**Firestar is a cross-platform Java-based mod manager for WipEout 2048**, which runs on a desktop/laptop computer and aims to allow easy installation of mods for users with very little hassle. It is compatible with both real PSVita hardware, as well as emulators.
- **All Platforms:** Grab the [Portable ZIP](https://files.worlio.com/users/bonkmaykr/tools/firestar/latest/firestar_dekka-1.2_portable.zip), extract it, and run the JAR file.
There's no #1 place for Firestar mods as of now, but we can give you a few sample mods to test out if you are interested in seeing the program in action:
- [XP Rebalance](https://files.worlio.com/users/bonkmaykr/patches/2048/XPhack2.fstar): Reduces the amount of grinding required to level up for players who can't access the online campaign. **Leaderboard safe version!**
- [Continue?](https://files.worlio.com/users/bonkmaykr/patches/2048/continue.fstar): Allows you to exit the pause menu without taking your thumb off the throttle. By ThatOneBonk
For making your own mods, we recommend grabbing one of the many leaked PS Vita SDKs off of Archive.org since it has many of the tools you will need. I recommend using Photoshop CS5 for textures, since Sony officially provides a texture export plugin for CS5 in their SDK. There is also an included at9tool which can help with replacing sounds and music.
Many things like HUDs, custom translations, and even some game variables are kept in XML format and can be edited in any normal text editor like Microsoft Notepad, GNU Nano, GEdit or KWrite. (Please play nice when you're online.)
Firestar itself can run natively on the system, but it needs WINE in order to handle the game assets because many of the utilities it runs in the background are for Windows only. If you're curious, a list of these tools is available in the "[Third Party Code](#third-party-code)" section below.
- [pkg2zip](https://github.com/mmozeiko/pkg2zip) & [psvpfsparser](https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvpfstools), for (legal) asset decryption from Playstation Network.
- [libcurl](https://curl.se/libcurl/), allows psvpfsparser to communicate with Henkaku's F00D server.
All of these, save for psp2psarc, appear in Tetsuo (1.3) and onwards. The licenses for Sony's psp2psarc and at9tool are polar opposite from Firestar's own GPL, so you should not expect Firestar to be a completely "libre" application (but then again, you're a WipEout player, the free software movement clearly isn't a huge concern). The open source nature of Firestar is provided with the hopes of allowing others to critique, audit, and improve upon the software, not necessarily for idealogical reasons.
Ideally, in the future, all of this functionality can be built into Firestar natively without any fancy tricks.
Because many third-party programs for opening PSARC files either have no ability to create new ones or are prone to corruption bugs. Using the one made by the developers of the file format is the best option as it's what the game developers would have used. Obviously this creates all kinds of legal grey areas, so I can't distribute Sony's proprietary software next to my code. It's downloaded separately during the setup process.
Cross-platform support with no hassle, a built-in UI framework, and I don't need to sell my soul like every Electron or React 'Native' developer is doing these days.
Firestar was a secret track in the original WipEout which you unlocked after beating the game at least once, the mod manager is just named after that. Major versions are named after pilots or tracks. Internal class names are named after Muppets characters as this is the same naming convention that Sony used to codename parts inside the PSVita's SOC.
## Fast Mode vs. Compatibility Mode
"Fast Mode" was a legacy option that was scrapped before it could be developed. It skipped the creation of a PSARC file and simply dumped the final game assets to their destination folder. This works great for emulators, and doesn't require proprietary stolen SDKs from SCE. However the filesystem on the Playstation Vita really hated this method and would glitch out when this was done, causing textures to be corrupted once placed on the memory card. The WipEout engine has no fault tolerance for malformed or missing assets, so it just crashes instantly when it encounters one. This is where Compatibility mode comes from, which is the default setting for 2048.
