This has got to be one of the most frequently asked questions I've seen on these boards lately. Below are some things that you can do to help insure you have the best experience you can playing your backups. This doesn't cover downloads because you are just asking for trouble by using them to begin with.

1. If your modchip supports it, make sure you are running the latest Xecuter2 bios (4976.02 at the moment). This is a very solid bios and has tons of features.

2. If you are running EvolutionX, make sure it is version 1.8.3285 (as of this writing 05-01-2003). NOTE: This is *NOT* the latest version. EvolutionX 1.8.3752 is severely bugged and will cause problems. Most often when your backup locks up AFTER it loads and starts running (Ie: during the intro, or sometimes even after you get into the game) this is the problem.

3. Patch the media flag before you burn your disc, or upload your game to your hard drive. There are several new programs out which patch the old & the new media flags (CopyHunter's NewXBEPatcher & the new ADR Patcher to name a two). Most often when your backup locks up AFTER you launch, and BEFORE it displays the game intro this is the problem.
MOD EDIT: This is incorrect. When a media check is triggered, the app returns a dirty disc error or kicks you back to the dashboard, depending on what dashboard you're using. The media check won't freeze the game as it is not a bug - it is intentional.

4. If you are burning to a CD-ROM, burn to a CD-RW to ensure compatibility. If you are burning to DVD-ROM, all of the formats should be compatible. No matter which media you choose, make SURE to burn at the SLOWEST possible speed to ensure the best possible burn. Believe it or not, this does make a difference.
MOD EDIT: Aside from the fact that it's CD-R and DVD-R, not CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, the DVD recordable formats do make a difference. It will depend on what drive you're using.

5. Disable *ALL* In Game Resets (IGR's). You can do this for EvolutionX by editing the EVOX.INI file and changing all of the "IGR = Yes" to "IGR = No". This appears several times in the file, make sure you get them all. To disable IGR in the X2_4976.02 bios, simply place an empty file named "x2_IGR_disabled" in the root directory of your E: drive (Ie: "E:x2_IGR_disabled"). While this step is still being argued one way or another whether or not it is necessary, it DOES increase reliability on some systems with some games, so it certainly doesn't hurt. The X2 bios seems to handle IGR better than EvolutionX, but to be safe I disable both.
MOD EDIT: The only EvoX IGR setting that is buggy and interferes with games is the MISC setting. Also, the X2 BIOS doesn't interfere with the gameplay. It will only cause the game to freeze when you actually try to reset.

Following these 5 steps will get your game working 99.9% of the time. Just remember, whether you downloaded your backup, or you copied it yourself using Boxplorer (XBcopy, etc) you CAN get bad backups. Sometimes fixing it is as simple as cleaning your game disc and recopy it.

(Note to moderator: Feel free to make this a sticky. You can also fill in links to recommended software as you see fit, I didn't want to violate any forum rules and wasn't sure which software was okay to link or not).

This post has been edited by Xeero: May 16 2003, 06:46 PM

patching the media flag for Pro Race Driver does not work, I have tried. I updated my EvoX dash and bios and now it works fine. I have not had it lockup once, can you give any links to any reports saying the 3752 dash is buggy?

This post has been edited by hcarlson3: May 1 2003, 08:37 PM

Bump because I still keep seeing people post this question...

What is this *Bump* ing?

I been reading and reading and so far all my questions have been answered but I just want to clarify something regarding patching games.

I have taken a backup copy of a game on to the xbox's HD and it runs, does this mean it does not need patching or is it only needed when it's read from the DVD?

When I burn a copy to disk, EvoX sees it as a game, boXplorer reads the files but when I attempt to play the game it hangs the box.

I've also done point 5. and looked for the following hex string but it's not in either the xbe or the iso
74 4B E8 CA FD FF FF 85 C0 7D 06 33 C0 50 50 EB 44 F6 05

I'm running
Xecuter 2 Lite bios 4976.02
EvolutionX 1.8.3285 although I have tried higher
The game is Serious Sam

Thanks

I been reading and reading and so far all my questions have been answered but I just want to clarify something regarding patching games.

I have taken a backup copy of a game on to the xbox's HD and it runs, does this mean it does not need patching or is it only needed when it's read from the DVD?

When I burn a copy to disk, EvoX sees it as a game, boXplorer reads the files but when I attempt to play the game it hangs the box.

I've also done point 5. and looked for the following hex string but it's not in either the xbe or the iso
74 4B E8 CA FD FF FF 85 C0 7D 06 33 C0 50 50 EB 44 F6 05

I'm running
Xecuter 2 Lite bios 4976.02
EvolutionX 1.8.3285 although I have tried higher
The game is Serious Sam

Thanks

Just though I should mention that if you use the menus to disable all
the IGRs in Evox, you need to reboot the xbox.

okay, I backed up wolfenstien, brute force,rf2. I have two xbox's. On my v1.1 extender with phillips drive these backups work great, no problems at all, however my v1.0 x2 thompson box it gets usually half way through the game and eats crap. I'm assuming I might have missed a flag somewhere or perhaps the media (princo4x) might be causing the fault. I have tried different bioses and desktops to no avail. I am stumped, could it be the reader or are the media flags still causing the problem.

By the way the error is always in the same exact places and always disc dirties. If it helps in wolfenstien it locks up after killing the big zombie that throws souls at you, rf2 just starting up a new game, matrix in a part crossing a bridge, and brute force at a part after getting all your characters.

anyone else seeing the same probs, I wanted to post it on this thread since its so hard filtering through the rest.

To all moderators and respected posters:
way to go, this forum is the first and last place i ever have to look for anything regarding xbox modding. I was having this problem with the xbox just rebooting, and you guys fixed that quick... without me having to post an annoying question followed by 8 ppl asking me for the details. It is you guys who see these questions everyday and have the brains to make a sticky post that quickly solves the problems.

This is the best forum i have ever had the priveledge of subscribing to.
Thanks for you help and keep up the great work.
Jiggm

i have now the problem of :
disc is dirty.....

how can that be ???
it is moto gp i can play everything but not the training
please help

i did a xbe patch and it worked

If anybody is putting lables on their disks take them off my games worked fine and then I put cd labels on them and none of them would work so I took them off and no more problems why I don't know maybe somebody has a answer

bdigz: I have the same problem on a couple of my xbox games, and I'm using v1.0 thomson as well. The game will work up until a certain point, then it will give the dirty disk error. I would also like to know whats wrong, and how to fix this.