You watched this video earlier in the month. Sadly it was somewhat of a poor quality.

The team, only a few moments ago, sent word of a new video posted on YouTube. Behold Project4 — the complete XMB replacement!

We’ve witnessed fake videos and countless deceptions in the past. So to be clear on things, this news should be taken with a grain of salt. Personally I’m a bit skeptic, but I’ve been wrong before. Who hasn’t? Nonetheless I have high hopes; a complete XMB replacement would be one hell of a righteous hack. Stay tuned!

Tired of the plain ol’ boring XMB? Sure you can theme it with custom icons and whatnot; but what if you could replace the XMB entirely — with a whole new menu-ing system!? Well, by the looks of it, it is possible and we may see a public release sooner rather than later. Developer Auraomega and djinc present Project 4…

I was also asked to post these quick notes from the dev:

I planned to record the installer installing from scratch, but unfortunately the installer is making an error that I can’t track down, most likely with the firmware patching. This is aimed at all current Custom Firmwares out there, but is highly unlikely to work with 1.00 and 1.50 firmwares. M33 has a few issues, the main one being that NoUMD does not function correctly, and a UMD must be inserted. OE firmwares are fully functioning, and an installer for these versions should be made separately if anyone requests it. This is tested on 3.40OE-A and LE-A, and also on 3.52M33-4, any other versions SHOULD work, but without testing I can’t be sure. This is a Proof of Concept release, and many things such as a full image viewer, music and movie players have been omitted from this build, but rest assured they will appear in the full builds (and possibly the next Open Beta). The possible release date is 24th December - Christmas Eve - assuming that I can fix the installer bug before then, lets call it my Christmas gift to everyone within the PSP Homebrew scene.

Pure speculation? You decide.

PSP theming has sure come along way, and we can thank ZiNgA BuRgA for providing the necessary customization tools allowing various aspects of the XMB to be personalized. RCO Editor enables easy manipulation of localized resources (*.rco files) — icons, sounds, text, etc… Basically anything & everything that makes the XMB what it is.

Changes in 1.15c:

• Fixed another bug in GIM conversion routine

Changes in 1.15b:

• Fixed a bug in the decompression and GIM conversion routine

Changes in 1.15:

• Rewrote GIM < -> BMP conversion routine
• Dimension restrictions removed, as well as the “visible dimension” nonsense (RCO Editor automatically fixes that)
• osk_utility.rco icons no longer cause crashes
• Support for creating 4 bit and 32 bit GIMs (previously, only 8 bit supported) - effectively removing the 256 colour restriction
• You can now use ICO, PNG and GIF files as inputs, in addition to 4 bit BMPs
• Other minor changes and bug fixes
• Added option to disable compressing resources - this is for some 3.7x RCOs not working properly with compression enabled

Download: RCO Editor v1.15c

- source: endlessparadigm

p.s. Apologies for the downtime

Update: zmcnulty of psp-vault.com was kind enough to translate the Japanese PDF; re-download the package below for English instructions.

Thanks otakuman706

Confirmed working on 3.71 M33, and non-hacked 3.71 firmwares, is Sony’s official “Custom Theme Converter.” They must have recognized custom XMB theming is huge amongst the PSP homebrew community, and decided to take it upon themselves to bring forward.

Unfortunately if you’re an English-only reader/writer, you may have some difficulties following the Japanese-only instructions. The Windows app itself is English, and straight forward, so you shouldn’t be too confused.

Thanks to Adam E for the tip.

Download: Sony’s Custom Theme Converter

- source: jp.playstation.com

What’s better than a couple XMB themes? A whole bunch of ‘em! Now bundled nicely together in this 94MB (compressed) package is a serious amount of themes and theme counterparts — all for custom firmware 3.5X-M33. Uncompressed you’re looking at a whopping 168MB; so you get the general idea.

Heydabop, OWfx, and the whole NTTR group (Zomg, Schmilk) have devoted what I imagine would be countless hours of screenshot-ing, crediting, and testing all the archived themes. Enjoy!

