Print

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (sulfur @ Oct 31 2003, 07:58 PM)

i've herd it mention, about disable network connection, but what if the bios just made a ip block list of M$ Live sites? then you still use network and not have to worry!

:::sigh::: does anybody listen?!?!??

The BIOS has NO CONTROL over the network access. This is all done in libraries which are compiled into the XBE files - i.e. the baggage that comes with the GAMES, not the XBOX!!

If you want a blacklist, get a decent NAT firewall router and block the IPs there.

This post has been edited by BenJeremy: Nov 1 2003, 12:21 AM

[Cutriss]

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Nov 1 2003, 02:14 AM)

QUOTE (sulfur @ Oct 31 2003, 07:58 PM) i've herd it mention, about disable network connection, but what if the bios just made a ip block list of M$ Live sites? then you still use network and not have to worry! :::sigh::: does anybody listen?!?!??

Heh...nope.

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Nov 1 2003, 02:14 AM)

]The BIOS has NO CONTROL over the network access. This is all done in libraries which are compiled into the XBE files - i.e. the baggage that comes with the GAMES, not the XBOX!!

Here's an idea.

Network port *hardware* off by default. Hold down Y or some button combination on boot to turn it on. Warning message is displayed on screen that network port is on and the user is running the risk of EEPROM bannage via accidental connection to Live.

To be really safe, allow for an optional confirmation.

Network port *hardware* off by default. Hold down Y or some button combination on boot to turn it on. Warning message is displayed on screen that network port is on and the user is running the risk of EEPROM bannage via accidental connection to Live. Press A three times to accept, or B three times to boot with it turned off.

Something like that.

This post has been edited by Cutriss: Nov 1 2003, 09:34 PM

[PlastiKK_]

Hey, I have an idea.

How about you all don't be dumbasses.  Don't play Xbox Live with your modchip turned on.  If you're that dumb to play Xbox Live with your modchip on, then you deserve to be banned.  And don't give me shit about, "Well, I have little brothers and I have roommates and they give me head so I'll let them play Xbox and then they fuck up."  If you're that worried about it, unplug your Xbox from your ethernet cord.  Or make an on/off switch for the ethernet cord.  It could be done.  

This feature is ridiculous.  Or as the rappers say these days, rid-ic-i-luss.  Why would someone want to waste their time implementing this feature in a BIOS?

This post has been edited by PlastiKK_: Nov 1 2003, 10:09 PM

[Cutriss]

QUOTE (PlastiKK_ @ Nov 2 2003, 12:01 AM)

Why would someone want to waste their time implementing this feature in a BIOS?

Because accidents happen? (IE - selecting Live! instead of System Link when you intend to play a LAN game and an Internet uplink exists)

Because some games are believed to make attempts to contact Live as soon as they're loaded? (IE - Accidentally selecting Ghost Recon instead of Gladius in EvoX, or some other Live Aware game)

Or...the simplest reason...

Because it's a feature that people want?

This post has been edited by Cutriss: Nov 2 2003, 05:04 AM

[smo]

QUOTE (PlastiKK_ @ Nov 2 2003, 12:01 AM)

This feature is ridiculous.  Or as the rappers say these days, rid-ic-i-luss.  Why would someone want to waste their time implementing this feature in a BIOS?

Ridiculous or not, it's something that I'd want. And I'm 100% sure accidents happen - even to the best of people. I think Cutriss' idea is great (there's probably some way to disable the network controller so it doesn't get enabled).

This post has been edited by smo: Nov 4 2003, 05:49 PM

[HeLiuM]

QUOTE (smo @ Nov 4 2003, 07:40 PM)

QUOTE (PlastiKK_ @ Nov 2 2003, 12:01 AM) This feature is ridiculous.  Or as the rappers say these days, rid-ic-i-luss.  Why would someone want to waste their time implementing this feature in a BIOS? Ridiculous or not, it's something that I'd want. And I'm 100% sure accidents happen - even to the best of people. I think Cutriss' idea is great (there's probably some way to disable the network controller so it doesn't get enabled).

so instead of unplugging your network cable, you'd like to have to switch bios each time you want to use ftp? why dont you just make another evox category for your live aware backups then, because noones going to bend over backwards to compensate for laziness just because you want it.

