XBMC4Xbox

I am currently using unleashX to load games from but I like that XBMC can play game isos. I'm using a silent fan that I need to run at 100% to keep the Xbox cool. I thought I had read that XBMC runs the fan at 20% when running games from it. Is this true or can I run the fan at 100% while playing games through XBMC?

Tim4885 wrote:I am currently using unleashX to load games from but I like that XBMC can play game isos. I'm using a silent fan that I need to run at 100% to keep the Xbox cool. I thought I had read that XBMC runs the fan at 20% when running games from it. Is this true or can I run the fan at 100% while playing games through XBMC?

Nup, if you change the fan speed dashboard side it's only for that dashboard.

You need to change the fan speed via NKPatcher ( if softmodded ) or via you modded bios. ( if chipped or TSOPPED )

That is because the Original Xbox flow was designed as single process, meaning that only one XBE runs as a time. XBMC4Xbox is one XBE, your game is another XBE, UnleashX is another one (in a way they're all "game" XBEs). Dashboards like XBMC4Xbox or UnleashX they just launch the games, after that the game if fully using the system and it may control some of the system features (like XBMC4Xbox with the fan while it runs) or the features revert to system defaults.

You shouldn't need to change the speed imo. the stock fan itself would only run at 20% and was enough for the xbox not to overheat, so if you have added a better silent fn even at 20 % there will be a difference in noise and air flow. The fan i bought was called redwing i think and its a decent one but even in xbmc i never have it set over 30%

also worth noting removing some of the metal shielding also really helps alot

When I run games in UnleashX with the fan speed set at 100% beforehand, the fan seems to stay at 100% while playing games. I am using the Noctua NF-R8 silent fan and it definitely is not powerful enough to keep the Xbox cool at 20% because temps get quite high when I set the fan speed that low while in the UnleashX dashboard. While running the fan at the 5x (100%) setting while in the UnleashX dashboard, the M/B stays at about 48C and the CPU stays at about 51C. When I play a game for a while and then return to the dashboard with the fan setting at 100%, these temps remain the same. With my fan speed set to 20%, temps rise above 60C.

The fan speed is controlled by the bios when a game or homebrew hasn't been coded to change it. That 100% of games and 99% of homebrew.

I don't mean to sound like a di*k but I'm not going to go back and forth debating this, what I typed above is correct regardless of what you think is happening by changing the fan speed via a dashboard.


So if you are using SID ( what ever version, there are that many ) the fan speed it usually set to 100%, if using the default fan it sounds like a jet engine but this can be configured via the softmod settings menu. ( mine is called NKPatcher Settings, other softmods ones will vary, SID you reload the exploit save )

I have a notctua 80mm fan in my Xbox and its set to 50% fan speed, set via NKPatcher Setting. ( NKPatcher is a kernel patcher, it patched the bios ) This is fine to keep the temps down and the noise level almost silent when gaming. ( I use 30% when in the XBMC dashboard, since I spend most of my time skinning and in silence. )

Rocky5 wrote:The fan speed is controlled by the bios when a game or homebrew hasn't been coded to change it. That 100% of games and 99% of homebrew.

I don't mean to sound like a di*k but I'm not going to go back and forth debating this, what I typed above is correct regardless of what you think is happening by changing the fan speed via a dashboard.


So if you are using SID ( what ever version, there are that many ) the fan speed it usually set to 100%, if using the default fan it sounds like a jet engine but this can be configured via the softmod settings menu. ( mine is called NKPatcher Settings, other softmods ones will vary, SID you release the exploit save )

I have a notctua 80mm fan in my Xbox and its set to 50% fan speed, set via NKPatcher Setting. ( NKPatcher is a kernel patcher, it patched the bios ) This is fine to keep the temps down and the noise level almost silent when gaming. ( I use 30% when in the XBMC dashboard, since I spend most of my time skinning and in silence. )

I did use SID to do the softmod on my Xbox. Are you saying that SID changes the default fan speed in the bios to 100%?

Rocky5 wrote:The fan speed is controlled by the bios when a game or homebrew hasn't been coded to change it. That 100% of games and 99% of homebrew.

I don't mean to sound like a di*k but I'm not going to go back and forth debating this, what I typed above is correct regardless of what you think is happening by changing the fan speed via a dashboard.


