Xbox 360 JTAG and RGH mod -The Thread-

[roker]

I decided to send my Xbox 360 S to get modded with RGH (Rest Glitch Hack).

I want to play some delisted games, some shmups (Muchi Muchi Pork) and other stuff I might have missed on XBLA.

I figured this might be a good thread to chronicle my experience. So watch this thread for updates and such.

Feel free to comment or insult.

Resources:

Xbox 360 RGH - JTAG explained

What is RGH (Reset Glitch Hack) and Jtag on the Xbox 360 Console? We try to explain the difference and show what you can do with this superb modification.

www.consolewizard.co.uk

https://www.reddit.com/r/360hacks/comments/8y9jql

 

[Dochartaigh]

I love mine, and bought it specifically for all the ports of Shmups which wouldn't run right on my low powered emulation machines (like Raspberry Pi). I could run most all of those on my MAME computer, but it's also WAY more of a pain to run MAME than it is to press the power button on the Xbox 360 and click on the game artwork to launch a game. I like the Xbox 360 Fightsticks for the Shmups as well, and those are pretty cheap still on Craigslist and use real Sanwa joysticks and buttons and all (there's very decent wireless fightsticks too which are extremely rare to find one wireless - not quite as good parts but definitely usable and convenient).

This is what I have loaded on mine. You won't see a bunch of the AAA type games on it since I own those on disc and play them on a non-modded 360:

Should also add that if you're into CRT's, unlike newer consoles the 360 can still output 480p via analog like VGA/RGBHV or Component. GREAT for playing old arcade games on CRT's, especially in TATE (MANY of the Shmups have TATE mode - I have a spreadsheet if you're interested in which). I commonly downscale mine to 240p with a TVOne Corio2 on my BVM/PVM CRT monitors and it looks absolutely amazing.

 

[roker]

Should also add that if you're into CRT's, unlike newer consoles the 360 can still output 480p via analog like VGA/RGBHV or Component. GREAT for playing old arcade games on CRT's, especially in TATE (MANY of the Shmups have TATE mode - I have a spreadsheet if you're interested in which). I commonly downscale mine to 240p with a TVOne Corio2 on my BVM/PVM CRT monitors and it looks absolutely amazing.

Yeah, that'd be great. if you posted the spreadsheet. Can you just upload it to Google Drive or dropbox or something?

I should get a component cable for my 360 and run it on my PVM. Thanks!

 

[Dochartaigh]

Yeah, that'd be great. if you posted the spreadsheet. Can you just upload it to Google Drive or dropbox or something?

I should get a component cable for my 360 and run it on my PVM. Thanks!

Here you go. It might not make 100% sense to you (I literally don't know what a few of my notes mean lol - it's been a while), and some of the notes are just my opinion on what I like and don't like, but should help a little:

Xbox 360 SHMUPS.pdf

drive.google.com

I should get a component cable for my 360 and run it on my PVM. Thanks!

Is your PVM a multiformat 20L5 or similar? If not, it might not be that great if the flicker from 480i bugs you. The 360 can't output 240p - only 480i and up. Also seems like if your PVM is only standard definition you need to make sure you get the 360 component cable with a switch on it to go from SD to HD - some of the knockoffs look like they're missing that. I've only really used VGA or HDMI on mine so maybe somebody can chime in with more detail.

If yours is multiformat, 480p/720p on a PVM is cool, especially for the games which aren't arcade ports, but I vastly prefer 240p for games that were designed with 240p in mind like in the arcade (which you'll need a downscaler to convert the 360's signal to 240p).

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

I've thought of RGH or RJTAG hacking this one 360 slim I have but any guides I've seen are never simple to follow and at the end, you're never sure what exact products would work for your specific system. I think this Halo 360 slim is a late Corona board so it's not eligible for the most reliable RGH method, but who knows what mod boards would work right here...

I then give up and just go back to playing stuff on my softmodded PS2, Wii and Wii U systems. I don't care much for space heater game consoles anyway. I also have a softmodded PS3 slim but don't need it very much, at least it doesn't output heat anywhere near as crazy as a 360 slim does.

 

[roker]

Is your PVM a multiformat 20L5 or similar? If not, it might not be that great if the flicker from 480i bugs you. The 360 can't output 240p - only 480i and up. Also seems like if your PVM is only standard definition you need to make sure you get the 360 component cable with a switch on it to go from SD to HD - some of the knockoffs look like they're missing that. I've only really used VGA or HDMI on mine so maybe somebody can chime in with more detail.

If yours is multiformat, 480p/720p on a PVM is cool, especially for the games which aren't arcade ports, but I vastly prefer 240p for games that were designed with 240p in mind like in the arcade (which you'll need a downscaler to convert the 360's signal to 240p).

Dang you're right, it's only 480i.

It's ok, I'll stick with VGA out and find a good computer monitor eventually.

 

[Dochartaigh]

Dang you're right, it's only 480i.

It's ok, I'll stick with VGA out and find a good computer monitor eventually.

