Honest thoughts on OG XBox?

Xbox had a high end PC-level GPU coupled with a low-tier Pentium III 733 CPU with a crippled cache. The system has Direct X 8.1, shader model 1.1, vertex shader 1.1 and two Vertex Shader units, while the Geforce 3's only had one. The Xbox GPU was quite powerful.

It got some really good exclusives.

JSRF
Crimson Skies
Armed and Dangerous
Steel Battalion
Escape from Butcher Bay was the peak.
Even Fusion Frenzy was fun.
Picrel is Riddick, what a game.

I play it just as much at the others. Always go to it for the multiplats, at least most of the time. It's got some cool exclusives of its own. I appreciate that it can run a lot of its games at 720p with some patching. And it can stream Plex at 480p which is is neat.

For classic Halo CE, Original Xbox using Dolby ProLogic II is best.

>Halo Xbox (use this if you're playing on original hardware)
http://vaporeon.io/hosted/halo/original_files/xbox/halo_01.10.12.2276.7z

>>11789309 (OP)
I thought it had a good game library and Xbox Live was well done. The first DVD-Drive was pure shit. It couldn't read burned CDs and was very prone to failure, throwing DDE (Dirty Disk Error) and never reading the disc.

Dead or Alive 3 out of the gates felt like a massive leap from the previous generation. DOA2/2HC suddenly felt so far in the rear view you couldn't even see them anymore, and that was a launch title. Halo not only was the best playing FPS on consoles it had perfect integration with vehicles and packed multiplayer that completely blew away everything else before that point. Every upcoming game on the thing was met with anticipation for how far ahead of its peers it would be. Games like Wreckless on Xbox were a generation ahead compared to the versions on PS2/GC. Everyone could tell even through dinky composite on a 20" CRT

Xbox Live on the horizon teased some incredible stuff, almost every Live enabled game came with a free 14 day pass at a minimum and you bet we were lugging down our 20" CRT to drop it next to the modem just to give that shit a try. I first played Counter-Strike not on my PC but on the Xbox that sat on the floor with said 20" CRT sitting on a flimsy old wooden chair, my brother getting way into Rainbow Six 3, jamming out at a friends house on Halo 2 online split-screen. Everyone knew the Xbox was the premium experience, PS2 kept up as best it could but there were always reminders and even this feeling that maybe game x or y would play better on the box.

Seriously, you couldn't fathom how big a deal webm related was at launch, being able to knock fighters into a different level, the game never skipping a beat and it moving so smoothly was insane. We played DOA2 before this, had a Dreamcast even, but this was a colossal leap.

>>11789320
Why use pro logic stereo interpolation when halo natively supports 5.1 dolby digital

For me it's Breakdown

It's great

Better than the GameCube imo

>>11789309 (OP)
It ruined gaming. But I loved it.

>>11789309 (OP)
Do any of you use modded Xboxes or all natural? What's your experience with modded if you do?
I've been meaning to pick one up since my old one bricked years ago but I'm wondering if I should get a modded one.

>>11789309 (OP)
luv me 'box, pure amerijank kino.
they really dropped the ball with the 360 (second half) and never managed to get back on it

>>11789597
unmodded xbox feels incomplete imo.
they're not too hard to mod yourself if you can't find a pre-modded one (lol), but expect to give it a few hours to get the mods running and to FTP some games to your hard drive.
all xboxes can be softmodded and chipped, and most revisions can be hardmodded with just a couple of bridged solder pads.
https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:Getting_Started

>>11789313
JSRF and Fusion Frenzy were the only exclusives though, all of those others were also released on PC. Armed and Dangerous has even been re-released on Steam.

Wish they would release JSRF on Steam too, they re-released the original Jet Set Radio after all.

>>11789597
I've done cpu and ram upgrades, a faster cpu does help but the ram limit is hard coded into the games, there are patches for some games to use the extra ram. With a 1ghz cpu the xbox uses 10 less watts and runs a little cooler.

>>11789692
And here it is, finished with Stellar modchip and hdmi mod with 4tb ssd and lots of petg.

>>11789709
Have you tried the HD patch for Halo 2 on the original Xbox?

https://github.com/grimdoomer/Halo-2-HD

>>11789692
You... replaced the CPU? I know there are people that upgrade the RAM, but replacing the CPU is rather insane. Can't that cause compatibility issues with some games?

Also, why a modchip instead of a software mod?

i threw my xbox off a 7 story balcony when the dvd drive died and it could only run softmodded stuff and it still worked

>>11789794
I found replacing the cpu pretty easy compared to soldering 4-ram chips. The stellar mod chip hot patches games to fix the compatibility issues. I've never really been fond of softmods, and tearing an xbox down and soldering in a modchip is less of a hassle for me.

>>11789773
I have not tried that patch, I was kinda wanting to the patch for the 1.5 version of the game to get released.

So OG xbox shit is rare in my country and my Duke controller's left stick has a bit of drift and also lost a bit of gain when moving left. I'd like to try at repairing it. Can i use stick assemblies from 360, One or Series on it?

