Hacking Cobra USB (a few questions.)

[blahkamehameha]

ok, for those of you who use and have this item, a few questions:

-the latest cobra cfw update appears to be in january, therefore, any games released after jan will not work
until next cobra cfw update, correct? (or is there a method to 'fix' newer games?)

-is fat32 the best external hard drive to use? (is ntfs even supported?)

-you of course can't do a system update, or access the PSN store i imagine. but, what about things like updates
to apps and games? (youtube, hulu, etc.)


-will online multiplayer work for games? (and what about games like DC Universe Online?)

-what cons are there compared to ode's (such as the 3k3y and possible Cobra ODE), and are they big enough to
make this a lesser preferred option?


i'd be greatful for any information provided.

 

[stomp_442]

I have not used a cobra usb, but that device may now be obsolete, concerning the loading of newer PS3 backups. A while back, I think the source code for the cobra usb was leaked, and now might not get much support from the manufacturer. I think the fix for newer games would be to install the latest cfw, or the cobra ode if that's your thing. I don't see the need to buy hardware devices to play backups when the PS3 has softmods that can play the latest games. The cobra usb may still be used for it's other features, but I think that this device will not be updated by the manufacturer.

 

[blahkamehameha]

thanks for the response.

i thought there was some type of way to 'fix' the newest game (by means of patching or whatever) but i could be wrong. the cobra usb seemed appealing to me mainly for it's features, and seems relatively simple to use.

so if it's pointless for newer games, then i will probably wait for either a 3k3y revision (as i love the xk3y), or the cobra ode, though it appears the cobra ode is dead.

 

[stomp_442]

If you can install cfw, then that's the way to go.

 

[blahkamehameha]

yes, i can install cfw, it just seems a bit overwhelming to get into it.

though, from the research i've done it looks like it's one of the best times to do so, as psn appears to currently be accessible, and the ps3 probably won't see many more firmware updates this year

 

[syrusch]

NTFS is supported but only for copy/past between USB HDD and the internal HDD. For the fixes, you have to resign the EBOOT.BIN by yourself. You can use different softwares (True Ancestror EBOOT).

In my point of view Cobra USB is only usefull if you have a CECH A,B,C,E PS3. If you have a non backward compatible PS3 it's useless since you can put your own PS2 game in PS2 Classic form.

 

[elgarta]

-the latest cobra cfw update appears to be in january, therefore, any games released after jan will not work
until next cobra cfw update, correct? (or is there a method to 'fix' newer games?)

-is fat32 the best external hard drive to use? (is ntfs even supported?)

-you of course can't do a system update, or access the PSN store i imagine. but, what about things like updates
to apps and games? (youtube, hulu, etc.)


-will online multiplayer work for games? (and what about games like DC Universe Online?)

-what cons are there compared to ode's (such as the 3k3y and possible Cobra ODE), and are they big enough to
make this a lesser preferred option?

1. Newer games work fine. When I first loaded Metal Gear Rising, I got a message telling me to enable a 4.31 spoof so newer titles would work, and it's been fine since. It actually fixed some minor issues like the infinite XMB loading in-game.

2. NTFS is supported, but from what I understand it only works for transferring files in Multiman and won't let you play games off-of it.

3. I've had some mixed results on updates. Some apps told me to update to the latest FW, some actually kept their updates from when I was on Rogero 4.30 with a 4.41 spoofer, and some told me I needed to sign in to the PSN to reactivate my license. If I unplug the USB dongle the messages I get are different, but I am not at my PS3 to relay them.

4. Online multiplayer will not work until a 4.41 spoofer is working on Cobra, even then it is recommended that you stay off of multiplayer to avoid PSN bans.

5. The con compared to a dongle would be installation, but they will play PS3 backups. The cobra ODE is apparently (based on their latest update a few hours ago) going to eventually get an update to support PS1/PS2 backups on the old Backwards Compatible machines, and it will apparently allow homebrew to be run aswell. So if Cobra does deliver on this, it could be a complete replacement to the dongle for sure, especially since they claim it runs on OFW.

So I'd only suggest going for Cobra USB if you have a backwards compatible machine and you want to play PS2 backups. Otherwise I'd probably suggest moving to one of the 4.40 firmwares since you can use reactpsn and spoofers, so you can log into the PSN and resign DLC to your system.

 

[codezer0]

ok, for those of you who use and have this item, a few questions:

-the latest cobra cfw update appears to be in january, therefore, any games released after jan will not work
until next cobra cfw update, correct? (or is there a method to 'fix' newer games?)

-is fat32 the best external hard drive to use? (is ntfs even supported?)

-you of course can't do a system update, or access the PSN store i imagine. but, what about things like updates
to apps and games? (youtube, hulu, etc.)


-will online multiplayer work for games? (and what about games like DC Universe Online?)

-what cons are there compared to ode's (such as the 3k3y and possible Cobra ODE), and are they big enough to
make this a lesser preferred option?


i'd be greatful for any information provided.

The latest CFW made for use with the Cobra USB dongle was 4.30... while the latest OFW to my knowledge is 4.41. So any games that were made with greater-than-4.30 in mind might need to be 'downgraded' or patched in order to work on that one... failing that, there are more such patches available with 3.55 CFW in mind... but functionality would be limited for any games that do need the 4.* functionality.

FAT32 is the file system recognized by the PS3 directly, and if you want to use a drive for stuff for the PS3 to recognize across all apps, that would be the way to go. You CAN use NTFS in newer builds of multiman for instance, but it would require switching the PFS driver, which to my understanding either makes it so multiman can either read FAT## or NTFS... not both. Honestly, to save yourself some trouble I would advise sticking with FAT32 and just "dealing with" splitting of files, since at least multiman can handle that pretty well now. At worst you might deal with some particularly large games that might require an internal data install, but thankfully those aren't as often anymore.

Game updates can still push through; but if a game/app update is then compiled for newer firmware than what you currently have, you might be in trouble.

The pro with the ODEs are the claimed support even with official firmware, which means being able to keep your PS3 "legit" in the eyes of $ony. Personally of all the dongles that there were out there, I wish I had the Cobra USB because at least that would allow me to play my disc backups of PS1 and PS2 games directly without having to deal with that nonsense with the PS2Classics emulator crap.