[PlastiKK_]

QUOTE (HeLiuM @ Nov 10 2003, 09:20 PM)

QUOTE (smo @ Nov 4 2003, 07:40 PM) QUOTE (PlastiKK_ @ Nov 2 2003, 12:01 AM) This feature is ridiculous.  Or as the rappers say these days, rid-ic-i-luss.  Why would someone want to waste their time implementing this feature in a BIOS? Ridiculous or not, it's something that I'd want. And I'm 100% sure accidents happen - even to the best of people. I think Cutriss' idea is great (there's probably some way to disable the network controller so it doesn't get enabled). so instead of unplugging your network cable, you'd like to have to switch bios each time you want to use ftp? why dont you just make another evox category for your live aware backups then, because noones going to bend over backwards to compensate for laziness just because you want it.

Finally, someone who gets it.

[Cutriss]

QUOTE (PlastiKK_ @ Nov 11 2003, 04:50 AM)

QUOTE (HeLiuM @ Nov 10 2003, 09:20 PM) so instead of unplugging your network cable, you'd like to have to switch bios each time you want to use ftp? why dont you just make another evox category for your live aware backups then, because noones going to bend over backwards to compensate for laziness just because you want it. Finally, someone who gets it.

Heh...kinda funny considering that NEITHER OF YOU DO.

Why would you need to switch BIOSes? Were you even paying attention to my suggestion?

Add a button scan to the boot process which allows you to toggle the network port on and off. Default behavior to Off.

The hooks for such an option already exist, since newer X2 releases have a button-press-on-boot FTP server. It's really *not* that complicated (far less complicated than embedding an XBE), and since I have my Xbox in an entertainment center, with the cables nicely tucked away, I'd like to be able to boot my Xbox without having to fish around the back and yank cables out all the time.

Yes. Plugging and unplugging the cable is the most secure option. Is it convenient? Not terribly. Is "convenience" one of the reasons why people are making improvements to the BIOSes? Probably. You know what? IGR is only for those people who are too lazy to get off their asses and hit the power button twice, right. I bet you think Team Xecuter wasted their time putting IGR in the BIOS.

In other words, STFU.

Is it really that hard to use your brain? Must be, considering that you think we have such trouble doing it...

This post has been edited by Cutriss: Nov 11 2003, 04:44 PM

[ChrisF]

There has to be a better solution than the enable/disable.  Is there any way to block access to an IP range or port from within the bios?  That way you could specifically block access to the Live servers but nothing else.  I guess this could be done at a router level also and then disabled for live play but a bios that blocks a range might be nice.  I think there are just too many people out there using their xboxes on networks to have a bios option to default to no network access.  I guess the bottom line is not to make mistakes.

[LESTAT]

ill give my thoughts and then move on to my suggestion for the bios world.

on enabled off propmt whatever you want to call it.

im not sure why you would like to disable the ftp since the only time the ftp is active is if your in the evox dashboard or using an app like mxm or avalaunch that has ftp enabled.

another way to simplify the ftp on or off is to add FTP to your evox menu instead of in the system settings.

one line for on and another for off.  ie instant on instant off.
if you mean enable or block LIVE support,, its already been said you cant do it from the bios. end of story. Live aware games ? never heard of it. and accidentally connecting to live,, ok sure if you hit the A button about 2 or 3 times in a row,,  1 to click live 2 to confirm the action  and 3,. maybe some other step that some games might have to connect to live.
not everyone has a router but block the ports in your router.
if you use a crossover cable and conenct directly to your pc, then block those ports with a firewall. and dont even need to use a firewall there are simple easy little tiny port blocking programs out there and are freeware. try the AnalogX website.

ok now on to my suggestion.
and i THINK this has already been covered but i cant find anything.
deep directory booting.
ie setting the bios to boot directly to a game or app that is NOT in the root of the C D E or F drives.
it would be something like the 1st boot flag in the bios is
F:/games/game name/default.xbe

i have tried with a few bios's 4977 D6 4978.03 and M7 but none work.
is there one that allows this already ? or can it not be done ?

[heinrich]

QUOTE (LESTAT @ Nov 15 2003, 09:35 AM)

if you mean enable or block LIVE support,, its already been said you cant do it from the bios. end of story. Live aware games ? never heard of it. and accidentally connecting to live,, ok sure if you hit the A button about 2 or 3 times in a row,,  1 to click live 2 to confirm the action  and 3,. maybe some other step that some games might have to connect to live.