>>11789645
Incorrect, Crimson Skies was exclusive and different than the PC game. Steel Battalion is only for XBOX.

>>11789914
You actually can use xbox 360 sticks. I'd say just swap the potentiometer out from a 360 stick. Cleaning can also fix the pot sensor.

>>11789709
>mini poos
Based

>>11789961
Not sure how I overlooked Steel Battalion, yeah, that was definitely not on PC. Didn't know the PC version of Crimson Skies was different, I had heard everyone talk about them like they were the same game. Are they entirely different games or were just some things changed?

>>11789309 (OP)
I adore this game. Best graphics on the system next to Riddick, Conker and Chaos Theory. It is also insanely difficult.

>>11789814
you found reballing both a cpu & interposer, and flowing both easier than some drag soldering?
and why does that pic have the gpu pulled as well?

>>11789475
nice webm anon.

>>11791049
I have only done 1ghz cpu's they don't need an interposer, that pic is a test run with a dead board. I do have interposer boards, but that mod looks like 3 hours of pain and suffering with a 50% success rate, so i haven't attempted it yet.

>>11789550
That's how I feel about it as well lol at the time it was fucking cool, but looking back on it, it was really the progenitor to a lot of the shit that ruins modern games.

>>11789309 (OP)
Bro none of this matters. It had no fucking games.

>>11791369
The Xbox had tons of games. It's been twenty years, it's time to let the console war go.

>>11789794
>why a modchip instead of a software mod?
Modchip or TSOP mods allow you to use custom BIOS which, on top of removing copy protections, give you all sorts of nice extras.
e.g. removing the hard drive lock requirement so you can swap hard drives with ease, allowing the Xbox to boot without a DVD drive installed, RAM/CPU upgrade compatibility, LCD display outputs so you can rice your Xbox even more etc.
Softmod is perfectly fine though. Hardmod gives better QoL.

>>11791530
Even a basic hard mod is good, I've been curious to check out the chinese aladdin chips for a cheap option.

>>11791530
I thought you could reflash the firmware/BIOS with a softmod? I have a hard-modded Xbox from years ago but that's mostly because back then a soft mod was asking for a ban (Even though I never actually eventually took it online). I had no idea what I was doing though so it's a mess of tiny fragile wires everywhere.

>>11789313
Stop posting promotional screenshots
The game actually look like shit on the Xbox
Funny how every time someone wants to show off the Xbox's strengths it's always through a dark, narrow corridor-type game. Doom 3, Riddick and Splinter Cell CT.
This console was a mistake and only damaged the video game industry and its principles. Just a shitty and generic mid-end 2001 PC on a custom horizontal case.

>>11792329
Modxo is new and pretty cheap, the aliexpress mod chips have fake eeproms and can be problematic to flash.

>>11789804
no one finds this interesting?

So... OpenXenium or ModXo?

>>11792942
Mental illness

Got offered one by a friend for $50 (AUD), mod chipped and a fair few games, 5 controllers. I've never had an Xbox before, so I have no real nostalgia for it. Got it moving games via FTP was easy enough, and was playing it on my CRT. But begore the weekend was over I got my friend to take it back. I just don't care for it, and the little that I do (Riddick, JSRF, Morrowind) I would much prefer to play on PC/Emulate. It was nice of them to bring it over and let me see if it was something I wanted to have, but ultimately just wasn't for me.

>>11791369
>Ninja Gaiden
>DoA
>best Halo
Good enough.

>>11793403
The parts for OpenXenium are getting scarce, just go for ModXo.

>>11793075
No, it's rather normal, consoles tended to be built like tanks before Sony turned bad quality into a standard.

There was a guy on /v/ who put his gameboy in a dishwasher once and it still worked afterwards, and another that got half melted in napalm but still played right. Sega Saturns, Sega CDs, and Dreamcasts are all built like tanks and only need 1-2 weak components fixed to get back into working order (fuse for sega cd, battery for Dreamcast, optical pickup for Saturn).

OG Xbox could be used as a bludgeon tool and would work afterwards fine. It's only weak point was being made in the middle of the capacitor plague.

>>11793419
Attack the arguments (facts), not the person
I guess fanboys can't do this

Halo 2 had an overly aggressive LOD system and the limited memory the original xbox had (64 mb).

At startup Halo 2 creates one large allocation that uses ~48.9MB of the available 64MB of RAM on the console, basically, every last page of memory they could possibly get once you account for the Xbox kernel and game executable. This region of memory is then chunked up for various subsystems in the game such as level metadata, texture, geometry, animation, and sound caches, rasterizer targets, network and simulation resources, etc.

The original Xbox had two different console types, the retail consoles that consumers would buy with 64MB of RAM, and a development console (or dev kit/debug console) that was used by game developers with 128MB of RAM. The extra RAM on the development console helped developers debug their games and run additional test code during the development process. Halo 2's E3 Demo was made with 128MB of RAM.

