Soft-modding For Absolute Beginners, Gamesave and dashboard exploits |
Soft-modding For Absolute Beginners, Gamesave and dashboard exploits |
mbriody |
May 16 2004, 02:34 PM
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#1
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X-S Young Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 10-December 03 Member No.: 80930 |
SoftModding for Absolute Beginners
Stuff you need to know that the other guides don't tell you... Disclaimer Soft-modding can screw up your XBOX. If you follow the instructions you should be fine but I can't take responsibility if anything goes wrong. Good luck! Introduction This guide is intended to help complete beginners to understand soft-mods and how to install them successfully. I am not an expert but I have one chipped XBOX and one soft-modded and this guide documents what I needed to do in order to perform a soft-mod. I am assuming some basic knowledge of PC's and networking on your part and the use of standard tools such as FTP. To perform a softmod you are going to need to connect your XBOX to a PC using the ethernet socket at the back of the XBOX. You can connect this directly to a network card on your PC using an ethernet cross-over cable or you use a straight ethernet cable to connect it to a port on a switch, hub or router if you already have a home LAN. Before we get into soft-modding in detail you are going to need to understand a little of how the XBOX works: The Dashboard This is the program that provides the user interface when you start up your XBOX. Amongst other things the standard MS Dashboard allows you to manage game saves, set the clock and other system settings and launch XBOX Live. It is implemented in a file called xboxdash.xbe on the root of the C drive on your XBOX's hard drive and it loaded every time you boot the box. The MS dashboard uses a number of other files which, depending on your dashboard version will either be also in the root directory or in subdirectories off the root. For soft-modding purposes the only files which concern us are the font files which are named XBox Book.xtf and Xbox.xtf (more on these later). The BIOS and PBL The XBOX has a BIOS, similar to that in a PC. When you install a modchip you are replacing the functionality of the standard BIOS with a specialised BIOS which is provided by the modchip manufacturer. You would generally also install a replacement third-party dashboard alongside any modchip. Okay so how is this relevant to soft-modding? Well the answer is that in 2003 some clever people came up with a software application which works like a modchip and allows you to load one of the modchip BIOSes, completely in software. This package is called PBL or the Phoenix Bios Loader. The standard unmodded XBOX will only execute applications and games which have been 'signed' in a special way. This is why you cannot use backups or third-party apps on an unmodded box. The BIOS loaded by PBL together with a third-party dashboard will allow unsigned code to be executed and so you will typically get FTP access, the ability to run Linux, backups, third-party applications etc. The Gamesave Exploits Hopefully from the above description it is clear that what we need to achieve is to get PBL, a replacement BIOS and a new dashboard onto the XBOX. In order to do this we will need FTP access to the box. This is where the gamesave exploits come in. These take advantage of security loopholes which will allow us to temporarily load PBL and an alternative dashboard. This will give us FTP access to the XBOX and will subsequently enable us to load PBL etc for a more permanent solution. The technical details of how these work are beyond the scope of this document but there are plenty of detailed explanations within the XBS forums and elsewhere. There are three main gamesave exploits which all work similarly and are based on the games; 007 Agent Under Fire, Mech Assault and Splinter Cell. For each of these there are various different packages available. To use one of these you will need:
The Dashboard Exploits There are basically two different types of dashboard exploit. The 'fonts' exploit replaces the XBOX fonts (see the Dashboard section above) with 'special' versions which exploit another security loophole and allow PBL to be loaded. The second type is the audio exploit. This is triggered by copying a special audio track to your hard drive. When you try to use the standard dashboard function to copy this track it generates an error and PBL can be loaded. Again there are better technical explanations of how these work if you are interested. There are many different versions and variations of both the fonts and audio exploits but they all function basically the same way. I recommend using an all-in-one package (see below). Once installed, the fonts exploit is typically activated automatically every time you power on the box so you boot into a modified dashboard. In contrast, with the audio exploit you boot to the standard MS dash and go through a sequence of 5 or 6 key presses in order to activate the exploit and load the PBL and the replacement