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HDShadow

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Everything posted by HDShadow

  1. I've not had that problem with XBMC but I have experienced a strong green cast with certain tools (Chimp) when used on some TVs with RGB SCART cables. I eventually realised that was a known problem with the particular PAL EU/UK TV not supporting RGB SCART for NTSC use. The TV did not have Component connections so could not display in 480p. Using PAL60 resolved the green colour issue. You could try swapping back to PAL and seeing if the problem remains when you're using (PAL60) 480i/60Hz or (PAL50) 576i/50Hz. If it is not that my thought is either you have the Component cable RCA plugs (Green/Blue/Red) in the wrong sockets or the cable has been incorrectly modded. The only way you could check the latter is with a multi-meter and knowledge of the Component pin out configuration.
  2. The No DVD drive check option does not affect the boot priority AFAIK. It just omits the check for a working DVD drive before boot. In this case the DVD drive is clearly functional but maybe not fully functional, so if a disc is inserted and spinning up the No DVD drive check surely becomes irrelevant. The Xbox DVD drive will try to boot from the disc first. At least that is what I would have thought. TBH this is only a theory. I've not checked this with any BIOS I've used where the No DVD check option is definitely enabled but with all my hardmodded Xboxes, (2 x chips, 2 x TSOPs), ones with 100% working DVD drives, all of them still priority cold boot from disc ie. audio CD, DVD, DVD-R or other compatible media. I've also found that If you insert any disc quickly even after starting the Xbox it will usually boot that first too.
  3. Too much work to sift through all these replies so perhaps this has already been suggested......................there is no problem with the BIOS or even if it was a softmod. Most (all?) BIOS even the retail MS will priority launch from disc either during a cold or reset start up. It is a normal and useful feature. My thought is that in this case, if we are talking about genuine original CDs and DVDs or burned ones, although more likely with the latter if they're on incompatible disc media, then it is simply another Xbox DVD drive beginning to fail issue. Disc media launch is correctly prioritised but the disc cannot be read so you get a blank screen and then the main dash should boot instead. However, as SS_Dave I think is saying, if any of the UnleashX dash disc media settings are set to AutoLaunch then before the main dash screen boots it will try to launch the disc again and fail again. The Xbox will be in loop of trying to launch the disc and failing. If you can hear the disc spinning up and trying to read then this is very likely what is happening. The dash Autolaunch settings, probably, just need changed but, of course, it won't fix the DVD drive read problems, if that is what is wrong.
  4. Curse The Eye Of Isis is known to be one of those games which have problems on a v1.6 when trying to play in 480p. The unusual thing is that no known 480p launcher works. Rocky5 warns about this, listing it as one of the games that can't be patched to play in 480p on a v1.6. On the Thief Deadly Shadows matter, it could be that FMV PAL/NTSC naming issue prtscn describes. Whilst the game itself doesn't start with an FMV it does display a MS Studio logo FMV at boot. I'll have to check that and see if the PAL version is a PAL specific one only.
  5. Most PAL games work fine, support NTSC and ED/HD resolutions when using Component cables. But there are a few that are region locked but I wasn't aware Thief: Deadly Shadows was one of them. I've just checked my original PAL disc on a v1.4 Xbox with Philips DVD drive and can confirm that on a NTSC set Xbox (RGB SCART cable) it doesn't display with anything other than a completely blank screen. If you switch the console to PAL using the Enigmah region changer it launches and plays perfectly. I'm trying installing on the same Xbox from that disc using DVD2Xbox which should ACL (Action Control List) patch it for playing from the HDD. I don't expect that to work any differently ie. it won't display when using a NTSC set Xbox. The only PAL game I've installed which wouldn't display properly under NTSC but when installed and ACL patched under PAL, then the Xbox switched back to NTSC and did display correctly, was the Riddick EFBB game. But Riddick EFBB did not display with a blank screen before that, the start screen was just scrambled so I suspect Thief DS PAL is region locked at the very least and won't play under NTSC even when installed and ACL patched. .......................................Just finished installing it and as I expected it works perfectly under PAL but when you switch to NTSC it freezes on the loading screen. That's actually quite unusual; what normally happens if the PAL game is region locked is that it will play but with no picture, sound only under NTSC. Sometimes it may have a scrambled screen too or dirty disc error message. So this blank screen and refusal even to load the game when installed on the HDD is certainly not typical behaviour of a game that is simply region locked.
