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Paes

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Hello all,

I have been wrestling with DashLaunch for hours now and I am throwing in the white towel. I need help.

Objective: I am trying to get my Xbox to boot into Freestyle Dash using DashLaunch.

Environment:

Freeboot v12611
DashLaunch v2.23
Freestyle Dash v2.0

Notes:

- I bought this Xbox from someone, and it came with no HD that I am aware of
- Currently, it boots into the default dash, from where I launch XeXLoader located on DVD
- From XeXLoader, I launch Freestyle Dash located on a USB drive
- From Freestyle Dash, I ran the DashLaunch installer and it seemed to patch fine, but after rebooting, it booted back into the default menu. Below is my launch.ini :

[QuickLaunchButtons]
BUT_X = Hdd:\Content\0000000000000000\C0DE9999\00080000\C0DE99990F586558
Default = Game:\Freestyle\FreestyleDash.xex
[Settings]
nxemini = true
pingpatch = true

Oddly, when I use the File Manager or FTP into my Xbox, I notice the following folders in the root location:

DVD
Game
USB

DVD is obviously my DVD drive, and USB is my external HD, but I have no idea what "Game" is. Since the Xbox came without a hard drive, I was not expecting to see any physical storage. However, when I browse "Game", it looks like it is an internal drive. I would have expected this drive to have the name "HDD", but instead it is called "Game". In any case, I edited the launch.ini to point to the Game:\Freestyle folder, but it does not boot into FSD. Also, I noticed that there is no "Content" folder, which I am not sure to be relevant.

I am sure I am doing something very wrong. Can someone please point me in the right direction?
 
oblivioncth

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Hello all,

I have been wrestling with DashLaunch for hours now and I am throwing in the white towel. I need help.

Objective: I am trying to get my Xbox to boot into Freestyle Dash using DashLaunch.

Environment:

Freeboot v12611
DashLaunch v2.23
Freestyle Dash v2.0

Notes:

- I bought this Xbox from someone, and it came with no HD that I am aware of
- Currently, it boots into the default dash, from where I launch XeXLoader located on DVD
- From XeXLoader, I launch Freestyle Dash located on a USB drive
- From Freestyle Dash, I ran the DashLaunch installer and it seemed to patch fine, but after rebooting, it booted back into the default menu. Below is my launch.ini :

[QuickLaunchButtons]
BUT_X = Hdd:\Content\0000000000000000\C0DE9999\00080000\C0DE99990F586558
Default = Game:\Freestyle\FreestyleDash.xex
[Settings]
nxemini = true
pingpatch = true

Oddly, when I use the File Manager or FTP into my Xbox, I notice the following folders in the root location:

DVD
Game
USB

DVD is obviously my DVD drive, and USB is my external HD, but I have no idea what "Game" is. Since the Xbox came without a hard drive, I was not expecting to see any physical storage. However, when I browse "Game", it looks like it is an internal drive. I would have expected this drive to have the name "HDD", but instead it is called "Game". In any case, I edited the launch.ini to point to the Game:\Freestyle folder, but it does not boot into FSD. Also, I noticed that there is no "Content" folder, which I am not sure to be relevant.

I am sure I am doing something very wrong. Can someone please point me in the right direction?


Your problem is that Game:\ is a fake directory. When in freestyle dash it creates a fake directory called Game:\ that shows the current root of the program you are running (which is of course, freestyle dash). So the FSD xex is not actually in Game:\.... It is in another location under HDD:\...

I can not tell you it's location as you installed it so I don't know where you put it, but it should be something like HDD:\Apps\FreestyleDash\default.xex

Point dashlaunch to that xex, not the one in game.
 
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Your problem is that Game:\ is a fake directory. When in freestyle dash it creates a fake directory called Game:\ that shows the current root of the program you are running (which is of course, freestyle dash). So the FSD xex is not actually in Game:\.... It is in another location under HDD:\...

I can not tell you it's location as you installed it so I don't know where you put it, but it should be something like HDD:\Apps\FreestyleDash\default.xex

Point dashlaunch to that xex, not the one in game.

