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[REDSLATE]

Is Murakumo actually any good? I remember liking a video of it I saw waaaay back when it came out but I heard it wasn't a very good game.

It's really not. A buddy of mine swore that it was worth playing, but I found it to be quite bland myself.

I just downloaded the various stuff to softmod. The Xbox was able to recognise the USB drive and format it, I could transfer the hacked saves from the PC to the USB drive with the correct software, and from the USB drive to the console. However I was unable to backup my own game saves, the console kept telling me that the "transfer failed". Any thoughts on that? I wish I could backup my stuff, just in case anything goes wrong. I haven't started the mod yet, I have to wait until Monday so I can pick up the game ^^

It may be worth noting that some game data cannot be copied (even to a memory card).

If you're worried about backing up your saved data, once you've modified your console, you'll have direct access to all of your saved files. You can back everything up at that point.

 

[Apoleptica]

Ugh this thread just made me dig out my old xbox. Also I just bought conker live and reloaded on ebay and an og xbox component cable. Can't wait to play the game for the first time.
Here's a pic of a small collection of games I managed to hold on to, I had the xbox since 2002 but have sold and traded a great many games to gamestop and friends. A bunch I regret getting rid of were burnout 3, ssx 3, the prince of persia trilogy, pgr, etc.

 

[REDSLATE]

Here's a pic of a small collection of games I managed to hold on to, I had the xbox since 2002 but have sold and traded a great many games to gamestop and friends. A bunch I regret getting rid of were burnout 3, ssx 3, the prince of persia trilogy, pgr, etc.

Looks like you kept most of the good ones.

Also, how dare you put Reach next to the true Halo games

 

[GenG3000]

Are third party component cables any good? eBay is bursting with Chinese and UK cables.

The official ones are really expensive.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

Are third party component cables any good? eBay is bursting with Chinese and UK cables.

The official ones are really expensive.

the high definition A/V pack is like $25. you just have to supply your own component cables, which are cheap. i guess that's still like $30 though. but it might be better than the gamble.

 

[GenG3000]

You mean this one, right?

Yes, it goes up to 40$ at eBay. Do the differences with the cheap cables go beyond visual defects and artifacts? If the cables are just a bit worse, I may go for the cables.

 

[koopas]

You mean this one, right?

Yes, it goes up to 40$ at eBay. Does the differences with the cheap cables go beyond visual defects and artifacts? If the cables are just a bit worse, I may go for the cables.

I had the official monster branded cables and I regret selling them back when. They were awesome (and thick as hell).

 

[Borman]

There are two HD sets from microsoft. One is that pack, one is a cable.

 

[joshschw]

Good thread to just stumble upon. Recently hooked up my Xbox, having the issue that my TV makes the 480p look like smeared.... I don't know what, but the games look much better than this if displayed even somewhat properly.

Is there a converter box - cheap, or some sort of PC adapter to upconvert via PC? I am already using the component video cables, so I can't improve the output in that respect.

 

[Cday]

Are third party component cables any good? eBay is bursting with Chinese and UK cables.

The official ones are really expensive.

They can be. It's a lottery where you could get a perfectly fine cable or one that drops the signal every 5 seconds and looks fuzzy and puts a green tint on the picture. I'd suggest getting one off amazon and just returning it if it shows signs of not being perfect and then ordering another one. The official ones cost over 3x as much and are just ridiculous, stiff, heavy, unwieldy cables. I feel like I have to prop the cable on something halfway through just to make sure the weight doesn't damage the connectors on my tv over time.

 

[Sgt.EntryEnass]

If they are cheap(and you can afford it) buy more than one.

 

[REDSLATE]

Third party component cables are not the way to go. Ante up and get the good stuff.

If they are cheap(and you can afford it) buy more than one.

Why not just buy the higher quality OEM cables at that point?

