Scene youtuber Modded Warfare has released an impressive tutorial video in which he details the full version downgrade of his PS4. In the video youtube goes from 6.72 to 10.01, then drops from 10.01 to 6.72.
PS4 Downgrade. Important notes and disclaimer (seriously, read this first!)
Now, to be very clear: this is nothing new or groundbreaking at this point, and the important point is that you can only revert to a firmware that you created a backup of (your console). Also, while it’s possible to do it on a “normal” console, it’s much easier to create an initial backup if your console is Jailbroken.
So, in other words, If you are using non-hackable firmware (eg 10.01 at the time of this writing) and you hope that this will allow you to download your console to jailbreakable firmware, the answer is no unless you do the preparatory work at a point where your console is jailbreakable. .
From my point of view, this means that the guide will likely be useless for the vast majority of people who find it, often too late. However, it has tremendous value for many reasons. First of all, I’m not sure there’s ever been such a detailed (and well-made!) guide on how to do this. Secondly, this blog post about downgrading a PS4 “technically possible but…“, so it will now be possible to easily refer to MW’s video to explain why it’s difficult at best and in most cases impossible. As Modded Warfare puts it, it’s the latest and greatest to be able to play online but “blocked” on a non-Jailbreakable firmware. It may also be of value to people who want to update to the latest version. These people can make a backup of their current firmware (hoping that it will eventually be jailbreakable) and then update to the latest firmware. Finally, this is a modchip that doesn’t require any soldering, especially for some ambitious modders. If he tries to work on his solutions, at some point it may pave the way for dropping methods more easily.
Having said all of the above, assuming you want to back up your PS4 so you can “easily” go to a newer firmware and then go back to a Jailbroken console, here’s my honest advice:
Buy a second PS4 and don’t try to follow this downgrade guide.
Look, I’m not kidding, having two PS4s is probably a much safer idea than trying to downgrade, and it can actually be cheaper if you don’t already have the supplies. (Give it or take it, there’s about $200 worth of hardware you need to have/buy to downgrade). This may change in the future if the process becomes easier or there are significant reasons to go back and forth (for example, removing blocks), but downgrading a PS4 at the moment is extremely difficult with significant risks of permanently contaminating the console and is more technically impressive than useful or cost effective..
With all that said, if you want to stay for technically captivating video or personal information, you might be the right audience for it. At the very least, you might want to watch the video to hear MW sullenly saying “We’re going to make more than one dump” or “we’re going to get a good one” 🙂
necessary tools
Note that the process is easier if you start with a jailbroken PS4, and that’s what MW’s video explains.
Here is what you need to prepare and execute the downgrade. It is recommended to prepare all these tools (hardware or software) in advance.
Required Hardware
- Your PS4 running on firmware, you’ll eventually want to go back
- This is important. This is a “restore backup” Downgrade method and will not allow you to downgrade to a firmware that you never originally created a backup of. Using someone else’s backup doesn’t work either!
- a Hardware flasher like teens 4 (this is required to get SFlash0 from a non-jailbroken console and copy back during downgrade. Also needed to dump syscon)
- a heat gun (to desolder the syscon chip. This is necessary to back it up)
- AND soldering iron
- AND tweezers
- AND TQFP Board
- AND 4 KOhm Resistor
- Some PCB Wires
- AND switching diode
- AND USB to TTL Adapter
- A spare syscon chip (the model you should order depends on your motherboard, R5F100LLAFB or R5F100PLA, you can find them on Aliexpress)
- I understand this is not necessary but recommended so you don’t need to constantly flash these chips
- Renesas E2 Lite programmeror other flasher
Required Software
- BwE NOR Validatorwill help you verify that your backup files are not corrupt (download here)
- an FTP Client such as filezilla
- HDD Raw Copy (to a backup of the hard drive)
- Drivers for your USB to TTL adapter (eg. Drivers for CP2102 mentioned above)
- MWs package file containing the necessary software for the glitching process
What you need to backup to prepare for PS4 Downgrade
The following Data is the data you need to backup and then restore to downgrade a PS4:
- Full backup of console hard drive
- PS4 SFlash0 (NO Firmware)
- SFlash0 is extremely easy to retrieve from the Jailbroken console as it is a file you can only copy from FTP.
- PS4 Syscon
As a TL,DR the idea is that you will backup the above 3 pieces of data, then you can upgrade to a higher firmware and then roll back. Of course, all the details are included in the video of Modded Warfare.
