HDShadow

What I meant was to show where that particular game folder is located. For instance it might be in E:\Games\Def Jam Fight For NY or a F:\ or G:\ drive location. Then show what is inside that; if there is another folder level ie. E:\Games\Def Jam Fight For NY\Def Jam Fight For NY then that is most likely the problem. I doubt it is this but I've now just seen you have abbreviated the game title on PC to DJFFNY. Was the "default.xbe" XBE name changed to match that game folder name? If not do that (on the Xbox itself)*. Reboot and see what happens when you try launching it again. *With XBMC you change the XBE name not through the file manager, you use the main menu Programs > Games > Game Name folder. On the folder view click the WHITE button to bring up the context menu and you should see the rename XBE option. NB. the "default.xbe" file name must remain unchanged - you're changing the XBE title name ie. how it displays in the games' listing.

Well that definitely looks the same as KaosE's pics of the file/folder content that should be there so the next thing to consider is the actual installation of the game on the Xbox. Mistakes can be made - typically accidentally unpacking or transferring it to an additional level folder or something like that. File manager shots of the location/path where it is installed on the Xbox would help.

Looked at the video now - does not help much. File Manager screenshot(s) of the contents of your DEF Jam Fight for NY folder would help - I'm not seeing any other pics except the one marked as 3 of 4. Still sounds to me that you've installed the wrong version; if it does not match KaosE's earlier post of what the main folder contents for the game should be then that is the problem. Are you actually using a XISO file or is the game installed as 'normal' ie. the actual game files/folders? Lastly, irrelevant to the problem, just curious: what XBMC skin or XBMC variant is that?

Unfortunately I have always had problems with the image host you're using so I cannot see whatever it is you've posted; the site doesn't like either of my browsers, despite one being fully up to date, for some reason. I'll try on a another PC later if somebody else here hasn't provided more advice or a solution before then.

You can't just add a default.xbe to any old bunch of files in a folder and expect it to boot on the Xbox. Just because Xbox games each have a "default.xbe" it is not the same XBE, they're each unique to the game, app, dash or whatever is concerned. Its a good lesson to learn for Xbox users ie. that the name of of the XBE is no indication of its actual function. For instance when a Xbox is softmodded the MS dash XBE "xboxdash.xbe" name is reassigned to another XBE which boots something completely different, usually Xbox Live or an Online Updater, both now redundant. Likewise "evoxdash.xbe" is used as the main dash XBE name post modding whether it is an EvoX main dash or UnleashX or XBMC. It sounds to me like you downloaded either a wrongly made rip of a Xbox game disc or, if there is an ELF in it, KaosE was right and you have mistakenly downloaded the PS2 version of the game. Solution: find another download and make sure it is an original Xbox one.

https://fatxplorer.eaton-works.com/3-0-beta/

Softmodding using exploit/installer game saves has always been considered, and is IMHO, the easiest way of modding a Xbox. You do have to have a working DVD drive and, of course, an original copy of one of the exploitable games along with a softmod installer package of course. Hot-swapping with its inherent danger to the hardware is difficult to do successfully. There is some 'questionable' advice out there about provoking a particular error message which will "unlock the HDD" but the best YT tutorials on hot-swapping make it clear getting the swap point/timing right is not that simple. If it was installing a softmod or fixing errors this way would be a far more popular solution. I have done a successful hot-swap with Xplorer360 but I tried so many times before it worked I was about to give up. Nowadays you're best advised not to to use Xplorer360; if you do successfully unlock the HDD FATXplorer is thing to use. Whilst I've not tried doing this myself my experience with FATXplorer is it is a far more reliable and better tool for getting stuff from PC to a FATX formatted Xbox HDD. Only minor downside is that It does have to be properly installed on the PC rather than, like Xplorer360, used as a 'portable' program.

Almost any installer disc (chip/TSOP options) would have installed the C:\ stock MS dash contents as part of the main dash installation. It does sound as though all the OP must have on C:\ is either just the main UnleashX XBE or.............................like a lot of users, it was originally a softmod and the "C:\xboxdash.xbe", what in the stock Xbox is the MS dash, was reassigned to launch the now redundant Xbox Live or Online Updater. The latter typically causes a blank screen and likewise if a default UnleashX dash was installed as that also uses the same C:\xboxdash.xbe as the MS dash path in the C:\config.xml. I'd bet as the Xbox is 15 years old this was done with AID and may have originally been a SID softmod. Rather than suggest using an AID disc which relies on a working MS dash in E:\Backup\MS clean stock files, as KE recommends, does seems like the most sensible solution. But if the UnleashX dash XBE isn't preserved or re-added (wherever it is) he will find afterwards his main dash is now missing when he enables the chip. Seeing some screen shots of the C:\ and E:\ content first would likely help avoid any such problems.

