evolvingconsole

What homebrew cards am I using for my Nintendo DSi

cdeschenes — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:54:09 +0000

I have 2 that I was testing. An Acekard 2i and a TopToy DSTTi. Curently, I setup the Acekard 2i and I am very impressed with the interface and menu options. I hope to setup the DSTTi to see how it compares.

I picked both these up from Dealextreme but be prepared for lengthy [2-3 weeks] shipping.

How to get the most from your hacked PSP

cdeschenes — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:20:07 +0000

I was in need for more storage for my PSP and was tired of swapping out 4gb Duo’s to play ISO’s. This is what I ended up doing to get the most storage for my PSP.

Things needed:
PhotoFast MicroSDHC to MS Pro Duo Adapter – I got mine from a Amazon vendor
2 larger microSD card – I got 2 16gb microSD cards from a Amazon vendor

Instructions:
Im going to try to explain this but it might sound confusing. I had problems with formating the microSDs in the Duo Adapter when I first got it… Here is what I did to fix the issues.

Put only on microSD card into the Duo adapter
Put the Duo adapter in the PSP – with only one microSD in
Go to the system menu and format the memory stick.
Now remove the Duo adapter from the PSP
Remove the microSD and replace it with your second microSD
Go to the system menu and format the memory stick
Now remove the Duo adapter from the PSP
Make sure both microSD cards are now both installed
Put the Duo adapter in the PSP
Go to the system menu and format the memory stick
You should now have the full 32GB’s of storage available.

Modding the Xbox in 10 Minutes

cdeschenes — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:30:08 +0000

Author: Michael Brim

Xbox modification has come a long way in the past couple years. With the introduction of the TSOP mod, potential modders no longer had to shell out money for a modchip; rather just bridge two points on the Xbox motherboard. Now one doesn’t even have to open up his Xbox. Welcome to the world of soft modding. Using code exploits in certain games, a user is able to load a phony gamesave that will boot into a Linux based operating system and allow a user to mod his Xbox… in under ten minutes.

Before I go on, soft modding voids your warranty. It is not illegal, but if something goes wrong, you can’t return your console to Microsoft and expect them to send you a new one.

You’re going to need the following things before we get started:

1. An Xbox Memory Card

A way to transfer two gamesaves from your PC to the memory card. Whether through Action Replay or using a friend’s modded Xbox, etc.

2. One of the Following Games

a. Any version of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (NOT PANDORA TOMORROW OR CHAOS THEORY)
b. The original version of 007: Agent Under Fire or the Platinum Hits AUF with the Serial #: 1448517 (NOT 1448527)
c. Mech Assault with the Serial #: MS02301L on the inner ring of the game CD

3. Easy Xbins

Once connected to the Easy XBins FTP, navigate to /XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Softmod Installer Deluxe/ and download the latest file.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the Splinter Cell exploit. All exploits are pretty much the same.

Extract the two .zip files (SID.Splinter.Cell.v2.0.Xbox-Hq.zip and SID.Splinter.Cell.v2.0.NTSC.Xbox-Hq.zip) from the RAR archive.

If you’re using Action Replay, drag both zip files to your memory card. Then copy both gamesaves from the memory card to your unmodded Xbox.

If you have access to a modified Xbox, you can extract both .zip files and FTP them over to the modified Xbox console, then using the MS Dash, copy both the Linux Installer and Splinter Cell gamesaves to the memory card, switch consoles and copy the gamesaves from the memory card to the unmodded Xbox.

There should be two gamesaves. One should be 4 blocks (a linker file), the other 489 (the installer file).

Start up Splinter Cell, select Start Game and press A.

If you have never played Splinter Cell before, there should only be one available gamesave: Linux. Select it and press A.

On the next screen, select Check Points (selecting Levels (in my experience) will cause the Xbox to freeze).

The screen should turn black and approximately 10 seconds later, you will be greeted with an UnleashX intro screen and then an UnleashX control panel.

Select the option, Create MS Backup, which will backup the entire contents of your C:\ to E:\backup\MS

Now select the option, Create Mod Backup, which will backup your EEPROM.

If you do not backup your c:\ and your EEPROM, recovering your console if something does go awry will be incredibly hard or impossible.

Once you have backed up both the C:\ and EEPROM, select Install Softmod. This will mod your system. DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR SYSTEM. Let the mod install, when it finishes you’ll notice that the installation prompt and status bar have disappeared.

Because of the limited capacities of standard Microsoft memory cards, only the Evolution X and Unleash X dashboards have been included in this package. I prefer Evolution X, so select Install Evox and let Evolution X install.

Once you have installed Evolution X, power off your Xbox and turn it back on. Make sure to eject your Splinter Cell game.

If everything went correctly, your Xbox should be successfully modded and you will be greeted with an Evolution X (or Unleash X) dashboard.

Taking Screenshots of XBMC

cdeschenes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:55:38 +0000

It is possible to take a screenshot of XBMC at any time (even duing full screen video) by pressing the analog thumbstick. The first time you take a screenshot you will be prompted where to store them.

How to Show .tbn Files as Thumbnails in Windows

cdeschenes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:29:18 +0000

I bet that you know that you can go into a folder in Windows XP, switch to Thumbnail view, and be presented with an icon of the first screen from a movie. It works for images as well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for *.tbn files. Until now, that is.

1. Create a new text document.

2. Paste the following block of text into it.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tbn\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@=”{3F30C968-480A-4C6C-862D-EFC0897BB84B}”

3. Rename the file so that the extension is .reg (I named mine “tbn thumbnails.reg”)

4. Double-click the file and you are all set. Windows XP will now see TBN thumbnails as images and create a windows thumbnail for them. You can see them in your folders on your computer.

