The intent of my post was to inform any newcomers to this forum that a modchip was not necessary to play backups of their legally owned Xbox games.
Prior to my making this post, there are many instances in this forum where people ask, "How can I play backups of Xbox games?" The answer was always "you need a modchip." There are Xbox tutorials here, but they didn’t mention it. I thought it would be worth mentioning.
The truth is that you must have a modified Xbox (as far as I know), but not a modchip. So my post served the purpose of informing people that it was not necessary to have a modchip and that there is an alternative.
The title of my post was worded in such a manner as to standout if anyone looked in the Xbox subforum and could easily be found with a search of the forum. It was not to brag that I had something better than other people or that not having a modchip was the best way to go. It was not intended to hurt the feelings of the people who are proud of their modchips and dip switches. It was not to upset people who sell modchips by decreasing modchip sales though I’m positive this means of modifying an Xbox has had some effect on the modchip business.
I didn't post a link on how to do it since I don't have a clue as to how to do it. I paid someone to do it. With that payment I got a 1 year warranty on my Xbox and the guarantee that if they screwed up my box they would replace it. This is awesome since my M$ warranty was voided as soon as they opened it.
I have nothing against "do-it-yourselfers". I did a 12 wire chip on my PS1. I installed the single wire for the NEO-KEY SBOX for my PS2 and vowed to never mess with another console. I later had a 23 wire modchip put in the PS2 that I paid to have installed. Was I going to take a chance at screwing up my Xbox or pay someone $30 who has modified 100's of Xboxes? To me it was worth the cash to have the experts do it.
I opened my Xbox in the store brand new, tested it at the store to make sure it booted and then handed it to the technician for modification. I got one free Xbox game with my purchase. It is the only Xbox game I own. Although this setup will play original and backup games as well as games copied to the hard drive. Personally, I'm heavy into emulation (which I can't go into in this forum) and not Xbox games. Let’s just say that there are over 30,000 games on my Xbox in one form or another. I own 8 console units and countless handhelds. It’s nice to be able to play most of those games on one master console. Hopefully someday, Game Cube, Saturn, Dreamcast and PS2 will be emulated. My NES, SNES, N64, SMS, GG, GB, GBC, GBA, NeoGeo Pocket, Atari Lynx, Atari 2600, Genesis, Sega CD, Intellivision, Colecovision, Turbo Grafx CD and PS1 have already been emulated to near perfection.
This option will also allow me to play my Xbox online with a backup disk or from my hard drive if I want to. If I get the USB adapters and a keyboard and mouse I may give it a whirl sometime. I can also play many emulated arcade games and console games through the Internet or on my home network if I want to (same as with a modchip).
So in conclusion, we as a team, have provided information on a modchipless option and links for the do-it-youselfer on how to do it which was the ultimate goal of the post. Excellent job!