Apart Burnout what and/or how many other games have this problem because it seems unlikely any user would just have those games or a significant number which are digitally signed? I've never come across anything like this and I've upgraded my HDD on my main games' playing Xbox four times Retail > 120GB > 160GB > 320GB > 1TB. The last time included reinstalling about 50 games to F:\ by FTP including their E:\UDATA and E:\TDATA files from backups on PC. Any cache files in E:\CACHE you may have copied and what about X, Y and Z temporary content? I'd wipe the [b]contents[/b] of those and try booting the problem game(s) again. When you go into the Game Save Manager, assuming your using UnleashX or XBMC, do you see your problem games' saves there as they should be?

The default DDS format that PDN saved in use to work but I think the plugin was updated to provide a wider number of DDS formats and whatever the default one is now doesn't work. As you've discovered the B4G4R4A4 (Linear, A4R4G4B4) is the one to use. I've attached 480x480 PNG copies of both the EvoX dash icons. I'd suggest that whatever main dash you're using you don't use them any bigger than 256x256. I always try to minimize icon sizes as UnleashX has an unwritten total main dash icon size my guess is about somewhere under 100MB. I think it is a memory issue but whatever it is if you exceed that limit some of the icons won't display and it'll affect the dash boot time too. For that reason I use <50KB as my 256x256 icon file size aim point. If you use PDN it has an "Optimised PNG" save file type plugin which can reduce the file size of images with a limited range of colours/textures without much effect on image quality. 256x256 is also ideal for XBMC thumbnails too.

Try Master instead - long ago on a forum far, far away it was reported that sometimes there could be issues if you used Cable Select. No explanation ever offered that I remember just that is what you should use.

All Xbox versions can have a chip fitted, the cheapest and still easily found are the 'Aladdin' XT Plus 2 types but there are others, both old and new that can be found on Amazon/Ebay etc. Once the Xbox is modded by chip, TSOP or softmod you can do almost anything you'll likely want to do with it. Removing some games regional restrictions is not dependent on the modding method. RGB SCART only supports SD resolutions. With the Xbox that means: 480i or 576i. For 480p, unless you're going down the VGA route, the only practical option is a Component cable or Component into a HDMI or similar transcoder/converter. Some PC monitors support Component via VGA, that means with a simple physical VGA to Component adapter you can get 480p, 720p and, possibly 1080i (not recommended in any case). But monitors with such an option are rare. In my actual use of both Component (Official Xbox MS HD Pack and third party) and RGB SCART with a number of Xboxes of many different versions what I said in the previous post holds. But that is just for my system using my uncommon 480p/1080i capable PAL WS CRT. What 480i via Component looks like on a modern flat screen I have no idea. My experience with LCDs and RGB SCART cables is limited to the PS1 and a SD only TV. All you need to know is that 480p is always going to be better than 480i or 576i so do not worry about whether Component or RGB SCART is better when comparing 480i/576i PQ. 99% of the time you're not going to be using either once you've access to the NTSC Xbox's ED/HD display options.

Just finished testing Avalaunch skin "bootimage.png" on a SID/AID softmod and, again, this time they worked no problem as for the chipped machine ie. just copy the skin's "bootimage.png" or your own to the main Avalaunch folder and reboot. Still can't work out why it didn't work before but it certainly does now with both Avalaunch 49.3 v137 and v142. The v137 copy I have has release notes saying it is v137 but that does not always mean anything as often such notes are left in without adding the new release information. I've even come across some Xbox software where the changelog header title is still v.XXX but contains the changelog for more several more recent updates. Avalaunch 49.3 v142, at least the three copies I have checked, downloaded from different sources, don't have release notes or any other way of identifying the version build on the Xbox. But that was the last version AFAIK so chance are that is what most people are using if they have Avalaunch. What matters is that the method described for replacement of the embedded bootimage with an alternative, which could just be a blank one, works in all cases.

