Linux ogXbox Tool Box

[si_kabayan]

Lets share Linux tool to works with The Microsoft Original Xbox.

• xdvdfs
• fatx
• xbfuse
• xbdumper
• xemu
• wine
• redump2x

Edited December 17, 2023 by si_kabayan

[si_kabayan]

xdvdfs

xdvdfs is a collection of tools for interacting with XDVDFS/XISO images.

xdvdfs is a new and modern alternatif to extract-xiso. It still actively maintained and developed, and has more features such as info and compress (to CISO format).

An example of info usecase is to extract default.xbe from an xiso.

~$ xdvdfs info 'Ninja Gaiden Black.iso' /default.xbe
Name:                default.xbe
Offset:              543156
Left Child Offset:   None
Right Child Offset:  None
Data Location:       Sector 429192 (4571136 bytes)
Attributes:          Archive

~$ dd if='/mnt/hdocs/Redump/Ninja Gaiden Black.iso' of=default.xbe skip=$((429192*2048)) count=4571136 iflag=skip_bytes,count_bytes
8928+0 records in
8928+0 records out
4571136 bytes (4.6 MB, 4.4 MiB) copied, 0.0652378 s, 70.1 MB/s

Note: Redump image has a video partition as big as 387 MB or 405798912 Bytes (1024*1024*387).
So we need to add 405798912 to skip argument, e.g.

skip=$(((429192*2048)+405798912))

 

[si_kabayan]

fatx

fatx is Original Xbox FATX Filesystem Library, Python bindings, FUSE driver, and GUI explorer.

If only it's more polished, fatx would be the best tool to work with ogxbox disk on Linux.
But so far on my tests, it's not really reliable; sometime it's slow, failed to copy some files, etc.

Fatx also able to format disk to use in ogxbox. But it only support F partition and does not create partition info (partition table?).

Mounting custom partition is supported as long as we know offset and size of the partition.

The copy - paste speed is faster than FTP, but slower than FATXplorer.

[si_kabayan]

xbfuse

xbfuse is using FUSE To Mount (Original) Xbox and Xbox 360 DVD Filesystems.

Mounting xiso is faster, less space, and more convenient compared to extracting it.

And using some file manager's script, mounting xiso is never been easier.
Here's my nemo (Cinnamon's file manager) script.

[si_kabayan]

xbdumper

xboxdumper is what XboxHDM used to build disk.
This latest source is from 2016, but compiled without problem on my latest Debian Sid.
xboxdumper support G partition and will create partition table.

Edited December 16, 2023 by si_kabayan

[si_kabayan]

xemu

Probably not many people aware that xemu can be used for things other than gaming.
If we run xemu with superuser right, it can has access to block devices. This mean we can use xemu to work with (ogxbox) physical disk, such as rebuild disk, transfer game, etc.
Just make sure to select the correct disk, or you'll destroy your valuable data.

Here's an example:

First, plug ogxbox disk in to PC and then search for unmounted block device.

~$ lsblk -no NAME,MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1      /srv/nfs/hdata
├─sda2      /srv/nfs/hdocs
├─sda3      /srv/nfs/hmedia
└─sda4      /srv/nfs/hntfs
sdb
nvme0n1
├─nvme0n1p1 /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2
├─nvme0n1p3
├─nvme0n1p4 /srv/nfs/nntfs
├─nvme0n1p5 /
├─nvme0n1p6 /srv/nfs/ntfs
└─nvme0n1p7 /srv/nfs/data

As we can see, sdb is probably the disk we are looking for.

Run xemu as sudo:

sudo xemu

Adjust xemu's settings accordingly:
Machine > Settings... > System > Hard Disk
And navigate to /dev/ directory then select sdb

Load installer/rescue disc:
Machine > Load Disc...

Reboot xemu:
Machine > Reset

Done. We can do everything as if we boot installer disc on real ogxbox.

Use config file to simplified the process.

We can also rip game using DVD2Xbox.
Just boot xemu > run DVD2Xbox > Load Disc... > select game iso > start ripping.
DVD2Xbox can also rip to iso, but:

1.  Wont remove random padding. So if the loaded disc is in redump format, ripped iso is still quite big. Solution: extract or pack redump using extract-xiso or xdvdfs first.
2. On my test, Cerbios failed to boot this iso. So as of now, use M8+ xiso patched.

FTP on xemu is slow and quite complicated to setup.
Try to pack the files to be transfered into xiso (xdvdfs) format using extract-xiso or xdvdfs.
Load the disc and then copy paste using dashboard's file manager.

[si_kabayan]

wine

Well, wine is not really an ogxbox tool. But, when the tool we needed only made for Windows, wine will come in handy. No guarantee it will work though.

Installing wine on 64 bit system will bring many 32 lib dependencies. So, I prefer to use wine distributed in AppImage format like this one: https://github.com/mmtrt/WINE_AppImage.
I have much luck with its Stable release.

[si_kabayan]

redump2x

redump2x is a Bash script to convert ogxbox redump archive into xdvdfs (xiso).

It's utilize xdvdfs and driveimageutils attacher.

Features:

• convert redump iso or archive to xiso format.
• copy game's certificate to attach.xbe.
• sanitize xiso filename (to conform FATX limitations).
• split xiso into two equal size.
• add game cover to be displayed on UnleashX dashboard.
• join splitted xisos.
• update attacher, artwork, filename, and directory name.
• batch processing.

Disclaimer: This is shameless plug. I wrote this script. The quality probably not that satisfying, but so far it's fit my need.

[SylverReZ]

Is this tool safe to use?

[si_kabayan]

It's open source. And as long as you know what you're doing, I think it would be fine.

The only risky app in the list is xboxdumper, which probably can destroy your data.

[si_kabayan]

On 12/16/2023 at 11:52 PM, si_kabayan said:

xbfuse

xbfuse is using FUSE To Mount (Original) Xbox and Xbox 360 DVD Filesystems.

Mounting xiso is faster, less space, and more convenient compared to extracting it.

And using some file manager's script, mounting xiso is never been easier.
Here's my nemo (Cinnamon's file manager) script.

Nemo script above is 404.
Here's the correct link.