So if you are using SID ( what ever version, there are that many ) the fan speed it usually set to 100%, if using the default fan it sounds like a jet engine but this can be configured via the softmod settings menu. ( mine is called NKPatcher Settings, other softmods ones will vary, SID you reload the exploit save )

I have a notctua 80mm fan in my Xbox and its set to 50% fan speed, set via NKPatcher Setting. ( NKPatcher is a kernel patcher, it patched the bios ) This is fine to keep the temps down and the noise level almost silent when gaming. ( I use 30% when in the XBMC dashboard, since I spend most of my time skinning and in silence. )

Rocky5, you are incorrect on this. I did a softmod using SID and the fan speed that I set in UnleashX stays at the same speed when loading a game. I am absolutely sure of this. The whole reason I decided to install UnleashX as my dashboard is because it maintains the fan speed you set after loading another .xbe in UnleashX. Maybe with other dashboards this doesn't work but it works in UnleashX. My Noctua fan is relatively loud at the 100% setting and when I launch games from UnleashX with the fan speed set to 100%, I can tell the fan speed doesn't change because in game, the loudness of the fan remains exactly the same. I have the volume muted on the TV and my ear right up to the fan when I do this. When I set my fan speed at 20% in UnleashX, my fan is completely silent and when I play a game with the volume off after setting the fan speed at 20% in UnleashX, the fan remains completely silent, so the fan speed that I set in UnleashX is definitely carrying over in game. Even if I launch XBMC from UnleashX, this remains the case.

You asked for info, we gave you the correct info and yet you still go by what you think. Why ask ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The bios controls the stock fan speed period. Only thing that can permanently change this is patching the bios/kernel, this can be accomplished two ways.

1) NKPatcher ( Patches the kernel in memory on load of NKPatcher, ie, before your dashboard loads )
2) Hacked bios ( using tools on the PC or editing a config that's stored on the Xbox ie, Ind-bios x2 5035 )

Both require a restart of the Xbox to take effect.


Dashboards can control the fan speed when they are running, XBMC does not control the fan speed by default ( it's turned off ) so it uses the system default value, unless you enable the custom fan speed in the system setting.

Snippet from NKPatcher source code. ( full source on my GitHub for my 2016 Softmod here. ) Note: you can control some aspects of NKPatcher via UnleashX's scripting feature ( we copy a config to a specific location and on next boot NKPatcher uses it ) but again this ultimately results in the bios being patched and doesn't happen with the default UnleashX config.ini or setting menu. It requires a specifically coded one, ie, NKPatcher Setting in the case of my softmod. ( example here )

The above could be done with evolution-x dashes limited copy feature or using XBMC and it's built in python language but we all use UnleashX due to its scripting feature, simplicity and size. ( also it defaults as the default dashboard afterwards, we were limited to 8MB in the old days due to memory card sizes )


PS:
NKPatcher is the main part of what you call a softmod.
( it's what gives you unsigned code execution, and all the lovely features you are used to )

Rocky5 wrote:You asked for info, we gave you the correct info and yet you still go by what you think. Why ask ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The bios controls the stock fan speed period. Only thing that can permanently change this is patching the bios/kernel, this can be accomplished two ways.

1) NKPatcher ( Patches the kernel in memory on load of NKPatcher, ie, before your dashboard loads )
2) Hacked bios ( using tools on the PC or editing a config that's stored on the Xbox ie, Ind-bios x2 5035 )

Both require a restart of the Xbox to take effect.


Dashboards can control the fan speed when they are running, XBMC does not control the fan speed by default ( it's turned off ) so it uses the system default value, unless you enable the custom fan speed in the system setting.

Snippet from NKPatcher source code. ( full source on my GitHub for my 2016 Softmod here. )

Code: Select all

;;;---------------------------------------------------------------------------
;;; set fan speed with NKP modes only (if omitted then no fan speed change)

;%define FAN_SPEED    10 ; < CHANGE IT HERE ( % fan speed / 2 ) 10-50 << changed !!!!

