(And before some ill informed admin thinks this topic is warez like or something, may I remind you that it is completely legal all thought it voids any warranty in Australia to mod your xbox/console becuase we are allowed to import games and to play said imported and legally purchased games our machines have to be modded)

What mod did you get ?
Where'd you get it done ?
Did it work out well or did it fry your console ?
Basically I am thinking of getting it done and feeling out peoples expereiences with various installers and mods etc etc

(And its not in the xbox forum becuase I am interested in finding out about Brisbane people gaming experiences on the xbox and getting it modded, not whether some guy down in melbourne does a good job)

most of my mates xboxes are modded
some got done at blade (expensive)
some have been done by the boys themselves at home using the new exploit; (see operators post below :) )

decimate has just bought us an xbox and we are going to use the software mod to "fix" the bios so we can get the most out of our xbox :)

In reply to Obes

I'm in the same boat on this one. I wish to get my Xbox console modded, but just don't know where to go.

I hotswapped my xbox harddrive into my computer and using linux mounted the drive and uploaded two new font files and a new dashboard (evoX). Then after booting without a disk it goes to the evoX dash and you can flash a new bios from there. (benefit is quicker & font hack only booted half the time & new bios means you can put in a bigger harddrive)

I will probably do two mates like this also.

to find out go to : www.xbox-scene.com.au i think.
there are tutorials and forumns to read. Make sure you have a good understanding of what to do before you do it and it should all work out sweet.

.operator.

I modded my xbox myself using the PC BioXX chip that was released over a year ago. Since it was the early stages of modding we had to get the damn things shipped in from Germany as that was the only place to get it.

I've heard Burn Electronics (www.burn.com.au) do modding for about $160, it seems exxy but they give you a 1yr warranty in case their mod damages your xbox. Seems like a good option if your still within your 12mth manufacturers warranty or you could just grab your balls and rush head-first into any decision making without thinking of the consequences.

I would however get as much information from them as possible and in writing, ie: chip type, is it flashable, what bios is on it, etc. One friend had a nasty experience where-by they told him it was flashable and it wasn't so he had to go through a huge process of convincing them that they stuffed up and it needed replacing.

Since I've got the thing modded, about the only reason I use the xbox is for XBMP. The xbox media player. I've got the xbox plugged into the home network and a streaming server running on one of my PCs so it makes watching any type of movie relatively easy. XBMP supports anything from AVI to MPEG to DivX to Xvid.

I got mine done at blade, got it extra cheap through work.

I was pondering doing it at home and I installed the hdd and evox myself, but blade has a very elegant system of enabling and disabling the chip, as well as a backup unwritable bios if you happen to screw something when you flash. I'm happy with my decision.

If I had my time again though i's seriously consider the software mod with the pheonix bios loader. Thou I expect new games to patch the dash to kill software modding.

/grabs ticman's balls&^%@!$

Yep - I've had my 'box modded... Got it done for free as a favour for a mate.. However it was done thru Game Partner @ Lutwytche (I think they charge around $99 or so for the conversion...forget the exact bios they use for it), and I've just recently gone back & got them to add a 120gb hdd to it as well (why the heck not?) :P

Definantly the way to go imo :)

Nothing better than being able to kick back in front of the teev with 3 mates playing 4-player Ninja Turtles :)

oO

Look in the trading post, there are heaps of stores listed who do the modding, theres one down at underwood.

Yeah, I just had mine done through blade.
It was considerably more expensive, but the simplest solution to avoid risking a $400 paperweight.
The chip they installed has been fine and the backup bios has saved my ass twice now.

the 60GB drive is awesome, and Ive been playing Star Wars: knights of the old republic US import the last few days.

You could go the ultra cheapo font hack bert and ernie method, but sooner or later MS are going to release games that patch the dash again and fix the hole so you'll need to chip anyway.

My little bro recently had his xbox modded. I took him + box over to this dodgy guy on the south side and had it modded + 60gig hdd installed, think it set him back around 300.
Im hooked on the Sega GT game atm, cant stop playing the fkn game. Very similar to Grand Torismo on the ps.

I got mine done at Blade - www.blade.cc (dodgy website) and did the rest with Thundercracka

Also, check out the xbox forums on www.hyperactive.com.au - a bunch of people have posted their adventures with modding.

