Nkpatcher can be used as an alternative to Phoenix Bios Loader in connection with exploits such as UXE or one of the game save exploits. PBL loads a completely new bios into memory while nkpatcher merely patches the existing kernel. The existing kernel must be one of the MS Xbox retail kernels, unpatched except possibly for having a slightly modified RSA public key which is used to verify signatures in Xbox executables.
Summary of nkpatcher 8.1 features:
* Works with retail kernels 3944 - 5838
* Run unsigned code
* Partition 6 / F drive (up to 137 GB)
* Eject trick/fix with options:
- no reset on eject for hard drive loaded XBEs, with options:
* reset on eject CD/DVD loaded XBEs based on a flag in the XBE header
* always reset on eject CD/DVD loaded XBEs
- never reset on eject for either of hard drive or CD/DVD loaded XBEs
* In-Game Reset, with options:
- Boot to dashboard instead of the usual DVD-first-then-dashboard -sequence
- Full reboot mode resets to the X logo screen, works better with
e.g. Soul Calibur 2, but getting back to dashboard takes longer
- Selectable master port, only allow IGR from the game pad attached to the
user configured port number
* Xbox Live blocking, prevents Live aware games from connecting to the Live
service which would result in a ban
* Automatic or user selectable game region set
* Virtual C drive, use a 500 MB file, for example e:\shadowc\shadowc.img, as
a C drive instead of the real C drive
* Virtual CD/DVD drive, play games directly from ISO images on the hard drive.
Summary of those features mentioned in
http://www.xbox-scene.com/bios_retail.html * originals
* original imports
* unsigned code
* debug xbe
* backups
* disable Xlive, optional
* macrovision off
* no-patch hack
* no-patch hack2
* eject trick, optional
* eject fix, optional
* HDD swap
* F/E boot v1, optional
* change bootfile v1, optional
* IGR to dash b, optional
* IGR to game, optional
* disable IGR, optional
* Xbox v1.0 - v1.6b
Below is the original post (at the time of nkpatcher 4):
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Replacing the running kernel on Xboxes with kernel 5530 or higher doesn't work through the regular Phoenix BIOS Loader (PBL) and Bootable From Media (BFM) BIOS images - a fact of which owners of such boxes are painfully aware. Nkpatcher is proposed as a simple and temporary solution to the problem. The feature set is very limited and inferior to BIOSes such as Xecuter X2.
Currently nkpatcher has the following features:
* Runs unsigned code - no more signing
everything with xbedump
* Support for F drive (hard disk size limited to about 137 GB = 2^37 bytes)
* Eject fix
The code section below contains the source code and a habibi-signed XBE for nkpatcher. Running this XBE patches the kernel in memory to make the aforementioned features come to life. After that nkpatcher executes C:\evoxdash.xbe which is the executable of your favorite dashboard. Where users of pre-5530 Xboxes would run PBL, nkpatcher can be used instead.
Although nkpatcher can be used with any dashboard/game-save exploit (remember to font-sign nkpatcher.xbe if you still use some of the old font exploits!), it is best used in conjunction with the
Ultimate Dashboard Exploit (UDE). You should get
the latest fonts and preferably use the specific font for 5530 (bert_ate_ernie-5530-01.xtf). Install UDE following the instructions in the
UDE thread and then copy nkpatcher.xbe from the tarball below to E:\default.xbe. Remember to place the executable of your favorite dashboard to C:\evoxdash.xbe.
Nkpatcher actually supports also kernels 5101, 5530, 5713 and 5838. The code is based on the kernel 4034 patches used in Complex !Loader. Kernel 5713+ users won't be able to use any dashboard exploit such as UDE, but could use a game-save exploit if they wish.
EDIT: updated to nkpatcher4. Just a minor bug-fix (the kernel patches weren't changed and there are no new features.)
EDIT2: update to nkpatcher5. Added more patching. Now it also runs debug xbes. Games that didn't work with previous versions, may work now. The Complex !Loader patches for < 5101 kernels were scrapped and re-made similar to the >=5101 patches. Nkpatcher should now behave similarly with all kernels (3944, 4034, 4627, 4817, 5101, 5530, 5713, 5838). Nkpatcher4 (to be removed) is still included below, because I altered the patching code a lot and may have introduced silly bugs.
EDIT3: update to nkpatcher6 and removed nkpatcher4. No new features, only a minor fix to 5713 and 5838. Added a new compile-time option: by default, nkpatcher boots C:\evoxdash.xbe. If you compile nkpatcher with the command-line option -dNORMAL_BOOT_SEQ, nkpatcher boots D:\default.xbe first then the dash. Remember to sign the xbe after compiling.
EDIT4: nkpatcher7 is a rather big feature upgrade; nicer eject-trick, IGR and Live blocking.
EDIT 13/12/2004:
I proudly present nkpatcher 8.
It has these two novel features in addition to nkpatcher 7:
* Virtual/shadow C drive. No hassle with fonts or trouble with dashboard updates as long as you loaded nkpatcher.
* Virtual CD/DVD drive. You can attach .iso files on the hard drive as game discs.
(I wanted to do this interesting stuff first. Oz_paulb's LBA48 code will appear in nkpatcher 9.)Now too large to post here - see xbins!This post has been edited by rmenhal: Dec 21 2004, 07:59 PM
Author
Topic: Reintroducing Kernel Patching - Nkpatcher (Read 1263 times)