Download: NTTR 3.5X-M33 Theme Pack

This is somewhat old, so you may already be using it — but while we’re on the subject of XMB themes, check out the pimp factor…

Very slick! Thanks to Kevin who directed my attention to it. And of course Team Inacor deserves their props for creating the theme. The download is intended for 3.52 M33 users. Happy theming!

Download: AppleCor (PSP Mac OS X) Theme

- release / discussion thread -

Awhile back OWFX compiled a huge list of themes for 3.XX OE firmwares. A couple months later SchmilK released a RCO upgrader bringing theme compatibility to M33’s custom firmware. And now today heydabop has done all the dirty work for you — by converting each and every theme from OWFX’s pack using SchmilK’s RCO tool. Why, you ask? Because you’re lazy, duuuh.

(WiiToo Theme by Vibe Star)

Credit is given to those who created the packed themes, and everyone else involved with customizing your XMB. See readme.txt for all that info.

Download: M33 3.5X Theme Pack
- includes full themes, volume bars, custom waves, icons, and more…

Slash-N-Flash users, this is for you! Slasher has compiled a collection of PSP themes for use with Slash-N-Flash V3.

Note: Some themes use the vsh.prx version. All you have to do is restore the ‘original’ theme first before installing other themes.

Just cut all the themes from the ‘themes(3.52 ONLY)’ folder and paste them into the ‘themes’ folder provided in the Slash-N-Flash V3 download. These themes are all prepackaged and ready to be used in Slash-N-Flash.

These themes are obviously meant for 3.52 ONLY. DO NOT FLASH THESE ONTO ANY OTHER FIRMWARE. 3.52 ONLY!

Download: Theme Pack | Slash-N-Flash V3

- source: slasher.team-duck.com

Slasher of Team Duck has released Slash-N-Flash v3, which will ironically hack n’ flash your PSP in every which way imaginable. As Slasher says, PSP customizations are endless. I strongly urge you take proper precautions when using this app, i.e. create necessary flash backups before overwriting anything. Have fun!

v3 changes:

• GUI Updated
• Theme option totally revamped.
• Flash ANY theme guaranteed.
• All files supported.
• Flashes original files first so theme is the way it’s intended to look.
• File browser is updated, and can now flash ANY file ANYWHERE you wish on the flash0 drive.
• Tools supports more options now.
• When saving flash space, SlashNFlash creates a backup so you can reflash the files.
• Launch RECOVERY eboot if anything wrong happens. (Reflash to previous firmware eg. 1.5)
• Dump the entire contents of your flash0 drive. (Used for backup)
• Format your flash1 drive to reset settings.
• Everything basically updated.

Download: Slash-N-Flash V3

- source: Slasher @ qj

ZiNgA BuRgA has released RCO Editor v1.14d. Easily customize your PSP to the fullest by manipulating various [decrypted] RCO files found in the PSP firmware — XMB icons, sounds, text, and so on… In order to decrypt RCO files you will require three things: 1) PSAR Dumper, 2) an official PSP firmware update, and 3) PBP Unpacker (to unpack “DATA.PSAR” from the update EBOOT).

Some recommendations:

Note, using FW 2.60 or earlier RCOs on higher firmware may cause glitches, such as icons not appearing to semi-bricking (eg using a FW2.50 topmenu_plugin.rco on FW3.1x).

Also note, ALWAYS keep a backup copy of the RCO, incase either you or the program stuffs something up. Don’t forget to keep a copy of your 3.xx RCO (assuming you’re on FW3.xx) as well!

RCO Editor v1.14d changelog:

• Added option to disable .bak writing
• Allow some resource adding to General and Text - note that this is incomplete and buggy
• Other small bug fixes

I strongly encourage users to read through the always important ‘readme.txt’ before flashing anything.

Download: RCO Editor v1.14d

- source: Endless Paradigm