SOFTMOD VS HARDMOD
David Méndez
Where can I find a tutorial and the software to make a softmod.
thank you.
David.
Grinder
> What is the difference between sofmod and hardmod, pros.
A softmod is a modification to the software of a system only. A hardmod
alters or adds hardware.
> Where can I find a tutorial and the software to make a softmod.
http://xbox-scene.com/xbox-tutorials.php?p=151|#151
Some of the stuff in that list is fairly dated. I would recommend the
Krayzie's UXE softmod installer--it's painless and has worked for me
everytime.
brianlanning
The black art of xbox mods. It was a great book, everything you need
to know about hardware mods complete with pictures. It won't include
any of the software though, a lot of which is illegal. But it does tell
you what software you need. You'll most likely need to get that from
either a bittorrent or irc.
I didn't mess with the soft mods since the hardware mod was so easy.
brian
Sammy "The Bull" Gravano
"David Méndez" <davigr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:43b35...@x-privat.org...
That is a tough one. I know the difference between a SOFTON vs HARDON, but
you did not ask about that.
-Sammy
David Méndez
But what are the advantages of hardmod? they cost aprox US$50. Are they
quicker?
I can't find 007, MA or splinter original games where I live. I know that
exist a way to mod xbox without using this original games but it needs
hardware modifications, where can I find this method tutorial ?
PBL, NKP and UXE are softmod's ? which one is the best? Do all of them work
with the last XBOX version?
David.
"Grinder" <gri...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote in message
news:e3Jsf.663860$_o.285028@attbi_s71...
Grinder
> thank you!!
>
> But what are the advantages of hardmod? they cost aprox US$50. Are they
> quicker?
They are safer.
If something goes wrong with the software on a softmodded machine, you
may be out of luck -- the machine won't boot and you have no way to
remedy the situation.
With a hardmod, if it's a newer generation chip, you can "boot" to the
chip and use its functions (like its FTP server) to try to resolve the
problem.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Another factor the softmod: You will need to get a specially formed game
save on a memory card. That game save is used to exploit a flaw in the
game that uses it, resulting in the crash of the game and the execution
of a 3rd party dashboard, or a softmod installer.
The problem comes in getting that stuff on the memory card. It's easy
to do with a machine that is already modded (hard or soft,) but without
one, you'll need specialty hardware. I haven't done it so I'm not sure
if you'll need to special memory card port to hook up to your PC, or if
you can just build a memory card to USB adapter. In either case, you'll
likely spend some money that could be applied to a modchip.
> I can't find 007, MA or splinter original games where I live. I know that
> exist a way to mod xbox without using this original games but it needs
> hardware modifications, where can I find this method tutorial ?
For the softmod, you'll absolutely need a stamped copy of one of those
games, as far as I know. The "Platinum Hits" version of Splinter Cell
works, but I don't know about re-releases of the other titles. (I've
heard conflicting reports about 007, and nothing about Mech Assault.)
You might be able to find a copy of those games being clearanced at a
local game rental shop. Again, you're spending money that could be sunk
into a modchip.
> PBL, NKP and UXE are softmod's ? which one is the best? Do all of them work
> with the last XBOX version?
UXE does, and I recommend it. There were a lot of provisional softmods,
but I think that UXE has sort of come down as the final word. You have
to make sure that your dashboard is updated to the latest version, but
it should work on any xbox. If you do attempt to make the softmod, read
the instructions twice before you do anything.
All said, I think that if this is your first mod, a hardmod is the way
to go. Additionally I would recommend that you get a chip that sports
an FTP server, as it makes everything so much easier--if you have a PC
with a NIC card, that is.
Unknown
> David Méndez wrote:
> > thank you!!
> >
> > But what are the advantages of hardmod? they cost aprox US$50. Are
> > they quicker?
>
> They are safer.
>
> If something goes wrong with the software on a softmodded machine,
> you may be out of luck -- the machine won't boot and you have no way
> to remedy the situation.
LOL @ Bullshit!
Look dweeb.
If you own a PS2 the software is installed on a memory card, you simply
take that memory card out of the PS2 and viola back to normal. You can
also reformat the card. Hell, you don't even need to mod the console.
