All I want to do is install emulators on my Xbox. Need good hand-holding tutorial!

[ModMike]

Okay, so most of this stuff is WAY over my head. I'm sort of a newbie. I'm familiar with Mame, I got some emus running on my Dreamcast, but I'm new to the 'Box scene.

What I want is this: To be able to play emulators, primarily Nintendo 64, on my Xbox, which currently has XBMC installed already but nothing else. I don't care if I have to install to the hard drive or using a cd each time I want to play.

What I have is this: An original, unmodified Xbox EXCEPT for the fact that I used the save exploit to install Evox and XBMC.



I've searched the forums and tried looking at online faqs, and while I've found many well written documents they all assume a knowledge a little ahead of where I'm at right now. I don't know what auto installer is. I don't know anything about changing scripts or how to do it or why.

I just need the most graphic, patient, hand-holding "XBMC for retards" guide on this. Emulation is what I'm most after, and I feel that once I tackle that perhaps I can be more confident to understand the rest of XBMC myself.

Please, if anyone is willing to speak to me about this or point me to some good guides, I'd much appreciate it. Oh and please remember what I said about needing a VERY simple and explanatory tutorial before you start throwing links at me- I need a real beginner's guide here.

[joebrady]

google auto installer deluxe. d/l it, burn it, put it in your drive, install emulator programs. Then all you have to do is find some files to run on the emulator:;):

[ModMike]

Which version of auto installer should I use? I see several versions available for download out there.

I'll look it up but while I do so, could you tell me anything more about it? Like whether it must be burned to a cd or dvd, and whether I will still need to do the FTP thing, etc?

If I have the emus and roms (which I do), will this autoinstaller really be all I need?

Again- I'm going to try investigating these details, but any more info would really help. Thanks!

[batman91]

i woudl have chosen a different subforum for this.

if you got to *****, you can grab all the latest emus, if you really want to use AID, get the latest version you can find, but even then it may be outdated. on ***** you can garantuee that all the files are the latest versions available.

[ModMike]

On that site I keep hearing about..The uh, "sex fins" site (if this is indeed the one you're talking about) I'm not sure how to access it. It's sort of a confusing world I'm entering here. Without you telling me specifically how to get there, can you tell me if I have to FTP to get there? I don't have those capabilities on this computer here.

Oh and if this post should be moved, I wouldn't mind, if there's somewhere more specific where it should go.

Not trying to be a nuisance, just trying to learn the first steps.

[batman91]

ok well i cant write the name of the place, all i can tell yo is that it is by far the "most complete xbox homebrew archive" out there. nudge nudge wink wink

[ModMike]

Okay wait...

If I go to, you know, SITE X, and get the emulators from there, does that mean I can somehow burn them to a cd and load them up onto my Xbox?

I think the problem I'm having is making my XBMC recognize anything. I have it up and running but I don't know how to save the emus/roms onto my hard drive, or rather play them off of a cd, if that's even possible.

In other words, I don't think I'm having too much trouble finding the emu files- I believe I have some of the correct ones...my problem is simply making XBMC run them.

[joebrady]

Let's not talk about r o m s......or ex beens....

If you already have the emulators, and you have ftp access, you should just be able to create a folder on one of your drives, transfer them over and then add them as a source under "my programs"

if you want to use the AID, get 4.30 (http://www.xbox-hq.com/html/postt23863.html)

Here's a manual (http://www.aideluxe.com/manuals_aid30_01.html) for an older version, but should work the same

[batman91]

well "some sites" require you to join an IRC channel and post a specific command to gain access to an FTP site. this can be confusing fo some so there are tutorials out there.

alternatively there are automated programs that can do it all for you.

sorry i cant post any direct links but i guess xbmc just dont want to affiliate themselves with morally gray sites

[joebrady]

you could also do a google search for "big ass emulator disc" I used to use that a lot. And have friends that got a modded box just for this reason.

[ModMike]

Okay, I'm sort of understanding. I'll try not to mention "the site" now that I know it's the same one I've been hearing about, nor will I try to discuss roms and so forth. I understand the legal grayness you guys refer to.

Okay, now I'm just sort of confused about the auto installer. I will try to get the latest version, but at the moment three things should be known:

I don't have a dvd burner, only cd
I don't have FTP access
I am aware of torrents and how they work but don't know if this is how the latest version of AID can be procured.


I think I'm understanding that AID is indeed what I need, but I'm not sure if I can use it.

