Extract Xbox 360/Original Xbox ISOs on PowerPC Macs With Nextract-XISO!

[alex_free]

Recently the Xbox 360 got an awesome soft-mod and I've been having a great time with it. One thing that bothered me was that the best tool for extracting original Xbox and Xbox 360 games was essentially unmaintained (you need to extract the ISOs then copy then to the HDD to play them, there are other formats yes but I like this one the best and it is very mod friendly too).

So I thought, how cool would it be to extract ISOs for the Xbox 360 (a powerpc console), with a powerpc Mac?

Nextract Xiso (NXISO)

Software, Docs, & More!

alex-free.github.io

GitHub - alex-free/extract-xiso: Xbox ISO Creation/Extraction utility fork for modern operating systems.

Xbox ISO Creation/Extraction utility fork for modern operating systems. - alex-free/extract-xiso

github.com

 

[jktwice]

Love it! Thanks for developing this useful tool. Imagine we had it back in 2006 or so!

 

[TheShortTimer]

Recently the Xbox 360 got an awesome soft-mod and I've been having a great time with it. One thing that bothered me was that the best tool for extracting original Xbox and Xbox 360 games was essentially unmaintained (you need to extract the ISOs then copy then to the HDD to play them, there are other formats yes but I like this one the best and it is very mod friendly too).

Is that based on this mod which boots from a live USB on each session? It's something that I've been meaning to look into after seeing this video appear in my recommendations.

So I thought, how cool would it be to extract ISOs for the Xbox 360 (a powerpc console), with a powerpc Mac?

View attachment 2526518

Nextract Xiso (NXISO)

Software, Docs, & More!

alex-free.github.io

GitHub - alex-free/extract-xiso: Xbox ISO Creation/Extraction utility fork for modern operating systems.

Xbox ISO Creation/Extraction utility fork for modern operating systems. - alex-free/extract-xiso

github.com

Once again you're a legend, @alex_free - my 360 has been inactive for ages and this is a great incentive to put it back into regular use. You've also provided a version for Intel Macs: which means I'm sorted on both platforms but I'll give this a go on my iBook G4 under Tiger.

 

[alex_free]

Is that based on this mod which boots from a live USB on each session? It's something that I've been meaning to look into after seeing this video appear in my recommendations.

Once again you're a legend, @alex_free - my 360 has been inactive for ages and this is a great incentive to put it back into regular use. You've also provided a version for Intel Macs: which means I'm sorted on both platforms but I'll give this a go on my iBook G4 under Tiger.

Thanks! And yes it is exactly that. What I posted is very easy to use (also can be done from a powerpc mac I think!). I recommend the xeunshackle ready to copy download. It has everything already in the right file structure so you just drag the files onto the USB drive (may have to use the 360hp command to deal with the hidden content folder Finder doesn't like, see readme and lmk if you need help). Love seeing my iBook G4 crunch through a Xbox 360 8.7GB ISO file (I copied it over via SSH).

 

[TheShortTimer]

Thanks! And yes it is exactly that. What I posted is very easy to use (also can be done from a powerpc mac I think!). I recommend the xeunshackle ready to copy download. It has everything already in the right file structure so you just drag the files onto the USB drive (may have to use the 360hp command to deal with the hidden content folder Finder doesn't like, see readme and lmk if you need help).

Excellent!

I'll dig out my 360 tomorrow when I'll have the time to play around with all of this and I'll let you know how I get on.

Love seeing my iBook G4 crunch through a Xbox 360 8.7GB ISO file (I copied it over via SSH).

How long did it take?

 

[alex_free]

Excellent!

I'll dig out my 360 tomorrow when I'll have the time to play around with all of this and I'll let you know how I get on.



How long did it take?

Not nearly as long as you'd think! Quite respectable. Again lmk I'm off work today I can help get you started I just learned all this 360 stuff a few months ago when this came out.

