Grab one, grab all!

If you grab all the software on this page, you should be set. At least for starters. In many cases, there are different options, and this page tries to list the various options available. This page ended up becoming much larger than I expected, and as such my recommendations are to do one of the following:

• Grab all software referenced by this page
• Grab software from this page on an as-needed basis, based on when other pages say one of these pieces of software are needed
• Grab only the software you think you'll need. In general, only one version of a program will be needed, and sometimes there may be comments or list structure to indicate that one piece of software isn't needed if another one is used.

Xbox Software

Minimal Software

A saved game designed to exploit a game you possess

Have a saved game exploit for one of these. This is the key for soft-modders to run code, but it can also be useful for some mod-chip owners to get around some issues caused from what files they have on their hard drive.

Which one should you use? How about, whichever game you own? If you own none, choose between whichever one is cheapest or whichever one you think you should appreciate the most. I own multiple, and so I may have and use saved game exploits on my hard drive for multiple games, so that I can use whichever one I most quickly find the disk for.

Alternate Dashboard

FTP Server which can be used with Microsoft's signature checking in active partially-working status.

• Evolution-X RemoteX dashboard (created with XDK). This may be included in the saved game hacks, so you may not need to obtain this separately. If you do, see:
  • /XBOX/apps/dashboards/evolution-x/_official/EvolutionX Build 3935.rar
  • /XBOX/apps/dashboards/evolution-x/_official/EvolutionX Build 3935.sfv

I had earlier dismissed other FTP servers as being unable to be signed in a way that they will work with signature checking partially working because XBEDump would say "XBE file integrity:    FALSE !!!!!!! FALSE !!!!!" I have since learned the XBEDump makes invalid assumptions about an XBE file's structure, and software created with later versions of the official Microsoft Xbox Software Development Kit will actually never pass XBEDump's checks. I therefore am now under the belief that other dashboards will work just fine. Preliminary tests have shown problems with using other dashboards.

EEPROM Backer-Upper

It is a good idea to back up your EEPROM. Some would advise to do this right away.

• Evolution-X RemoteX dashboards can do this
• I am under the understanding that Config Magic FINAL can do this.

Signature Defeater

nkpatcher

A software that modifies the BIOS in RAM. There is little documentation on this program to know just what it looks for, but this seems to work for the official Microsoft BIOSes created so far and if this works for you, this may be the simplest method.

Alternate BIOS

Before nkpatcher, the method of choice for dealing with signatures was to load an Alternate BIOS. This may still be a not-bad choice, as some BIOSes may offer additional features. To use an alternate BIOS, people need:

A way to use an alternate BIOS

• Soft Modders will need:

  Phoenix BIOS Loader

  This program loads an alternate BIOS. There are different versions of this program.

  • Versions that will work on 5530 kernels

    Metoo

    Supposedly works on newer kernels

    Frosting Phoenix BIOS Loader

    Supposedly works on newer kernels. Frosting refers to the icing on the cake, a.k.a. the features it supports.

  • Older versions: These do not work on version 5530 kernels (and at least some later versions) These releases were from when it was known that Phoenix BIOS Loader doesn't work on Xbox kernel 5330... yet.
    PBL 1.4.1
    • /XBOX/bios/bios tools/Phoenix Bios Loader/PBL1.4.1 by gueux.rar "We already found out that PBL1.4.x didn't work for some people with Focus chips."

    Gueux /XBOX/bios/bios tools/Phoenix Bios Loader/_old/PBL1.4_complet_no_signed.rar seems to be an original, non-translated release of a version 1.4 (which is a different executable than 1.4.1), but has source released (unlike 1.4.1, which I did not see source for.) I'm wondering if the only thing new in 1.4.1 from 1.4 is an English translation. "We already found out that PBL1.4.x didn't work for some people with Focus chips."
    PBL 1.3.5i
    This Open-Source software. 1.3.5i's source is out, included in the archive. The "i" stands for "internal". I heard at the time of this release that Team Phoenix didn't care to try to stop the spread of this leaked (unofficially released) version, and so people have their blessing to use the 1.3.5i release if desired.
    Phoenix BIOS Loader 1.3
    Older version only supported loading XBOXROM.BIN, and the lack of features and text mode output made this a bit more compatible than other versions

    • /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Signed Phoenix Bios Loader/Signed_Phoenix_Bios_Loader_V1.3.rar
    • /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Signed Pheonix Bios Loader

  Debug RC4 Key

  They can be found in either one of the following PBL archives.

