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[Koan]

Hi

I've tried to do hours of research on my own of Soft mods vs other (TSOP or Chip)

Can someone please decribe the pros and cons beyond the obvious need to use a soldering iron and opening a box?

I 've read through people more knowlegable than I that Softmodded boxes have limitations.  Can someone please offer guidance?  Thanks

K

[big ben bullet]

softmodding is a bit more complicated than bios flashing (being tsop or chip)

but there are no *real* disadvantages though some chips claim to support xbox live but nowadays not even that is for sure anymore

anyways... expect alot of different opinions when you ask that question in here, it's not the first time this is asked, and when you search the forums you will not get a definitive answer

softmodding is cheaper than installing a chip and as the geek i am, i like it because there's no hardware moddifications involved... the coolness of 'doing stuff you're not supposed to on a standard xbox' does it for me

[the_reaper01]

I agree.  I woudn't switch over for a mod chip any day.  The main point the chippers use to throw at us was that they could still use xbox live, but now with the new halo 2 problems live is checkin for a bigger hard drive, which #$%@s you over.  If your more computer friendly, i say go softmod.  If you just want the box modded and be done with it go mod chip.

P.S. oh one big part i forgot.  Hard drive swaps are by far easier to do with a mod chip.  Thats the one part that kind of upsets me.  I can spend (with a couple small problems) about 1-2 hours doing a HD swap with my soft mod, Chips can do it very quickly.

[TCPMeta]

I've just started to try and mod my xbox. I used mod chips in the past on diffrent consoles and they are very buggy. I went though six mod chips on my PS1 back in the day, so I don't really trust mod chips.  I think the softmod is easy to do. All you need is a long IDE ribbon cable to make the HD swap easier. I heard about the talk also about xlive compataible mod chips. Might just be easyer to use Xbox Connect or Xlink instead. I remember reading somewhere that MS has the xbox basicly bugged for spying on their users. I dout it's true but you never know. Anyway, try the softmod frist. It's cheaper and if you can't get it working then try a modchip. If you like trinkering with computers then the softmod is your best bet and get some fun out of  modding it. Also it will teach you more about the system in the long run.

[The_Truth]

well.. technically MS does have the xbox bugged... it's running their software.. therefore it's bugged... but... there are no limitations of softmod... with the originals there were..  but now.. they are advanced... so they work identical to a mod chip... and if you use say... pbl-lite... you cant tell the difference between that and a chipped xbox.. (unless you look at the stickers... )

[krayzie]

lol funny how everyone is so pro exploit here. I wonder what would be the reactions if you ask the same question over at the modchip forums.

Anyway to make it simple

advantages exploit over chip:

-no need to open up the case (unless you do a hotswap)
-cheaper (unless you go out buying games mem cards action replays etc. but they can be used more than once though)
-rather easy to install. (can be done in less than 2 minutes for a more advanced user)

cons:

-no ability to load a bootdisc if you mess something up
-no ability to run unlocked empty harddisks
-no ability to edit your boot animation

[BlackWar]

QUOTE (krayzie @ Dec 3 2004, 07:08 AM)

cons: -no ability to load a bootdisc if you mess something up

if the softmod works, yes you can boot up a boot disk. I did this with the slayers disk. makes for an easy way to put the xbox back to a vergin state.

but otherwize, if the softmod is pooched, then no, there is no way to boot a bootdisk. I have heard that if something minor went wrong (wont boot a dash but still boots games) you can boot up an exploit, then insert the slayers disk and go from there.

[big ben bullet]

QUOTE

P.S. oh one big part i forgot. Hard drive swaps are by far easier to do with a mod chip. Thats the one part that kind of upsets me. I can spend (with a couple small problems) about 1-2 hours doing a HD swap with my soft mod, Chips can do it very quickly.

If you have an exploited game+gamesave you don't need to hotswap.  And once you have eeprom.bin, with xboxhdm you can build a new harddrive in a few minutes.  Mine was installed built and installed in about 35 minutes orso...

But yeah... it's still a bit more complex than installing a new hd on a chipped box.

Anyways... you could always try a softmod first, and later on OR if you mess up switch to a chip.

[krayzie]

QUOTE (BlackWar @ Dec 3 2004, 04:33 PM)

if the softmod works, yes you can boot up a boot disk. I did this with the slayers disk. makes for an easy way to put the xbox back to a vergin state. but otherwize, if the softmod is pooched, then no, there is no way to boot a bootdisk. I have heard that if something minor went wrong (wont boot a dash but still boots games) you can boot up an exploit, then insert the slayers disk and go from there.

I obviously meant a bootdisc that boots prior to anything else. A softmod does this only with retail games and only if the clock is set. There are ofcourse ways to fix things with softmods too but with chips you can always pop in a nice evox disc no matter what.

Also you cannot put in slayers after you load just a gamesave exploit. Not that you will need to boot slayer's anyway. It's not like slayer's is a superdisc that will fix anything or something.

This post has been edited by krayzie: Dec 3 2004, 06:20 PM

[Beelzabub]

I have a quick question if an xbox that has been softmodded is unplugged for a day or so and then when plugged back in would the time setting mess it up in anyway or it would boot straight to the dashboard that was installed while softmodded?

[big ben bullet]

QUOTE

I have a quick question if an xbox that has been softmodded is unplugged for a day or so and then when plugged back in would the time setting mess it up in anyway or it would boot straight to the dashboard that was installed while softmodded?

You're referring to the clock loop problem... that has been taken care of for a while.  All recent dashboard exploits do NOT suffer from this anymore.  UDE, UDE2 or UXE all keep working when your box has been unplugged for a while...

If you want to install a new mod take UXE... it's bound to work on any version/any region of xbox's.  I recommend ltools 1.8 or if you want it quick 'n dirty once you gain ftp use UXE-complete... (don't forget to backup your eeprom.bin)

[Beelzabub]

Thanks ben that clears up stuff for me

[The_Truth]

well.. i just like softmod... because i dont have to open my console... i put all the files back right... and it's just fine... like brand new... i also dont like the possibility of toasting traces with those stupid pogo pins(yeah.. i cant solder...)
so i decided from the get go to stay softmod... plus when you do a soft mod.... you confuse many "local" friends.... "dude... how did you do that without opening it!"...(genious among idiots...lmao)

[BlackWar]

QUOTE (The_Truth @ Dec 3 2004, 09:23 PM)

... plus when you do a soft mod.... you confuse many "local" friends.... "dude... how did you do that without opening it!"...(genious among idiots...lmao) B)

lmao! I like that!

[the_reaper01]

Oh I do love when you can amaze your friends.  I have a bunch of Halo players that cant use a computer for shit.  Only other person in town i know who mods xboxs uses a chip, so i feel more special then they do