I Want to Mod My Xbox

The other day, in a KoF binge, I decided to play a few rounds of KoF 2003 on the 360. It's listed on the site as working, after all. My 360 does not agree, however. Oh, it'll accept 2002, but it wants to cut lines of pixels out of the sprites as some sort of disgusting payoff.

"Fuck this," said I. "It's time."

Now, my problem is that, while I may know quite a bit about PSP moding, I know nigh nothing of Xbox modding. I want to be able to play my old games and back them and a billion other things up to a big, ol' hard drive. THere is another problem, though.
My Xbox has been broken for a couple of years now. The disc drive gives me dirty disc errors no matter what disc I pop in the tray. It's a Thomson. I figured I'd just replace it at some point when I mod the thing.
The internet isn't as keen on info for this as it is for PSP mods, though. My usual reverse engineering source of MaxConsole turned up zilcho. I'd imagine it's because of the age of the hardware. Now, this leaves me with many questions...

1) Where can I find a replacement DVD Drive and a ModChip (Xecutor3?) ?
2) Are there any other methods to modding that I should consider?
3) Is there any way to copy everything off of my hard drive so that I don't lose saves or Xbox Live Arcade (remember the original?) games?

I'd really appreciate any help that could be given so that the massive brick is a massive useful again.

My zboz is modded by software and it does everything a hardware mod does (practically). Look online to DIY. It retained all my saved games and other settings. You'll be able to FTP to/from the console so I think you can move your saves to your PC that way.

I'd like to do this as well. My Thompson won't read DVDs either, and I have a lot of games that aren't BC (X-Men Legends, :( ).

I could post a site with all the modding help you need but its also a torrent site which I could get banned for and don't want to risk it.

You can mod your Xbox with a copy of Mech Assault and a hax0red save file. Go to load the file with Mech Assault and you get the software mod installed instead.

I haven't done it in a while. If anyone wants to borrow my copy of Mech Assault (it only works with old prints) and my memory card with the save file, lemme know.

The replacement DVD drive seems to go around $40. Instead of buying a replacement drive, maybe it'll be easier to buy a used one at EB/Gamestop? I think they were around $60.

If you want Melf, I can send you an Xbox memory card that you can use to install a softmod on the Xbox when I send you the payment for the game I'm getting from you. All you need is Splinter Cell (if you don't have it, I can throw it in too). Of course, your Xbox will still need to be able to read Splinter Cell... which sounds like a problem as it doesn't read DVDs.

Real men use mod chips!

...seriously, I installed a mod chip in about 10 minutes, it's that stupidly easy. Of course, if I were to do it today I would likely softmod it too just to cut out the expense of buying the chip.

There's a thread somewhere that may or may not still exist with all of the information you need about doing a soft mod.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brand X

There's a thread somewhere that may or may not still exist with all of the information you need about doing a soft mod.

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I have to open it up to replace the drive, anyway, so I'd rather do a HARD MOD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Granderoho

I could post a site with all the modding help you need but its also a torrent site which I could get banned for and don't want to risk it.

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No dood, it's cool. Go ahead.

Really. REALLY.