Scenyx Entertainment Community > Pbl Should Be Fixed

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 02:02 AM

QUOTE

CURRENT STATUS: Ldots and I are the main ones working on this project. He's working on a thin version, I'm working on a fat one, and they will eventually both be included in the same package.

Anyone else who can contribute is welcomed with open arms!

THIN FEATURES (AFAIK):
Much faster than any other PBL release.
Transparent loading.
Extremely small size.
Barebones - does enough to load the BIOS. For those who don't mess around with anything but the main point (which is loading the BIOS.)
No screen corruption (transparent.)
Complete USB compatibility (USB is not used.)

FAT FEATURES (as of BETA 6):
Much faster than any other PBL release.
Size reduced to less than half of the original PBL 1.4.1.
Highly customizable. May choose between several output and loading options, such as keeping the "MS logo," fading, hiding text, or killing output altogether (Conexant).
No screen corruption.
Complete USB compatibility (USB must be explicitly started in order to be used, but there are currently no functions which use it.)

ORIGINAL POST:

QUOTE

This is probably in the wrong forum, but most of us around here use or are familiar with Phoenix Bios Loader. It is problematic for several of us - it had been fine for me until recently when I got a new controller. It seems that with two controllers and the DVD dongle plugged in (I'm just assuming 3 USB devices trigger the problem) PBL stalls on "Starting USB" - this is with PBL 1.4, because I was unable to get version 1.4.1 to work at all. These problems can't have to do with the bios itself, of course; they're problems of PBL itself, and I think they're preventable, because nkpatcher or complex !loader don't have a lot of the problems PBL has. Anyway, I think PBL should be redone - where have the creators been all this time? If the source for the latest version is out, the problems should definitely be fixed. If it's as simple as I imagine, it shouldn't be much more than a snip here and a delete there... After all, why does PBL even need to "start USB?" Is it part of the multiple bios feature, so that it can detect the buttons you press for selection? I don't really get why it needs to do that... but if it didn't have to, it would be good.

.

Yes! This IS a plea post! I plea to anyone to release as much information as they know about PBL, how it works, etc in this topic to assist in fixing it!

Yeah... I'm a newbie in this area. So what? The fact remains that PBL really does need some fixing.

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 02:28 AM

QUOTE

I think PBL should be redone

go for it

as you said "it cant be that hard"

good luck

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 03:08 AM

Any later sources out than 1.3?

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 03:11 AM

CODE

printk("\n\n\n");
printk("Phoenix Bios Loader v1.3.5 INTERNAL!\n");
printk("Official Forums: http://forums.maxconsole.com\n\n");

printk("Starting USB\n");
BootStartUSB();

I wonder what would happen if BootStartUSB was removed (and the line above it of course)...

It's sad, but I don't think I even have the tools to compile a modified source! I could find them, but it would take me a while... I'm slow. So what I'm getting at is that if someone has the latest source for PBL... could they try removing that BootStartUSB? Oh, and the clause about pressing A to enter the selection menu, because like I thought, that's the only time USB is used (I'm pretty sure.)

CODE

printk("Press A now to enter selection menu!\n");
for(i=0;i<entry->timeout;i++)
{
USBGetEvents();
if(risefall_xpad_BUTTON(TRIGGER_XPAD_KEY_A) == 1)
{
Dash();
break;
}
}

It seems just crazy enough to work! It wouldn't *fix* PBL, but it might fix at least my problem,

Since when has anyone actually used the selection menu? Hehe... I've wanted to but haven't even been able to figure out how, lol, and it doesn't seem all that useful.

RiceCake

Jun 26 2004, 03:18 AM

Should just remove all that shit, just load the damn BIOS.

Or use nkpatcher, which is much faster anyways

...

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 03:19 AM

yeah go for it, but thats the lazy way

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 03:22 AM

QUOTE (RiceCake @ Jun 26 2004, 05:18 AM)

Should just remove all that shit, just load the damn BIOS.

Or use nkpatcher, which is much faster anyways

...

lol, you probably haven't read my post at the end of nkpatcher... It has issues with me. ROE doesn't work, and there's, of course, no IGR (not that there's supposed to be). Hehe...

I would remove it, but wouldn't it make more sense to find the latest version's source and just remove stuff from that? Like I said, I don't even have some of the header files PBL 1.3.5 needs. (e.g. BootUSB.h)

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 03:24 AM

it's not in 1.4.1 either, maybe it is not needed?

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 03:26 AM

So you have the 1.4.1 source? ... Where? lol...

