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Author Topic: New To Softmodding, And I'm Overwhelmed By The Options  (Read 291 times)

gloriousgraphite

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New To Softmodding, And I'm Overwhelmed By The Options
« on: March 29, 2012, 12:12:00 PM »

As the title suggests I have not previously softmodded an xbox. Naturally soon after looking into it, I was lead here, and there seem to be a whole lot of guides and related jargon that I'm not familiar with. Some guides seem fairly simple, but are good few years old, whereas others I can barely follow.
So I ask, from your personal experience softmodding, which method/software would you say is the best (and preferably easiest)? Also, what would be the quickest way I can get on to using that method ie which guide(s) to follow, software to use etc. ?
I really appreciate any help. Many thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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shambles1980

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« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2012, 01:37:00 PM »

Easiest way would be..

Buy a copy of splinter cell. and use the krazies ndure 1.1.1 SC exploit.
You will need a memory card that has the exploits already on it, or you will need a way to transfer the files on to it.
you can make a usb connector for your xbox, or a cable to connect your xbox controller to your pc.

if you make a usb connector for the xbox you can use a thumb drive or a SD card + reader to transfer the saves on to your xbox..


The cheapest but most risky way. Would be to hotswap and use xboxhdm to softmod your xbox.
this method is free but can damage your hard disk.

A diferent alternative would be to build or buy an eeprom reader and use that to extract a eeprom.bin file from the mother board.
You can then easily use xboxhdm to unlock and relock your hard disk to softmod it safley.
you could even just make a larger hard disk drive with that method..

if you need help feel free to ask im sure 1 of us here will be happy to help.
 
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Verontier

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« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2012, 10:08:00 PM »

I have been trying this on my unmodded X-Box for almost 3 days now.. My problem seems to be slightly different from others on this forum. Everything goes smoothly: the xbhd unlocks; the laptop installs the driver; and it reads the xbhd in the Disk Management. But, Xplorer360 (also tried extreme 1&2) will not detect the xbhd.
I have tried it in XP SP 1,2,&3 compatibility modes run as administrator each time (my os is Win7 Ultimate). As I stated earlier, everything works with the xbhd except for the Xplorer360 programs.
Could it be the IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 adapter I am using? It is the same adapter I used on my X-Box 360 a couple years ago (same laptop, too).



Edit: Hmmm, my bad. I wanted to put this in "Duplicating Kingroach's Ndure Script Effects With Xplorer360" post by X-S Messiah.

This post has been edited by Verontier: Apr 22 2012, 05:28 AM
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Keezie

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« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2020, 09:00:00 PM »

QUOTE(Verontier @ Apr 21 2012, 11:08 PM) *

I have been trying this on my unmodded X-Box for almost 3 days now.. My problem seems to be slightly different from others on this forum. Everything goes smoothly: the xbhd unlocks; the laptop installs the driver; and it reads the xbhd in the Disk Management. But, Xplorer360 (also tried extreme 1&2) will not detect the xbhd.
I have tried it in XP SP 1,2,&3 compatibility modes run as administrator each time (my os is Win7 Ultimate). As I stated earlier, everything works with the xbhd except for the Xplorer360 programs.
Could it be the IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 adapter I am using? It is the same adapter I used on my X-Box 360 a couple years ago (same laptop, too).
Edit: Hmmm, my bad. I wanted to put this in "Duplicating Kingroach's Ndure Script Effects With Xplorer360" post by X-S Messiah.


Just went through all this crap last week for the first time, i also had a hard time finding updated support

I was unable to get Xplorer360 to work on my PC (win7 64). I ended up installing Oracle VM Virtualbox, running a virtual Windows XP on my computer, and transferring the file to my memory card via homemade usb-to-xbox controller. I used the official Action Replay software to do so. This was the only way i could access the memory card whatsoever

It was a pain in the ass, but it worked. I then used Krayzie's Mech Assault softmod hack to perform the mod

I also had to use an old PC to do the hard drive prep (for a hard drive swap). I used XboxHDM 1.9 and made a linux boot disc using a clean, stock version of the Xbox dash to load onto the drive. Had way too much trouble trying to copy the C and E drives from my original modded drive

Hope this helps
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Ash123

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New To Softmodding, And I'm Overwhelmed By The Options
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2012, 09:50:00 AM »

I agree with the first poster. I've just bought an XBOX off ebay and thought soft-modding it would be simple but it isn't. The amount of information on how to do this is frightening. I've read various guides but all it does is make my head explode and then I just mentally switch off. I'm sure it's easy after you done them for a while but coming fresh to this it's like trying to learn arabic or chinese for the first time.

Somebody is selling this kit on ebay http://www.ebay.co.u...e-t...005&rk=1

Is this what's needed to soft-mod? What I want to know is can I use this kit to install a larger non-retail hard drive and run XBMC?
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ldotsfan

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« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2012, 08:40:00 PM »

QUOTE(Ash123 @ Jun 30 2012, 11:50 PM) View Post

Is this what's needed to soft-mod? What I want to know is can I use this kit to install a larger non-retail hard drive and run XBMC?

