HOW TO: Use a USB Thumbdrive as a Memory Card (For Softmod)

Ok, I have trawled through numerous sites trying to work this out. I seem to have cracked it, took me a few go's but I got the kinks worked out and I can confirm this is working!


What you need:

* USBView
* Action Replay Software
* The Exploit Gamesaves (SC, 007, Mech)

I have placed all of the needed software and pre-patched gamesaves (they are especially for Action Replay) inside a single downloadable package.

You can get that HERE

* USB Thumbdrive

Please make sure that your USB device is compatible until we find a better compatibility solution.
You can find that list HERE

I have also added our own compatibility list at the bottom of this tutorial that will be updated accordingly.

Please post back your results and the brand and size of your USB stick.

**NOTE**

A 'Confirmed NOT working' is only 'Confirmed' after another USB has been proven to work on your system. A simple "It doesn't work" will not suffice!




* A USB to Xbox connector. You can buy these on eBay and other places around the net, but they are REALLY easy to make.



Here's the link to make one yourself...

Xbox USB

You can of course get creative, I have converted a cheap USB hub into an Xbox 4-port hub...


The Process:

Ok, with that all out of the way, lets make this happen!

Firstly, make sure there is nothing on the USB that you need as we are about to format it!

Turn on your Xbox and navigate to the 'Memory' screen. Insert your USB cable and connect the USB drive to it.

If all went well, an error should have popped up saying " The memory card wasn't working properly and has now been erased".

This is NORMAL!!! The USB drive has now been formatted to the Xbox format.


Ok, plug the newly formatted USB into your PC. Don't let Windows format it.

Install 'Action Replay'. Install the update to v1.40. Do NOT open the program!

Open 'USBView' and then press 'F5' on your keyboard to ensure the list is refreshed.

Find the new 'USB Mass Storage Device', click on it so it displays it's properties on the right.

We are looking for the 'idVendor' and 'idProduct' numbers. Write down the last four digits of each and make a note as to which are 'YYYY's and which are 'ZZZZ's.



Close 'USBView' now and navigate to 'C:\Program Files\Datel\Action Replay XBOX\Drivers', edit the file 'xbreader.inf'

Scroll down to 'Devices' and change the 'VID' and 'PID' numbers to correspond with your YYYY + ZZZZ numbers.





Save the file again and close down the folders.

Open your 'Device Manager' and expand the 'Universal Serial Bus controllers' tree, right click on the 'USB Mass Storage Device' and click on Update driver'.



Install the drivers manually and when shown, pick from the list



Install the 'MaxDrive Xbox' driver.



Ok... I have already modified the gamesaves for use with the USB Action Replay software, so you can go ahead and open the Action Replay software.

The left pane should now say 'Memcard' in white.

Drag the 'SID 4 launcher' into the 'Memcard' from your desktop. It will take a moment to copy (an orange bar will show progress).

Also drag across the loader of choice.



That's it!

Plug the USB along with your new cable into your Xbox and treat it like a normal memory card!

Here's the Softmod guide to keep you going in the right direction!

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/558747





****NOTE****

To re-use your USB as an actual storage device, uninstall the USBIO driver from your Device Manager and format it. It is also advised that you do NOT use an MP3 player (iPod, etc) for this. It has been known to almost brick.


CONFIRMED WORKING USB STICKS

Corsair 128Mb
Kingston Datatraveler 1Gb
Kingston Datatraveler 2Gb
Lexar JumpDrive 128Mb
MTV 256Mb
SanDisk Cruzer Micro 256Mb
SanDisk Cruzer Micro 1Gb
SanDisk Cruzer 1 GB
SanDisk Cruzer Mini 1 GB (Formatted to FAT32 prior to Xbox format)

CONFIRMED NOT WORKING

A-Data 2Gb
Ativa U3 512MB
iPod 4Gb
Lexar Jumpdrive Secure 256Mb
Memorex Mini TD 512MB
PNY 512Mb
Sandisk Cruzer 2Gb

 

Would this method fix xbox errors you think?

 

You mean like Error screens?

No, this will only work with a working unmodded Xbox!

 

You mean like Error screens?

No, this will only work with a working unmodded Xbox!

 

i cant get it to work, i get up to where you transfer the files to your memory stick but it doesn't show up in action replay???

 

Is Windows seeing it?

Have you already formatted it in the Xbox?

 

i did do that but it stil doesn't show up

 

If you want my help, you need to help me...

Answer my questions for a start and also give me as much information as possible!

Did your device manager see the drive? Did you install the MaxDrive driver for it? Does it then register as 'USBIO'?

Did you install the v1.40 update for Action Replay?

Help me...

 

yes, yes, yes and yes

sorry if i'm being a bit annoying or stupid but i've never softmodded an xbox before

 

Try wiping the USB stick in the Xbox again, and also re-install Action Replay!

 

i had to do a full re-install of action replay(uninstall it and then install it again) and when i did that my memory stick shows up but the modded game saves don't??? is there some place i have to put them to get them to work???

 

I tried with 3 memory sticks so far (256M, 1G, 4G). No success. The AR doesn't recognize them (recognized fine as USBIO). Do I have to use old memory sticks? Thanks,

 

@ stickiler

You don't need to put the anywhere, drag and drop from your desktop!


@ vanshrek

I personally used a 128MB stick, but it shouldn't make a difference.

Check that all your numbers are correct, you changed the correct file in AR and also, as above, try the full re-install of AR!

 

Hey, this tutorial was a big help, but I've hit a wall and can't find an answer... I've gone through every step and everything works except AR won't recognize the thumbdrive. It's a 2GB sandisk cruzer micro and my xbox is v.1.6 if that helps. The xbox is recognizing the usb drive as a memory card, but AR is not. Device manager sees it as Usbio but nothing in AR. I've tried putting it back in the xbox to reformat and even reinstalling AR completely (5 times), but nothing has really worked. Each time I've changed the .inf file too. I even downloaded the maxdrive software from codejunkies.com but it won't work either. Any suggestions? Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

Yes, I've tried uninstalling it many times and on may HW,OS configurations. I think that AR version just doesn't work with all kinds of US sticks. Anybody knows of a better AR version? Maybe an older one? Thanks

 

When you put the stick in the xbox, can you copy anything to it? I had this issue with my iPod 4Gb mini. I would plug it into the xbox with my usb cable and it would get formatted and recognized, but I could not copy saved games to it from another memory card and AR on my PC would not recognize it even though my device manager said I had a maxdrive device connected. You probably need a different usb stick.

 

Your usb sandisk cruzer is probably not compatible. Can you save anything to it while plugged into the xbox? Some drives will format just fine but still wont work when trying to save data. Check this list for usb stick compatibility http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Xbox_USB_Compatibility_List

 

Great find on the compatibility list, I have added it to the tutorial!

I used a 'Lexar Jumpdrive 128MB' without issue!

I have also noticed that some of the guys from that link had success by formatting the stick to FAT32, then format it in the Xbox...


Has anybody got this to work yet other then me? I feel kinda stupid that this is giving so much issues!

 

That must be the problem. It won't copy anything to it from the xbox. I'm going to try with a sandisk 256mb micro (no U3, but with cruzerlock?). I looked at that compatibility list before I used this first drive, but it wasn't listed as non-working. We'll see about this other one...

 

could you use a usb removable HDD and could you play xbox games from it?