Cool Xbox
 

My nephew bought an X-box in South Korea when he was there for army duty. Anyway he left it here for awhile and I decided to take a look at it. This X-box looks just like our US X-box but is modded and needs a converter to plug into a 120V outlet (Backward US ways:(). He bought it this way in SK.
His X-box has Uleash X V.0.37.1218a and the Xbox itself is version 1.1. It also says it has a 120 GB harddrive in it. He has about 20 X-box games stored on the harddrive which was not surprising to me but what did surprise me was that he had what seemed to be a complete library of SNES, NES, and some other older game systems and games\roms that were very handy to choose from the Modchips Operation systems menu, or atleast thats what I'd call it. This must be legal to buy in stores over there since he said he bought the X-box modded and with the games already installed.

My questions are as follows:
How do I find this modchip or even a premodded X-box like his without going to SK?

Can you really use a different harddrive in the X-box?

I'm not real interested in putting X-box games on the harddrive since we already own just about every decent game there is leagally...Well maybe putting some of the most played games on there wouldn't hurt in order to save from having to rebuy the disk when the middles start to crack away from taking them out of the cases all the time, but what I'm really inerested in is putting the old SNES and maybe N64 games on it. I have the rom files to most all the games I own on those old systems. Is that what I'd use or am I completly missing the target here?

Is there a way to back up some of the stuff he has on his X-box? If so how?

1) google

2) yes, f drive only for <250, f and g for >250 (gigs)

3) completely off, u needa buy somethin that will transfer the cartridge rom into digital computer usage, and no dont ask to download, we dont support piracy

4) u can back it up to another xbox (if modded) or a pc if u would like

1. Figured maybe that.
2. So that means a 250GB max and whats the f and G about?
3. Not planning on transfer cartrige to digital Computer usage, way beyond my hardware capabilities. Oh and only d-loaded roms to games I already own, thought I made that somewhat clear above but I guess you concluded differently than I expected.
4. How is the simplest way to do this? Are you speaking from experience?

Anyone know how an X-box CD rom drive would work hooked up to a PC? Is this how I can transfer my games to a harddrive or is there more involved?

Here is the deal with HDD's:
any bios will support the f: partition of the HDD to be up to 250gb maximum. After that it must be g:. The drive will be partitioned when formated.

to backup what he has on his xbox simply use FTP to the xbox and transfer the stuff to your PC. Then do the same but from PC to xbox when you are to put it onto your own xbox.

backuping games is done like this:
make sure you have Complex Tools or DVD2xbox (I would recommend dvd2xbox), insert game disc, start dvd2xbox, select backup and then where to backup it. Wait. Done. Remove disc and play the game from hdd... :)

Thanks for the informaion, it seems helpfull but let me get this all straight becuase I forsee some bottlenecks.

On his modded X-box I did see both an f and a G partition showing up on his menu screen of that X-boxs modchip OS. If I used just one 250 gb harddrive could I set it up entirely as the F drive and after installing this drive will my X-box recognize it so I can format using the X-box or the modchips O.S.???????

A few big questions on FTP for you. Is this what your talking about? http://www.ftpx.com/.. How do I use this in conjunction with the X-box? Do I need something other than a high speed ISP connection and a PC? How do I get my PC to read whats on X-box so I can back it up,,, Is there a certain cable I need to get or can I use something common from home to use for the backup process before my Nephew goes back overseas. I have X-box live but I'm guessing it will not play a role for this proceedure,,right? He might frown abit if I have to take his harddrive out of his X-box to back it up.

FlashFXP

If you use a 250gb HDD
-about 700mb will go to C (this has the xbox files)
-about 5gb will go to E (this stores the saves)
-and 700mb will go to x, y, and z (these are used by games for temp files).

The rest will go to F.

Any HDD with more space will be like the setup above, except only 137gb will go to F, and the rest, with a max of 250gb, will go to G.

FlashFXP is the right app to use. It works great and will do its thing.

To FTP to the xbox you need a standard RJ45 crosslinked cable (standard network cable, crosslinked), or a switch and 2 RJ45 standard cables. I would recommend the crosslink though. Of course you need a network card in your PC that supports atleast 10mbit, 100mbit is prefered though.
Then assign a static IP to your PC and your xbox, connect to the xbox IP usign FlashFXP and copy what you need.

A note about Xbox-Live now that you mentioned it... You will not be able to use Xbox-Live anymore. Erm well you could use it but with the risk of being banned. Especially if you previously has been online with the standard hdd and that number has been regged on xbl. But when chipped you could use a legal and free alternative such as X-Link Kai or Xbox Connect.