Um, well, it's one of the includes :-|

*is installing cygwin right now*

EDIT: I wish I knew more about what I was doing. Anyway, it's not "make"ing. Needs imagebld... and some other stuff I'm sure.

EDIT: Apparently PBL was compiled with xbox-linux's xbeboot? Trying to get the files for that now. Anyone can feel free to reveal the location of PBL 1.4.1's source... or just 1.4's source...

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 03:52 AM

xbins

/xbox/bioses/tools/pbl/sources

tha from the top of my head so it isnt 100% accurate

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 03:58 AM

Wow... I really did not see that there before. But I'm getting that source. (Thanks) Hopefully it will be better... and it turns out BootUSB.h was required, but nowhere to be found. I couldn't even find it on google, just BootUSB.c ...

EDIT: Lo and behold! Maybe if I just rename BootUSB.c to BootUSB.h... lol... and then find Hermes.h ...

God! And PBL was trying to boast that they are so great for releasing their source and that it allows for rapid development! Well... where are the headers, I ask them?

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 04:04 AM

see if you can drop someone from the disbanded team on maxconsole a line, so they can hook you up

or alternativly (if you know, or can get a good translation to french) grab a hold of yoshihirro's source (he's obligated due to the GPL)

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 04:08 AM

"Source-Pbl-1.4.1-By-Yoshihiro"

Still several needed files missing that can't seem to be found anywhere exactly... Mainly looking for Hermes.h

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 04:10 AM

as i said, ask yoshihiiro for them

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 04:20 AM

Wasn't that difficult to find them really... in the end I decided to just remove the references to Hermes and USB completely... comment them out anyway... but now it's complaining about simple things like string.h! I think I'm going to need someone with Linux to compile it for me. ... not that that will happen. But anyone with it can feel free to respond

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 04:24 AM

rofl the thing is you'll need all the source files to be from the same version

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 04:38 AM

but they're kind of generic I think... I mean, most of the includes are. ?

It's okay. This project is way beyond me. I'm done with it. Anyone else interested though can pick up on it. Boot.c only needs the removal of lines with the text "USB" in them.

devz3ro

Jun 26 2004, 01:47 PM

Yeah I think its a lost cause. All eyes & effort should be going to the nkpatcher. The code is simplified (if you know assembly) and it boots atleast 110% faster.

-devz3ro

http://sh0x.tk/

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 02:01 PM

I guess so. Besides, I just can't find the correct headers, etc. to compile it correctly... I've been trying for hours. I don't really know assembly... maybe I'll learn. But how does nkpatcher fix ROE? Isn't that a feature of the BIOS?

krayzie

Jun 26 2004, 02:09 PM

I don't suffer from roe with the nkpatcher. Anyway the nkpatcher probably patches the bios that is loaded into memory to fix the roe. That's why it's called nkpatcher

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 02:11 PM

But it doesn't ? I'll spend a few more hours trying to make it work for me then

krayzie

Jun 26 2004, 02:14 PM

well it sure fixes it for me.

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 02:21 PM

I'm thinking maybe it's because I don't have it load *first* ? It's loaded in a chain... loaded through Dual-Habibi. Maybe that's the problem? I noticed something weird, too... I use a different path than C:\evoxdash.xbe so I changed the ASM to reflect that, and at 0x0000171D there's some funky unicode-like text version of the old path, looks like this:

CODE

..D..e..v..i..c..e..\..H..a..r..d...i..s..k..0..\..P..a..r..t..i..t..i..o..n..2..\..e..v..o..x..d..a..s..h.....x..b..e

krayzie

Jun 26 2004, 02:24 PM

well I loaded it as main xbe, as second xbe with tray open and as an app and it fixed the ROE every time.

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 02:28 PM

Ooh, it's part of the patching process... does this mean it's not fully compatible with a path other than C:\evoxdash.xbe ? Maybe this isn't the place to ask that. ... It looks like it only uses that for kernel 4817 anyway.

CODE

mov al,0x5c
stosb
mov al,0x44
stosb
mov al,0x65
stosb
mov al,0x76
stosb
mov al,0x69
stosb
mov al,0x63
stosb
mov al,0x65
stosb

So maybe this means kernel 4817 only works with this path? That snippet from the ASM represents the "\Device" part in hex.

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 02:43 PM

rizza

Jun 26 2004, 04:20 PM

QUOTE (Tomilius @ Jun 26 2004, 04:01 PM)

I guess so. Besides, I just can't find the correct headers, etc. to compile it correctly... I've been trying for hours.