 

[Peagles]

Well I finally went and picked up the boxed translucent green Xbox that my Dad scored for me for $30. It came with two of the translucent green controllers, DVD kit, and five games (Full Spectrum Warrior, 007 Nightfire, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Star Wars Battlefront, and 007 Everything or Nothing). In the mean time I was also given some games for free by someone awesome (Halo 2, Forza Motorsport, and Project Gotham Racing 2). My partner also had a bunch of games as he owned an Xbox back in the day so yay, instant collection!

I mostly use a PVM/RGB SCART setup at home so I went looking for the offical SCART cable and found it was gonna be really expensive to import. Had a look around locally and found another boxed system with a bunch of controllers, official SCART cable and an IXOS component cable. The system needs the traces fixed but otherwise works fine (but I'll likely use the green system as my main one).

Now I have a copy of Splinter Cell and a USB cable too, time to give this softmod thing a crack as I have a few NTSC games on the way (including Tony Hawk 2X, which I've wanted to play forever). Can't wait to get into this Xbox thing!

 

[Condemned]

Is there any decent emulator out that can play a few of the OG Xbox games yet?

 

[s_mirage]

Is there any decent emulator out that can play a few of the OG Xbox games yet?

Sadly no.

 

[Raldoh]

Stumbled upon this article, quite interesting.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-03-30-microsoft-floated-the-idea-of-giving-away-xbox

 

[Condemned]

Sadly no.

Such a shame. Hopefully it happens one day =)

 

[Khaz]

I was reading about the Xbox on segaretro.org, looking for a list of Sega-published games on the console, and this one bit of info made me very sad:

Much of the Xbox's design is influenced from the Sega Dreamcast, not just from a controller design perspective, but from the lessons Microsoft learned from the Windows CE operating system included in the Dreamcast's specifications. At one point the Xbox was even planned to be able to run Dreamcast games, with Isao Okawa, then-president of Sega, having several meetings with Microsoft founder Bill Gates over the subject. The deal inevitably fell through due to online issues - Dreamcast online support conflicting with Microsoft's plans for the Xbox Live service. The relationship between Sega and Microsoft remained very close at the time, with Sega of America's Peter Moore migrating to Microsoft in the years that followed.

Oh, what could have been.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Oh, what could have been.

Just imagine; Shenmue II on xbox without nasty bloom

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

Trying to set 3 Xboxes for some tiny "LAN" party with 6 guys, we're gonna play some Halo 1 over system link.... you guys think without using that system link cable, a regular old router, and 3 normal Ethernet cables gonna do the job or do i need these crossover cables for that?

Also: what other games work over system link and are fun with a bunch of ppl and 3 TVs?

 

[Borman]

The Dreamcast thing never had any real progress, the hardware was completely different. Windows CE being crap on DC didnt help.

Crossover cables are only necessary for Xbox to Xbox direct. Standard cables on a router works fine. Check out Timesplitters, Rallisport Challenge 2, Crimson Skies, and RtcW.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

I was reading about the Xbox on segaretro.org, looking for a list of Sega-published games on the console, and this one bit of info made me very sad:



Oh, what could have been.

interesting stuff. The Xbox is used for Sega's Chihiro arcade hardware, at least. iirc, you can run those games if you add extra ram to a modded xbox.

 

[Borman]

interesting stuff. The Xbox is used for Sega's Chihiro arcade hardware, at least. iirc, you can run those games if you add extra ram to a modded xbox.

Only 3 games work sadly.

 

[REDSLATE]

You're going to have a blast man! LAN is incredibly fun. As Borman said, using a router, standard Ethernet cables will work.

Halo 2 After you get your fill of the first one (4 per console up to 16)
Conker: Live and Reloaded (2 per console up to 16)
MechAssault (2 per console up to 8)
Star Wars BattleFront (2 per console up to ...I think 24?)
Tom Clancy's... pretty much anything, though I'm not sure what games support simultaneous splitscreen and LAN. Recommend trying Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six 3

 

[Khaz]

Predictably, my local Cash Converters had plenty of copies of Splinter Cell. Surprisingly however, only one wasn't an "Xbox Classics". I'm assuming these wouldn't have the exploit on them so I'm still good. I also got mysefl a copy of Top Spin, each for 3€.