Thanks for the reply. I have some questions, if you'll pardon my ignorance.

1) Since my Xbox did not come with a HD, where has this "Game" folder been saved to? That is, does the Xbox have some other internal storage?

2) If "Game" is not a legitimate directory, why does it show up in my FTP client as a folder? Would my FTP client not show all the true locations on my HD? If not, what application can I use to see the true contents of my HD? XeXLoader, my FTP client, and FSD File Manager all show the same folders.

I already tried changing "Game" to HDD in the launch.ini, but I tried it again, and it did not work.
 
oblivioncth

oblivioncth

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Thanks for the reply. I have some questions, if you'll pardon my ignorance.

1) Since my Xbox did not come with a HD, where has this "Game" folder been saved to? That is, does the Xbox have some other internal storage?

2) If "Game" is not a legitimate directory, why does it show up in my FTP client as a folder? Would my FTP client not show all the true locations on my HD? If not, what application can I use to see the true contents of my HD? XeXLoader, my FTP client, and FSD File Manager all show the same folders.

I already tried changing "Game" to HDD in the launch.ini, but I tried it again, and it did not work.

It's alright we are all new at some point.

Understanding the exact technical reason why it is a "fake folder" takes a bit of technical knowledge. The easiest way I can explain it is that it is similar to a shortcut. It's like when you have a shortcut on your desktop, the actual files are somewhere deeper on your hard disk, but you can get to it with one click. The same goes for the game directory. The files you are seeing under Game:\ are actually somewhere else deeper into the Xbox's hard drive but you can quickly get to them by just clicking on Game:\ . The problem with this is that the Game:\ shortcut isn't actual created until you get into freestyle dash, so when your turning your console on it doesn't exist yet, and there for you can't use it as a boot option because it isn't actually there yet. When you use FTP it isn't like actually looking at the folders in person, you see what the FTP server on your xbox decides to show you so it is possible for extra things to be included (like Game:\) or things to be omitted (though don't worry, nothing will be randomly omitted it would only do so if you wanted to set it up like that, which you wouldn't)

To get around this you must point the dashlaunch.ini to the actual .xex instead of the shortcut version made in Game:\

You said: "I already tried changing "Game" to HDD in the launch.ini, but I tried it again, and it did not work." Here's whats wrong with that:

You said that this is the directory that you used:
Code:
Game:\Freestyle\FreestyleDash.xex
Simply changing the prefix of that from "Game:\" to "HDD:\" doesn't cut it because that's not the right location. I don't know if you fully understand details with directories so I don't know how in depth I can get, but basically what mean is, the shortcut (meaning the Game:\ one) may be in
Code:
\Freestyle\FreestyleDash.xex
but on the hard drive it is not in
Code:
\Freestyle\FreestyleDash.xex

For example, go take a look in your FTP client and go into HDD1:\ (HDD1: is the same as just HDD:smile: and you probably won't find a folder called Freestyle in it. Or if you do, inside instead of Freestyledash.xex you will find default.xex (the point is that it will look different than it does under Game:\ )

If you are to understand anything from this, it is the point to ignore the Game:\ directory entirely, act like it's not there.

On my Xbox my freestyle dash is installed like this
Code:
Hdd1:\Apps\Dashboards\Freestyle\default.xex
If I where to turn my Xbox on and go to Game:\ it would look similar to yours:
Code:
Game:\Freestyle\default.xex

Now you should understand why just changing it to Hdd:\ wont work, because if I did it would look like
Code:
Hdd:\Freestyle\FreestyleDash.xex
when it really needs to be
Code:
Hdd1:\Apps\Dashboards\Freestyle\default.xex

So what you need to do, is ignore Game:\ and search through Hdd1:\ on your xbox in your FTP client, and find out where the Freestyle dash folder actually is. Once you find it, look inside to see if the .xex is named default.xex or Freestyledash.xex (it could be either). Then type out the directory as Hdd:\.... (with the dots being whatever comes next on your console) and then it should work.

