Freestyle dash

TouchingVirus

I have discovered the wonders of it, I am amazed :eek:

I set it up as an autolaunch (in addition to the region killer patch) so now I never have to see the NXE dashboard unless I quit a game or press back-to-dashboard on the menu. I'll fix that problem soon enough by adding a shortcut to FSD to the Quick Launch menu (available when you hit the center/power button the controller) so that's how I'll quit in future.

So yes, Freestyle Dash :pac: It's awesome. Scraping the content and screenshots off the xbox marketplace, the simple fanspeed adjusting, the file manager, the categories (i.e. no xbox live crap clogging my dashboard). Ok, so there's no avatar support until v2.0 but I can live without it. The default skin is FUGLY, but there are others out there.

http://www.spiffy360.com

Here is what mine looks like now



Can't believe I never bothered to do this sooner

So there you have it ..now show me your skins :P

Myrddin

Looks sweet TV - I wanna hear how you migrated from XBR to this in every minute detail please

witnessmenow

Come one be honest, you got the Idea of the freestyle dash from my thread :P

It looks the business ok! I've a busy weekend ahead of me, should have my new hard drive and it will be time to fill it! I just need to check that the efuses have been bypassed!

TouchingVirus

@EnterNow: I'm still using XBR. I read that while freeBOOT has advantages like being on the latest dashboard version 9199 it still has it's bugs. I've not encountered problems on XBR so I'm not even going to bother changing for now.

FreeStyle Dash is an XEX, you can download it to the hard drive and run it from XeXMenu, or if you place it in /Content/000000000000000000/CODE9999/0700/ on the hard drive it'll appear in the 'games' tab like XeXMenu does.

What I've done is put it on the hard drive in /FreeStyle and patch my nand (with Flash360) so that after the xbox 360 logo appears it loads FSD from /FreeStyle before loading the NXE dashboard. If FSD isn't found, NXE will load. NXE always loads as a backup The patch for XBR also includes the region-free patch for NXE

The skin I'm using up there is called XDesk 2D

The patch files and tutorial can be found around the place but here's some.

1) Download the Patch Pack v5.
2) Extract launch.ini and launch.xex from a folder in the pack (e.g. custom launch).
3) Edit launch.ini to point to the XEX you want to launch. Make sure the path is correct (e.g. LHdd1:/Content/Some/Folder/myXEX.xex;)
4) Place launch.ini and launch.xex in the root of the hard drive
5) Get the appropriate bin file (not the RF_only bin files, the other one) - one is for 16mb nand, the other for big nands.
6) Place on memory stick, rename to updpatch.bin
7) Run xexmenu 1.1, run flash360. Press B (update areas of Rebooter), press B again (write updpatch.bin).
8) Press back twice to shut down console (follow onscreen instructions)
9) Power back on console, wait for FSD to load :P

@wmn: Heh, I got it from reading cisk's old thread, and getting annoyed by the NXE and it's cluttered layout - the JTAG is never going live, I don't need game marketplace, video marketplace, new on live or any of that. I also don't like having to go to XeXmenu to run my homebrew How are you gonna check about the efuses? Removing the 10k resistor R6T3 is enough, no?


As a small aside, on one occassion last night my console hung after the xbox logo screen. This might be just my console though - I have it set up to auto-login. BTW, just in case you forgot, on your JTAG consoles in the NXE, go to the console settings tab, family settings and turn off xbox live ..better safe than sorry.

BTW, Xdesk - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GYKRQDDW

Myrddin

Superb. Something to do over the weekend Thanks dude

I also dont like having to run XexMenu in ordfer to run homevrew, having this auto-run is just the icing on the cake. Can it give thumbnails of your homebrew games by any chance?

witnessmenow

TouchingVirus wrote: »

How are you gonna check about the efuses? Removing the 10k resistor R6T3 is enough, no?

