FileShareFreak [mirror]: A Quickstart Guide to Burning XBOX360 Games

June 12, 2008 by sharky

This tutorial is intended for users that have a ‘modded’ XBOX360 (i.e. "Firmware Flashed") and is not intended for out-of-the-box systems. Nowadays XBOX360 rips are done professionally, and in most cases require a minimal amount of tweaking to get them going as planned.

You will require:

Hardware:

— A DVD-DL burner (Dual-layer).
— DVD+R DL blank (DVD9) media disks (Verbatim is recommended). Don’t use minus-r (-R) disks.

Software:

— XDVDMulleter - current release is "XDVDMulleterBeta10.2"
— ImgBurn - Burning software - current file is "SetupImgBurn_2.4.1.0.exe".

STEP 1 — A Look at XBOX360 Releases

Pre-Patched Games

Some NFO files will stipulate that the release is ready-to-burn and should be compatible with an "IXtreme’d" XBOX360. These are called pre-patched games:

You’ll also notice that these will often contain a *.dvd file alongside the *.iso file. The *.dvd file is used by your DVD burning software to set up the burn - it’s similar to a *.cue file. Open the RAR archive to confirm:

If your game has a *.dvd file, skip to STEP 2.

Not Pre-Patched:

If you only have the *.ISO file, you’ll need to create the *.dvd file for the game yourself.

1.1 — Unpack and run XDVDMulleter.exe, and select "View ISO details". Click "Next".

1.2 — Assuming that you’ve already downloaded and unpacked the XBOX game (.ISO), you’ll need to select "Load from file". Now, browse to your ISO image.

You should now see it listed in the above box - click "Next". Here you’ll see the info for the ISO Region and patches that have been applied to the game:

NOTE: Be sure that "IXtreme Compatible" is checked, if not already done so. You’ll likely not be able to change the "ISO Region" for the game - this was pre-ordained by the rip source. Verify that the selected region(s) is compatible with your XBOX360 region.

1.3 — In that same window, click the "Other" tab - select "Make .dvd file" from the menu. By default, this will save the file to the same directory as the ISO. After saving the *.dvd file, exit XDVDMulleter.

You should now be able to burn the image.

STEP 2 — Burning with ImgBurn

2.1 — Launch ImgBurn, and click on "Write Image file to disc":

2.2 — In ‘Source’ - click the folder icon and browse to your *.dvd file:

2.3 — Insert a blank DVD+DL disk, and browse to your desired DVD burner (if it isn’t already selected) and click the "write" button at the bottom. Be sure that you’ve selected the slowest possible burn speed first.

Troubleshooting Tips

Here’s a few tips if you run into any error messages:

— Be sure to use Verbatim DVD+DL media, and burn at the slowest speed possible - 2x burning is preferred (this is very important). Prior to burning, shut down as many running programs as you can.

— In some instances, there may be a problem with the Layer Break setting in ImgBurn; where you’ll need to manually enter in a Layer Break point (number):

1. — Open the *.dvd file with a text editor (Notepad) - you should see something like this. Remember this number - you’ll need it in Step 4 below.

2. — Launch ImgBurn, and click on "Write image file to disc":

3. — In ‘Source’ - click the folder icon and browse to your *.dvd file:

4. — From the above menu, go to TOOLS > Settings and click on the "Write" tab. Look to where it says Options - Layer Break (For DL Media). Change it from "Calculate Optimal" to "User Defined" and enter in the number from the *.dvd file shown in Step 1. (i.e 1913760). Click OK to save your changes.

— You may also need to manually change your DVD-DL drive in ImgBurn:

1. — Go to TOOLS > Drive > Change Book Type… and click the tab for the brand of your DVD burner. Now, where it says "Change For:" select from the dropdown "Drive (for DVD+R DL Media)":