If You Give A Dev A Tricked Out Xbox, They’ll Patch Halo 2 https://hackaday.com/2024/08/11/if-you-give-a-dev-a-tricked-out-xbox-theyll-patch-halo-2/ #ReverseEngineering #consolemodding #VideoHacks #XboxHacks #xboxmod #kernel #halo2 #xbox

Kickflips and Buffer Slips: An Exploit in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater https://hackaday.com/2024/08/08/kickflips-and-buffer-slips-an-exploit-in-tony-hawks-pro-skater/ #XboxHacks #exploit #strcpy #xbox #rop

Giving The Original Xbox 256 MB Of Memory https://hackaday.com/2024/07/10/giving-the-original-xbox-256-mb-of-memory/ #XboxHacks #xboxhacks #ddrram #memory #sdram #xbox #ram

An Open XBOX Modchip Enters The Scene https://hackaday.com/2024/06/30/an-open-xbox-modchip-enters-the-scene/ #homeentertainmenthacks #ReverseEngineering #RaspberryPiPico #hackingthexbox #RaspberryPi #XboxHacks #homebrew #modchips #xboxhack #modchip #rp2040 #xbox

HDMI For The Original Xbox https://hackaday.com/2023/10/24/hdmi-for-the-original-xbox/ #Retrocomputing #XboxHacks #hdmi #xbox

Bench Power Supply Turned Realistic Flight Sim Panel https://hackaday.com/2023/08/12/bench-power-supply-turned-realistic-flight-sim-panel/ #microsoftflightsimulator #PeripheralsHacks #flightsimulator #XboxHacks #xbox

Using JTAG To Dump the Xbox’s Secret Boot ROM https://hackaday.com/2023/08/11/using-jtag-to-dump-the-xboxs-secret-boot-rom/ #hackingthexbox #interposer #XboxHacks #jtag #xbox

Microsoft Now Offering Parts and Repair Guides for Xbox Controllers https://hackaday.com/2023/08/02/microsoft-now-offering-parts-and-repair-guides-for-xbox-controllers/ #RepairHacks #repairguide #controller #spareparts #XboxHacks #microsoft #xboxone #xbox

Xbox Flexure Joystick Puts You In the Pilot’s Seat

With the recent release of Microsoft Flight Simulator on the Xbox Series X|S there's never been a better time to get a flight stick for the console, and as you might imagine, there are a number of third party manufacturers who would love to sell you one. But where's the fun in that?

If you've got a fairly well tuned 3D printer, you can print out and assemble this joystick by [Akaki Kuumeri] that snaps right onto the Xbox's controller. Brilliantly designed to leverage the ability of 3D printers to produce compliant mechanisms, or flextures, you don't even need any springs or fasteners to complete assembly.

The flexture gimbal works without traditional springs.

The free version of Thingiverse only lets you move the controller's right analog stick, but if you're willing to drop $30 USD on the complete version, the joystick includes additional levers that connect to the controller's face and shoulder buttons for more immersive control. There's even a throttle that snaps onto the left side of the controller, though it's optional if you'd rather save the print time.

If you want to learn more about the idea behind the joystick, [Akaki] is all too happy to walk you through the finer parts of the design in the video below. But the short version is the use of a flextures in the base of the joystick opened up the space he needed to run the mechanical linkages for all the other buttons.

This isn't the first time [Akaki] has used 3D printed parts to adapt a console controller for flight simulator use. A simplified version of this concept used ball-and-socket joints to move the Xbox's analog sticks, and he even turned a PlayStation DualShock into an impressive flight yoke you could clamp to your desk.

#peripheralshacks #xboxhacks #compliantmechanism #flexture #flightstick #joystick #microsoftflightsimulator #xboxone

Morrowind Rebooted The Original Xbox Without You Ever Noticing

The original Xbox was well-known for being based on basic PC hardware, and among developers, well known for having just 64 megabytes of RAM which even at the time wasn't a lot to be working with. In a recent podcast, [Todd Howard] of Bethesda related an anecdote from the era, claiming that Morrowind occasionally invisibly rebooted the Xbox without user's knowledge in order to free up RAM. [Modern Vintage Gamer] wanted to determine if this was true or not, and began an investigation.

The investigation begins with the aid of an Xbox Development Kit. Noting that the original anecdote mentioned the reboots occurring during the loading process, the devkit Xbox was soft rebooted after executing a load. Rather than going back to the title screen of the game, it kicked straight back into the loading screen and brought up the last save game instead. This suggested that the game was indeed capable of rebooting in the midst of the loading routine.

[Modern Vintage Gamer] had a hunch that this was being achieved with the use of a routine called XLaunchNew Image, a piece of the Xbox API that could be used to soft-reboot the console and start an executable. Upon decompiling Morrowind, a call was found that fit the bill. Further analysis showed that the game was indeed calling XLaunchNewImage upon loading and launching a new game, and was confirmed by finding an *.ini file that contained flags to enable this behaviour.

Presumably, the reason for this behaviour was that it was simpler to boot the game fresh when loading a save, rather than trying to unload all the game assets in memory from the current game. It's a neat trick that likely made the development team's lives much easier once they implemented it.

We don't often talk about The Elder Scrolls series around here, though we've seen someone modify an exercise bike to work with Skyrim. Video after the break.

#xboxhacks #elderscrolls #morrowind #xbox