Xbox 360 and Emulation

[Square]

I'm thinking of retiring my 360 Slim, and would like to know how simple it it to set it up as an emulation machine. I'm currently running MAME on my old original Xbox, but would rather be able to use the 360 for this purpose. A search around the web brings up a lot of tutorials, but they all seem incredibly complex.

Is this something better left alone unless you have a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of the console? Apologies if this discussion is not allowed - it's been quite a while since I posted here

[bash]

Dude, have you checked out Coinops on the original xbox? Currently upto version 4 with 5 on the horizon.

It'll change your life. I dont think 360 has got anywhere near that level yet and the beauty is that Coinops is a multiple platform front end. It supports most arcade/console up till N64.

[QualityChimp]

That sounds brilliant, Bash!

I might think about getting an XBox when Coinops 5 is released.

I've never done anything like that before though, so are there any guides that you recommend to people starting from scratch?

[speedlolita]

You'd need to have it reset glitch hacked to run anything on it..

[bash]

@QC, there are tons of guides online but would be easier if you just bought a chipped Xbox. They tend to go for anywhere between ?20-?40 these days. Swapping out the stock hdd (8-10gb) for a larger one is easy but finding an IDE drive is a little more tricky as they're so old now. CEX do them for silly prices.

So you're better off paying a bit more (probably ?50+) and buying one with a larger hdd already installed, 2nd hand off someone who's become bored with theirs. Theres a Coinops 4 torrent on Underground-gamer which is 30gb un-rared (I think final size is about 54gb) but there are other game packs like Amiga, N64 etc to copy on top. You just need to be able to setup FTP from your PC/Laptop to Xbox and transfer the files across into the Emulators folder.

Sorry for hijacking thread but until Coinops comes onto Android/PS3/360 (god knows when that'll be) then the original Xbox is still the emu platform of choice . . . . IMHO of course. Just youtube Coinops 4 to get an idea of what Im talking about.

[monel]

The PS3 is supposed to be decent for emulation too, with 1080 output on most emus. Coinops has a good reputation due to 720 or whatever output, but I think besides arcade games, the single system emulators on the Xbox are more up to date, except they don't have the HD output. I think, not sure. QC, you could grab an xbox cheap, maybe even from a market or SmackConverters, if needed, and try the hotswap method or others if you don't want to spend money modding it. Never done that myself. I had a link to some guides, if I find it I'll pm you. I just sold my modded one to someone or I would've sent it to you.

[QualityChimp]

I have access to IDE drives and cloning software.

Could I get a clone of a working drive with Coinops 4 on it and just swap it in and it would work?

[monel]

I think you could mod the Xbox that way with an IDE drive but you need to lock the drive to your own Xbox so I don't think cloning someone else's drive would work. Having IDE drives handy and a PC would help you, though. Smouty or someone here may be able to advise you. Send me an IDE drive, I bought a dead one! (Joke).

[bash]

Yeah, Xbox drives need to be locked. Just chuck a large drive into a modded Xbox, then boot up a copy of AID Auto installer deluxe and format+partition the drive, lock it and then install whatever dashboard you want. Most people like xbmc but I prefer unleashx. Any dashboard will run coinops so not really a problem ;-)

[smouty]

Just when I though of retiring the Xbox1, I downloaded Coinops4 yesterday all 30Gb+ of it. Took an age to uncompress and FTP so will have a look tonight but it does look better than the separates emus - cheers

Regarding HDDs - you can replace them in softmodded boxes as long as you have the eeprom.bin but it is easier to bridge the two solder points on the mobo, flash the TSOP and be done with it.
HDDs must be locked on softmodded boxes.

[nonny]

Nice. Never heard of this before but my modded Xbox with 320gb HDD is sitting in the attic in pristine condition.

Is there anywhere that does arcade cabinet shells (mini size for two players)? Plus once it's done I take it you can't play Xbox originals on it with normal controllers if you go the cab route?

[monel]

Does Coinops still take ages to load a game or is that certain versions? They update it so often, official, unofficial, kitchen sink edition etc etc. Also, has anyone had luck with IDE to SATA converters on the Xbox or PS2? I tried one converter and it was crap, I think they've improved since then.