dash. So why would you choose the audio exploit? The reason is that the fonts exploit is occasionally prone to something called the clock loop problem. See here for details: I suffered this problem and was only able to get out of it using the technique described by lugnut in the first page of the above thread. That is why I now use the audio exploit. Because this boots to an unmodded MS dash it is immune to the clock problem. A third option called the double-dash exploit. See here for details. This exploit is immune to the clock loop and does not require as many keypresses as the audio exploit. However it has a different problem which means that the XBOX reboots whenever you open the drive tray. If this issue can be resolved then this will be the best exploit solution. The fourth and newest exploit is called the UDE (Ultimate Dasboard Exploit). This is a font-based exploit which is not subject to the clock loop problem. As such it is the best method devised so far and has very few con's. See here for details. As the name suggests this is likely to be the best it can get and if your XBOX meets the requirements then this has to be the exploit of choice. Signing The question of signed code comes up again at this point. You need to install a version of PBL which is signed for the particular type of dashboard exploit you are using i.e. fonts or audio. There is a tool you can use to perform the signing BUT you should be able to find a dashboard exploit package containing PBL pre-signed for the type of exploit you are using. I never had to manually sign anything to get my soft-mod working. Installing The Dashboard Exploit I would suggest using the UDE exploit or if you want more flexibility I would recommend a package by mkjones which has its own thread here. This installs both audio and font exploits and several different replacement dashboards and allows you to switch between them at will. This was the first package I installed. My first issue was that this package requires that you have MS dash version 4920 and I had an earlier one. One of the main differences between the two versions was that my old dash stored the XBOX font and other files in the root of the C drive whereas the newer dash uses \font and other subdirectories. Okay, so how did I update the dash? I simply used the 'Live' tab in the MS dash and kept following the instructions until it told me that my system was being updated. I think you may need to be connected to the internet for this to work (I was). After I did this I rebooted and my dash had been upgraded to 4920. From then on it was a case of following the detailed instructions in the mkjones softmod package. Versions Most of the soft-mod methods require particular versions of dashboard and kernel to be on the XBOX. You can find out what version you have by going to the Settings screen on your box and selecting System Info. Once the text scrolls up you will see something like this: K: 1.00.4817.1 D: 1.00.4920.1 In this example the kernel version is 4817 and dashboard is 4920. How To Get The Files To locate the relevant files you will need to use something called xbins. A tutorial on how to do this is contained here. Updates May-31-2004 - Added UDE details and link This post has been edited by mbriody: May 31 2004, 02:46 PM |
Blank |
May 16 2004, 02:46 PM
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#2
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X-S Messiah Group: Members Posts: 3660 Joined: 18-January 04 From: Western Wisconsin Member No.: 93190 Xbox Version: v1.0 |
Very neat tutorial... very clean and concise. :beer:
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mkjones |
May 16 2004, 04:39 PM
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#3
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X-S Freak Group: Members Posts: 1427 Joined: 7-April 03 Member No.: 30843 |
Agree, looks to be well written ;) I only skimmed however :)
Well done, its great to see more people share knowlege around here, there are too many closed minds sometimes Well don :beer: |
devz3ro |
May 16 2004, 05:44 PM
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#4
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X-S X-perience Group: Moderator Posts: 348 Joined: 17-November 03 Member No.: 74832 Xbox Version: unk |
Amen, it is good to see people sharing what they have learned, especially accurately. You probably will not see me helping anymore in the double dash thread. As soon as people start 'demanding' I better do this, or I better do that is when I stop helping completely. I'm glad to see all of the non G-E-D users profiting from it. If you do not get it, go read, there is plenty of tutorials and guides around like this one that will explain it more clearly and noobish. Do not post with statements like "you better write a more noob readme, I can not understand it", they will be deleted. And to mbriody, If you transfer this to a webpage & update it regulary / when you can, edit your post to link to that webpage, and I will pin this topic. -devz3ro http://sh0x.tk/ |
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jon20usa |
