To activate the xdk screenshot feature, you need a devkit-compliant bios such as the complex debug series. What is unique about these bios is that they create 2 IPs on the network 1: the Title IP which is what the retail xbox systems use to connect with the world and games use to communicate- ex: XBOX Live and Evox Dashboard FTP. 2: the Debug IP which is unique to debug target hardware and is tied into the bios before any xbes load and runs realtime with the rest of the system. This provides the interface for xdk explorer extensions, debugging, screenshots, and movie capture. To provide this functionality to any other bios would 1: require the entire debug code or a reverse-engineered equivalent, to allow MS XDK compatibility, or 2: require a dedicated screenshot utility was built into the bios, perhaps dumping raw screen data to the HD partitions rather than using network connections.
The Title IP conenction provided by the games is not sufficient as any game that has network code will either not operrate correctly or bypass the screenshot code.
Implementing the debug IP requires an entire TCP stack and a large chunk of code in the bios than is normally present, thus pushing the rom size over 256k- as it is, the retail rom just barely fis.
I have not yet looked into how evox does IGR, but this may be one possible way of implementing the feature for 256k users.
In the meantime, if you are serious about getting screenshots using Complex Debug is about the only way it'll happen. (besides if you use this you can capture movies of gameplay too)
