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The NEW Xbox360 Homebrew Scene and YOU

Lachrymose

smokeMeth();
The Xbox360 Homebrew scene is raging full speed ahead with spectacular new developments on the JTAG hack. First, watch this video to show you what is possible now.

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njeD-lnWCYM[/YT]

My Video:
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEFMYVC8whI[/YT]

FreeBOOT v0.02 allows you to boot into a custom dashboard without XEX signature checks, LIVE/PIRS signature checks and Harddisk authentication! FreeBOOT must be installed on a second NAND, which requires a second NAND (Cygnos360 v2 modchip), but within one day, a solution was released for those lacking one, to use XBReboot v0.05, and boot into a custom 8955 kernel.

Not much homebrew has been released yet, besides a few emulators, multiple Linux Distros, and a Homebrew loader, but XMBC is said to be in the works. Rest assured that many other exciting releases will be in the near future.

I went out, bought a soldering iron and a bunch of tools required to do this on my old xenon Xbox, previously banned 2 years ago (never touched since) and am waiting on a desktop pc to hack it with.

EDIT: Mine is completely hacked. Check out my video :)

I uploaded a video of my Xbox, demonstrating some of its functionalities. A new video for XeXloader 0.17 can be found here. New features include custom themes, a better gui and bug fixes with copying and pasting. Developers say an ftp server is being looked into.

Updates!
- XexLoader got renamed to Xexmenu and got updated to version 1.0 which contains an FTP server, custom themes, Xbox1 partition support and other small tweaks.
- A genesis and Super Nintendo emulator have been released with support for achievements.
- XM360 0.4 was recently released which allows booting of Xbox Live Arcade Games from a non trusted storage device (usb hdd).
Q: I did the August update. Can I still use it?
A: Not yet. Many highly respected developers have hinted at a solution in the near future though.

Q: I was banned previous to the Homebrew killing update. Can I use it?
A: Yes... as far as I know.

Q: Is this for all motherboards?
A: The JTAG hack is for all motherboards, although the recently released XBReboot is only for Xenon v1 motherboards. A newly updated version is set to release soon.

Q: Where can I find a tutorial?
A: free60.org has great documentation on everything you need to know. If you are a beginner at soldering (like me), do lots of research prior to attempting these tutorials. When in doubt, find someone who has experience.

Q: Where can I find an updated source for Homebrew related news?
A: Xboxscene.com is fairly good. I will be updating this post as often as possible though.

Q: How hard is it to do this hack?
A: About as hard as installing a modchip (source: free60).

Q: Will this get me banned?
A: Yes, although you can get away with it for a little while. People host Modern Warfare rank boosting rooms for a few hours.

Statement: Sweet! My console got banned in the November ban wave! This gives me something to do with my 360!
A: Nope, not yet. You were on Live so you updated in August. You must wait for a work-around.

Ask away with any questions you may have and I will try to answer them the best I can.
 

Adiuvo

Active Member
Holy crap, that is awesome. Is there any chance of this leading to undetectable consoles?
 

InfinitiProject

"Whoa is that a girl on this team!?"
Can't wait for them to break down higher kernels since it's rare to find a JTAG-able 360 for cheap :)

Might have to go pick up a 360 again and put it away since my last one hit RRoD and it's the PS3 that's getting play now, and leave the 360 at its stock update/firmware. Then I can finally put my Xbox 1 to rest when 360's version of XBMC advances far enough, if Team XBMC decide to go with it.
 

explosions

Member
Usb0:\Games\default.xex


Is that the only file it loads as of now?

---------- Post added at 10:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:45 PM ----------

Wait a sec....

You're telling me they unlocked service mode on the XBox?

I'm pretty sure it's just a custom kernel.
 

Lachrymose

smokeMeth();
How does that work? Make a new icon for every folder in Usb0?

I guess so. I'll let you know when I get mine running. Keep in mind that these applications are still in very early stages. There are a lot of possibilities. I can imagine the majority of future applications will be loaded right from the dashboard. I think this will turn out good for pirates who have been waiting 4 years to get free Arcade games. I also wonder if c4eva will join this side of the hacking scene.
 

Lachrymose

smokeMeth();
360Menu soon to be released!

jhonnyp0lak said:
Hey everyone,

I'm back again with some good news. The other day i made a proof of concept menu / launcher using an OXM disc.
First of all I'd like to say thank you to everyone that made this possible. The years of hard work that went into the jtag hack and XBrebooter and xexloader and the various file tools. Those are all tools that made this possible. Now down to business:

Concept behind the OXM disc:

Since we can run unsigned code i was able to edit the various aspects of an OXM disc and make it do what i want it to do. Besides creating dummy files and menu icons the main portion of editing the OXM disc consists in the menu.ini file. This file allows you to specify menu structure and submenu items as well as the paths they're supposed to execute.

So for example I can extract an ISO image (using Xbox Image Browser) to a directory on the HDD (e.g. \Games\GTA) and edit the menu.ini file to say, execute \Games\GTA\default.xex and it will run the game I also patch the default.xex file with xextool to remove media id's, region flags etc etc. And I can keep adding menu items and effectively build a library of games / tools / emulators ...... etc...

The tech behind it all:

- jtag exploited console
- XBReboot v0.05 8955_1 installed on internal nand
- xexloader burned to CDR and sitting in the drive (this tool is yet to be released)
- fat32 formatted hdd with 360menu xex (default.xex) in root directory and applications / games (other xex's) in sub directories.

How it all runs:

The console automatically boots up with XBreboot.
CDR is in the drive tray with xexloader
I press play game and xexloader runs.
Once xexloader is up and running i press A to load from USB slot 1 to which my USB HDD is attached
xexloader excutes default.xex in the root directory of the USB HDD.
360menu is now up and running, and from there I can execute any xex files i've specified in the menu.ini file.
source:Xboxhacker.net
Video:
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsH5Ukv2-s4[/YT]

This is really exciting news. I just got my Desktop PC running, so I can do this soon. One dilemma though, I only have Jasper power bricks, when my Xbox requires a 203Watt Xenon-motherboard one (the one that you have to push in the clips to remove it).

If anyone has an extra 203 watt Power Brick and wants to swap it for a lower voltage one / sell it to me, please let me know!
 

Hellcat

Contributor
Wow.... how nice stuff....
I got more and more the idea of getting an x360 to play around with this :D
 

Lachrymose

smokeMeth();
Do you have to have a 2nd NAND to do this?

Nope. Use XBReboot and you can run it on the onboard NAND. It supports all motherboards except the Jasper 256/512mb as of now. It will be in the near future with support.

Wow.... how nice stuff....
I got more and more the idea of getting an x360 to play around with this :D

Make sure you get one manufactured before July 20th, 2009. Thats all I know.
 

Hellcat

Contributor
Nope. Use XBReboot and you can run it on the onboard NAND. It supports all motherboards except the Jasper 256/512mb as of now. It will be in the near future with support.



Make sure you get one manufactured before July 20th, 2009. Thats all I know.
Hm, because of this Jasper compat. thing you mentioned above?
But when they start supporting that as well, all is fine, no matter what, right?
 

Robby

Los Doyers!
Doesn't this only work if your xbox has not been updated?
Aka online within the past 3 months.
 

Josey Wales

Evil Poptart
Damn, I didnt even know there was a homebrew scene for 360. Looks worthy of a look, it could be something new to do with this dusty 360
 
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