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OG Xbox Appreciation and Lack of Emulation Thread of the big black box of doom

T

televator

Member
Is the circuit board inside the DVD drive "married" to any other component? I could just buy a broken drive to revive the drive I broke. The connector to the laser got peeled off. Lifted the pads right off the board. All I need is another circuit board to replace it. If anyone has a "dead" Samsung drive, do let me know if I may acquire it from you.

I got a little too "adventerous" exploring the insides while I fixed the fan. lol Well that and I was going nuts trying to figure out where this loose screw I found went. I finally deduced (after several hours) that the screw was foreign. It got inside the case somehow. Luckily it didn't short anything.
 
T

televator

Member
Welp. Soft moding has been a bust so far. I tried a more modern approach using a PC booting Linux and an app called XBHDM. I'm able to get the drive unlocked and boot into the GUI off the CD. However, when I type in the option to browse the Xbox HDD, the Linux app conflictingly returns an error about there not being a Linux CD found... Wut.

Fuck. Everything was going smooth. Guess I'll have to use the USB route and find a copy of agent under fire... and then do a few more hours of reading up how to do that process too. What a goddamn pain this is. I was so looking forward to forcing Republic Commando to 480p.
 
T

televator

Member
7cXAZ7V.jpg
Click to expand...

:D
 
T

televator

Member
It's simple, and yet oh so goddamn tedious.

I made my own USB reader. That took me longest since I wanted to do it without cutting a perfectly good cable. I took apart a Logitech wireless receiver and simply soldered a USB connector to the large exposed pins. I can easily reverse the process so nothing valuable is permanently hacked or lost.

Also, it turns out that even the Platinum Hits version of Splinter Cell works. That's what I used. Now I'm going to clone my drive onto a 200GB HDD. I'm still a little lost/in the dark about all the features I'm wanting. Like forcing 480p and/or wide screen and/or running other apps/emulators... but one thing at a time.
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
I gave up on my last attempt.

Can someone just sell me a compatible USB drive with the PAL splinter cell exploit all ready to go?
 
T

televator

Member
D.Lo said:
I gave up on my last attempt.

Can someone just sell me a compatible USB drive with the PAL splinter cell exploit all ready to go?
Click to expand...

What are you having trouble with? If need be, I can use my setup to get you a USB drive. Though I've never shipped to the UK and I don't think I'd have a way to test the drive before hand.
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
I'm in Australia BTW ;)

I did one years ago fine, but that console's HDD died.

I have a compatible USB drive, and a USB controller port connector, so it's been formatted as a memory card.

The windows application to then modify the files on it doesn't see the 'memory card'. On OSX via Wine or a W7 PC.
 
T

televator

Member
I see. For some reason, when I think "PAL" I imediately think "UK". lol

You don't have a buddy or relative with a Windows machine? I was able to do it on an old laptop running Windows 10 32bit.
 
T

televator

Member
Well after letting your Xbox format the drive, Windows will tell you either the drive is unusable and/or it needs to be reformatted. Ignore/cancel those notices. Then just open hard drive or mem card on Xplorer.

Now I need help. Timu, do you know of a good way to FTP to the Xbox? I have a client and I put in all the info, but it never connects.

Edit: I guess I need a special cable for direct connection. Still, I'd like to know of any other way.
 
T

Timu

Member
televator said:
Well after letting your Xbox format the drive, Windows will tell you either the drive is unusable and/or it needs to be reformatted. Ignore/cancel those notices. Then just open hard drive or mem card on Xplorer.

Now I need help. Timu, do you know of a good way to FTP to the Xbox? I have a client and I put in all the info, but it never connects.

Edit: I guess I need a special cable for direct connection. Still, I'd like to know of any other way.
Click to expand...
I have no clue about that stuff.=O
 
T

televator

Member
Timu said:
I have no clue about that stuff.=O
Click to expand...

How do you put... stuff inside the Xbox then? lol

Edit: Okay, I figured it out. I used a method by use of a router. I had to go into my router's settings and setup a forward point to the Xbox's IP address. Before that I also had to manually setup the Xbox's IP to something familiar to my router. I then loaded a program called Chimp into the Xbox directory via my PC FTP app. Hooooo boy... this little project is working out my technical ability. I think I'll go to bed now. I'll clone my drive with Chimp tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be any more snags, but that's doubtful. There's always more snags. lol
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
televator said:
Well after letting your Xbox format the drive, Windows will tell you either the drive is unusable and/or it needs to be reformatted. Ignore/cancel those notices. Then just open hard drive or mem card on Xplorer.
Click to expand...
Xplorer couldn't see it.

