Week of July 14, 2002
XBOX ADCPM CODEC
>> This audio codec (for windows2000 & XP , it might also work on other windows flavors) allows to read the xbox audio format on PC.
You can download it here.
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(Saturday 20 July 2002 06:18 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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PC Engine emulator
>> "HU-GO! PCE Emulator port for XBox v1
Put roms in \PCEROMS dir
You can make a file called "HUGO.INI" and put it in the same directory as the XBE file.
The contents of the HUGO.INI file should look like the following:
20 12
20 is the number of pixels you want all menu text to be shifted to the right
12 is the height in pixels of the font you wish to use.
If you want to use a different font for the game listing, just overwrite the
Font12.xpr file with the font of your choice. Then, set the pixel height of
the font in the HUGO.INI file.
Different menu coloring - possibly easier on the eyes
Savegame support
ZIP support
Cheat code searching
NTSC/PAL should work equally well"
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(Saturday 20 July 2002 05:39 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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nVidia to stay with Microsoft for the Xbox 2?
>> From XboxAddict :
"Well, it looks more and more each day that nVidia is comitted to the Xbox, even though Microsoft continues to insist that they want to pay less for nVidida's chips. That is understandable, because Microsoft is losing about $160 for every console they sell. However, nVidia is so comitted to getting in console chip making that they possibly will sell their technology even cheaper than previously thought. This is most likely because of other companies such as ATI and Via trying to unseat nVidia as the graphics producer for the Xbox 2."
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(Saturday 20 July 2002 05:38 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Messiah-X ready
>> From China-Messiah :
"Messiah-X is released and install diagrams of the final version are available on the MX page.
Messiah-X are manufactured at our China gaming accessory factory, and are supplied in sheets of 56, a picture of a sheet run can be viewed here.
MX support will be updated regularly."
Here's a picture of the final design :
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(Saturday 20 July 2002 05:35 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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New Tutorial : copy savegames with EvoX
>> pmow wrote a new EvolutionX tutorial explaining how you can copy savegames.
"This is useful for backing up savegame data, copying savegames from one xbox to another on the other side of earth, and deleting individual savegames, without having to use the MS Dashboard."
Check the tutorial here.
For more tutorials , click the "tutorial" link on the top navigationbar or click here.
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(Thursday 18 July 2002 01:02 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Homebrew FlashRom
>> For all those who want to make an homebrew mod but can't find the right flash rom , our friends over at TechnoDevices are now selling 29F080 Flash Roms (8mbit , identical to Xbox BIOSchip).
Check our tutotrial on how to build your own modchip with a Flash Rom & a PC-motherboard here.
They also have LPC flash chips , I guess you could do cool stuff with this (a mod with less wires) , but you need the right programmer thought.
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(Thursday 18 July 2002 00:22 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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xSnes9x Beta 2
>> xSnes9x Beta 2 has just been released. Because it has been build with the MS SDK we can not give links to this release.
"xSnes9x Beta 2 - 07/16/2002
- Added in zip file support for roms.
- 4 Player Controller Support.
- Menu loading speedup. Booting up to the menu should be quicker now.
- Some minor color palette tweaks.
- Mapped Black button to quit xSnes9x and return user back to dashboard. This will only occur at the menu and not during gameplay.
- Moved reset button to right thumb.
- Added DPad left, DPad right fast scrolling via menu (Props to Superfro)"
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(Wednesday 17 July 2002 21:08 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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XBcopy
>> Just a small note ('cause there seem to be some confusion) about XBcopy.
Revision 0025 was released. This Xbox program will only allow you to easily copy the data on Xbox DVDs directly to the Xbox HDD (before XBcopy you had to copy the data to your pc HDD first).
This tool will NOT allow you to read Xbox DVDs with a PC DVD player.
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(Wednesday 17 July 2002 01:56 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Work starts on new Xbox
>> News article from XboxAddict.com :
"Microsoft has confirmed it is working on future generations of its Xbox console.
The computer software giant admitted new versions of its games console were in development, following reports it was planning to release a combined digital video recorder and games unit next year.
