Softmod (actually NoMod) Question?

[lain]

I'm planning on getting an xbox. (finally...) From my past experiences with mod chips and consoles, I've found that I buy the games I like instead of using backups. I think the only copied disk my ps2 has ever seen was the copy I burned to see if my mod worked... However bieng a hack3r at heart, I still feel a compulsion to at least play around with modding the box... Anywase, I've been reading up on the modding options and have decided the softmod looks kind of fun ;)

From what I understand of the process, you can use a specific game and a corrupted game save to load a bootstrap on the xbox. The bootstrap has an ftp program running. From there you ftp over the mod. Once modded the hacked dashboard will load automatically upon reboot.

What I'm wondering is whether the bootstrap that gets run from the corrupted game save is just an ftp program, or is it a full modified dashboard? It seems to me that since you can run code at that point, there would be no need to modify the hard drive. Well, except for the convenience of having the mod load automatically upon reboot. Do any of the corrupted gamesaves allow for this?

[jkrell]

Softmod is fun. You can do as you describe and use a gamesave exploit, or you can do as I did and hotswap the Xbox HDD to a PC and make adjustments from there. In my opinion, the latter is the most fun because you open up the Xbox and mess with the guts of it. This also seems to make the most sense if you're upgrading the HDD anyway (which I did not do because I have no need).

One of the benefits of the modded Xbox is running games you own from the HDD. You'll also undoubtedly want to use XBMC, which is the sole reason I bought an Xbox. To do these things, you'd probably want to modify the hard drive of the Xbox so you don't have to use the game save exploit. To be honest, I am not sure an unmodded Xbox will even do these things just running from the gamesave exploit.

My understanding (keeping in mind I have never used a gamesave exploit) is that they boot up a mini-dashboard like EvoX, as well as an FTP server that allows you to get at the guts of the HDD from your PC. If all you use is the gamesave exploit, you wouldn't be able to customize your dashboard at all. To me, that would defeat the whole purpose of even doing it. The whole point is to make the Xbox act the way you want it to act.

If you want to do the hotswapping, let me know. I can send you the name of the program I used to modify the HDD (you make a boot CD for your PC). Once you hotswap, you don't ever have to do it again, because you generate the unlock key for the HDD. You can then lock/unlock at will.

[wsly]

Jkrell is correct, the game save exploits boot a full function hacked dash. Most game save exploits use Unleashx as the dash of choice as Evox is just plain outdated. Myself I prefer to run UIX.

You will probably want to install the exploit to boot directly to the hacked dash so that you can have easier access to install and run other apps, emulators and ftp.

XBMC is the pride of the underground xbox community. It is a fully functioning media center app that streams all audio, picture and video formats right from your pc, tivo, or the xbox hdd. This media center makes the xbox equivalent to any media center pc, such as one that runs windows xp media center edition.

here's some screenshots for you
http://chokemaniac.loafamotive.com/gallery.php
http://chokemaniac.loafamotive.com/gallery.php?cat=pm3

and info on the capabilities of xbmc
http://www.xboxmediacenter.de/info_project.htm

[Warclock]

"If all you use is the gamesave exploit, you wouldn't be able to customize your dashboard at all"

I wonder how much you know about computer? You CAN MODIFY anything you want after gamesave exploit. All you need to do is MODIFY ini and xml files whichever that runs with the dashboard you plan to use, then FTP to xbox where the dashboard file at. This forum is not a good one for you to start the xbox hack. You will learn more in Xbox-Scene forum. I came here for something else but accidently saw your post so just try to help you out.

[jkrell]

"If all you use is the gamesave exploit, you wouldn't be able to customize your dashboard at all"

I wonder how much you know about computer? You CAN MODIFY anything you want after gamesave exploit. All you need to do is MODIFY ini and xml files whichever that runs with the dashboard you plan to use, then FTP to xbox where the dashboard file at. This forum is not a good one for you to start the xbox hack. You will learn more in Xbox-Scene forum. I came here for something else but accidently saw your post so just try to help you out.

