This is a mod to add the Media Center Extender button to the Media blade, as it is in actual xbox 360's. For this mod, you will need to have the Media Center Extender program backed up on your xbox or at least in your dvd drive. This button replaces the MC360 Guide button, however I added some options to the Option menu in the Guide Blade which allow you to choose between having the Xbox Media Center Extender button, the MC360 Guide button, or neither. Additionally, I have included a slightly modded keymap for the Media Center Extender Remote. I have changed the "DVD Menu" button to open the Guide Blade instead of the shutdown menu (shutdown menu can still be accessed with the power button at the top of the remote). Also, I the "My TV" button at the top of the remote now launches the Media Center Extender program, instead of opening up the Applications directory. If you do not use the Media Center Extender remote, do NOT copy the keymap.xml file over, remove it before transfering. It is in the UserData folder.

There may also be some small things you need to edit before transfering if you keep XBMC or the Media Center Extender programs in different locations than I have it set up for. I have included a document titled "Read Me!" which I believe has everything you need to know. I would suggest reading this first, especially if you don't own the media center extender Remote, because there will be things you need to change before copying everything over. This mod is intended for use with the August 9th build of MC360. I have not tried it with any older builds, but I will probably keep this fairly updated with future builds since I plan to use this myself

Let me know if you experience any bugs or problems, or if you have any suggestions. Enjoy!





http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J2JT1QAX

Sorry guys, I guess my original pics didn't work. Here goes my second try....

Small update due to retarded oversight on my part. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QUATMQCU

timdog82001,

thanks for doing this. i think people will enjoy this little add-on.

Ok, another update. This will probably be the final version, aside from updating it along with new MC360 releases. The original version actually had a MS logo in it, this one has a custom made logo, compliments of Rocky5, so there can be no argument about copyright issues. I doubt there would have been an issue with the first one anyway, but just in case....

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UFOTH1QS

If anybody has some suggestions or criticism, I'd be happy to hear both.

Also, for those of you inquiring about where you can get your hands on the Media Center Extender, your best bet is eBay, since MS no longer makes them. Comes with the computer CD, xbox program, and a nifty remote. And, of course, you have to have Windows XP Media Center Edition on your PC for it to work.

Annnnd one final update. I had forgotten to make the button network aware. Media Center Extender button disappears if you aren't hooked up to the network.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AANENRJW

timdog82001, i was wondering about that! (network aware)

will it go back the "guide" button if not aware?

no, it won't...It wouldn't be terribly hard to make things do that, but most people that have the media center extender program have the media center remote too and in my opinion it's far more convenient to just use a button on the controller to bring up the guide like in my included keymap rather than using that button in the skin. But if you want, i could try to cook up some code to replace stuff in the file to make it do that. But you can always just reenable the MC360 Guide button in the options menu.

timdog82001,

your mod is great as if i admit it would a little "extra" to have this option enabled when it recognizes mce and to have "guide" button when not available, however......you mentioned the "enable MC360 guide button" in the options menu - perhaps the same principle can be used for MCE button?

Would it be possible to add "Enable MCE" in the options for those that would like to benefit from this?

I was just thinking, if you choose the latter option, is there a possibility to have this option "check-able" (in the options menu) once it recognizes MCE in the "apps" folder, or just "greyed-out" / "non-chekable" (in the options menu) when MCE is not present in "apps" folder?

I am just brainstorming ideas, as I am non-familiar with xml coding. Curious, I am.

It's already there. You can see it in the second screenshot i posted i think. Here, here's a link. You can see those screenshots up there right??? Immediately below my first post? http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=22817274759wz2.jpg

I cant get my xbox extender to connect to my computer

You do have a media center edition version of windows xp right? You have to install some software included on the cd that came with the xbox media center extender program, or download it from MS's website. I couldn't find my cd, so that's what I had to do. Also, it has to be one of the newer versions of media center on your computer, it can't be the original 2003 or 2004 or whatever it was. However, I don't really know how you can check this, because I think it still shows up as being media center 2002 when you check in my computer, just an updated version, but you can't actually just update from the original version...I dunno, it's kinda weird. All I know is the version of media center i had on my laptop wouldn't work with it and i called up MS and they said you had to buy the newer version. Also, You might have to have update rollup 2, i'm not sure. I'd go check out hte MS website and download any updates listed for windows media center, short of like .net framework and stuff like that, that's not necessary. Anyway, when you get the stuff installed that needs to beinstalled for it to work, there should be a little black box in the task bar called the "resource monitor" and basically has three levels indicating how much processing power you computer is utilizing. Also, I think you have to make sure you go into media center on the PC and get it all set up before attempting to connect from the xbox.

Also, could somebody please verify that they can see the screenshots?

im not sure what the problem is. i have did everything you said. i'll post a screen shot in a while.