Halo 2 makes use of more assets and more dynamic environments than CE. They have to make tradeoffs somewhere with the limited resource pool.

Halo CE Refined mod uses the Bungie's source uncompressed 32bit textures replacing the DXT compressed versions

Halo 2 Vista and MCC use higher res source textures than Xbox retail

>>11793625
Meds

lol xbox hueg

>>11794707
i was trying to find the photoshop of the xbox kilping the dinosaurs and i can't find it

>>11792440
>I thought you could reflash the firmware/BIOS with a softmod?
You can enable flash writing on most models with a custom trace made using a conductive paint pen to jumper, or solder a wire to jumper.

That said, not all TSOP are the same size and you will need to do research to ensure you can flash the one you want (ie, mine are soft-mod flashed with Xecutor). There are good tools to customize the firmware as well and some of the large ones might be modified to fit the smaller ones.

>>11789309 (OP)
A top-15 non-PC/portable gaming console of all time. It embodied power and had a lot of games that utilized it well. I still have fond memories of the systems LAN-ed, all the midnight release events, and memorable games.

>>11789692
>>11789709
>>11789814
>>11791530
This is godlike stuff here. I remember wanting the Xbox systems with the Xecuter front panel, but they were always out of reach. I'm still struggling to find someone to replace the clock capacitors in mine, and it just gets my attention when someone is still able to do these lost arts in unleashing the full potential of the console.

>>11789309 (OP)
The GPU was overpowered and too expensive. Microsoft should've gone with a cheap AMD GPU and given the system more RAM. Perhaps lots of slow RAM to render the HDD unnecessary.

>>11794991
Yeah, you need to bridge a single pair of pads to enable writing (as long as it's not a 1.6 model) and flash the right file for your model, but once you have done that it's no different from having a modchip right?

From my understanding that's what the modchips do anyway, they block the actual BIOS from loading and just load their own in it's place. This used to be useful back in the days when the Xbox was still relevant because connecting with a hacked BIOS to Live would get you banned, but that's not a concern anymore. Even the port you have to solder onto the Xbox is the same port you would need whether you are just reflashing your BIOS or installing a modchip. So is there any real difference or point to using a modchip over just flashing your BIOS? Other than some versions of OpenXO having the option to install headers for an external RTC or a small LCD display (Which I am not even sure if you can't just do that with a flashed BIOS too anyway)

>>11789320
Ergh, those water physics look terrible

>>11796360
There are no water physics in Halo.

>>11789309 (OP)
I had no fucking idea what an Xbox was as a kid. I was PS/N64 kid and with my birthday coming up, I was gearing up to get a PS2. That all changed when during the summer camp, I saw some big kids bring their Xbox along with a game I never heard of called "Halo".
Instantly fell in love and told my dad I wanted an Xbox. Best decision of my life.

>>11796353
Mod chipping an xbox is unnecessary and everything you need is already onboard the console. Although they can be helpful because they have ftp and you can choose to boot from multiple bios if you. And it's just braindead easy to hack an xbox with one. But there's no real need to install anything inside of the xbox to get the full experience

>>11789597
I softmodded mine and upgraded it with an 80GB IDE HDD. I like having a "period appropriate" hard drive in it instead of a 2TB SATA HDD with hundreds of games I'll never play. The 80GB HDD can still fit two dozen games with all their updates and DLC, etc. And I put a bunch of more modern music on it too for custom soundtracks in game since the music files can fit on a different partition.

I will be borrowing my friend's modded OG Xbox probably this weekend to play on my CRT, what games should I play on it? I already have Ninja Gaiden Black and JSFR on my list, but I'm not quite sure what else I should nab to play

>>11789610
>they really dropped the ball with the 360
I agree. The Xbox really is a Dreamcast 2 in terms of how soulful it is, even compared to the Xbox 360. Can't believe how hard they fucked up simply by calling their third console "Xbox One".

>>11789709
I've heard it's a bad idea to use an SSD in the Xbox? Something to do with how the console constantly writes cache files to the hard drive? Basically; it can dramatically shorten the SSD's lifespan by all the write and delete cycles it performs. Mechanical HDD's don't really have that same problem.

>>11791369
>Bro none of this matters. It had no fucking games.
OG Xbox literally has 4x or 5x more games worth playing than the N64 though. The only console I can think of with less games worth playing than the N64 is the GameCube.

>>11796487
>I had no fucking idea what an Xbox was as a kid.
I was a teenager in the early 2000s here in Australia and I literally didn't even know the Xbox existed. I didn't see the OG Xbox in real-life until 2017 when I found and bought one from an e-waste facility. I vaguely recall a friend of a friend having an Xbox 360 circa 2009 though.

>>11797032
No it shouldn't be a problem. Don't use an SSD from 2008 I guess.

It was the king of consoles. Strong graphics. Best controller. 4 player split screen. If Microsoft hadn't totally bungled the invasion of Japan, it might have taken over more.

Totally insane we got games like Doom 3 or Riddick on it.

Of the Duke or S controller, which one do you all prefer for the Xbox?