 

[alex_free]

@TheShortTimer another incentive for you, 1080p YouTube/media file conversion for the Xbox 360 in 2025: https://github.com/alex-free/xbox-360-media-center

 

[alex_free]

@TheShortTimer recently the Xbox 360 exploit got an update and the success rate has improved dramatically. I was a little crazy to use this as a daily driver previous to this (but my model of Xbox 360 is unable to be hardware modded and I’m patient so I accepted the ~30% success rate). But now, really even for normal people, I think this is a daily driver. You gotta give this a go with the new update: https://alex-free.github.io/360-hack-pack/

 

[TheShortTimer]

@TheShortTimer recently the Xbox 360 exploit got an update and the success rate has improved dramatically. I was a little crazy to use this as a daily driver previous to this (but my model of Xbox 360 is unable to be hardware modded and I’m patient so I accepted the ~30% success rate). But now, really even for normal people, I think this is a daily driver. You gotta give this a go with the new update: https://alex-free.github.io/360-hack-pack/

Thanks, Alex.

Do I just download the latest Xeunshackle update?

 

[alex_free]

Thanks, Alex.

Do I just download the latest Xeunshackle update?

Just download the latest hack pack for xeunshackle

 

[TheShortTimer]

Just download the latest hack pack for xeunshackle

I've gotten this working and will post in more detail about my experiences later but in the meanwhile, thanks so much for your efforts!

 

[TheShortTimer]

After eventually locating my 360 and the PSU, I realised that I'd mislaid the C15 cable. I've got plenty of C13's but they don't fit the PSU socket due to the notch preventing this from happening. A couple of minutes with a solder trimmer soon solved that.

With the notch removed, a standard C13 cable definitely fits now!

Next up, I formatted my USB stick on the 360 and then carried out the prep work on a Mac.

Nice and easy. The 360hp command writes the necessary files into the root directory and creates a Live USB installer for your 360 in a few minutes. Time for the moment of truth - I connected the USB stick to my 360 and powered it up...

Let's run the exploit!

So far so good - and as an aside, if the animations freeze on the RBB title screen, reboot the 360 and repeat the process to run the exploit.

Yes, we're in business - the soft mod is in place and will remain so till shutdown or a reboot.

I dumped a copy of the NAND as recommended and I'd already prepared some Xbox Live/Arcade titles to play around with.

The thumbnails are missing but most of them loaded and ran fine regardless.

I'm ecstatic at finally getting the opportunity to play R-Type Dimensions but how about Rocket Knight?

Brilliant!

Now, last but certainly not least…

Oh, this is too much fun and it's nice to see my 360 no longer going neglected and it's also relief that it hasn't succumbed to the dreaded Yellow Light of Death during the years that it was inactive. Thanks @alex_free for being the catalyst that made this happen.

At some point soon I'll have a look at extracting ISOs and the media player angle.

(For those who are curious, the images were obtained by capturing the 360's HDMI output into a MacBook Air via Thunderbolt using an UltraStudio Mini Recorder and I'll create a post about this process elsewhere.)

 

[TheShortTimer]

Here's an invaluable tip that I came across on Reddit whilst trying to deduce why one of my XBLA downloads wouldn't run in Aurora - no matter whichever mirror file I tried. A huge haul of trial versions of XBLA titles can be found with a little bit of searching and that includes a version of the game which does work - albeit in trial mode.

However, all XBLA trial games will unlock and run in their full versions if you modify three settings in the launch.ini file on the Live USB stick as highlighted below...

...from "false" to "true"...

Save the modified settings and when you boot into Aurora, all of your trial versions will be replaced with the full games. I've tested this and it's working for me with all of my XBLA game demos.

(If you don't have BBEdit, you can modify the launch.ini file with TextEdit or whichever program takes your fancy.)

 

[alex_free]

Here's an invaluable tip that I came across on Reddit whilst trying to deduce why one of my XBLA downloads wouldn't run in Aurora - no matter whichever mirror file I tried. A huge haul of trial versions of XBLA titles can be found with a little bit of searching and that includes a version of the game which does work - albeit in trial mode.

However, all XBLA trial games will unlock and run in their full versions if you modify three settings in the launch.ini file on the Live USB stick as highlighted below...

...from "false" to "true"...

Save the modified settings and when you boot into Aurora, all of your trial versions will be replaced with the full games. I've tested this and it's working for me with all of my XBLA game demos.

(If you don't have BBEdit, you can modify the launch.ini file with TextEdit or whichever program takes your fancy.)

They believed so much that this would never be possible! Nice find. I’ve only played retail games so far. Speaking of, I might put together a beginner/crash course on retail games and extracting isos. Glad your having as much fun as I!