Hey, Wake Up! (softmodding. . Opendash-style!) Options

[zOMG_Xbox_n00b]

Where've you guys been? When I first stumbled upon this I thought it was cool you guys were creating the first legal dashboard. I tried out a beta you guys released some time ago, but wasn't impressed, then when I read you were rewritting from scratch I regained hope. Now, sometime later, i'm back and have seen zero progress.

=S So. .what's the deal? Just make a neat looking, stable, dashboard with some FTP support that can run unsigned xbe's, and you can pretty much call it quits, if you wanna go the extra mile, then please create a softmod installer (through SpinterCell, MechAssault, or 007 Agent Under Fire) that sets up OpenDash.

Is it really easier said than done? Or perhaps you guys don't have the time to bother? Or maybe it's just a lost cause. .

[friedgold]

Now, sometime later, i'm back and have seen zero progress.

Have you taken a look at this thread? You can download and compile the source for the d0wnlab's rewrite. It's a big improvement over the beta that was previously released. There are some notes on what I needed to do to compile the OpenXDK and OpenDash here. So while there is no new binary release there is certainly progress from a few months ago.

Is it really easier said than done? Or perhaps you guys don't have the time to bother? Or maybe it's just a lost cause. .

Everything so far has been put together by one person - d0wnlab (Tom). I think suggesting he can't be bothered because he doesn't make releases as often you'd like isn't fair - he's put a lot of work into OpenDash. I'm sure we'll see a binary release in due course.


This post has been edited by friedgold: Dec 7 2005, 09:29 PM

[d0wnlab]

thanks friedgold, you pretty much said what I have to say

Is it really easier said than done?

yes .

A big issue is time right now. I'm a fulltime university student. Plus, OpenXDK is not always very stable. Combined with different Xbox versions, it is hard to make a completely stable dash. I've dedicated, hrm.. probably ~100+ hours into the new version of OpenDash, and friedgold has spent time making a custom linux build. As he mentioned I have released progress updates as I reached milestones.

You haven't seen an xbox build yet for a couple reasons:

- I don't have a complete skin. A complete skin has support for progress bars, questionboxes and dialog boxes.

- there are still some bugs that make me reluctant to release this as an xbox binary. However, I suppose at least the people whose xboxes work well with the program could benefit from it's release. So.. I guess it could be released with a couple bugs still.

So... get me a complete skin (supports all features that skin1 in the OpenDash CVS supports.. if you don't know what these are PM me or reply here) and I will happily release an xbox build before the 22nd.

[bucko]

Some people have life's ya know. People work on this stuff in there free time and give it away for free. The only way to respect that is to not be a selfish git (don't take that offensively).

[blaize]

could you explain a bit about the CVS ?
i'm no good at coding/scripting, but i know my way around photoshop.

So if you can provide me with some basic graphics, i can make it all look allot more fancy.

[d0wnlab]

blaize:

Try downloading the windows build from this thread:

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=454737

From there, try modifying the files in the skin directory.. if you want just change the graphics files in the skin1 directory.. if you want to use any of the files from the skin2 directory you should check with Pred@tor first since they're his creation.

if you want to modify the actual way that the skin operates, read the file I wrote up:

http://th0mas.xbox-scene.com/releases/skinning.html

and modify the skin.xml file.

Cheers,
Tom

[vb_master]

I'm wondering if this would make softmodding 100% legal (no illegal files are used)?

[friedgold]

I'm wondering if this would make softmodding 100% legal (no illegal files are used)?

Yes, it would be possible to have a softmod which installed opendash as a dashboard and used no files which infringe on MS's copyright. Stupid laws like the DMCA and EU copyright directive may still make this a legal gray area depending on where you live but it's unlikely MS would try and use those laws given they haven't already for existing softmods.

[vb_master]

Yes, it would be possible to have a softmod which installed opendash as a dashboard and used no files which infringe on MS's copyright. Stupid laws like the DMCA and EU copyright directive may still make this a legal gray area depending on where you live but it's unlikely MS would try and use those laws given they haven't already for existing softmods.

So how would we go about doing this? Can we modify an existing softmod (Ndure, etc) and just inject the new dashboard?

[d0wnlab]

So how would we go about doing this? Can we modify an existing softmod (Ndure, etc) and just inject the new dashboard?

Once the dash is in a proper state that it can run without the help from another, illegal dash. There are a number of factors at play, one of which is a rewrite of about 1/3rd of the current OpenDash code base, others out of my hands, but just be happy the project is still underway, albeit slowly.

Cheers,
Tom