Have fun!

damn i miss playing consoles.. wouldnt mind an Xbox with an NEC phone right now i tell ya that much...

I bought mine pre-modded with an Xecutor 1.1 when in London.

The wire recently got ripped out of D0 and i had do solder it back on myself. After that experience I'd say I'd have just bought a chip and self-soldered (until soldering D0 I'd never soldered anything before).

But you shouldn't buy a mod chip these days, just read up on the Bert & Ernie font trick and you get the same functionallity without having to buy anything substantial or void your warranty.

As i understand it, having not done it just read about it, you can copy the original files off your xbox before applying the bert and ernie versions. So at any stage you can roll back the changes. Of course, if you then go and delete all your C drive or ruin something else you won't be able to get back to your clean state. I suggested backing up your C drive once you've got FTP access.. It's only a couple of hundred meg (i think).

You can then run unsigned code on your xbox, which means you can do what you want.

Once your box is effectively modded, install Xbox Media Player as a priority. It's awesome and as reasons go, being able to run it on your box is a far bigger advantage than being able to play 'backups'.

Mate had his xbox @ vlan

was running linux and a q3 server, ran well too

I don't personally own an xbox, but two mates do and I basically did all the research etc. and modded the living daylights out of them. Damn sweet.

You can then run unsigned code on your xbox, which means you can do what you want.

The problem here is that if MS start fixing the problem, there may be games you wont be able to run unless you update your dash, which will close the exploit meaning you have to get a mod anyway.

With the amount of f***ing around you have to do, it really is easier to just get a chip.

But you shouldn't buy a mod chip these days, just read up on the Bert & Ernie font trick and you get the same functionallity without having to buy anything substantial or void your warranty.

Unless you've got a bunch of stuff which some people might not have (action replays, copies of 007 or mech assault, memory cards, etc) you'd have to hot-swap the xbox hard drive into your pc to do the hack and still void your warranty. Its not a very hard procedure though, and I'd prolly say its infinitely less dangerous than soldering stuff (but then, I'm retarded at soldering).

The problem here is that if MS start fixing the problem, there may be games you wont be able to run unless you update your dash, which will close the exploit meaning you have to get a mod anyway.

But in the meantime, it works, so why not use it and worry about getting a mod chip if and when that problem arises? :)

Khel, That's why i said 'without having to buy anything substantial or void your warranty'. At most you have to buy one of those USB memory cards and rent 007. At the least, you need a mate with one.

Either way it's much cheaper than paying someone to mod it, and still cheaper than overpaying for a mod chip through an Austrlian distributor and installing it yourself.

And before some ill informed admin thinks this topic is warez like or something

The number of threads I've deleted that started with similar phrases because people think 'legal modchips' means 'I can do whatever the hell I want' would boggle your mind.

Don't forget, modded Xbox = no Xbox Live

Trog,

Don't mean to be picky but modded xbox <> no live.

You just put a switch on your chip so you can turn it off when you want to play Live games and you are fine.

no xbox live?

xbox connect instead

tragic. No X-Box live. I'm so heartbroken about this if you can't tell...

(damn the lack of sarcasm tags...)

as far as I'm concerned, being that I don't care much about online gaming, or about the "extra" content they are offering for download (with Knights of the old republic, toejam & earl 3, etc), so not being able to use it doesn't affect me in the slightest...

You just put a switch on your chip so you can turn it off when you want to play Live games and you are fine.

Be tragic if you forgot to turn it off one time though.

No xbox live?

How about getting a proper mod chip that lets you use more than one bios, keeping the original bios, locking the new sized HDD you put in the xbox and then being able to run xbox live.

There's multiple tutorials on getting a modded xbox on xbox live over at xbox scene.

Besides, I don't really look foward to paying $100 a year plus download cap for an overseas service.

I'll stick to xbox LANs with my mates, or xbox connect if I really feel the need.

yea...the only real reason I'd go live would be for the extra single-player content some games are offering - but I'm buying Knights of the Old Republic on the PC, which is really the only one I'd be interested in getting extra content for....

but $99/yr + isp costs + cap = not on...I might like my xbox, but I think live's a bit of a rort...