This does not mean death for this blog though. Believe it or not, I play other games and do other things than play with Xbox DLC and save games. Really, the timing was just impeccable on the whole Xbox DLC thing.

Lastly, I’ve been super distracted over the past couple of days by Myst Online, which is (again) back from the grave, and if you enjoyed those old adventure games, then this one will blow you away. I’ve already found a dozen ages and hours worth of back story. As far as detail goes, this is the Morrowind of adventure games.

Lastly, I plan some other things. I’m going to review Bioshock 2… eventually… whenever Amazon decides my copy should arrive. I also plan on making a belated best of 2009 list now that I have actually had time to play almost everything big from 2009.

So keep checking back. Eventually we’ll have that DLC repository, but for the moment, we can all breathe a sigh of relief as it’s not needed just yet.

-Captain 8bit

Well then, I suppose it’s a good thing that both Xbox consoles are PC based and come with a multitude of ways to manipulate the data on their respective hard drives.

Now, before I delve into any detail about how to move original Xbox DLC from place to place, and how it can still be found and installed, I want to throw down a disclaimer. I am only presenting this information as a last ditch resort to obtaining original Xbox DLC. Lots of DLC can be found on disks (namely, most of the Halo 2 maps and several bits on Tom Clancy DLC). I am not responsible for any damage you do to the filesystems on any Xbox hard drive, including (and especially) your own. I am not responsible for any legal issues that may arise from obtaining DLC that was not already free and that you do not already own rights to. I am not responsible for any actions that Microsoft may take over Xbox Live. By using these files, you are signing this contract. I am only presenting information that I have discovered to be true.

That being said, I can jump into the tutorial. This tutorial is split into three parts:

1. What you need to accomplish this task
2. How to extract the DLC
3. How to install the DLC

Part 1: What do I need?

-Two Xbox 360 hard drives: one to take content from, and one to receive it

-Some way to hook your hard drive up to your PC

-Software!

There are two ways that I know of to get the hard drives talking:

The more expensive way is the Datel XSATA. It is a tool that plugs into the top of your Xbox 360, under the hard drive, and essentially adds a USB port to the Xbox 360 hard drive that is currently attached to the system. The XSATA can be found at many major electronics carriers, or online. Here is the amazon page for it: http://www.amazon.com/Datel-Xsata-Xbox-360/dp/B000GBADDC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1265748330&sr=1-1
And here is an IGN review off the gadget: http://gear.ign.com/articles/718/718315p1.html

The less expensive way, and my personal method of connection is via the Microsoft Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Cable. It’s a simple ATAPI/USB bridge that directly connects your Xbox 360 HDD to a PC via USB. I like this option better because you do not have to have your Xbox console right next to your computer. A hard drive is much more portable than an Xbox console. These should still be available through Microsoft, though I couldn’t find a reliable looking page on Amazon. These cables also come packed in with the 120 gig HDD, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one floating around.
Here is Microsoft’s page on the transfer kit (which includes the cable):http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/console/datamigration.htm
IGN look at the cable: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/783/783873p1.html

On the software side, there are also two (very similar) options. I personally use Xport 360, simply because I couldn’t get the other program, Xplorer 360, to work for me. Either way, try your luck with one if the other doesn’t work.

Xport 360: http://uk.codejunkies.com/support/article.aspx?article_id=272

Xplorer 360: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEFAZAlEpAHLgaWKhN.php

As for the hard drives, make sure that you have played the game and created a save file at least once on each of the hard drives. For the example I am going to use today, Star Wars: Battlefront II, this entails starting the game, and creating (and saving) your profile.

Once you have all that, you should be set to re-obtain that long lost Xbox DLC!

Part 2: Extraction!

Step 1:

You want to connect your Xbox’s HDD to your PC. When connecting an Xbox 360 Hard Drive to your PC, hook the cable up to the HDD’s end first, and then plug the other end of the cable into a free USB port on your PC. There will not be a notification from Windows, since Windows and Xbox HDD have been programmed not to communicate. That’s OK, we have software to do that for us. If you are using the transfer cable, the hook up should look something like this:

If you haven’t ever connected an Xbox HDD to your PC, then it will likely try to install some drivers. Let it install them, and then move on to step 2.

Step 2:

Now, we want to get the pieces talking. Good thing we have Xport!

After installing Xport 360, go ahead and start up the program. It might take a couple of minutes to find the hard drive the first couple of times you run it, but shortly, you should get a screen that looks like this:

Obviously, you want to select the only available hard drive. Since we will be working with SW: Battlefront II, we want to find that content folder.