Just get a swapmagic disk and slide card.
As for Xbox, it's the same principle although a bit more difficult to
revert. You still aren't worrying about fucking up the modchip
installation by burning something up with a solder iron. You are still
paying far less money doing a softmod.
"If you want to play Xbox Live or you just want things back to factory
settings, you will need to restore the Microsoft dashboard by selecting
the "Restore Dashboard" saved game under the Campaign menu in
MechAssault" -http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~ranma1/reverse.html-
Grinder
> Grinder wrote:
>
>
>>David Méndez wrote:
>>
>>>thank you!!
>>>
>>>But what are the advantages of hardmod? they cost aprox US$50. Are
>>>they quicker?
>>
>>They are safer.
>>
>>If something goes wrong with the software on a softmodded machine,
>>you may be out of luck -- the machine won't boot and you have no way
>>to remedy the situation.
>
> LOL @ Bullshit!
I'll elaborate.
If you're installing a softmod and something goes wrong, mid-process:
the power goes out, disk/file corruption, or some other low probability
event, your system could be left in a state where it would not properly
boot.
Since you're in the mood to educate, perhaps you know something about
the bootstrap. For UXE, is an attempt made to load the virtual BIOS if
have a factory game disc in the drive? ie, If there was some problem
with that BIOS overlay, could you get around it by firing up the game
disc that you originally exploited to execute the installer/uninstaller?
It's probably just because I don't have as clear of a view of the
softmodding process as I do for wiring in a modchip, but the operations
for the latter appear to be more atomic, and therefore recoverable in
the event one step fails.
> If you own a PS2 the software is installed on a memory card, you simply
> take that memory card out of the PS2 and viola back to normal. You can
> also reformat the card. Hell, you don't even need to mod the console.
> Just get a swapmagic disk and slide card.
Great. I'm very happy with HDLoader/HDAdvance solutions for the PS2. I
thought it was a bit past reasonable to suggest to David that he rewire
his Xbox as a PS2.
> As for Xbox, it's the same principle although a bit more difficult to
> revert. You still aren't worrying about fucking up the modchip
> installation by burning something up with a solder iron. You are still
> paying far less money doing a softmod.
That is, in my mind at least, an unresolved issue. Maybe you can expand
upon your thoughts here as well.
Assuming that you have a PC, you'll need these things for a softmod:
* An exploitable game ($10-$20)
* A memory unit ($20)
* A means of connecting the memory unit to your pc ($5)
Perhaps David already has these things. If not, he'll be spending
upwards of $30, conservatibely, to obtain them. That's approaching the
cited $50 he's considered spending on a modchip. So, given
availability, you probably would spend less money on a softmod--but not
*far* less.
As for soldering, it would be fair to point out that he needs an iron,
and would have to spend $5 on one if he has no other resource. I didn't
think that soldering a v6 was all that difficult, but will concede that
might not be someone else's opinion.
One other point left unmentioned is the difficulty involved in upgrading
a disk drive on a softmodded machine. If you have access to a
hardmodded machine, especially one with a newer generation chip, it's no
big deal to prepare the new drive and copy the partitions from the old
one.
Without a hardmodded machine, it's my understanding that you have to
resort to hotswapping drives--a risky and inconvenient procedure at
best. Again, if you've done this and I'm casting a poor impression of
what's involved, please benefit the discussion with your experience.
> "If you want to play Xbox Live or you just want things back to factory
> settings, you will need to restore the Microsoft dashboard by selecting
> the "Restore Dashboard" saved game under the Campaign menu in
> MechAssault" -http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~ranma1/reverse.html-
Yep, both soft and hard modded machines are relatively trivial to
"restore" to the factory state for Xbox Live. No problems there, but
it's worth mentioning that a hard drive upgrade can get you busted. If
you've been on xbox live with your stock hard drive, DO NOT go back on
with a drive replacement. Apparently they have been, if not are
currently, checking disk ids.
Smoke
> I'll elaborate.
>
> If you're installing a softmod and something goes wrong, mid-process:
> the power goes out, disk/file corruption, or some other low probability
> event, your system could be left in a state where it would not properly
> boot.
