Couple Of General Mod Questions Options

[xflbret]

OK, now that development has (very sadly) slowed to a near-stop for the Xbox 1, please allow me to ask the following questions from this perspective (as I don't plan on ceasing using my Xbox 1's until the 360 is cracked to the same level as the Xbox 1 has been.)

Here's my current situation...

I have two xboxes. Both are 1.6. Both are softmodded with Krayzie's Ndure 1.1.1 (I think that's what it's called. Been a while) which was done via the SC exploit. My flagship has a IDE 400GB, with an F and G partition. The other has a 200GB IDE with just the F partition. I run XBMC has my default dash on both, and update with the latest build every so often.

I'm experiencing no problems. In fact, I think they're great. But, being a curious IT for a living, I'm always wondering if I can do better than I already am. Hence, this post.

As you read these questions, please bear in mind I have zero interest in participating in Xbox Live now or in the future (as if there's anyone on there anyway for the Xbox 1...)

1. At this point, is there anything at all that a chipped Xbox can do that a softmodded Xbox can not?

2. What's the deal with Hard Drives >400GB? Can we use them or not? I've read things saying yes and no, and am having a difficult time making up my own mind. I've read that if you go bigger than 400 the cluster sizes get too large and it affects stability. I've read too many horror stories about IDE to SATA converters so I'm not even going to attempt to use a SATA HDD at this point.

3. Is there a way to have XBMC on the C drive and nothing else?

4. I've only modded via the SC exploit. Is there some way to flash the existing on-board bios with a modded bios without the use of a soldering iron or screwdriver? (I guess this is called the TSOP. Not really sure what TSOP means). I've read mention of something along these lines via a 007 exploit but what I read wasn't very clear.

Thanks in advance. I'm elated to see this community still here...and new posts!

[obcd]

1. With a chipped xbox, you can alter the flubber animation. You can also remove the dvd drive.
It's also easier to recover as the xbox can boot a rescue cd, even with a blank harddisk in the xbox.

2. You can use harddisk bigger than 400GB. It is hard to find an ide drive with a capacity over 320GB.
There was a problem with older biosses that limited the size to 137GB due to LBA 32 adressing. Most modern biosses and softmods use LBA48 now.
There also is an issue with partitions bigger than 256GB. You need to format them with the xbpartionner program that is capable of formatting with a 32KB cluster size. All other dashboards use the default 16KB cluster size. When the harddisk reaches the 256GB barrier, the file allocation table overflows, and files and folders start to dissapear from the partition. Ik you double the cluster size, you half the entries in the FAT so that you are save till 512GB.

3. That's possible with a modchip or a tsop flash. A softmod needs a functional M$dash that it exploits. Most off the stuff on your C are related to that M$dash.

4. The 007 exploit is also a gamesave exploit like the SC exploit, but for another game.
The TSOP refers to a specific chip housing. As the mobo flash chip of a xbox is housed in a TSOP, they refer to it as the TSOP flash. 1.6 xboxes can't be TSOP flashed. Other xboxes usually require to bridge a couple of links before you can program the mobo TSOP. There is no way to do this without opening the xbox. SOme people say you can use a pencil to bridge the points, but I still believe soldering is the most reliable way to connect 2 points to each other. (If you know how to do it.
TSOP flashing always has a small risk of bricking your xbox.

regards.

[1hotjob]

I gave up on the larger HDs for my personal Xboxes. I have a server to stream all of my videos music and pictures.

That may be a better option for you as you have your data in one location that all can access.

From my standpoint. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. If you are happy with how things are running, stay that way.

[xflbret]

1. With a chipped xbox, you can alter the flubber animation. You can also remove the dvd drive.
It's also easier to recover as the xbox can boot a rescue cd, even with a blank harddisk in the xbox.

I'm not sure what the flubber animation is. I've never tried to remove the dvd drive, but I'm intrigued to see whether or not it would work with the softmod. I use my xbox as my dvd player so I'm not really interested in parting with that part of the xbox anyway. As to the emergency situation recovery...I guess that's why I was the most tempted. Fortunately for myself I possess the skills to get out of that bad situation should it arise with the current setup.

I guess my primary interest in this is I understand that using a chip mod as opposed to a softmod frees up a little more memory. But I was really interested in just seeing what I was missing

2. You can use harddisk bigger than 400GB. It is hard to find an ide drive with a capacity over 320GB.
There was a problem with older biosses that limited the size to 137GB due to LBA 32 adressing. Most modern biosses and softmods use LBA48 now.
There also is an issue with partitions bigger than 256GB. You need to format them with the xbpartionner program that is capable of formatting with a 32KB cluster size. All other dashboards use the default 16KB cluster size. When the harddisk reaches the 256GB barrier, the file allocation table overflows, and files and folders start to dissapear from the partition. Ik you double the cluster size, you half the entries in the FAT so that you are save till 512GB.

I gave up on the larger HDs for my personal Xboxes. I have a server to stream all of my videos music and pictures.

