Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 41

Thread: Some original xbox queries

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Under your floorboards..
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts

    Default Some original xbox queries

    Hi .friends!!

    I just ditched my PS2 and now have the old xbox and some burnt games. although it isnt chipped or modded lol.. I had these games for years, after buying them from a friend when his xbox died. Just kept them in a box, as knew they would be handy some day. I havent even played an old xbox before to be honest.. I dont have a clue about them.

    Can some kind soul please tell me the quickest way to soft mod this. After looking on youtube and doing some quick googling I see there are a few ways to do the softmods, but most things I read are very old, so I need a more modern take on the ways this can be soft modded. Am looking something that maybe doesnt require buying anything like action replay.... did I hear there is a way this can be done that requires swapping the hard drive out and into a pc with both systems running?.. is this possible?

    Also important question, how do I swap out the hard drive for a bigger one.. actually the hard drive in it is making a jingling sound, so I am afraid it may fail soon. Will this make the xbox useless? I heard the hard drive has boot files on it... can someone explain more to me about this, and how I can replace for a new drive, and what sizes etc.

    Also one other thing I noticed. Why is the games smaller on the xbox. For example you can burn 3 or 4 games to one single layer DVD. I never seen that shit on PS2. When I look at the burn surface of single games I notice that almost all the games are pretty small, like 2 gigs or something, whereas my PS2 burnt disk have a much bigger burn area. I looked up GTA: San Andreas on the torrents and it is only 2 or 3 gigs, but on PS2 it is bigger it seems... why is this?

    Also can this console do 720p, the component cables on ebay are 50 quid.. but only 10 quid on amazon. Anyone tell me whats the difference and should I buy the amazon one?.. is component worth it, or maybe just RGB wire instead?

    Cheers for any feedback

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    22,212
    Thanks
    172
    Thanked 385 Times in 241 Posts
    EP Points
    825

    Default

    I got my XBOX component cables for £6 each off eBay. They really do make all the difference if you're using an LCD and don't have access to a CRT, since the XBOX is a much more powerful system than the PS2 the component leads actually make a difference on an XBOX.

    Too tired to write a detailed response to all your questions so I'll just write key points you can google for more info.

    Hot swapping is possible yes, google for a hot swap tutorial.
    If the hard drive dies you are screwed, because the hard drive stores the eeprom, and if you lose that or the HDD dies your XBOX is a massive door stop.
    Google for the XBOX hard drive compatibility chart, there are loads of compatible drives, as long as it's IDE it should work though. Hell, even SATA drives are compatible with converters and the like, again Google.

    The original XBOX didn't have media checks and stuff like the PS2 games do, so you can remove, modify, tamper with as much as you like with XBOX games and they'll still play, whereas the PS2 the games had to be 1:1 or been modified to load properly. You can remove anything you like on an XBOX game and as long as you patch the XBE it'll still load (within reason, depending on what you stripped) as for multi game discs, same applies, the checks on the original XBOX were very lacking.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to Inferno. For This Useful Post:


  4. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Under your floorboards..
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts

    Default

    Thanks alot Inferno. You answered the main ones I was worried about.

    OK, so now I'm freaked about this hard drive crashing. I dont even want to turn it on until I have a gameplan together. But why did MS do this if they know all hard disks die after long?

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    22,212
    Thanks
    172
    Thanked 385 Times in 241 Posts
    EP Points
    825

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Constipated Rat View Post
    Thanks alot Inferno. You answered the main ones I was worried about.

    OK, so now I'm freaked about this hard drive crashing. I dont even want to turn it on until I have a gameplan together. But why did MS do this if they know all hard disks die after long?
    There's probably nothing wrong with your XBOX's hard drive. All the ones I've had sounded funny when you turn the console on, like a kinda grinding noise... It's probably nothing to worry about, but since you plan to upgrade your XBOX's hard drive anyway you might as well get it switched out as soon as possible anyway.

    http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=244043

    This guide should have a part on how to hot swap and install a larger hard drive in the same process.