I'm about to start softmodding now.

[edit] Wait, so if I only want 480p and region-free gaming, I just need to change stuff in the settings of the installer? No need to "install single boot softmod", right?

[edit2] welp, it doesn't work. I was able to modify some options, like the screen calibration, enable 480p/720p/1080i, soften and filter levels. However even if I can choose a video standard (pal/ntsc) and seemingly save it, it goes back to default PAL after a restart. Nothing has changed in the original dash. There are a few options I can't even change, like Auto switch (No), Multi-region mode (off) and force pal60 (no).

I tried a 480p game (Outrun2006 coast2coast) and it still displays as 480i.

 

[REDSLATE]

I don't have any experience modding a PAL Xbox, but I know there's an extra step involved in order to get 480p and 720p to work properly. From my understanding, you have to basically change your Xbox to an NTSC unit (it will still be region-free when modded). Look into Enigmah.

 

[Khaz]

You're awesome.

 

[Borman]

Posted the first video of Fuel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGRvsb8y848

 

[FyreWulff]

Posted the first video of Fuel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGRvsb8y848

Thanks for all you do, Borman. Preservation is key.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Y'know, I'm still distressed by the fact that my OG Xbox gets way more use than my 360 or Xbone. I'm probably playing more OG Xbox than I did when it was actually in vogue. It's frightening.

I really love this system.

 

[Borman]

Thanks for all you do, Borman. Preservation is key.

Putting together a longer video . Trying to get a few friends together to show some of the multiplayer modes.

 

[GenG3000]

After the advice I got from you nice people I got myself a component cable from a UK seller at eBay and works great so far. Looks crisper and less blurry in my hdtv than with the scart cable. No interference, strange tints or wavy signal either.

Now I only need for my Splinter Cell to arrive to unlock 480p for games.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

After the advice I got from you nice people I got myself a component cable from a UK seller at eBay and works great so far. Looks crisper and less blurry in my hdtv than with the scart cable. No interference, strange tints or wavy signal either.

Now I only need for my Splinter Cell to arrive to unlock 480p for games.

nice! The image quality on Xbox over component is really nice.

 

[Bar81]

Only 3 games work sadly.

Virtua Cop 3 is enough. Everything else worth anything got ported to xbox anyway.

 

[Coriolanus]

I got an Xecuter Xbox at Goodwill for 7.99.


I tried getting it to boot, but I can only get it to go to the MS dashboard. Otherwise it turns on and off three times, and then does nothing. This is referred to as a 'FRAG' (Flashing Red and Green) I guess, but I don't really know what to do. I read the issue could be caused by bad connections or wiring.

I opened it up and it has the stock hard drive still. Boo, boring, mine has a 200GB hard drive loaded up with my games. Still, this was neat to see an original Xbox modded with USB ports. Maybe I'll keep screwing with it, or sell it as-is on eBay, not sure what I'll do.

Hold the power button for a bit when turning it on.

 

[SlipperyMoose]

This is my current collection of games. I know I don't have a lot of the praised exclusives but I'm happy with it so far. I pick most of them up at thrift stores for a couple bucks.

 

[REDSLATE]

After the advice I got from you nice people I got myself a component cable from a UK seller at eBay and works great so far. Looks crisper and less blurry in my hdtv than with the scart cable. No interference, strange tints or wavy signal either.

Now I only need for my Splinter Cell to arrive to unlock 480p for games.

Cool, man. Good luck!

 

[Khaz]

After the advice I got from you nice people I got myself a component cable from a UK seller at eBay and works great so far. Looks crisper and less blurry in my hdtv than with the scart cable. No interference, strange tints or wavy signal either.

Now I only need for my Splinter Cell to arrive to unlock 480p for games.

