xbox soft modding

[lilshawn]

i bought an original xbox and a few games from a garage sale for next to nothing. it only had about 5 savegames on the harddrive and the disks are pristine. so i think it wasn't played much. i have never ever owned an xbox before.....sorry.

i see you are able to softmod it as well as upgrade the harddrive to dump games onto it. my brain hurts from reading forums and have most of the information i need to proceed but i have a few specific questions.

my travels have me considering the "hot swap" method of modding the xbox. since i have no memory card or the required games.

my questions are as follows:

1: ) can i remove the xbox harddrive and clone an image of it, so that should my mod fail i can dump it back on? (i also have access to a comercial harddrive bit for bit cloning machine) or does the "harddrive lock" prevent it?

2: ) the tutorial i have found regarding the hot swap method does not require needing to know that the passcode for the harddrive is to work (since the xbox unlocks it then use it in your destop) Should i just go ahead and build an eprom reader for the bios and extract this info first, so i have it? do i really need to know what it is? (i have no problems building the circuit and reading it if need be.)

3A: ) can i instead take a new harddrive and get everything i need to softmod installed on it and keep the old unmodded harddrive as a just in case? (i would assume i would need to know what the harddrive passcode is (eprom.bin file)) or must i mod the old drive to put in a new bigger one after?

so basically i'm leaning towards the side of caution. I'd like to try and mod it, but would like to be able to go back to stock should i eff it up.

3B: ) if i extract the epprom info from the xbox, can i use the info contained therin to build a new larger harddrive from scratch?

please and thank yous - xbox noob 

[Stobe]

The easiest way I've found to both softmod and put in a bigger hard drive is the Autoinstaller disc.  The documentation that comes with it is very good, and it works great.

Yes, it requires you to FTP to the xbox, and yes, you need the memory card/correct game to do the softmod.  But for me it was so much easier than using a boot disc on a computer with the xbox drive on IDE chain xxx, and creating a new hard drive.

My advice about not having the memory card... I've seen on other boards people that will either "rent" you the memory card and game, or just creat a memory card for you.  (a couple bucks plus shipping, and you'll be all set).

[Kane]

I agree with with Stobe, the AID disc is the way to go. Try to track down one of the needed games at your local Gamestop. I was able to find Mech Assault for the low price of $3, and I bought an Action Replay off ebay for about $15. Here's one that's going now - http://cgi.ebay.com/ACTION-REPLAY-8MB-Memory-Card-XBOX-/220654898662?pt=Video_Games_Accessories  This is the guide I followed to softmod mine - http://www.xbox-hq.com/html/xbox-tutorials-258.html Then for replacing the HD I used - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/203286 Good luck! Make sure to read the whole post about replacing the HD because at the bottom is a link to make sure you get the right replacement drive. It has to be lockable.

[knave]

I didn't have any trouble using the hot swap method. It was pretty easy to follow the instructions on xbox-scene. I've since picked up 2 more consoles with the intent to mod them when I get a chance.

I chose that method since my dvd drive was broken and it was nice that I didn't have to buy anything. 

The moded xbox is one of the most useful things by far I've ever done. I used it every day before streaming netflix.

[lilshawn]

thanks guys, looks like i have a bit more information to study... (and i thought i was all done with school)

as far as the action replay thing goes, i might just modify one of the breakaway cables and add a male usb jack to it (so i can still use it with a controler), then i can use a regular memory stick. I checked a list and saw one of the ones i have was compatible with the xbox. so i have a way to add my savegame. I'm going to check out the local swap meet this weekend, there is a couple of video game vendors there so i might be able to get the game i need there. who knows, maybe i'll score an AR there... I think i'll give it a stab this weekend and see how things go.

thanks for the help, i'm sure i'll be back with more questions.

lilshawn

[ark_ader]

The most quickest way is to find someone with the Linux saves and Splinter Cell disc to perform the softmod.

Takes me 10 minutes via this method.

[quadrider1]

you dont even need action replay anymore, they have unleashedX or EVO downloads that you just make into an xbox iso, burn to a dvd, throw it in your xbox and there you go. it soft modds your xbox without splinter cell and so on. Also to save space with emulators and such and to have more room for real xbox games. Just download the emulator throw the roms into the rom folder, make the whole file a xbox iso, then burn to a dvd. You would have a collection of disks for each emulator and saves alot of space on the hard drive.