I am able to execute the extender program using your modification...Nice job

However, once I am through with media center how do I go back to xbmc

I use to just click on the online button on my remote...However since the XboxMediaCenter.xml is no longer used how does it know where to go back???

to be honest I didn't know there was any way at all to go back to xbmc since it's just like being in a game, aside from IGR. You were able to before? And what "online button" are you refering to??

Rocky5 requested a screenshot of the image he made to see how it looked on the tv, so I'm posting another screenshot for him and you all to see. It's hard to see a big difference in this screenshot, but it does look a lot cleaner on the tv

nice!

timdog82001, thanks for the reply regarding the "mce" button in "options menu" - i couldn't see your images below first post. nice touch!

darn, you guys can't see those?? what the heck...i can see them, even after clearing my cookies and making sure i'm not somehow logged in somewhere or something

Here's a screenshot of the options menu then, since you said you couldn't see the others. Can you see the screenshot I posted at the top of this page though??? And this one, for that matter?

timdog82001, this one and the one above i see - i was referring to the originals. my apologies for the confusion. i do the second set you put up, and i failed to see those in detail. thanks for reposting. much appreciated. and it looks great!

ah ok, I'm glad you like the mod. Have you gotten the xbox to connect with the pc yet?

is there a way to do this without mce? with xp pro or home?

I'm afraid not. This program works only with the Media Center Edition version of windows. If you're interested in purchasing a copy of media center edition of windows, you can find it at www.newegg.com for like 100 bucks or so. If you decided to that and you don't already have a tv tuner, you would have to make sure the tv tuner is compatible with MCE...You can find a list on MS's website i believe.

Ok, so I guess I lied about the final update thing. This one probably really will be the last though, until another mc360 comes out. I might release a version for those of you using XBMC Live too. I recently added this mod to my collection so I already have all the files modded. Let me know if you're interested.

Anyway, all I've changed is I reproportioned the icon a bit (I had stretched it out a bit too much) and changed the description to match the xbox 360 exactly (I altered this originally since I didn't think you could actually access "On-demand Movies" with the original xbox extender, but i figured out you actually can, so i changed the description back. Nothing really worth updating here unless you REALLY want it as close to the 360 as possible, but people just finding this should download this rather than the earlier ones, as it's a bit sleeker and truer to the 360.

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O4BRRU1V

the only prob im haveing is the icon doesnt show up it says media center but no icon next to it, that and i still cant get the media center to connect but ill get it to if it kills me

well got it to connect still no icon

if any one else can't connet try this worked for me htp://sig9.com/node/110

There should have been a file titled media_center_extender.png in the XBMC -> skin -> MC360 -> Media folder. Make sure this file made it to your xbox and it should show up. If somehow I managed to leave that file out of the rar, let me know and I'll upload another copy.

EDIT: nevermind, I just realized a problem with the Home.xml file. I'll upload another version in a few minutes.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9B84HWA6

Here is the new mod. For some reason something I fixed in the first update got changed back. I also tweaked the icon a bit more, I think it's perfect finally and will leave it alone from now on haha.

FOR XBMC LIVE USERS:

I modified my Media Center Extender mod to work with you guys.

Also, I added a Radar button mod in the weather window. You can read about it in the ReadMe.txt file included. If you don't want this mod, it is easily removed by simply deleting the MyWeather.xml file before transfering onto the xbox.

You can find the current NON xbmc live version of the media center extender mod here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9B84HWA6

And you can find the XBMC Live version of the Media Center Extender mod here (includes Radar Button Mod):

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NQF5146Q

thanks man i was just working on mixing them almost had it and you already did it thanks hey does any body know can you have 2 xboxs connect to 1 media center pc

thanks for the updates, timdog82001

(to the theme music of blankety blank)

Bumpedy bump bumpedy bump bumpedy bump

ta ta ta

bump-edy BUMP

any possibly chance this could be updated, pretty please!

right i have MCE for my xbox it is chipped, but ever since it was chipped the MCE would not work for no apparent reason it just wont connect? does anyone else have this problem?

thx

yeah I can post an update. I was going to wait until 1.0 was released, but I can post an update if there's interest. About mce working on chipped xboxes, the chip should have absolutely no effect on mce. If you can run games off disc on your xbox, you should be able to run mce flawlessly. I'd try maybe uninstalling the mce stuff from your computer and then reinstalling it, and going through setup again, or something like that maybe.

i thought not, but ive done that already i never ask for help unless im out of ideas, it tells me that i have a network problem or there could be too much traffic so i plugged it out of my router and directly into my pc but it still says the same thing!!! oh well might as well just get rid, thx anyway.

You probably done it already, but maybe going to device manager and unistalling your network card. Reboot. then install it again might do the trick, that worked on a 'could not connect' problem i had with Orb.

Just an idea

And thank you for giving this mod a look over