Also see in those notes that I say something like "Crappy HD" or "fake HD" on a bunch of them – meaning although they upscaled it from its 240p source, they did a REALLY bad job IMO... those are STILL going to look like crap no matter what CRT or flatscreen you use. Converting to 240p might help them a bit though (which could also just be because I like that aesthetic more for this type of games).

 

[100proof]

Let me know if you need any games. Adding DLC and patches can be kind of a bitch but once you've got everything the way you like it, a modded 360 is a great little box.

 

[roker]

Let me know if you need any games. Adding DLC and patches can be kind of a bitch but once you've got everything the way you like it, a modded 360 is a great little box.

Appreciate that. The modder still has my system but I've gathered all my games so they're ready to go. Seems like a nice lazy sunday project. I appreciate the offer and may take you up on it.

 

[roker]

Was messing with this last night. I got everything working as I like it. I think I should seek out a CRT capable of 480p and run the 360 with component cables for all those glorious Cave shmups, otherwise no complaints. I would say this isn't easy for your average user, but once you get the hang of it, adding games is simple. There are some quirks though with Xbox OG and XBLA and DLC though.

I used this site to guide me through the process:

Xbox 360 JTAG/RGH Beginners Guide - h4ck.se

This is not a guide on how-to JTAG or RGH your console, there are lots of guides online but I advise you contact a trusted seller and send-in or purchase a pre-modded Xbox 360 system.

www.h4ck.se

Additional notes, you don't have to use the XexMenu to add games. Once you install Aurora, everything can be done through the file manager. If anyone needs help getting this going post here or PM me. Again, you do need your console chipped though.

It was awesome playing Muchi Muchi Pork for the first time since the arcade release on my console. Ketsui X mode is a shit ton of fun, probably my new favorite way to play the game.

Let me know if you need any games. Adding DLC and patches can be kind of a bitch but once you've got everything the way you like it, a modded 360 is a great little box.

Patching isn't that bad once you have Aurora connected to Xbox Unity. I'm actually pretty impressed with the support this console has in the modding community. All my games have covers and I can patch them easily. Also, you can fix games that are demos only with a few presses.

Edit: Figured out how to display everything I have. It seems it was not explained well in the tutorial. You just have to set the file scan depth to infinity.

 

[Vectorman0]

Thanks for this thread. Is Aurora the best dashboard?

I ordered all (I hope) of the hardware needed to mod my system a couple weeks ago and look forward to starting once the last piece makes it to me from China. I'll probably end up having a bunch of questions.

 

[roker]

Thanks for this thread. Is Aurora the best dashboard?

I ordered all (I hope) of the hardware needed to mod my system a couple weeks ago and look forward to starting once the last piece makes it to me from China. I'll probably end up having a bunch of questions.

Aurora is the only dashboard that's been more consistent with updates.

The tutorial I linked does a pretty good job but there's some areas they don't explain well. Also you're bound to encounter some weird quirks. I couldn't get Scott Pilgrim to work at first and I'm still trying to figure out what to do about Dark souls because my save will not work without Xbox live for some reason.

But please post all your questions here that don't involve how to actually install the chip. I learned a lot these past couple of days messing with it.

 

[Vectorman0]

What is the best/fastest file transfer method? FTP, an intermediary USB storage device between PC and 360, or can you hook up the 360 SATA drive to a PC once formatted?

 

[roker]

What is the best/fastest file transfer method? FTP, an intermediary USB storage device between PC and 360, or can you hook up the 360 SATA drive to a PC once formatted?

FTP using the Neighborhood app (I think that's the name) is easier but I think it's faster using USB. then again, I don't have a wired connection from my PC to my 360. I would experiment with both and see which you like better.

Yes, you can use an external hard drive as a source, I just tried it to see if it works. I managed to put all the games I want on the internal HDD. I know people have upgraded the internal HDD with 1tb drives, but I don't need that many games. I'm not sure if it loads slower though if you use an external HDD through the USB. You can buy an official XBOX 360 500 gb HDD or one of the cheap Chinese knock-offs on ebay. I might go that route, but for right now I still have 80gb available and I can't think of anything left to download .... yet. I'm currently using a 320gb HDD internal official.

 

[100proof]

I ended up with almost 3TBs worth of isht. Full XBLA set, a whooole bunch of DLC (2,000+ Rock Band songs) and ~200 retail games (anything I gave a shit having). I always go overboard with that shit though. I found FTP to be the fastest and most convenient way to transfer files.

Might've just been when I did my install but Xbox Unity was a mess around that time. Worked half the time, had to constantly dick around to get the right patch. Total pain in the ass. Glad to hear it's back to being simple and straightforward.

 

[roker]

I ended up with almost 3TBs worth of isht. Full XBLA set, a whooole bunch of DLC (2,000+ Rock Band songs) and ~200 retail games (anything I gave a shit having). I always go overboard with that shit though. I found FTP to be the fastest and most convenient way to transfer files.