I managed to get the bootimage.png working but I'm not sure what I did that was different to what definitely didn't work before. As suggested the bootimage.png needs to be extracted from the skin folder (Avalaunch > media > skins) and put in the main Avalaunch folder ie. alongside the main XBE etc. I have Avalaunch in F:\Apps\Avalaunch but it should work from E:\ too. Reboot or shutdown/restart after its been installed and relaunch Avalaunch again. The new bootimage.png should now be used. This was done on a Xecuter 2.6CE chipped Xbox v1.6 (Evox M8+ BIOS). Avalaunch version I'm not 100% sure. I have it listed as v137, I guess that is v49.3 build 137 but that needs checking. I'll do that and try it on a SID/AID softmodded Xbox again tomorrow.

So they were correct at Xbox-Scene saying the boot icon(s) were embedded in the main XBE. But what isn't explained is what the bootimage.png files are doing in the skins if they can't be used to override those embedded icons. Why are they there? I can't find any information about that and you'd think that if they needed to be extracted somewhere else it would have been added in a note attached to such skins or at least been 'common' knowledge. Has anyone here actually found a way to get them to work? As said, I've tried it both in the skin's own folder and 'loose' in the main Avalaunch folder alongside the main XBE and nothing has worked so far. There's stuff in the notes that accompany Avalaunch and the main configuration file suggesting that the skinning engine was never fully enabled. I'm wondering if this bootimage feature is one of those things that was left unsupported.

I was playing around yesterday with Avalaunch on both a chipped and and softmodded machine and in no case where a skin includes a bootimage.png could I get it to change the bootimage. The one you get with Avalaunch v49.3, a white/cream coloured Avalaunch logo, simply could not be overridden. I tried using JPG and BMP extensions instead, shutting down, rebooting and extracting the "bootimage" file to the Avalaunch main folder. No go, nothing changed. I'll have a look at that E:/TDATA/080299ff location and see if it is populated and what happens if you remove it then try one of those skins with a "bootimage" file or put one of those in there. Getting the anime Santa pic alone to work may not be that simple.

They're well known examples of the games which, when using 480p on a v1.6 Xbox (Xcalibur Video chip) will have display issues if you don't use an appropriate loader. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZzFDJrN7W8 If you're wanting to create a universal HDD ready download set of such games then it would indeed be useful project because the loaders required for the v1.6, once applied, means they will still work on all other Xbox versions too. NB. as Rocky5 points out in that YT video/accompanying notes there are a few games for which there is no known working v1.6 480p loader.

I was told a long time ago, may even have been on the Xbox-Scene forum, that the anime 'Santa' boot image is embedded in the Avalaunch default XBE. No mention was made that I remember there was a way of overriding it or that it was in the skin. However later I did get hold of an archive of Avalaunch skins and indeed some do include a "bootimage.png" in the skin's own folder. I'd assume JPG, BMP and PNG are all supported image file types. What I do not remember is if the anime 'Santa' had a bootimage added to its Default skin or whether, as I was told, it was an embedded icon. Somewhere I must have the Xmas Build 138 or the Default Xmas skin (if that was how it was done) itself but in my Avalaunch archive I've just checked and can't find it. There's a possibility it was on the HDD I forgot to format correctly and lost all of F:\ a couple of years ago and it wasn't backed up to the archive I used to repopulated the HDD after I'd reformatted it properly. Maybe I have it on one of my stored stock softmodded Xboxes HDD but I'd rather not have to hook all those up again to their respective Xboxes just to see if its there. So I too would appreciate it if someone could point to a download location or share it here.

If you want to chip it a v1.6 is more complicated because you have to rebuild the LPC and if you were thinking of TSOPing instead then that is out with a v1.6 because it doesn't have a TSOP chip. Rebuilding the LPC is 'just' a rewiring job and there are plenty of guides and advice available but it'll come down to your solder skills and equipment just how easy or not that is. If you're looking to softmod then the v1.6 is as good as any and, as said, being the final version will be the youngest and, in theory best condition. Otherwise a good condition v1.2/1.3 or v1.4 are my recommendation but mainly that's just due to them being younger than the v1.0 and v1.1. If you do want to keep it stock then those would also be my preference for the same reason too. You can be pretty sure that either a v1.0 or v1.1 Xbox is going to need the clock cap replacement if not already done but other caps will likely be close to their end date too. That can also affect the v1.2 and v1.3 as I found out a few months ago when my least used/least modded virgin Xbox suddenly started misbehaving. All three caps adjacent to the CPU heat sink had started to leak. The use of poor quality caps was apparently not limited to just the clock cap. The Hitachi DVD game disc 'problem' I described is very, very, very, niche. As said I've not had any other games behave like that and otherwise it is without question the most reliable of all the DVD drive types I've used. The Samsung 605B or 605F are good too but you will have tray eject/close issues. It is usually fixable but it is a negative. PQ using RGB SCART which of course is just 576i/480i SD is up for debate whether Xbox version is of any significance. My own observation is that it is not but that maybe specific to my CRT TV and the settings I use. If you adjust the TV picture settings to match, 576i/480i SD via Component is, on my set up, as good as RGB SCART. In short it doesn't matter which you use the PQ is very similar. Whether that will apply to your set up I can't say but good Xbox RGB SCART cables are relatively cheap so you can test that yourself, But I reiterate: your TV picture settings will have to be adjusted significantly to get the two to match. In my experience RGB SCART cables always exaggerate colour and contrast and the Component cable PQ will look wishy-washy in comparison at the same settings.

