Modding Original Xbox

[RhiGhost]

Picked up an original Xbox over the weekend and I'm really keen to mod it. I've been having a look around at all the options but the information is all
very confusing. I read one guide that tells me one thing, then I read another that tells me the opposite!
I just want to know what is the easiest and cheapest way to do this. I want to be able to play my back ups and also install emulators.
I only have the console, I don't have action replay or a memory card. Action replay is VERY hard to find to buy and is in the $50+ range, so any methods that don't use that would be great.
Any advice is greatly appreicated.


EDIT: I do have a USB adpater cable, don't know if that can be used.

 

[aZnXrAvEr]

Here's the guide that i followed to softmod my xbox1:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-sof...box...for-FREE/

No action replay/memory card/specific xbox game needed! You need to burn a cd, make the xbox play it, and do a hotswap with the IDE cable on a computer... something like that. I did this like 3 years ago with my xbox, so I don't remember the exact details...

After softmodding mine, I also switched the original hard drive to a bigger 160gb one I believe. It was sooo awesome. Filled the hard drive up with so many xbox iso's... and snes roms too! Play the snes 4-player bomberman with your friends, it's a lot of fun!

 

[Originality]

I forget if a xbox1 will let you copy save games off the USB to the HDD. If it does, you can simply use the Splinter Cell/Mech Warrior/Other game (can't remember what the third one was, prolly a 007 game) exploits to softmod your Xbox.

I had no AR and no USB adapter, so I had to do the hotswap method to an old computer running a specially prepared linux boot disk (with NDURE 3.1 on it). With that, it soft-modded the HDD in no time and I could put it back in and start using FTP for everything else.

I also repeated the process when I replaced the HDD with a 500GB IDE HDD I picked up for £35.

 

[RhiGhost]

Yes I was wondering if I plugged in a USB stick or external hardrive if the Xbox would read the files and I could put the exploit save game on via that method, if anyone knows the answer to this please let me know.
Thanks for the advice guys, I'll look further into hotswapping, as it seems it is the only way for me to go.

 

[Shadow#1]

you can get the ar max software here Action Replay for XBOX 1.40 update installer then if you have a xbox-female to usb-male usb cable if you don't have one you can get one here Xbox to USB Cable then all u need to do is follow this guide SoftModding the Xbox in 10 Minutes Using SID

 

[Eon-Rider]

What a coincidence! I only just softmodded my original XBox last Thursday. After a bit of researching, I found this tutorial to be the best. Like you, I also used a USB adapter cable. Just replace the Action Replay part of the tutorial with the USB method you've probably read about.

 

[wyndcrosser]

modding it is the easiest way. It allows you to install bigger hard drives etc. easily. gocybershopping (google them) has 2.6lite with no-solder kits for cheap. Just make sure you check ur version before you buy it.

Softmodding is great, unless you only have a laptop because getting a bigger Hard drive installed is beyond a pain. I highly recommend the modchip, it also allows you to avoid the phoenix softmod, audio issues etc. Softmodding to me was such a pain to get to the dashboard (evolution or XBMC)

I used a softmod audio hack from 2003to2009, i just modded the xbox in July of this year. I had to solder, but they make solderless. It's sooo much better and reliable. Softmod will give u the ring of red (death) alot.

Wynd

 

[RhiGhost]

Ok, so I'm going to try it with the USB cable, as soon as I get it back from my friend.

Just to make things clear, I'm right in assuming that I get my Xbox to read my USB device, which is replacing the role of a memory card right? Thats where I read the exploited cheat file from?
I don't need AR or a mem card.

 

[FAST6191]

If you are using a straight adapter (the xbox controller is USB with a different plug on it: slice an xbox cable open and a USB cable (usually an extension cable) open then solder like coloured wires to each other, you will have a yellow wire left over which you should leave intact) it will go as follows:

You plug the USB drive into the adapter and the xbox will format it to the required standard (you could also use a PC with the appropriate software). Not sure if it is FATX for the "memory card" but suffice it to say it is not your basic PC filesystem (if you try to read with something like windows explorer it will tell you that it needs to be formatted).
Back on the PC you copy over the hacked save files with the appropriate software (you can also use a hacked xbox to do it if you have access to one).
Going back to the xbox you copy the saves (note that there will be two files and the original xbox menu will only select one file by default- no harm will come to the xbox but you will waste time so make sure you copy both files).
You run the game and when it tries to load up the save it will load up the basic installer instead.
It will then install the hacks and a basic dashboard to your xbox.

Some people leave it at this but most will install XBMC as the dashboard (grab something called auto installer deluxe aka AID as it comes with everything you might want).