If you haven't yet unlocked 480p, then the quality at 240p/480i should be identical* to a Scart cable.
Which make me say that you weren't using a Scart cable but a Composite cable (yellow red white) with a Scart adapter.

* Component is a tiny fraction less good, but the difference is imperceptible if the console encoder is competent. Which it is.

 

[Peagles]

I've asked about this in the PVM thread but I wonder if any Xbox experts have any advice for me. I recently splashed out on the official SCART cable to use with my new Xbox on my retro setup because I only use SCART for this setup. The picture is absolutely gorgeous but the sound is atrocious. It sounds very choppy like it's very low bitrate. The suggestion I got from the other thread was that the Xbox sound output is "too loud" for my speaker system and therefore I'd need to run it through something else to regulate the volume. The only problem with this is that I've tried both my FiiO amps and the sound remains terrible. I've also opened up the SCART end and it appears to be in order.

So has anyone else had this issue with the official SCART cable? I spent quite a bit on it so I'm really disappointed. I can use the Xbox on my Plasma setup with some IXOS component cables I got and it looks good but I'd really prefer to have it running on my PVM.

 

[koopas]

This is my current collection of games. I know I don't have a lot of the praised exclusives but I'm happy with it so far. I pick most of them up at thrift stores for a couple bucks.

Did you get conker for cheap? Grats if so. I'm just glad myself i picked up Cthlulu before it went nuts

 

[Timu]

I'm thankful that I got Conker for 17 bucks(with original case as well) before the price went up.

 

[GenG3000]

If you haven't yet unlocked 480p, then the quality at 240p/480i should be identical* to a Scart cable.
Which make me say that you weren't using a Scart cable but a Composite cable (yellow red white) with a Scart adapter.

* Component is a tiny fraction less good, but the difference is imperceptible if the console encoder is competent. Which it is.

In my Sony Bravia component looks definitely better. Scart picture is grainy and washed out, jaggies are much much less prominent than with the scart cable and sound is a bit clearer. It is definitely a scart cable, it doesn't have the red/white/yellow cables but a single black scart exit at the end.

 

[Khaz]

Then you were sold a Scart cable that doesn't carry RGB (they exist, the cheap bastards) or your TV decides to only render the Composite side of it. "interference, strange tints or wavy signal" are typical of Composite and non-existent on RGB. Have you noticed dot-crawl too?

[edit] It may be your TV. Do you have more than one Scart on it? Are they numbered and are you using the first one? If they are named make sure not to use the one saying AV. On most TVs with multiple Scart inputs, only the first ones can use RGB, while the last ones only take Composite from Scart. Cost cutting measures I assume.

[edit2] You should stick with your Component cable and don't bother if you are happier with it, and you'll need it for 480p anyway. But it could be something good to know if you had to use Scart for something else.

 

[GenG3000]

Then you were sold a Scart cable that doesn't carry RGB (they exist, the cheap bastards) or your TV decides to only render the Composite side of it. "interference, strange tints or wavy signal" are typical of Composite and non-existent on RGB. Have you noticed dot-crawl too?



[edit] It may be your TV. Do you have more than one Scart on it? Are they numbered and are you using the first one? If they are named make sure not to use the one saying AV. On most TVs with multiple Scart inputs, only the first ones can use RGB, while the last ones only take Composite from Scart. Cost cutting measures I assume.

[edit2] You should stick with your Component cable and don't bother if you are happier with it, and you'll need it for 480p anyway. But it could be something good to know if you had to use Scart for something else.

Thank you very much for your interest. Currently I have three cables for my PAL Xbox.

1. The standart three-color RGB cable that doesn't look that bad but it's the worst of the three. Everything looks really washed out and muddy but playable. There's dot crawl but it's not evident unless you get very close to the screen.

2. The scart cable I mentioned (a cheap no-brand one, btw), which makes everything look sharper and with better colors overall. Even if it wasn't a real scart, it's a huge improvement over the standard rgb cable.