    Or if you don't do it that way using Chimp with an XBOX 1.0 - 1.5 you can hot swap the hard drive and clone your 10GB drive across to your new one (be warned it doesn't support the 1.6 XBOXes, you have to telnet into it apparently. I have a 1.6 and tried Telnetting into Chimp and it didn't work for me. )

    There are loads of guides on YouTube how to use Chimp to clone your old drive to your new one through your XBOX but it does need a molex splitter power cable or another XBOX/PC beside your XBOX to power the second hard drive.

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to Inferno. For This Useful Post:


  7. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Under your floorboards..
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts

    Default

    I will check out the tuts on that site and look up more on this "Chimp" thing... Thanks mate.

    One other small question, is it possible to run Dreamcast games on this xbox?.... I heard Shenmue 2 is just the Dreamcast game slightly modded or something. I know both consoles run similar with a modded Windows OS and both use DX to run games. Did I hear something about this years back, or was I imagining it?

  8. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    22,212
    Thanks
    172
    Thanked 385 Times in 241 Posts
    EP Points
    825

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Constipated Rat View Post
    I will check out the tuts on that site and look up more on this "Chimp" thing... Thanks mate.

    One other small question, is it possible to run Dreamcast games on this xbox?.... I heard Shenmue 2 is just the Dreamcast game slightly modded or something. I know both consoles run similar with a modded Windows OS and both use DX to run games. Did I hear something about this years back, or was I imagining it?
    Yes you can play Shenmue II on the XBOX because it was ported to the XBOX. No, you can't emulate Dreamcast games on the XBOX. Why? 700MHz CPU with 64MB RAM, way too underpowered. However, PS1, SNES, Megadrive, N64 (some games) and loads of arcade machines and loads of other systems are emulate-able.

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to Inferno. For This Useful Post:


  10. #7
    Zorlon's Avatar
    Zorlon is offline Older than you think
    Still loves Retro gaming
    Still loves new consoles
    Part time games modder
    Just here to help out when I can
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    UK Newcastle
    Posts
    22,205
    Thanks
    177
    Thanked 2,176 Times in 1,328 Posts
    Blog Entries
    5
    EP Points
    12100

    Default

    Emulators for XBOX list this lists the ones worth using and links to a site you can aquire them as they can be hard to get hold of because of Microsofts Dev kit legallity of something like that

    I own shenmue II for both Dreamcast and Xbox, the xbox version is a port rather than emulation and adds a few of it's own features such as a couple of extra weather effects and full english voice overs.. I still like the dreamcast version more myself being that you can import save data from the previous game to gain extra figures and moves but thats about it for the extras, just a shame there is no Shenmue III
    Last edited by Zorlon; 11th-July-2011 at 20:38.

    Mod projects - XBOX
    Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2 - online quests in offline mode packs [COMPLETE]
    [Quest Packs Collection]
    GTA San Andreas - Hot Coffee [COMPLETE]
    [Mod ready] & [Full ISO ready]
    GTA San Andreas - Real Car Names extra content mod [WIP] [Back burner, just won't have the time ]
    Please can all ESR users post your results here to help with the project and others wanting to use ESR

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to Zorlon For This Useful Post:


  12. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Under your floorboards..
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts

    Default

    OK, thanks for the info dudes.

    Damn!! Very powerful piece of kit the original xbox was ... some good emus for it.

  13. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    22,212
    Thanks
    172
    Thanked 385 Times in 241 Posts
    EP Points
    825

    Default

    Yep, and the games it does have look very nice on an LCD through a component cable so it's definitely a console worth keeping around.