1). 480p is 60Hz and according to the 480p wiki comes in at least 10 different recognised formats AFAIK but there is is no 480p 50Hz 'PAL' format let alone support for it on the Xbox. '480p'. Xbox WS appears to be 720 x 480p ie. 3:2 not 16:9. 720 x 480p:- My TV does have 576p/50Hz support but although you can apparently force some consoles (GC/Wii) to use it the games don't officially support it and may display with problems if the are forced. But why you'd want to play a game at 50Hz when a 60Hz option is available is another question. Higher resolution ie. the extra, roughly, 100 lines of 576p/576i over 480p/480i is not the only only consideration when talking about PQ. 2). I think what you're asking is whether the PAL Xbox is using PAL60 (NTSC 4.43) or NTSC (NTSC 3.58) - not sure. I'd like a definitive answer on that myself because it has been my suspicion that the claimed "PAL60" mode is actually NTSC 3.58 like the PS2. The only PAL console I know that I'm certain uses PAL60 for 60Hz is the Sega PAL Dreamcast but I wouldn't be surprised if the PAL Sega Saturn did too. 3). No idea. 4). I'd say buy the youngest ie. a v1.6 despite its issues with a couple of dozen games when you use 480p. These are easily resolved in 90% of those cases by using Rocky5's 480p v1.6 script. Clock cap problems are known to be less common with the v1.6s, probably because they are the last and therefore youngest models. That applies to all caps but it will depend on how much use and abuse the particular console has had. The clock cap used in the v1.6s, supposedly, is of better quality. Based on my experience as for the DVD drive in order of preference: Hitachi > Thomson (original model) > Samsung 605B > Samsung 605F > Philips 35/21. There are actually two Philips and, apparently, an earlier Samsung too, I've never owned them or the later Thomson either. Too many 'top' DVD drive tables only seem to be concerned with media compatibility - doesn't bother me. If you use DVD-R which are still easily found worldwide it is the only universal disc media proven to work with all Xbox disc drives. For me it is mechanical reliability and with that longevity which matters. I use a chipped v1.6a I've had since 2004 with a Hitachi and despite the fact it doesn't like CD-Rs (works with CD-RW) it has been the epitome of reliability. However it is the one disc drive I know for certain has a read issue with an original Xbox game disc. The same disc plays perfectly with any other disc drive and if you use the Hitachi to install it on the HDD likewise. But play it from the disc itself and it buffers regularly. I have two Hitachi and both have the same problem - it is probably unique to that particular game, Myst 4: Revelation. I've never had anything similar with any other disc drive but there is a possibility there are other games out there with the same issue. The Thomson is unfairly castigated IMHO - I don't like my Thomson, it is noisy, annoyingly so but it is reliable unlike the Samsungs (tray eject problems guaranteed) or the Philips 35/21. The latter I've now had two or three become unusable, quite suddenly too where they not only refuse to read discs but also interfere with the Xbox booting.

The answers to your questions are yes in all cases. That is exactly the the same set up I've been using for at least 15 years, probably longer, including using a 480p capable CRT. I've used PAL original discs, imported NTSC ones and tested NTSC versions against PAL ones and if there is any difference at 480p or any other resolution it is insignificant. What I can say for sure is that 480p beats the PQ of PAL50 or PAL60 or NTSC by a country mile even when using a high quality RGB SCART cable (Monster) with a 100/120MHz CRT Sony TV. That gives the best SD PQ quality I've seen from a Xbox but even then the difference between that and a Component cable with the same SD resolutions on a non-100/120MHz CRT TV is small.

