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[Kazaki]

That's why this exsists: http://forums.xbox-s...php?act=SF&f=44

It's not like that method is unnoticed or anything.

[Ridley]

The only bad thing about Softmods; is that they are vulnerable to being wiped away by M$, (on a software level).

It hasn't happened so far though.

[NeoKast]

Kazaki, I'm not saying it's unnoticed, I just wonder why people haven't given up on chips yet. A mod chip is 1/2 the cost of a new refurbished Xbox. A second Xbox is by far the safest and easiest way to use Live.

And to Ridley, I don't mean softmods man. I mean flashing the TSOP using the 007 AUF hack, which is essentialy the same as using a mod chip functionality-wise.

[havocaose]

QUOTE (NeoKast @ Jan 9 2004, 08:25 PM)

And to Ridley, I don't mean softmods man. I mean flashing the TSOP using the 007 AUF hack

you just defined a softmod...
when he says its vulnerable.. you might not understand what he means.. for example
you put in your new copy of halo2.. thanks to the antipiracy teams in MSs xbox division, halo2 checks your tsop... oh no its not a MS bios.. lets overwright it with random one's and zeros to disable the xbox.. connect to xboxlive to ban your eeprom.. and then wipe your harddrive...
im not saying halo2 will do that.. but its possible..

[NeoKast]

I agree, MS will NEVER flash TSOP's from a game to deter modding. First of all, it'll break the box if the user panics during the erase process, and you can always lift the solder from the board to make it unflashable again. I think that sort of suggestion is actually very amusing. Thanks for the laugh havocaose. I know a good buddy that I turned on to Xbox modding and using the TSOP flash via 007 AUF and he feels like you do, which also makes me laugh. He's going to go as far as installing a jumper on the top soldering points on his. A waste of time for sure.

Flagg, why don't you just leave one of your several Xbox's unmodded for Live? That's the best way to use it I think. (Virgin box)

[Flagg3]

QUOTE (NeoKast @ Jan 10 2004, 10:04 AM)

Flagg, why don't you just leave one of your several Xbox's unmodded for Live? That's the best way to use it I think. (Virgin box)

I tried, I really did!  I just can't bear to waste the potential of a perfectly good xbox!

MP3s, Streaming internet radio, Photo and Divx Videos, Not to mention all of the emulators!  That's why I have so many of them, every TV in the house needs an xbox!

When I install a modchip, I leave the C: drive virgin and boot everything off of F:.   I disable the animation and color the X and the power button red so I always know when the mod is active.

Of course, this isn't needed quite as much nowadays thanks to the brilliant work of Team Xectuer, which disables live connectivity when using the Mod, but it's a still a good practice in case MS ever changes anything.

Not to mention that I have a huge number of backed up eeproms from the boxes with flashed TSOPs,  I don't feel too worried about going on Live with the chip disabled.

Flagg

(Edited to correct typos)

[Kazaki]

Kazaki has only one Xbox and is broke...

Plus, I'd rather save for a computer to replace my 4 year old one (and I call myself a PC gamer...) then to buy a virgin box.

And I can't quite finger where this thread should really be... a question for modchip users about softmods...

[degull]

I've been scratching my head while thinking long and hard over this issue myself (total newbie).  Done 2 weeks worth of reading on this site.  Do a modchip or do the softmod?  What is the advantage of having a bank of bioses on a mod chip?  You can only run one at a time and why would you want to switch between them anyway?   I know that all the modchip sellers are going to tell me that I need one, but what is it that I can do with a modchip that I cannot with the softmod?  I can flash my original tsop with any of the bioses out there can I not?  The only disadvantage of the softmod that I can see is that if you have a tsop flash go bad, then your hooped.  You'll have to find a friend how'll let you borrow his mod chip or buy one.  Any unbiased opinions out there?

[degull]

Any thoughts

[phigmeta]

welll i tried the whole softmod thing ... just seemed a bit of a pain in the ass .....I perfer tsop hack myself but i am not a big fan of live .... so .... i guess to each his own ....but honestly ... no ..there is not reall huge advantage to a modchip

[NeoKast]

I tell you what, I've flashed over 15 Xbox TSOP's via 007 AUF (I don't consider this a soft mod since you have to solder on the hardware to do it), and so far I see a 100% reliability rate. There are no issues with it at all.

A soft mod would include the font exploit, audio hack, or whatever else you'd use to load something like Phoenix bios loader etc. Flashing the TSOP is not a soft-hack. It has all of the same functionality that a mod chip has.

You could leave the TSOP writeable (after you solder a couple of points) and then flash the original bios back onto the TSOP when in your mod state, and then use 007 AUF and a hacked save to flash the mod bios of your choice back on. Just lock your HDD and then this would work like a software switch. On v1.0 and v1.1 Xbox's, you can wire a switch on the 1MB TSOP for multibank functionality etc too. Of course, you wouldn't do this if you were one of the people who thinks MS would tamper with your bios in the future if you left it writeable.

Like you said degull, if anything DOES go wrong during a flash, the box would be in very bad shape. Just put it on a UPS when flashing

[esdubu]

A TSOP flash is a softmod. You are MODifying SOFTware. Exploits also fit this description. A modchip is a hardmod as you are MODifying HARDware.

[degull]

It's all getting clearer. One thing I still don't understand is, what is the advantage of having the ability to flash a few different bios' to the tsop or modchip.  Why would you want to switch between different bios' easliy by having different ones easily available on say your modchip?  Do different programs that run on the xbox require different bios' in order to operate?  Other than the first flash to mod the xbox do most people change their bios daily, weekly or never again?  I know this question should probably go in the newbie section but I thought since we were on the subject.........

[HSDEMONZ]

...on XBOX SCENE.. TSOP mods are HARDWARE MODS.  (bridging WE points is a physical modification to the hardware.)

SOFTMODS is the term we give to the Savegame/dashboard/hibibi hacks.

[Fastlane]

Well because easier is in your HO.  I mean, a solderless chameleon chip is pretty damn simple.   Cost is relative - $60 is a lot to some people and not much to others.  I like that I can test new bios releases in my other banks before flashing my main bank.  I like that's it's non-solder.   So you see, it's all relative - I don't understand why anyone would solder their xbox at this point in time - the chameleon adapter with the little contact inserts and flex d0 is painless and will _NOT_ move.   Yet, quite a few people are the opposite.

I also like all the new saftey stuff on Xenium - why _not_ have it?

As far as xbox live, I agree - I have a 'virgin' xbox I use for live - I don't even want to mess with trying to hook it up with my hacked one.  Not much point anyway - other than cost of course..but again, that's all relative.

All of this is, of course, MHO.

Fastlane