Hermes Graphics Library - http://www.clanlib.org/hermes/

Other missing stuff - http://cvs.xbox-linux.org/viewcvs.py/xbox-linux/cromwell/
(or elsewhere within the Xbox-linux CVS)

There is no separate BootUSB.h in Cromwell; it is all rolled into boot.h (but you could break it out into its own BootUSB.h if you don't need the rest). If you have the .c files, you can can generally recreate the .h files anyway. As you said, I think this project is probably a bit over your head but good luck with it anyway...

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 04:28 PM

i'd use nkpatcher if it had IGR, but until then, i'm sticking with PBL

xecuterbox

Jun 26 2004, 04:54 PM

I use the selection menu 4 multi- dashes and to boot dev boxs and to choose either evox dash or x2 dash

devz3ro

Jun 26 2004, 05:07 PM

QUOTE (Chicken Scratch Boy @ Jun 26 2004, 06:28 PM)

i'd use nkpatcher if it had IGR, but until then, i'm sticking with PBL

agreed.

It is an excellent app and has the potential to surpass PBL. It needs a bit more tweaking obviously (not so much IGR, but possibly going as far as implementing the M7 bios into it since the M7 is a hacked M$ bios). It seems that rmenhal fell into the "real life shit" ditch. Lets hope he gets out sometime soon

-devz3ro

http://sh0x.tk/

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 05:07 PM

ROFL X2 DONESNT MAKE A DASH

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 05:16 PM

What!?! I don't care if nkpatcher gets IGR! You can use that feature with a dash... and grr... nobody cares that ROE doesn't work for me

Just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for everyone

And it's NOT because I don't know what I'm doing this time!

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 05:19 PM

QUOTE (rizza @ Jun 26 2004, 06:20 PM)

Hermes Graphics Library - http://www.clanlib.org/hermes/

Other missing stuff - http://cvs.xbox-linux.org/viewcvs.py/xbox-linux/cromwell/
(or elsewhere within the Xbox-linux CVS)

There is no separate BootUSB.h in Cromwell; it is all rolled into boot.h (but you could break it out into its own BootUSB.h if you don't need the rest). If you have the .c files, you can can generally recreate the .h files anyway. As you said, I think this project is probably a bit over your head but good luck with it anyway...

Thanks, but I'm not so sure all of the files are there... what about fb.h?

Anyway, this is just getting annoying. GCC has a lot of syntax errors not related to missing files and when I try to compile with VS.NET it understands the lines that GCC had trouble with but has its own trouble with others :-| I think I'm using a mixture of sources meant for Windows and sources meant for Linux... or, in this area I can confirm that I don't know what I'm doing.

krayzie

Jun 26 2004, 05:32 PM

QUOTE (devz3ro @ Jun 26 2004, 07:07 PM)

agreed.

It is an excellent app and has the potential to surpass PBL. It needs a bit more tweaking obviously (not so much IGR, but possibly going as far as implementing the M7 bios into it since the M7 is a hacked M$ bios). It seems that rmenhal fell into the "real life shit" ditch. Lets hope he gets out sometime soon

-devz3ro

http://sh0x.tk/

that would really be cool. I don't encounter any major problems with the nkpatcher but I noticed a game (rainbow six 3) that just refuses to load and freezes at the dash's loading screen (either evox or ava). signing or patching the xbe didn't make any difference. the game wouldn't even load without nkpatcher signed and all. Only when running pbl it would play. I hope I don't encounter anymore games that refuse to play.

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 05:38 PM

evox's igr blows

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 05:41 PM

Then don't use EvoX.

I know I'm not the only one starving on a cold, frozen mountaintop due to a lack of a working ROE fix for kernel 4034... so IGR isn't on the top of my wishlist.

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 05:44 PM

it's the only dash wioth IGR and it DOESNT work without the bios to compliment it.... well it doesnt work well...

GJCD

Jun 26 2004, 05:46 PM

QUOTE (krayzie @ Jun 26 2004, 07:32 PM)

that would really be cool. I don't encounter any major problems with the nkpatcher but I noticed a game (rainbow six 3) that just refuses to load and freezes at the dash's loading screen (either evox or ava). signing or patching the xbe didn't make any difference. the game wouldn't even load without nkpatcher signed and all. Only when running pbl it would play. I hope I don't encounter anymore games that refuse to play.

Didn't work for me EURO 2004.