;;;---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I asked if the fan speed could be changed for games in XBMC. I didn't ask about Unleashx and the information you gave me is not completely correct. What you are saying, in theory, makes perfect sense, but in practice, this is not what is happening on my Xbox. My fan is very audible at 100% and completely silent at 20%. When I set the fan speed at 100% in UnleashX and then load up a game from UnleashX, the fan is at the exact same level of loudness and is putting out the same amount of airflow. If I do the exact same thing where I set the fan speed at 20% where it is completely silent, it remains completely silent and airflow is decreased when loading a game. If I let my Xbox idle long enough with the fan speed at 20% temps get into the mid to high 60s(C). With the fan speed set to 100% in UnleashX, the CPU temp never rises above 52C and the M/B never gets above 49C. When I play a game for several hours that is launched from UnleashX with the fan speed at 100% and then return to UnleashX, temps remain right around 50C. If my Xbox had switched to the stock fan speed of 20% which is in my bios while playing that game that I had launched from UnleashX, my temps would have been close to 70C, if not higher. This has never happened. I have experimented with all of this many times.

If what you were saying was true with UnleashX, how do you explain my observations? Do you use UnleashX? Maybe you are using older version? It would be interesting to hear from someone that has a recently softmodded Xbox with a recent version of UnleashX as their dashboard.

BeQuiet 80mm Silent fan... 12volt fan mod... all good, runs at the same speed for everything and you still have to stick your head over it to hear it

Tim4885 wrote:I asked if the fan speed could be changed for games in XBMC. I didn't ask about Unleashx and the information you gave me is not completely correct. What you are saying, in theory, makes perfect sense, but in practice, this is not what is happening on my Xbox. My fan is very audible at 100% and completely silent at 20%. When I set the fan speed at 100% in UnleashX and then load up a game from UnleashX, the fan is at the exact same level of loudness and is putting out the same amount of airflow. If I do the exact same thing where I set the fan speed at 20% where it is completely silent, it remains completely silent and airflow is decreased when loading a game. If I let my Xbox idle long enough with the fan speed at 20% temps get into the mid to high 60s(C). With the fan speed set to 100% in UnleashX, the CPU temp never rises above 52C and the M/B never gets above 49C. When I play a game for several hours that is launched from UnleashX with the fan speed at 100% and then return to UnleashX, temps remain right around 50C. If my Xbox had switched to the stock fan speed of 20% which is in my bios while playing that game that I had launched from UnleashX, my temps would have been close to 70C, if not higher. This has never happened. I have experimented with all of this many times.

If what you were saying was true with UnleashX, how do you explain my observations? Do you use UnleashX? Maybe you are using older version? It would be interesting to hear from someone that has a recently softmodded Xbox with a recent version of UnleashX as their dashboard.

You do realise the Xbox increases the fan speed as the temps increase? So it starts at 20% ( minimum ) and can work it's way up to 100%. ( max )

My apologies, UnleashX does indeed keep the fan at 100% until you do a soft reset. XBMC does not though.
( UnleashX must patch the kernel in memory, same way NKPatcher does it. I just checked on my test box. )

Also any dashboard can play game ISO's if the virtual drive is enabled on your softmod and you have the attach.xbe ( renamed to default.xbe ), it's not a XBMC specific thing

If you want 100% fan speed regardless of the dashboard or dash fan settings change it via the softmod setup menu. ( usually in E:\UDATA\21585554\ )

Here is how my NKPatcher Settings menu looks, in here you can set the fan speed for the hole system, SID should have a similar feature.

Rocky5 wrote:You do realise the Xbox increases the fan speed as the temps increase? So it starts at 20% ( minimum ) and can work it's way up to 100%. ( max )

My apologies, UnleashX does indeed keep the fan at 100% until you do a soft reset. XBMC does not though.
( UnleashX must patch the kernel in memory, same way NKPatcher does it. I just checked on my test box. )

Also any dashboard can play game ISO's if the virtual drive is enabled on your softmod and you have the attach.xbe ( renamed to default.xbe ), it's not a XBMC specific thing

If you want 100% fan speed regardless of the dashboard or dash fan settings change it via the softmod setup menu. ( usually in E:\UDATA\21585554\ )

Here is how my NKPatcher Settings menu looks, in here you can set the fan speed for the hole system, SID should have a similar feature.

Apology accepted. Next time, don't be so quick to dismiss someone that says something you don't think is correct. You gave me all that flack and I was correct.