ps5-theme 1.62

Custom home-screen themes for jailbroken PS5 consoles on firmware 13.60 and below. Runs as an etaHEN plugin or on its own from any ELF loader. Tested on firmware 13.42, both with etaHEN 2.5B (unified build) and from PS5 Payload Manager.

Which file?

• ps5-theme.plugin: for etaHEN. Copy it to /data/etaHEN/plugins/ and turn on auto-start.
• ps5-theme.elf: the same program for PS5 Payload Manager or any ELF loader (port 9021). No etaHEN needed.
• ps5-theme-stop.elf: only for when the manager can't be reached. Start it from Payload Manager or a payload loader, then start ps5-theme again. It stops the plugin and leaves your theme on the screen. Put it in a folder of its own under /data/pldmgr/payloads/.

Updating

• From 1.23 or later: put the new file in /data/ps5-theme/update/ (or copy it over the old one). Within about 10 seconds the running plugin finds it and hands over, keeping your theme on the screen. No restart needed. From 1.62 on, the new version then also takes the place of the older copies in etaHEN's plugin folder and PS5 Payload Manager's payload folders, so the next start runs it too, and the update folder empties itself.
• From 1.22 or older: copy the new file and restart the console once.

New in 1.62 (since 1.61)

• Interface sounds. The Sounds section now lists the sounds the interface makes as you use it: moving between items, selecting, going back, reaching the end of a list, switching between Games and Media (L1 and R1), changing panel, and opening and closing the Control Center; Show all adds the rest (menus, dialogs, switches, notifications, trophies, the keyboard and more), and the PlayStation 1 to 4 Appearance themes' own moving, selecting and going-back sounds follow. Play the console's sound, attach any audio file, play yours, or reset it. Each new sound is written in Sony's own format and layout, byte for byte wherever the bytes don't depend on the sound, and the plugin checks it the same way: it plays once, is no longer than the console's sound, and is as loud. It starts at its hit, as the console's do, so it plays the moment you press. The controller's vibration patterns stay the console's. See Interface sounds and how they are written.
• Updates reach the installed copies. After an update, the new version takes the place of older copies in etaHEN's plugin folder and PS5 Payload Manager's payload folders (including payloads/local/<name>/, where newer versions of Payload Manager keep imported payloads), so etaHEN's auto-start and Payload Manager's autoload start the new version next time. The update folder empties itself once every installed copy is up to date. See Updating in place.
• Your choices are kept with the theme. The picture fit, the sections switched on, the background areas, the Appearance pieces' placement and padding, and the songs' names are stored in the theme, so they are the same on every device and travel in an export. Choices made in a browser before 1.62 move in by themselves the first time a theme is opened.
• Discard applies the theme again only when the files it puts back differ from those on the screen, and the Save bar shows the moment you change something.
• Fixes: the transition sound (sfx_transition.at9) now takes any audio, a simple beep included; a view the system makes while the plugin is covering another is no longer missed for up to 30 seconds.
• Every push is now built and tested on GitHub Actions.

Everything in 1.61 is included.

Checked

58 end-to-end tests on the host (full and emulated), the interface file's checks fuzzed (about 18 million inputs, no findings), the sound writer run against 13.42's own interface file, and a PS5 with 13.42: moving, selecting and going-back sounds replaced and heard, playing straight away once started at their hit; and an update through the update folder replacing the copy PS5 Payload Manager starts, with the update folder emptied.

Checksums (SHA-256)

ea8a77252a149fc73028769436627ac0e8081bfe86dc9f3143048e79edcf5710  ps5-theme.plugin
79ff402fe92f1069b79f0b4d734a4bb1a16e8a083ac33f263c99c78973d7df10  ps5-theme.elf
0e15bc9a3721d507b4cfbdf57637b4278d6062cf384780f10d5dd6c0ea2a4960  ps5-theme-stop.elf