microsoft banning modded 360's on live

[Shannon]

For those of you who've actually modded your xbox drive's firmware in order to play "backups", you may wanna watch out.

 

Apparently microsoft has begun banning consoles that have been modified.

 

A practice that started, oddly, on the anniversary date of the Halo 3 beta.

 

Hurts to be you... Ouch..

Edited May 19, 2007 by Shannon

[Scumdogg]

Microsoft has always done everything they can to ban modded systems from Live...users found with a modded original Xbox were banned for life. This isn't a new practice.

[moycon]

This is true.

Last gen, If you had a hard drive over 8 Gig you were banned from what I heard.

My suggestion, use your original Xbox for your retro systems and MAME and just stay offline with it, stay legit with the current hardware.

Edited May 19, 2007 by moycon

[Shannon]

Yah... but I think alot of people with modded DVD "stealth" firmware's were thinking there was no way microsoft would be able to detect it.

 

Needless to say alot of people are becoming "victims" of this latest ban.

 

One difference between this ban and the old xbox bans. Is you only got banned on the old xbox if you were actually on live while playing a backup, or had large hard drives, etc. This one they are banning people who log into live, even with an original. My guess would be they cannot detect the difference between a "backup" and an "original". They must be somehow detecting that the firmware has been changed.

 

What is hilarious is seeing people that already know about the ban signing on just to see if they will get caught. Talk about playing with fire.

Edited May 19, 2007 by Shannon

[+remowilliams]

Yah... but I think alot of people with modded DVD "stealth" firmware's were thinking there was no way microsoft would be able to detect it.

Probably. And 99.999% of them are pirates, so screw them. There's zero homebrew for the 360, and the only reason for the DVD firmware mod at this point is pure piracy. They get what they deserve.

[JB]

Yah... but I think alot of people with modded DVD "stealth" firmware's were thinking there was no way microsoft would be able to detect it.

Probably. And 99.999% of them are pirates, so screw them. There's zero homebrew for the 360, and the only reason for the DVD firmware mod at this point is pure piracy. They get what they deserve.

And then there's the other 0.001%, who ARE actually exercising their legal right to make and use backups(not "backups"... I HATE what the piracy scene does to valid terms).

[+Cobra Kai]

Yah... but I think alot of people with modded DVD "stealth" firmware's were thinking there was no way microsoft would be able to detect it.

Probably. And 99.999% of them are pirates, so screw them. There's zero homebrew for the 360, and the only reason for the DVD firmware mod at this point is pure piracy. They get what they deserve.

And then there's the other 0.001%, who ARE actually exercising their legal right to make and use backups(not "backups"... I HATE what the piracy scene does to valid terms).

 

Who cares about them, that's a joke and a half. This is a great day, and a great move by Microsoft. Getting rid of slime is a worthy cause and I don't really care if the feelings of 4 people get hurt in the process.

[jay2068]

Pirates will always be around. And Microsoft didn't do anything to these people but stop them from using that console on xbox live. They can use their xbox live account on a unmoded xbox.

 

I think it's right for Microsoft to do this but I also think they cut of a revenue stream by banning people from the live service. If they can detect the firmware they should ban them from playing games online and still allow them to purchase the extra content and movies. This way it's the best of both world for microsoft. They still get the cash and the pirates can't play online.

 

The pirates can still play the games off line so they really didn't stop the pirates from using the backups, which they should have done.

[Starscream]

Yah... but I think alot of people with modded DVD "stealth" firmware's were thinking there was no way microsoft would be able to detect it.

Probably. And 99.999% of them are pirates, so screw them. There's zero homebrew for the 360, and the only reason for the DVD firmware mod at this point is pure piracy. They get what they deserve.

And then there's the other 0.001%, who ARE actually exercising their legal right to make and use backups(not "backups"... I HATE what the piracy scene does to valid terms).

 

 

Normally, I would agree to an extent, but MS implimented a replacement disc program so there is no need to fall back on that excuse now. And if we were all to be really honest, in all the cd/dvd games we have purchased over the years, I doubt any of us have needed a backup even once because the origianl has become totally unuseable.