  6. I'd suspect what the artwork installer is telling you is correct and you need to find a new source or re-download. However I'd check the XBE titles for those games because it would have to be a specific corruption of the "default.xbe" for it not at least to appear in the Games list correctly even if the game itself did not launch. With XBMC4Gamers, which is essentially a dedicated XBMC skin you should be able to use the WHITE controller button when highlighting the game on that Games' screen and you should see a Rename XBE menu option. It could even be that old problem of double packing the game ie. the game folder is inside another folder of the same name. That is usually as result of unpacking a ZIP or RAR file to another named folder rather than just unpacking the content: the game folder. Before unpacking any compressed file you should check how it is is packed first.
  7. Effectively yes, they support PAL, NTSC and the ED/HD resolutions allowed/supported by the game when using the NTSC dashboard. There are region locked games but also genuine region free games eg. a nominally NTSC game will play on an unmodded PAL Xbox an example being Myst 4: Revelation which was only released in the US and so says it is NTSC but plays perfectly on a unmodded PAL Xbox. The powers that be didn't want people to know this, presumably in case the game was latterly a hit and they decided to sell it as a 'PAL' game which, inevitably, would be more expensive than the 'NTSC' labelled version. So even the publishers were reluctant to confirm directly if their games were region free or not. That is from personal experience because I contacted Ubisoft directly at the time and had an odd answer about whether they were going to release Myst 4 in the UK. The reply said they had no plans to do that so if I wanted to play it on my Xbox I'd have import it. I later realised that this had been tacit admission the 'NTSC' version was actually region free. I had not said or even implied I was using a modded Xbox. I was just enquiring if it was going to be released in the UK. The Xbox console itself is not region locked but MS hobbled the PAL version with a dashboard that only allowed a video display choice of PAL50 or PAL60. That is one of the main reasons for PAL Xbox owners to mod their console to be able swap it to NTSC and get the far superior 480p display option which most PAL game versions included but were inaccessible when using the PAL dashboard.
  8. Question is - why do you want to do this? Converting a NTSC version game to PAL is practically pointless unless your TV is one of the very few which don't support NTSC display. Most have for decades. NTSC and PAL60 are both 480i//60Hz and in practical use are indistinguishable. I'd guess ninety percent of Xbox PAL games support NTSC which means, with Component, you have a ED 480p resolution option which is noticeably superior to any interlaced resolution.
  9. The skin.xml is only able to modify things like how many main menu items are displayed at a time, text colour, text background, whether they rotate and, most importantly the positioning. The actual main menu names, as KE ^^^ says, are all determined by the Config.xml not the skin.xml. However you can introduce additional text information as part of the Source skin.xml entries and/or, of course, graphics overlays. Your skin can be used by any UnleashX user as is, they don't need to mess around with or replace their Config.xml. It just won't display exactly as in your demo because not all the items in the menu will be available, their customised names or in the same order. There's nothing wrong with that modfied Config.xml with its inclusion of additional menu options and names it is just you don't need to use it. Good work, I like the skin, particularly its relative simplicity. If it was me I'd find a better way of displaying things like app icons rather than stretching them vertically just to fit the Xbox case dimensions. I always use square icons as they work with all dashboards and if you want them to fit in a rectangular border it is simple just to add top and bottom borders or extensions to fill the rectangular space.
  10. Sounds like too much like work for me and I suspect most other people just wanting to refer to the UnleashX manual. Readers surely want it to be clear, understandable and attractive as it is and not have to re-edit it to suit their own needs or tastes. But I appreciate the information on how to do that.
  11. It was just the UnleashX manual XML code display I was talking about not the skin XMLs etc. You can use whatever colours you want and almost whatever else you want in the latter. Its just those UX manual XML code examples font colours I'm questioning not the font used itself which is perfectly legible. I was thinking particularly about users who might be colour blind. On the subject of Xbox use fonts: I've converted dozens of TTF/OTF fonts to XPRs. Some work in 480i/480p better than others at those typical Xbox use resolutions. I have a very long term project to go through my entire UnleashX skin collection (1000+) and 'fix' edit all the things wrong. I'll probably never get them all done because of getting sidetracked by skins I like. I end up spending more time developing and adding to them than is required merely to make them better from the graphic design point of view. However one of the things that often needs a complete replacement are the unforgivably poor choice of font colour/size and background colour. They have to be legible at 480i/480p but many are not. Such matters are a bit of a hobby-horse for me and I'd far rather have legibility and clarity than whatever it was the original creator was trying to do. I'd not seen those full (?) UX Fonts and Sources lists before; that's very useful information because there are some things there I've never seen used in any skin.xml. Most of my knowledge on such matters comes from studying existing skins and the UX manual.
