Xbox Emulation Discord server (For general and development discussions on OG Xbox emulation, especially for Cxbx-Reloaded, but also XQEMU, StrikeBox, and any legacy emulators.) Notes edit ↑ The PlayStation 2 also had a hard disk accessory, but the Xbox had it built-in on all models. CoolROM.com's XBox emulators section. Download the highest rated and most compatible emulator here. Visit our exclusive Macintosh emulators.
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The Xbox is a sixth-generation console released by Microsoft on November 15, 2001. Known as the DirectXbox during development, it is notable for the specs having similarities to a PC, namely as a result of using familiar components around the x86 architecture. It had a custom Pentium III CPU at 733 MHz with 64 MB of RAM, and a custom Nvidia GPU codenamed NV2A at 233 MHz. The Xbox was often said to be the most powerful console from the sixth generation, and Sega later designed the Chihiro arcade system with the same components. It retailed at $299.99.
The Xbox was a modest seller, and helped create a brand for Microsoft that would give its successor a stronger market share in the west; despite Microsoft's best efforts the original Xbox and succeeding consoles from the company have never gained a foothold in Japan for various reasons.[1] It had a number of advantages over other sixth-gen consoles at the time; it was the only console to include a hard disk,[N 1] meaning it was the first to be able to rip CDs, and it was the first and only console of the lineup to include a unified online service called Xbox Live,[N 2] prompting Sony to create the PlayStation Network the next generation.
Early in its lifespan, the Xbox had an unusually active modding scene compared to the other consoles (often vindicated by the incredibly short warranty). Upon the first jailbreak by Andrew Huang, the scene ultimately delivered no comprehensive emulation until the mid-2010s,[N 3] where developers have continued to have issues owing to the fact that, alongside the poorly documented hardware, many of the Xbox's games either came from Windows or were then released for Windows afterward (though it does retain a few exclusives). However, the Xbox emulation scene has been resurging with two emulators at the forefront since mid-2017. Its developers continue to say there's no competition between them, as they're both open-source and have different goals and methods.[2][3]
Emulators[edit]
Comparisons[edit]
Since May 2017, serious strides have been happening in the Xbox emulation scene with Cxbx-Reloaded and XQEMU making major progress. Cxbx-Reloaded went in-game for Jet Set Radio Future with a somewhat decent framerate.[4] Many more original Xbox games have been able to get in-game and, in some cases, at decent speeds on XQEMU.[5][6]
PC[edit]![]()
![]() Consoles[edit]
Emulation issues[edit]
The pratfalls of Xbox emulation
The Xbox is infamous in the emulation scene for being the worst case of false advertising. For the projects currently available and active there's a high barrier to entry for the effort involved, and it's the same reason why consoles using off-the-shelf hardware (or reused hardware) are easier to emulate. To users, being 'basically a PC' and 'x86-based' is a selling point despite that not being the case as the Xbox has a number of proprietary elements that are nothing like standard PC hardware (like the eighth-gen 'x86-based' consoles). Many aspects of the Xbox's architecture aren't openly documented, making it a major pain to have to figure it all out.[7][8][9][10][11] For example the APU, one of two sound processors on the MCPX southbridge chip of the Xbox chipset, is incredibly powerful and uses complex processing steps that are difficult to figure out using clean-room reverse engineering.
The good news is the efforts currently underway are starting to see real effects. While it's true that Cxbx-Reloaded will have the upper hand with a primarily HLE-based approach on Windows, XQEMU will have the advantage of going by the book. XQEMU also has the potential to tap into hardware acceleration that Cxbx-Reloaded would have to write a kernel mode driver for, and SoullessSentinel wrote 'I don't think our users would like the idea of disabling security features such as driver signature enforcement and installing an untrusted kernel driver just for an emulator.'[12]
Chihiro[edit]
The Chihiro arcade system was produced by Sega in 2003. It consists of an Xbox motherboard (with double the RAM as with devkits) with additional boards for handling arcade I/O (Sega JVS standard). As the inner workings of the Xbox are better understood, Chihiro emulation support and accuracy will improve.
Resources[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php?title=Xbox_emulators&oldid=31937'
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