• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

OG Xbox Appreciation and Lack of Emulation Thread of the big black box of doom

televator

Member
Took a break from Vince, and started playing KOTOR. Wow, you can really see how this was Bioware's predecessor to Mass Effect.

Also, now that I'm really delving into playing Xbox original hardware, I'm thinking the S controller really was the best of the generation.
 

Glowsquid

Member
I'm thinking the S controller really was the best of the generation.


I had this opinion for a long time, but after getting the original big controller in late 2015 and getting used to its button layout, I feel it's superior:

-More precise analog sticks
-Better rumble motors (this can be observed in games like Mace Griffin, where the more subtle rumble effects can be heard but aren't really felt on the Controller S, but register properly on the Duke).
-Better placement of the black/white buttons. Games which assigned important functions to those two that you are expected to hit as much as the regular face buttons (like Phantom Crash and Airforce Delta Storm) are not fully comfortable on the Controller S.

the only aspects where it's genuinely inferior is the weird d-pad and that the buttons require more pressure, which makes it crap for 2D games. But for most Xbox games, I think it's the better controller... if you have big enough hands.
 

televator

Member
I had this opinion for a long time, but after getting the original big controller in late 2015 and getting used to its button layout, I feel it's superior:

-More precise analog sticks
-Better rumble motors (this can be observed in games like Mace Griffin, where the more subtle rumble effects can be heard but aren't really felt on the Controller S, but register properly on the Duke).
-Better placement of the black/white buttons. Games which assigned important functions to those two that you are expected to hit as much as the regular face buttons (like Phantom Crash and Airforce Delta Storm) are not fully comfortable on the Controller S.

the only aspects where it's genuinely inferior is the weird d-pad and that the buttons require more pressure, which makes it crap for 2D games. But for most Xbox games, I think it's the better controller... if you have big enough hands.

I've played around with the Duke. It feels to awkward for me. Like my thumbs have a hard time sensing the huge layout and I can't fully grip the pad around the handles. I like the S for some of the same reasons I like the Hori N64 pad. Everything is compact an easy for my my thumbs to find and they have to do less traveling. The S controller isn't perfect though. I think the main buttons are a little too close to the right stick... Similar minor issue as the Hori pad actually. And the triggers are a little too far down on the grips.

However I actually really like its Dpad. It's baffling that MS messed it up on 360. The S Dpad is functional and comfortable. I haven't had an instance of incorrect input that plagued the 360 Dpad. The sticks feel tight and the right stick is actually a proper stick unlike the GC controller. There's imperfections, but there are really good things that make up for it to the point where I can't believe I like it more that the DS2 and GC pad.
 

REDSLATE

Member
you have to wonder what they were thinking with the Duke, lol

Supposedly, it was farmed out to an American company, and the 'Duke' was "the best they could do." The Controller S was created for the Asian market so as not to ostracise the Japanese. Ironically, the Japanese were, and largely remain, dismissive of foreign competition, so they ended up shunning the Xbox outright despite an admirable effort by Microsoft.

Initially, a handful of imported Controller S made it Stateside, and word got around. It was eventually adopted as the standard controller.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I just found this thread lol, didnt know there were more retro threads I hadnt discovered. Anyways the original Xbox was amazing for its Sega-lineup, but that Duke was just something else :)
 

televator

Member
I just found this thread lol, didnt know there were more retro threads I hadnt discovered. Anyways the original Xbox was amazing for its Sega-lineup, but that Duke was just something else :)

As I've slowly figured out over the past year or so, the Xbox is criminally under appreciated. More people here are always welcome. So welcome to the party!
 

Timu

Member
As I've slowly figured out over the past year or so, the Xbox is criminally under appreciated. More people here are always welcome. So welcome to the party!
Yes, yes, yes, this is true, this is damn true, I always loved Xbox even back then and now I do more so than ever, definitely when it comes to multiplats.
 

televator

Member
Yes, yes, yes, this is true, this is damn true, I always loved Xbox even back then and now I do more so than ever, definitely when it comes to multiplats.