  12. I have the original and just done some comparisons with your rewrite update. It seems mostly the XML code pages/entries that have altered from green/red/blue/black font primary colours on a white background to what I think is better, certainly easier on the eyes, an off-black background. Good work and thanks for this alternative UnleashX manual source. That alone makes the effort worthwhile. But that new choice of font colours........................hmmmm, I'm really sorry, I'm not convinced. However it may look better on a more contrasty monitor than the old TN one I'm using now so I'll reserve judgment on that and wait for other comments.
  13. It is quite simple for all of the dashboards you specify. For EvoX KaosEngineer has described the method perfectly and for other dashboards there are similar methods which basically just add an F:\ and G:\ path configuration to what should already be the default E:\ path. However with an "Emulators" named folder not all dash versions include E:\Emulators even by default. You have to create the actual folder on any or all of the drives ie. it does no matter if you have them on all or just one or two. But you then have to check the dash configuration file to see if the path exists and if not add it. As KE describes you edit the evox.ini for an EvoX main dash. For UnleashX you edit the config.xml. The syntax used can easily be understood from looking at whatever other entries are already there, like "Games":- <List Text="Games" Sort="On" Auto="On"> <Path>E:\Games</Path> <Path>F:\Games</Path> <Path>G:\Games</Path> </List> You just change "Games" to "Emulators" or whatever the containing folder is called. BTW make certain you use that </List> at the end of the new Emulators insertion. If you miss it you find your main menu listing will be messed up. For XBMC (refer to prtscan's new post ^) : once the Emulators folder location has been created you just need to go to the main Programs menu and use the WHITE button context menu to bring up Add Source. It is pretty much self explanatory from then on - you just add the path or paths to the folder(s) location(s) and save. Avalaunch has its own XML configuration file which looks more complicated than it actually is because it contains tutorial elements which make what the actual 'active' entries are less clear. But thankfully the Emulators section is usually already set up so if it doesn't include an E:\ path already you can add it. Again the syntax, in this case, is simple to understand:- <list presetname="Emulators"> <path> E:\Emulators </path> <path> F:\Emulators </path> </list> As said with all dashboards you can have the same folder name on E:\ and/or F:\ and/or G:\. In all cases as long as the location path is included every Emulators' folders' contents will be listed as one under you main dash "Emulators" menu whatever the main dash or dash as app you're using. My advice, as always, when doing something like this, is to back up the original configuration file before editing the copy. Once done try it out on a mirror or test copy the dash installed as an app. With XBMC its not so important, because messing up an Add Source entry doesn't effect the main menu or other dashboard functions. But when editing any other main dashboard's configuration file it is recommended practice.
  14. I tried cold removal of the heat-sinks on an already dead, bought for parts Xbox. All it proved was what I already knew and that is you will damage the chips if you do anything as stupid as that shown in this YT tutorial and use a screwdriver or other similar tool to lever them off. The correct way is to let the Xbox heat up - play a game or just let it run on the dash for 15 minutes. How long depends on the ambient temperature. The existing TIM should get softer and when the heat-sink can be wiggled (gently) you should be able to pull it off without damaging the chip at all. There is also a huge question mark over whether replacing the TIM is even necessary
  15. If you only have a config.xml then you're not using an EvoX dash, you're using UnleashX. But the same advice indeed does apply although it is rare that any version of UnleashX doesn't come with a config.xml that enables G:\ by default. Looking at the screenshot it is clear that the config.xml is significantly customised so I guess whoever did that neglected to include G:\ paths that's all. I think you assumed you were using EvoX because the primary dashboard XBE is "evoxdash.xbe". That is just the adopted standard name for the main dash XBE no matter what dashboard you are actually using.
  16. That ^ possibly but equally likely it being an EvoX main dash is that a G:\ path for Games is simply not included in the evox.ini. The commonly found and used EvoX v3935 dash's default evox.ini only includes E:\ and F:\ paths. Check the evox.ini under Section "Games" and the AutoAddItem entries will probably only show those e:\ and f:\ paths. The simple solution is to copy the whole evox.ini, and edit it to include a g:\ path, otherwise using exactly the the same syntax as the other two. Then test it on a copy of your main dash installed as an app just to make sure it works before replacing the actual main dash evox.ini.
  17. I think you misunderstood. Of course that is correct; what I meant was that you should not unlock a softmod unless you have a backup or alternative method available to re-lock it.
  18. I think that is pretty risky advice for a softmod. I'd only unlock a softmodded HDD if it was a cloned backup or I had another one locked to the same Xbox or all nulled eeproms or a chipped Xbox to lock it with the imported eeprom from the Xbox. Safety first in my motto and in this case having alternative methods available so that the HDD in question could be relocked by other methods (Chimp) if there was some problem locking it on PC.
