Sony Erricson - Xperia Play (GSM) Useful Links

The Pain

The Pain

Disciple
Hi Guys,

Just got myself an Xperia Play 2 days ago and have been messing with it since then. Thought I would post a couple of links here to get anyone interested started on modding this phone. Hope its of some use to you. Will keep adding stuff as and when I do additional stuff with the phone.

A super compilation on the best stuff for the Play

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1294129

Easiest method of rooting:

[HOW-TO] Root Phones w/ Android v2.2.x-2.3.x (zergRush Method) - xda-developers

Information on which apps/bloatware can be safely frozen/uninstalled. Use Titanium Backup Pro to freeze/backup/uninstall files

Rooted (Locked Bootloader) Phone - App Removal (Safe List) - xda-developers

Installing ClockworkMod Recovery with locked bootloader

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1390771

Unlocking bootloader:

To unlock the boot loader of your phone | unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com

Relocking Bootloader:

[Tutorial] Relock bootloader! - xda-developers

UK generic firmware (incase you mess up anything - I did and used this :p)

[FIRMWARE][UK GENERIC]R800i 4.0.2.A.0.42 - xda-developers

Flashtool for playing around and flashing ftf files/roms

Flashtool - Xperia devices flashing

Fastboot Package

Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites!

Theming the phone

UOT Kitchen

And last but not the least Cyanogenmod links:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (GSM) | CyanogenMod

Misc Performance Tweaks and Addons

V6 Supercharger Script ( Better memory management/No more lags/ Redraws)

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=991276

KeiranFTW's Tweaks( Mobile BRAVIA Engine/Enable JIT Tweak/Touchscreen Tweak/GPU UI Rendering Tweak)

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1385236

Notification Toggles for stock rom

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1352993

SE Extreme Tweaker

-Install CWM on stock rom (locked and unlocked)
-APK installer
-BassBoost
-Bravia engine
-Dalvik2Cache
-install Java for Android v2.1, 2.2, 2.3

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410746
Have Fun!!!:eek:hyeah:
 
Thanks for starting the thread. My first noob question. Does moving to CM7 retain all the functionality of the device or is something missing, like hardware buttons etc? Anything specific added beyond the normal cm stuff?
 
My questions are more related to gamepad? I don't know much about the phone myself to make my doubts specific... A little background on PS Suite for a starter may help...

Does CM7 for Play come with PS Suite included?
Which are the best emulators available for Play with accurate mapping of analog keys?
GTA3... Is it coming for Play(wishful thinking???)?
 
Julian said:
Thanks for starting the thread. My first noob question. Does moving to CM7 retain all the functionality of the device or is something missing, like hardware buttons etc? Anything specific added beyond the normal cm stuff?Any way to play PSP games using an emulator or is the hardware incapable?
Click to expand...

Hi Julian, Im a noob with this phone as well;). All my experience and guts to play around has come from messing with the Dell XCD35:).

I havent tried CM7 yet was just playing around with the other stuff. IMO the device should be fully functional with CM7 however, you will probably lose the preloaded games (Sims 2, fifa 2010, Bruce lee, Crashbandicoot) and the ability to download NFS Shift, Dead Space, NFS HP and Fifa 12 for free from the device itself. I am currently not planning to install CM7 ATM as there is a planned official software upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich in the pipelines anyways. Also the phone is super snappy with most of the bloatware frozen/uninstalled.

From what Ive read, PSP games cannot be played on this device. I am currently using an app called FPSE that lets you play PSOne/PSX game ISOs on the device with full functionality of the keypad very well. I have Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Fighting Force, Destruction Derby and WWE smackdown installed ATM. All Working Great!

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
sajitsm said:
My questions are more related to gamepad? I don't know much about the phone myself to make my doubts specific... A little background on PS Suite for a starter may help...

Does CM7 for Play come with PS Suite included?
Which are the best emulators available for Play with accurate mapping of analog keys?
GTA3... Is it coming for Play(wishful thinking???)?
Click to expand...

Not to sure on the PS Suite availability in CM as i havent tried it yet. However, i am currently trying out FPSE and running PSOne/PSX games with full keypad functionality.

List of games compatible with FPSE

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1034472
 
Mortal Kombat! This is one game i'm gonna be installing before my trip out of town. Excellent! Flawless victory for the xperia play!

One Q about the preinstalled games. If we do a factory reset do we lose them ?

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

And one more thing, rooting the phone won't lose the ability to upgrade to ICS/download the free games etc. right?
 
Julian said:
Mortal Kombat! This is one game i'm gonna be installing before my trip out of town. Excellent! Flawless victory for the xperia play!

One Q about the preinstalled games. If we do a factory reset do we lose them ?

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

And one more thing, rooting the phone won't lose the ability to upgrade to ICS/download the free games etc. right?
Click to expand...