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 06:18 PM

I think the problems I am having are mostly related to the compilers. The GCC I am using is only through cygwin and there are several reports of problems using OpenXDK with VS.NET 2003.

EDIT: OpenXDK isn't even compatible with GCC. ... so turns out I don't need someone with Linux, but someone with MSVS6 or MSVS.Net 2002 that knows what they're doing

Dolfhin

Jun 26 2004, 06:26 PM

Hmm it's a pretty good idea I wonder what would hapen if all the USB/Text stuff was taken out of PBL (it should fix most (if not all) bugs) and the loading time would be shorter to.

Keep up the good work I hope it works.

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 06:38 PM

Thanks Dolfhin, lol, I'm almost positive this will work. I'm just having difficulties with what should be the simplest of thing to do, and that's compiling. In my opinion, the PBL sources released are of extremely poor quality and do not include even close to what is required to compile. Shame on Phoenix!

PedrosPad

Jun 26 2004, 07:07 PM

QUOTE (Tomilius @ Jun 26 2004, 08:38 PM)

Thanks Dolfhin, lol, I'm almost positive this will work. I'm just having difficulties with what should be the simplest of thing to do, and that's compiling. In my opinion, the PBL sources released are of extremely poor quality and do not include even close to what is required to compile. Shame on Phoenix!

Tomilius, the sources you're missing can be found at
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/free-xdk/

BootUSB.h & fb.h can both be found in http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/free...usblib/include/

PBL is an application of the free-xdk.

violent_bong

Jun 26 2004, 07:18 PM

Tomilius, Good work so far, I hope you can get this sorted out and can make a release

I MUST use PBL because otherwise my whole F: drive would be blank with NKPatcher because my f drive is 152gigs

And I have had the same problem with tHc dash not booting, except i was using 2 versions of PBL and the older bios would not load it

I think it might have something to do with new bios patching the .xbe but I'm no expert

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 07:29 PM

QUOTE (PedrosPad @ Jun 26 2004, 09:07 PM)

Tomilius, the sources you're missing can be found at
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/free-xdk/

BootUSB.h & fb.h can both be found in http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/free...usblib/include/

PBL is an application of the free-xdk.

PS. Where the hell is PBL on xbins? - used to know but now can't find it anywhere

Wow! Thank you PedrosPad! I'll look more into this in... uh... soon!

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 07:43 PM

/xbox/bios/tools/pbl

close (names are incorrect, but uou get teh jist, right?)

PedrosPad

Jun 26 2004, 07:46 PM

QUOTE (Chicken Scratch Boy @ Jun 26 2004, 09:43 PM)

/xbox/bios/tools/pbl

close (names are incorrect, but uou get teh jist, right?)

Ta muchly. I'd found it already (via a complete xbins search

) - I was convinced it was under XBOX/apps for some reason.

Tomilius

Jun 26 2004, 07:59 PM

PBL isn't a bios. It's in the wrong category, I know.

Anyway, I've been downloading each file in each folder of that free-xdk one by one. I'm sure there's a better way... but it would take longer to find that way than to do it this way.

PedrosPad

Jun 26 2004, 08:04 PM

QUOTE (Tomilius @ Jun 26 2004, 09:59 PM)

PBL isn't a bios. It's in the wrong category, I know.

Anyway, I've been downloading each file in each folder of that free-xdk one by one. I'm sure there's a better way... but it would take longer to find that way than to do it this way.

free-xdk = 3,137 files, in 369 folders, totalling 17,445,311 bytes.

I'd use a CVS client

.

Sorry, the front door to the free-xdk project is http://sourceforge.net/projects/free-xdk

I downloaded a Win32 CVS client from here http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc....d=1#howtoaccess (I used WinCvs)

Followed the instructions here, http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=99706, for Anonymous CVS Access, and it took about 8 mins to download all of it.

Good luck on your project, by the way.

rizza

Jun 26 2004, 08:21 PM

free-xdk appears to be largely a compilation of sources from the xbox-linux project, with some original stuff. However, the free-xdk sources have not been updated to reflect ongoing development in the xbox-linux/Cromwell sources. In particular, there appear to have been changes to the USB stuff in xbox-linux. It is possible that whatever problem PBL has with the USB devices has been fixed in these newer sources, but you will have to overlay them from xbox-linux onto free-xdk to find out.

Chicken Scratch Boy

Jun 26 2004, 08:30 PM

excellent idea

edit: also adding a config option and and switch for the bootusbstart() or which ever whould add stabilty even more so