  19. Samsung 605B ones are the most compatible, its the F version that has more disc media compatibility issues. That's generally agreed I believe and certainly what my testing results with two Samsung 605B and two 605F suggested too. But in the case of DVD+R the oddity is that whilst the 605F does not like any CD media (inconsistent results with CD-RW) they were both OK with DVD+R. Again there was some inconsistency in the results of the multiple burn tests I did but It was indeed the 605B pair that more often than not rejected anything I burned using the two brands of DVD+R I tested. So there is a good chance the problem is that and not a failing DVD drive. DVD-R should work fingers crossed.
  20. Yes, a multi-meter can be a very useful to have for a range of purposes for electronics projects, DIY and car maintenance in particular. I'd actually recommend spending slightly more than that. I've owned cheap ones I've had the selector wear out and the battery cover tabs breaking, that sort of thing. I eventually shelled out £30 on one I'd seen being used in both a car repair and a DIY TV program. There's also the £10 cheaper (4000) version available with less accessories. On YT there are dozens of beginners guides for using multi-meters.
  21. I don't like it when something is resolved but we don't actually understand why the problem was occurring in the first place. As for XBMC's file manager being dodgy for copying/transferring files that's just wrong. There are problems with the GUI and the bizarre decision to remove progress bars and transfer info from copying tasks (supposedly to speed copying up) with the XBMC v3 series. That means with some skins there is no visual indication anything is happening even though the copying is proceeding normally. You only get intermittent info, flashing on screen when a new file/folder starts transferring. IMHO it was an unhelpful and unnecessary backwards step in XBMC4Xbox's evolution. I often use a pre-v3 XBMC version where, with the same skin, it has a progress bar and transfer info window on permanent display whilst doing such tasks. However having praised XBMC otherwise and acknowledging UnleashX's file manager own quirks I too prefer using UnleashX's for almost everything.
  22. If you're using UnleashX as your main dash you do not need a 'third party' tool to do this. UnleashX has a built in controller/remote shortcut feature: System > Settings > Control Panel > Gamepad/IR Remote. Just select a controller button from the list and browse a path to the "default.xbe" or primary XBE of whatever app or dash you want to launch. When restarting, booting, rebooting or IGR simply, gently, hold down the appropriate controller button and that will launch whatever you've dedicated to it.
  23. Although you used XBPPartitioner v1.3 to format the extended partitions did you actually check afterwards (or since the problem occurred) that there is no ER (ERror) against either? If its not that then I'm guessing a CerBIOS issue but I'll leave others far more qualified to trouble shoot this than I am.
  24. The question is why the games, which will boot on Xbox start up, do not launch from the EvoX dash zono is using? Whether the games are auto or manually launched from the dash it should not make any difference. The DVD drive is, obviously, working. Does launching a dashboard actually lower the power to the DVD drive and weaken an ageing laser to the point it can't read the disc? That's not something I've read about being a possibility or come across myself. Still, cleaning the laser lens and the whole DVD drive in general is good advice anyway and it might work. Its certainly shouldn't exacerbate the problem if done with care.
  25. Name length of those files, perhaps? Have you tried copying them direct from the original disc using either the XBMC or UnleashX file manger? If they still won't copy then I suspect it was something like that. What I can confirm is that (PAL) Halo 2 Classic version (original disc) installed, without any problem as far as I can remember, on my chipped Xbox which uses a Hitachi DVD drive. There's no specific ACL patch for it either AFAIK. Are you using an original disc or 'backup' ones? If the latter I'd think the original download might be at fault. There's a good chance that if you tried using 'different' download sources that they were actually all originally from the same archive so the fault would repeat for all of them. EDIT I'm currently retrying the install with DVD2Xbox on the same machine and just as I started posting this the 03b_newmombasa.map copied without issue and................just now the 07a_highcharity.map finished copying too. So it is not an unsupported character or path length matter. Finished copying: 14 mins 37secs and no files failed to copy. Just read your last reply and it is an odd problem but if you have them installed now OK that's the most important thing. I cannot see any reason why those particular maps wouldn't copy using DVD2Xbox, they're large map files but not the largest ones and the names do not include any unusual characters. Using a particular disc drive should not cause a problem with those two but not with other maps. BTW meant to ask about Halo 2 maps but having uninstalled the game and Halo as well to save space on the 160GB HDD I was using I've never got around to them. Thanks to your problem I now have Halo 2 installed again on a 1TB HDD so I wondered how they are used. I assume they're just multiplayer but I don't recall there being a multiplayer option in the main menu. Enlighten me.

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