So you wanna mod, huh? Well here is where you can do just that. I'll try to cover as much basics as I can, and all I ask in return is a willingness to learn.   I also ask that you not be a jerk. Myself and others worked hard writing this for XboxChaos and XboxChaos only. If you want to share then please LINK to this thread rather than copy and paste. Thank you.   If you want something covered that currently isn't feel free to PM myself and I'll see what I can do.   Table Of Contents: General Modded Xbox Information [This Post] Modded XEXs Assembly Patching Troubleshooting General Modding Tag Injection .campaign Editing Removing Barriers   1. Modded Consoles First off, a modded console is required to do anything involving .maps and the like. Unlike the original Xbox there is not a "softmod" for 360; you must open your 360 and install hardware. Alternatively you can just buy one from large forums from people with high feedback or reputation. Craigslist may also be a potential option. eBay isn't going to happen because modded consoles typically violate their TOS.   A modded console is often referred to as a "JTAG" or "RGH", named after the specific exploit behind it. For Halo modding purposes they are interchangeable with eachother.   -JTAG was the "original" mod in a sense, and has long been patched by dashboard updates. If your Xbox is old and has a dashboard version of or below "7371" then you will be able to JTAG it. RROD issues aside, JTAGs are the most reliable with instant boot times and minimal hardware installation.   -RGH is the newer and more current exploit and works on any dashboard version and any hardware version (Fat and Slim), the its only downside being slower boot times by default, requiring tinkering to boot faster.   The purpose of these mods is to exploit the 360 on a hardware level to allow a modified dashboard and NAND to load. Basically.   If you want to learn more/learn how to mod your console and know how to solder, I'll leave that to you and Google.   2. Modded Dashboards On top of the hardware, there are also a couple modified dashboards out there.   FreeBoot is the standard, and is a modified version of whatever retail dashboard/kernel you choose. Requires Dashlaunch to be installed with the XBDM plugin in order to poke with Assembly/other tools.   RGLoader is a modified XDK kernel. If your goal is plain modding you probably do not need RGLoader. Being a XDK kernel it comes with the official XBDM which includes more debugging features for development and research. Protip: The dev launcher reads xexs from "HDD:\DEVKIT" or as mounted, "DEVKIT:\". RGLoader Note: The latest version right now is v400, which is unofficial but works good if you disable "HVPEEKPOKE" and "NOMEMPROT", maybe "NOSHADOWBOOT" as well.     3. Dashlaunch So with FreeBoot, Dashlaunch needs to be installed. Dashlaunch modifies your NAND slightly to refer to a launch.ini file on the HDD, where various settings and paths are defined. It will allow you to run games or homebrew such as FreeStyleDash or XEXMenu at startup or via hotkeys. It can also define plugins, where you would add a path to XBDM. plugin1 = Hdd:\xbdm.xex (refer to the top of launch.ini for other paths)   In addition, while the "contpatch" option sounds really nifty, it is actually fairly buggy and will mess with modded .maps. So please disable it. contpatch = false 4. XBDM Stands for "XBox Debug Manager". Allows for various functions, debugging and otherwise. On a Dev kernel, setup is automatic and the console name is set on first boot.   For the retail dashlaunch plugin, an xbdm.ini should be created in the same location as xbdm.xex. This file sets the name and "color". I believe the default name is "jtag" but you can make it whatever you want with a text editor. This is your console name for Xbox Neighborhood. dbgname name="jtag" You can choose from the following colors if you want: blackgraybluebluewhitenosidecar 5. Xbox Neighborhood To make use of XBDM, the official Xbox 360 SDK must be installed to your computer. No link will be provided here because that would be illegal, so all I can say is Google it or check "certain" sites.   Xbox Neighborhood is an extension of Windows that allows you to copy files and run executables remotely, while also allowing your PC to communicate with your Xbox via Assembly/other tools in order to poke.   After installing Neighborhood, you need to add your console. Open Neighborhood and click Add Xbox 360. A dialog will appear. Click next and you should see the following: (Picture provided by deadcanadian)     You can either type the console name or the IP address of your Xbox. Enter it then press Next. It should find your console and after a couple more Nexts the dialog should disappear and your console will be added. (Your console must be running and connected to your router/PC for Neighborhood to find it.)   Xbox Neighborhood is not perfect, however, and can be prone to hang/crash with certain operations. On Windows 7 and above however there is a folder setting hidden away that will reduce the impact of these issues. In an explorer window (open a folder), hit Alt to temporarily show the menu bar. Open Tools and choose Folder Options. Click the View tab and scroll down and tick the following option:   Now, when you run into a hang or crash and manage to kill the window, it won't take the entire explorer.exe with it, only a copy of it.   6. FTP As mentioned, Neighborhood isn't perfect. It fares well with Halo usually but other games, specifically ones with a lot of files in a single folder, using it can be a headache. You may also prefer to go old school, whatever reason, here is how you would set up FTP to transfer files.   First you need an application that establishes FTP. Off the top of my head, XEXMenu and FreeStyleDash (may be disabled by default in newer versions) can do this.   You also need an FTP program on your PC, common ones include FireFTP, a Firefox Extension (Free) and FlashFXP (Not Free). Feel free to PM me other ones if you'd like. Setup is gonna depend on your application, but for the settings, the IP Address should be displayed by XEXMenu/FSD, and the username/password should both be "xbox". So something like this: (This is FlashFXP)   With the right settings your application should connect and you will be free to navigate to whatever folder to copy/manage your files.   7. Xbox Live Yeah, no. It is possible to connect to XBL with a modded console but you will NOT find any help on this site. To do so is extremely selfish and only ruins the fun of everyone else involved. If you are only in it to go online then you should find another hobby, perhaps get a psychiatrist to help you deal with whatever bullying you endured in school to make you want to bully people in an online game.