Anyway I'll have another go some day.
 
T

televator

Member
Ah! Finally, cloned my HDD to a 200GB capacity. I took the time to change the thermal paste on the processors as well.

I honestly have no idea how I managed to figure out the FTP routine. I was just kinda winging it. lol
 
D

dubc35

Member
televator said:
Ah! Finally, cloned my HDD to a 200GB capacity. I took the time to change the thermal paste on the processors as well.

I honestly have no idea how I managed to figure out the FTP routine. I was just kinda winging it. lol
Click to expand...

I have no idea how you did the vast majority of things you just posted about!

head_explode.gif
 
T

televator

Member
dubc35 said:
I have no idea how you did the vast majority of things you just posted about!

head_explode.gif
Click to expand...

On rare occasions, I surprise myself. If anyone would like a tutorial, I might write one up in my spare time. I can also help with obtaining exploitable memory sticks or cards.

Edit: I am now ripping games to the HDD. All according to Keikaku
 
G

Glowsquid

Member
I found this interesting video that compares the various versions of Splinter Cell (though not the PS3 compilation version) and truly put the massive and sometimes arbitrary changes done to the PS2/GC versions in perspective. Figured I might post this here as Splinter Cell was original developed as a xbox game
 
T

Timu

Member
Glowsquid said:
I found this interesting video that compares the various versions of Splinter Cell (though not the PS3 compilation version) and truly put the massive and sometimes arbitrary changes done to the PS2/GC versions in perspective. Figured I might post this here as Splinter Cell was original developed as a xbox game
Click to expand...
I saw that before, and yeah, loved the comparisons. Funny enough Splinter Cell is one of my 1st Xbox games.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Glowsquid said:
I found this interesting video that compares the various versions of Splinter Cell (though not the PS3 compilation version) and truly put the massive and sometimes arbitrary changes done to the PS2/GC versions in perspective. Figured I might post this here as Splinter Cell was original developed as a xbox game
Click to expand...

Sadly instead of figuring out how to side-port the Xbox version to GC, they just up ported the PS2 version to GC.
 
M

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
All four Splinter Cells on the Xbox were amazing, and Chaos Theory is top5 that gen for me. I also played the gamecube-port a bit since i got it with a bunch of other games, and it doesnt really compare imo. Still a fine game of course, but clearly a botched port.
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
televator said:
On rare occasions, I surprise myself. If anyone would like a tutorial, I might write one up in my spare time. I can also help with obtaining exploitable memory sticks or cards.

Edit: I am now ripping games to the HDD. All according to Keikaku
Click to expand...

I'd like a tutorial please :) I bought a bunch of old 320GB IDE drives. Would love to get one of them installed into my Xbox.

D.Lo said:
I gave up on my last attempt.

Can someone just sell me a compatible USB drive with the PAL splinter cell exploit all ready to go?
Click to expand...

Any old USB pen drives that's under 2GB (the lower the better) should work. Alternatively, do you have a PSP? I read somewhere that that works too.

televator said:
It's simple, and yet oh so goddamn tedious.

I made my own USB reader. That took me longest since I wanted to do it without cutting a perfectly good cable. I took apart a Logitech wireless receiver and simply soldered a USB connector to the large exposed pins. I can easily reverse the process so nothing valuable is permanently hacked or lost.

Also, it turns out that even the Platinum Hits version of Splinter Cell works. That's what I used. Now I'm going to clone my drive onto a 200GB HDD. I'm still a little lost/in the dark about all the features I'm wanting. Like forcing 480p and/or wide screen and/or running other apps/emulators... but one thing at a time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the same method I used to softmod my Xbox but I used the original version of Splinter Cell (UK PAL) and ordered a USB to Xbox reader cable from ebay instead of going down the soldering route.
 
D

dubc35

Member
What is OG Xbox cooling like? I am configuring my entertainment center and the console fits on the shelves but there is very little room on each side.

I'm not storing it with game/controller on it; just put it there while I took the pic.
4MstTfU.jpg
Click to expand...

I haven't played it much yet in this configuration, and honestly about an hour at a time would be the most I would use it. *shakes fist at parental responsibilities*
 
-shadow-

-shadow-

Member
FyreWulff said:
Sadly instead of figuring out how to side-port the Xbox version to GC, they just up ported the PS2 version to GC.
Click to expand...