So if you find Freestyledash.xex under Hdd1:\Freestyle\Freestyledash.xex then you would put
Code:
Hdd:\Freestyle\freestyledash.xex

or if it's called default.xex instead

Code:
Hdd:\Freestyle\default.xex

as default in the dashlaunch.ini

Once you have taken that all in (and I understand if you have a hard time as I am not the best at explaining things in bulk in a simple fashion) here is the simplified version:

1)Ignore Game:\ don't use it for anything and don't even think about it
2)On your ftp client go into HDD1:\ and then find where the .xex of freestyledash is from there
3)Once you find out the directory, type it in under the default entry in the dashlaunch.ini (make sure you omit the "1" so that is is just HDD:\ that is just the way dashlaunch works)

If you need more help don't worry I don't mind. If you don't get this I can provide pictures :lol:
 
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Thanks again for the response. I am hoping we can get through this puzzle together, although I believe we are currently talking past each other a bit.

I think we need to resolve one question before moving forward. Earlier I asked:

1) Since my Xbox did not come with a HD, where has this "Game" folder been saved to? That is, does the Xbox have some other internal storage?

The reason this question is relevant is because this "Game" folder shows up even if nothing is connected to my Xbox. For example, if I boot using XeXLoader from DVD, the folder is there. Even if it is true that the "Game" folder is a shortcut, it still has to be saved in a physical location.

Also, an FTP client does not care if a file is shortcut. It will still show the hierarchy of whatever filesystem it is connecting to. So, when I connect to my Xbox, I should see the "HDD" folder that everyone is referring to, but I do not. The reason for this, I imagine, is because as I stated in my problem description, I do not have an Xbox hard drive connected to my Xbox.

Low and behold, if I connect an Xbox hard drive to my Xbox, the HDD folder shows up, with all the locations you were referring to in your instructions. So my question stands: When I do not have a Xbox hard drive connected to my box, or even a USB hard drive, the "Game" folder still exists. I cannot modify or change it in any way. Where does this file/folder physically reside if there is no hard disk attached to my machine?

I am going to try to point the launch.ini to a folder on my USB drive to see if that works. On that subject: Since I do not have a hard drive installed on my Xbox, where is the launch.ini being saved? Currently, I am reading it from my USB drive and editing it, but how does the Xbox know of its location when it is booting?

Thanks again for all the help! :biggrin:

Edit: I tried editing the launch.ini and changing the location to point to my USB folder, but it did not make a difference.
 
oblivioncth

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Thanks again for the response. I am hoping we can get through this puzzle together, although I believe we are currently talking past each other a bit.

I think we need to resolve one question before moving forward. Earlier I asked:



The reason this question is relevant is because this "Game" folder shows up even if nothing is connected to my Xbox. For example, if I boot using XeXLoader from DVD, the folder is there. Even if it is true that the "Game" folder is a shortcut, it still has to be saved in a physical location.

Also, an FTP client does not care if a file is shortcut. It will still show the hierarchy of whatever filesystem it is connecting to. So, when I connect to my Xbox, I should see the "HDD" folder that everyone is referring to, but I do not. The reason for this, I imagine, is because as I stated in my problem description, I do not have an Xbox hard drive connected to my Xbox.

Low and behold, if I connect an Xbox hard drive to my Xbox, the HDD folder shows up, with all the locations you were referring to in your instructions. So my question stands: When I do not have a Xbox hard drive connected to my box, or even a USB hard drive, the "Game" folder still exists. I cannot modify or change it in any way. Where does this file/folder physically reside if there is no hard disk attached to my machine?

I am going to try to point the launch.ini to a folder on my USB drive to see if that works. On that subject: Since I do not have a hard drive installed on my Xbox, where is the launch.ini being saved? Currently, I am reading it from my USB drive and editing it, but how does the Xbox know of its location when it is booting?

Thanks again for all the help! :biggrin:

Edit: I tried editing the launch.ini and changing the location to point to my USB folder, but it did not make a difference.

