Going to turn an Xbox into a MAME machine, what do I need?

[smokehouse]

A friend of mine has an older Xbox (I think it’s first gen) that has a shot hard drive. He will give it to me for next to nothing and I want to make it into a MAME box. I have a guy at work that mods Xbox units and wondered if anyone has done this before. I couldn’t care less if the unit will no longer be able to play regular Xbox titles so removing all the original programming is n beg deal.

Any tips, suggestions?

[erehwon]

You can most of the needed info at http://www.xbox-scene.com/

I think all you would need is a new hard drive and a modchip. The modchip would likely cause problems with xboxlive.

[smokehouse]

The Xbox live thing doesn’t bother me; I won’t be using it as an Xbox anyway. I basically want a cheap MAME box that will make use of the Xbox component or S-VID out and Xbox controllers.

[dj898]

get a cheap LCD monitor with pivot neck...
that way you are covered for most of arcade titles...

(problem is you will need to get VGA box/cable made up for xbox as it dosn't support VGA out of box...)

[smokehouse]

What I’m hoping to do is to make a MAME “console” (if that’s even possible). I want to hook it up to my TV. I was looking to get a supergun but decided a MAME box would be cheaper. I have heard that some people have made an Xbox into a MAME “console” and was wondering of that was even possible.

[roushimsx]

I'd recommend going for the softmod route.

You'll need the following things:
-Action Replay Max (comes with a memory card and a device to transfer saves from your PC to the card). You can probably borrow this from someone else.
-Mechassault, Splinter Cell, or Agent Under Fire (Original Releases). I recommend Splinter Cell because it's actually a fun game and you'll probably want to play through it at some point.
-an exploited save game (easy to get either through the Action Replay Max online saves system or from any number of Xbox Mod sites/IRC channels/Usenet Groups/ask me if all else fails)

For the hard drive, you'll need
-a hard drive you can lock (list (http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list))
-Two torx screwdrivers (T10 and T20)
-Xboxhdm v1.9 (you can get it from #xbins on Efnet)

If you need, I can point you to some good tutorials for swapping in larger hard drives.

Keep in mind that the MAME build on Xbox is hiddeously out of date, so you'll have to look for "incorrect"/"outdated" romsets for many games/systems (IIRC CPS2, System16, and Neo Geo are the ones that are hurt the most by this as they've undergone pretty major changes in the last year or two). Also, tons of great stuff like TaitoF3 hardware isn't really playable because of the Xbox's "weak" cpu, so no Elevator Action Returns or Gunlock for you!

But yea, I'm a bigtime fan of the softmod, mainly from a price point of view (if you already have one of the games and you can borrow an action replay max, it's more or less free), ease (hey I figured it out and apparently I'm a retarded child according to some people!), and you can always reverse it if you, for whatever reason, wanted to.

[Damion]

Why yes it's very possiable. but to obtain the software to do it is rather tough to someone unfamiler to the ways of IRC and FlashXP.

What you will need.

Krazys Ndure Installer (ALL Saves)

A copy of

Splinter Cell

Or a non greatest hits Mechassult

Or 007 (someone help I can't remeber the rest)

Now thats if you want to softmod

you'll also have to upgrade the Drive if you want all the ROMS to fit on it. I recommend that if your going to only use it for mame then a 20 gig would be more then enough.

oh and MamedoX is a really good emu for the Box.


*Looks at above post* Xboxhdm v1.9? thats the one with the Evox installer correct? you know where you build an ISO with the C and E drives and Build the drive through your computer? I think I D/L'd that from Xbins awhile back I'll have to check it out closer.

Also I would like to note that ALOT of Xbox-Scene's Tutorials are either outdated or Not very Noob Friendly.


BTW how indepth can we go in helping others mod there xbox? I wouldn't mind writing up a howto for softmodding as it's pretty fresh in my mind

[roushimsx]

Why yes it's very possiable. but to obtain the software to do it is rather tough to someone unfamiler to the ways of IRC and FlashXP.

What you will need.

Krazys Ndure Installer (ALL Saves)


I love how awesomely FlashFXP works, but I'm curious as to why Filzezilla chokes on stuff like XBMC where there's tons of smaller files. FlashFXP transfers it without any issues ninja-quick and Filzezilla just fills the log with errors...especially weird since the xbox ftp server is based on Filezilla Server, IIRC. :(

Also, I used WaffleTools which installed UnleashX and then made handy use of its Live Update function. Extremely handy! Been thinking about making XBMC my default dashboard, though...don't know...it's so tempting.. :(

Thanks for the pointer on MAMEdox! I'll give it a shot since it looks like it's based on a much more recent MAME build.

I haven't upgraded my HD yet (haven't seen the need to since I only have a handful of romsets on there at a time and stream most stuff from my PC), but WaffleZone's tutorial from SA is extremely handy and easy to follow.

[Damion]

Oh man Krazys installer gives you two dashboards. one being UnleashX (for when you reload the hacked save) and Evox as main. you can easly Delete (As long as your in the UnleashX dash) the EvoX dash and install XBMC as your main dash while having all the goodies UnleashX has. Course any time you would want to use it you would need to reload the Hacked Save.

I must admit I was scared to do that for about two weeks untell I said Screw it and gave it an Educated shot. XBMC is A Great Dash.

oh I forgot to mention that Krazys installer also allows for tri-boot so that you can go to any dash on the fly (UnleashX EvoX and Live dash) All by what/how you choose to use the power and eject button.