[Shannon]

I thought the replacement disc program only applied to microsoft published titles?

 

Still I also think microsoft should just keep people with modded firmwares from playing multi-player online. But me thinks this latest ban shows they have no way of knowing if the game is legite or not, only that the DVD firmware has been modified.

[Flojomojo]

Modding a $400 console seems risky to me ... then again, I suppose that's what I did with my Sega Saturn 12 years ago to play Japanese imports. The difference, of course, is piracy. As others have said, there's no homebrew to speak of on the 360, so the pirates deserve their network bans. This should cut down on online cheating as well.

 

I wonder if Sony can do something similar for the PSP? (I hope not!)

[Major_Havoc]

This should cut down on online cheating as well.

 

It should also cut down on online mods.. oh wait there is none. And there isn't any 360 online cheating either. If there was, I'd like you to tell me how because I'd do it in a flash

 

Not everyone's account has been banned. Put it this way I have 3 360's, 2 are modded. Neither are banned. It's not known exactly what MS has found, but they'll eventually figure it out. Just hang out and wait..

 

And yeah.. Live was the only thing pirates paid for anyway (annual subscription fee, downloaded games, etc.) so really all MS has done is cut off that revenue stream as tiny as it may be. Pirates can still utilize their consoles and download and play bootlegged games to their hearts content including LAN play, etc.

[xenomorpher]

This is true.

Last gen, If you had a hard drive over 8 Gig you were banned from what I heard.

My suggestion, use your original Xbox for your retro systems and MAME and just stay offline with it, stay legit with the current hardware.

 

Thats exactly what I do. LIVE on the original XBOX was no where near as great as it is for the 360. I don't think I'll ever seriously consider modding my 360 for another four years at least.

[Flojomojo]

This should cut down on online cheating as well.

It should also cut down on online mods.. oh wait there is none. And there isn't any 360 online cheating either. If there was, I'd like you to tell me how because I'd do it in a flash

Not yet, but there would be if you could modify the files yourself, like you could on the original XBOX.

Not everyone's account has been banned. Put it this way I have 3 360's, 2 are modded. Neither are banned. It's not known exactly what MS has found, but they'll eventually figure it out. Just hang out and wait..

Are you on the Halo 3 beta? That's when this started. It wouldn't be hard for M$ to perform some lookups against their hardware. Then the hackers will need to find out what that is and eventually exploit it, as happened with the original XBOX. Then mandatory software updates will block you from playing online unless you do it their way, and submit to a new system check ... round and round it will go.

And yeah.. Live was the only thing pirates paid for anyway (annual subscription fee, downloaded games, etc.) so really all MS has done is cut off that revenue stream as tiny as it may be. Pirates can still utilize their consoles and download and play bootlegged games to their hearts content including LAN play, etc.

360 pirates constitute a very small portion of 360 owners. Even the old XBOX, which was relatively easy to crack, probably had no more than ~1% total consoles compromised. I think it's less about protecting the revenue stream (which pirates aren't going to pay for anyway) and more about protecting their service by keeping it locked and proprietary.

[EmOneGarand]

Who needs a modded 360 anyways?? If you wanna make your own homebrew all you need is Visual C# and the XNA package, though currently it costs a membership fee to upload and play any of the stuff you make on an 360 but it's setup that whatever you write is playable on a PC (for free obviously) as well as the 360. They may change the policy and make it cheaper to upload your XNA apps but it's still legit.

 

Besides, if what you write is really good, Microsoft may pick it up and release it on XBLA.

[Mezrabad]

Normally, I would agree to an extent, but MS implimented a replacement disc program so there is no need to fall back on that excuse now. And if we were all to be really honest, in all the cd/dvd games we have purchased over the years, I doubt any of us have needed a backup even once because the origianl has become totally unuseable.