  14. #10
    Zorlon's Avatar
    Zorlon is offline Older than you think
    Still loves Retro gaming
    Still loves new consoles
    Part time games modder
    Just here to help out when I can
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    UK Newcastle
    Posts
    22,205
    Thanks
    177
    Thanked 2,176 Times in 1,328 Posts
    Blog Entries
    5
    EP Points
    12100

    Default

    There are a large number of great games on the old xbox without the emulated systems to start with

    A few Dreamcast ports on there but what system from that time doesn't

    • Grand Theft Auto 3 to San Andreas Just Great Specially San Andreas being the best GTA game so far
    • Project Zero 1 and 2 Great Horrors
    • Fable the lost Chapters A very nice RPG
    • Dead or Alive 1 to 3 Good old beat em up
    • Star Wars Knights of the old Republic 1 & 2 Great RPG's
    • Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth Great Horror
    • Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2 (make sure you get the hacked version) Great RPG


    to name a few

    P.S. might be looking at Fable next to mod, could do a re-mix aswell as added content, this are mods for this already but not much of anything great yet, though may end up taking a bit of a break soon anyway
    Last edited by Zorlon; 11th-July-2011 at 22:03.

    Mod projects - XBOX
    Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2 - online quests in offline mode packs [COMPLETE]
    [Quest Packs Collection]
    GTA San Andreas - Hot Coffee [COMPLETE]
    [Mod ready] & [Full ISO ready]
    GTA San Andreas - Real Car Names extra content mod [WIP] [Back burner, just won't have the time ]
    Please can all ESR users post your results here to help with the project and others wanting to use ESR

  15. The Following User Says Thank You to Zorlon For This Useful Post:


  16. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    22,212
    Thanks
    172
    Thanked 385 Times in 241 Posts
    EP Points
    825

    Default

    Some of my favourites:

    Star Wars Knights of the old Republic one, never got into the second one.
    Fable
    Halo (the others are arse.)
    Project Gotham Racing 2
    Sega GT 2002 (Absolutely horrible now. )
    Jet Set Radio: Future
    Star Wars Republic Commando
    Forza Motorsport
    Soul Calibur II

    Such a fantastic system.

  17. The Following User Says Thank You to Inferno. For This Useful Post:


  18. #12
    Jackhammer's Avatar
    Jackhammer is offline Administrator
    Stroke The Goat
    ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    19,969
    Thanks
    1,368
    Thanked 2,268 Times in 270 Posts
    EP Points
    10010

    Default

    You can mod by hotswapping. You need a PC with an IDE connection.

    A couple of links:
    http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=244043
    http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=332179

    Here is a cd image with softmod ready installed. You use this with the hotswap method. Nothing to buy except a blank cd.

    Download Links:
    Links are hidden from guests. Please register to be able to view these links.

    Use at your own risk, hotswapping isn't without risk...

  19. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Jackhammer For This Useful Post:


  20. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Under your floorboards..
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    20
    Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts

    Default

    Great!!.. thanks for the pointers and image link Jackhammer

    @Zorlon/Inferno

    I have most of them games(I have 300 or so games here, all backups) and no telling what is on the "4 in 1" disks, possibly more from your lists.. my mate knew his stuff, what to buy and what not to buy.

    After looking at the specs of this thing I've noticed it is WAY more powerful than the PS2 lol. I cant believe I was so loyal to Sony when this monster should have been the console I was using during the PS2/xbox era... It's also just dawned on me how much games suffered slowdown and glitching on the PS2. Games like GTA San Andreas had bad draw distance when flying around, although on the back of the cover it showed really good clear views from the air lol... or when the car spawning AI use to mess up and cause pile ups right before your eyes on the highways lol!, and cars use to jutter when crusing beside them even on empty roads. Seemed the game was too much for it.... so I'm guessing games like this on the more powerful xbox wont suffer these, Right?...

    OK, now I'm psyched!!... this is my new interest for the rest of the summer, getting all this up and running the way I want it.!!

    Thanks for all the input guys, I will check out the links and let you know how it goes, Cheers.
    Last edited by Constipated Rat; 12th-July-2011 at 01:10.

