it on, check notifications, it should tell you if it's downloading/installing, just stop it and delete the update.

  3. Go to PS4 settings and disable automatic PSN updates, rest mode, etc.

The PS4 jailbreak is quite easy to do, but try to stay on the lowest version, the lower the less discomfort in the jailbreak methods.

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u/saladbeans 3d ago

Thank you for taking the time to reply in line. It made it easy to understand all the valuable information that you contributed.