[quadrider1]

Type in slayer auto installer or auto installer delux. Slayer is just for evo and was really popular but auot installer delux gives you the opiton of many dashboards. You have ot find slayer though because its rare now

[ark_ader]

Type in slayer auto installer or auto installer delux. Slayer is just for evo and was really popular but auot installer delux gives you the opiton of many dashboards. You have ot find slayer though because its rare now

He means well... 

[quadrider1]

lol if im worng tell me, I just know i used some unleashedX auto install disk to mod my xbox without action replay or splinter cell. Its that was so long ago i dont remember the maker of the unleashed x version.

[lilshawn]

you dont even need action replay anymore, they have unleashedX or EVO downloads that you just make into an xbox iso, burn to a dvd, throw it in your xbox and there you go. it soft modds your xbox without splinter cell and so on. Also to save space with emulators and such and to have more room for real xbox games. Just download the emulator throw the roms into the rom folder, make the whole file a xbox iso, then burn to a dvd. You would have a collection of disks for each emulator and saves alot of space on the hard drive.

it's not the "auto installer deluxe"

Boots on a modded or soft-modded Xbox. Modchip users must be using a hacked BIOS (NOT Cromwell/Linux) and Softmod users must have already installed their Softmod before attempting to launch this.

or "softmod installer deluxe"

This package is designed to mod your Xbox by loading the SID Gamesaves on to your Xbox, and then launching them by game you select from the list below.

it appears both of these still need you to crack in initially... the unleashx site is gone so no help there.

[Kane]

any luck finding the stuff you need? Let me know if you have any questions.

[lilshawn]

I've continued poking around with this xbox this weekend. I've decided for now to go the route of using a save game exploit to get in. I've built an adapter for my breakaway cable to add a standard usb plug to it, that way i can use it on the computer and then with a gender changer i can use it to plug my memorystick into the xbox.

I have a compatible memory stick already (sandisk cruzer micro 1gb) I picked up a copy of 007 agent under fire yesterday, but being a "platinum hits" disk the particular one I grabbed had the wrong version. (1448527 instead of 1448517)  oh well it was only $2.    i'll be going to the swap meet today to see if i can grab one of the right ones.

i downloaded a pack off the internet called "softmod installer deluxe v5.10 final" it has all the savegames and the installer... (There is a special USB version which contains XBMC so you can install XBMC straight from the SID Menu and not have to worry about using AID / XBMCID to install it later) and somewhat of a set of instructions. I'm hopeful for success.

now i'm guessing since we have no xbox live anymore for this system, i can go ahead and not bother to keep the stock ms dashboard as a dual boot or alternate dash?

[quadrider1]

If you already have xbox live paid for, like for a whole year, You can still play if you softmod your xbox. You just have to make sure the game loads up before you go to your modded dashboard. I still do this on my softmod xbox. type XBINS on google and find away to connect to it. Xbins is a place with almost every thing you would need to hack, bios,emus,games,dashboards,installers, etc. But you have to have an ftp program since that is what you use to copy the files from xbins to your computer.

[J_K_M_A_N]

This is the guide I have used about 25 times. It is incredibly easy. I was worried about the hot swap the first time but it is really no big deal at all. It is 100% free too. No games needed. If you are in the Minneapolis area I will do it for you if you want. It is super easy.

J_K_M_A_N

[lilshawn]

via wikipedia:

On February 5, 2010, Marc Whitten posted on gamerscoreblog that Xbox Live support for the original Xbox games would be discontinued as of April 15, 2010. Services were discontinued on schedule, but a group of 20 gamers continued to play for almost a month afterwards by simply leaving their consoles on connected to Halo 2. APACHE N4SIR was the final user to play on the original Xbox's Live Service and was finally disconnected on May 11, 2010 at 01:58 EDT

sorry J_K_M_A_N, i'm canadian egh! no plans on traveling to Minnesota in the near future...thanks though.

well i have my game with the correct serial/part number. i had to weed through about 60 copies at about 8 different vendors to find the correct verson of 007:AUF. i couldn't even find splinter cell or the correct mech assault. oh well...hard work? pays off. i even payed $10 for it  sucker