[bash]

Coinops 4 is pretty sweet but the developer, BP (or Britneyspairs) has been banging on about coinops 5 for ages now. Bleeting about over 150 different improvements and the like. The full Coinops 5 will be over 60gb I think once uncompressed.

99 Steel Gunner now playable (only on CoinOPS)
100 Steel Gunner 2 now playable (only on CoinOPS)
101 Road Riot now controllable (only on CoinOPS)
102 Thunder Hoops fixed
103 Top Player Golf fix graphics
104 Run and Gun now playable ( speed hack no background added to parent only) (only on CoinOPS)
105 Dirt Fox now controllable (only on CoinOPS)
106 Truxton at full speed
107 Truxton 2 at full speed
108 Victory Road easy to control (only on CoinOPS)
109 Automatic Open all characters in Mavel vs Capcom 2 (only on CoinOPS)
110 DoDonpachi Arrange now playable
111 Ketsui Arrange now playable (new version and speed version)
112 Syvalion now playable
113 Violent Fight now playable
114 Final Burn Core fixed for dips, flipped games etc by default
115 Final Burn Tate Mode for new games
116 NBA Jam Full Speed with Sound (only on CoinOPS)
117 NBA Jam Tornament Full Speed with Sound (only on CoinOPS)
118 Ninjakun Majou no Bouken now with sound
119 X68000 2 Disc configuration support added
120 Vector Beam Width Intensity Setting
121 Mario Kart 64 now playable in two players
122 Two more Video folders
123 Satans Hollow now with sound
124 Vic 20 core added
125 1000 more supported console games
126 Double Dragon 2 at full speed (only on CoinOPS)
127 Tekipaki now with sound
128 NeoGeo Decrypted Sets now playable
129 Treasure of the Caribbeans now playable
130 Mame 72 Speedy old core now availble
131 Wonder Swan core now availibe
132 Bang Bang Busters now playable
133 DOS core now availble
134 Line of Fire now playable
135 Hydra now fully controllable (only on CoinOPS)
136 720 now fully controllable (only on CoinOPS)
137 APB now fully controllable (only on CoinOPS)
138 Bubble Bobble 2 at full speed
139 Bubble Bobble 3 at full speed
140 Chase H.Q at full speed
141 Faster Gameboy Advance
142 Ikari Warriors easy to control (only on CoinOPS)
143 Dragons Lair 2
144 Space Ace
145 Paperboy now fully controllable (only on CoinOPS)
146 Mortal Kombat 3 Full Speed with Sound (only on CoinOPS)
147 Star Trek Fully Playable (only on CoinOPS)
148 Dragons Lair
149 Doom 1
150 Faster Super Nintendo

I've never had coinops take ages to load. The bigger it gets in size certainly adds to the time it takes to rescan your roms but thats a one off process, or at least until the next time you add stuff to it.

I've seen youtube guides for IDE/SATA converters but I'd prefer to stick to IDE if poss. Unless you want loads of movies and original xbox games on your hdd I fail to see why anyone would need 500gb+ tbh.

[nonny]

Bash.

Yeah I just found the main coinops website and saw him mentioning NBA Jam etc... now running at full speed with sound and a better Super Nintendo emulation.

I also found this site: www.tinyarcademachines.com which sell a DIY cabinet with pre-drilled holes for 2 players with 6 buttons. It's a bit steep at 149 quid plus postage but the craftsmanship is probably way above what I could do myself (being honest) with the tools I have at my disposal. I'm much more proficient at soldering than wood-work.

Might give this one a stab to be fair as I really like that bartop design. I'll have to dig out my Xbox and make sure it still works but it should be good. I've also checked and I've got my old VGA Xbox connector and two controllers there so I should be able to make this work.

[zeroboo]

Bash.

I also found this site: www.tinyarcademachines.com which sell a DIY cabinet with pre-drilled holes for 2 players with 6 buttons. It's a bit steep at 149 quid plus postage but the craftsmanship is probably way above what I could do myself (being honest) with the tools I have at my disposal. I'm much more proficient at soldering than wood-work.

that is the coolest thing ever. but at 600gbp+ .... hmm...