Do you even read my posts and comprehend complete thoughts? What I meant (and what is clear from the context) is that if all lain ever does is uses the game save exploit (i.e., does NOT modify his/her Xbox HDD to run the dash at startup), then my undertsanding is that he/she won't be able to modify the look and feel of the dash used by the game save exploit.

CLEARLY, if he/she installs a dash on his/her Xbox, then he/she can modify and customize to his/her heart's content.

Trust me, WARCLOCK, you don't know what you are talking about with respect to me and my abilities. I have a fully functioning Xbox with XBMC installed as the dash, several customized python scripts/layouts, etc. I am quite at home modifying XML files, as well as Python scripts and anything else this whole process has thrown at me.

I beg to differ with your statement that this board is not a good place to start out. I have found this particular space to be quite hospitable (present company excluded) and friendly. I have spent many an hour over at Xbox-scene and, while there is useful information over there, it can take a lot of time to sift through the crap to find something useful.

[wsly]

I think warlock is right in recommending forums.xbox-scene.com for some one to start out with. There is much more info available there that tailors to this type of issue than can be found here. If you do need some help and feel more comfortable in this forum I'm happy to assist... I've modded many an xbox soft mod and hard mod.

If you do choose to try xbox-scene.. here's a good place to start
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showforum=44

[jkrell]

I think warlock is right in recommending forums.xbox-scene.com for some one to start out with. There is much more info available there that tailors to this type of issue than can be found here. If you do need some help and feel more comfortable in this forum I'm happy to assist... I've modded many an xbox soft mod and hard mod.

If you do choose to try xbox-scene.. here's a good place to start
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showforum=44

I'd stick to pinned topics to avoid garbage.

[lain]

I just wanted to stop back and say thanks for the quick responses.

Wsly answered my question quite clearly. There is really no question in my mind as to whether I will mod the hard drive (eventually.) I just don't want to make any serious (detectable) changes until I've had the unit a few months. No mod beats soft mod if I have to send it in under warranty because of a manufacturing defect or the like.

[wsly]

Lain, the upper hand of a softmod is that it is totally reversable without voiding your warranty as long as you ftp'd an entire backup of the xbox's c:\ drive to your pc before any changes.

That way if you ever need to set the xbox back to factory you just delete all files on the c:\ drive and ftp back over your original... no harm, no foul
Of course, you would also want to delete any extra apps you placed on e:\ and f:\


*just an fyi
c:\ - is roughly 500MB and is the system drive where the os or dashboard resides

d:\ - is the dvd rom

e:\ - is roughly 5GB and is your storage space
e:\tdata\ and e:\udata\ - is where game saves and settings are held

f:\ - is the unsused space on a stock 10gig drive that can be accessed by formatting f:\ , you will not get this if you have an 8gig stock drive.

x:\ y:\ and z:\ - these are virtual mem drives (partitions) and are only used by the xbox for cache data (we leave these alone)

[lain]

True, but if the xbox did break and I did have to send it in for warranty repair, chances are that I may not be able to access the hard drive to reset the filesystem. I think the only scenario where I would send the unit in for repair is if it had a physical hardware problem.

I had fun modding my ps2, but I regret having done it because the mod is almost unused. I probably will just do the softmod anywase, but I was just curious about the possibility of booting backups on a completely unmodded system.

[wsly]

It's just not possible to boot backups on an unmodded system... definately going to need to mod to acomplish that..

however, on the lighter side the xbox is essentially a pc and the two most prone devices for failure are the dvdrom and the hard drive. The hard drive is a standard ide hard drive and can be replaced easily provided you backup the eeprom once modded.

Should your dvd rom have failed while under warranty and your box is soft modded you still have ftp access to restore the drive back to original.

If your hard drive fails and you are softmodded... well then no worries... it's not accessible anyway... still covered under warranty :)