May 16 2004, 07:23 PM
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#5
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X-S Senior Member Group: XS-BANNED Posts: 152 Joined: 5-April 04 Member No.: 112313 Xbox Version: unk |
very nicely done. thanks for helping out. hope to see it pinned. :D :beer:
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BlazeYaDead |
May 17 2004, 10:36 PM
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#6
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X-S Young Member Group: XS-BANNED Posts: 50 Joined: 2-December 03 Member No.: 78545 Xbox Version: unk |
One thing, this can be erased from going to the original dash and just delete everything that has to do with this right? Then you can go on live? Becuause I go on xbox live all the time and would like to try this out for a week or two before getting a modchip that I can just turn off for live. Sorry this might be a "noob" question buy I dont want to risk getting banned from live. I already have the save game hack on my memory card so it wouldnt be hard to do. Thanks
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mbriody |
May 18 2004, 01:36 AM
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#7
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X-S Young Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 10-December 03 Member No.: 80930 |
Yes, the soft-mods are totally reversible. |
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BlazeYaDead |
May 18 2004, 07:21 PM
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#8
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X-S Young Member Group: XS-BANNED Posts: 50 Joined: 2-December 03 Member No.: 78545 Xbox Version: unk |
Alright thanks, Ill try it this weekend with splinter cell. Ill probably be back with a few questions.
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mbriody |
May 31 2004, 02:50 PM
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#9
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X-S Young Member Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 10-December 03 Member No.: 80930 |
Tutorial updated to include UDE.
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jcupp114 |
Jul 4 2004, 01:34 AM
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#10
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X-S X-perience Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: 20-February 04 From: UGA Member No.: 101376 Xbox Version: none |
Wondering if you can go on through to the backing up stages with UDE in a tutorial? I have been to the other post and no responds yet. Im trying to ftp to make a 1:1 backup of games. I have the UDE install and have 21 games that my son has not destroyed (YET) backed up on my pc hd with craxtons help. Now Im stuck. Whats next? Burn with nero? Signing? validating data? Please help.
Also am I going the right way? Is there a better way? Please if anyone could write out or pm me for the next learning curve? Thank you for your time. Jcupp114 |
johnhandy |
Jul 4 2004, 04:39 AM
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#11
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X-S Young Member Group: Members Posts: 45 Joined: 29-October 03 Member No.: 70745 Xbox Version: v1.0 |
Two suggested additions to the guide:
-"BIOS and PBL" section: PBL will NOT work with kernel version 5530 and above. -"Dashboard Exploit" section: Audio hack only works with dash 4920. Link to another guide about how to downgrade to dash 4920 if they choose to use an Audio hack. |
colt45joe |
Jul 29 2004, 10:11 PM
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#12
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X-S X-perience Group: Members Posts: 302 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 98617 |
can you add into your tutorial which x-box versions cant be modded? or which kernels, er whatever its called...
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adil786 |
Jul 29 2004, 10:24 PM
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#13
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X-S Freak Group: Members Posts: 1088 Joined: 28-May 04 Member No.: 122369 Xbox Version: unk 360 version: unknown |
they all can except 1.6 pal xboxes |
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colt45joe |
Jul 30 2004, 05:55 AM
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#14
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X-S X-perience Group: Members Posts: 302 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 98617 |
so i can buy a brand new x-box (USA) and soft mod it with UDE? |
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welshko |
Aug 4 2004, 09:19 PM
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#15
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X-S Member Group: XS-BANNED Posts: 114 Joined: 28-July 04 Member No.: 134077 Xbox Version: v1.0 |
i want to soft mod my xbox but i dont have access to a modded xbox so if som1 can upload the file and post it on the web it would be appreciated. Thanks
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 12th September 2011 - 08:25 AM |