How do I read an Xbox disc usin g a PC? I have a program named Qwix ver1.01 and am thinking it might be a good start but when I put in my nephews X-box backup disc I still can't open it up. How can I read it?

You need to put the game in the xbox and ftp to the xbox to the computer.
Then transfer all the files to the computer, etc. and then backup the game in any fashion you see fit.....There should be a great sticky somewhere on more data. Good Luck

I'm using a RJ 45 crossover cable hooked directly from my PC's ethernet card to the X-box. I tried to connect with both Flash FXP and Qwix but can't. The one error I cet using Qwix is FTP Connection Error Socket Error#10065 No route to host. What am I doing wrong?

What application is being used on the xbox? Did you make the IP static (on boith your xbox and pc)?

Well, there are apps on the Xbox called FBOX FTP Client, Linksboks, and BOXPLORER that sound like likely possibilities. The IP address on his Xbox shows that it is static but I donnot see a setting for that on the P.C. software I mentioned.

You need to set the PC's ip yourself. Go into network connections. Select your LAN option and right click it. Choose properties. Then, in the scroll menu, go to the last item. It should be something like tcp/ip settings. Then, click properties of that option.

Go to the alternate config tab, so you won't have to change it back when you connect to the net.

Set the ip to what ever you want.
subnet: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.0.1

Use the following DNS:
0.0.0.0

Thanks, that worked! So now I can see whats in the C,E,F,X,Y,Z folder of this X-box. I was going to try and make an ISO of one of my game discs just to test it to see if I can make a working backup. What sybolizes the X-box DVD rom drive anyway? How can I back up a game using nero once I figure out where the disc files are. Or do I have to put the game files on the Xbox harddrive first instead of trying to read them from the disc drive? Probably more to it, but can you shed some more light on the subject for me?

The DVD-Drive of the xbox is D:. In order to make a backup you first FTP all files from the D: drive when the disc is inserted into the xbox.

Start Qwix and select create ISO. Burn the ISO with Nero or DVD Decrypter... I prefer DVD Decrypter.

There is no need to start XboXFTP or any app on the xbox in order to move from xbox to PC. Simply start the xbox up with the chip on and boot into the dashboard (EvoX or whatever). Go to your PC and start the FTP transfer.
XboxFTP is for transfer between 2 xbox's and boxplorer is simply a filemanager for the xbox.

Once I put a disc in the X-box I loose the connection, I'm assuming this is becuase the game starts. Also a D: folder never appears, just C,E,F,X,Y,and Z in Qwix. Does Evox or whatever he might have start automatically or is there something I have to do to start it? I see a file in his X-box C: folder in Qwix named XOdash so I'm guessing thats the name of the dashboard it has but I can't find where to make it start in his X-box applications.

How is the dash looking when you start the xbox?
Are you presented with the standard green xbox dashboard? Or are you presented a menu that contains options similar to "Launch DVD", "Emulators" and so on?

Whenever you insert a disc does it starts instantly? If so take a look if you can find any settings and look for "autostart game"...

A little note here; I can see the D: drive no matter if there is a game in or not. It will always be there for me, atleast when using Avalaunch or EvoX.

I found the autostart option and shut it off. Now I can see and read the D: folder with Qwix.
How do I back up this game since Qwix will only allow me to select one subfolder at a time to create an ISO? What option in Nero or DVD decrypter do I use to burn the ISO once I figure out how to create one? Do I need to name the ISO something in particular or does that matter?

Simply select D: and press make ISO... Name will not matter, the ISO will contain all files and be valid anyway.

Once you have gotten the iso done burn it with Nero, simply done by pressing Burn Image.

Using DVD Decrypter you must first change from "Read" to "Write" mode. Then it will be very simple... :)

Selecting D: with Qwix and then trying to create an ISO of that folder, I get this message in Qwix.... D: is not a valid remote folder.... So I tried transfering the files to my harddrive using flashFXP and just for testing something I read somewhere else, I also tried using Internet explorer to do the job. Both worked fine but IE was easier to use.
So at this point I had the needed files in a folder on my harddrive and decided to backup 2 games for testing purposes (GTA SA and House of the Dead 3). I made ISO images using Qwix of both games from my harddrive and then chose DVD Decrypter to do the backup. First I tried GTA SA using DVD Decrypter but after inserting the backup disc into the X-box player it failed to load. Next I tried HOTD3 and did the same thing and walla it worked! My first Xbox backup DVD! Then I decided to redo the GTA SA backup DVD but again it didn't work:(. Maybe this game has some kind of copy protection on it?....... Any advise?

