Trying to understand stealth

[stick person]

Hello again, now that I have my lite-on flashed, I'm looking to backup some games. I followed CoFree's tutorial on how to do it in XBC, but I don't know how the whole stealth thing works. If I follow the guide will my game be stealth or no? Where does the SS come in?

Also, I've read about extracting the SS and checking it. I've read some posts (can't remember if it was here or elsewhere) that said even if the Kreon checker says it's a bad SS, that's ok with the new FW- you won't get caught on Live. I read that it's possible the Mulleter, XBC, and Schtrom's program can all say that the game is good, even stealth/security, but then Kreon will report a bad SS. What's the deal with that? Would the best idea be to use abgx to fix the .iso, or does that only work with .iso's from torrents and the like?

Thanks a lot

[sadalius]

The SS and other stealth files are pulled from the original game disk while ripping it. If you follow CoFree's guide, you should be ok with your backups. None of the game rippers like XBC or Schtroms are setup to look at the SS.bin file. Neither is mulleter or abgx for that matter.Using the kreon checker is the only way I know of checking for the 360 offset, the occassional problem with ripping games with a kreon drive. You can use XBC, Schtroms or mulleter to pull the ss.bin file from either the ISO or the game disk and then run it through the kreon checker. The new firmware is supposed to compensate for that problem though so alot of people just don't check it anymore, but I do, and CoFree does as well.

[stick person]

So most of the time the 360 offset is fine and the ss.bin checks out fine, but occasionally the 360 offset gets messed up and the ss.bin has an error? The new FW corrects for the error, but the best bet is to check the ss.bin anyway and if it's bad just rip again, correct?

edit: If I am correct, then how would you get banned on Live at the moment?

[sadalius]

You got it. I'll try and explain what the offset is. It has to do with the angle in which the laser is set to in order to properly read the disk. This has a total value of 360 degrees. The problem is, the value starts at 0 and goes to 359 which gives a total of 360, but occassionaly, a rip will register the offset at 360, which isn't possible. So re-ripping it if kreon checker shows it's bad will generally correct the issue. The newer firmwares automatically adjusts for this, or is supposed to. If it see's a offset value of 360, it knows this isn't possible so it adjusts it accordingly. But like I said, I always just run the SS.bin through kreon checker because it only takes a minute to do and I want my stuff to be as close to the original as possible.

[stick person]

So how would one get banned from Live at the moment? I'm just gonna guess and say if we knew then it would be getting fixed right about now...

Thanks for explaining though, understanding stuff is good

[sadalius]

Well, your right. We don't exactly know what microsoft looks for when it comes to banning. Our main theory is bad rips or downloaded games. Thats why you don't see any discussion about downloaded games on here. Most of us stay away from them and only rip our own originals. A lot of times people that upload their stuff don't check them or there is something wrong with it that they don't know about. Then whoever downloads that game burns it and plays it, the 360 sees a problem, logs it, sends the log to microsoft upon inquiry and the rest is history. Thats the main theory and it's just that, a theory.

[stick person]

Couldn't those who downloaded the game just check them as if they ripped them themselves? I don't download, I've read way too many posts about people getting banned because of it, but I'm just curious.

[CoFree]

well
if i was M$ the first thing i would do is release a iso on p2p that only i would know was different .
you know they can get all the programs we have and do there on testing for a weak link just the way we do.
then put something in a game that says "here i am" bandg your banned.
i dont know that they do that kind of thing but if i was M$ i would.

[stick person]

I wonder if they are allowed to do that. Breaking their rules in order to catch people...

[CoFree]

what is that a trick question.
The only thing more corrupt than big business is government.

but
I dont know if they do that.
All i know is if i was on that side of the fence i would

[sadalius]

Yup, Microsoft isn't exactly known for their ummm, how shall I say, clean business ethics. I wouldn't doubt for a second that there may be down loadable games out their with some sort of homing device to catch people. Of course prooving that would be kinda hard to do, but I would bet a dollar to a donut that they do it.

[stick person]

What about SplitVid? What does it do, and is it necessary?

[CoFree]

i think everyone now is doing it that way.
it splits the vido up on both layers of the disc.it makes it look more like a original game disc

i would say yes it needs to be that way.