How to Update Your Modded PlayStation 3 to 4.91

Hey, sackfolk! It’s time to get back online with LittleBigPlanet custom servers. Now that new custom and hybrid firmware have been released that are compatible with PlayStation 3 version 4.91, you can update and get back online to play your favorite levels! Let’s talk about how it’s done and what you should know first.

Who is This Tutorial For?

This tutorial is for anyone with a PlayStation 3 that has already been modified with either custom firmware or hybrid firmware. If you don’t have either of these, your PlayStation 3 is running official firmware, which means the regular software provided by Sony. Here’s a quick refresh on the different acronyms you’ll see:

  • Official Firmware (OFW): official software provided by Sony.
  • Hybrid Firmware (HFW): allows you to go back and forth in functionality. If Homebrew Enabler (HEN) is turned off, your PS3 will behave just like an OFW PS3. When HEN is turned on, you’ll be able to use homebrew and modified applications. Can run on any PlayStation 3.
  • Custom Firmware (CFW): allows more functionality than HFW, is more stable, and its features are always active. Limited compatibility: only available for PS3 Fats and older slims, not available on super slims and newer slims.

Help! I Accidentally Updated to 4.91 OFW!

You may have accidentally updated your PlayStation 3 to the official version of 4.91 and lost access to your modified version of LittleBigPlanet and other homebrew applications. Don’t panic, you have some options that can help.

The good news is, if you’re on 4.91, the exploit that makes HFW/HEN possible will still work. You can just follow the instructions in this article for HFW/HEN.

However, if you’re looking to update to CFW and haven’t used it before, you may have to wait a little longer. Bguerville’s bgtoolset isn’t officially supported on 4.91 yet, meaning you won’t be able to initialize the exploit required to install CFW.

How to Update to PlayStation 3 HFW/HEN 4.91

Let’s talk about how to update your PlayStation 3 to HFW/HEN 4.91. Follow these instructions to get back online with LittleBigPlanet custom servers:

  1. First, update to the latest version of WebMAN mod.
  2. Download the HFW PS3UPDAT.PUP file from PSXPlace.
  3. Place the .PUP file on a FAT32 USB stick inside this folder structure: PS3 -> UPDATE
  4. Insert the USB drive into your PlayStation 3.
  5. Turn on your PlayStation 3 and navigate to the update system software section. Choose Update from storage media. You should see the 4.91 update file from the storage media. It should have a unique terms and conditions page for the open-source software. Go ahead and install it.
  6. When the install is complete, the last step is to enable HEN. The easiest way to do this is to use the PS3 web browser to navigate to ps3xploit.me and use the HEN Auto Installer or one of their other options. Follow any instructions on screen.

The process should be similar to tutorials you may have followed previously to enable HEN for the first time, like tutorials by MrMario2011.

The PS3Xploit home page. They recommend using the auto installer for the best experience, but you may need to try another installer.

Did You Know?

The PlayStation 3 is so old that it doesn’t recognize newer USB drive formats! Some newer USB drives you have lying around may not be compatible with your PS3 if they use a format like NTFS. The format that the PS3 will recognize is FAT32.

The good news is, you can reformat your USB stick to FAT32 to make it work with a PS3. However, the storage space on the drive may become smaller than its original size. You can always reformat it back to NTFS after you’re done.

PS3Xploit Offline?

It’s possible that the PS3Xploit website might go offline from time to time. If that’s the case, you can use our mirror of the HEN enabler. However, it’s recommended that you use PS3Xploit’s official tools instead of ours whenever possible. To use our enablers, visit hen.lbpunion.com in your PS3 internet browser.

How to Update to PlayStation 3 Evilnat CFW 4.91

If you’ve used CFW before or are looking to upgrade with a compatible console, updating to Evilnat CFW 4.91 is really easy and is one of the best experiences you can have with a modded PlayStation 3. This tutorial will focus on upgrading from CFW 4.90 or earlier to CFW 4.91. This tutorial will not walk you through how to set up CFW for the first time. For that, we recommend following MrMario2011’s tutorial video. Here’s how you update:

  1. Download the PS3UPDAT.PUP for Evilnat CFW 4.91 from PSXPlace. The first option (PEX) is usually the best. However, if your PS3 is missing a Blu-Ray drive you may want to pick the appropriate option.
  2. Place the .PUP file in this following folder structure on a FAT32 USB drive: PS3 -> UPDATE
  3. Insert the USB drive into your PS3 and turn the console on.
  4. Navigate to the update system software section and choose Update from storage media.
  5. Install the update. After this, you should be done!
What you should see when updating to PS3 Evilnat CFW 4.91.

Have Any Questions?

Stuck or have any questions about how to update? We are always trying to help out fellow LittleBigPlanet fans get connected to custom servers again, so don’t be shy! Head over to our Discord server and ask us for some help in our patching help channel. Get some tips from other community members on how to update to 4.91. We can’t wait to see you back online again!

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