I do have one specific question: Does AID work in such a way that I can play my games by just putting their cd into the Xbox? Or do the emu-related games have to be installed directly onto the hard drive somehow? This is what's confusing me.

PS Thanks for all your help and patience so far. Please bear with me.

[ModMike]

Ok Joe I'd never heard of that and just checked it out. It looks like it may well be what I'm looking for but...


Am I correct in assuming that anything I place onto the Xbox has to be done via either FTP or burned onto a DVD, NOT a CD? I thought the Box reads CDRWs but the Big ass emulator disc is obviously dvd size.......

[joebrady]

It actually depends on which drive you have in your xbox, some read differnt media better than others. But yes, that's the only two ways to get something onto you xbox HDD, by disc or ftp. BTW, why can't you get ftp access? As far as what to burn them on, you'll just have to look at the file size and see if they will fit on a cd or dvd.

You will find lots of tutorials and faqs over at www.xbox-scene.com

A little reading and trial and error will teach you a lot.

[ModMike]

The reason I can't use FTP is because my own computer no longer works and I have to use public ones- same reason I no longer have a dvd burner. So while I can use a computer here and there, they sort of frown on hauling in my Box and screwing with their connections here at Gateway :)

As for the tutorials, you're correct- there are a lot of them out there and you CAN get a lot by reading and trial and error. I guess that's my problem though- it's information overload. There are so many specifics, like which version of this or that one has and tutorials that expect that you had a hard mod or a bigger hard drive, etc. It's as if there are a hundred doors and I need to find the one that fits my key.

As for the media, yes my Xbox reads CDRWs (it's the Samsung if I recall correctly.).

I don't know how big the newest version of AID is- I've heard 600 MB and then others said it was in the gig range. Could the ISO be split, burned onto several CDs, and then somehow rejoined onto the Xbox? Or is it even capable of something like that?

[joebrady]

for AID, you can get the 4.30 lite version which is <700Mb

[ModMike]

?????

It is????

Wow, okay, then that's exactly what I will focus my attention on.

Thanks a lot everyone. And Joe, do you know about how much knowledge I will need when trying to run this program? I mean, is it as simple as burning it, popping it in, and turning on the Xbox or do I need to do something more?

Forgive my ignorance, it just seems too easy.. I must be missing something because why wouldn't everybody just be downloading and installing this program on their Box instead of bothering with FTP and all that?

[joebrady]

A lot of people like to know exactly where everything is, and with so many updates to so many different programs that can be used, burning a new disc for each and every update is not practical. I just recommend this for people that are new to the scene and need a quick easy fix for just one thing.

But yes, just pop it in and let it boot, (it takes awhile usually, so be patient) and just follow the menu. Pretty straight forward. I do need you to do some research on that Lite version, make sure it includes Emulators.

I know with the full version, you can burn you r o m s along with the emus onto the disc, but then you'd need a dvd burner.

[ModMike]

So does this mean that with Lite, I cannot burn my r o m s along with the installer itself, and therefore must have them on a seperate cdrw that, once AID is installed, My Xbox will recognize and play? If so that isn't a problem at all. As long as my goal is achieved I don't care about small inconveniences like that.

The main, overriding reason I got into Xbox homebrew was, like with my Dreamcast, to emulate. Unlike many people however, it honestly is just a space thing- I have hundreds of old games laying around and I play my Xbox all the time, so it seemed practical to combine and start selling my collection and make the Box my entertainment center, basically.

I will absolutely do what I can to learn about this specific version of AID. Thanks for clarifying things for me. But I'm still all ears, if you have any other comments or suggestions about it, I'll be sticking around to learn all I can from you guys. :)

[joebrady]

it's been so long since i put a disk in my box I don't really remember, but you might try just buring what you have to a disk and poping it in. Then see if you can transfer stuff over using, xbmc's file manager. Or you could use a thumb drive if you have an adapter?

[ModMike]

Hmm, no adaptors or anything, just a plain old no frills Xbox.

I am trying to get my hands on the lite edition, but so far the only way I've found is a torrent that doesn't want to move. Every other torrent is going except this one, natch. If this doesn't work I may just have no choice but to try cutting up the larger file and seeing if that works...

[joebrady]

maybe the first thing you should work on is getting your home computer up and running again, that would make your task a lot easier...