This, I couldnt remember the name

Ye all under estimate how little I want to learn about Jtagging, I just want a setup one :P

TouchingVirus

EnterNow wrote: »

Superb. Something to do over the weekend Thanks dude

I also dont like having to run XexMenu in ordfer to run homevrew, having this auto-run is just the icing on the cake. Can it give thumbnails of your homebrew games by any chance?

Using a tool called FSDIndexer (comes with FSD) which runs on your computer, you connect over FTP to your xbox (FSD has an FTP like XexMenu). The FSDIndexer scrapes the marketplace and xbox.com for screenshots/covers/information on the game like genre/description and stores them all in an xml file located in the fsdata folder at the root of the hard drive.

Anything that it doesn't find in the scrape can be input manually, I assume this includes homebrew. So if you have a cover for your homebrew then you can add it to that record in the xml file using FSDIndexer. You have to restart FSD in order to re-parse the xml file (it's done at launch only).

@wmn: Have a read of this, an alternative to removing the R6T3 that's easily reversible - http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=706121. I would think docentore already removed R6T3, no?

Myrddin

Gentleman & a scholar.

WMN - setting it up is the best part

TouchingVirus

EnterNow wrote: »

WMN - setting it up is the best part

Totally is, the thrill of getting it done is great

witnessmenow

TouchingVirus wrote: »

@wmn: Have a read of this, an alternative to removing the R6T3 that's easily reversible - http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=706121. I would think docentore already removed R6T3, no?

Already have it bookmarked!

He cant remember, so as the saying goes, measure twice cut once!

I've had my trills setting up other things, I want to be an end user for once!

Myrddin

witnessmenow wrote: »

I want to be an end user for once

Now those were the days

Actually now that I think of it, most free time I have for computers/consoles goes into fluting around with them these days...couldnt tell ya's the last time I sat down and actually played a game

witnessmenow

Howd you take the screen Cap Tv?

I'm using this one with new icon for games (360 controller) and emulators (Mario and Sonic)

TouchingVirus

It's not my screencap

witnessmenow

That would explain it :P

If anyone is interested here is the box art and background im using for my snes emulator. I didnt make any of the pictures per say, but i assembled the boxart one :P Here are some screen shots to use too (also not mine). (hmm sombody has messed withe permissions on my server, no directory view , so here they are, will upload as a zip when im finished uploading to rapidshare)


















Im using snes360, which by default is a GOD package, but i god2iso'd it, then extracted it to get the xex files out. If anyone is interested in the extracted version I'm uploading it to rapidshare now(Edit- here). (It shows up as a 360 game if you leave it as a GOD)

To install on freestyle put it in \Hdd1\Emulators\Snes
To install the box art and screenshots use the FSDIndexer (should show up as "Snes"


And there is also the icons I'm using on my main menu.

TouchingVirus

Epic stuff, I missed that there was a SNES emulator out. Love the boxart too, nice one dude! FSD is mega!

Myrddin

Ok TV, I had a look at this yesterday. It seems there's a newer v2.0 FSD out so my first question is, does the older version update to the newer one through the 360? Or is it a complete re-write?

There have been a lot of reports about v2.0 making the 360 cook itself, with temps hitting 70C in some cases :eek: No proper info out there, in fact, the team FSD website in general I found poor.

I'd really like an alternative to NXE, with proper listings of my games, giving covers etc. Would you advise I just go with the older version of FSD for now TV? How do you configure your DNS etc, I had mine set to 1.1.1.1 to avoid any hope of it getting detected, but obviously for game covers it need's net access. Or is the xml updated through FTp - argh the info is so confusing :mad:

Myrddin

I went ahead with v1.20 for now, becasue the v2.0 is a little too "Alpha" at the moment. The default skin is poo, with xdesk being nice. The xml is updated through FTP, so no need to give the 360 outside access.