  21. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Posts
    20,338
    Thanks
    845
    Thanked 2,575 Times in 1,219 Posts
    EP Points
    20605

    Default

    The Xbox console is an impressive machine really.

    TES III: Morrowind GotY is worth looking at imo....either an original or modded version.
    Still Life may be worth a look too.

    Although Black is available on PS2, I think you'll find the xbox version quite impressive visually.
    Darkwatch also looks good.
    The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is another good one.

    And yeah, emu as much of the older roms as you can

    Edit: if you can't be bothered messing around with emu settings etc, I recommend you just grab the BAED set....4 discs (IIRC) with heaps of different platform roms.
    Last edited by deadlegion; 12th-July-2011 at 07:02.

    Spoiler warning:

  22. The Following User Says Thank You to deadlegion For This Useful Post:


  23. #15
    Zorlon's Avatar
    Zorlon is offline Older than you think
    Still loves Retro gaming
    Still loves new consoles
    Part time games modder
    Just here to help out when I can
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    UK Newcastle
    Posts
    22,205
    Thanks
    177
    Thanked 2,176 Times in 1,328 Posts
    Blog Entries
    5
    EP Points
    12100

    Default

    GTA-SA does suffer much the same I don't know if you can manually change the draw distance either yet not looked into it yet as the game plays fine and didn't think it was that bad perhaps it is beter then the PS2 it's been a while since I played it on PS2 though.

    As for the bugs they are in all platforms alot less so on PC and Xbox but they are there, noticed more when doing high speed races, lots of bikes sliding over the road, some are there anyway, like shoot outs you are not involved in...

    Draw Distance I just modded but to be honest it's not a great improve, it's better but only slightly

    There is also an X10 distance mod but it bugs out all over the place

    May try and redo my Draw distance mod but leave the view distance (Fog start offset) the same as the original, i dunno a bit of too much effort it's not the smallest of changes as there are different views/draw distances for every weather variation, time stamp and major area.

    EDIT done a x5 draw distance mod and to be honest it makes it worse when you fly round things take too long to spawn up including water surfaces and large collections of buildings ect, wasn't too bad flying low, to be honest the draw distance is set to same as the PC version by default and isn't that bad realy I just don't think tinkering with this is going to help I guess at the end of the day it's not such a big thing and does not effect game play, unlike it does after modding it

    Quote Originally Posted by deadlegion View Post
    The Xbox console is an impressive machine really.

    TES III: Morrowind GotY is worth looking at imo....either an original or modded version.
    Still Life may be worth a look too.

    Although Black is available on PS2, I think you'll find the xbox version quite impressive visually.
    Darkwatch also looks good.
    The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is another good one.

    And yeah, emu as much of the older roms as you can

    Edit: if you can't be bothered messing around with emu settings etc, I recommend you just grab the BAED set....4 discs (IIRC) with heaps of different platform roms.
    Still Life is very good, forgot about that one, but not much replay there

    Morrowind I am yet to play also got the next one on 360 and not played that either lol but hear nothing but good things about them, I guess it's just getting into something so big.
    Last edited by Zorlon; 12th-July-2011 at 17:46.

    Mod projects - XBOX
    Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2 - online quests in offline mode packs [COMPLETE]
    [Quest Packs Collection]
    GTA San Andreas - Hot Coffee [COMPLETE]
    [Mod ready] & [Full ISO ready]
    GTA San Andreas - Real Car Names extra content mod [WIP] [Back burner, just won't have the time ]
    Please can all ESR users post your results here to help with the project and others wanting to use ESR

  24. The Following User Says Thank You to Zorlon For This Useful Post:


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
About Us

We are the oldest retro gaming forum on the internet. The goal of our community is the complete preservation of all retro video games. Started in 2001 as EmuParadise Forums, our community has grown over the past 18 years into one of the biggest gaming platforms on the internet.

Social