Does anyone know of a firmware that already exists that can run retail games, as in from a DVD-X2 (legitimate store-bought disk)? I made one myself a decade ago, but while my memory of how to make such modifications have survived the decade, my files have not. I'm lazy and would rather save time. =^-^=
Without patching the XBE could you use a BFM BIOS? I forget if that had any effect or not...I'd test but not home at the moment. I'm not sure if phoenix bios loader works on debug kits or not, but if so I wonder if you can just run a non debug BIOS from it.
Retail Game Loader or Hack Devkit Bios. I recommend RGL, as HDB has a tendency to make your saves (and those you find online) not work properly.