Print

[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox360 SS Merger v1.5o-- Posted by XanTium on May 29 22:33 EST
HellDoc released a new version of Xbox360 SS Merger(info) - a GUI tool that allows you to easily insert the Security Sectors (SS) on raw dumps made both the 'wxRipper(info)'-way (hot-swap with opened PC DVD drive and wxRipper software) and the 'xtreme'-way (with original Xbox 360 DVD drive on PC and special bios).

What's new/fixed:
* Online ISO validation + setting detection
* Online SS validation (via online database of valid SS md5-hashes)
* Nice interface

Instructions:

How to:
1 - Make sure you have .Net Framework 2 installed.
2 - Browse for the iso.
3 - Hit Detect.
4 - If there's already a online entry for this iso, the Game Name combo box will fill up. If nothing appear it means that no one submitted information for this iso.
5 - If you select a game in the combo box, all settings should already be fine, else, make the settings as it should be.
6 - Select the SS file.
7 - If you selected an game name in the combo box and the md5 checkboxes are red it mean that you are not using the recommended SS. Green mean that you selected the right SS.
8 - Hit merge.
9 - Burn the .dvd with CloneCD
10 - If the iso you just made is working and was not found in the database, enter a name in the Combobox with as much detail as possible (Game name, region, comments) and hit Add to database. It will allow the users to use your settings.
11 - Donate via paypal to helldoc AT gmail D0t com as i'm paying for the database hosting and the bandwith...

Iso splitter instruction :
This should be pretty straigtfoward,
1 - select your iso file (Must be a complete iso with video partition).
2 - hit xbox 360 or xbox depending on your iso.
3 - select what you want to extract (Extraction the game partion will create a xtreme type of iso)
4 - Hit split and wait.

Thanks to the all the beta testers, to Joergen for the icons and to the whole xbox community!

Official Site: n/a, by HellDoc at xboxhacker.net forums
Download: here

[lucho]

Before I start adding games to the database, I would like to know if an MD5 of a patched ISO will be diferent from an ISO that has not been patched.

If they differ, wouldn't this cause issues?

Thanks

Lucho

[majik655]

QUOTE(lucho @ May 29 2006, 07:26 PM)

Before I start adding games to the database, I would like to know if an MD5 of a patched ISO will be diferent from an ISO that has not been patched.

If they differ, wouldn't this cause issues?

Thanks

Lucho

yes I too was wondering the same.  

I am also wondering (probably a stupid question) but by using this tool wouldn't there be some way to figure if a image has been patched or not at all?

I had 3 images I backed up myself of course.. but while I was messing around with learning all this stuff.. I lost track of what image I patched and which I didn't.  With the setup I had to use it was easy to forget..
Anyway I created a couple of coasters and I believed it was because I patched something twice?

[RolfLobker]

You'll just have to remember if you already patched it or not.
You should be perfectly capable of doing this since you are the one who is doing the patching.

You can for instance name the output file gamexxx_patched.iso and/or place it in a different folder.

[helldoc]

If the game has been patched and the md5 sum is not in the database, the iso will be detected as wxripper style with blanked out video partition, and you'll be able to reapply the SS. MD5 of a patched iso is not the same as the md5 of unpatched iso , as the md5 is calculated off the whole iso file.

[lucho]

Ok, got it.  I just have ISOs I patched and are working and now I want to add them to the database and did not want to screw anyone else up.  

Thanks

Lucho

This post has been edited by lucho: May 30 2006, 12:21 PM

[modchipper]

Worked great for me with Ridge Racer 6 NTSC . Thanks for this great tool.

[Alkane]

QUOTE(RolfLobker @ May 30 2006, 03:25 AM)

You'll just have to remember if you already patched it or not.
You should be perfectly capable of doing this since you are the one who is doing the patching.

You can for instance name the output file gamexxx_patched.iso and/or place it in a different folder.

Security sectors for games will be different each time requested from the DVD drive as some responses are based off timing.  Checking to see if a game is already patched is easy as checking a certain region to see if the 0's have been replaced (using any hex editor).

Game ISO = Video layer + Security sector bin + Game layer

Video layer = 265,877,504 bytes
Security sector bin = 2,048 bytes
Hence, the offset to check is at = FD90000h
(assumming the ISO has been merged with the video bin, just needing SS patching)

If its not all zeros in that sector (the next 2048 bytes) then its patched.  An MD5 should be different for even the same ISO if it were patched using different security sectors.  You can have SS.bin files that are different but that both work.  The question is on what sections is the MD5 checking?  EDIT: Nevermind ; )

This post has been edited by Alkane: May 30 2006, 04:40 PM

[hydrasworld]

QUOTE(helldoc @ May 30 2006, 11:35 AM)

If the game has been patched and the md5 sum is not in the database, the iso will be detected as wxripper style with blanked out video partition, and you'll be able to reapply the SS. MD5 of a patched iso is not the same as the md5 of unpatched iso , as the md5 is calculated off the whole iso file.

this might seem daft.

But if you know where the SS lives, and you know where the video partition lives and you know where the main data part lives then why don't you calculate MD5 sums for EACH SECTION and one for the whole ISO and store ALL OF THEM in the database ?

This would make much more sense to me.

Additionally, i hope you're logging all the MD5 that are unknown so that you can can do something like this:

SELECT count(*) as hits,* FROM UnknownMD5s GROUP BY md5 ORDER BY hits DESC

then make a list on your webby and ask people to tell you what it is they were checking.

Also, instead of just asking for a gamename, ask for 4 things:

1) game name
2) video region (PAL/NTSC-J/NTSC)
3) geographical region (provide a dropdown box with a list of the known regions that have different SS's e.g. USA/UK/AUS/JAPAN/GERMANY, add "OTHER" to this list that enables an adjacent text box to allow the user to enter a different region if it's not in the list
4) name of ripper (of course, they can leave this blank...)