If I am not mistaken GTA:SA is larger than a standard DVD-r... I do not know, so long since I made my backup of it.... :p

Glad you made it and now you know how to do also... :)

I tried another called NCAA 2006 and it works fine but GTA SA noway. It says GTA SA is only 2.85 GBs where as NCAA 2006 is 3.52GBs...Hmm...

Thanks for all the info kosmiq I couldn't have figured this out in the amount of time that I did without your superb X-box knowlege guiding me through it:).

Next I'm going to order a modchip.A few questions for you or anyone else with some input on the matter.

Is Crystal still one of the newest and best chips to order or is there something better?

Do I have to upload a dashboard once the chip is installed or is all that stuff built into the chip? If so is the proceedure similar to anything I just did?

To put Emulators and Roms on the X-box do you burn an ISO to disc and then input it to the X-box through the dashboard somehow or is it a matter of uploading through your PC using a FTP program, or am I way off here?

Glad to be of help... :)

There is a chip named crystal? Nope, not be a b*tch here but still.... :P
If you know someone that can solder and can solder real good get Xecuter 2.6Lite or similar. Some of the best chips ever made.
If you are wanting to install it yourself but are not very familiar with soldering the Xenium SP.I.C.E is very good. Solderless on all versions of the xbox.

Once you have installed the chip you must install a bios onto the chip. I would recommend EvoX M8 Plus 1.6 if using a 1.6 xbox, if you are having a 1.0-1.5 I would say X2 5035 or X24983.
That bios will allow you to run backuped games, emulators, use a different dashboard and use all homemade programs for the xbox.

So when the chip is installed, has the bios on itself it is time to install a dashboard. I usually recommends SlaYers autoinstaller Deluxe 2.6 and will do this now too.. :D
Get hold of that one, burn it onto a DVD and then simply pop it in and restart the xbox. Use the menusystem on the disc (you will see it) and make a format with reinstall standard HDD. It will set you up with a few emus, Xbox Media Center, a sh*tload of other apps and some other things.

Installing ROMS is another thing. When using the retail HDD there can be problems installing plenty of roms on the HDD as it will fill up pretty fast when FTP'ing N64 roms... ;)
But if the HDD is upgraded you open a FTP transfer, go into the folder with the emu, looks for a folder named "roms" or something, FTP the roms there. Restart xbox, start emu and wham play away... :D
If using stock HDD you must edit the emulators .ini file so that it reads from "A:" (on most emu's this means D: but is named A: for some reason). Then burn your roms on a DVD and put it in the xbox, launch the emu and play...

That should give you some info... :)

Wow! complex... I can probably solder but maybe the solderless one would be my best bet since the only electrical device I've ever soldered before was a modchip to a few original Plastations and a bunch if car wiring projects.
Whats the proceedure to install the bios and the a dashboard? And where do you find that stuff anyway?

Installing the bios differs a bit between chips. But lets say you go for the solderless Xenium SP.I.C.E, then you install the chip. Start the xbox, when it has booted you will see the modchip OS. That will give you FTP support so go to settings, set an static IP on both the xbox and the PC. Start a FTP transfer, transfer the bios to e: on the xbox. Restart the xbox, choose "add bios" or whatever the name is and select the bios file from e:. Done... :)

I can not give you any links to where to get bios's and stuff. They are considered illegal because they are modified xbox bios's. But I would recommend you take a look at xbox-scene
And look for a tutorial with the names IRC, xbins and how to in it... ;)

If you are good enough to chip a PS1 I am sure you could manage chipping an xbox too. Go find a tutorial and you will see what it takes, then decide from that.

Thanks again for the info. The bios does not sound that hard to install since you've already taught me how to read X-box files with a P.C. and transfer them:). I'm sure I'll have more questions when the time comes though. I hope your still hanging out here then.

What dashboard would you suggest?

Of course I will still be hanging around... :D

Dashboards depends on what you need... I think that EvoX is a good dashboard for starters and it last a long way. Currently the only dash that supports trainers to 100% too.

I am using Avalaunch as I find it has more settings I want plus support for RSS feeds. UIX (User Interface X) is also popular along with UnleashX. MXM is used pretty much too and so is XBMC... :p
That did not answer your question but start with EvolutionX (EvoX) and if you feel that it lacks something go try one of the others.