3. The component (no-brand), which again offers an improvement over the scart with even more sharpness.

Dot crawl is more noticeable in one of my TV's two scart sockets. It may be a faulty socket. The difference between scart and component may lie in the scart quality (it's a no-brand third party one).

 

[shiftymorgan]

Ugh this thread just made me dig out my old xbox. Also I just bought conker live and reloaded on ebay and an og xbox component cable. Can't wait to play the game for the first time.
Here's a pic of a small collection of games I managed to hold on to, I had the xbox since 2002 but have sold and traded a great many games to gamestop and friends. A bunch I regret getting rid of were burnout 3, ssx 3, the prince of persia trilogy, pgr, etc.

Jade Empire.

Such an awesome game.

 

[Khaz]

Thank you very much for your interest. Currently I have three cables for my PAL Xbox.

1. The standart three-color RGB cable that doesn't look that bad but it's the worst of the three. Everything looks really washed out and muddy but playable. There's dot crawl but it's not evident unless you get very close to the screen.

2. The scart cable I mentioned (a cheap no-brand one, btw), which makes everything look sharper and with better colors overall. Even if it wasn't a real scart, it's a huge improvement over the standard rgb cable.

3. The component (no-brand), which again offers an improvement over the scart with even more sharpness.

Dot crawl is more noticeable in one of my TV's two scart sockets. It may be a faulty socket. The difference between scart and component may lie in the scart quality (it's a no-brand third party one).

- Scart ≠ RGB. Scart carries both RGB and Composite video, together, by default. Some cables do only one of these things, S-Video is an extension of the standard and is carried alone.
- The three colour cable yellow red white is Composite, not RGB. it can be passed to a display through Scart via a dumb adapter (no conversion, only rerouted pins)
- The Red Green Blue wires on a Component cable are NOT RGB. It would display nothing on Scart, or a black and white picture if you managed to link the Green wire to pin 20.
- Composite is passed through one wire, the yellow one, Red and White are sound. Unlike RGB which use four wires for video and an additional two for audio, and another one for the aspect ratio autoswitch.
- What you're seeing could be because of the quality of the cable and heavy crosstalk, even though I have never personally seen a cable so bad it messed the picture. And I have had my share of cheap, unshielded lengthy cables at home. But it's a possibility so I can't dismiss it.
- Dot crawl is more noticeable on one of your Scart socket because it's the one which only takes Composite in: if you had a sync stripper you would get no video at all. There should be labels on your sockets or indications in your TV manual about what signal they can take. I advise you to never use it. Ever. Put some tape on it.

 

[Wensih]

I was always upset with the fact that the 360 was never fully backwards compatible. I have a few Xbox games that don't work now. My original Xbox had some hardware problems where it would stutter and freeze with a lot of the games. Games like Otogi 2 are trapped on the Xbox now.

These technical problems were not just limited to Otogi 2. I had them to varying degrees with Psychonauts, Crimson Skies, OddWorld Stranger's Wrath, etc. which lead me to believe I had a defective console, but I was too young to do anything about it at the time.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Any Steel Battalion fans out there?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1025959

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

I was always upset with the fact that the 360 was never fully backwards compatible. I have a few Xbox games that don't work now. My original Xbox had some hardware problems where it would stutter and freeze with a lot of the games. Games like Otogi 2 are trapped on the Xbox now.

These technical problems were not just limited to Otogi 2. I had them to varying degrees with Psychonauts, Crimson Skies, OddWorld Stranger's Wrath, etc. which lead me to believe I had a defective console, but I was too young to do anything about it at the time.

Seems like the developers of the xbox emulator got Halo and Ninja Gaiden/Black running perfectly then called it a day. which is nice, but there were lots of other great games lost.

 

[hooijdonk17]

The BC on 360 has strange quirks; POP Sands of Time works perfect, and I believe Warrior Within also works, but Two Thrones runs in slow motion..

It's really sad that the BC updates stopped at some point.. Really, really sad.

Was it actually removed completely at some point to save system space on the hard drive?