To be honest, since you're implying that isn't something some of us are being, this just happened to me. My Morrowind disc has tiny, hard to see spiral scratches on it, which seem to be the result of its frequent booting in my Xbox (The Scary Thing, is that the same thing is proabably happening to all of my Xbox titles). I didn't notice the very-hard-to-see scratches until one day it wouldn't boot (text screen of death). The DVD drive still works (reads other disks) just this disk (which has gotten the most use) stops working.

 

I take it to a local gameshop, they polish it for about 15 seconds (no charge, because the guy couldn't see that he'd made a difference) and now it boots. Because my Xbox is modded, I am able to copy it to my hard disk and from now on I play it from there. If I didn't have a modded box, my copy of Morrowind would eventually become a coaster again because the very device on which it is designed to be used has been slowly damaging it apparently due to me actually playing it frequently.

 

Why should I choose to deal with a replacement disc program when being able to copy the DVD/CD to the hard disk saves wear and tear on the CD/DVD and obviates my need for that program? I'm thinking about upgrading my Xbox hard disk to a larger size so I can do this for all my Xbox Games. Not only will the DVD's stay in better condition, but Morrowind, for instance, actually loads a hell of a lot faster from the hard drive.

 

I'm using my modded Xbox to play games I already own off the hard drive because it saves on wear and tear and it improves loading times. I also use it to watch DVDs from any region in progressive scan. I'm no pirate.

 

So, they won't let me play on Xbox live. Boo hoo. I don't feel I'm missing out on much. What pisses me off is by having a modded xbox, they can classify my as some kind of DMCA scoff-law.

[Hyper_Eye]

This is true.

Last gen, If you had a hard drive over 8 Gig you were banned from what I heard.

 

This is not true. Before a certain update was made XBox Live did not care what hdd was in your system. When the update occured it was a big deal in the modding community and it took some time before people realized what was happening. What MS was doing was marrying your hdd to your EEPROM the first time the two logged onto Live. After that point, when you logged into Live, your hdd and EEPROM were checked to make sure they matched the original marriage. If you broke the marriage your EEPROM and hdd were banned from Live. At this point your gamertag was flagged so that if you moved it to another console your gamertag would receive extra scrutiny and you would be banned if you did not have a stock hdd. The following rules applied in the case you were banned:

 

1) Banned hdd + Unbanned EEPROM = ban

2) Unbanned hdd + Banned EEPROM = ban

3) Unbanned non-stock hdd + Unbanned EEPROM + Flagged Gamertag = ban

4) Unbanned non-stock hdd + Unbanned EEPROM + Unflagged Gamertag = no ban

5) Unbanned stock hdd + Unbanned EEPROM + Flagged Gamertag = no ban

 

A stock hdd is the only hdd that can be transfered regardless of marriage. A stock hdd is any hdd that was originally installed in an XBox at the factory. The only situation in which a stock hdd transferred into your machine could cause a ban is if the hdd was installed in a machine when someone else was banned (most likely due to logging into Live with their mod on which is not likely with the newest bios' that include protection against doing that.)

 

One thing to realize is that gamertag's were never banned. MS banned XBox's (EEPROM's and hdd's.) You do not have to get a new XBox to get back on Live. You just need your XBox to appear to be a new XBox to Live. This means a new EEPROM and new hdd. Since your gamertag is flagged after being banned you must use a stock hdd if you want to continue using your account. So, you can flash a new EEPROM and install an unbanned stock hdd and then allow those to be married on your old flagged account and you will not be banned. If you wanted to install a large non-stock hdd into your XBox you could flash a new EEPROM, install the non-stock hdd, and then marry those with a new unflagged account. This would allow you to access XBox Live while using a non-stock hdd.

 

I still have my V1.0 XBox and before the release of the bios' that protected your machine from accessing Live while the mod was active I got banned a couple times. I kept using the same machine and the same gamertag without issues. I just had to update the EEPROM. After the EEPROM-hdd marriage occurred I installed a new hdd without knowing about the new marriage scheme. My hdd was banned, my gt flagged, and my EEPROM was banned. I wanted to install a 120 gig hdd so I decided to let go of my old gt. I installed the unbanned non-stock drive (being very careful not to access Live with it because I would hate to have married to the wrong EEPROM), flashed my machine with the new EEPROM, and created a new Live account. I am still using my original 1.0 XBox with a 120 gig hdd and can access Live with it.