Looks nice, I like the way it seperates XBLA demo's from the retail games. My main question to anyone, is if I patch my nand to load this before NXE (as TV has done), if I decide to upgrade to v2.0 later on, is there a way to undo that patch & assign a new autoboot?

Cheers

TouchingVirus

EnterNow wrote: »

Ok TV, I had a look at this yesterday. It seems there's a newer v2.0 FSD out so my first question is, does the older version update to the newer one through the 360? Or is it a complete re-write?

There have been a lot of reports about v2.0 making the 360 cook itself, with temps hitting 70C in some cases :eek: No proper info out there, in fact, the team FSD website in general I found poor.

I'd really like an alternative to NXE, with proper listings of my games, giving covers etc. Would you advise I just go with the older version of FSD for now TV? How do you configure your DNS etc, I had mine set to 1.1.1.1 to avoid any hope of it getting detected, but obviously for game covers it need's net access. Or is the xml updated through FTp - argh the info is so confusing :mad:

FSD isn't an NXE replacement, it's not like XBR or Freeboot. It's just an application that provides an alternative UI for xbox 360 users. So if you want to upgrade to v2.0 at a later date then just replace the XEX file with the new version. Of course it might not be so simple, there's a whole folder attached to FSD so you might have to replace the folder. Also, the filename might change so you'd have to update launch.ini to point to the new XEX but you get the idea.

The Team FSD's site is generally poor, but I've got faith in the guys behind the project that this'll all right itself after v2.0 gets released properly (it's only alpha btw, nowhere near final release quality).


On my JTAG I've used the NXE to disable access to Xbox Live via the Parental Control settings, apparently that should be enough to keep it off Live but who knows. What's the worst they can do to my JTAG anyways, ban me? The data for FSD is updated via the PC, not the console. The application to update the XML file & upload pictures/covers etc is Windows-only. You can use a crossover cable between the two or hook up the hard drive using a transfer cable/USB cable. I use the crossover method myself. You need to restart FSD before you see changes, the XML file is parsed on application loading.

The patch you run to enable a launch boot you only need to run once. It just modifies your nand so that it'll look for a launch.xex/launch.ini file before loading the NXE. When it finds launch.xex it'll run it. Launch.xex looks for launch.ini, which is just a one-liner giving the path to the application you really want to run. It's just a middle-man. If you want a different app to load on boot, edit the launch.ini file to point to the right XEX file

witnessmenow

You could aslo but the image data etc on a usb stick, so you can take it out plug it into your computer and run the updater without having network connectivity (I dont do this myself, I use the ftp method)

Myrddin

Ok guys I took another run at it this morning and got everything up & running. I've left FSD an an xex and chose not to patch it to autoboot (I'll wait until at least v2.0beta for that).

FSD runs fine, defaut skin is not pleasant so I installed xdesk - much better but doesnt seem to do transparent windows for game browsing like the default skin could. This could be becasue its an alpha/feature disabled.

FSD indexer runs sweetly too, punched in the 360's FTP details and it went scraping all the details (backgrounds, multiple screenshots, details etc) really impressive feature & saves a TON on boring google imagery work. I see FSD can also do game trailers, any of you explored this yet?

The only issue I'm having now is my FTP speed is gone sh1t. Not the fault of FSD however, as it conicides with a change in my LAN structure. I've recently changed to UPC cable broadband. So my thinking was to have the shortest possible cable run of coax form the wall to the router. This meant re-locating the router to a different room & letting the cat5e do the grunt work. So in one room is the router, running from that is cat5e into my room & then into a gigabit switch. Connected to the switch is my main/internet/gaming pc, my HTPC, my Wii & my 360 (I know the 360 is 10/100). Sometimes when transferring stuff to my HTPC I'm getting 80/90 MB/s, other times it starts at 3/4 and very slowly build up. FTP'ing to the 360 is yielding about 3Mb/s consisteny, but I remember my old router being faster than that.

