I just bought an oXbox for the first time (sorta)

[Jagosaurus]

Ohhh nice, what softmod is on that 2nd console?

Yes, on unleashedX I always cranked my fan speed up to 80% IIRC. Kept it much cooler.

So, while I wouldn't recommend to push it, if the system begins to overheat, the LED indicators will flash red and turn the system off. This is how I first noticed my DOA fan. Morrowind must be system taxing bc I wouldn't last long before I got the overheat LED indication and shutdown.

For FPS, there's always the 007 and CoD games. I'm not sure I've seen anyone mention:

- Half Life 2
- Red Faction 2
- Timesplitters series
- Gun
- Area 51

If you're an X-Files fan, Area 51 may be of interest with Duchovny voicing the main character:

Notable among the voice actors are David Duchovny as Ethan Cole, Marilyn Manson as Edgar the ancient and powerful Grey, Powers Boothe as Major Bridges, Nolan North as McCan, and Ian Abercrombie as Dr. Winston Cray.

[Ziggy]

Ohhh nice, what softmod is on that 2nd console?

Yes, on unleashedX I always cranked my fan speed up to 80% IIRC. Kept it much cooler.

So, while I wouldn't recommend to push it, if the system begins to overheat, the LED indicators will flash red and turn the system off. This is how I first noticed my DOA fan. Morrowind must be system taxing bc I wouldn't last long before I got the overheat LED indication and shutdown.

It has the UnleashX dashboard. The screensaver says it's v0.38, so not the most current version. I was actually trying to use Rocky5's Xbox Softmodding Tool, the pre-built ISO to upgrade the soft mod. But when I loaded the disc, it would keep freezing on me. I think I'm going to try and FTP the needed files over and try and update it that way.

Ah, OK, at least it has overheating protection. Still, it can't be good to cook aging electronics like this. I can't see the temps until I mod it, but once I can I'll just go with whatever the cooler option is. The cooler the better, in terms of trying to prolong the life of the hardware.

For FPS, there's always the 007 and CoD games.

I actually already picked up CoD Finest Hour and Big Red One. For 007 games, I own them all on PS2 but I'm curious to check them out on Xbox. I played a lot of Agent Under Fire in my early PS2 days, but I haven't played it in like 20 years. I've been curious to replay that one, but it has very archaic FPS controls. I've read that the Xbox version has a more modern control scheme option, so I'm really curious to check that one out.



Speaking about games though (and not just the hardware lol)... I was playing a bit of Conker Live and Reloaded, but I don't know, I guess I'm just not in the mood for a 3D platformer right now. I'm replaying Medal of Honor Frontline, which I actually just completed the PS3 remaster. This was one of my favorite games during the 6th generation. I haven't played it in so long, and I've been having a blast with it. I also fired up Tony Hawk 2X. I have a save file on my 360 that I currently have no way to get off, so I'm just starting over on the oXbox. And I started up Fable. I had played a decent amount of Fable on the PC back in the day, but I lost my save file for it. I always wanted to circle back and replay it. So I'll be playing these three games congruently. I'll be finished with Frontline before long, at which point I'll swap in another FPS. There's no shortage of FPS games I want to play on the Xbox lol.

[opa]

Real talk: which controller are you rockin'?

I could barely tolerate the original controller. Once the small one released, the tank controller was relegated to whomever forgot to bring their own. lol

[Ziggy]

Real talk: which controller are you rockin'?

I could barely tolerate the original controller. Once the small one released, the tank controller was relegated to whomever forgot to bring their own. lol

Right now I'm using the S type controller. I'd like to pick up a backup, you know how sticks can die.

Back when I briefly owned an oXbox, it came with two Duke controllers and I remember absolutely hating them! But that was about 13 years ago. I can remember hating them, but I can't remember holding them. I was a little curious to re-experience the Duke. But I was also thinking it would probably end up being a waste of money LOL.

I picked up Retro Fighter's Hunter controller, but I haven't used it yet.

https://retrofighters.com/our-collectio ... ontroller/

[Jagosaurus]

If you guys didn't know, the Duke is essentially a dual stick evolution of the Dreamcast controller, hence the size. A VMU was even tossed around. See below prototype mock ups from Seamus Blackley.

https://twitter.com/SeamusBlackley/stat ... 0418157574

https://twitter.com/SeamusBlackley/stat ... 8050679810

MS had very close ties with Sega at the time (coming off DC Windows CE) and backwards compatibility for the DC on XB was even tossed around but ultimately became the Sega exclusives we got. The Sega Chihiro arcade platform was also based on OGX hardware. Some really cool Sega DNA in the OGX.