  • /XBOX/bios/bios tools/Phoenix Bios Loader/PBL1.4.1 by gueux.rar
  • /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Signed Phoenix Bios Loader/Signed_Phoenix_Bios_Loader_V1.3.rar /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Signed Pheonix Bios Loader

• Mod chip users will need to seek documentation elsewhere on how this gets done.

An alternate BIOS

• Modified version of Microsoft's BIOS (gnerally considered a Copyright violation if you download it from the Internet, since the server has no way of knowing if you're a legal owner of the original)
  • X-ecuter2
    • /XBOX/bios/bootable from media/hacked/x2/
    • The Xecuter team says in X2_4981.nfo: "We hope you enjoy what is now most definatley the last X2 bios release." I believe there may be an X-ecutor3 BIOS file in development.
    • "Works on ALL models (v1.0 to v1.5)", LBA48 hack included
    • Has support for breaking Xbox Live while running, therefore helping to prevent you from accidentally logging onto Xbox Live with a hacked BIOS and getting banned from Xbox Live.
    • Apparently does not support OpenXDK applications, unlike the Evolution-X BIOS D6 and M7.
    • Evox.ini MD5 Hash Entries
      • Rom = "X2 4981.06",0xad9ee284ed92e2a9a4598ef79648b103
      • Rom = "X2 4981.67",0x86127dadc49f5b734d261ea3d971dff3
  • Evox M-7 has support for Focus chips.
    • /XBOX/bios/bootable from media/hacked/evox/Evox_M7_ef_bfm.rar is a 256K version.
    "PBL 1.3 doesn't work with M7 use 1.3.5"
  • An older version is at /XBOX/bios/bootable from media/hacked/evox/_old/Evox_D6_ef_bfm.rar
  • TATX. I haven't tested this. Apparently the TATX Dual Debug BIOS " allows you to run XDK applications such as screenshot mods which work for every game except Halo." I downloaded this, but didn't test this. It may not be BFM.
    • /XBOX/bios/bootable from media/debug/TATX_Debug_BFM.zip
    • /XBOX/bios/bootable from media/debug/TATX_Debug_VGA_BFM.zip
  • /XBOX/bios/bootable from media/_collection/Boot.From.Media.Bios.Collection-COMPLEX/cpx-bfmc.rar
  • There are others, they can be old and obsolete though.
  • /XBOX/bios/bios tools/Phoenix Bios Loader/PBL1.4.1 by gueux.rar comes with 1 MB versions of EvoxM7 and X-ecuter2 4979
• Xbox Linux BIOS ("Cromwell", often spelled "Xromwell"). Fully legal, available from Xbox-Linux.org. When using this BIOS, you cannot run any commercial Xbox games.

Official Microsoft BIOS (with full signature checking)

Not recommended for any reasons except the following:

• "Xbox Live!" requires the usage of an official Microsoft BIOS. Usage of any other may result in being banned from "Xbox Live!".
• This BIOS provides the maximum compatibility with official games, while simultaneously being the least likely, among all BIOSes that provide support for official Xbox games, to infringe upon any intellectual property.

Useful Software

XSelect 0.9

The most useful thing for package maintainers is that this software is small, so multiple save hacks can fit on one memory unit. The most useful thing for people using the Evo-X RemoteX dashboard is that this program lets any executable be run from the hard drive.

PC Software

Un-Archivers

Uses one file to create one or more other files. Many files are distributed in a way that requires an unarchiver because this allows for easier distribution, transmission, storage, or organization.