TBH I don't how PAL Xbox 480p game support is enabled. My guess based on the evidence is that the 'NTSC' 480p (or higher in some games' cases) is that the 'PAL' and 'NTSC' discs are identical or near enough identical. They may have different UDATA/TDATA IDs but are otherwise essentially the same. That is what appears to be true of the significant number of genuinely region free games. They may be sold as NTSC but they'll play perfectly even when using an unmodified Xbox in PAL50 and PAL60. An example of this is Myst 4 Revelation. There never was a PAL release, it had to be imported but it played without any problems using a retail PAL Xbox or a modded PAL Xbox region swapped to NTSC. There are other examples although I'm not sure what PAL only released games, if any, were completely region free. Region locking and resolution support is something the makers/publishers of the games decided on - the Xbox itself is region free except that in PAL regions we were, for no good reason, prevented from accessing the ED/HD options by the limited PAL video settings GUI. 480p is only available if your Xbox is NTSC or a region swapped PAL one so as far as 'PAL' optimisation goes it doesn't make any sense that they would include an 'optimised' PAL 480p mode nobody could access rather than, simply, adding PAL50 support to what is otherwise a NTSC disc. Ergo 480p on a PAL or NTSC game disc is the same....................................probably. I await to be educated if any of this is wrong. BTW I think you're wrong about the GC - from what I've read no PAL GC game included 480p support so they can not be forced. Only NTSC GC games supported 480p. However you could use a Free Loader swap disc to play them on a PAL GC (or Wii too I think) in 480p. With the PAL GC you also needed to be using one of the earlier models which had the extra 'Digital' port and a GC Component cable. The latter were rare in PAL regions and very expensive to import. I paid more for my one than I did for my PAL GC only to find out that I'd also have to import NTSC GC games to get 480p. That money importing the GC Component cable was effectively wasted as the RGB picture quality at 480i/60Hz via RGB SCART cable was just as good or better than Component at 480i/60Hz. Again if I'm wrong about any of this I'm here to know more.

The orange LED is an indication of a softmod, depending on what was used to install that. For example with SID/AID it typically goes to orange on cold boot before going to the default, green. It is a good confirmation when using a softmodded Xbox that it is functioning OK. My guess is what KaosEngineer implied ie. that after TSOPing you didn't clean up the original softmod files. Unless customised the Evox M8+ BIOS by default looks for "C:\evoxdash.xbe" as the primary dash. After you rebooted that is what it was looking for and if it didn't find that, eventually, it would try "C:\xboxdash.xbe". With a softmod that is reassigned from its original use, launching the MS dash, to launch the online updater or Xbox Live, now both redundant and usual result is a blank screen. Again that depends on the softmod. Slightly worrying though is why "C:\evoxdash..xbe" wasn't found. HeXEn EvoX M8+ BIOS boot priority is:- C:\evoXdash.xbe E:\Dash\UnleashX\unleash.xbe E:\Dashboard\default.xbe then finally C:\xboxdash.xbe However depending on the HeXEn version used the BIOS priority may have been changed, the second two are only useful if you'd previously installed a softmod or main dashboard using HeXEn. It is probably the previous softmod interfering and that is why the C:\evoxdash.xbe was not used to launch your main dash but unless that wasn't actually installed (my suspicion) I don't understand the cause of the problem. Its not really a big deal whateve the cause, with a TSOP/chip it can be easily sorted via FTP or an installer disc.

What constitutes "exceptionally slow"? My own experience after swapping to SATA HDDs, generic ( ie. not StarTech) adapters and an 80 wire IDE cable is that the WD 320GB HDD I used took about twice as long to boot to the main dash as the Seagate 160GB IDE HDD had done on the same chipped and incidentally also Hitachi DVD drive fitted v1.6 Xbox. That means about 30 seconds rather than 15 seconds. You should also be made aware that certain content and the volume of content on the HDD can slow down the boot too.

Unusual problem - and unusual error code for a problem that can be solved just by swapping the cable position. Is the HDD set to Cable Select, perhaps? Try swapping it to Master. You're using a SATA HDD adapter so I'd be thinking something going wrong with that is the most likely culprit. But you should be using an 80 wire IDE cable with a SATA HDD/adapter and as that is the cheapest option I'd try replacing your existing IDE cable with one of those before spending more on a new SATA > IDE adapter. It could be something else but without having the means to check the HDD or the DVD drive with known good replacements the best hope is what I've suggested.