Ya lol I got a bit involved with that while I was tired at 3AM so some of the grammar was messed up too, whoops.


Ok hopefully I'm better this time (I don't normally make things that confusing, I guess this is just an odd topic).

So one thing I messed up on is thinking you were using a Microsoft Hard Drive, and didn't know that you didn't have one. When you talk about plugging one in and stuff changing, did you borrow one from a friend, or did you just use one from another console?

For your first question/statement, you are right, you will not have a HDD folder since you do not have a hard drive and even if you do see it, it would be empty.

Second, in regards to the FTP, folder shortcut thing, don't doubt my knowledge with FTP clients it's just that I messed up and explained it wrong because I didn't understand your situation. I know that FTP doesn't care if it is a shortcut or not so yes it will display "Game:\" properly.

The most important thing is that I realized I made an error in my description of the "Game:\" folder. I now remember that the "Game:\" directory is not created by Freestyledash, it is created by Dashlaunch itself (this explains why you can see it everywhere outside of Freestyledash). Now I may be wrong here but if i remember correctly, the "Game:\" folder is still a shortcut folder, but it is a dynamic one. I believe what Dashlaunch does is makes the "Game:\" a shortcut to the folder of whatever .xex is currently running. So if you go into Freestyle dash and then FTP'ed and look at "Game:\" it will show the FSD (freestyledash, I don't know if you have heard that abbreviation) files. However, if you where running xexmenu for example and FTP'ed to your xbox, I am almost positive that the "Game:\" folder would then show the root of the xexmenu folder.

So it is like a shortcut that changes to whatever current program (.xex) is running, and that is why you can't use it in your .ini

Then for your second question about the dashlaunch.ini and USB. You should store the dashlaunch.ini on the root of your USB drive that is correct. I don't know if you have noticed, but your xbox should take a bit longer to fully boot up and leave the animation screen to get to the dashboard since you've installed dashlaunch (at least it does on most consoles). This is because the way that Dashlaunch knows your dashlaunch.ini's location, is that once the console finishes the boot animation it scans the root of every device for the .ini, finds it, and then launches whatever dashboard is under default.

So finally, the only locations that you can use for dashlaunch are:

Code:
internal hard disk    Hdd:\
usb memory stick      Usb:\
memory unit           Mu:\
USB memory unit       UsbMu:\
big block NAND mu     FlashMu:\
CD/DVD                Dvd:\

(taken straight from the dashlaunch info file)

So you should put FSD onto your USB drive as:

Code:
USB:\Freestyle\default.xex

then place your dashlaunch.ini on that same USB drive and set up your ini so that your default entry is like this:

Code:
Default = USB:\Freestyle\default.xex

Also, obviously make sure you ran the dashlaunch installer, and read through the on screen options.
 
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Thanks again for getting back to me. I think we are getting somewhere now :biggrin:

So one thing I messed up on is thinking you were using a Microsoft Hard Drive, and didn't know that you didn't have one. When you talk about plugging one in and stuff changing, did you borrow one from a friend, or did you just use one from another console?

I used one from another console I have that is not Jtagged, so it has to remain on that machine.

Then for your second question about the dashlaunch.ini and USB. You should store the dashlaunch.ini on the root of your USB drive that is correct. This is because the way that Dashlaunch knows your dashlaunch.ini's location, is that once the console finishes the boot animation it scans the root of every device for the .ini, finds it, and then launches whatever dashboard is under default.

This is a key piece of information. My launch.ini was not in the root of my USB device. I will try this again shortly to see if I get different results.
 
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Well, we made some progress but my Xbox still boots into the default dash. However, when I added the launch.ini to the root of my USB drive and reran DashLaunch, it detected the launch.ini this time and prompted me with a series of questions. This did not happen on previous attempts. Still, we're not quite there yet.