I still remember being absolutely disappointed how terrible the GameCube version looked compared to the Xbox version which I've played over at a friend of mine. But still a good game never the less.
 
B

blast processed

Member
dubc35 said:
What is OG Xbox cooling like? I am configuring my entertainment center and the console fits on the shelves but there is very little room on each side.

I'm not storing it with game/controller on it; just put it there while I took the pic.


I haven't played it much yet in this configuration, and honestly about an hour at a time would be the most I would use it. *shakes fist at parental responsibilities*
Click to expand...

Mine has been like this for years and I haven't had any problems. I also have about 8" open in the back.

0JluVGM.jpg


Sorry about the preowned sticker in my pic. I'm usually better than that.
 
D

dubc35

Member
Jake from State Farm said:
Sorry about the preowned sticker in my pic. I'm usually better than that.
Click to expand...
We are all judging and shaming you right now...nah not a big deal. :)

Thanks for the reply. Based on the console case it looks like most heat is pushing out the back, which I'll have some room but probably only a couple inches. I guess I'll just have to play it for a while and see what the heat is like.
 
T

televator

Member
shorty_symd said:
I'd like a tutorial please :) I bought a bunch of old 320GB IDE drives. Would love to get one of them installed into my Xbox.

Yeah, that's the same method I used to softmod my Xbox but I used the original version of Splinter Cell (UK PAL) and ordered a USB to Xbox reader cable from ebay instead of going down the soldering route.
Click to expand...

I'll try to get around to it tomorrow I have a box full of spare hard drives and an extra Xbox that I can use to document the process as I go. Then I'll post up the steps with images to go along.

The main thing is setting up an FTP link to a PC so that the appropriate files and programs can be loaded into the box before trying the HDD cloning.

Speaking of which, hot diggidy! There is quite a benefit to having games run off a hard drive. KOTOR loads and saves much faster. I think there is also a bit of a performance boost with a relatively more stable frame rate.
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
televator said:
I'll try to get around to it tomorrow I have a box full of spare hard drives and an extra Xbox that I can use to document the process as I go. Then I'll post up the steps with images to go along.

The main thing is setting up an FTP link to a PC so that the appropriate files and programs can be loaded into the box before trying the HDD cloning.

Speaking of which, hot diggidy! There is quite a benefit to having games run off a hard drive. KOTOR loads and saves much faster. I think there is also a bit of a performance boost with a relatively more stable frame rate.
Click to expand...

Cheers buddy :D Greatly appreciate it.
 
V

Vespa

Member
How's the Component out on the original xbox? is affected like the RGB scart with sub sampling shenanigans. Just wondering if it's worth doing the VGA mod over just getting the component transcoded to VGA.
 
T

televator

Member
Vespa said:
How's the Component out on the original xbox? is affected like the RGB scart with sub sampling shenanigans. Just wondering if it's worth doing the VGA mod over just getting the component transcoded to VGA.
Click to expand...

All component standard is sub sampled. That's broadcast standard. There's no such thing as analog video output component connection (YPbPr) that isn't sub sampled. The standard being 4:2:2, 16-235

That being said the Xbox has very nice component picture. It's picture quality looks as good as any modern system over component. It has the edge over PS2 and GameCube. Just take a look at the picture I posted above on this same page... It doesn't suffer from dithering or banding like those systems. It was the only console of that generation with a 32bit color bit depth! The other consoles had a maximum of 24bit color, so that's why you'd see more banding in their picture. In fact GameCube games were often 16bit color depth. And the truth about the GameCube is that it's RGB is obtained by up sampling the analog component signal, because the GC and Wii are hardware limited to YUV standard.

Component and VGA have the same luxury of bypassing the anti flickering filter built into the Xbox's video encoder. That's a very good thing indeed as most people have the false impression that Xbox's picture quality sucks... They just haven't seen the light about the unfiltered component output. The one thing I'm unclear about however is whether RGBHV is up sampled from the sub sampled component signal. Internally digital component can technically be lossless color space inside the frame buffer (4:4:4, YCbCr, no sub sampling). That would be the best case for the RGBHV, but like I said, I'm not sure if that is the case.

Edit: Actually the Dreamcast had several color modes, including 32bit color. How could I forget about my precious?
 
