Why do my games run slower off HDD than disc (Halo, Mechwarrior unplayable from HDD)

Discussion about Modding the XBOX, including hardware and software hacks.
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xretrogamedevx
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Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:43 pm

Why do my games run slower off HDD than disc (Halo, Mechwarrior unplayable from HDD)

Post by xretrogamedevx »

I bought an OG xbox, softmodded it with Rocky5, upgraded the HDD to a 2TB Seagate Barricuda, have an 80 pin IDE adapter connected to it.

I bought 10 games to start off with, to include Halo: CE (the original Halo) and Mechwarrior.

I ripped all 10 games to my hard drive.

I get horrible, unplayable lag when playing any game (Halo is the most noticeable).  Any time I fire the weapon everything lags.  I also notice that for every single game, the startup animations (The grey/white/black "Microsoft Game Studios" logo) also lags, so I don't think it's framerate dependent.  Here's a link to the logo animation that I am talking about.  The animation in this video is how it should look.  It's smooth.  On my screen (I can't upload a video, sorry), it stutters, lags, and is generally unsmooth.  I'm showing the unlagging video for reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFe4bm_2sA4#t=2m46s

Does this have something to do with HDMI?  I am running the output to an hdmi adapter that plays on the monitor.  I have tried multiple monitors and have the same problem.  The only thing I haven't tried is the component to TV route, because I do not have a TV.  I'm wondering if this was a waste of money.  Games are unplayable from the HDD, which I thought was supposed to even speed things up. 

Although, if I can get zero lag from games and startup animations from the DVD drive it shouldn't be the HDMI at all. It must have something to do with the HDD connection.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
-R
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professor_jonny
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Re: Why do my games run slower off HDD than disc (Halo, Mechwarrior unplayable from HDD)

Post by professor_jonny »

Try with a ide hdd the games that have problems.

I suspect your ide adaptor is the issue
xretrogamedevx
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Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:43 pm

Re: Why do my games run slower off HDD than disc (Halo, Mechwarrior unplayable from HDD)

Post by xretrogamedevx »

You're probably right.

I put the original hard drive back in, via the IDE interface, and loaded Halo on it and played it with almost no lag. Night and day difference.

I used this adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EO ... UTF8&psc=1

Is there one that you used that worked? I have spent weeks ordering parts, re-ordering parts, and trying to get this OG xbox HDD thing setup. This has been such a massive headache right from that start that I'm barely sure I want to finish.

Do you have any ideas on what other adapter I should buy? Did anything work for you?

Thanks.
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