Scene Group RRoD Releases More Details about LTplus v2.0 and XGD3

[jkipp82]

The 'RRoD' release group released more details about the upcoming C4Eva 0800 v3 and LT+ v2.0 CFW:

RRoD is proud to bring you the very first official XGD3 0800 ISO releases made with c4eva's new 0800 v3.0 ripping fw for BenQ VAD6038 and Lite-On DG-16D2S.

These ISOs are fully compatible with the new LT+ v2.0 for Phats and Slims, are burnable to regular DVD+R DL discs, include full & correct AP2.5 data, and are verified in the abgx360 database. Please refer to the status table on http://c4evaspeaks.com for a breakdown of which drives support LT+ v2.0.

The LT+ v2.0 release for Phat models is imminent, and it was requested that we release these in advance in order to give everyone time to have them downloaded and ready to play for once the fw goes public.

Our thanks and congratulations to c4eva, Team Xecuter/k3rn3l, the JungleFlasher team, Redline99 for Xbox Backup Creator, Seacrest for abgx360, the core testing team, and all the other individuals involved who came together to make this possible!

XGD3 BACKUPS OVERVIEW
To end the confusion once and for all, *yes*, original XGD3 discs have a higher linear/track density and therefore a higher physical capacity than XGD2 and regular DVD+R DL media. As a result, XGD3 ISO backups are larger as well.

For XGD3 backup support, c4eva has introduced in LT+ v2.0 the LT-MAX feature, which allows for XGD3 backups to use the maximum possible layerbreak for regular DVD+R DL media, and therefore all of the available space (8,547,991,552 bytes) of a regular DVD+R DL disc.

Since there is still not enough space on a regular DVD+R DL disc to hold the entire XGD3 game partition, not to mention the Layer 1 Video partition, this is not at all recommended as being "safe" for Xbox LIVE.

XGD3 backups will still boot and play fine on LT+ v2.0 as long as the last approximately 1.7% of the game partition does not contain any of the actual game assets, which it usually won't because the end of the game partition is near the inner edge of the disc, and developers will try to keep their game data near the outer edge (middle of the game partition) to maximize read performance.

Another necessary condition to booting and playing XGD3 backups on regular DVD+R DL media is that the kernel or game code itself must not perform any CIV (Content Integrity Verification) checks on any part of this last approximately 1.7% of the game partition (or at least it must not take any action after CIV failures). Even if there are no actual game assets in this area, there is still pseudo-random padding data which can be checked through CIV, and such checks can even be added later to the game code through title updates, or to the kernel through system updates.

Just like XGD2, XGD3 backups still require the correct dashboard version-specific AP2.5 replay data. As they've done previously, MS has the ability to change the DAE.bin by way of a system update, meaning you may need to re-patch/re-burn at some point. The abgx360 application and database will be updated accordingly to support XGD3.

BEST PRACTICES AND SETTINGS
The P2P XGD3 ISO rips that were floating around before this point are for ODDEs and are not compatible as-is with LT+ v2.0. Their PFI, DMI and SS sectors are in the wrong PSN (Physical Sector Number) locations and they are missing the critical AP2.5 replay sector and SS replay table. If you intend to play XGD3 backups on a firmware-flashed 360, it's up to you to make sure you're using proper ISOs made with 0800 v3.0, and to double-check by running them through abgx360 before burning.

Keep in mind that this is the first of several potential disc-based backup solutions for XGD3. As such, it's recommened that all subsequent releases maintain the full ISO size and associated layerbreak (2133520) in the .dvd, which will help to ensure that they will be forward-compatible should any media manufacturers step up with new larger-capacity discs (which will be necessary in order to make XGD3 backups as safe as possible on Xbox LIVE).

The actual layerbreak for XGD3 ISOs is 2133520. However, when burning XGD3 ISOs to regular DVD+R DL, ImgBurn will automatically reposition/limit the layerbreak to 2086912 in accordance with the disc's maximum Layer 0 data zone capacity (2,086,912 [LBA: 0 - 2086911]). The LT-MAX feature in LT+ v2.0 will compensate for this and allow you to play XGD3 backups with this wrong layerbreak, and therefore wrong game partition data PSN locations.

In the case of growisofs as instructed below, in order to avoid errors when burning XGD3 to regular DVD+R DL, you may choose to first truncate the ISO to 8,547,991,552 bytes, and burn using a reduced associated layerbreak of 2086912. This should give you exactly the same end result as if you followed the instructions below for ImgBurn on Windows.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BURNING XGD3 BACKUPS WITH IMGBURN
We recommended that you use the latest version of ImgBurn (v2.5.5.0 at the time of writing, downloadable at http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download). Older versions may handle this process differently and/or give a different set of errors.

Although it is set by default in ImgBurn, please ensure that under Tools > Settings > Write, you have "Layer Break (For DL Media)" set to "Calculate Optimal".

Please ensure that the layerbreak is set as 2133520 in the .dvd file. If you already have the XGD2 (or other) layerbreak value set in ImgBurn, the .dvd of the XGD3 ISO will override that setting and use the proper layerbreak.

As mentioned above, ImgBurn will automatically reposition/limit the layerbreak to 2086912 when burning to regular DVD+R DL discs.

Please see the included imgburn-xgd3-errors.png image for screenshots of the errors you'll encounter in ImgBurn and what to click on in each dialog that pops up.

Step by Step:
1. Choose "Write image file to disc", and after loading the .dvd file, click "Write".
2. ImgBurn will pop up a notice saying that there is not enough space on the disc to burn the image, and asks if you would like to continue anyway. Click "Yes".
3. Another message might pop up saying that optimal layerbreak position exceeds L0 capacity. Click "Yes".
4. An error will then pop up noting that "Set L0 Data Zone Capacity Failed". Click "Continue".
5. The image will begin writing to the disc.
6. Nearing the end of the write process, ImgBurn will pop up an error at around 97% or 98% (this is what we want -- it's intentional!). Click "Cancel".
7. A notice will then pop up asking if you would like ImgBurn to try and perform the "'Close Track/Session/Disc' functions". Click "Yes".
8. Let the disc finalize, and you're done!

INSTRUCTION FOR BURNING XGD3 BACKUPS WITH GROWISOFS
truncate --size=8547991552 xgd3game.iso
growisofs -use-the-force-luke=dao -use-the-force-luke=break:2086912 -dvd-compat -speed=4 -Z /dev/dvd=xgd3game.iso

Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com

[longy999]

Nice share, burning off a couple of XGD3's now to test this out ready for the new firmware update.

[azulthewise]

C4eva states on his site the nfo was wrong on the matter of live.

[longy999]

Has anyone else tried burning one of these using the above method yet?

Everything went as stated until the end, the burn completed to 100% and not the 97-98% stated in the guide. Obviously no way of checking if it works or not yet but just curious to see if anyone else has tried yet.