Better multi plats. Check

Awesome exclusives. Check

Games that still haven't seen a port or HD remaster later on. Check

Picture quality that holds up well via component or VGA mod. Check

There's no good reason not to own an OG Xbox.
 

stn

Member
Guys, someone talk to me here. I want to open my Xbox and take out the time capacitator thing. But I'm TERRIBLE at this kind of stuff and fear ruining my console. Its not even hooked up or anything, I just want preserve it as much as I can. I was also thinking to replace the HD and mod it, but once again I fear wrecking the console.

Help!
 

televator

Member
Guys, someone talk to me here. I want to open my Xbox and take out the time capacitator thing. But I'm TERRIBLE at this kind of stuff and fear ruining my console. Its not even hooked up or anything, I just want preserve it as much as I can. I was also thinking to replace the HD and mod it, but once again I fear wrecking the console.

Help!

The Xbox is perhaps the easies 3D console to work on. I say that to encourage you and it's true. The cap is big and you can easily take some cutters to the legs and get it done in 5 minutes. You just have to have a torx 10 or 15 security bit... Can't remeber which at the top of my head, but it's good to just find a set of different sized torx bits to have handy anyway. Don't worry about breaking any cables or connectors (save for maybe the power connector, but you don't need to mess with it), the Xbox is built like a PC and has very sturdy PC ribbons.
 
Guys, someone talk to me here. I want to open my Xbox and take out the time capacitator thing. But I'm TERRIBLE at this kind of stuff and fear ruining my console. Its not even hooked up or anything, I just want preserve it as much as I can. I was also thinking to replace the HD and mod it, but once again I fear wrecking the console.

Help!

You're not going to ruin your console. Taking the capacitors out is easy and as Televator said, it's built like a PC so the parts are sturdy. I made a post back #1987 which had images of removing the capacitor, but that hosting site is no more. There was a thread made on GAF with some info right here
 

REDSLATE

Member
Guys, someone talk to me here. I want to open my Xbox and take out the time capacitator thing. But I'm TERRIBLE at this kind of stuff and fear ruining my console. Its not even hooked up or anything, I just want preserve it as much as I can. I was also thinking to replace the HD and mod it, but once again I fear wrecking the console.

Help!

As others have said, the Xbox is very easy to play with. Removing the capacitor is simple. Just be sure to disconnect the power, and, if you're really scared, use an anti-static mat.

The hardest part about the HDD upgrade is finding a compatible flash drive and lockable HDD (most WD should be fine). Beyond that, it's cake.
 

dubc35

Member
Not every version of Xbox had the leaky cap though, right? Shouldn't that be the first step: determine version. Maybe you know already but just thought I would throw that thought out there. [edit] Opening it up is a sure fire way of determining if you need to remove the cap.
 

Timu

Member
Not every version of Xbox had the leaky cap though, right? Shouldn't that be the first step: determine version. Maybe you know already but just thought I would throw that thought out there. [edit] Opening it up is a sure fire way of determining if you need to remove the cap.
Xbox 1.6 owners are screwed though.

Better multi plats. Check

Awesome exclusives. Check

Games that still haven't seen a port or HD remaster later on. Check

Picture quality that holds up well via component or VGA mod. Check

There's no good reason not to own an OG Xbox.
It can be modded to VGA?
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Better multi plats. Check

Awesome exclusives. Check

Games that still haven't seen a port or HD remaster later on. Check

Picture quality that holds up well via component or VGA mod. Check

There's no good reason not to own an OG Xbox.

Pretty compelling argument right here, cant say I disagree :)
 

dubc35

Member
You can't remove it's capacitor since it needs it to power on.

Hmm I had read that MS changed the cap for v1.6 (not sure how specifically) and that it wasn't as immediately doomed to fail. I guess on a longer time scale it will fail but so will everything. I guess I'll just R&R the cap every several years.
 

FyreWulff

Member
As others have said, the Xbox is very easy to play with. Removing the capacitor is simple. Just be sure to disconnect the power, and, if you're really scared, use an anti-static mat.

The hardest part about the HDD upgrade is finding a compatible flash drive and lockable HDD (most WD should be fine). Beyond that, it's cake.