Huge fan of the Mortal Kombat series myself too. The way I lost my preinstalled games and ability to download the free ones was by unlocking the bootloader. The Sony PC Companion software only detects if you have unlocked the bootloader and then creates a problem when you try to use official software. (This is what happened in my case causing me to revert to the UK generic firmware posted in the 1st link and then all was fine)

I dont think rooting the phone will cause you to lose the the ability to upgrade to ICS. It definately does not affect the ability to download the free games cos I did that after rooting.

In any case, in a worse case scenario, you can just unroot your phone and relock your bootloader and upgrade officially. All methods are reversable AFAIK.
 
I kinda assumed that unlocking the bootloader would piss the 'system' off.

Anyway, so the preinstalled games are included in the stock firmware(s)? Or are they a separate download?
 
let me understand this - rooting phone lets you install hrmm apps and boot unlocking to install mods?

There are some free emulators here. Once I get an emulator, is it easy to find game roms and install them?
 
Julian said:
I kinda assumed that unlocking the bootloader would piss the 'system' off.

Anyway, so the preinstalled games are included in the stock firmware(s)? Or are they a separate download?
Click to expand...

Crashbandicoot is included in full. For the rest of them the setups are present, you need to download some of the files onto the phone.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
sajitsm said:
let me understand this - rooting phone lets you install hrmm apps and boot unlocking to install mods?

There are some free emulators here. Once I get an emulator, is it easy to find game roms and install them?
Click to expand...

Yep. Boot unlocking lets you install recoveries/custom kernels etc. and use fastboot.

The games both roms and others are pretty easy to find on various sites.
 
So the apks are on the memory card? so is there any way to say first download all the free add-on games, and then back the setups to memory card, install CM7, and then reinstall them?

There are tons of emulators out there. But does anything other than fpse support the play's hardware buttons?
 
Julian said:
So the apks are on the memory card? so is there any way to say first download all the free add-on games, and then back the setups to memory card, install CM7, and then reinstall them?

There are tons of emulators out there. But does anything other than fpse support the play's hardware buttons?
Click to expand...

I think you could use something like Titanium Backup to backup the game/Game setups from the phone. The extra files downloaded to run the games are safely stored on your SDcard anyways so you dont have to worry about them. Anyways if you do mess up ill PM you links from where you can download the same setups again so its no biggie :D

Havent tried out any other emulators yet. Will post up when i do as of now can confirm about FPSE working flawlessly.

Adding a link to the first post that will help installing Clockworkmod recovery even with a locked bootloader.:clap:
 
This is awesome info man! Btw, what's the use in installing cwm without unlocking the bootloader? for making nandroid backups? or can we use it easily to install cm7 and then restore to stock gb when the time comes to upgrade to ICS. Btw when do you think that would be?

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Search for xperia play on tpb. There is an optimised version of shadowgun. And another link with "xperia play optimised games".
 
Yep thats right. Nandroid Backups, Theming and clearing various stuff. I havent tried this out yet. Will do so a bit later today. I have a nice Gears of War theme made that i want to install.
No one appears to have tried installing roms after using this. Will watch the posts at the link and let you know.

No idea on the ICS release dates either. Should not be too far off though (hopefully :))

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Search for xperia play on tpb. There is an optimised version of shadowgun. And another link with "xperia play optimised games".
Click to expand...

Thats where i got all the game setups(and more) from. Had installed the same version of Shadowgun the day before yesterday. Working great.. awesome graphics!

Im sure the delay with your phone is just killing you now?:p
 
Well, i feel pretty old (almost 30), so i guess life has taught me quite a bit of patience, but this wait is just torture. Sunday will be the day hopefully.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Where'd you get MK btw ?
 
Julian said:
Well, i feel pretty old (almost 30), so i guess life has taught me quite a bit of patience, but this wait is just torture. Sunday will be the day hopefully.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Where'd you get MK btw ?
Click to expand...

:rofl:Im 35. Its worth the wait though. MK Trilogy and all other game setups from TPB itself. The rest of the stuff using applanet market.
EDIT : Just installed the Recovery took a backup and flashed the theme too. It works great!
 
Is applanet an *ahem ahem* site or is it just like the regular ones? I've never paid for an android app yet, either used free ones or *cough sideload cough*.

And i couldn't find mk in the android section, just the PSX - PSP version under handheld. is that the one?

Does the stock SE UI support transparency? like a transparent notification/status bar etc?
 
Julian said:
Is applanet an *ahem ahem* site or is it just like the regular ones? I've never paid for an android app yet, either used free ones or *cough sideload cough*.

And i couldn't find mk in the android section, just the PSX - PSP version under handheld. is that the one?
Does the stock SE UI support transparency? like a transparent notification/status bar etc?
Click to expand...

Its a site from where you download an apk that does the rest. I PMed you the links required.

The stock UI does not support tranparency i think. The theme i made had a completely transparent notification status it worked great on the zte blade. Doesnt work on the play. ill try again tomorrow though in case i missed something.
 
I've tried the SE xperia arc theme on the blade, and the menus (settings etc.) were transparent. So i edited the status bar manually to make it transparent. Do you notice transparency anywhere in the menus?
 
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