V

Vespa

Member
Ahh interesting, I didn't know that all component connections were sub sampled, thought there may have been a 4:4:4 option.

I would also like to know about if the RGBHV is outputting a better colourspace, I haven't come across anything but I've not looked into it too much.

Thanks for dropping some amazing knowledge here, televator, you beautiful mind, you!

I'll see how components treats me, just waiting on my YUV to VGA transcoder to arrive so I can see how it looks on the pc CRT.

Dreamcast vga oh how I've been spoiled. I really do wish Nintendo put a little more care into their hardware output options!
 
V

Vespa

Member
Random post found on the internet:

Newer Xboxes that have the Xcalibur encoder look a whole lot better via RGB SCART than the old ones. Even the Xcalibur, like its abysmal predecessors, appears to scale the image horizontally to 720 pixels, producing a softer image than that of competing consoles. However, it does not appear to subsample the color
Click to expand...

Is he saying the xcalibur is producing 4:4:4 via RGB scart?
 
T

televator

Member
Vespa said:
Ahh interesting, I didn't know that all component connections were sub sampled, thought there may have been a 4:4:4 option.

I would also like to know about if the RGBHV is outputting a better colourspace, I haven't come across anything but I've not looked into it too much.

Thanks for dropping some amazing knowledge here, televator, you beautiful mind, you!

I'll see how components treats me, just waiting on my YUV to VGA transcoder to arrive so I can see how it looks on the pc CRT.

Dreamcast vga oh how I've been spoiled. I really do wish Nintendo put a little more care into their hardware output options!
Click to expand...

The digital form of Component (YCbCr) can be 4:4:4, though Blu-Ray movies are encoded down to 4:2:0. It's flexible like that, unlike analog component.

Vespa said:
Random post found on the internet:



Is he saying the xcalibur is producing 4:4:4 via RGB scart?
Click to expand...

Haha, that's the first post I also came across when I first started looking into Xbox info. TBH, I'd disregard that post. It's very unsubstantiated. The data sheets I found on the Xbox video encoders describe the incoming frame buffer signal as YCbCr, which as I said, can be anything from 4:2:0 to 4:4:4. I haven't been able to find anything concrete.
 
K

Kiddy Dong

Member
televator said:
All component standard is sub sampled. That's broadcast standard. There's no such thing as analog video output component connection (YPbPr) that isn't sub sampled. The standard being 4:2:2, 16-235

That being said the Xbox has very nice component picture. It's picture quality looks as good as any modern system over component. It has the edge over PS2 and GameCube. Just take a look at the picture I posted above on this same page... It doesn't suffer from dithering or banding like those systems. It was the only console of that generation with a 32bit color bit depth! The other consoles had a maximum of 24bit color, so that's why you'd see more banding in their picture. In fact GameCube games were often 16bit color depth. And the truth about the GameCube is that it's RGB is obtained by up sampling the analog component signal, because the GC and Wii are hardware limited to YUV standard.

Component and VGA have the same luxury of bypassing the anti flickering filter built into the Xbox's video encoder. That's a very good thing indeed as most people have the false impression that Xbox's picture quality sucks... They just haven't seen the light about the unfiltered component output. The one thing I'm unclear about however is whether RGBHV is up sampled from the sub sampled component signal. Internally digital component can technically be lossless color space inside the frame buffer (4:4:4, YCbCr, no sub sampling). That would be the best case for the RGBHV, but like I said, I'm not sure if that is the case.

Edit: Actually the Dreamcast had several color modes, including 32bit color. How could I forget about my precious?
Click to expand...

If given the choice between RGB and YPbPr (for 480i only), which would be more preferable on the Xbox?

I can confirm that Xbox games with the flicker filter reduced to 1/5 made a HUGE difference on my PVM. It's worth softmodding for that option alone.
 
T

televator

Member
Kiddy Dong said:
If given the choice between RGB and YPbPr (for 480i only), which would be more preferable on the Xbox?

I can confirm that Xbox games with the flicker filter reduced to 1/5 made a HUGE difference on my PVM. It's worth softmodding for that option alone.
Click to expand...

A mod is required for RGBHV and it's rather obscure nowadays as a lot of Xbox enthusiast sites have disappeared. Component is readily available and the color information loss from RGB is hard to notice. We're talking about noticing the difference of 2 horizontal pixels at a time.