Like you said, you dont know a thing about live aware games.  Thanks for proving that.  You dont do anything but start the game.  Thats it, and it connects.  Examples of such games: Project Gotham Racing 2 and Prince of Persia.

[smo]

QUOTE (Cutriss @ Nov 11 2003, 06:28 PM)

Add a button scan to the boot process which allows you to toggle the network port on and off. Default behavior to Off.

Although I admit that I don't know a lot about the Xbox boot process (well, I did google and read most of the docs that I found on the boot process), but I have another idea on preventing Xbox Live access (from the BIOS).

If I'm correct, most (if not all) games with Xbox Live support use MS's Xbox Live libraries. There's a function called XOnlineLogon() which logs the user into Xbox Live. At the beginning on the function, it checks if the network cable is plugged in using XNetGetEthernetLinkStatus. If it's not enabled, it returns 0x80151000 (no network connection).

My idea: when the BIOS loads the XBE into memory, look for the byte signature of this function (it would probably exists in all games that use the libraries and it probably doesn't change a lot over time):

CODE

XONLINE:0000435B                 push    edi XONLINE:0000435C                 xor     ebx, ebx XONLINE:0000435E                 call    _XNetGetEthernetLinkStatus@0 XONLINE:00004363                 test    al, 1 XONLINE:00004365                 jnz     short loc_0_4373 XONLINE:00004367                 mov     [ebp+var_8], 80151000h XONLINE:0000436E                 jmp     loc_0_47EA

All we need to replace the appropriate block with our own instructions containing some NOPs. Just make sure we have enough data that we hit the right spot. Eg. load time patching.

Eg. look for bytes "08 00 00 A8 01 75 0C C7 45 F8 00 10 15 80 E9 77" and change it to "08 00 00 90 90 90 90 C7 45 F8 00 10 15 80 E9 77". I haven't tested it, but I see no reason why it couldn't work I'll try this on a real XBE later..

[muerte]

QUOTE (smo @ Nov 26 2003, 12:52 PM)

QUOTE (Cutriss @ Nov 11 2003, 06:28 PM) Add a button scan to the boot process which allows you to toggle the network port on and off. Default behavior to Off. Although I admit that I don't know a lot about the Xbox boot process (well, I did google and read most of the docs that I found on the boot process), but I have another idea on preventing Xbox Live access from the BIOS. If I'm correct, most (if not all) games with Xbox Live support use the MS Xbox Live libraries. There a function called XOnlineLogon() which logs the user into Xbox Live. At the beginning on the function, it checks if the network cable is plugged in using XNetGetEthernetLinkStatus. If it's not enabled, it returns 0x80151000 (XONLINE_E_LOGON_NO_NETWORK_CONNECTION). My idea: when the BIOS loads the XBE into memory, look for the byte signature of this function (it would probably exists in all games that use the libraries and it probably doesn't change a lot over time): CODE XONLINE:0000435B                 push    edi XONLINE:0000435C                 xor     ebx, ebx XONLINE:0000435E                 call    _XNetGetEthernetLinkStatus@0 XONLINE:00004363                 test    al, 1 XONLINE:00004365                 jnz     short loc_0_4373 XONLINE:00004367                 mov     [ebp+var_8], 80151000h XONLINE:0000436E                 jmp     loc_0_47EA All we need to replace the found block with our own instructions containing some NOPs. Just make sure we have enough data that we hit the right spot. Eg. load time patching. Eg. look for bytes "08 00 00 A8 01 75 0C C7 45 F8 00 10 15 80 E9 77" and change it to "08 00 00 90 90 90 90 C7 45 F8 00 10 15 80 E9 77". I haven't tested it, but I see no reason why it couldn't work I'll try this on a real XBE later..

please please please try this out

[smo]

Ok, the hex to look for wasn't entirely correct. I extracted two XBEs from original media (Wolfenstein & Crimson Skies). Both contain a similar signature (a8 01 75 0c c7 45) that disassembles to proper looking code. This should be patched to "90 90 90 90 c7 45". This should make the game believe that the network cable is plugged out (and what's best, only on Xbox Live, not on System Link). I'll try the patch out on an Xbox tomorrow.

(edit: tried two more games and found it in both)

[Morglum]

And by doing this you would prevent the games being used for XLINK also, be much better if you could just patch the xbes to throw out the ports or even the server used on live, that way you could still use tunneling to play your games but live wouldnt be able to be accessed as the port/server info would be wrong.