Print

[craz3d]

I have two consoles, a completely stock 120GB Elite with my LIVE gamertag and a 20GB Xenon flashed with the latest XBR.  The Xenon unit has never been on LIVE in its modified state (both dvd-drive and JTAG mods were done at once by myself) and therefore has no ban record.  The 20GB hard drive has an offline profile which is used to load emulators, etc. to keep 'dirty' achievments away from my primary gamertag.  I also have this console's MAC address blocked from internet connections on my router in the off-chance that it gets connected to my network.

My question is in regards to the safety of connecting my stock 120GB hard drive onto the JTAG'd Xenon to play my backups, while loading save games created with retail copies on my stock system and earning achievements on my LIVE Gamertag.  For instance, I own Borderlands and play it online on my stock system, but would like to be able to play it downstairs offline on my hacked console as well to level up the characters I play online.

As far as we know, is it reasonably safe to share game saves and gamertags between JTAG'd consoles and retail consoles assuming that:
a ) the hard drive you use on both consoles is stock/retail w/ no modifications
B ) You play games loaded from DVD-Drive (not using XeXLoader)
c ) only M$ signed code is loaded from the XBR-hacked kernel, ie no emulators, homebrew apps.  only loading backups

My second question pretty much builds off that.  If I were to still use my stock 120GB hard drive on the Xenon unit, might it be reasonably safe to load backups off an external USB hard drive through XeXLoader instead of from the hacked 8955 kernel?

By safe, I mean, is there any difference between game saves signed by a console running XBR loading DVD-backups or loading USB backups through XeXLoader?  Have there been any reports of people getting gamertag bans not because they went online signed in on a "JTAG'ed" XBOX360, but just because they loaded games they own from backups on a JTAG'd system then went online with that same profile on a stock system.

I haven't yet connected my 120GB hard drive with all my gamesaves on it yet for fear that I may get a gamertag ban.  Any anecdotal evidence would be appreciated, thanks.  Alec, it'd be great if you could chime in on this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by craz3d: Jan 13 2010, 07:37 AM

[djricekcn]

I haven't done it personally but as far as I am told, you can even get achievement off the dvddl's or the HDD, move the HDD with the profile to a legit console and upload it without getting banned.  What will get you banned is if you have fake achievements (not sure how you do it or what they are, just what I heard).

[thwack]

Personally (and this isn't adding anything knowledge-wise about cross 360 gamertag console issues), I'd keep my Live gamertag seperate from my JTAG'd 360. Call me paranoid (as I sit here wearing my tinfoil hat with coat hangers on the ceiling), but having invested years in my gamertag I wouldn't want to risk it. I think now the only way forward is to have a JTAG'd console for the lovely homebrew that my online tag never goes near, and my online 360 that my gamertag resides on. Curse M$ for making gamerscore like crack

[craz3d]

Thanks, guys.  I, too, hate that I put so much value in gamerscore, but for some inexplicable reason, I still do.  So far its 1 vs 1.  I know there must be someone here who has done what I want to do.  Come out of the woodwork and give me some advice!!

This post has been edited by craz3d: Jan 13 2010, 11:07 PM

[W1zz]

I don't think you'd get the legit console banned, but if suspected of cheating on your xblive profile, you'll have your gamerpoints reset. MS have been known to do this when people have been known to be using exploits in games to boost their scores.
Safer keeping them seperate, you never know what MS's next move will be. How many on here thought they'd cripple your console during the last banning wave?

[craz3d]

QUOTE(W1zz @ Jan 16 2010, 02:27 AM)

I don't think you'd get the legit console banned, but if suspected of cheating on your xblive profile, you'll have your gamerpoints reset.

Only playing games that I own with their original signed binaries and no modified files.

QUOTE(W1zz @ Jan 16 2010, 02:27 AM)

MS have been known to do this when people have been known to be using exploits in games to boost their scores.
Safer keeping them seperate, you never know what MS's next move will be. How many on here thought they'd cripple your console during the last banning wave?

This is a good point, as far as M$ pulling some unanticipated shit with the last ban-wave.

Again, thanks for contributing.  Now I'd just like to hear from _anyone_ who has done precisely what I detailed above; if you've gotten banned doing what I describe (and nothing more) then we'd know for sure that this set-up is unsafe.  There's no 100% way to know that it is _safe_ but we might at least be able to show that it is _unsafe_

[nomar383]

I would also like to know this. Anyone really tried it?

[nomar383]

Here's what I did:

1. Copied gamertag to memory card.
2. Swapped it between a full retail console (on live) and a JTAG console back and forth with no gamertag ban.

I'm still keeping my JTAG hard drive away from any retail console though haha

[craz3d]

Unfortunately, I have no memory card, but I'm thinking that running games off USB storage devices might be safe; I'm basing this off the assumption that most of the games won't have any calls to read USB Mass Storage devices.  Perhaps games released in the future might check from where the game executables are run.  Until now, however, I'm guessing developers could safely assume that all games are run from DVD.