Note however that not all USB drives conform to USB standards so not every drive will work (it tends not to matter on a PC but the xbox is a bit more strict/less able to deal with things that deviate from standards).

 

[Originality]

I've had a go at AID, but I've never been able to get my Xbox to read it. I've tried it on CD-R and DVD-RW but it's just never been detected (either M$ dash autoboot, Avalaunch or Evox, none recognise it). Was hoping to use it to set up my 500GB drive properly, but in the end I had to go with the hotswap method again. Still doesn't recognise AID though.

 

[FAST6191]

I suppose it is ironic then that for an old 1.4/1.5 xbox I modded not so long ago (DVD only does DVD-r) my DVD+r of AID (no booktype changing) works fine whereas the rest of the spindle would only work when bitset. Also you say RW, if am I to assume rewritable then you should note every xbox model has troubles with them.

Xbox DVD drives are really fussy though (even the last/latest model ones), good news is as long as you do not care about official games you can swap them out.
Finding a straight up reader (writers will work but I seem to have a mental block when it comes to putting one in an xbox) does however pose somewhat of a problem these days.

 

[Originality]

I think by chance I have the old v1.0 Xbox, but wherever I look, they say any version of CD or DVD would work (of course, I've heard a few times of how nothing on the planet likes DVD-RW, but I just figure that it's worth a shot since if it doesn't work, I can always use it for something else). Where the DVD-RW failed, I tried a CD-R (since I have a huge spindle of it), only to see that fail too.

In any case, since hotswapping works, I didn't need to try finding a DVD+R for bitsetting (my writer only bitsets +Rmedia, not -R)

 

[RhiGhost]

I've got the USB stick working in my Xbox, but now I'm having trouble getting Action Replay to read my USB stick.
I've tried editing the driver information in the AR folders, with the numbers from my USB stick (I've tried this with 2 different sticks) but AR just won't recognise them.
Does anyone know anything on how to get AR to read a USB stick as a memory card?

 

[FAST6191]

Best guide I have right now is the one that comes with auto installer deluxe:
http://www.aideluxe.com/index.php?title=Manuals

I got lazy and purchased a memory card and moreover now I have a hacked xbox to hand I can just use that in lieu of my PC so I have more or less forgotten all the various little tricks necessary.

 

[RhiGhost]

Thanks for your reply but I'm not having touble on how to do the softmod, I've read so many tuts on it I could to it with my eyes closed.
The thing I'm having trouble with is my USB stick. After I connect it to my Xbox, the Xbox fomats the card to the right format, which then makes it un-recognised to any PC.
I've been trying to do this method Installing Softmod
where I edit the device details in the Action Replay folder, which should enable the Action Replay software on my PC to read my USB stick as a Xbox mem card.
This is the part I'm stuck at. I've tried doing this with 2 different USB sticks and on 2 different computers, one with XP and one with Vista.
I just cannot get AR to read my USB, if I could get past this step I would be fine, its driving me crazy!

 

[WhoRuJudge]

I think I remember how to fix this.
Right-click on My Computer
Go to Properties>Hardware tab
Click on the Device Manager button

If the usb drive is not recognized, you should see a like a yellow triangle symbol next to a line that says something like "unrecognized hardware"
It should be under your 'Universal Serial Bus controllers"

Hopefully, it will be the only one.
Highlight it and right click it.
Choose Update Driver.
Install from a specified location, then navigate to the file you edited. Click ok, then next a few times.
You may need to restart your computer, but hopefully it will work.

 

[RhiGhost]

Yup I've tried that, with both sticks.
I'm thinking its got to be the sticks I'm using, does anyone know of a USB that has worked for them?
Or does anyone know of another method to get the cheat file on your USB stick?

 

[FAST6191]

My bad, I forgot there was a straight up online version there:
http://www.aideluxe.com/index.php?title=AI...h_Action_Replay

It might well be the USB drive though; I have about as many as you would expect around here (probably pushing 100) and only two have worked thus far.

 

[RhiGhost]

I've been doing this method over and over, the only thing I've noticed that is in the tuts that doesn't happen when I'm doing it is, when I'm updating the driver and I'm selecting the device to update, it doesn't come up with Xbox in the name, its still only a USB Mass Storage device. I think this is where the problem is.
I'm going through the list of known compatibile drives and I'll use when of those when I can get it. I'll come back here after I've tried to post whether it worked or not.
Hopefully this thread will help the next person with my problem.

 

[WhoRuJudge]

The Thumbdrive I used was an oldschool
Lexar JumpDrive Secure 256MB
Hell Ya!!
Seriously, it is the only one I have that worked.
Tis an ugly silver and black monstrosity.