You can always softmod first and do the hdd upgrade later. My sig has a link to the available softmod hdd upgrade options. shambles1980's reply in this thread gives a good summary of the 2 main options to softmod. A lot of the choices really depend on the kind of equipment you have available readily.
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fallenangle

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« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2012, 07:10:00 AM »

Sorry that ^ should have read: Many others do not work properly with the Xbox.
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Ash123

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« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2012, 10:20:00 AM »

Cheers. I've decided to buy that kit. Yeah. I guess he doesn't explain the "real" reason for what it's used for as modded xboxes are banned on ebay.

Can you elaborate on the Hexen thing as I've not heard that before. What exactly does that update?

Thanks.
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Heimdall

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« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2012, 11:09:00 AM »

Here is a description of what HeXEn does. You'd be using it to update the softmod you install with your kit to a known, new, stable softmod, because the kit could contain any one of a large number of old softmods (which were good when written, but have been superseded). Just burn it to DVD-R at 4x or slower, boot with it in the DVD drive, then read the instructions on the disc. You'll want option 2.2.4 or 2.2.7, depending on where you are in the world.
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Heimdall

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« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2012, 06:37:00 AM »

It's not on xbins. Google "Heimdall's Xbox Engineering Disc" (without the quotes) to find it.

Yes, you have to have a mod already installed to use it, but it doesn't matter which softmod, because HeXEn will remove it and replace it with a completely clean, new softmod.
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Ash123

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« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2012, 02:38:00 PM »

OK, I installed the soft-mod without any trouble. The adapter guy sent me a detailed "fool-proof" guide and it's now running evox.
He said it has Krayzie's exploit on the mem stick so it's up to date.

BTW I found your engineering disc Heimdall. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Just out of curiosity what is the difference between Krayzie's and Kingroach's exploits?
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Heimdall

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« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2012, 04:42:00 PM »

In use, absolutely nothing. Both are NDURE based softmods, both have shadow C and virtual eeprom. They can be configured slightly differently (fan speed, LED colour, VGA support). I included both on HeXEn in case people had a preference for one set of configuration options.

QUOTE
He said it has Krayzie's exploit on the mem stick so it's up to date.
Krayzie has made a few softmod installers, so calling it Krayzie's doesn't guarantee that it's new. The latest is Krayzie's NDURE installer version 1.1.1. If you want to just use HeXEn to update it to the latest version.
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Ash123

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« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2012, 04:05:00 PM »

Never mind, I proceeded and it worked OK. I swapped the dashboard from UnleashX to Evox as I prefer that one but noticed I cannot access the XBMC link in the main menu. To get to XBMC I have to select Xbox Admin/ Apps and then XBMC. Is there a way to get the link working in the main menu?

Also, there's no reboot or shut down option in the main menu. Is there a reason for this and can I install this function so it appears in the main menu?
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Xombe

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« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2012, 06:42:00 PM »

Yes, there is.  You just need to (carefully) edit evox.ini : http://xbox-scene.co...es/evox-ini.php

The top-level XBMC menu entry is/seems pointing at a location/file that doesn't exist, whereas the other entry is perhaps auto-added.

Either way, you can accomplish what you want.  Heimdall will know better than anyone how to make the changes, but feel free to post the [menu] section of your evox.ini here and we'll all help with the edits.
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Ash123

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« Reply #14 on: July 30, 2012, 01:01:00 PM »

OK. So on the first line there is a shortcut to XMBC in that folder but it's still showing up red on the evox main menu screen. I edited the first line to where XBMC actually is, f:\Apps\XBMC\default.xbe but it reverts back to the original line. I even copied over an evox.ini with the new line but it automatically went back to the shortcut folder.

Plus, there's no shut down or reboot on the main menu screen but in the ini it's there.


CODE

[Menu]

Section "Root"
{
    Item "XBMC", "e:\Shorcuts\XBMC Shortcut\xbmc.xbe"
    Item "Launch DVD",ID_Launch_DVD
    Section "Games"
    {
        AutoAddItem "e:\games\"
        AutoAddItem "f:\games\"
        AutoAddItem "g:\games\"
        SortAll
    }
    Item "Trainers",ID_trainer
    Item "Skins",ID_Skins
    Section "Xbox Admin"
    {
        Section "Applications"
        {
            AutoAddItem "e:\apps\"
             AutoAddItem "f:\apps\"
            AutoAddItem "g:\apps\"
            SortAll
        }        
        Section "Dashboards"
        {
            Item "Evolution-X", "e:\dash\evolutionx\evoxdash.xbe"
            Item "MS Dashboard", ID_MS_DASH
            Item "UnleashX", "e:\dash\unleashx\unleashx.xbe"
            SortAll
        }
        Section "Switch Dashboards"
        {
            Line "Set up the files first"
            Item "1. Set up files", @238
            Item "2. Switch Dashboards", "E:\HeXEN Tools\default.xbe"
        }
        Section "System"
        {
            Item "Settings",ID_Settings
            Item "Backup",ID_Backup
            Item "Flash BIOS",ID_Flash_Bios
            Item "Lock Harddisk",@210
#            Item "Unlock Harddisk",@211
#            Section "Video Mode Switch"
            {
                Item "USA - NTSC ",@ID_Reg_NA
                Item "Japan - NTSC",@ID_Reg_J
                Item "PAL",@ID_Reg_ROW
            }
        }
    }
    Item "Clear Cache",@237
    Item "Soft Reboot",ID_Quick_Reboot
    Item "Hard Reboot",ID_Full_Reboot
    Item "Power Off",ID_Power_Off
}


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