UnRarer

Software to unRar something compressed with Rar 3.x compression. Rarlab, makers of WinRar, offers Unrar for free. Download one of:

• Version 3.3 for Win32
• Version 3.13d for DOS
• Source Code
• Others
• WinRAR Trial for those who need to use a GUI

Unzipper

Download one of:

• WiZ for those who prefer a graphical interface
• Win32 Binaries (grab unz550xN.exe from one of the download sites)
• Other Binaries
• Source Code

UUDecoder

File re-signer

• XBEDump
  • File calls itself XBE Dumper 0.5-BETA Release
  • From the usual places: /PC/xbe-xip-xbx tools/xbedump/xbedump.zip is byte for byte the same as /XBOX/exploits/xbedump/xbedump.zip
  • Source code is available from Xbox-Linux.org.
  XBEDump is known to make invalid assumptions about an XBE format. Early XBE files seemed to pass all the checks the XBEDump makes, but files made with newer versions of the Microsoft XDK makes files that do not pass all of XBEDump's checks. Therefore, do not worry too much if you see "XBE file integrity:    FALSE !!!!!!! FALSE !!!!!"

Binary File Editor ("Hex Editor")

Used to modify the location where one not-easily-configured file looks for another file.

• Hex 5.1 or Hex 5.1a is freeware (unlike the Shareware HexTool product, the new name for version 5.2b of this software (and apparently version 5.2a as well)). This works well, but the lack of supporting long filenames using the Windows standard for long filenames, and the lack of finding a Unicode value without NULL-padding the search, may make this less ideal.
• There's likely a good freeware hex editor that supports searching for a regular 8-bit chracter string value as well as 16-bit Unicode values. I just haven't taken the time to find one.

A file manager

• UnleashX (built with XDK)
  • Newer version found: /XBOX/apps/dashboards/UnleashX/UnleashX_0_31_0229A.zip
  • Older version I tested: /XBOX/apps/dashboards/UnleashX/UnleashX_0_26_0119A.zip is an old version. Get a newer version that has a text editor built in.
• AvaLaunch (built with XDK)
  • The biggest problem with AvaLaunch is that it has multiple required files, in multiple subdirectories, and that just isn't easy to handle with Evolution-X's FTP server and the text-mode FTP client that comes with Windows. It also doesn't have a text editor or a zipper, but it does have an FTP client and, if you have a USB keyboard with the necessary adapter, a usable telnet client and an IRC cleint.
  Given a choice, grab UnleashX. It's simpler to get running (1 file, no sub-directories), and in some ways it is better. Given a choice, though, grab both, because AvaLaunch has some nice features (including being an FTP client) and is worth checking out.
  • /XBOX/apps/dashboards/avalaunch/avalaunch04864.rar
  • History: AvaLaunch has introduced a lot of new technologies. There was a time, though, when they released a new version that had some problem with its support of flashing an Xbox TSOP, rendering some Xboxes useless (if the Xbox had previous been opened up and had support for flashing a BIOS). Several versions were quickly released until they released version 0.48.60 where they said they "Totally disabled all functions that could possibly be destructive." (By this, they did not include the file manager, which certainly can be destructive if you delete files from the C:.)
• nexgen
  • A lot of people really like this. I don't know why, I haven't tried it, and I don't know what its good features are. Supposedly UnleashX tried to incorperate nexgen's best features. /XBOX/apps/dashboards/UnleashX/
  • For at least a while, it was considered awesome, beautiful, and buggy and out of date with nobody seeming to work on updates. I think it has been revived, though.
  • Open source. See http://www.sourceforge.com/projects/nexgen or http://www.xboxopensource.com/.
    • When I first heard of http://www.xboxopensource.com/, I immediately checked it out. It requires a free registration (with a valid E-Mail address during the registration activation process) to see the list of files/categories. At the time, the only three categories were:
      • Nexgen Sources
      • Its two sub-categories:
        • Nexgen 1.0 Sources
        • Official Team XOS Sources.
    (requires free registration) or
  • I believe this thing may be getting renamed to XDashOS.
• /XBOX/apps/dashboards/mediaxmenu/mxm_beta_0_9n6_bin.rar

An IRC client (mIRC tends to have frequent updates and comes bundled with updated server lists). Or you might be able to get by with AvaLaunch if you know an EFNet server and have a USB Keyboard, although I haven't successfully tried this yet.

A nice Evox.Ini file.