That may be a better option for you as you have your data in one location that all can access.

What might be my favorite thing about the modded xboxes is the ability to play games without the disc. You install it once and that's it. I LOVE that. What's annoying is the separate F and G drives. One big partition would make it cleaner and just more manageable. If I make any changes at this point, it would be this. As to the streaming...yeah, that's my preference now, also. Not just for the space, but for the fact that I now have an Xbox in each TV in my home, and one copy of each movie is much easier than four. So, 32k cluster size. Got it. Thanks!

3. That's possible with a modchip or a tsop flash. A softmod needs a functional M$dash that it exploits. Most off the stuff on your C are related to that M$dash.

Hmmmm....I was afraid you'd say that. Oh, well. I currently have XBMC on my E:\dashboard directory. I'm going to see if there's room in C to just stuff it in there. If not then it's not a huge deal to me. Just looking to be more efficient.

4. The 007 exploit is also a gamesave exploit like the SC exploit, but for another game.
The TSOP refers to a specific chip housing. As the mobo flash chip of a xbox is housed in a TSOP, they refer to it as the TSOP flash. 1.6 xboxes can't be TSOP flashed. Other xboxes usually require to bridge a couple of links before you can program the mobo TSOP. There is no way to do this without opening the xbox. SOme people say you can use a pencil to bridge the points, but I still believe soldering is the most reliable way to connect 2 points to each other. (If you know how to do it.
TSOP flashing always has a small risk of bricking your xbox.

I'm a butcher with a soldering iron. From the way you make it sound, as well as other stuff I tried to read and didn't really absorb, this seems like more trouble than it's worth. Since my two best boxes are 1.6, it doesn't seem as if it's even possible anyway. Again, just looking to free up a little memory, as well as the space of not needing the M$ dash anymore. But, again, not a huge deal.

From my standpoint. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. If you are happy with how things are running, stay that way.

This is good advice, and since i'm happy for the most part, I'll take this advice...for the most part. I'm always looking to do better though. And, I'm in for the long haul. When the 360 is cracked to this level I'll make upgrades, but it seems as if that's at least a year or two away, minimum...

Thanks so much for the responses gentlemen!

[1hotjob]

Don't move the dash files. The softmod is set up to look for files in certain areas. You won't free up that much space. If anything, you could move XBMC there and have the dash look for it in the C:\Apps or C:\XBMC folder.

If you use the SHORTCUT by TEAM UIX.xbe and SHORTCUT by TEAM UIX.cfg to make XBMC the default dash, make sure you edit the default.cfg file to reflect where you put XBMC.

Again, if it isn't broke......

[HiTMaN-239]

I'm not sure what the flubber animation is. I've never tried to remove the dvd drive, but I'm intrigued to see whether or not it would work with the softmod. I use my xbox as my dvd player so I'm not really interested in parting with that part of the xbox anyway. As to the emergency situation recovery...I guess that's why I was the most tempted. Fortunately for myself I possess the skills to get out of that bad situation should it arise with the current setup.

I guess my primary interest in this is I understand that using a chip mod as opposed to a softmod frees up a little more memory. But I was really interested in just seeing what I was missing
What might be my favorite thing about the modded xboxes is the ability to play games without the disc. You install it once and that's it. I LOVE that. What's annoying is the separate F and G drives. One big partition would make it cleaner and just more manageable. If I make any changes at this point, it would be this. As to the streaming...yeah, that's my preference now, also. Not just for the space, but for the fact that I now have an Xbox in each TV in my home, and one copy of each movie is much easier than four. So, 32k cluster size. Got it. Thanks!
Hmmmm....I was afraid you'd say that. Oh, well. I currently have XBMC on my E:\dashboard directory. I'm going to see if there's room in C to just stuff it in there. If not then it's not a huge deal to me. Just looking to be more efficient.
I'm a butcher with a soldering iron. From the way you make it sound, as well as other stuff I tried to read and didn't really absorb, this seems like more trouble than it's worth. Since my two best boxes are 1.6, it doesn't seem as if it's even possible anyway. Again, just looking to free up a little memory, as well as the space of not needing the M$ dash anymore. But, again, not a huge deal.
This is good advice, and since i'm happy for the most part, I'll take this advice...for the most part. I'm always looking to do better though. And, I'm in for the long haul. When the 360 is cracked to this level I'll make upgrades, but it seems as if that's at least a year or two away, minimum...

Thanks so much for the responses gentlemen!

Hi there, glad to see someone is still pushing the limits of softmods ....... I would recommend a larger drive, I have a 750gb. You combine that with Drivimageutilities and a crap load of ISO games, and you have a nice clean gaming machine. Mounting ISO games on the xbox makes me feel special, lol....

I don't think anybody mentioned this, with softmods, YOU MUST have a lockable drive, where with a modchip you don't need it........ Modchip users always made me jealous with their unlocked drives....

Also, sata drives are fun if you want to try your luck, I am gonna push for a 1.5TB sata when I get some time.

cheers,