This would make the database and the app much more useful as i tried to get it to detect the 10 or so iso's i had here (patched and unpatched) and it failed every time to detect them.

Feel free to PM me to discuss further.

This post has been edited by hydrasworld: May 30 2006, 10:13 PM

[helldoc]

better name convention will be in the next release as well as the ability to flag wrong information.
I'm not currently loggin unknow md5.
I don't think it can be usefull as the SS has not been verified at this time of the process..
If no one has posted the good SS then what would be the utility of knowing the game name... You probably know witch game you are trying to patch...

You iso detection could have failed since the software was released only yesterday night with only 2 games in the database.

There's currently 101 games in the database..

[hackanoob]

I am a noob here...though this sounds interesting.
I would be thankful if somebody explained to me in plain english, what exactly Xbox360 SS Merger v1.5o is for?
Trust me, i dont want spoon feeding, i did read the post, i did click on the info link, but could not make head or tail of it.

Thanks a lot

This post has been edited by hackanoob: May 31 2006, 12:15 AM

[majik655]

QUOTE(hackanoob @ May 30 2006, 03:43 PM)

I am a noob here...though this sounds interesting.
I would be thankful if somebody explained to me in plain english, what exactly Xbox360 SS Merger v1.5o is for?
Trust me, i dont want spoon feeding, i did read the post, i did click on the info link, but could not make head or tail of it.

Thanks a lot

each game as a SS (Secure Sector) (a key if you want to call it that)
this "key" needs to be  put on the second layer of a dual layer dvd..  
So you rip the game.. then you have to patch the image with THE right secure sector ("key")
specific for THAT game AND region.

This tool allows you to patch the SS into the backup image file and determine if it is the correct SS

[hydrasworld]

QUOTE(helldoc @ May 30 2006, 11:16 PM)

You iso detection could have failed since the software was released only yesterday night with only 2 games in the database.

hi helldoc!

I tested only shortly before posting.  Maybe i'll test again to make sure.

Also, I did a bit of work on this tonight, with regards to a proper database for storing all the infomation and linking everything up really nicely.

Anyway, i made a mysql database schema in mysql workbench, submitted a bunch of bug reports to them regarding that too but that's another story... Finally got a working db on my local install of mysql and i stuck some test data in it and mae a few queries, works great.

here's a list of tables:

GeoRegion, list of known regions that have differing ss's for the same game + autoid
VideoRegion, list of video regions, pal, ntsc, etc + autoid
Group, contains list of people/groups that make isos + autoid
ISOInfo, contains 4 md5's - 1 - whole iso, 2, data part, 3 video part, 4 ss part, though i might ditch 4 (see below)  + autoid.  Could contain data/filesizes and offsets too which could be used before even bothering to make md5's as comparing filesizes/data sizes is way quicker, and then use md5 to verify.
SSInfo, list of MD5's and an autoid field, nothing more
ReleaseInfo, list of known releases or otherwise available/created isos, links to GeoRegion, VideoRegion, GroupRegion via Foreign keys
ReleaseInfo_SSInfo, links SSInfo autoid's to ReleaseInfo autoid's also has two boolean fields, "Tested" and "Working"
ReleaseInfo_ISOInfo, links ISOInfo autoid's to ReleaseInfo autoid's.

With that you'd be able to list all SS's easily, in one place. then fill the rest of the data up as people submit it.

You could then do queries like this:

List all SS's for all releases

select * from releaseinfo as r
inner join releaseinfo_ssinfo as r_s on r_s.fkreleaseinfoid = r.id
inner join ssinfo as s on r_s.fkssinfoid = s.id;

List all releases that use a given SS MD5

select * from releaseinfo as r
inner join releaseinfo_ssinfo as r_s on r_s.fkreleaseinfoid = r.id
inner join ssinfo as s on r_s.fkssinfoid = s.id where s.md5 = 'd0350e6b02c4861b3254ffca975006fe';

List all releases by a group

select * from releaseinfo as r inner join `group` as g on g.id = r.fkgroupid where g.name like '%pi%';

Let me know if you want the SQL to create the DB and the mysql workbench files and some example data.

This post has been edited by hydrasworld: May 31 2006, 12:47 AM

[PSoff]

Ok I'm probably gonna sound like a total n00b here, but I don't seem to know how to use the new features in 1.5 effectively.

I ripped a few games using wxRipper yesterday, then I ripped the SS.bins in a row using my 360 drive (this way I don't have to keep reflashing back and forth for every game).

I only had 2 DL discs left at the time, so I burned Oblivion and CoD2 using SS Merger 1.4. To do this, I loaded the ISO and my SS.bin, Split, then burned in DVD Decrypter. Both discs run without a hitch.

Now, regarding SS Merge 1.5: The online MD5 checking feature seems like a good idea, but this is where I get confused. I ripped Condemend again to test with 1.5,  (since yesterday's back up is patched by now). I open 1.5, load my unpatched ISO, load my previously ripped SS.bin, hit 'Detect', yet I still get a red box where the 'SS File MD5' and 'Required SS File MD5' info goes. The 'Game Name' comes up as 'XBOX360'.

According to your instructions, if the 'SS File MD5' box is red, then the MD5 is incorrect, and wouldn't this imply that my ISO shouldn't work, even though it does?

Is this because there aren't many games in the database yet, or am I missing something? Oh yeah, and when/why would I want to use the Iso Splitter function?

Thanks!

This post has been edited by PSoff: May 31 2006, 05:21 AM

[boza111]

I am guessing that everyone should also put in the region code of the game aswell.
e.g. PAL , NTSC US, NTSC JAP etc