[Ziggy]

Someone said in an interview about the Duke, to just sum it up quickly, they had the PCBs for the controller produced before the actual design. The PCB was huge, and they had to design a controller around that.

Speaking of which though... I know they have those memory card units for the controllers. Where there any other accessories that were made (first or third party) that plugged into the controllers?

[emwearz]

Speaking of which though... I know they have those memory card units for the controllers. Where there any other accessories that were made (first or third party) that plugged into the controllers?

The main use, even more than memory cards, would be for the Xbox Live headset.


Phantasy star came with an adapter to use a USB keyboard.
The 4 ports on the front of the Xbox are actually just re-wired USB and with converters (you can make yourself or buy one cheap) you can plug usb devices in, though for data transfer, they are slow. With the ports inside the controller itself, acting like a usb hub of sorts. Back in the day I made my own converter but years later I got one from eBay or something. You can actually use old USB drives with an adapter and the console recognises them as memory units.

For awhile people would convert Memory Cards into USB converters or they would take their larger (than 8MB) usb sticks and solder them to the inside on the official Memory Card for more storage. Fun times, mostly useless today though.

There were also converters to plug in standard microphones, though I am not sure which games used them, I assume Sing Star style titles.

I am not sure what else was 'officially' supported for the port.

[Ziggy]

I'm having a weird issue with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2X.

I have a legit copy of the game. I played it for a while on my 360 a couple of years ago, never had any problems. Then recently I was playing it on my 1.0 Xbox for a bit over a few days. Then all of a sudden, the game froze and I had trouble getting the 1.0 Xbox to load the disc. So I thought, uh-oh, problem with the DVD drive? So I moved my save file over to my 1.1 Xbox, and same problem. Sometimes when I put the disc in, the console does not recognize it. Sometimes it'll boot, but then it takes a long time to load everything and freezes on the menu somewhere. So I downloaded an XISO image of the game and burned it to a DVD+R, since the 1.1 is softmodded. It will also sometimes not recognize the disc. When it does, it boots and loads better than the legit disc. But it always ends up freezing anyway. It's been freezing in the same spot. I complete a run, save, set a high score, then when I hit retry level it'll freeze. Right now I'm burning the XISO to a DVD-R, maybe that'll make a difference.

edit: Still freezes with the DVD-R.

Anyone have any insight?

The main use, even more than memory cards, would be for the Xbox Live headset.

Ah, right, the headset. I guess I already knew about those. I never knew about the keyboard though, that's cool. I actually decided to pick up an official memory card. It's still the easiest way to transfer save files between two Xboxes, IMO. I did grab a USB dongle that plugs into a controller port (I know you can easily make them, but they're cheaper to buy) and I have an old SD card and card reader that works. But the memory card is still a little sleeker.

[Gucci]

I had an Xbox briefly. Lost it during a flood. The time I did have it, I got myself a copy of Half Life 2. Even though I had The Orange Box, I actually enjoyed my time with the downgraded version of the game on oXbox. It’s been over a decade so I don’t remember the mod I used at the time for the console itself but it was indeed modded.

The thing I was wondering recently was “fixing” the situation regarding KoTOR II.

I’m sure it’s well known that development on that game was troubled. A large chunk of the game was cut in order for them to make a holiday release. This issue was largely fixed on the PC when the content was restored with easy installation through the Steam Workshop.

There was also a small tool that was developed in order for the content file to be converted and installed on the iOS version of the game.

I’m wondering if the same can be done to the Xbox version.

[Jagosaurus]

Ziggy, 2 potential solutions:

1) Did you try ripping the game straight from disc drive to your softmodded XB HDD? Even if stock 8GB, can usually fit 2 or so games on there. Would tell you if disc is clean. You should see an app like DVD2XBOX that allows you to rip from console tray to HDD.

2) Try clearing cache on softmodded xbox. Some people edit the configuration text files, but I always did this method and worked straight from dash file mgmt:
https://youtu.be/P3GDj3baylg?si=gpCezUCzvqmxJeOb
I would keep that XB_sound file if you see it too lol

DM me if you don't have the "HDD Ready" game files. Can FTP right over using an app like FileZilla. They're out on the web, but I think links were hidden from public searches at one point. I used this, even on games I owned, to save wear & tear on disc drive.

What size HDD is in the modded system? Lots of options these days to swap out.

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet us Xlink Kai for Call of Duty and Halo "online" which is mimicking LAN over tunneling software. I played a lot of Halo 2 using this method. Then Project Insignia has come a long way:
https://youtu.be/DmvDgNAvdWM?si=krRaydSwPQdZ2XPS