Simple region-free Xbox mod?

Simple region-free Xbox mod? (that keep the original menu?)

Hey guys! So I've picked up a OG Xbox from Yahoo Auctions and it's obviously going to need to be modded to get it playing non-Japanese games. I had an Xbox back in Australia and I softmodded it, but I was thinking I might see if it's possible to do things a little differently this time around. You see, I'm only really interested in region-free, no homebrew or media server functions and I'd really like to keep the original menu. When I did the softmod, it changed the menu to a custom one. I remember hearing that someone had made a custom skin that resembles the original menu, but is it possible to just skip all that and keep the original menu? What do you guys suggest?

 

A modchip or TSOP flash.

 

Ah, I seem to remember doing a TSOP flash back when I softmodded my original Xbox. Did I go one step too far in the process and that's why I lost the original menu?

 

Usually you mod an Xbox to play games from the HDD. The stock dash doesn't offer that, so pretty much all mods boot into another launcher. Since all you care about is booting discs from all regions, you should be able to change that back. If all else fails, find out where the xbe that boots is located, and replace that with a copy of the stock dash.

NB: Do *not* do that with a softmod though - since that actually relies on expliting the dash, you would end up in an infinite loop (dash boots, gets exploited, hack boots back into stock dash, which gets exploited again, and so on). Hardmods (tsop flashes, modchips) are fine since they don't mess with the dash.

 

Sweet, that sounds like what I'm after! So what would the process for this be? It's been awhile, but I seem to recall you had to bridge two points on the board to make the TSOP writable. Beyond that, there was a whole mess of exploits and softmods that got me to the point where I ended up. I'm guessing I'll be stopping shortly after messing with the TSOP?

 

First step would be to find out what exact xbox version you got and if a tsop is possible or if a modchip would be the easier method.
To start the tsop flash you would just use one of the exploits(splinter cell comes to mind) to launch evox and flash it. You need ofc enable writing to the tsop by soldering some points on the mainboard.

 

I made a tutorial on softmodding and TSOP check my YouTube thread

for tsop (if you are confident) you can hide a copy of hexen tools inside the Softmod installer delux, solder the write points on the mobo then boot up SID and use file explorer to load the HEXEN.xbe... Then simply flash the bios from there, makes the entire process down to 5 mins from a stock console.

 

Softmod is region free.

 

I found your video, I take it that I'm suppose to follow it up until the point where you installed the custom dash? What option should I do instead?

 

You could flash the ind bios and edit the ind-bios.cfg in C:\ so that the DASH1 entry points to the ms dashboard's xbe. Surely there are also other maybe better options.

 

There are two ways we can go about this.
1: Flash the bios on the console (TSOP) and use stock dash, this should work
2: softmod or flash and use UnleashX with a stock looking skin and edit the menu so all extra stuff is hidden

 

Hmmm, option 1 sounds best to me, how do I do that? In your video, I didn't see a "stock" option at the part where you flashed the tsop, just 2 custom dashes.

 

http://www.biline.ca/xbox_mod.htm

This tutorial will show you how to flash TSOP and stay at stock and the slayers disc it mentioned can be found at theisozone

 

Seems simple enough, flash the TSOP then go no further to keep the original dash? Thanks for the link! The guide mentions that the bios screen will be modified though, is it possible to keep it the way it was originally?

 

Any decent softmod enables region free. No opening the console ever.

TSOP has its uses, though a bit overkill if that's really all you'll do.

 

Is there any softmod that can permantly enable region free without needing to disk swap or something like that? Seems like all the mods I've seen involve rewriting the bios, which needs you to open up the console to enable writing to the TSOP. Not that I mind, but if there's a simple solution to solve this basic problem, I'd be interested!

 

Best is to find a stock skin for UnleashX and soft mod..

You could flash iND bios and modify the boot settings

 

I did the tsop mod years and years ago.

All I did was boot up a exploit using mechassault,then flashed the bios using evox.
After that you could leave it alone and use the stock dash or install what ever dash you wanted.

 

Even a dual-boot softmod will do ok.

 

Hmmm, I'm liking Pikkon's suggestion the most. I remember trying to find a skin for UnleashX that looked like the stock one, but never found one that matched the original. And dual-booting sounds overly complex when I all I want to do is remove the region lock (i.e installed a BIOS with the region lock removed) So how do I do what you said you did, Pikkon? As I said, LeHaM's video didn't show a "stock" option at the skin selection step, so do I just, like, stop the installation process before that point or something?

Also, for the exploit game, are they the same selection for a Japanese console? Or do I need to use a different game?