A dashboard exploit (or multiple dashboard exploits)

• Newer Xbox Dashboards: The known exploits that exist in older dashboard versions have been fixed. You'll need to boot a game with a save hack in order to get around any of this. (Yeah, I know... not fun.) I once read someone reporting success by downgrading his dashboard from a backed-up copy. More details are unavailable from this site at this time.
• Older Xbox Dashboards: Have bugs that can be exploited. If you have one of these older dashboards, take care not to update your dashboard, and you can easily run code by using one of the dashboard exploits.
  • Audio Exploit
    • This involves using a corrupted index of soundtracks. This will probably cause problems if you ever try to play custom soundtracks, either from the dashboard or from inside a game. You'll lose the ability to play custom soundtracks in the Microsoft dashboard. It's also the safest method, though, as it doesn't modify the original dashboard or bootup sequence at all, and therefore doesn't have any issues such as the clock problem.
    • Apparently there is a less safe (it shouldn't hurt any of your Xbox files, but it may corrupt the hack so you can't use it until you fix it by using some other method like a saved game hack) method that lets you use custom soundtracks. See Mordenkainen's Audio Hack FAQ's about GameStub.XBE. I haven't tried this yet. (I would suggest getting the GameStub.XBE file now... er... I haven't found it yet. But get it if you see it. Don't install it right away... try the simpler stuff that won't break first, so you can understand that, before moving onto the GameStub.XBE which looks like it will work but is a little tiny bit more complicated.
    • Apparently all the audio exploits listed on this page are vulnerable to an A/V cable bug. If you turn on the Xbox without any A/V cables plugged in, and then performing the exploit (by copying a sound track), that will corrupt this exploit. The reason? "don't know why."
    • Hard drive exploit. The nicest of things.
      • If this works you may not need to CD Audio Exploit.
      • Stable audio exploit
        • New, I haven't tested it yet. Sounds good though.
        • You'll need an Unrar'er.
        • You'll need a UUDecoder. It seems WinZip may be able to UUDecode. Otherwise, you can use UUDeview for Win32 or for 16-bit Windows or for Unix or UUDeview 0.5pl13 for DOS.
        • You'll need the hack itself. To obtain it, copy the text from devz3ro's post. Save it as "newaudio.uue" (or whatever filename, but the directions on this page will assume you called it that.)
          • The file should be saved in ASCII Text format. This could be in as little as 692 bytes, but due to NOTEPAD.EXE's tendancy to save carraige returns as well as line feeds, the file is likely to be 700 bytes (or more if you included any extra white space).
          • You'll need a way to save a standard ASCII text file. Windows 98 Second Edition's NOTEPAD.EXE will work. Wordpad, and I believe the Windows 2K and XP versions versions of Notepad, can work however they can also save file format information and that is bad. Try to save in MS-DOS Mode.
          • (By surrounding the filename in quotation marks, NOTEPAD.EXE can save the file as newaudio.uue without adding a .txt extention and creating newaudio.uue.txt.)
        • Credit: Grospolina noted a post about the stable hard drive exploit. "Method discovered by Catfish (we all know who he formerly is) & mainly Mordenkainen, so no credit goes to me."" (No, I don't know who Catfish is. Oh well. (maybe devz3ro?))
      • Original hard drive copying exploit.
        • Documentation that comes with it says it only works on Xbox dashboard 4920.
        • Every time you use this, it breaks itself. If you don't choose the wrong menu option, it will also re-fix itself. It is possible, though, for you to choose an out-of-the-way menu option and break this exploit, in which case you'll need another entry point again (such as using a game with a saved game bug).
        • /XBOX/exploits/audio_track_exploit/audio_sl_audio-key.zip
          • This is similar but different to /XBOX/exploits/audio_track_exploit/audio_sl.zip which I wouldn't even bother with.
        • Supposedly, in addition to using the hard drive copy, you can also try copying an audio CD and this will work to run unofficial code. In reality, I've never been able to use the CD Audio copying portion of this when the hard drive copying didn't work.
    • CD Audio Exploit.
      • Requiers an audio CD (and not on a CD-R disc because the Xbox drives typically cannot read those)
      • Not the nicest method, but it came out first and I've come accross one Xbox that could use this, and not the hard drive exploit. Therefore, grab it.
      • Getting it to run habibi signed code, as described by Adso58's directions, is a bit more complicated of a process, and requires a hex editor. The first step is to download /XBOX/exploits/audio_track_exploit/audio_track_exploit.zip from "the usual places". The next step is to unzip the files, and the next step is to send files to the Xbox. When on your downloading spree, be sure to grab audio_track_exploit.zip and a hex editor. The rest is described elsewhere. Here are the steps to create the Audio hack as described in Adso58's directions.
        • Download: /XBOX/exploits/audio_track_exploit/audio_track_exploit.zip
        • Use
        Is called cdhakpbl.zip on my system. This is a modified version of stdbnew.zip (a file I have locally) This is stdbnew.zip except hex edited so it boots d:\pbl\p.xbe (which would really be e:\pbl\p.xbe) instead of d:\linux.xbe. stdbnew.zip is based on /XBOX/exploits/audio_track_exploit/audio_track_exploit.zip with Adso58's directions applied.
  • Font Exploit
    • Apparently, except for MechInstaller, the font exploit typically is vulnerable to the clock issue. If your Xbox is unplugged (or if power goes out at your house) for some time, the Xbox won't boot any commercial games until its time is set, but the font exploit will prevent the Xbox Dashboard from being able to ask you for the time, and I believe the font exploit may not even work doing its normal job in this circumstance.
    • The Font Exploit involves modifying your dashboard. I typically try to avoid overwriting original files whenever possible.
    • Because of this, I don't know much about the font hacks.
    • More info than you probably wanted to know: Analysis of the hacks
    • Font hacks include (and some of these are apparently considered old/obsolete):
      • Big Fonts. The usual places communicate that this is to be considered Alpha, but that's been the case for a long time, and doesn't necessarily mean this is less stable than the older versions. I don't know how much of this is just modified from other hacks, and how much of it was pretty much re-done from scratch. I get the impression that this is the newest font hack, designed to address known issues with older font hacks, and that you should probably use this.
      • Ernie and Bert Reloaded. (Released around the same time as the movie Matrix: Reloaded.)
        • Fixes the clock bug from BICOE, but does so by always setting the clock to a pre-determined date.
      • Bert Is Cheating On Ernie (BICOE).
        • BICOE "only works on kernel 4034"
        • Some believe the name of this hack came from the fact that Bert is now doing fancy stuff with a file called Snuffleupagus.xtf and not ernie.xtf. In reality, I once read some documentation on this that said the Bert File is actually violating some common rules (a.k.a. "cheating") at the expense of the tasks that Ernie tries to do. What I can't do is find that now.
        • Works, the font hack's infamous clock issue can cause an Xbox to be unable to boot if it is powered off for much time.
      • DayX, released by Free-X, is what all the Bert and Ernie hacks are based on.
      • See http://www.xbox-scene.com/software/software.php?page=exploits