If I get some spare time this week I'll try to set up a trial account and do some testing.

[Midnight Tboy]

QUOTE(nomar383 @ Jan 20 2010, 09:40 AM)

Here's what I did:

1. Copied gamertag to memory card.
2. Swapped it between a full retail console (on live) and a JTAG console back and forth with no gamertag ban.

I'm still keeping my JTAG hard drive away from any retail console though haha

I hold my gamertag on my memory card anyway.

Wondering though have you also done that and used the likes of the Snes360 emulator....which has its own custom achievements?  As that sounds like the riskiest thing having some achievements then uploaded to microsoft for a homebrew app

[jgsieve]

I'm worried about the custom achievements and also playing XBLA games that have not been purchased by your gamertag. What happens when I play shadow complex and have 40 gamer points but I didn't buy it? ***This is theoretical*** I haven't done this!

[craz3d]

QUOTE(Midnight Tboy @ Jan 20 2010, 09:01 AM)

Wondering though have you also done that and used the likes of the Snes360 emulator....which has its own custom achievements?  As that sounds like the riskiest thing having some achievements then uploaded to microsoft for a homebrew app

Please remember that I have explicitly stated that we are only discussing the safety of storing live profiles alongside legitimate game saves and game data only.  If you'd like to make a topic discussing LIVE-safety with custom achievements / homebrew files go for it, but I'd rather not confuse people.

QUOTE(jgsieve @ Jan 20 2010, 09:14 AM)

I'm worried about the custom achievements and also playing XBLA games that have not been purchased by your gamertag. What happens when I play shadow complex and have 40 gamer points but I didn't buy it? ***This is theoretical*** I haven't done this!

Also keep in mind I'm not trying to help other people get achievements for games they don't own.  It is possible to get legitimate gamerpoints for an XBLA title which one gamertag did not buy if that gamertag resides on the same storage unit as the software and the gamertag that purchased it and the content is accessed on the console to which the license is registered.  However, please do not bring this back up again in the topic.  We are not discussing piracy.  That is not the intention of this thread.

In regards to custom achievements, they are a horrible idea that is sure to get your gamertag banned if Microsoft notices it.  I really think it was a mistake for the developer snes360 to include them, I feel they'll only be seen more with homebrew apps.  I know that some people can responsibly handle something like this, but I know a lot of people are going to cut corners and get lazy, accidently running it on their main profile.  Then they'll come and complain and ask for help.  I've already seen it happen at least once.  It is my recommendation to have a separate storage device and profile for running homebrew software.  It should _NEVER_ be done on your primary gamertag if you ever want to connect to LIVE again on that account.

Right now I'm attempting to host a discussion regarding the caveats of safely playing content you own on a console which you have modified to run the software of your choosing.

Again, I repeat, what this topic is interested in uncovering is if it is unsafe to access and save legitimate game saves using your LIVE profile stored on a memory device which does not have any homebrew software, profiles which you've used to get achievements for homebrew games, XBLA or other DLC content that has been modified, etc.  In other words, the only data on the storage device is data that could have been written by stock, retail consoles.  Also, all games are run from DVD or possibly an external USB hard drive w/o any modifications to the games' files.

[nomar383]

I was thinking last night, if I launched XexLoader while signed in, does it register as a recently played game on my gamertag? And would quickboot shortcuts screw you? The testing I did was loading up into a game from XexLoader, then signing in when the game prompted me. I may get more risky and try some other combinations too, but I think retail games off a USB HD are okay for now.

On a side note, I did not even know emulators and other homebrew stuff had custom achievements. Maybe they should have code built in to check if you are signed in with a live profile?

[jeffrey92]

i copied my live profiles from my 360 hdd to a custom SATA hdd attached to my jtagged 360. I wanted to connect my jtag console to my computer for the media center and also to do FTP transfers. I loaded up xexmenu and it asked me to sign in. I signed in and I guess I had forgotten to screw up the DNS server addresses cause it actually connected me to live. I signed out right after but on my xbox.com profile it doesn't say anything about xexmenu, it just showed the regular stuff. no ban yet that im aware of. i mean it doesn't really matter if it gets banned anways since its jtagged, but having a clean ID would be nice

[nomar383]

QUOTE(jeffrey92 @ Jan 20 2010, 01:16 PM)

i copied my live profiles from my 360 hdd to a custom SATA hdd attached to my jtagged 360. I wanted to connect my jtag console to my computer for the media center and also to do FTP transfers. I loaded up xexmenu and it asked me to sign in. I signed in and I guess I had forgotten to screw up the DNS server addresses cause it actually connected me to live. I signed out right after but on my xbox.com profile it doesn't say anything about xexmenu, it just showed the regular stuff. no ban yet that im aware of. i mean it doesn't really matter if it gets banned anways since its jtagged, but having a clean ID would be nice

So it doesn't show xexloader or xexmenu as a recently played game on your gamertag? I would think if it did, you'd get insta-banned since that's pretty much a slam-dunk against you.