Technology magazine Red Herring, which reported the move on Tuesday, also said that the Xbox had made huge losses.
It quoted a source as saying that Microsoft had estimated it would lose $750m (£490m) on the Xbox game console in the year to June 2002 - and a further $1.1bn (£720m) in to June 2003.
Xbox creator Seamus Blackley resigned in April
Microsoft has refused to comment on the financial forecasts.
But the company said in a statement: "Microsoft is committed to Xbox for the long term.
"We’ve made a substantial investment from a hardware standpoint and that investment is one that we remain committed to.
"We’re continuing to see great demand for Xbox worldwide. We’re on target to meet our fiscal year forecast of 3.5-4 million units."
Check the full articble here.
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(Wednesday 17 July 2002 01:19 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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New Contest
>> We already have a new contest for you!
Last contest was only for US/CAN citizens , so this one will be only for EU citizens.
This time we're giving away 5 Final Enigmah modchips. For more information on how to participate , read this page.
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(Wednesday 17 July 2002 00:35 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
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Pandorachip
>> We received the some Pandorachips , the first 11wire xbox modchip with the no-patch-hack & reset-hack.
We will test the modchip as soon as possible.
You can buy the modchip here from Easybuy2000
Here are some pictures. Pandorachip is using the same chips as the Enigmah samples.
Microsoft's 2 best friends
Pandora left , enigmah final right
xbflash
>> xbflash :
This is a utility to unpack/repack Xbox Flash images.
For information & download : xbox-linux
FCEU-NES release
>> FCEU-NES has been ported to Xbox. It's a NES (Nintendo 8bit) emulator.
X-ecuter update
>> From X-ecuter.com :
"Production is almost finished. We tested the first batch over the weekend - successfully installed 80gb hard drives and formatted via ftp using the evolution-x tool. Works 100% with all features with less than 10 minute installation time (inc. dissasembly). Order now from x-ecutermods.com." (for +100chips only).
Quake2-X beta3
>> Here are the changes :
"- Added widescreen support
- Added PAL60 support
- Added paletted textures support ("8-bit textures" in video settings and gl_ext_palettedtexture "1").
- Added support for 16 bit framebuffer ("16-bit framebuffer" in video settings and gl_bitdepth "16"). Can be used to save memory in HDTV modes
- Fixed "double click" bug when pressing back or start to enter/exit menus
- Added southpaw, legacy and legacy soutpaw gamepad modes (in_xboxThumbMode)
- Added look up sensitivity scaling (in_xboxSensitivityUpScale)
- Changed to double-buffering instead of triple-buffering to save memory.
- Music can now be disabled
- Added a lot of xbox specific settings to options and video settings menu and removed old pc specific settings.
- Made vblank syncing more flexible. It's now possible to: not sync, sync to 50/60 fps and sync to 25/30 fps.
- Added safe zone setting so that HUD and console may be visible on all TVs
- Sound quality is now set to "high" instead of "low" as default
- Fixed bug where config file wasn't saved when exiting options or video settings menu.
- Config.cfg is now saved as an savegame. If you manually change config.cfg you must remove the "Config" savegame, otherwise Quake2X will use the config.cfg file in the savegame.
- Removed developer debug output so you non-developers won't get confused :)
- Quit menu now works, reboots back to dashboard. You can also quite with left trigger + right trigger + black.
- A and B buttons can now be used to navigate in the menus just as START and BACK."
XIOS contest winners
>> Here are the forum nicknames of the XIOS contest winners (selected randomly) :
turtle
Azadar
Hawk
soki
BiMP
The XIOS modchips are offered by GenoMods.com.
All winners will be contacted by mail within 5h
Messiah-X Final almost ready
>> From china-messiah :
"After successful field testing of the MX prototypes, we are pleased to announce that the MX product becomes available on the 18th of July. New diagrams will be uploaded on the 17th of July for installation of the production version of MX. The following functionality is provided by the MX design:
A) 11 wire installation
B) All Backups of XBOX games will boot
C) All Import Original XBOX games will boot
D) Universal design that works on all models from all regions (USA / JAP / PAL)
E) Automatic detection and switching of bios versions, no need to configure anything for any console
F) Modified XBE's and custom code can boot
G) Macrovision Disabled on DVD Playback
H) DVD Region reset enabled allowing any region DVD dongle to be used thus allowing multi-DVD region playback support.
