If you just want the bare essentials then use a hacked retail - that gives you what's basically a debug kit with 64MB of RAM.
What would I need to be able to use neighbourhood and push data for debugging? thing is with the hacked retail it never feels the same, I have RG loader on a RGH and It's just not right. Unless I can do a exact copy of the debug dash on retail??? could someone elaborate on that please, trying to find info about original xbox is scarce.
If you have the modified debug boot ROM and install the debug dash then it boots into the XDK launcher just like a real devkit. Neighborhood works, debugging works. You will only have 64MB of RAM, and no DVD emulation (although you can still upload the assets to the console and run them from the HDD). Also, don't try and use an XDK recovery disc - it will reflash the boot ROM with the standard devkit boot ROM, which won't run on a retail because of the different MCP, leaving you with a large black paperweight.
TriMesh you knowledgeable motherfucker, I swear is there anything you don't know?! Is there a specific original xbox revision I should go for? and modified debug boot rom? I assume a boot rom that looks for checks to make sure it's a debug unit before installing dash, but someone modified it to work on a retail unit? Could you give me links to any other info on this? Thanks
Well, I have the "advantage" of being old enough to have played with this stuff when the original Xbox was a current system Note that this was a long time ago - I used a modified debug BIOS and XDK dash that was released by COMPLEX (I think it's 4627) - I think now I would probably go the route that fate6 suggested and use Phoenix Bios Loader - especially if you have a later Xbox with a 256KB boot ROM (the debug boot ROM is 512KB). Not sure how to deal with linking to this stuff - but if you do a search for "XDK 4627" then you should find the stuff you need
I done some research, but it looks a little ghetto. With all the custom dashboards required etc, is there anyway to solder on a Debug flashed bios chip? Ideally I want the most legit XDK I can get on a retail console
Well, I used a V1.1 Xbox (with a 1MB TSOP), so I could just directly flash the debug BIOS to the TSOP - from V1.2 onwards, the console only came with a 256KB flash, so you either have to replace the flash chip, use a modchip (with at least 512KB flash) or use PBL. Unfortunately, I don't have this box any more - I got hold of some "Xbox Arcade" boards (from the Chihiro) and reflashed one of those with the debug boot ROM - if you can do this, it's a good solution, since they have 128MB of RAM and the same MCP as the debug kits and XDK - which also means you can safely reinitialize them using the official XDK recovery disc.
A V1.1 seems the best option then if it's just a straight flash. Suppose they are hard to come by though. Wouldn't have a clue where to find those arcade boards!
Which is why I suggested PBL and yes you can make PBL boot into the debug BIOS and xshell on boot wither the system is soft or hard modded, Wouldn't even be able to tell its not a real debug other then iirc PBL makes the ROL red to show its running a BFM BIOS. The one big problem with an XDK tho is that xshell only lists games that are on the "e" partition which is rather small at about 5 or so GB iirc. I tried modding xshell to point to "f" since I saw the paths it looks at in the xbe but my Xbox HDD died before I could test it and since I don't have the key to lock another one I am sorta out-o-luck.
Its a retail that I was running as an XDK via PBL + softmod so unfortunately I can't just slap in a new drive.