Below is what the latest version of my launch.ini looks like:

[QuickLaunchButtons]
BUT_X = Hdd:\Content\0000000000000000\C0DE9999\00080000\C0DE99990F586558
Default = Usb0:\FreestyleDash\default.xex


[Settings]
nxemini = true
pingpatch = true
contpatch = true
regionspoof = true
dvdexitdash = true
xblaexitdash = true
debugout = false
livestrong = true
remotenxe = true
nohud = true
 
oblivioncth

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Well, we made some progress but my Xbox still boots into the default dash. However, when I added the launch.ini to the root of my USB drive and reran DashLaunch, it detected the launch.ini this time and prompted me with a series of questions. This did not happen on previous attempts. Still, we're not quite there yet.

Below is what the latest version of my launch.ini looks like:

[QuickLaunchButtons]
BUT_X = Hdd:\Content\0000000000000000\C0DE9999\00080000\C0DE99990F586558
Default = Usb0:\FreestyleDash\default.xex


[Settings]
nxemini = true
pingpatch = true
contpatch = true
regionspoof = true
dvdexitdash = true
xblaexitdash = true
debugout = false
livestrong = true
remotenxe = true
nohud = true

Well at least it is progress.

For one thing you have the BUT_X entry set to launch xexmenu but it has the HDD:\ prefix so I'm just making sure you know that wont work ( I'm guessing you just don't care about it).

Ok now for the important part.

The only two things that I see that could be wrong are:

1)Make sure that you actually have FSD installed on your USB drive as "\Freestyledash\default.xex"
If the .xex is called Freestyledash.xex, rename it to default.xex Your .ini is pointing to the right location but make sure that "USB:\Freestyledash\default.xex" actually exists

2)I can't quite remember but I think the newer versions of dashlaunch automatically resolve any problems that are encountered with multiple USB dirves, so intead of

Code:
Default = Usb0:\FreestyleDash\default.xex

try just:

Code:
Default = Usb:\FreestyleDash\default.xex
 
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1)Make sure that you actually have FSD installed on your USB drive as "\Freestyledash\default.xex"
If the .xex is called Freestyledash.xex, rename it to default.xex Your .ini is pointing to the right location but make sure that "USB:\Freestyledash\default.xex" actually exists

Yep, made sure of this.

2)I can't quite remember but I think the newer versions of dashlaunch automatically resolve any problems that are encountered with multiple USB dirves, so intead of

Code:
Default = Usb0:\FreestyleDash\default.xex

try just:

Code:
Default = Usb:\FreestyleDash\default.xex

I will try this now and see if she goes. :smile:

EDIT:

You have nailed it, good sir. It finally works. :biggrin: It's been a long time since I have gotten such good help from someone in an online forum. Thanks again for all your help, and if there is anything I can do to acknowledge your contribution to the support forum, please let me know.
 
oblivioncth

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Yep, made sure of this.



I will try this now and see if she goes. :smile:

EDIT:

You have nailed it, good sir. It finally works. :biggrin: It's been a long time since I have gotten such good help from someone in an online forum. Thanks again for all your help, and if there is anything I can do to acknowledge your contribution to the support forum, please let me know.

You are most welcome. And this:
It's been a long time since I have gotten such good help from someone in an online forum.

I know right? I'll see questions here all the time that are easy in terms of straight forward and just need some explanation and a little bit of trial and error, and they stay unanswered for days. A lot of people just don't want to put forth the effort to help them (I mean sure they have their own lives but they're here to help people right?). Then there are the guys who say "Use the search button" and sometimes "to prove a point" won't respond to a thread because they look at the person as stupid because they didn't use the search button. But everyone's case is not exactly the same and for many questions (even yours a little) it would take someone hours and hours of reading different threads, piecing together their solution, and then it might not even work. I know that exact pain from my early modding days which is why I am here. I like helping people and don't mind taking some of my own time to do it.

I have been off the forums for about 3 weeks because I got really busy, but now I should be back around more often. Usually once a day I will come on and answer/contribute to all of the new threads on the first page under the support section.

If you need help with something specific, don't feel reluctant to PM me :tongue:
 
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