America's Army for xbox ?
>> I got an interesting mail from GooberDLX :
"Possible news story... something I found out that was interesting in my stumbles across the vast realm of the internet.
The US Army in conjunction with a few 3D game developers have come up with a game that can be downloaded for free (http://www.americasarmy.com). It is a 3D FPS based on the Army.
Anyway, I was going through the files searching for configs to tweak the game when I managed to read through ArmyOps.ini in the System folder of the Army Operations installation. As I was going through the config file, I noticed something peculiar...
excerpt from ArmyOps.ini...
ViewportManager=WinDrv.WindowsClient
;ViewportManager=XboxDrv.XboxClient
Render=Render.Render
... interesting to know the Viewport manager line that is bold here.. is commented within the config file, thus meaning its ignored right now. I do know a good deal about 3D engines and games and do not recall any term or reason for the XboxDrv.XboxClient to mean anything other than what is blatantly obvious. I have found nothing inside of the FAQ. Though I have not looked through any newsgrouups or forums, I know that I havent heard of anyone finding this....Whether or not its important, I dont know, but I do think that people should know...."
Here a reply we received from "Mad" :
"It is a wide known fact that the Unreal 2 engine (which Americas Army is based on) is capable of or rather built from ground up to support easy X-Box development. Hell, the engine is capable of running in OpenGL and software mode, that doesn't mean it's going to be made an option. So just because the engine makes it possible for this game to be ported to the X-Box, doesn't mean it's going to happen. While it is a possibility, all things right now point to no."
Last few hours...
>> The XIOS contest will be stopped in a few hours (15 July gmt+1).
So if you have a US/Canadian shipping address and you want to make a chance to win a free XIOS modchip (Xtender1.1 clone) offered by genomods , just follow these easy steps.
MAME-X beta6
>> MAME-X beta6 has been released. Once again NO LINK here , if you wanna find it , try IRC.
"------- Mame-X beta6 :
------- Core:
Most obvious, using mame .61 core, porting was almost re-done, but looking at the differences between what
NEEDED to change in .60 to get it working was the most help of all. Once again props to OpCode on that.
Hi score, NVram, and cfg now makes directories on the xbox hd and saves your data. (You can delete it from
the dashboard just like regular save games)
Game compatability has improved
keepaspect and hw_stretch DO WORK, altho I don't know why you'd even want to turn off hw_stretch.
Without using keepaspect, some games can distort really bad, (tall ie playerchoice games), wide (the ninja
warriors). Keepaspect = hw_stretch are default (and recommended).
You can configure the analog sticks in popup menu.
The code was cut up to save some ram into two pieces, Neo Geo / CPS2 and FULL. So now you can have a Neo Geo
and CPS2 only version, which allows you to play games you cannot with the FULL version. You can switch between
the two with the B Button.
Hopefully this is temporary. Should allow some large games to be played.
LOTS of error handling, and the LOG variable in mame.ini works, and does alot of debug info.
------- Game Select:
------------ Core:
Finding roms is now 1000x faster
------------ Controls:
Mapped (Y) Key to go back to the dashboard, (useful if you are using evolution X)
(X Button) Clones on/off fixed (woops! damn typo)
Mappyed (B) to switch between Neo Geo / CPS2 Version and FULL
DPAD left and right buttons jump to the Next / Previous letter
DPAD up and down (move up 1 and down 1, I know how hard it was to just move 1 with the triggers)
------------ UI:
More info shown
Free memory is shown while loading a rom
Error messages are hopefully shown if needed.
------------ Other:
Added faq.txt"
Xbox Debugger
>> I found this info on xbox-emulation.co.uk :
"This is a client/server package that will let you send send debug messages from your XBOX to your computer via TCP/IP.
This package can also serve as a beginner's guide to the XBOX networking API and to network programming for Windows."
For more info & source-code download , check the xbox-emulation news of Saturday, 13 July , 22:52 PM