Also, stay out of the power supply, which is open and exposed in the original Xbox because Microsoft likes to make things interesting
 

televator

Member
Xbox 1.6 owners are screwed though.

It can be modded to VGA?

Yes, though the information I've seen about whether or not the color space goes through compression and then simply resampled to RGB is inconclusive. The data sheets I've seen describe the incoming internal frame as YCbCr, but technically that can mean anything... 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4

If it's 4:4:4, then it stands to reason that a VGA mod passes unaltered RGB data.
 

dhonk

Member
Man, anyone willing to help me when I break out my softmodded oXbox again? Like, homebrew and utilities and stuff. I assume all of thats gone? It was hard as feck to do when I did it because so much of it was dead links. (2006-2008 ish era)

I put in a bigger hard drive but wasnt able to use all the space and couldnt find how to fix that, that kind of thing.
 

REDSLATE

Member
Man, anyone willing to help me when I break out my softmodded oXbox again? Like, homebrew and utilities and stuff. I assume all of thats gone? It was hard as feck to do when I did it because so much of it was dead links. (2006-2008 ish era)

I put in a bigger hard drive but wasnt able to use all the space and couldnt find how to fix that, that kind of thing.

I'd try repartitioning it. Sometimes it just borks up on the formating.

Use XBPartitioner V3. Reformat it a couple times (takes 5 secs) and make sure there's no "ERR" listing next to the individual partitions. If there are, just keep repartitioning it until there aren't.
 

Glowsquid

Member
What exactly is wrong with Dino Crisis 3?

(Disclaimer: I liekd the game when I played through it to completion 2 months ago but I'm an idiot with strange tastes so)

Dino Crisis fans hate it because (from what I gather), it killed the series, was a radical change in setting and gameplay from the previous games, and its storyline was completely unrelated despite Dino Crisis 2 ending on an huge cliffhanger. In addition to those elements, the game has a... lot of objective problems:

-The game employs a fixed camera like old-school survival horrors, but the movement speed (both player and enemies) is far higher so it gets quickly diorienting. You end up shooting at enemies oyu can't see because of the camera angles, most of the time.

-There's a lot of backtracking, either due to plot-mandated reasons or because the game asks you to dump a few items in a door and you need to backtrack to a save point to buy those items.

-The combat isn't very deep. Your guns have extreme agressive auto-aiming so most of the game is boosting away from enemies you can't see and hoping your character hits them. Sometimes oyu can switch to more powerful, ammo-limited weapons or charge a slightly more powerful "charge shot" to kill a boss slightly quicker but that's as deep as it gets,

-There's only four enemies in the whole game: Laser traps, Raptors (with invisible and teleporting variants), slugs, and gorillas dinos (which only appear very late in the game). There are more unique bosses than there are enemies type.

-The interface is fiddly. When you pause and unpause the game, it will always op up a prompt to save your changes even if you didn't actually make any change. The map (which you need to acces often) is very annoying to consult.

-Bosses are extreme damage sponges.
 

televator

Member
Got to the water planet in KotTOR. Man, that had Mass Effect type art everywhere. I'm loving this. Why haven't I played this before? Imma have to replay it on PC.
 

Havoc2049

Member
Recent additions to my XB collection. I'm up to 123 games.

4105ddb2-2984-4497-88c7-301b6073dfa3_zpseyycpghe.jpg
 

Havoc2049

Member
I'm getting there someday as I'm closing in on 100.

Cool. Post pics when you hit 100! :)

I don't see myself getting more than around 130 games. There are only a handful of games that I still want and I'm not after a complete collection.
 

Teknoman

Member
(Disclaimer: I liekd the game when I played through it to completion 2 months ago but I'm an idiot with strange tastes so)

Dino Crisis fans hate it because (from what I gather), it killed the series, was a radical change in setting and gameplay from the previous games, and its storyline was completely unrelated despite Dino Crisis 2 ending on an huge cliffhanger. In addition to those elements, the game has a... lot of objective problems:

-The game employs a fixed camera like old-school survival horrors, but the movement speed (both player and enemies) is far higher so it gets quickly diorienting. You end up shooting at enemies oyu can't see because of the camera angles, most of the time.