[Major_Havoc]

Not yet, but there would be if you could modify the files yourself, like you could on the original XBOX.

IF you could. All this time however, you couldn't. There is absolutely zero cheating on 360 XBLive to "cut down" as you say.

 

360 pirates constitute a very small portion of 360 owners. Even the old XBOX, which was relatively easy to crack, probably had no more than ~1% total consoles compromised. I think it's less about protecting the revenue stream (which pirates aren't going to pay for anyway) and more about protecting their service by keeping it locked and proprietary.

 

Right. as I said above, it's tiny. However, I don't get what you mean when you say "pirates aren't going to pay for anyway"? Of course they payed for Live if they want to use it. Again, that's the ONLY thing they pay for!

 

Can't bootleg that access. You gotta pay for Live to get on Live, and that's about the only thing MS has stopped.

[Atariboy]

"There is absolutely zero cheating on 360 XBLive to "cut down" as you say. "

 

How can you be so sure?

[Hyper_Eye]

"There is absolutely zero cheating on 360 XBLive to "cut down" as you say. "

 

How can you be so sure?

 

Outside of exploits within the games there is no way to insert a cheat. Exploits are removed with updates.

[Atariboy]

Then there can be cheating? And I know they can solve issues by updating games.

 

How is the 360 different than the original Xbox? There are still several games that are ridden with cheaters for that console to this day that I see regularly discussed online.

Edited May 20, 2007 by Atariboy

[Hyper_Eye]

Then there can be cheating? And I know they can solve issues by updating games.

 

How is the 360 different than the original Xbox? There are still several games that are ridden with cheaters for that console to this day that I see regularly discussed online.

 

The difference is the method. On the 360 the only way to cheat is to find something in the game that is exploitable. This is not common and they are usually easily fixed when found. On XBox you could actually completely alter the game for yourself by moving files onto the machine. For example, many people cheated in Halo 2 by replacing their maps with maps that included exploits like wall hacks, aimbots, etc. This is not possible on the 360.

[Shannon]

The only cheating going on with the 360 that I knew of was the gamer points cheating.

 

The problem with XNA from what I understand, besides the fact that you have to pay to even use it, is it aint exactly the fastest thing in the world. So things like emulation seem like a bit of a no go.

Edited May 20, 2007 by Shannon

[EmOneGarand]

The only cheating going on with the 360 that I knew of was the gamer points cheating.

 

The problem with XNA from what I understand, besides the fact that you have to pay to even use it, is it aint exactly the fastest thing in the world. So things like emulation seem like a bit of a no go.

May not be that fast but that is the truth about any of the C languages, C# is alittle more reliable and solid then C++ and being able to write dual system games is pretty cool, if you don't wanna pay the subscription fee you can always play it on your PC and share it for free.

 

The only cheating that I've ever experienced was with Halo 2.. those bastard 13 year olds who could snipe and kill 10 people with the needler while standing on top of a Warthog in under 10 seconds, which is impossible.

Edited May 22, 2007 by EmOneGarand

[Hyper_Eye]

The only cheating going on with the 360 that I knew of was the gamer points cheating.

 

The problem with XNA from what I understand, besides the fact that you have to pay to even use it, is it aint exactly the fastest thing in the world. So things like emulation seem like a bit of a no go.

May not be that fast but that is the truth about any of the C languages, C# is alittle more reliable and solid then C++ and being able to write dual system games is pretty cool, if you don't wanna pay the subscription fee you can always play it on your PC and share it for free.

 

The only cheating that I've ever experienced was with Halo 2.. those bastard 13 year olds who could snipe and kill 10 people while standing on top of a Warthog in under 10 seconds, which is impossible.

 

 

And they all got banned from matchmaking in one big swoop. This is the one case where GT's were actually banned as they weren't banned from Live but from Halo 2 multiplayer itself. This was Bungie's doing.