>
> Since you're in the mood to educate, perhaps you know something about
> the bootstrap. For UXE, is an attempt made to load the virtual BIOS if
> have a factory game disc in the drive? ie, If there was some problem
> with that BIOS overlay, could you get around it by firing up the game
> disc that you originally exploited to execute the installer/uninstaller?
Yes its possible to recover all since the xbox WILL boot the original
game no matter whats on the C drive. As the exploit is already on the
box (transferred from mem card) its easy to try it again and again and
again.....
> It's probably just because I don't have as clear of a view of the
> softmodding process as I do for wiring in a modchip, but the operations
> for the latter appear to be more atomic, and therefore recoverable in
> the event one step fails.
I've been softmodding for years now and i havent encountered any serious
problems. Also, IF you totally screw up, you can ALWAYS chip the machine
and use a HD setup disc to setup the HD again.
> Assuming that you have a PC, you'll need these things for a softmod:
>
> * An exploitable game ($10-$20)
> * A memory unit ($20)
> * A means of connecting the memory unit to your pc ($5)
>
> Perhaps David already has these things. If not, he'll be spending
> upwards of $30, conservatibely, to obtain them. That's approaching the
> cited $50 he's considered spending on a modchip. So, given
> availability, you probably would spend less money on a softmod--but not
> *far* less.
I would say game $15, mem card $10 and cable $5 . Thatsa whopping $30
indeed BUT you can hack more than 1 box with it. I've had the 007 and
mem card for a few years now and it made me plenty of $$ so far.
> As for soldering, it would be fair to point out that he needs an iron,
> and would have to spend $5 on one if he has no other resource. I didn't
> think that soldering a v6 was all that difficult, but will concede that
> might not be someone else's opinion.
Soldering is easy enough IF you have the skills for it. V6 is the most
easy one indeed as all the points are pre-soldered. Trying a lower
version without soldering skills might be somewhat hard as D0 is usually
coated with some protective stuff. Kill D0 and you kill the xbox.
> One other point left unmentioned is the difficulty involved in upgrading
> a disk drive on a softmodded machine. If you have access to a
> hardmodded machine, especially one with a newer generation chip, it's no
> big deal to prepare the new drive and copy the partitions from the old one.
True
> Without a hardmodded machine, it's my understanding that you have to
> resort to hotswapping drives--a risky and inconvenient procedure at
> best. Again, if you've done this and I'm casting a poor impression of
> what's involved, please benefit the discussion with your experience.
True again. Your views on the subject are quite clear.
>> "If you want to play Xbox Live or you just want things back to factory
>> settings, you will need to restore the Microsoft dashboard by selecting
>> the "Restore Dashboard" saved game under the Campaign menu in
>> MechAssault" -http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~ranma1/reverse.html-
>
>
> Yep, both soft and hard modded machines are relatively trivial to
> "restore" to the factory state for Xbox Live. No problems there, but
> it's worth mentioning that a hard drive upgrade can get you busted. If
> you've been on xbox live with your stock hard drive, DO NOT go back on
> with a drive replacement. Apparently they have been, if not are
> currently, checking disk ids.
>
Never tried LIVE. I always play online via xlink KAI and thats good
enough for me. Free and all system link games work.
Smoke
Eric Johnson
>Yep, both soft and hard modded machines are relatively trivial to
>"restore" to the factory state for Xbox Live. No problems there, but
>it's worth mentioning that a hard drive upgrade can get you busted. If
>you've been on xbox live with your stock hard drive, DO NOT go back on
>with a drive replacement. Apparently they have been, if not are
>currently, checking disk ids.
I have a question about this: Can you clarify if by going on Xbox
Live you mean signing on with an actual Xbox Live screen name, or just
connecting your Xbox to a network and clicking the "Connect" button?
I recently modded an Xbox, and before I opened it up and such, I was
trying to get a D-Link wireless gaming adaptor to work with it. I
eventually got the settings figured out and when I hit "Connect' the
Xbox got an IP address and it said all was connected, but I never did
anything else as far as actually going on to the Live service. Since
then I have installed a modchip and replaced the hard drive. I'm
hoping this means that I could signup for Live if I wanted (with the
chip disabled of course) and be okay.
Thanks for any info.
Eric