[ModMike]

Tell me about it. A lot of my computer issues would be a lot easier if not for my lack of a computer. Unfortunately I just have to work with what I've got now, which is why it was frustrating...I started getting into the scene without realizing that it was so dependent on linking stuff together. Back when I was burning stuff onto my Dreamcast, I just had to get the files onto the computer and then burn them, that's all I had to do.

So yeah, believe me I'd LIKE to get the thing working again, but right now that's not in the financial cards...

[joebrady]

yea, i just tested that out of curiosity, just throw your emus and other stuff on a cd-r and put it in the box. Go to your filemanager and create a new folder on E: on one side. On the other side select the folders containing your stuff and copy them over to your new folder. Then go to your programs and add a source of the new folder you just copied everything to. Your good to go.

Just make sure the programs you are using are for xbox and not pc. I think the games maybe the same, not sure about that..

[batman91]

The site is defiantely you best option, but im not sure wetehr you can get a fucntional IRC client and a funtional FTP program on these public PCs.

Once you've got the emus off the site, just burn them to a CD (if your xbox supports it) and you can jsut copy them over to the xbox HDD no problem.

Then you can jsut burn your ROMs on a seperate disc and when you boot the emualtor you can jsut insert the dis to laod your ROMs (or alternatively copy them to the xbox HDD- but with a stock HDD you have limited space)

I think your best option at this point is to go to a friends house/pc you can do with what you like/fix your pc to make sure you've got access to the needed programs.

[ModMike]

Okay everybody, I will try your suggestions. Thanks for being so specific, thats what us noobs need!

I will return later to report how everything went.

[ModMike]

Okay everybody, thanks again for the help.

Here's where I'm at:

The XBMC does recognize some of the things on my CDRWs.

I only just learned how copying works on XBMC. I didn't know that you had to have the destination ready on the righthand side of the screen and then copy the item in question by highlighting it on the left side of the screen.

But NOW my problem is that I have my first emulator on the hard drive, but cannot actually start it up. I see all this stuff about inis and modifying scripts and I'm all confused again. I thought when an emulator was put in the right place, I just load up XBMC, go into My Programs, pick the emulator menu and then select the emu that I want to start?



So now for example I have Surreal64 placed into E:\Emulators.

I must have something wrong though because now I can't figure out how to actually try it out. How does this whole "add source" thing work?

Here's what I do: I go to My Programs on the main XBMC menu. I select Emulators. There's the folder icon for Surreal64. I highlight it and press A. I now see the subfolders of Surreal64 such as 1964x, UltraXLE, etc. No matter what subfolder I select, I either get no further subfolders or I get several deep into more subfolders until I come empty. Nowhere do I see something like an exe.

What am I doing wrong?

[batman91]

Here's what I do: I go to My Programs on the main XBMC menu. I select Emulators. There's the folder icon for Surreal64. I highlight it and press A. I now see the subfolders of Surreal64 such as 1964x, UltraXLE, etc. No matter what subfolder I select, I either get no further subfolders or I get several deep into more subfolders until I come empty. Nowhere do I see something like an exe.

What am I doing wrong?
perhaps its the source code not the compiled binary? there should be a .xbe which is like a windows .exe - if there was a "default.xbe" in hte surreal64 folder, when you click upon it as you are doing you wouldnt see any subfodlers, the menu would start. go into filemanager and see if there is a .xbe - if there isnt you need a compiled version. if there is an .xbe make sure its renamed to default.xbe

[ModMike]

Sorry for the long delay guys, I'm not the kind who gets help and doesn't thank. I just haven't been able to access the public computer recently.

Thanks for the assistance. You're right, I was confused about the copying structure (left side>right side etc) of the Xbox and I didn't know it was XBEs I was supposed to be looking for. This is one of those occasions where you guys are so much past this stuff, that knowledge of XBEs and file copying on the Xbox is very old hat. For me it was so new and overwhelming, it was confusing to know what info applied to me, but I'm happy to report that I've had Mame and Surreal 64 running fine for days now.

I appreciate all the efforts you people have put in. I'm becoming more comfortable with XBMC now and, as expected, I'm getting excited over how much more it's capable of. But baby steps. I guess now I just need to start figuring out how to get the nice icons and so forth and snazz my system up a bit.

But the important stuff, not the least of which is the ability to drag and drop onto my system with CDRWs, now makes sense. I can't thank you all enough. If there are any further tips or suggestions, I'm all ears.

[batman91]

great to hear it. i cant think of anything really. but now you udnerstand the basics everything should be achievable ;)