Might've just been when I did my install but Xbox Unity was a mess around that time. Worked half the time, had to constantly dick around to get the right patch. Total pain in the ass. Glad to hear it's back to being simple and straightforward.

I've never understood having to have every single game ever made on every system. Don't get me wrong I mean I do that with my NES and Genesis but that's because you can spare the space and it doesn't take as long to download stuff. It's actually easier to download the complete set and sort out what your favorites are.

But trying to get a complete set Xbox 360 not only would it take forever to download everything but just a total pain in the ass to move the files around and make sure the DLC is in the right spot and updates and shit.

I don't know. I'm pretty happy with the way it is and I do add games here and there but I still don't feel it's the most straightforward setup. You have a lot more patience than I do.

 

[100proof]

Yeah it took me about 3 months to move everything around and have it the way I like it. I recognize that it's total overkill but I do shit like this instead of wasting thousands of dollars on physical games that will just sit on a shelf collecting dust. I certainly won't play every game but half the fun for me is learning how to do all this and the preservation aspect.

That said, if you know where to look, downloading it is easy. I have full sets for pretty much every console up to the Wii U sitting on my server and the vast majority of them were pulled as a group. Couple of years from now, I'll do the same with the PS4 and XBOne (assuming anyone ever bothers modding the XBOne).

 

[roker]

Yeah it took me about 3 months to move everything around and have it the way I like it. I recognize that it's total overkill but I do shit like this instead of wasting thousands of dollars on physical games that will just sit on a shelf collecting dust. I certainly won't play every game but half the fun for me is learning how to do all this and the preservation aspect.

That said, if you know where to look, downloading it is easy. I have full sets for pretty much every console up to the Wii U sitting on my server and the vast majority of them were pulled as a group. Couple of years from now, I'll do the same with the PS4 and XBOne (assuming anyone ever bothers modding the XBOne).

Oh yeah, I have no problem finding stuff. I think I'm missing Tetris Grand Master from my list ... if you know where it is, let me know.

Otherwise, do you use an external HDD for your games?

 

[Vectorman0]

I wasted about three hours yesterday doing research after disassembling my 360. I very much dislike how specific every modding guide is to certain configurations, while not mentioning the "whys" behind any step in the process. I'm hoping to figure it out today and not brick my system in the process.

I ended up with almost 3TBs worth of isht. Full XBLA set, a whooole bunch of DLC (2,000+ Rock Band songs) and ~200 retail games (anything I gave a shit having). I always go overboard with that shit though. I found FTP to be the fastest and most convenient way to transfer files.

Might've just been when I did my install but Xbox Unity was a mess around that time. Worked half the time, had to constantly dick around to get the right patch. Total pain in the ass. Glad to hear it's back to being simple and straightforward.

What application do you use for FTP? I remember on the original Xbox that using applications built to transfer large images worked much faster than standard FTP clients.

 

[Evan]

I’ve done a lot of rgh consoles recently. Really fun to do, and nice to just load games off of an external hard drive. Happy I got a jasper/Kronos as those are the most reliable.

 

[Digmac]

FTP using the Aurora dash and FileZilla is better than Neighborhood IMO. I’m using an XDK, but your results should be the same.

If anyone needs the Xbox 360 SDK for some reason, just PM me.

 

[Vectorman0]

FTP using the Aurora dash and FileZilla is better than Neighborhood IMO. I’m using an XDK, but your results should be the same.

If anyone needs the Xbox 360 SDK for some reason, just PM me.

Are there no purpose built applications for speeding up FTP transfer? I remember on original Xbox, FTP transfer speed was bottlenecked by high file counts. I could use Quix + Avalaunch to get steady 100mbs transfers regardless of files.

 

[Ajax]

I would like to do this, since there's not really a way to play SDOJ other than on 360 (unless you're ok dropping 10k on the PCB), but it sounds like a massive pain in the ass...

 

[100proof]

Oh yeah, I have no problem finding stuff. I think I'm missing Tetris Grand Master from my list ... if you know where it is, let me know.

Otherwise, do you use an external HDD for your games?

I actually own TGM so I just ripped it. Happy to pass it along. Probably won't be able to do it til the weekend though. Have to plug my 360 back in to the network and compress, yada yada. I'll put it on my "to-do" list.

No, I got a knock-off 4TB internal drive. External's too slow with the kind of volume I'm workin' with.

What application do you use for FTP? I remember on the original Xbox that using applications built to transfer large images worked much faster than standard FTP clients.

I'm fairly certain I just used Filezilla but don't quote me on that... I've built a new PC since I last dicked around with my 360.

 

[Vectorman0]

Thanks for the info everyone. I FTP'd 1/3 of the XBLA games yesterday before realizing Aurora doesn't really seem designed for browsing large quantities of games. I realize it has search and filters, but it felt slow to me if I just wanted a quickly navigate through a large list to browse. I might be missing something.

I think I would prefer the ability to speed through a directory of files. I guess I am just old fashioned.

I also noticed the Aurora start time seemed to slow. Does this get noticeably worse the more games added? I'm starting to think about starting over and not putting everything on my system.