Could it be an imcompatability with my switch/360/pc NIC? Or could it be that I'm still using DHCP from the router? I'm thinking about turning off DHCP and assigning everything static ip's? It just feels like the switch has to re-learn where everything is....

TouchingVirus

You're using the alpha? That could very well be your issue.

I've got a similar setup with UPC too, the only difference is I'm using a 100mbit switch and not a gigabit one. My FTP speed is ~8mb/sec to FSD

Myrddin

TouchingVirus wrote: »

You're using the alpha? That could very well be your issue.

I've got a similar setup with UPC too, the only difference is I'm using a 100mbit switch and not a gigabit one. My FTP speed is ~8mb/sec to FSD

No Im sticking with 1.20Final until v2.0 becomes at least a Beta.

Thats more along the lines of the speed my old router did/done. But through the Gb switch it's managaing 3MB thereabouts. Im gonna move to a static IP system today & see does that alleviate things. Switches have intelligent routing & learn address etc. So if my dhcp server is changing devices address, it could be making the switch relearn everything each time I use it. I'll report back on it

TouchingVirus

Before you make the switch, test it out with both FSD and XeXMenu which also provides an FTP Server ..see if it's a general network issue or a specific FSD one.

Myrddin

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Before you make the switch, test it out with both FSD and XeXMenu which also provides an FTP Server ..see if it's a general network issue or a specific FSD one.

XeXMenu has the exact same speed. Might try a different patch cable before the changeover...

Myrddin

Tried a different cable, no joy.

Migrated everything in the house to static ip's & turned off DHCP - no joy.

Tried flashfxp instead of filezilla - no joy.

Max FTP speed I can get is 3Mb/s. Pathetic really :mad: It has to be the switch as I never remember it being that slow before. The thing is this is a little 5 port Belkin switch which is unmanaged, & I don't even think there's a way of configuring it any differently

Tried turning off the firewall etc, speed still sucks. Any ideas? These are all in XexMenu btw, & no software has changed since getting the switch.

TouchingVirus

EnterNow wrote: »

Tried a different cable, no joy.

Migrated everything in the house to static ip's & turned off DHCP - no joy.

Tried flashfxp instead of filezilla - no joy.

Max FTP speed I can get is 3Mb/s. Pathetic really :mad: It has to be the switch as I never remember it being that slow before. The thing is this is a little 5 port Belkin switch which is unmanaged, & I don't even think there's a way of configuring it any differently

Tried turning off the firewall etc, speed still sucks. Any ideas? These are all in XexMenu btw, & no software has changed since getting the switch.

Remove the switch from the equation, use a crossover between the PC and Console. I know that this might remove the ability of the computer to connect to the internet, but it will do for testing purposes.

Myrddin

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Remove the switch from the equation, use a crossover between the PC and Console. I know that this might remove the ability of the computer to connect to the internet, but it will do for testing purposes.

This I shall try tomorrow, right now my eyes are crossed from puching in ip's/dns servers/gateways etc

Say I get much improved speeds without the switch, what are my options given it's not a managed switch? Bear with it & grin? I guess I could use USB for transfers, but that would involve moving

TouchingVirus

If you've a dual-LAN you can run the crossover permanently. If not, you might try run a second cable to the router? Or pick up a cheapo 10/100 switch, I can provide you with one for testing if you require

Myrddin

TouchingVirus wrote: »

If you've a dual-LAN you can run the crossover permanently. If not, you might try run a second cable to the router? Or pick up a cheapo 10/100 switch, I can provide you with one for testing if you require

I've only a single lan, but thats a good idea about running a cable from the 360 directly to the router (outside of the switch). Not sure if I've enough space in the conduit but it's prob the best solution. Since running static ip's, my Gb connections are solid @ 80/90Mb/s which is pretty sweet for large file transfers.

Cheers for the 10/100 switch offer man, but I seriously cant have any more EM fields in this room :D It's like a lab at this stage