Burn Xbox 360 Games onto DVD Discs

Backing up your game collection on the Xbox 360 can be tricky. There are several anti-piracy protections that need to be bypassed in order to play burnt games, and if you're not careful you can find yourself with a lot of DVD coasters. Follow this guide to successfully burn your backups to DVDs. Game piracy is illegal, this guide is for backing up copies of games that you own.

Steps

Preparing to Burn

  1. Flash your Xbox 360. Your Xbox should be flashed with the latest version of the iXtreme LT+ firmware. You can either do this yourself or find someone to do it for a fee. It involves opening the Xbox, identifying the DVD drive manufacturer, connecting the DVD drive to your PC, and then installing custom firmware onto the Xbox DVD drive. This will allow your Xbox to play backup DVDs.
  2. Acquire your games. To burn a game, you will need the .iso file that is created when the disc is ripped to a computer. There are two main ways that you can get an Xbox 360 .iso file: you can download the .iso from a source online, or you can make a backup from a physical disc.
    • The most popular way to download .iso files online is to use a torrent client and tracker. You can find .iso files for nearly any game using torrents. Be aware that downloading games that you do not own is illegal in most areas, and even downloading games that you do own is frowned upon and could land you in trouble. See this guide for details on using torrents.
    • You can create your own .iso backup files from physical discs if you have the right software and hardware. You will need an IDE Kreon DVD drive (SATA will not work). If you don't use the right drive, your backup will likely be corrupted or won't work at all. You will also need a program called Xbox Backup Creator, which can be found on various Xbox modding sites. When using Xbox Backup Creator, simply insert the disc into the Kreon drive, select "Complete Backup", and click Start.
    • Xbox 360 .iso files are typically around 8 GB in size.
  3. Patch the .iso file. The .iso file must be "stealth-patched" in order for it to work correctly online after being burned. You can do this using a program called ABGX, which can be found on most Xbox 360 modding sites. Make sure that you are connected to the internet while running ABGX 360 so the latest verification files can be downloaded.
    • In the ABGX Options menu, check the two boxes that say "Check/Fix Video padding" and "Check for AnyDVD style game data corruption."" In the AutoFix menu, select "Level 2" for the AutoFix Threshold. In the Region menu, select your region (NTSC/U for North America). Save the settings using the File menu.
    • Click File → Open Input and open the .iso file. Click the Launch button at the bottom of the window. A new window will appear with a readout of the patching details. The patching process will take a little while to complete. If you see the messages "Stealth check passed!" and "AnyDVD style corruption was not detected", then the patching process was successful and you will be safe to play the game online.
    • ABGX will create a .dvd file alongside the .iso file. You will need this when burning.
  4. Ensure that you have a compatible DVD burner installed in your computer. There are essentially two types of Xbox 360 games: XGD2 and older, and XGD3 games, which use a newer form of copy protection. Only specific DVD burners will be able to create working copies of XGD3 games.
    • The LiteOn iHas Revision B burner is the highest recommended burner for copying XGD3 games, though several other models work as well. The DVD burner must have an MKT chipset in order to copy XGD3 games.
    • The Sony Optiarc 5280S-CB-PLUS is also able to burn XGD3 games and is able to do so right out of the box (no firmware modification needed).
    • XGD2 games do not require any particular model of DVD burner. Higher quality burners will lead to more successful copies.
  5. Get quality DVDs. Burning newer 360 games pushes the disc to its physical limits by writing data further to the edge of the disc. Having a high quality DVD will reduce the number of bad burns you get.
    • Be sure to get Dual Layer (DL) DVD+R discs. These have a capacity of 8.5 gigabytes.
    • Verbatim brand discs are the most highly recommended, as they are the least likely to fail during the burning process. Any disc that is DL and has a capacity of 8.5 gigabytes should theoretically work
  6. Download DVD burning software. Any image burning software that supports .iso files and is compatible with DL DVDs will work. There are many freeware burning programs available online.

Burning XGD2 Discs

  1. Insert a blank DVD. Ensure that it is a DL DVD +R and that it has not been used before.
  2. Open your DVD burning program. Load the .dvd file that was created when you stealth patched the .iso file. Set the Write Speed to 2.4x. If you set it to burn too fast then the chance of a corrupt copy goes up.
  3. Press the burn button. The burn process will take some time to finish. To make sure that you get an optimal burn, do not allow your screensaver to start while burning, and close as many running programs as possible.

Burning XGD3 Discs

  1. Insert a blank DVD. Ensure that it is a DL DVD +R and that it has not been used before.
  2. Download and install BurnerMAX Payload Tool. This freeware program allows your burner to surpass the 8.5 GB limit of a DL DVD and actually burn 8.7 GB, which allows you to fit a full XGD3 onto a disc.
    • Run BurnerMAX before starting the DVD burning software. Click the “BurnerMAX” button and wait a few seconds. You should receive a message saying “BurnerMax is Enabled.” If you do not receive this message that means that your DVD drive is not compatible.
    • If you insert a new DVD or restart your computer, you will have to run BurnerMAX again.
  3. Open your DVD burning program. You should see that the maximum capacity of the DVD is now 8,738,897,920 bytes. Load the .dvd file for the game you are copying and set the Write Speed to 2.4x. This is especially important for XGD3 games, as the chance of failure is much higher.
  4. Press the burn button. Make sure that you do not have any extra programs running, and that the screensaver will not start during the burn process. These are all much more critical when burning XGD3 games. The margin of error is very slight, and any hiccups during the burn process will lead to an unusable game.

Warnings

  • Playing copied games on Xbox Live is against the Terms of Service, and your account may be banned if you are caught.

Things You'll Need

  • An .iso file for the game you are burning
  • A flashed Xbox 360
  • A supported DVD burner
  • DVD+R DL discs
  • DVD image burning software

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