XBMC MediaStream Skin Menu Edit

cdeschenes — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:03:02 +0000

Edit the main home menu:
A menu item for application _name can be added by adding the following to the home.xml – find the section and add it in after the DVD Button content.


 AMT Button
 AMT
 XBMC.ActivateWindow(videofiles,plugin://video/Apple Movie Trailers II)

any other menu items can be added the same way, just make sure to change the id to 12 or higher, set the description and label appropriately and then change the onclick setting to reflect the appropriate plugin name.

Sorry for the cut off in the code. Just select it with the mouse and it will copy it all.

info:
Info at XBMC.org for Python in skins

Ok.. heres an update

I went into “My Programs Menu” and added a source to “F\Games” called “Games”

Now I wanted to add a “Xbox Games” button on the home page that would link directly to my F/Games folder. This is what I did, First I downloaded the Home.xml file that was located in E\APPS\XBMC\skin\MediaStreamV2.0_Lite\720p\ and FTPed it to my PC. Open it to edit it and search it for . Scroll down untill you start seeing tags. If this is a default skin then the last item id will be 10. If you notice at that the onclick is set to XBMC.ActivateWindow(1) so that tells us that (1) represents the “My Programs Menu”.

look at how its formatted. I showed item 10 with my item 11 following for example.

DVD Button
DVD
$LOCALIZE[31019]
System.HasMediadvd + !Skin.HasSetting(HideDVD)
XBMC.PlayDVD

Xbox Games Button
Xbox Games
XBMC.ActivateWindow(1,Games)

so you see my oneclick says XBMC.ActivateWindow(1,Games) what does this mean?
This means that when I click on my “Xbox Games” icon on the homepage it will take mt to the “My Programs Menu” and default in the source link of “Games”.

Make sense?

PS2 needs some upgrade love also

cdeschenes — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:20:05 +0000

I decided that if I was going to buy a IDE drive for the Xbox then I should get one for the PS2 also.

Check this website out for drive compatibility

How to install a HDD in your PS2 Fat system

Items Needed:

PS2
Network Adapter
IDE Hard Disk
Computer to transfer games from. [I used my laptop with an "IDE to USB" adapter]
Winhiip software [Check my file drop box]

For the HDD I used a Seagate Barracuda 400gb ST3400832A since it was the largest IDE I could find on Newegg.

Connect the PS2’s HDD to your PC
Select your PS2 HDD
Format the drive [I did Quick Erase, HDLoader 48bit]
Press the “Add Image(s)” button to install a game to the HDD.
Select Image File(s) for an ISO or BIN image on your PC’s hdd. [You can do a batch of games at a time]
Press “start” to begin the installation(s)
When finished, unhook HDD from computer and install it back in your PS2

XBMC Banners and Icons and our friend SVN

cdeschenes — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:35:57 +0000

XBMC has some cool features that will add icons, banners and fan art to you media.

Like so…

XBMC Banner Example

These look great but how do I get all the banners and art you might ask. I have found that the best/easiest was is by using SVN [subversion] Heres how to get started.

Install and SVN client. I use SilkSVN but there are many others for Win32/64, Linux, OSX

Open a CMD windows [Start, Run, CDM and hit enter]
type svn checkout https://opensvn.csie.org/Icons
This will begin to make a “working copy” on your local machine.

Whats the benefits of doing it this way? If anything is updated or added to this repository then it will “sync” to your “working copy” on your local machine. No need to sift though files to see if you have the latest-greatest.

Once you have all the art you need then it time to place it in the proper directories on the Xbox for XBMC to use. Take a look at this page from the XBMC manual.

Just rename the nane.png or name.jpg to name.tbn and you should be good.

example:

 F:\Games\Halo\titleimage.xbx
 F:\Games\Halo\dashupdate.xbe
 F:\Games\Halo\default.xbe
 F:\Games\Halo\default.tbn

Time to update the Xbox… not the 360

cdeschenes — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:09:21 +0000

My brother-in-law has a older Xbox that was chipped with a SmartXX that just belly-ed up and died on him. When the chip was removed the unit would power back on, so its not dead, good thing… He ask me if I had a way to test the chip to see if it is still good or not and I began to tell him about the advancements with softmodding. All he wants to use it for is a basic media box and to play games from a large hard drive and this is all doable with a softmodded system.

I decided to brush up on my softmod skills since I have not done it in a year or so. I downloaded the new Auto-Installer Deluxe since this is my tool of choice. I found my box with the “Xbox controller port to USB” adapter I made years ago and the USB key with the Splinter Cell saved game on it.

Looking though the Auto-Installer Deluxe PDF I noticed that not much has changed except the version and more features. I decided that this would be a good time to upgrade my Halo Edition Xbox, guess its time to unbox it and get it opened up.

List of what we will be installing:

Softmod the xbox using the USB adapter and Splinter Cell saved game
Backup retail drive and eeprom to USB
Install XBMC as default dashboard
Setup XBMC and default skin
Copy over Xbox ISOs and other media

Applications to install:

ConfigMagic
Dvd2XboX
DVD-X
Complex Tools
looking into more…

TO BE CONTINUED….or added to, however you want to look at it.

Links:

http://www.aideluxe.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Random Notes:
Change the cluster size of the partition to 32K with xbpartitioner, to get partition larger than 256gb.
EEPROM.BIN