Step 3:

Now, those who are familiar with Xbox softmodding will already know this, but the original Xbox, and the Xbox 360 by extension, doesn’t make it easy to find games. Instead of a game’s folder being named something like “Halo 2″ or even “DOA:U”, it is given a key which consists of numbers and letters and, in the case of original Xbox titles, usually starts with a 4 or a 5. To furthur complicate things, each folder has at least two subfolders: TDATA, what we are concerned with, and UDATA. UDATA is just the save game files. Configuration settings, profiles, and progress saves all go into UDATA. TDATA is the folder that deals with additional content. TDATA can contain two different folders: $u and $c. These are the folders that we will be changing. TDATA is where all online content is stored.

Anyway, we want to specifically find the right TDATA folder so that we can install our files into the $c and $u  folders.

To get to the Xbox 1 saves, open up Partition 3, then Compatibility, then Xbox1. You should see the Cache and previously mentioned TDATA and UDATA folders like this:

To find the correct key for the original Xbox title, I generally use this site: http://www.xbox-games.org/

Of course, Battlefront II isn’t listed on there. It’s not a problem though, a bit of searching through Google yielded the desired information. The Key we want for Battlefront II is 4c41001a

Open this folder in Xport and, sure enough you will see our two folders: $u and $c

Feel free to explore the directory a bit, $c is the literal content while $u is any patches that have been made to the game. You want to copy all of the games TDATA to your computer, both the $c and $u folders. This is what we will be installing on the second hard drive. Here is what it should all look like in a folder. Notice the file structure, make sure you got all of the TDATA this time since going back and forth between hard drive is kind of a pain.

Step 4:

Now we have successfully extracted the DLC from the Hard Drive! It was easy and you learned a lot of cool information about how Xbox saves work! Now what?

We put it onto another Hard Drive of course.

Shut down Xport and be sure to safely eject your hard drive by right clicking on the Safely Remove Hardware and Media icon on the taskbar and eject the “USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge.” When moving from one hard drive to another, be sure to unplug both ends of the transfer cable.

Part 3: Installation!

So we have the DLC on our PC’s, now we are going to install it! This method can be used to install any content in raw form like this, that is, it comes just as it would in the $cand $u files. All DLC that is up on the medafire page will be in this format. Also, it will be tested (although, I cannot test on Xbox Live simply because my test hard drive does not have an Xbox Live account installed on it… so take your own risks there) to work on an Xbox 360 without crashing, etc. If the DLC is in installer form, then you have to extract the content to be able to use it I use a soft-modded xbox to do this… more on that another time eh?

Step 1:

Hook up the second hard drive the same way you hooked up the first (that is, plug the cable into the HDD, and then into the PC) and open the Hard Drive in Xport 360.

This is what it looks like loading up my other HDD. Notice that this one says 20 gig instead of 120.

Step 2:

Navigate to the TDATA folder for Battlefront II. Since there are no online updates outside of what must be patched for the DLC, the TDATA folder should be empty.

Step 3:

Select the folder “4c41001a” and drag and drop the $u and $c folders from the first hard drive into Xport. This is what you should see after copying the files over.

Step 4:

Now these should be good to play! Enjoy and have fun! Don’t forget to safely remove your Xbox 360 HDD before unplugging the USB cable.

You can use this entire process to copy DLC onto the internet where you can upload it, move it to other Xbox consoles, whatever you want. If you have DLC that isn’t up on the mediafire site, feel free to send it to me via the email address listed on the site. Hopefully we will be able to get most of, if not all, the lost original Xbox DLC so that people have a place and a way to get it.

Please leave any questions you have in the comments section, and I will be as prompt as possible answering them.

-Captain 8bit

Also, if you have any original xbox dlc on your xbox 360, I think it would be a cool idea if you could use the extraction tutorial to grab it and then post it online. You could host it yourself or send it to me to put up on the mediafire page.

One last thing: I’m not going to post anything that isn’t xbox 1 DLC. The only reason that I’m willing to do something of questionable legality here with original xbox DLC is because there’s no way to get it, and Microsoft kind of pulled the carpet out from under us all.

If you do have links to original xbox DLC already, please email them to me or leave them in the comments. Also tell me if it is OK to download them and put them on the mediafire page, just so that we can all have one dedicated place to go to get the DLC.

Thanks and be sure to check back tomorrow for the extraction tutorial!

-Captain 8bit

So I guess this gives everyone time to secure access to an Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Cable or a Datel XSATA. Go for it!

So tomorrow, expect a post with lots of screenshots and details, Star Wars Battlefront II DLC up on the MediaFire, a better layout, some widgets, and an 8bit pirate.

-Captain 8bit

*edit: I couldn’t stand it anymore, I needed to change the layout and add widgets and hyperlinks.

Thanks for checking in, and I hope to see you again!

-8bit