A way to save space by sharing an executable, if space is a consideration.

• /XBOX/apps/multi-game menus/XMenu_XBox_Title_Launcher_Repack-WAM/XMenu_Xbox_Title_Launcher_Repack-WAM.rar
• /XBOX/apps/multi-game menus/XMenu_XBox_Title_Launcher_Repack-WAM/Xmnu-wam.nfo
• A custom menu.xml file that points to where the other files get stored. When following these directions, you should be able to use a menu.xml file that this site distributes. However, you can't, because this site hasn't made such a menu.xml file yet.

Custom configuration files

• menu.xml for XMenu
  • Default option: Evolution-X RemoteX. (Always needed early on.) Other options: Phoenix BIOS Loader (multiple locations), Error 21. If someone chooses a properly signed Evolution-X RemoteX when the person is trying to get into Phoenix BIOS Loader, that's likely no harm done, as Evolution-X should be able to load PBL then when the nice evox.ini file is used.
• evox.ini that will look for all these programs installed and in saved game directoreis, also including copy scripts.
  • Ideally, I should only distribute the menu and script information, not any of the MD5 information. Including data for the Blue Lady skin, which shows temperatures/etc., would be a good idea.

GameStub.XBE

• Sounds useful
• I'm not sure where to get it other than in Mordenkainen's Audio Hack package, which I haven't downloaded. /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Mordens_Audio_Hacks/Mordens_Audio_hack_007_V3.rar /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Mordens_Audio_Hacks/Mordens_Audio_hack_MA_V3.rar I believe this may be a feature of MediaXMenu (MXM), which I believe is an alternate dashboard.
• I haven't tried it