-There's a lot of backtracking, either due to plot-mandated reasons or because the game asks you to dump a few items in a door and you need to backtrack to a save point to buy those items.

-The combat isn't very deep. Your guns have extreme agressive auto-aiming so most of the game is boosting away from enemies you can't see and hoping your character hits them. Sometimes oyu can switch to more powerful, ammo-limited weapons or charge a slightly more powerful "charge shot" to kill a boss slightly quicker but that's as deep as it gets,

-There's only four enemies in the whole game: Laser traps, Raptors (with invisible and teleporting variants), slugs, and gorillas dinos (which only appear very late in the game). There are more unique bosses than there are enemies type.

-The interface is fiddly. When you pause and unpause the game, it will always op up a prompt to save your changes even if you didn't actually make any change. The map (which you need to acces often) is very annoying to consult.

-Bosses are extreme damage sponges.

It kinda sounds like they had some good ideas, but poor execution.
 

Glowsquid

Member
I did ultimately enjoy Dino Crisis 3, but I didNt write what I liked about it because I was nearing the end of my break. I do like some things about the game.

-I thought exploring the ship was fun. All of the rooms have unique appearances and layout, and there a lot of puzzles and platforming to do to collect secret items and money to get upgrades.

-The game feels very tense. Enemies can kill you in very few hits even with health upgrades, and there a lot of traps (like some windows breaks when you enter a room, so you need to boost away until they're closed to not get sucked in the vacuum of space). Of course, some of the challenge is due to the game design problems in my previous post, but the game did succeed at making me feel tense without being too frustrated, and I suppose that's a good thing for an horror game.

-I thought the ressource management aspect (with the money you get from killing enemies) added a nice layer of strategy to the game. Choosing which ability to upgrade next, as well as the carrying capacity of each individual item, is important.

I understand ressource management is a major feature of survival horror games, but I haveN,t really played any of those, so maybe playing an actually well-liked survival horror game will blow my fucking mind

-The graphics are amazing! On 480p, it pratically looks like an early x360 game. The CGI cutscenes (particularly the ship-transformation scenes) look stunning too.

If you have relaxed standards and don't have a strong attachment to the previous dino crisis gaems, I think it's possible to extract *some* fun out of DC3. I wouldn't actively recommend it, especially not at the higher-than-average (for Xbox) price it goes for online, though.
 

Dereck

Member
Playing Ni-oh just made me want to play Ninja Gaiden again.

Ninja Gaiden is such an astonishing achievement. I would rather not being playing it on a 55" flat screen with component cables, but I'm making it work.
 

Glowsquid

Member
I know the answer to that question is almost certainly "no", but on the oft-chance that it isn't, I wonder if there's any way to use a surround headset on the original xbox?

I got the sony 7.1 headset for the ps3, and even if it's fake "virtual surround", it makes an huge difference, enough that I can't picture going back to lame-ass stereo after this. But I don't have the space for a proper 5.1 setup, either :s,
 

shanafan

Member
I know the answer to that question is almost certainly "no", but on the oft-chance that it isn't, I wonder if there's any way to use a surround headset on the original xbox?

I got the sony 7.1 headset for the ps3, and even if it's fake "virtual surround", it makes an huge difference, enough that I can't picture going back to lame-ass stereo after this. But I don't have the space for a proper 5.1 setup, either :s,

What is the hookup on the other end of your headset? I am assuming it's optical, I bet there is a connector that can convert optical to red/white composite. Something like this

You would just plug the red/white from your Xbox into the box, and then headset jack into the other.
 

televator

Member
I fixed a fan in my spare Xbox, but ended up breaking the DVD drive... Guess this'll be my Guinea pig for my first soft mod attempt...

What could I possibly do? Break it more? lol

Imma try the Xplorer method.
 

Timu

Member
The SanDisk Cruzer Blade 4GB works perfectly for this console, useful for game saves and softmodding as well.
 
Top Bottom