Edit: it may be more worth looking into the RGB mod for interlaced signals. Sorry I missed that detail. Color sampling happens at the field level and interlaced fields already having only half the picture resolution are more impacted by sub sampling. Disregard that. I was thinking about the pitfalls of 4:2:0 sub sampling. That will not affect 4:2:2 interlaced images. Sorry, it's hard keeping information filed properly in my brain. lol

That's interesting that you can control the flicker filter via soft mod. Can you tell me what application you use to do this? I'd like to read up on how it works for knowledge sake.
 
V

Vespa

Member
Good stuff, televator. The mystery remains...hmmm

@Kiddy Dong - I have a modded xbox, not sure if my version of the dash has flicker options, I guess that only helps with RGB scart? rather than component which I'm assuming has zero flicker filtering applied to it thanks to bypassing it.
 
K

Kiddy Dong

Member
televator said:
A mod is required for RGBHV and it's rather obscure nowadays as a lot of Xbox enthusiast sites have disappeared. Component is readily available and the color information loss from RGB is hard to notice. We're talking about noticing the difference of 2 horizontal pixels at a time.

That's interesting that you can control the flicker filter via soft mod. Can you tell me what application you use to do this? I'd like to read up on how it works for knowledge sake.
Click to expand...

Ah, I should have specified RGB Scart compared to YPbPr. I'm really interested in what is going on in the Xbox's video encoder and how the 3 revisions of it compare.

It's included as part of XBMC, the option is called "apply flicker settings to games" or something like that. It only works on games you've installed to the HDD though. Genma Onimusha for some reason isn't affected by it, and possibly more games that I haven't tried. You can also use a program called FlickerFucker to patch your xbe files manually.

You can set the filter from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) or off. I've found that 1 looks the best on my CRT; 'off' technically looks even better although it gives me a headache after a while. 1 looks very comparable to the Gamecube's default flicker filter.

Vespa said:
Good stuff, televator. The mystery remains...hmmm

@Kiddy Dong - I have a modded xbox, not sure if my version of the dash has flicker options, I guess that only helps with RGB scart? rather than component which I'm assuming has zero flicker filtering applied to it thanks to bypassing it.
Click to expand...

If you're using 480i only (like I do on my PVM), then the flicker filter is there even with YPbPr component. It cannot be disabled in 480i without a softmod.
 
T

televator

Member
Kiddy Dong said:
Ah, I should have specified RGB Scart compared to YPbPr. I'm really interested in what is going on in the Xbox's video encoder and how the 3 revisions of it compare.

It's included as part of XBMC, the option is called "apply flicker settings to games" or something like that. It only works on games you've installed to the HDD though. Genma Onimusha for some reason isn't affected by it, and possibly more games that I haven't tried. You can also use a program called FlickerFucker to patch your xbe files manually.

You can set the filter from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) or off. I've found that 1 looks the best on my CRT; 'off' technically looks even better although it gives me a headache after a while. 1 looks very comparable to the Gamecube's default flicker filter.



If you're using 480i only (like I do on my PVM), then the flicker filter is there even with YPbPr component. It cannot be disabled in 480i without a softmod.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see what you mean. I also should clarify that it's the 31+ KHz signals that bypass the the flicker filter.

Anyway, since you can turn down or turn off the filter either of the two options is great, but my preference will always lean toward RGB. Though in practice, it's not always practical for me.
 
K

Kiddy Dong

Member
televator said:
How do you put... stuff inside the Xbox then? lol

Edit: Okay, I figured it out. I used a method by use of a router. I had to go into my router's settings and setup a forward point to the Xbox's IP address. Before that I also had to manually setup the Xbox's IP to something familiar to my router. I then loaded a program called Chimp into the Xbox directory via my PC FTP app. Hooooo boy... this little project is working out my technical ability. I think I'll go to bed now. I'll clone my drive with Chimp tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be any more snags, but that's doubtful. There's always more snags. lol
Click to expand...

I find it easier to connect to my Xbox directly from my laptop via ethernet. All you have to do is configure the IPv4 address in network settings, connect to it in filezilla, and dump the files. No router needed lol.
 
T

televator

Member
Kiddy Dong said:
I find it easier to connect to my Xbox directly from my laptop via ethernet. All you have to do is configure the IPv4 address in network settings, connect to it in filezilla, and dump the files. No router needed lol.
Click to expand...

You need a special Patch cable don't you? It did not work for me with a direct connection via a regular cat5
 
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